The D1 style play-through challenge! More fun than you think

I was reading the enigmas discussion and remembered, hey, running straight up wasn’t a thing in D1 (but

Teleport was), and i still enjoyed that game. I also wish light radius was a stat you’d actually worry about.

So i thought to myself “Self: just play the game like that!”

I started a new character, set my run/walk to walk only, set the brightness down to the lowest setting, both in the game and on my TV screen, i set it to players 8 too (recommend this for offline play), started from scratch, SSF style, barb character, and started to play.

Initially i was like “phft… it’s still super bright” forgetting there’s day/night cycles i went out into the blood more and ventured into

The Den of Evil…

Damn it’s dark … i also turned off all the lights in the room before i started… which made the sound way more important somehow?!

It’s actually fun!

The atmosphere is really good, kicking it up to P8 makes it much more dangerous, and the darkness does make it more fun. After a while you forget you’re walking and that just becomes the new normal. Because you’re slowing down you can appreciate the atmosphere of the sounds design again. It’s easy to forget this game is really fun at the start, and it’s not only the end-game when you become nigh-godlike that it can be enjoyed.

After i cleared the Den i went back to the blood Moore and was like “WTF? It’s dark out here too?!” Yea you can really tell day from night.

If you want i make it even more like D1 just turn the legacy graphics on, they’re still surprisingly enjoyable. I’mma play like this for a while.

Anyways it was a nice break from the hyper efficient killing of high end characters in the late game. If you want a break give it a try, I’ll bet you’ll like it!

Also..the sound from D1 was critical in creating said atmosphere.

The reverb all said & done.

And then, the pace of the background sound track because if you noticed...there are plateaus & peaks which create momentum. Something the successor did not capitalize on sadly.

Oh i also switch to the legacy graphics and zoomed in as much as possible… seems weird, when you zoom in you get harassed far less that you’d imagine from ranged enemies

Gotta admit, I got somewhat inspired by this...and just got my ass handed to me as a result...
<3


Side note:
I totally forgot how bad loot could be in D1... ^^

Extra side note:
Figures giving Blizz more money (to buy a game I already bought like 25 years ago, for half the price back then ~~) would just confirm that they're still bad. Can't even start the bloody thing from their launcher without first having to find the install and running it manually outside of the b.net app (seems to be the norm for people). Along with a few rendering issues that certainly did not exist 25yrs ago.
And still referring to the bloody cd-rom..tsk

:/

Just tried this with my level 90

Whirlwind Immortal King barbarian and his Act 2 merc buddy. Brightness to minimum, music volume 100, sound effects volume 10, players 8, no running. Just ventured into the terrorized Forgotten Tower. Took me a good half hour to get to

The Countess and kill her (rare 30% enhanced damage / +20 attack rating jewel dropped!). Used potions. Drew monsters out of rooms one-by-one. Went back to previous tower levels to rest and let the merc heal. Almost died. Marvelled at the burning pentagram. Opened all boxes/graves. Picked up all the gold. And after completing it, I felt like just having experienced an exciting and captivating story. All in all: 10/10, really nice change for some different type of fun!