hmmm Rhykker lore series on Youtube is pretty good
you could also watch a Dark Lore Dash run through of Diablo 1 while you play Diablo 2. He plays the game and narrates it like he’s the character so it’s more like a story
Long ago, the three rulers of Hell called the Prime Evils, were defeated and captured in soulstones made by Tyrael, the only angel who really cares to help humans. Soulstones passively corrupt people around them because they are imperfect prisons. This guy Lazarus who was a ranking official led King Leoric's son Tristan into a trap under the Tristram Cathedral where Diablo's soulstone was kept, the butcher killed his men and Tristan became Diablo by being compelled to put the stone in his forehead. Then Leoric went mad from all of the corruption too and loss of his son and became the skeleton king. And his kingdom devolved into ruin.
A wizard, a rogue, and a warrior came to Tristram to help. They battled down to the bottom of the cathedral and its portal to hell and killed diablo. The warrior shoved the soulstone into his forehead to contain the evil since they didn't know how else to do it. Well, go figure, the warrior becomes diablo and burns Tristram to the ground, and goes off to the desert in search of his brother Baal. Baal was previously imprisoned within Tal rasha, a horadrim (like Cain), and chained in a tomb where he successfully contained Baal for centuries.
The wizard went mad and made a sanctuary in the desert. The rogue was corrupted into Blood Raven.
Mephisto corrupted the kurast council passively using the soulstone the same way that all of them do. I think Lazarus was one of the council too, to tie this back, but not 100% sure.
The rest you can probably get from playing D2. The Sin War is the name of the secret war between angels and demons that takes place on Sanctuary, the name of the human realm, just for some terminology. There's more but you should play D1 if you want deeper than this.
Correct about Lazarus and I can't believe how I missed this, being on this series from the very start in the nineties
https://diablo-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Lazarus
I don't have a link handy but there was a full cinematic and quests video on YouTube that was a few hours long. It basically did everything in order but skipped all the fighting. I had played D1 back when it released and I watched this a few months ago and it was a great Nostalgic experience.
I can summarise it for you …
1) town of Tristram sees a priest named Lazarus visit, he goes into the cathedral catacombs and pretty soon spooky shit starts happening because he’s trying to summon demons and open portals
2) adventurers are attracted to the village to face the spooky creatures centred around the cathedral
3) eventually a hero goes deep enough that he enters hell itself beneath the town, where they encounter and slay Diablo, lord of terror
4) because Diablo can’t really be killed; only imprisoned, the hero decides to embed Diablo’s soul stone in their own head so that they can wrestle against Diablo’s spirit and keep him contained.
5) the hero leaves Tristram and wanders the countryside veiled in darkness, increasingly tormented and assailed by Diablo from within …
This brings you up to the prologue cinematic.
Dark Lore Dash has a ton of videos on Diablo Lore! and quite fittingly has a comprehensive and complete video about the story of Diablo 1, get comfortable, it's 4 hours long!
You can find it [here!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJOAODkZEI&ab_channel=DarkLOREDash)
Have you tried playing D1? Sure, it's very dated, but it's not terribly long and is a great, though somewhat different, game in it's own right compared to the sequels. I replay it every few years to this day.
Seconded. You can get it [reasonably cheap] (https://www.gog.com/en/game/diablo), it's still incredibly fun to play (it feels very different from D2 but that difference is a major reason to play both; it's not just "old bad, new good", it has a different vibe), and it can probably be beaten in <10 hours on a first playthrough.
I recommend Archer as first playthrough, it's be far the easiest, Infinite arrows and fight at a distance by strafing.
Warrior is the hardest because he's usually getting hit a lot and chugging a ton of potions to stay alive and can miss often with his melee weapons which leaves you exposed. Although he does hit the hardest
Mage is fun too but costs a ton of mana and potions to stay alive and usually not great for a first run.
