Diablo II: Resurrected - Rapid Fire Review

00:00:20.800hey everybody welcome to another rapid

00:00:22.720fire review this time for diablo 2

00:00:25.519resurrected before we get into the

00:00:27.760remaster let's talk a bit about the

00:00:30.400original diablo 2 in almost every way is

00:00:33.760a legendary 10 out of 10 game now

00:00:36.239certainly not perfect but it's close

00:00:38.079enough it defined the genre raised the

00:00:40.559bar broke the molds changed the game and

00:00:42.719all the other things that used to be

00:00:44.079plastered on cd jewel cases and boxes

00:00:46.719when pc games still had jewel cases and

00:00:49.039boxes

00:00:50.160it was peak blizzard that six seven year

00:00:52.879sweet spot when they put out diablo

00:00:54.879starcraft diablo ii warcraft 3 and wow

00:01:00.399now i've played a lot of diablo 2 in my

00:01:02.399day it was always on the lan rotation

00:01:04.559for the time we do loot runs at the net

00:01:07.119cafe after school all waiting for the

00:01:09.040counter-strike or day of defeat games to

00:01:10.720start we trade sojs charms and

00:01:13.680eventually runes for pc time magic the

00:01:16.080gathering cards or items in everquest

00:01:18.720it was the best

00:01:20.400it really did do all those things that

00:01:22.159the pr tagline said intentionally or not

00:01:25.439and so much so that the games imitating

00:01:27.520it or inspired by it are still very much

00:01:29.680alive and successful today

00:01:32.479so being a 20 year old legend with just

00:01:35.040a new paint job makes reviewing this

00:01:37.439version hard almost impossible

00:01:40.799especially so since the original is on

00:01:42.560my all-time greats list

00:01:44.720but here's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna

00:01:46.479do my very best to look at this game as

00:01:49.119it exists now in relation to the games

00:01:51.360of today in essence seeing how this

00:01:53.600repainted classic actually stacks up to

00:01:56.000the games that now stand upon its

00:01:57.360shoulders

00:01:58.799we have seven fairly unique classes all

00:02:00.799with different play style options

00:02:02.399weapons diverse skill trees and

00:02:04.079weaknesses

00:02:05.200npc mercenaries offer the player the

00:02:06.960missing piece to help fill in the gaps

00:02:08.560that each class has even if it's simply

00:02:10.720there to fight the random magic immune

00:02:12.640bad guy

00:02:13.920as with all games in this genre there

00:02:15.760are certainly best in slot builds for

00:02:17.599each class so though there appears to be

00:02:20.239a ton of diversity there's actually a

00:02:21.840lot less than you'd think

00:02:23.680on normal difficulty though you can

00:02:25.280almost certainly get away with all the

00:02:26.640wrong items and abilities hell you can

00:02:28.400even run around naked and still beat

00:02:29.840diablo

00:02:31.120the maps did not age too poorly for the

00:02:33.360most part with a few notable exceptions

00:02:35.920the maggot layer of course is still

00:02:38.160awful you must go through several floors

00:02:40.480of amazing tunnels single file with no

00:02:42.879visibility constantly getting stuck

00:02:44.800behind mercenaries other players or

00:02:47.120maggot slime doors that won't open until

00:02:49.120you find the exact right pixel at the

00:02:51.519exact right distance the ai never could

00:02:54.160figure out how to maneuver through it

00:02:55.519and since none of the ai was touched up

00:02:57.440it still can't it's of course a

00:02:59.680mandatory zone that was always miserable

00:03:01.840and aged as you would expect a maggot

00:03:03.519layer to age after 20 years of sitting

00:03:05.760in the desert

00:03:07.840the first few acts progress in a fairly

00:03:09.760satisfying way until we get to the

00:03:11.840fourth

00:03:12.959we stage an invasion into hell to take

00:03:15.440on the big bad guy you know the one on

00:03:17.440the box but it feels more like an

00:03:19.360unceremonious field trip to hell for

00:03:21.920about 20 minutes

00:03:23.440it starts and is over before you know it

00:03:25.440it was just as disappointing 20 years

00:03:27.360ago as it was today

