One of the guys at Games Are Fun took Blizzard's Diablo II for a spin again and is offering up
some impressions of the game eight years after its release.
Diablo 2’s goal structure is very well constructed. Thanks to the quest tracker, the player always knows what their main goal is. However, the true magic comes in the in between. In pursuit of the main goal, the player is rewarded with randomized items. Weapons, potions, and shrines pop up randomly to give the player a little fuzzy feeling and keep them going.
This method is akin to randomly giving a pet a treat when they come up to see you. While the comparison of gamers to animals that eat their own vomit may make us balk at the concept, it’s in effect very true. The pet will form a connection between the owner and a sweet steak-um. Similarly, the basic joy of randomly picking up a kickass sword makes the player associate awesome feelings with the normal grind of the game.
Diablo II Retrospective Review 
Linear Mode
