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  1. #1
    Old God Soon-TM's Avatar
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    Exclamation D2 Remastered in the works?

    I was just reading this article, and this part immediately caught my eye:

    Quote Originally Posted by Bloomberg News
    Blizzard, the maker of games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch, has traditionally developed most of its games in-house. But in recent years, the Activision publishing arm has taken a stronger hand in Blizzard’s operations. Vicarious Visions, based in Albany, New York, has been working with Blizzard since last year on the Diablo franchise, including a planned remake of Diablo II, people familiar with the plans said. They asked not to be identified discussing private information.
    The article also contains some interesting bits about the WC3 Reforged whereabouts, it's well worth a read imo. Being written by Jason Schreier is also a plus.
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  2. #2
    VV got absorbed into Blizzard, moreso the Diablo team to help with the D2 Remake and to assist with D4.
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  3. #3
    I really do want a D2 remake but weren't most of the original assets lost, and what they managed to save corrupted?

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Forteofgray View Post
    I really do want a D2 remake but weren't most of the original assets lost, and what they managed to save corrupted?
    Assets shouldn't be an issue if its lost since assets are usually what you replace in remasters/remake.

    Remember that they said the same for classic though and they still remade it. Highly doubt they can't remake the d2 code.
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  5. #5
    Herald of the Titans Aurabolt's Avatar
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    Good to see Blizzard admitted WCIII:Reforged was poorly received.

    The poor advertising and lack of new content probably had a lot to do with that. I know a few folks were hoping for either another expansion or extra missions to fill the Lore gap between the end of WCIII and the beginning of WoW.


    Quote Originally Posted by Forteofgray View Post
    I really do want a D2 remake but weren't most of the original assets lost, and what they managed to save corrupted?
    D2 + LoD is still for sale on the Blizzard Store. I'm sure if they had to, they could just reverse engineer a copy.

    I heard they almost lost all the assets but they were able to track down a former member of the original team who still had their copy of the raw files and that person personally brought it on a USB Drive.

    Anywho, we will have to wait and see if the D2 Remake is like WCIII (Everything pure 3D) or the Starcraft Remake (tweaked to work with the Blizzard Desktop App and interface). WCIII's always online requirement is also a valid concern for D2:R.
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  6. #6
    as much as id love a good D2 remake, i dont trust blizz to not fuck it up. wc3 reforged was abysmal.
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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Aurabolt View Post
    WCIII's always online requirement is also a valid concern for D2:R.
    This is my main concern for D2 Remake/Remaster/Resomething. Blizzard will surely tie Diablo 2 an online requirement and that will be probably put a dent to my single player mod experience, which is the reason i still play Diablo 2 with a bunch of quality of life improvements for my style of gaming.... Worst case scenario i can still install it from my CDs and manually download the patch before the future Bnet integration....
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  8. #8
    Stood in the Fire sylenna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kumorii View Post
    Assets shouldn't be an issue if its lost since assets are usually what you replace in remasters/remake.

    Remember that they said the same for classic though and they still remade it. Highly doubt they can't remake the d2 code.
    there was a lengthy text with an ex-dev who said that they really hacked into the engine they had to allow for specific perspectives, animations and projectile movement. he said that a remaster could be possible but it would have to be a rework from the ground up since the foundation was rather wacky.

    edit:

    ah, here are the reasons.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Xn9BHl24c
    Last edited by sylenna; 2021-01-24 at 01:57 PM.
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  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by sylenna View Post
    there was a lengthy text with an ex-dev who said that they really hacked into the engine they had to allow for specific perspectives, animations and projectile movement. he said that a remaster could be possible but it would have to be a rework from the ground up since the foundation was rather wacky.

    edit:

    ah, here are the reasons.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Xn9BHl24c
    Not sure if this video mentions enemy AI but it was designed around 480 and 600 resolutions. Opening the game wider just means players can see all the enemies standing in place and makes combat and surprises meaningless. So unless the go with 4:3 ratio with borders(terrible decision) D2 would have to be remade from the bottom up to work with modern gaming resolutions alone. Just to work on the battle.net infrastructure would require an total and lengthy remake of the game.