00:03:29.280fortunately for this release we don't

00:03:30.560have to wait for the fifth act to bulk

00:03:32.159up the experience but it still feels

00:03:34.239criminally short

00:03:36.080overall the gameplay for this version

00:03:37.920feels pretty good even under the modern

00:03:40.000lens i feel it's still above average you

00:03:42.400gotta remember there are some real

00:03:43.920stinkers in this genre the gameplay is

00:03:46.640still every bit as frustrating

00:03:48.319satisfying unforgiving random and

00:03:50.560ridiculous as i remember

00:03:52.640if you're new to diablo 2 there's some

00:03:54.560things you want to watch out for you

00:03:56.400have very limited respecting options

00:03:58.640which leads to the inability to try new

00:04:00.319builds even if you do get a sweet new

00:04:02.080weapon for your class

00:04:03.680then there are the corpse runs within

00:04:05.200corpse runs within corpse runs massive

00:04:07.599gold loss on death mercenary

00:04:09.439resurrection costs

00:04:11.120instant doorway ambush death lightning

00:04:13.599ghosts sniping you from off screen

00:04:16.000liking scarabs just existing and of

00:04:18.799course everyone's favorite undead stabby

00:04:20.799pygmy buttholes erasing you from the

00:04:22.639book of life in an instant

00:04:25.280now this is a loot game so let's talk

00:04:26.960about the loot system

00:04:28.560it's certainly a relic from 20 years ago

00:04:30.960now i'm not talking about the variety of

00:04:33.040loot or the magic find system or the

00:04:34.880gambling system the sheer amount of loot

00:04:36.720in this game is incredible but i'm

00:04:38.560talking about the frequency that low

00:04:39.919level loot drops especially during your

00:04:41.600first play through which if we're honest

00:04:44.240for games is most people's only play

00:04:46.320through

00:04:47.440it would be unheard of in a modern loot

00:04:49.280centric game for you to be beating the

00:04:50.800final boss using several items you found

00:04:52.960at the first zones in your first few

00:04:55.199levels and that's the case here i even

00:04:57.759made it through the game three times in

00:04:59.600all three difficulties with the offhand

00:05:01.520oj gave me at normal at level three

00:05:05.360now it certainly does pick up on harder

00:05:06.880difficulties later on once you get the

00:05:08.479gear for loot runs but that means you

00:05:10.160have to beat the game at least once if

00:05:11.759not twice to get to the good part where

00:05:13.600you know the addiction starts when you

00:05:15.600stay up far too long because you

00:05:17.440stupidly think i'll just do this run

00:05:19.440until i get the next good drop and then

00:05:21.440the sun comes up

00:05:24.479now i've come down hard on other games

00:05:26.400for having systems or mechanics that

00:05:28.160aren't good until subsequent

00:05:29.600playthroughs or until you lock different

00:05:31.520difficulties and i have to do it here

00:05:34.720for endgame there really isn't much

00:05:36.639content here either we do have a bit of

00:05:39.120bovine bloodshed to be had but nothing

00:05:41.199like riffs or maps to speak of just the

00:05:43.919same five or six long established runs

00:05:46.400looking for runes and uniques

00:05:49.120the updated visuals and cutscenes all

00:05:51.199look great you know they're not mind

00:05:53.280blowing or anything compared to what's

00:05:54.800out there today but it is a solid

00:05:56.800upgrade especially when you swap back

00:05:58.400and forth

00:05:59.759other than the graphics blizzard did

00:06:01.280decide to make a small handful of

00:06:02.960changes the biggest being removal of tcp

00:06:05.919ip connection for some stupid-ass reason

00:06:08.639in theory this would have been fine i

00:06:11.440guess if the servers were stable but

00:06:13.440they weren't

00:06:14.479and that ruined our lan party you know

00:06:16.400that people flew across country to come

00:06:18.080to it also gave us all sorts of issues

00:06:20.240launch week and streaming

00:06:22.319to this day three weeks after launch the

00:06:24.960servers are still not stable this last

00:06:27.280weekend servers were down again

00:06:28.960rollbacks are still happening undoing

