| Blizzard Entertainment announced Diablo II, the sequel to this year’s number-one selling Diablo. |
| New features in the game will include:
Five all-new character classes with unique attributes and abilities.
Advanced combat system which incorporates class-specific fighting techniques and spells. |
| The title is currently slated for a late 1998 release. |
| here is some info that blizzard sent me on beta testing diablo II We are currently not able to process beta test requests through e-mail. However, when we need beta testers for our upcoming products, we will be posting an announcement on our web site, along with an application form. Keep an eye on our web site, www.blizzard.com, for information and updates! |
| Exclusive - Blizzard North interview at Gamestar magazine The German magazine, Gamestar, just had a 4 page interview with two of Blizzard North's designers who shared some more info on how Diablo II will be like. There will be 5 different character classes in Diablo II. One is a genuine fighter, one is some kind of sorcerer. 2 characters will be female. One of them will be an Amazon who is very good in using bows and spears, the other will probably be a female demon. A new kind of weapons will be the spears which can be thrown at enemies. Every kind of character will have his own spells. So in order to cast a certain spell you will need to be playing a certain character. This will surely add to Diablo II's replayablity value. The inventory (number of boxes in inventory screen) will also depend on the character you'll be playing. For example, fighters will be able to carry more than sorcerers. Every part of worn equipment changes the look of the character in play. You will see a difference in your character's look if you hold a scimitar or a longsword for example. The cities will be populated by a lot of different characters. They will not only stand in their shop (as in the original Diablo) but walk around and "live their lives". There will be different kinds of shops, but not every shop type will be in every town, so you will have to travel often. There will be fights in the towns! An example would be a big monster raid, where the character would have to save the town. There will be more interaction with the NPC's. For example, two different characters would like you to get them the same artifact. You will need to decide to whom to give it and face the consequences. There will be 4 cities in the game, surrounded by a vast wilderness area. You will not be able to get to all 4 towns at the start of the game. There will be a quest in which you have to clear a passage through the monsters in the mountain to gain access to the next town. A lot of the quests will make you wander between the cities to fulfill them. You will be able to combine certain items together in order to make them more effective. For example, gold bracers will not be very powerful with leather armor, but if you have a gold helmet, gold chain mail and gold bracers, the bracers will be a lot more effective! The fighters will be able to learn some special attack moves. Like an all-around-sweep, which damages every monster standing around you, but leaves you more vulnerable and taking more time than a normal attack. Blizzard are now experimenting with 3d graphics as well as 3d levels (as opposed to Diablo's flat levels). If the levels are created in 3d, you will probably be able to climb some of the objects such as rocks, mountains and trees. The upgraded engine will probably include multi-colored lightsources and animated rivers and lava that will actually flow downstream. Blizzard are considering making multiplayer games capable of hosting more then 4 characters at a time. There will probably be something like a trading post where players can meet with other players to exchange items. Blizzard North has about 20 people working on Diablo II right now, and for those of you looking forward to Warcraft Adventures, it will probably be pushed to the second quarter of 1998. There will be 3 types of monsters in the games: Standard monsters - Like the skeletons in the original Diablo, but this time they will come in a lot more variations, they will wear different armor and hold different weapons. Special monsters - Like the unique monsters with their own name in Diablo. They will almost always leave a unique item when they die. Special spellcasting monsters will use different spells then the rest of their kind. Boss monsters - They will be really big and dangerous freaks. They will each only be in a game once. As Erich Schaefer said: "You will instantly know when you are facing a boss!!!". This boss monsters will probably always have quests built around them (Kill the certain boss, get a certain weapon from a boss, etc.) |
| Although currently all of Battle.net's servers are located in the United States, this will soon change! Blizzard is already in negotiations with major ISPs in Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan in order to open new servers for international gamers. Blizzard is also working on localized versions of Battle.net in French, German, and Japanese! And yes, Battle.net will remain free! |
| This is totally unofficial, but it is said that Blizzard is very eager to release Diablo II as soon as possible... This doesn't mean they'll rush it out before it's as good as it can be, it means they'll assign more people to work on it! |
| PC Games had a small little bit of information on Diablo II, here is what they had to say: Blizzard hasn't said much about Diablo II since announcing it at the European Computer Trade Show in September. What they're promising so far includes "an expanded world with all-new quests, weapons, spells, armor, monsters, and NPCs; five new character classes with unique attributes and abilities; four different, fully populated towns with randomly generated dungeons and wilderness areas; an advanced combat system incorporating class-specific fighting techniques and spells; and new Battle.net options such as increased multiplayer support, and online trading post, and worldwide rankings." Diablo is sceduled for a late 1998 release. |
| Just a little info Blizzard inform me about, there is no cow level in diablo II, and there never will be a cow level in any products make by blizzard |
| A speech and audio compression/decompression technology called Meta Voice will add voice communication to future Internet games. This will allow real-time communication during mutliplayer games and will also allow the user to alter the tone or character of their voices. Blizzard can not confirm if the technology will be implemented in time for the release of Starcraft but it's likely to be used in DiabloII. |
| MetaVoice is a patent pending system that creates a model of
human speech. Unlike conventional voice compression methods
which condense the audio waveform to reduce bandwidth,
MetaVoice uses a model to capture every element of the human
voice including resonance, pitch, and timbre; essentially a recipe
for recreating the voice. The result is accurate voice reproduction,
while consuming the lowest possible bandwidth, storage and
processing power. MetaVoice supports unprecendented control over the encoding and playback of voice, making it ideal for interactive entertainment. VoiceFont technology, made possible by the way MetaVoice models the human voice, enables you to transform a normal speaking voice in real-time to create unique personalities. MetaVoice also supports pitch shifting and speed up or slow down of voice playback by up to 200% With Voxware’s VoiceFont technology, which is part of MetaVoice, you can turn a speaker’s voice into a completely different character, adding technological magic to multiplayer Diablo II. The VoiceFont toolkit allows users to manipulate human speech by adjusting timing, playback and other variables. A unique technology that opens new dimensions of creativity, the VoiceFont toolkit is the only solution available today to enable real-time voice transformation over the Internet at less than 3000 bps. |
| The dungeon ceilings will actually be high instead of low the ground ( as in cavern-like ) |
| The warrior classes will only use scrolls and staves ( not inherent magic ) but will learn physical attacks instead. |
| Around 10% of Diablo 1 monsters will be back, including zombies, fallen ones, and skeletons. |
| One new character is an amazon ( uses a spear ) and is a cross of the warrior and rogue. |
| Single player quests can be played in multi-player games ( on Battle.net, etc. ) |
| Five all-new character classes with unique attributes and abilities. ( 2 mages, 2 warriors, and 1 mix ) |