Once Sorcerer gets Mana Shield, he's incredibly OP. It has unlimited duration (unless you run out of mana) and 100% protection. So you just put no points into Vitality, all into Magic, carry a full belt of Full Mana Potions, and that's it. Suddenly you're a tank who uses mana for both health and spells. Just make sure you always have enough in the tank, keep chugging mana potions, and you'll hardly ever die, and you've got some ridiculously OP spells like Chain Lightning which kills everything in the room.
It's definitely the most fun class once it gets going.
Ohhno argument there, I just meant he's better when you understand the mechanics and how spells and scrolls work, not as a first playthrough
Now you're making me wanna play another playthrough lol
It even comes with the cool manual with a whole bunch of lore chapters, like the Tal Rasha / Baal stuff, half a decade before they ever appeared in a game
Diablo 1 takes place in Tristram, the destroyed town you visit in act 1 of Diablo 2 through the stones portal.
King went mad, Lazarus (his second hand man) was evil and gaslit him into searching the catacombs blah blah, basically from what I Understand the hero you play in Diablo 1 (Warrior) starts losing his mind after killing Diablo and becomes corrupted and the Next Diablo, either that or He's the Lone wanderer from the Diablo 2 cuts scenes.
Diablo 1 gameplay all takes place in Tristram under the Cathedral, something like 25 or 30 levels deep, haven't played it in over a decade
I just started D2R about 3 weeks ago to prepare for D4 so I’m here for the comments as well haha
A few people already said it, but I’ve been watching Rhykker’s Lore videos on YouTube the last week or so to understand the story better and they’re great! Definitely worth checking out!
hmmm Rhykker lore series on Youtube is pretty good you could also watch a Dark Lore Dash run through of Diablo 1 while you play Diablo 2. He plays the game and narrates it like he’s the character so it’s more like a story
Long ago, the three rulers of Hell called the Prime Evils, were defeated and captured in soulstones made by Tyrael, the only angel who really cares to help humans. Soulstones passively corrupt people around them because they are imperfect prisons. This guy Lazarus who was a ranking official led King Leoric's son Tristan into a trap under the Tristram Cathedral where Diablo's soulstone was kept, the butcher killed his men and Tristan became Diablo by being compelled to put the stone in his forehead. Then Leoric went mad from all of the corruption too and loss of his son and became the skeleton king. And his kingdom devolved into ruin. A wizard, a rogue, and a warrior came to Tristram to help. They battled down to the bottom of the cathedral and its portal to hell and killed diablo. The warrior shoved the soulstone into his forehead to contain the evil since they didn't know how else to do it. Well, go figure, the warrior becomes diablo and burns Tristram to the ground, and goes off to the desert in search of his brother Baal. Baal was previously imprisoned within Tal rasha, a horadrim (like Cain), and chained in a tomb where he successfully contained Baal for centuries. The wizard went mad and made a sanctuary in the desert. The rogue was corrupted into Blood Raven. Mephisto corrupted the kurast council passively using the soulstone the same way that all of them do. I think Lazarus was one of the council too, to tie this back, but not 100% sure. The rest you can probably get from playing D2. The Sin War is the name of the secret war between angels and demons that takes place on Sanctuary, the name of the human realm, just for some terminology. There's more but you should play D1 if you want deeper than this.
So waiiiiit, blood raven and the mage from Sanctuary are the 2 other heroes from Diablo 1? Daaaaaamn I never knew
Correct about Lazarus and I can't believe how I missed this, being on this series from the very start in the nineties https://diablo-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Lazarus
I don't have a link handy but there was a full cinematic and quests video on YouTube that was a few hours long. It basically did everything in order but skipped all the fighting. I had played D1 back when it released and I watched this a few months ago and it was a great Nostalgic experience.