    The quickest thing they could do is use the D3 or D4 engine since it's set up for those previous issues and make a new game on it. Regardless, it appears VV started working in it mid year 2020, and though I've said it's not happening soon, I could see a teaser announcement this or next Blizzcon. Not sure how things would work out with 3 different Diablo releases in 1-3 years

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Houle View Post
    as much as id love a good D2 remake, i dont trust blizz to not fuck it up. wc3 reforged was abysmal.
    There were reasons outside of the studio control. Part of the game was outsourced, and Activision pushed for it's release despite it not being ready. Add to that, the massive swell in players complaining about new missions and retconned story to match current WoW lore put them off. If they had another 6-8 months to finish it might be a different story.

    Not excusing the removal of the old WC3 game and files and that stuff. Pretty sure that wont happen again.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by SirBeef View Post
    Not sure if this video mentions enemy AI but it was designed around 480 and 600 resolutions. Opening the game wider just means players can see all the enemies standing in place and makes combat and surprises meaningless. So unless the go with 4:3 ratio with borders(terrible decision) D2 would have to be remade from the bottom up to work with modern gaming resolutions alone. Just to work on the battle.net infrastructure would require an total and lengthy remake of the game.

    The quickest thing they could do is use the D3 or D4 engine since it's set up for those previous issues and make a new game on it. Regardless, it appears VV started working in it mid year 2020, and though I've said it's not happening soon, I could see a teaser announcement this or next Blizzcon. Not sure how things would work out with 3 different Diablo releases in 1-3 years

    - - - Updated - - -



    There were reasons outside of the studio control. Part of the game was outsourced, and Activision pushed for it's release despite it not being ready. Add to that, the massive swell in players complaining about new missions and retconned story to match current WoW lore put them off. If they had another 6-8 months to finish it might be a different story.

    Not excusing the removal of the old WC3 game and files and that stuff. Pretty sure that wont happen again.
    i mean, fair enough, but all of that can happen again to D2.
    we shall see
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  11. #11
    Stood in the Fire sylenna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SirBeef View Post
    Not sure if this video mentions enemy AI but it was designed around 480 and 600 resolutions. Opening the game wider just means players can see all the enemies standing in place and makes combat and surprises meaningless. So unless the go with 4:3 ratio with borders(terrible decision) D2 would have to be remade from the bottom up to work with modern gaming resolutions alone. Just to work on the battle.net infrastructure would require an total and lengthy remake of the game.

    The quickest thing they could do is use the D3 or D4 engine since it's set up for those previous issues and make a new game on it. Regardless, it appears VV started working in it mid year 2020, and though I've said it's not happening soon, I could see a teaser announcement this or next Blizzcon. Not sure how things would work out with 3 different Diablo releases in 1-3 years
    that is exactly what is mentioned, yes. read it a while ago, wasn't sure of the specifics.

    what you say might be true. they could remake d2 in the d3 engine. but that would kill the spirit of d2, imho. i know that i couldn't accept a game that looks like d2 but plays smooth as butter like d3. d2, to me, has a lot of wonkyness in every aspect of the game. plus a lot of "magic" in the code regarding magic find, crafting and the like.

    if d2 could be remastered with higher resolutions maybe and a better bnet integration - okay. but a reskinned d3 in, like you said, the next three years of a mobilized d3 and a d4 while d3 is still going on? it either steals a lot of thunder or doesn't get the attention it deserves.
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by sylenna View Post
    that is exactly what is mentioned, yes. read it a while ago, wasn't sure of the specifics.

    what you say might be true. they could remake d2 in the d3 engine. but that would kill the spirit of d2, imho. i know that i couldn't accept a game that looks like d2 but plays smooth as butter like d3. d2, to me, has a lot of wonkyness in every aspect of the game. plus a lot of "magic" in the code regarding magic find, crafting and the like.

    if d2 could be remastered with higher resolutions maybe and a better bnet integration - okay. but a reskinned d3 in, like you said, the next three years of a mobilized d3 and a d4 while d3 is still going on? it either steals a lot of thunder or doesn't get the attention it deserves.
    See if they do anything with D2 I'd rather have improved flow and feel to combat and movement than improved everything else. If it looks amazing and still plausible clunky crap, I'm not going to bother.

