Timewaster's Guide Archive

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/722/Lucky-21

So Hero of Ages made it. And made it very well! :-)
Congratulations to Brandon, and everyone who have bought it!

I was a born bookworm I suppose. From the time I was able to read this was my only hobby until computers showed up. Books are a way of breathing to me.

What did I read? First, the books of Jules Verne, Karl May, J.F. Cooper, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Later came R.A. Salvatore's full dark elf saga, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance trilogy, David Gemmel's Legend, Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Tolkien's LOTR came still later, around 22, when I had the necessary strenght and curiosity to complete it. Terry Goodkind's full Sword of Truth series was a major step to me. He was my best English teacher in the university years.  James Clawell's Shogun is one of the best books I ever read to name a non-fantasy novel, too.

I did also read nearly all of the classics of literature taught in my high school. The russian writers have really deep stories, I have strong memories about their books, particularly from Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov are highly recommended readings for philosophical type of persons. I really enjoyed Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

Besides all of these books, I read the Bible more than once in my teens. For many years my favourite part was the Old Testament of course. The New Testament is too painful, sometimes even now.

Introduction

The Hell is an addon/modification for Diablo: Hellfire, created by Mordor and The Hell Team.

The Project was started on April 14, 2006 by Mordor, and the first playable public version was released out about a year later. Since then the game has expanded tremendously, attracting more and more people, not only players, but also people who help in the creation of the mod. Current version of the game is 1.68g RC1.

The hallmark of The Hell is a very serious approach to development. First and foremost, it has concentrated on eliminating most of the initial bugs Diablo and Hellfire were originally released with. It also raises challenge considerably, gives much more variety (monsters, items, spells, boss monsters, unique items, item & environment colors), improves overall difficulty balance of the game, improves monster AI, introduces new character animations, increases replay value and gives full support for Multiplayer experience through a free program called Hamachi. There is now a The Hell 2 mod in the works with massive changes like higher resolutions, lots of dungeon transition optimizations, dungeon generator update, bug fixes, etc.

Features

Some of the core changes to Hellfire are:

- Challenge factor was raised considerably

- Over 300 named monsters

- Many new base items with room for thousands more

- New and adjusted unique items

- New and adjusted item prefix and suffix

- New and adjusted spells

- Hundreds of new and improved palettes for items, environment and bosses

- Completely revamped experience gain

- Improved monster AI

- Additional character classes

- Optional music add-on

- Unlimited item storage

- Improved PvE and PvP balance

- Bug fixes

- Full support for multi-player experience through Hamachi

- Increased replay value

The mod's homepage is quite user friendly: it features six different languages and contains additional downloadable material. There are two new graphics add-ons, additional high quality music and a useful clicker program. The Bard and the Barbarian from original Hellfire have become the Assassin and the Gladiator. The Gladiator's animation is already completed and it introduces dual wielding graphics in the game. Another interesting new feature of the mod is "Gillian, the Stasher", who provide the player with unlimited storage of valuable items. A very useful Guide section is also available on the mod's website for the starters. This mod is reportedly much harder than the original game, so it is recommended to consult this Guide and the project's forums, too.

Remarks

    Koven, France:
The experience of The Hell is really what I was expecting from Diablo. I think I can say without exaggeration that this mod is really a brand new game, it's not just some modifications to improve the game. It sets up a whole new environment with a gloomy and dreadful atmosphere. You can't be overconfident in running in the dungeons without dwelling on monsters. You have to be patient, tenacious and not make mistakes if you want to survive and progress. It makes you feel you've accomplished something big after each level explored. No wonder I'm still enjoying this mod after many months of intensive playing, it has a great replay value. Last but not least, the mod is regularly updated and keeps on improving. Highly recommended for all Diablo players.

    Archer, Hungary:
I came across this mod after the Diablo 3 announcement was made. It is nearly unbelievable to see this 12 years old game still in development. It tells something about Blizzard's quality work and the enthusiasm of the mod creators. I was especially pleased to see that it is concentrated on expanding and polishing the game world near perfection. Diablo deserves this mod very much and it makes the game complete. The Hell presents the player with a mighty real challenge. It suits my cautious playing style extremely well. Highly recommended for any veterans of this elderly game, it will keep you occupied for a very long time. Prepare yourself: even starting the game feels awesome!

This is the developer's testimonial: "I have always loved this game for its original taste: dark atmosphere, cold steel and blood. I've been playing Diablo and Hellfire for ten years and this mod represents all that I ever wanted from this game. This is Diablo's best of the best. Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the game or by it's similarity with Hellfire. It is an absolutely new & improved game under the old mask..."

http://www.thehell.narod.ru

http://phrozenkeep.planetdiablo.gamespy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51445

http://diablothehell.freeforums.org