Diablo 1 Quest: The Butcher

Now everyone  is dead---killed by a demon he called the Butcher. Avenge us!

The original Diablo has randomized quests as well as randomized dungeons, so I'll just be talking about the particular quests I run into as I play through the game with my Rogue named Diablowme.

The first quest I ran into focuses on a demon boss character known as the Butcher. As I approach the church that is also the entrance to the main dungeon in the game, I ran into a wounded man who begs me to kill the Butcher. Very well, into the dungeon I go.

I ran into the Butcher's lair on the second floor of the dungeon. I had my Rogue up to level 7 and felt cocky. I had a Long Bow equipped, the best Quilted Armor money could buy, and oodles of gold pieces. I thought I could kill the Butcher without a healing potion on my belt. I was very quickly proven wrong.

Opening the door to the Butcher's lair, the first thing I notice is all the dead bodies strewn around the room. I can't tell if they are for the Butcher to snack on or if they are laid around bleeding as a piece of living modern art. The Butcher bolted out of the room at a much faster speed than the skeletons I had faced earlier. He is an aggressive boss and will chase you and hack you to pieces with his cleaver if you let him. I wasn't planning on dying, but I did in a matter of seconds.

After loading the saved game (that's right, no automatic respawning in town if you die in the original Diablo) I purchased a bunch of healing potions from Pepin the Healer over in the Tristram town square and gave it another shot. I had to glug down five healing potions before I killed the Butcher, but it felt so good to strike him down. Before returning to town, I decided to scope out most of the third floor and a little bit of the fourth floor before getting my ass kicked.

If anything, the Butcher serves as a warning to players that Diablo is going to be a much harder game than the weak skeletons scattered around the first few floors make it appear to be. As they said in the instruction manuals for the old Sierra Online graphic adventures like King's Quest or Police Quest, save early and save often.

Anyone else have problems fighting the Butcher in the original Diablo, or was he a piece of cake to beat for you?

Diablo 1: Intro Cinematic

Blizzard has always been known for their exceptional level of quality in their cinematic sequences for their games. Although the intro cinematic for the original Diablo looks a bit creaky by modern standards, it still manages to convey the sense of dread and creepiness present in the game itself.

Abandoned homes, desolate fields, and a raven poking the eye out of a fresh corpse are the first thing we see. The ominous music, a more somber take on the classic Diablo leitmotif, builds as a knight enters an empty home only to see one of his brethren dead, his armor-clad body propped up against some barrels. Throughout these scenes, we repeatedly cut back to the image of a sword sticking out of a hillside at the brink of twilight. This is imagery reminiscent of the first Highlander film starring Christopher Lambert, where the immortal Connor MacLeod leaves his family sword at the grave of his deceased wife.

A trio of bodies hang off a tree, underlining that Diablo is going to be a much darker fantasy game in tone compared to Warcraft. The knight peers out from the shadows of the abandoned home. No monsters are present, but he shifts around uneasily. The locale changes to the inside of a dungeon, where we see a stone coffin in a dank room illuminated by torches. A mystical purple force radiates from the inside of the coffin as its lid slides over, starting to open. Menacing red eyes peer from the darkness.

The sword in the hill glows with colorful energy as the gem in its hilt burns the brightest of all. The purple energy from the coffin blows the top off as the knight enters the dungeon. We spiral through the stone hallways as we catch glimpes of goatmen and demons before Diablo himself screams from the darkness.

Although this is an intro cinematic that does not advance the plot any, it is effective at conveying the mood. Anyone thinks it still holds up?

What is Diablowme?

Diablowme is a blog where I'll be replaying the Diablo trilogy of computer games. I'll cover each game quest by quest, giving opinions on the narrative, gameplay, music, and so much more. I won't be playing each game with every class, but will try out a different type of class for each game or expansion.

If you want to play along with me, the full roster of games I'll be working my way through is as follows:

• Diablo
• Diablo: Hellfire (expansion to Diablo)
• Diablo II
• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (expansion to Diablo II)
• Diablo III

So strap on your helmet and grab your town portal scroll, because it's going to be a hellish ride!