The Diablo (II) Clone Thread

[Indon]

So after seeing the hopelessly lonely Titan's Quest thread, I figured we could use an overall thread for discussion of any and all games whose gameplay is basically the same as that of the Diablo game series: Diablo clones.

So here, we would discuss the various diablo clones that we've played, compare and contrast them, and maybe get questions about them answered if the thread doesn't sink into oblivion.

So: List the diablo clones you've played, and amusing stories from the games!

Personally, I've played:

-Sacred (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_(game)), a very level-grind-heavy clone with high-end itemization focused around sets (rather than rares as Diablo did, or uniques as D2 did).

-Dungeon Siege (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Siege), a game whose most meaningful distinctions from Diablo are the addition of a pack mule and the ability to disenchant items into gold on the spot. Supposedly, the Transporter was involved in making a really bad movie based on it that had nothing to do with it (other than that the plot was just an excuse for the action).

[Lord Loss]

Actually, The movie (In the name of the King) was pretty good. But I digress:

Dungeon Lords. Much like diablo, but better storyline nd graphics. A few bugs, though. And hard. Really hard (At least later on). My personal favorite game of all time. But, that's me.

As for amusing stories, the game just brings back fond memories. It's in 3-D and the graphics are pretty good. Now, a main feature of the game is the abundance of wandering monsters, you'll end up having three different group of them fighting you if you're not careful. Another main point is the healing potions are very, very cheap and easy to get, so , as long as you pay attention to your HP, it's hard to die. Of course when a monster two shots you, or 12 spiders, 5 Skeletons and 20+ Rats gang up on you, well...

[13_CBS]

As I've obviously revealed, Titan Quest.

People who dismiss it as a mere Diablo clone are missing out on quite a bit, I think. The developers took a lot of stuff from the Diablo games and streamlined it: looting is easier, classes feel more flexible, you can undo and redo your entire skill set to a degree, etc. Plus, it's set in fantasy Ancient Greece, Egypt, and China! You don't get a whole lot of RPGs that deal with such settings.

[MickJay]

Dungeon Lords... boy, does that bring the memories. Like shooting a dragon with a bow for 30 minutes and getting massive XP as reward for the tedium. Or the same with elven ghosts which probably weren't even supposed to be killed (bypassing them worked just fine). The endless series of annoying random encounters. The long distances you had to walk which served a single purpose of getting more annoying random encounters for you to dispatch... The game had its good sides (some of the quests) and with a few different solutions in gameplay, I'd have liked it a lot more, but I simply got bored of fighting opponents that just appeared out of thin air every 20-30 seconds.

[Optimystik]

Actually, The movie (In the name of the King) was pretty good. But I digress:

You've got to be kidding. Between Jason Statham's hammy acting and Uwe Boll's mind-boggling lack of directing skills (how does he keep getting franchises to butcher??) it was a train wreck. Blizzard very thankfully shot him down (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52322) when he offered to do the World of Warcraft movie.

I loved Sacred, it had a lot of potential. If only it had a skill tree system instead of the item-based advancement of Diablo 1, I would have played it all the way through. When all the runes you find belong to other classes you can get really burned out on transmuting them into that one spell you need to level. The horse-back riding was pretty awesome though, especially riding circles around goblins and surrounding them with Fire Spirals.

[Maxymiuk]

Personally, I found neither Sacred, nor the sequel very grind-dependent. The enemies and loot drops level with you, so whether you go out and do all the sidequests, run around killing everything, or just follow the main plot is entirely up to you. What I liked about it the most was probably the skill system, which dispensed with mana, energy, and other such claptrap and was built around cooldown times.

Oh yeah, and the mountains of metahumor.


Two other games I should mention, if only to warn people away from them would be Loki and Silverfall.

