Will Bosses be Reworked?

[radicool]

So In Diablo 2, you were required to finish the boss of each act before you could move on to the next act. And the bosses weren't just strong units, they were large, unique, scary things, with abilities. I think the only thing D2 bosses lacked were a variety of mechanics. So far Diablo has his own sprite model to make him look unique, spells which provide interest and mechanics forcing the players to dodge his abilities and think differently than they would with any other unit they fought, and an open room to fight him in.

Are there going to be any other bosses in Diablo 1 like this? At the moment, there are no bosses which behave on a scale like Diablo and in theory, you do not need to fight any bosses at all. They can all be skipped as you progress to the next level. The only bosses which have their own rooms are the Butcher and the demon guy in Horazons Sanctum, but even these bosses are just buffed units which are indifferent to other plain units in the sense they have no mechanics, unique models or many new spells.

Not sure how the game could go about this, if at all, but I think it's something worth considering. Thoughts?

[SlapZ]

I want to change Diablo 1 into Diablo 2. Thoughts?

No, just no.
Belzebub is a mod for D1, not a port of D2 into Diablo 1 engine.
True, there are things from D2 that work great in D1 - Gambling, item crafting, waypoints. But ffs, it's Diablo, not Diablo 2.

[radicool]

No, just no.
Belzebub is a mod for D1, not a port of D2 into Diablo 1 engine.
True, there are things from D2 that work great in D1 - Gambling, item crafting, waypoints. But ffs, it's Diablo, not Diablo 2.

Was just curious what other people thought about the idea. No need for the profanity, lol. Chill out. To what extent do you not agree with my point anyway? Making the bosses bigger and having different models (instead of using the same model as an existing unit)? Giving bosses spells? Making them required to fight before proceeding through the dungeon or just giving them their own room?

Anyway, I'm sure they will make quest bosses more interesting like the Arcane Valor boss. I found that fight to be fresh and interesting. Hope more quest bosses bring new ideas to the table.

[Jofuss]

That's actually something I always kind of liked about Diablo 1 vs Diablo 2. No one held your hand and made you follow a certain path. You could literally rush straight to Diablo not completing any other quests if you wanted to (Teleporting past guarded stairwells.)

In my opinion, it would be against the feel of original Diablo to start turning it into an idiot proof walk-through or narrated game of quests, something that was started in diablo 2 and exacerbated in diablo 3.

[radicool]

In my opinion, it would be against the feel of original Diablo to start turning it into an idiot proof walk-through or narrated game of quests, something that was started in diablo 2 and exacerbated in diablo 3.

I think I agree actually. However, I still think giving them their own spells, models, behaviours and/or mechanics could be good. Quest bosses like that butcher can be a little more exciting then just a unit that runs at you and attacks. Although I like that frightening and intimidating feel Diablo 1 and 2 gave you when bosses relentlessly ran at you, I still think throwing in a spell or 2 would be a little more interesting.

The bosses follow the same principle. They run at you. If your ranged, you must fight them up melee because you cannot distance yourself from a target that runs the same speed as you and does not pause. There are no tactical ways to fight a melee boss like the butcher. You just tank it and spam potions.

Anyway, I'm bringing up a point that I don't really have an answer to. Trying to implement new mechanics into the Diablo 1 engine could prove difficult without changing the feel and nature of the game, but at the same time, I kind of hope bosses in this mod will be a little more interesting than fighting a butcher who resembles a buffed up Overlord that you see in the Caves.

[Paar]

I think the Skeleton King is already buffed up. He can revive defeated skeletons and make their corpses explode. That's something that wasn't in the Vanilla Diablo. But The Butcher is rather generic with no special attacks (but has nice new arena).

Unfortunately, implementing new bosses with new models isn't so easy. You must create them, animate them and then render them in various angles. It's very time consuming and I don't think it is within the scope of this mod, which is focused on the original and unused content. So the developers must work with existing material.

For me there are other and more serious issues that need fixing. But it would be possible to make some special door or something that you could pass through only when you defeat the certain bosses. Or not.

[Andrettin]

I think the Skeleton King is already buffed up. He can revive defeated skeletons and make their corpses explode. That's something that wasn't in the Vanilla Diablo. But The Butcher is rather generic with no special attacks (but has nice new arena).

Well, it would be nice (and rather fitting) if the Butcher could use the "Cleave" skill.

[Jofuss]

Well, it would be nice (and rather fitting) if the Butcher could use the "Cleave" skill.

How do we know he doesn't already? Not like there's multiplayer... Has anyone lined up a bunch of minions in front of him to see if he does or does not cleave? If he doesn't I agree he probably should.