“Diablo 2” – I Finally Did It!

I started to play Diablo 2 (PC) back in 2001. I play solo, and my first character was an amazon because I like to use bows in RPGs and she’s good with them. I don’t know if I started with patch version 1.08 or 1.09. What I know is that with each new patch the skills of my amazon got dumped down more and more. Or in other words: skill combinations that worked in 1.08 (or 1.09) no longer worked so well in 1.11 (my current version). Result: my amazon has a lot of trouble on the highest difficulty level with (bow)skills more or less all over the place. Plus, she has rather crappy gear.

I started other characters. My cookie-cutter sorceress played on the same difficulty level as my amazon in no time at all. And with no trouble at all. Grrr. But I wanted to beat Diablo 2 with an amazon first, and preferable with my first one. The last time she was seen was on Hell difficulty before “The Ancients” quest at the end of July in 2006. That was the last time I played this game.

Yesterday night, it snowed outside for the first time this winter and there it was. I felt like playing Diablo 2 again. So I sat down and crap – I had forgotten a lot! I was slow and had trouble remembering the keys for my skills so it took me some time to get back into the game. I did my level-up and well, it was time to face the Ancients. After some tries, I thought I had “manageable” modifiers on them and got down to business. My merc got killed early and then it was only my valkyrie and I. The last Ancient standing had stone skin (very high resistance to/immune to physical attacks) and was immune to cold. Ups, not so manageable, and without my valkyrie, I would have had no chance. I think she killed him all by herself. But yeah, I did the quest and soldiered on to the last waypoint before the final boss Baal.

So today, this evening, I sat down again, intent on finally finishing this game. It was high time for Baal to die for the first time on hell difficulty on my PC.

Umh, yeah, I did it, all right, but I got my ass seriously kicked! Baal kept summoning his “twin” and draining my mana (and life) and I kept swallowing potions and making sure my valkyrie attacked the “real” Baal while also trying to attack Baal myself. Many trips to town to stock up on potions and arrows were in order. I also revived the merc often. Most of the time, he died right away, but sometimes he managed to chuck away at Baal’s hit points quite nicely for more than 20 seconds, so I kept doing it. Again, without the valkyrie, I would have been toast.

I didn’t look at the clock, but I was busy longer than I thought before I started playing. But I finally did it and that’s what counts. My all-over-the-place-skilled amazon beat Diablo 2 as my first character on Hell difficulty!

And I’ll never go to face Baal again with her on that difficulty level.

Gaming Again

It was really hot (= sweating without moving a muscle) here the last couple of weeks. Now at least you can do things without being covered in sweat with your first move. Which means, I started to play some games again.

Pharaoh
I installed an old PC game called Pharaoh and then, I kid you not, I nearly spent more time searching and trying to download the patch than playing the game. For some reason, Firefox had trouble connecting to the download server. I played some without the patch and finally got the idea to try it with Microsoft’s IE. The download was no problem.

Results?

– I’m still using Firefox (who would think otherwise?)
– I have yet to play Pharaoh with the patch installed.

Diablo II

• My Amazon is still on her quest to level up before taking on the Ancients. It would help if I would get better at keeping her alive (death = loss of experience)
• My Sorc finished the first quest in Act 1, Hell difficulty and she’ll be staying there for some time. I want to finish the game with my Amazon first. I just don’t want a cookie cutter build to be the first to kill Baal on Hell difficulty.
• I started two other characters: a Necromancer (“Vim”) and another Amazon (“Freya”).

Nothing To Show For My Time But This

It’s hot, my back aches a lot (I decided to get a bit more active and enrolled for a course to strengthen my back), and I’ve no engergy to do a thing.

Of course, I did manage this:

(= My sorceress Sorcy finished Diablo 2 on nightmare difficulty setting. Two down, one to go.)

The Wisdom Of Knowing When Enough Is Enough

… or: Why didn’t I just stick with reading?

I spent the weekend (May, 20-21) playing Diablo 2. This proved too much for the tendons of my right hand. I think that’s the cause, although I played this long before without any problems. Maybe it’s just that I have to accept getting older?

I did finish reading Frances Fyfield’s Seeking Sanctuary. And I should have stuck with reading. There were more than enough books to continue reading thanks to some recent shopping, but no ….

Anyway, from Monday on, my right hand was rather useless. It’s good that I’m left-handed – I could do most of the things without feeling too awkward. I don’t know why I don’t use my left hand and a mouse for left-handed persons. It feels, and always felt, strange. There was never any thought about it. I also use my right hand when I have to use some kind of racket (tennis, badminton, table-tennis, …).

Anyway, the result of the weekend 20-21 May, 2006:

– a finished book
– inflamed tendons

and this:

(= My sorceress Sorcy finished Diablo 2 on normal difficulty setting. One down, two to go.)