Loki was touted as a game that could dethrone diablo, offering hundreds of hours of gameplay, thousands of possible items, an innovative combat system, yadda, yadda. What we got was four classes with a very straighjacketed progression both in terms of abilities and available gear (here's the sword you can use at level 3, here's the sword you can use at level 10 etc.) and stilted, boring combat, with an average of three types of enemies per area, with a new one being rotated in every other map or so. There were bloody hundreds of them. And you had to kill them all one by one, because you didn't get (decent) area effect abilities until late in the game.


Silverfall belongs to the category of games that I really like right at the start, but whose flaws really start to get to me about halfway through. It has an above average story about a conflict between nature and technology, with some ancient evil thrown in, the ability to stand on either side (which translates into accessing new skills), or staying neutral. You get up to two followers who level with you and are surprisingly competent, more so since you can tell them how to behave in combat. You have absolute freedom in how you design your character, with a very extensive ability tree, which covers melee and ranged combat of several kinds, three types of magic, racial skills, and nature/tech skills. Want an archer who summons an undead shadow to keep the enemies at bay? Cool. A lycanthrope that can throw fireballs? Go for it. A paladin dual-wielding chainsaws? Awesome.

My only real complaint about Silverfall - but it's bad enough to ruin it for me - is the very uneven difficulty curve. You start the game in a swamp, surrounded by undead that can absolutely murder you even on the lowest difficulty level (I bow my head before anyone who could make it out of there at anything higher than Normal, because I couldn't). When I started out with the game, I thought "ok, cool, I can do this. I just need a little tactics," and actually had a lot of fun playing a hero that isn't near-invincible against anything but bosses for a change. The problem started around the time I hit level 10 and made it out of the swamp, because that's when the difficulty curve dropped off rather abruptly, and never climbed back up.

Keep in mind, I'm not very good at optimizing builds, and this was my first character, so he had a lot of trial and error to him. But just by making choices that seemed logical to me as far as my character concept went (melee technologist), I ended up absolutely tearing apart everything that stood in my path. My last death with that character was around level 25, to an absolute swarm of enemies in tight quarters.

By the time I got to the final boss, I hit level 50. The fight lasted five seconds. It would have lasted two if he didn't open with an AoE knockdown.

I tried replaying the game later on a higher difficulty level, but as I already mentioned, a level 2 ghoul is death on legs.

[Rutskarn]

The worst Diablo clone, clearly, was Dungeons Siege. Don't get me wrong--first time I played Dungeon Siege, I loved it. I was confused by reports from a friend who played it halfway, decided to go back and change his build, played it for another five minutes, then consigned the disc to the scrap heap. Seemed like a nice, mindless game to me.

Well, that's the problem. It is mindless. It's too mindless. You don't even have to click to attack your enemies after they've been selected. All you need to do is move your character through the dungeon, occasionally removing your hands from the keyboard as your avatar bashes away, tapping the relevant potion buttons when necessary. It's always the same. Every time you play it, it will be the same.

Without the drive to see what the next area is, it loses its luster rather quickly.

[Fri]

The best somewhat diablo clone is an underdog game made by a polish studio... Divine Divinity. Still one of my favourite game.

More like the cross between diablo and baldurs gate, I only got this game a couple of years ago in a bin of old game, and God... This is THE ONE GAME that I've been looking for since ages ago. Planescape torment got epic storyline, baldurs gate is awesome, but THIS IS IT! The game that I always wanted to play.

Well, it's a hack and slash game, click enemy to attack, with random lewt, rare items, and everything. We have skill tree, base class, and such thing. But it also got persistent open world with towns and dungeons, npcs bearing quests and more or less epic storyline. Plus it got awesome soundtrack.

Just imagine what if baldur gate got diablo mechanic then.

I wonder if there is other game like this. And I also wonder whether addition of team member will increase my enjoyment of this game or not, since my only gripes was only I was rather lonely, hacking skeleton alone in dungeons deep under the city.

[Indon]

I loved Sacred, it had a lot of potential. If only it had a skill tree system instead of the item-based advancement of Diablo 1, I would have played it all the way through. When all the runes you find belong to other classes you can get really burned out on transmuting them into that one spell you need to level. The horse-back riding was pretty awesome though, especially riding circles around goblins and surrounding them with Fire Spirals.

