The History of Blizzard’s Masterpiece: The Diablo Series - Part 1

The Diablo series, developed by Blizzard Entertainment, is the franchise that solidified Action RPG as a definitive genre, and new installments continue to be released to this day.

With the release of Diablo 1 in 1996, it captured the hearts of gamers worldwide through its dark fantasy setting, immersive gameplay, and storytelling.

디아블로 1 (1996)

In 1996, Diablo 1 was released, a game praised as a legend of Action RPGs that laid the entire foundation for the genre.

Set in the village of Tristram, the story follows a protagonist known as the Hero who descends into the labyrinth beneath the village church to defeat Diablo on the final floor.

The game’s story, design, and sound were all perfectly crafted to fit the dark fantasy theme, establishing core elements such as dungeons, real-time combat, and the concept of randomized loot drops.

Players can choose from three characters: the Warrior, who uses one-handed swords with shields or two-handed weapons; the Rogue (Amazon), who uses bows as a primary weapon; and the Sorcerer, who uses staves and magic.

As you level up, you are granted stat points, allowing you to develop your character in the direction you desire.

However, to preserve the unique identity of each class, limits were placed on Strength and Intelligence for the Warrior and Sorcerer, preventing them from increasing those stats indefinitely.

While items drop randomly, there are "Unique Items" that can be obtained by hunting specific boss monsters.

Skills are not learned automatically but through "Skill Books" found during gameplay, and whether you can learn them depends on your Intelligence stat.

In 1998, the expansion "Hellfire" was released, introducing a new character, the Monk.

The Monk is a hand-to-hand fighter with well-balanced stats who can use bare hands or two-handed weapons.

Diablo 1 overwhelmed other games with its unique dark atmosphere; the scene on the second floor where "The Butcher" shouts "Ah~ Fresh meat!" while ruthlessly slaughtering the player remains vivid in memory.

Diablo 2 (2000)

With the release of Diablo 2 in 2000, the franchise's popularity reached its peak.

It featured improved graphics over its predecessor, an expanded world, longer playtime, more character classes, and a greater variety of boss monsters.

Players can choose from the Amazon, Barbarian, Necromancer, Paladin, or Sorceress to conquer Sanctuary.

The game consists of four Acts, featuring bosses such as Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto, and finally Diablo; once Act 4 is cleared, players can restart the game at a higher difficulty.

There are three difficulty levels—Normal, Nightmare, and Hell; monsters become progressively stronger, and character resistances suffer penalties, forcing players to face much tougher enemies.

Since items drop across all monsters without being restricted to specific ones, many players repeatedly hunt easier boss monsters to farm their gear.

Items are categorized into Normal, Magic, Rare, Unique, and Set; wearing a full set specific to a class provides benefits such as skill and stat boosts.

Additionally, players can create "Crafted Items" through crafting and collect runes to forge powerful "Runeword" items.

In 2001, the expansion "Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction" was released, adding Act 5 and two new character classes (Assassin and Druid).

The boss of Act 5 is Baal, a formidable foe who uses cold and fire magic; players must also defeat powerful sub-bosses before reaching him.

The success of Diablo 2 was due to its excellent gameplay, but also because a strong community was formed through Battle.net, enabling smooth communication between players.

Furthermore, the ability to trade items between users had a significant impact on the item trading market.

Battle.net began with Europe, U.S. East, U.S. West, and Asia servers, but as the Asia server became paralyzed, it was expanded to include up to three Asia servers.

The Dark History of Diablo 2

However, Diablo 2 also had its dark history. The item market collapsed due to item and gold duplication (duping); although Blizzard attempted to stop this through consistent patches, it was not enough to prevent it entirely.

Specifically, "The Stone of Jordan" (SoJ), which was duplicated so much it was called the currency of Diablo 2, was heavily traded; later, Blizzard's anti-duping patches caused these rings to disappear or decrease in count.

In truth, this dark history of Diablo 2 was not the fault of the developer, Blizzard, but occurred because of bugs and a small number of players who exploited them.

Currently, "Diablo 2: Resurrected" has been released and is enjoying steady popularity once again.