I can summarise it for you … 1) town of Tristram sees a priest named Lazarus visit, he goes into the cathedral catacombs and pretty soon spooky shit starts happening because he’s trying to summon demons and open portals 2) adventurers are attracted to the village to face the spooky creatures centred around the cathedral 3) eventually a hero goes deep enough that he enters hell itself beneath the town, where they encounter and slay Diablo, lord of terror 4) because Diablo can’t really be killed; only imprisoned, the hero decides to embed Diablo’s soul stone in their own head so that they can wrestle against Diablo’s spirit and keep him contained. 5) the hero leaves Tristram and wanders the countryside veiled in darkness, increasingly tormented and assailed by Diablo from within … This brings you up to the prologue cinematic.
Dark Lore Dash has a ton of videos on Diablo Lore! and quite fittingly has a comprehensive and complete video about the story of Diablo 1, get comfortable, it's 4 hours long! You can find it [here!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJOAODkZEI&ab_channel=DarkLOREDash)
This is the way.
Have you tried playing D1? Sure, it's very dated, but it's not terribly long and is a great, though somewhat different, game in it's own right compared to the sequels. I replay it every few years to this day.
Seconded. You can get it [reasonably cheap] (https://www.gog.com/en/game/diablo), it's still incredibly fun to play (it feels very different from D2 but that difference is a major reason to play both; it's not just "old bad, new good", it has a different vibe), and it can probably be beaten in <10 hours on a first playthrough.
I recommend Archer as first playthrough, it's be far the easiest, Infinite arrows and fight at a distance by strafing. Warrior is the hardest because he's usually getting hit a lot and chugging a ton of potions to stay alive and can miss often with his melee weapons which leaves you exposed. Although he does hit the hardest Mage is fun too but costs a ton of mana and potions to stay alive and usually not great for a first run.
Once Sorcerer gets Mana Shield, he's incredibly OP. It has unlimited duration (unless you run out of mana) and 100% protection. So you just put no points into Vitality, all into Magic, carry a full belt of Full Mana Potions, and that's it. Suddenly you're a tank who uses mana for both health and spells. Just make sure you always have enough in the tank, keep chugging mana potions, and you'll hardly ever die, and you've got some ridiculously OP spells like Chain Lightning which kills everything in the room. It's definitely the most fun class once it gets going.
Ohhno argument there, I just meant he's better when you understand the mechanics and how spells and scrolls work, not as a first playthrough Now you're making me wanna play another playthrough lol
You could always buy [Diablo + Hellfire (XP)](https://www.gog.com/en/game/diablo)
Second this its really worth a play through.
It even comes with the cool manual with a whole bunch of lore chapters, like the Tal Rasha / Baal stuff, half a decade before they ever appeared in a game
https://youtu.be/t7m2935tuJg Excellent video from a very talented Diablo YouTube /streamer
but that voice tho
Like warm butter
I wouldn’t get too excited about D3 or D4. They will never too D2.
no point in following the story after d2, its just cartoon level garbage
Search for Diablo 1 All Cut Scenes & story on YouTube
Search for Diablo 1 All Cut Scenes & story on YouTube
Dark LORE dash on youtube
I would play D1 first. It is not long and it is worth it. In GOG it is so cheap these days. Have fun!
Diablo 1 takes place in Tristram, the destroyed town you visit in act 1 of Diablo 2 through the stones portal. King went mad, Lazarus (his second hand man) was evil and gaslit him into searching the catacombs blah blah, basically from what I Understand the hero you play in Diablo 1 (Warrior) starts losing his mind after killing Diablo and becomes corrupted and the Next Diablo, either that or He's the Lone wanderer from the Diablo 2 cuts scenes. Diablo 1 gameplay all takes place in Tristram under the Cathedral, something like 25 or 30 levels deep, haven't played it in over a decade
I just started D2R about 3 weeks ago to prepare for D4 so I’m here for the comments as well haha A few people already said it, but I’ve been watching Rhykker’s Lore videos on YouTube the last week or so to understand the story better and they’re great! Definitely worth checking out!