Sacred was really fun for setting up your one God-combo with all your most powerful abilities combined.

My most recent character was a Wood Elf - the god-combo was Multiple Shot + Spider Shotx3. It summoned so many tiny spiders that it could attack-lock (there's a formal term in Diablo for it, but I don't recall - when you attack a target so quickly that it's stuck in its' reeling-back-from-being-hit animation indefinitely) anything. I burned down a few dragons that way.

The lack of skill limit was another good one - my summon had like three times my level (though obviously, no ridiculously powerful skills, so it was mostly just a tank).

As for grinding, well, frankly to me the entire game felt grindy. Add in the fact that there were apparently a large number of difficulty levels (I've yet to play past the second), and, well.

"Divine Divinity" certainly sounds interesting. The title alone screams, "Do not take this game too seriously, it's just for fun".

[Optimystik]

The best somewhat diablo clone is an underdog game made by a polish studio... Divine Divinity. Still one of my favourite game.

I never got to play it, but I know it got great reviews. :smallsmile:


Sacred was really fun for setting up your one God-combo with all your most powerful abilities combined.

My most recent character was a Wood Elf - the god-combo was Multiple Shot + Spider Shotx3. It summoned so many tiny spiders that it could attack-lock (there's a formal term in Diablo for it, but I don't recall - when you attack a target so quickly that it's stuck in its' reeling-back-from-being-hit animation indefinitely) anything. I burned down a few dragons that way.

Diablo 2 called it stunlock. You could do it with a Buriza and Guided Arrow before they nerfed it in 1.10 (Buriza has 100% pierce, so the bolt would pierce the enemy, do a 180, and home in on them again until dead.) Later, Smitedins did it with the knockback on their shield and Charge to get in close.

[Tharivol123]

Can't remember the name of it, but there is a Neverwinter Nights mod that is, in essence, a Diablo and Diablo II remake but with D&D classes, abilities, and monsters. All in all it was fairly fun, but when you get near epic the game just gets too easy, especially if you are a primary spellcaster.

[Khanderas]

A funny detail about Dungeon Siege is something some reviewer said.
You play it, have some fun but dont know WHY.
And it is true. You play forward, dont care much about plot, skilltrees or antying. Combat is often all but automatic, often back up to heal and wait.
Spells are 9 times of 10 worse then melee (infact the smart thing to do is to level as melee for the first bit as that increases your health and str) and you rarely feel ûber anything.

Yet... one keeps playing. I think it is like bored internet surfing. You stay doing it even if it bores you while you are doing it.

But I do like the donkey in single player. And that nature school summon you can get, something more games should copy:
A golem. No, it hasn't been done like the one Im thinking of. The golem I am talking about is a small physically weak little crapper who stays away from fights, but his job is to loot for you. So the little bugger loots things so you dont have to. Awsome !
Dont remember what his carry limit was but it was huge. When you wanted your stuff one just dismissed him by clicking on him and he was dispelled and the loot filled the ground.

[Augmented Lurk]

Yeah, Dungeon Siege starts out awesome, but after a few hours it starts to dawn on you how repetitive and one-dimensional it really is. It's also incredibly unbalanced. Not only are spellcasters horribly underpowered, they also level much slower than melee/archery characters. The lack of viable character options really kills the replay value.

[Maxymiuk]

I played Dungeon Siege for the epic soundtrack, especially the main theme and the full orchestral version you got for the final boss. But yeah, it got boring really fast after the first playthrough.

[Zeful]

Titan quest is a really great game, especially if you just randomly explore. And it's one of the few games where a level 5 weapon will still be used at level 15 (mostly because the RNG hates me, and never has anything good).

[Indon]

Hmm, now that probably makes me want to play Titan's Quest more than anything else I've heard.

I like exploration in my diablo clones - I've probably spent more time getting lost in the wilderness in Sacred than actually doing quests, and I love playing D2 mods with more explorative areas.