00:06:31.039dozens of loot runs drops and forcing

00:06:33.680people to redo content it's absolutely

00:06:36.319unacceptable i don't care how much i

00:06:38.160love this game if i had my maggot layer

00:06:40.160run on hell rolled back i would have

00:06:42.000uninstalled

00:06:44.240there are other few mostly minor changes

00:06:46.400blizzard made for this version mostly

00:06:48.479quality of life stuff with storage

00:06:50.240clicking and accessibility but honestly

00:06:52.400they should have probably done more

00:06:54.560the npc ai is still atrocious your

00:06:57.520mercenary has two modes the default mode

00:06:59.919appears to be a god goddamn

00:07:01.280crayon-eating space cadet that will just

00:07:03.039stand there licking windows while you

00:07:04.720are dying or it'll get stuck in a room

00:07:06.880somewhere spinning in circles and won't

00:07:08.800teleport to you as intended no matter

00:07:10.479how far away you get

00:07:12.160the second less common mode is leroy

00:07:15.520jenkins

00:07:16.800they will run off screen into whatever

00:07:18.560guaranteed death awaits for no reason if

00:07:21.280there was a running wood chipper

00:07:22.400slightly off screen that imbecile would

00:07:24.160be swan diving into it the first chance

00:07:26.479they got

00:07:28.960there are also other issues that range

00:07:30.639from situationally annoying to downright

00:07:32.720unacceptable for a modern game and that

00:07:34.720could have easily been changed or at

00:07:36.080least given the option to toggle in the

00:07:37.840menu

00:07:39.199as a massive fan of the original this

00:07:40.960game was an easy pickup for me it was

00:07:43.280satisfying and nostalgic and i got to

00:07:45.120share a childhood game that i love with

00:07:47.120people who had never played

00:07:48.800even now i'm still trading set items

00:07:50.639unique and runes with friends and people

00:07:52.319from the show

00:07:53.520i play a bit every day and probably

00:07:55.039won't stop for a while at least until i

00:07:56.720get the gear and rune words i want

00:07:58.879but so much of that is the rose tinted

00:08:00.879glasses and the nostalgia

00:08:02.960but i've got to give a score to this

00:08:05.039version of the game on its own without

00:08:07.360considering the importance of the

00:08:08.720original this version of the game feels

00:08:11.120pretty solid for 40 bucks there is

00:08:13.199plenty to do there's a decent story with

00:08:15.199good cutscenes and diverse gameplay with

00:08:17.360a ton of replayability if the loop feels

00:08:19.199good to you

00:08:20.319but it still has server issues and had

00:08:23.039an awful launch it's got a dated ui that

00:08:25.680honestly feels pretty bad at times and

00:08:27.440should have been updated horrible ai

00:08:29.440that's pretty much inexcusable and its

00:08:31.440slow loop progression at the start

00:08:33.039requires a huge time investment to get

00:08:34.800going

00:08:36.800so with all of that if i really do try

00:08:39.120to be honest about how this game stacks

00:08:41.440up to other games of today

00:08:43.440i'm gonna have to give diablo 2

00:08:44.560resurrected a 6.

00:08:46.320i do think it's a good game on its own

00:08:48.160but the competition today is better and

00:08:50.240our expectation for games are higher

00:08:52.800if you're like me and you love the

00:08:53.839original you'll love this one newcomers

00:08:56.000may find it a little rough though and

00:08:57.600it's almost unplayable with the server

00:08:59.120state as it is now

00:09:00.959this game needed a bit more than a new

00:09:02.720look to keep the 10 out of 10 score i

00:09:05.040get that they were scared after

00:09:06.560absolutely ruining warcraft 3's remake

00:09:09.440but this game needed some polish and

00:09:11.120tweaks and if they were really that

00:09:13.120afraid they could have given you the

00:09:14.640toggle option

00:09:16.399thanks so much for watching let me know

00:09:18.080in the comments what you think of this

00:09:19.200remake and if you have some spare enigma

00:09:21.680runes lying around

00:09:23.200we shall see you on the next angry joe

00:09:25.440show

00:09:39.070[Music]

00:10:21.920you