Fascinating interview with Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

A place to talk about Diablo II as developed by Blizzard North.
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fearedbliss
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Fascinating interview with Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by fearedbliss »

I listened to this fascinating interview of Bill Roper that was released a little before Diablo II was released. Some of the stuff they spoke about:

- Body Part System (Convert Skill, Quills -> Arrows, Potions)
- The Paladin's "Fist of Heavens" was called "Hand of God" ?
- There was no character level limit.
- Attributes seems to have been called "Statistics".
- When you died, you were presented with a "Restart in Town" or "New Game" options. That reminds me of Diablo 1 Single Player.

Let me know what you think :D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDgwu9QVj4A
Gentle Wookiee
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Re: Fascinating interview of Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by Gentle Wookiee »

I had seen this when the video came out, super fascinating. I love listening/reading about games I love from before they were released. An amazing listen to anyone thinking about watching.

On a related note, if anyone has thought about reading to the "Stay a While and Listen" books by David Craddock (sp?), do it. I listened to the audio books of both and it was really interesting to hear bout some of the behind the scenes stuff.
Manny
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Re: Fascinating interview of Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by Manny »

Thanks for sharing this gem! I just listened to this while rushing my barb.

My favorite bits:

The guild hall that eventually showed up in WoW was meant for Diablo II.
Turning body parts into potions aka Alchemy.
There is no Cow Level xD
fearedbliss
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Re: Fascinating interview with Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by fearedbliss »

I'm currently listening to this interview with David Craddock (when he was still writing the Stay a While and Listen Book 1):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VBqap7q1zU

and I'll listen to this one next (which is after Book 1 was released):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL3rMqP_pEU

I've also purchased both books (in paperback form since they are definitely going to be publicly displayed in my house :D) and am excited to read them. The stuff I learn in there will not only influence just my general knowledge of Blizzard North and Blizzard, but also may even have impacts on Singling.

Book 1 (Amazon, Paperback)
Book 2 (Amazon, Paperback)
fearedbliss
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Re: Fascinating interview with Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by fearedbliss »

Another interview but this one from David Brevik. There's a few of these floating on the internet but every time I watch one, there's always something new to pick out, or re-evaluating stuff at a different time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_CXw4x61E

I kinda want to make a post to collect all of these interviews.
fearedbliss
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Re: Fascinating interview with Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by fearedbliss »

Mr. Llama released a new video recently interviewing Erich Schaefer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfuOcLUNm2g

I also forgot to post the ARPG round table that Kripparian hosted when he was at ExileCon this year. Brevik, Schaefer Brothers and a variety of other legends were there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0coFsOfLcPg
Manny
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Re: Fascinating interview with Bill Roper right before Diablo II was released

Post by Manny »

Haha, it's a small D2 world. I was just listening to that Erich Schaefer interview. Great stuff!
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