[Zeful]

Hmm, now that probably makes me want to play Titan's Quest more than anything else I've heard.

I like exploration in my diablo clones - I've probably spent more time getting lost in the wilderness in Sacred than actually doing quests, and I love playing D2 mods with more explorative areas.

Another great thing about Titan Quest. You can use whatever weapons you want, with almost any of the "Classes" (called masteries). Want to be an archer? Spend most of the attribute points in Dexterity and Strength. Melee? Strength. The only build you really can't do is Warfare or Defense, and use staffs. Most of their abilities are geared towards specific type of character.

But yeah, there are a lot of little areas to explore that are all pretty cool, and it has a ton of side quests.

[Maxymiuk]

But yeah, there are a lot of little areas to explore that are all pretty cool, and it has a ton of side quests.

Not nearly as many as in Sacred though. TQ is much more linear too, and definitely smaller - you have your main road to follow and the occasional cave, graveyard, temple or warcamp to explore off to the side. Not saying it isn't a fun game, but it definitely doesn't compare to Sacred when it comes to the size and variety of the world.

[13_CBS]

Speaking of Titan Quest...I'm seriously considering a doing Let's Explore of it, assuming that I can run both TQ and Fraps at the same time. Be on the lookout! :smallbiggrin:

[Fri]

I played Titan Quest for a while, but for some reason I was bored before even I left the first chapter (was it greek?).

I dunno why though, I liked diabo 2 though never actually finished it. Maybe I chose the wrong class for me or something. Maybe I'll enjoy it better if I replay it now. But if I want to play a hack and slash game, I'd prefer to replay Divine Divinity or try something else entirely now.

Sacred sounds fun.

[Skorj]

Wow, I just tried Sacred and it was ... the second worst computer game I have ever played. :eek: That's $10 and worse 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. For once, I should have let bad graphics in the screenshots scare me off. It gave Pacific Storm a run for its money as the worst game Steam has fooled me into buying.

Well, let's try Silverfall. It can't possibly be worse!

EDIT: I said "It can't possibly be worse!", with a predictable outcome. :smalleek: Silverfall is so poorly written that I can't adjust the video settings, because the video settings are somehow wrong for the video settings configuration window. Classic.

Dang, that game was expensive, too. :frown:

[mistformsquirrl]

Aha! This thread may be helpful <.<;;;

I'm playing Titan Quest at the moment myself >.< but I am having an incredibly frustrating problem ><;;;

The game crashes every 30min-2 hours (roughly - it can be fairly random) - there's no error message at all; the screen goes black and then I'm back to the desktop.

<;_;> I have Titan Quest: Gold (so the original game + Immortal Throne). I even tried the Fan Patch as it supposedly corrects a lot of issues... but sadly my crashing continues unabated.

Anyone else have this problem/know a way to fix it? <x.x> I'm kinda at wits end.

[Optimystik]

Sacred 2 is on XBox 360. It's more along the lines of action game than RPG, but I'm in hack and slash withdrawal until D3 debuts anyway, so I'll give it a whirl. :smallsmile:

[Zeful]

Aha! This thread may be helpful <.<;;;

I'm playing Titan Quest at the moment myself >.< but I am having an incredibly frustrating problem ><;;;

The game crashes every 30min-2 hours (roughly - it can be fairly random) - there's no error message at all; the screen goes black and then I'm back to the desktop.

<;_;> I have Titan Quest: Gold (so the original game + Immortal Throne). I even tried the Fan Patch as it supposedly corrects a lot of issues... but sadly my crashing continues unabated.

Anyone else have this problem/know a way to fix it? <x.x> I'm kinda at wits end.

I had this problem for a while, I never did fix it myself, but looking at the behaviour I think it could be graphics related. Try lowering the resolution a couple of steps.

If that doesn't work, try looking over www.titanquest.net/forums you might be able to find your problem in an FAQ.

