Ode

As I sit here, waiting at the install screen for Diablo 3, my memories are flooded with palpable memories of the Diablo franchise. 

I harken back to day of a youth when I was the first kid on the block to get Diablo I.  The first time I heard Deckard Cain’s voice.  The first time I stepped down into those desolate, dark cathedral walls.  Franticly clicking like a mad man.  That first time a boss exploded on me and I died.  I was hooked on hack n’ slash ems for life.

Those days of logging onto Battle.net and wondering if you had aligned your 28.8 (56K if you were pimpin’) modem justttttt right and got the green connection.   It seemed most of us were saddled with the yellow latency, or even worse, that horrible, horrible red.  The days of joining games and hoping & praying to the Internet gods that people in your game would be all green.  One red connection, spelling death for all the warriors of legend.

The duping.  Oh my, the duping.  The first time my friend whispered, “Hey man, I learned this secret on creating more gold.  Want to know?”  As a starry eyed kid still learning how to play, how could I say no?  And PKs....In town.  Or anywhere.  The wild-wild west, where it was not intended.

Then stepping into the “legit” scene.  Having to somehow earn cred as being legit and never duping or hacking.  Looking back, I’m not sure why anyone was believed; after all, the leader was found to have duped the fabled Obsidian Chest Plate of the Whale (or something close to that moniker- it was the best chest piece).  I guess on some level, we wanted to believe that on some level, there was legitimacy in the game.  That some of what we were playing was real, that not only were the hydras and fireballs my sorcerer would pew pew on countless Laz Runs a part of my every day life, but that loot I received was real, yo.

Diablo 2.  Oh, how many more hours in high school and college did I waste on you.  Running countless Baal runs to get to level 99.  Much as I loved Diablo 2, by now, I was no longer that kid with eyes agape at the first bright pixels in a truly epic game.  Sure, I played other games before Diablo I, but something about that game set it apart.  And besides by the time I got into D2, there was Civilization, Master of Magic, Goldeneye, etc.  Many other games to sink my hours into. 

Now, the third iteration of the fabled Blizzard franchise.

Will Activision cause Blizzard to screw this up?

Will the real-gold auction house make the game loose its escapism and bring too much reality to a fantasy world? 

With the clickity-clack of my keyboard/mouse cause my wrist to fall off?

I don’t know.

What I do know is my wrist & mighty keyboard/mouse of +2 slaying will see you in hell.