Diablo 2. How many hours of my life have I lost to you? I’d be willing to bet that only EverQuest II has more of my play hours invested in it than Diablo 2. It was also the victim of one of my harshest game burnouts ever. I was already growing tired of the repetitive gameplay by the time the expansion, Lord of Destruction, came out. After LoD’s release, I whipped through the content as quickly as possible just so I could get to the end. After killing Baal, I quit the game and never went back. I was done.

For the past while I’ve had an urge to bring out my old game discs and try it out again, which I finally did following the announcement of Diablo 3. At present, I’ve had two relatively short play sessions with it and am currently standing at the Outer Cloister in the Monastery. Honestly, I’m having a difficult time seeing why I loved the game as much as I did. I like the story behind it, but gameplay-wise, so much of it feels like a chore. Regardless, I’ve vowed to at least fight my way through to the end of Act 1. After that, whether I continue or not will be up in the air. I may force myself to complete the game again, given that I’ve only killed Baal the one time.

The whole experience got me wondering if I’d be able to go back to any of my old favourites and try them again. My inability to enjoy my brief return to EverQuest II during its Living Legacy promotion has me wondering if I’ll be able to go back to it when the next expansion comes out, like I said I would.

I’ve actually got a few games on my shelf that I’d like to check out again which I’ll get to as soon as I determine how much further I’m going to take Diablo 2. At the top of that list are Baldur’s Gate II and Fallout 2. It’ll be interesting, for me at least, to see if I can enjoy them again. I’m going to do my best to dedicate some time to these older games and report my findings here.