[mistformsquirrl]

I shall give that a try >.< Willing to do just about anything at this point. Very frustrating since my comp can handle just about anything I throw at it <x,x>

Probably just bugs left over from Iron Lore falling apart after delivering Immortal Throne and Soulstorm <~_~> (I have both, wee! Good games; just... bugtacular)

*edit*


Aha... I may have it fixed! >.< The fix is rather obnoxious though <'x'> Run it in Windowed mode.

Don't ask me *why* it works; but I played for a good 4 hours earlier with nary a hitch - I haven't got it to play that long sans-problems for... a long while >.<b so hopefully that's that! Yay!

Also, Rogue + Defense is a lot of fun <o_o>

[Indon]

So I bought Titan Quest over the weekend.

It's not as exploralicious as Sacred, but the game seems much more solid (I'm not out of Greece yet, so bear that in mind).

I went Warfare+Defense, and I must say, hitting a low-HP enemy with a cleaver and knocking it half the screen away as it dies has a visceral appeal to it.

[13_CBS]

^ Warfare + Defense, eh? Good choice.

Strangely enough, TQ seems to reward "maxing the masteries rather than the skills" path. Many veterans believe that, instead of pumping points into low level skills, it's better to pump points into the masteries in stead. In the case of Warfare and Defense, your hitpoint total will go into the stratosphere since Defense and Warfare give you the biggest health boosts.

[Indon]

Yeah, the masteries are very solid places to put points. I'm probably only going to seriously invest in two or three Defense skills (as I'm not using a shield) and then 4-5 Warfare skills, and everything else is going into one of the masteries.

And indeed, my defensive strategy consists of having buckets of HP (level 15, about 1300 HP) and drinking potions to keep me up in long fights.

[13_CBS]

If you want to max damage, try playing a caster for your next character. At the moment, my level 27 Conjurer (Earth + Spirit) does about 750 damage per second when using Earth Enchantment, and much more if all three shots from a Ternion Attack hit a single target.

If hitting a satyr across the screen sounds fun, trying blowing one up off the map. :smallamused:

[Fri]

What's the least boring class to play in titan quest?

I think I play as the one with bow/spear, forgot which one back then, I was kinda bored, though maybe it got more to do with my mood that time. After reading this thread, I want to play it again. Any idea what to play?

[Zeful]

What's the least boring class to play in titan quest?

I think I play as the one with bow/spear, forgot which one back then, I was kinda bored, though maybe it got more to do with my mood that time. After reading this thread, I want to play it again. Any idea what to play?

Hunting Mastery is the Bow + spear route but what you should play really depends on you. For getting into the game again, I'd recommend Warfare as it has a high amount of passive skills. After that you can put your second matery as anything you like.

[Maxymiuk]

I thought he asked for nonboring classes, and Warfare is about as boring as they get from my experience. The Rogue set is a much more fun - and more effective - melee class, strangely enough.

My favorite was probably Nature/Irrelevant, playing as a summoner. The minion AI is surprisingly competent in that game - the wolves and the dryad have good targetting priorities, body block effectively and avoid ganging up on single, weak targets when there's a large group to deal with. They might max out in level before you're done with Act I, but thanks to +Skill shrines and items and the fact that their improved levels stick even after the shrine's effect wears off, they served me perfectly well up until the very end of the campaign, with them acting as shock troops to my boss sniping and support magic.

[Zeful]

I thought he asked for nonboring classes, and Warfare is about as boring as they get from my experience. The Rogue set is a much more fun - and more effective - melee class, strangely enough.

The least boring "class" in TQ is any of the full-casters (elementalist, conjurer etc.) however they are more complex and I would recommend any half-caster class to someone getting back into the game so that they can progress through the game without dieing to often.

[ocato]

Thank you for involving me in yet another round of "can my laptop run Titan's Quest?" So far, I'm 0-2. Maybe this time I'll find the magical video setting that makes it run smoothly. Or maybe I just need to get around to fixing my desktop. Either way, TQ is fun stuff. I want to try Nature/Earth. Wish me luck.

