Video Games Change My Mind: Diablo II is the best video game of all time.

[Blockinlick]

This game, alongside TCG's, dominated my childhood and early adulthood and it to-some-degree, spoiled my relationship with my now-wife.

Like my other two big passions, guitar and Magic the Gathering, I was first introduced to Diablo II in 2002 when I was 13.

By now, I probably accumulated well-over 10,000 hours on BattleNet, with at least 300 hours into single-player.

I dabbled in virtually every facet of the game; expansion/classic, ladder/non-ladder, softcore/hardcore, iron man, untwink, DClone hunting, Ubers, VLLD/LLD/MLD/HLD (Dueling levels), Pub & BM PvP/Clan PvP/GM PvP/Stakes PvP (Forum Gold), open/closed BNet, private servers, PlugY, etc. You name it, I've done it.

No other PvP oriented game has that many facets to it. Now multiply that by the 20 staple character builds (Each with variants like ES vs Vita Sorc)(Each with varying gear options, like Upped Hoz vs Spirit ST or Smiters)

The possibilities for tinkering are as varied as a trading card game and competitive PvP is white-knuckle high-octane stuff.

Here's a video of me trolling/dueling high level characters on my lvl 30 LLD's.
(Excuse my toxic dumbassery, I was a bit of an asshole when I was younger)

 

[Yoshi]

Ocarina Of Time, mofo.

 

[Blockinlick]

Ocarina Of Time, mofo.

Hate to be so blunt... but

-extremely overrated game backed mostly by nostalgia.

It was a good game, but it gets more credit than it's earned because nostalgia.

 

[Beerus]

Ocarina Of Time, mofo.

That is up there for me. Loved that game.

 

[Blockinlick]

Ya'll wrong doe... lol

 

[Yoshi]

Majora's Mask is in close second.

 

[Blockinlick]

Majora's Mask is in close second.

*GRROOOAN*

 

[Blockinlick]

For real though.

By what metrics are we comparing these two games?

Replayability: D2 1,000-fold
Game-play depth: D2 by a landslide
Personalization: D2 by far
Skill & Technique required: D2 by far

Copies Sold: Ocarina 7.6m vs D2 4m
However, consider that D2 is a more niche game and this isn't a great metric to go by.
After all, games like Fortnite and Call of Duty dominate this metric.

Most people play Ocarina no more than twice through and get less than 100 hours out of it. It's a One&Done game and if you really liked it, you might go through it a second time. If you were a megafan (Like I am for FF7), you might play it through 5-10 times... So at most 400 hours.

The average D2 player doesn't stop at beating Diablo once or twice or even ten times. Megafans have played the game through hundreds of times and explored the nigh-infinite different ways to approach it.

It IS hard to compare an online ARPG to a single-player RPG though.

It would be easier to compare Ocarina to something like FF7. Which still beats Ocarina in every single one of the other metrics... especially in copies sold with over 12m. The Remake has already sold over 3.5m.

So if you wanted to debate me on whether FF7 is better than D2, you might give me a hard time, but Ocarina doesn't cut it next to those two juggernauts.

 

[Super Kami Guru]

The problem with changing someone elses' mind is that their mind is usually made up long before such a "debate" takes place. You played a lot of D2, so D2 is your favourite game. I didn't, so to me it's merely a good game that a lot of people played.

My favourite game ever changes quite frequently based on what I've played, what I've gone back to and how long it's been since I've played certain games. One day it's Panzer Dragoon Saga, another day it's FF7, another it's KotOR II, and others it's Megaman 2. There are many more that enter the rotation and many factors in my mind that change what game goes where on my list. No one can convince me that my favourite at that particular time is not my favourite, so I won't convince you that D2 isn't your favourite.

 

[Blockinlick]

The problem with changing someone elses' mind is that their mind is usually made up long before such a "debate" takes place. You played a lot of D2, so D2 is your favourite game. I didn't, so to me it's merely a good game that a lot of people played.

My favourite game ever changes quite frequently based on what I've played, what I've gone back to and how long it's been since I've played certain games. One day it's Panzer Dragoon Saga, another day it's FF7, another it's KotOR II, and others it's Megaman 2. There are many more that enter the rotation and many factors in my mind that change what game goes where on my list. No one can convince me that my favourite at that particular time is not my favourite, so I won't convince you that D2 isn't your favourite.

That's all true, but that doesn't mean we can't compare metrics for entertainment purposes.

 

[Super Kami Guru]

Fair enough, fair enough.

Then best chuck in some classics like Tetris and Super Mario Bros!

 

[Punkhead]

Best game of all time is Tertis...I don't know what y'all are talking about

Hate to be so blunt... but

-extremely overrated game backed mostly by nostalgia.

It was a good game, but it gets more credit than it's earned because nostalgia.

 

[Beerus]

Tertis

Pacman enters the chat

 

[Punkhead]

Pacman enters the chat

No one likes Pacman except for that one in Ohio...but he really loves Pacman

 

[Blockinlick]

I feel like virtually all vintage games are put on a nostalgia and innovation pedestal. The roles they played in their era are unrivaled and historically important, but by quality metrics, fall short in just about every area.

It's kind of like how Hendrix is almost unanimously considered the greatest guitarist of all time... despite the fact that, by todays standards, he had mediocre technical skill. If Hendrix was born 25 years ago, he'd probably be a nobody.

Don't get me wrong, Hendrix is one of the most important musicians in history, but only in the sense that he did things first, did them best for his time, and was widely popular during his time. That doesn't make him in any way objectively better than any other guitarist of our era.