    As for the timeframe, I feel of the three games in the works, it it the furthest out. Blizzard is smart despite the feelings of this forum. They will not take Steam and Dale's away from D4 with a D2R release close to it. I believe DI is out this summer, D4 within the next 18 months, and D2R at least 2 years away. That should be enough of a gap, with an expansion for D4 coming after D2R to keep the train rolling for the franchise.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Houle View Post
    as much as id love a good D2 remake, i dont trust blizz to not fuck it up. wc3 reforged was abysmal.
    Could not say it better.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by SirBeef View Post
    There were reasons outside of the studio control. Part of the game was outsourced, and Activision pushed for it's release despite it not being ready. Add to that, the massive swell in players complaining about new missions and retconned story to match current WoW lore put them off. If they had another 6-8 months to finish it might be a different story.
    Do you honestly believe that? It was one of the Blizzard's excuses (after months of silence after the announcement). Where were that massive swell of people complaining? Forums? There is always someone screaming on the forums, you cannot please everyone, Blizzard by this point should know it well. Vocal minority is a thing after all. There were a lot of questions about balance, new features, etc., it most definitely was not only people complaining about lore.
    Blizzcon trailer had roaring applause, trailer videos were not downvoted to shit, quite otherwise. FFS, game came out 17 years ago at that point, WoW's lore has long time ago taken over it. Some people in their late 30ties/early 40ties would complain about motion captured and lip-synced cutscenes with some updated lore changes? Oh noes! /s

    It was all about money and a very conscious decision by the people in charge. Even better, it all came right after their public apology regarding HK, how they are gonna be better. This is why I am afraid about D2 remaster.
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  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Easo View Post
    Do you honestly believe that? It was one of the Blizzard's excuses (after months of silence after the announcement). Where were that massive swell of people complaining? Forums? There is always someone screaming on the forums, you cannot please everyone, Blizzard by this point should know it well. Vocal minority is a thing after all. There were a lot of questions about balance, new features, etc., it most definitely was not only people complaining about lore.
    Blizzcon trailer had roaring applause, trailer videos were not downvoted to shit, quite otherwise. FFS, game came out 17 years ago at that point, WoW's lore has long time ago taken over it. Some people in their late 30ties/early 40ties would complain about motion captured and lip-synced cutscenes with some updated lore changes? Oh noes! /s

    It was all about money and a very conscious decision by the people in charge. Even better, it all came right after their public apology regarding HK, how they are gonna be better. This is why I am afraid about D2 remaster.
    It was on every forum I read and participate in, all over twitter and other social media. It was almost as large as the complaints when PL was removed from 5 mans and immediately put back in. So yeah, I believe it since I witnessed it.

  16. #16
    God I hope so.

    And please, let it be a faithful remaster.

  17. #17
    My only hope is that D2-remastered will be able to be modded.
    While D2 was a good game, it was the various mods, some which still kick ass, that made the game to what it really was.

    But I have my big doubts that Blizzard of today would make a game that other people could mod...

  18. #18
    Herald of the Titans czarek's Avatar
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    If this will be just graphics update should be ok. But yeah w3 was ruined. Dont touch engine mechanics and should be ok. I got bad feelings about another legend game remake.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Forteofgray View Post
    I really do want a D2 remake but weren't most of the original assets lost, and what they managed to save corrupted?
    Trying not to get my hopes up too much. But, in my opinion, Vicarious Visions did a great job with the Crash Bandicoot remaster. If memory serves they built that from the ground up too, and it stayed pretty true to the original in terms of gameplay feel and difficulty. Of course, D2 is a whole different animal, but I'm interested to see how it turns out.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Soon-TM View Post
    I was just reading this article, and this part immediately caught my eye:
    VV working on D2 remake has been rumored for months now, this is just latest news that seems to confirm those previous rumors. So yes, should be well under way.

    Also anyone interested, Project D2 is one of the best D2 mods I've played so far. They upscaled the graphics using AI and it's much easier on the eyes than squinting on low resolutions or enlarging the pixel graphics. It's a great mod and I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested.

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