[13_CBS]

Don't forget to get the fanpatch Here! (http://www.titanquest.net/forums/bugfix-fanpatch/30510-rel-bugfix-patch-1-17-a.html) Otherwise, some skills won't work, like Ravages of Time.

As for the most non-boring character...as others have said, try a full caster who actually uses all or most of the spells, with maybe some pets. The easiest one probably will be the Conjurer, Earth + Spirit, thanks to the great combination of pets, auras, and spells. (Well, Spirit goes well with most other masteries, but still...)

[ocato]

of course, I complained and so it worked perfectly to make me feel silly. Nature/Earth seems okay so far, I'll probably focus on physical enhancements and pets and see how it goes. I could see Earth and Spirit being fun too.

[Zeful]

Don't forget to get the fanpatch Here! (http://www.titanquest.net/forums/bugfix-fanpatch/30510-rel-bugfix-patch-1-17-a.html) Otherwise, some skills won't work, like Ravages of Time.

Wait, Ravages Of Time doesn't work? It seems to work when I use it.:smallconfused:

[soozenw]

This thread got me playing TQ. *sigh* Yet another game that I'm obsessed with now.

[13_CBS]

Wait, Ravages Of Time doesn't work? It seems to work when I use it.:smallconfused:

Apparently not, without the fanpatch. It looks like it does since the aura does indeed appear on top of Deathchill, but according to the fan modders, Ravages of Time didn't work until the patch. With the patch, it became a separate active skill (that is, it doesn't immediately activate when you activate Deathchill).


of course, I complained and so it worked perfectly to make me feel silly. Nature/Earth seems okay so far, I'll probably focus on physical enhancements and pets and see how it goes. I could see Earth and Spirit being fun too.

If you want sheer offensive power, go for a staff mage Conjurer.

My build for such a character follows this guideline:

1) Use your higher level characters to get some good fire damage staffs for your character.

2) Upgrade Earth mastery ASAP, while putting one point into Earth Enchantment and enough points into Spirit to get to Arcane Lore.

3) Once you've maxed Earth mastery, start maxing Arcane Lore, Brimstone, Earth Enchantment, Ternion Attack, and Volativity in that order (though it's worth it to put 1 point into Volativity as soon as you've mastered Earth). Don't bother putting points into anything else unless you've already maxed them all.

4) For stats, pump Intelligence and pretty much only Intelligence. You can use the occasional bit of equipment to boost your other stats, but Intelligence is all you really need. Once you hit 100 or so in Dexterity, you'll be fine in terms of meeting equipment Dexterity requirements for a good while.

5) Get items that give you % boosts to Intelligence (the more Int you have, the more powerful your elemental damage, and staffs do only elemental damage) and boosts to elemental damage.

6) Carry a lightning or cold staff with you for dealing with fire-resistant enemies. Your damage will suffer due to the lack of boosts from Earth Enchantment, but you'll still be doling out plenty of hurt...just not ridiculous amounts of it.

You'll pretty much one shot anything that's not a boss, a hero, or a big tough normal monster (like Satyr brutes, Yetis, etc). Since Arcane Lore makes your triple-shot staff attacks explode, your shots will hit large numbers of massed enemies easily. And since your Ternion attacks will explode, you'll also send weaker enemies into the stratosphere. :smallbiggrin:

The Conjurer I mentioned before does about 700-800 damage per shot with Earth Enchantment and Brimstone maxed, and he has 109% attack speed. He takes damage easily due to archers and other casters, unfortunately, but I managed to kill anything and everything with little trouble, and never died once (until I got to that unique Neanderthal in the mountains...stupid one-shotting ice comet spell. :smallannoyed:). Forget about Volcanic Orb or even pets, just kill everything with your staff.

[Indon]

Question: Am I the only one who wonders what the game designers thought the ancient greek concept of "Necromancy" was?

Looking at the items I get, I get the impression they thought Necromancy involved hitting undead things very hard to magically make them dead again.

Edit: Also, tried my hand at a Nature/Earth summoner. I have fire wolves.