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Hail lurkers,
I'm indulging in Diablo II again and am fascinated by the nice design and decoration of the the acts and especially the towns. Must say that act 2 / Lut Gholein is my favourite, and wondered how you would think about it.
Spreadsheet:
1. The act I prefer design-wise is:
a] act I
b] act II
c] act III
d] act IV
e] act V (for LoD players)
2. The loveliest town IMO is:
a] the rogue encampment
b] Lut Gholein, the jewel of the desert
c] the docks of Kurast
d] the Pandemonium Fortress
e] Harrogath (for LoD players)
My choice is (since I'm playing classic 1.06 now) 1.b]2.b]
Atma's Tavern is just to lovely animated and the overall atmosphere is quite original.
Quote:Yeah. Meshif's okay, I guess. But I'll be damned if I ever get on his ship. I don't even like to drink water.
- Geglash
Greetings, Fragbait
Quote:You cannot pass... I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The Dark Flame will not avail you, Flame of Udun. Go back to the shadow. You shall not pass.
- Gandalf, speaking to the Balrog
Quote:Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash! Be water, my friend...
- Bruce Lee
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1. C 2. D
The monsters in act three used to drive me nuts to the utmost degree, until I leveled a spear barb there back in the day. Since then I've played a lot of act three, and really loved it. The sewers and Doc Indigu are crafted well enough to genuinely make me dred the trip. And seeing the progression from flayer, through the three kurasts, leading finally to Travinical shows (in my mind) the greatest progression in level design out of the acts.
Overall, and play wise I'd have to say I love act2 the most, but as far as pure level design goes? Act three takes the cake for me.
As for my favorite town? Act 4! I remember seeing the act towns expand from act1 to 3. And when I finally killed mephisto for the first time, I was ready to be blown away by the mammoth size of act 4. Ha, I was delt a surprise, but for me it was an enjoyable one. I've always had an affinity towards clean cut and small designs. I loved the characters of Halbu and Jamella. It was as if you had ascended to something supremely greater, no longer just a lowly traveler. Not to mention on my first trip to hell act 4 I met Sam, who introduced me to a lovely forum called the 'Lurkerlounge'
And you guys have been stuck with me ever since! :P
-Munk
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06-28-2004, 07:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2004, 07:17 PM by Minionman.)
1. act 4, I like the way they made hell unlike anything else in the world, with all the trapped souls, the architecture, its all cool. And the music's great. Acts 3 and 5 come close here.
2. Kurast docks, I'm not totally sure why, but it probably has to do wiith the way there are a lot of people to talk to and how the docks blend into the rest of the act more than the other towns do.
Edit: What background music do you guys like the best, for people who listen to it? I like the act 3 jungles, hell but not pandemonium fortress, and the open areas of act 5 stuff the best. The rest of act 3, arcane sanctuary, and ice caves I also like a lot.
I may be dead, but I'm not old (source: see lavcat)
The gloves come off, I'm playing hardball. It's fourth and 15 and you're looking at a full-court press. (Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun)
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Munkay,Jun 28 2004, 05:03 PM Wrote:1. C 2. D
The monsters in act three used to drive me nuts to the utmost degree, until I leveled a spear barb there back in the day. Since then I've played a lot of act three, and really loved it. The sewers and Doc Indigu are crafted well enough to genuinely make me dred the trip. And seeing the progression from flayer, through the three kurasts, leading finally to Travinical shows (in my mind) the greatest progression in level design out of the acts.
Overall, and play wise I'd have to say I love act2 the most, but as far as pure level design goes? Act three takes the cake for me.
As for my favorite town? Act 4! I remember seeing the act towns expand from act1 to 3. And when I finally killed mephisto for the first time, I was ready to be blown away by the mammoth size of act 4. Ha, I was delt a surprise, but for me it was an enjoyable one. I've always had an affinity towards clean cut and small designs. I loved the characters of Halbu and Jamella. It was as if you had ascended to something supremely greater, no longer just a lowly traveler. Not to mention on my first trip to hell act 4 I met Sam, who introduced me to a lovely forum called the 'Lurkerlounge'
And you guys have been stuck with me ever since! :P
-Munk The way it gets more citylike is pretty cool. I like the way the jungles twist and turn in the "looks good" way because it seems more natural than just squares of terrain, although hell and arreat do a good job at seeming naturally the way they are too.
Act 3 is also good because the fighting area are all small, so I spend more time fighting, less time runnung from place to place.
I may be dead, but I'm not old (source: see lavcat)
The gloves come off, I'm playing hardball. It's fourth and 15 and you're looking at a full-court press. (Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun)
Some people in forums do the next best thing to listening to themselves talk, writing and reading what they write (source, my brother)
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You forgot the cow level.
Quality over quantity.
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Music: Tristram or the palace cellars.
"AND THEN THE PALADIN TOOK MY EYES!"
Forever oppressed by the GOLs.
Grom Hellscream: [Orcish] kek
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Hi,
Yeah sure, the cow level's fun. But I wouldn't stress its supreme graphic/animation design or its atmospheric music, rather it's comic aspect.
Speaking of comic aspect. I get it now - you were just joking.
Oh.
Anyways, I think they (Blizzard) didn't do much of a good job with the music. It seems to be implemented too quietly, as I pointed out in another thread a while ago. Thus the creepy atmosphere simply cannot evolve as it should. Remember Diablo? When entering the hell sent a cold shiver down your spine? When the characters said something cool everytime you entered a new 'act' (that's sort of a feature in DII, too, I admit)? Hach...
Back to DII, I also like the music of Tristram (since it's from DI, hehe), but overall I think that they could have done more to keep up the uncanny ambiance. As it is now, the only thing your really hear is the slashing and whacking and casting of your character and maybe the dying of some critters. All that is expected, and with the open areas and the ability to run, there's just no such suspense. </rant>
And yeah, the harem and palace cellar music is rather good, too. What I don't like about act III is the similarity and long-stretched-ness of the levels until lower kurast. Those flayers - I have many a bad memory of them. Yes, I really like act 2. Perhaps it hasn't the most climatic ending what concerns the levels leading to the act boss, but then again, he is 'just' a lesser evil, Duriel. Actually he shouldn't support the three prime evils at all, given the fact that he helped to banish them to the mortal realm in the great revolution. Seems like he overthrew with Belial or Aazmodan...
Quite indulged, here.
Greetings, Fragbait
Quote:You cannot pass... I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The Dark Flame will not avail you, Flame of Udun. Go back to the shadow. You shall not pass.
- Gandalf, speaking to the Balrog
Quote:Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash! Be water, my friend...
- Bruce Lee
Quote: There's an old Internet adage which simply states that the first person to resort to personal attacks in an online argument is the loser. Don't be one.
- excerpt from the forum rules
Post content property of Fragbait (member of the lurkerlounge). Do not (hesitate to) quote without permission.
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