How One Gameplay Decision Changed Diablo Forever

Diablo lead programmer David Brevik breaks down the genesis and development of a PC hack & slash masterpiece. Unbeknownst to some, the original concept for Diablo called for a traditional, turn-based RPG - a genre Brevik came of age with and was heavily influenced by. However, following a fateful vote by show of hands at the Blizzard North offices, Diablo became something new entirely and an initially reluctant David Brevik was on the cusp of creating the first entry in a legendary action role-playing series -

https://youtu.be/huPF3Gid7DE

I watched that a few months ago to get a sense of the nostalgia I had playing D2 back in the day. When he recounted how pretty much everything felt right taking the game to live action, at first I thought to myself, "Well, DUHH...".

Now I, like many other older folks, hear this again with our slower reflexes and broken bodies and feel a little betrayed.

No question at all Diablo and ARPGs wouldn't exist without action. For all the same reasons, beloved TBS titles such as Civilization and Total War wound up being the feeble satellite to the binary star alpha that are Age games and Starcraft.

It's great that I could design literally any type of game and someone else can take that game and turn it into an action shooter/RPG and make it a household word.

At the same time, any type of game I could design for a slower-paced and more cooperative play style can be gutted and reworked as an ARPG and kids would play that instead and look down on people who went with the turn-based design the same way we go "Well, DUHH" when Brevik ran with his instincts.