All in all, there weren’t any huge obstacles in the way of the international release of Diablo, and even went slightly better than Warcraft.
Thunderbolt Entertainment gained some fame overseas after selling Warcraft afterall, making an especially deep impression on players who liked themes like this, which was why Diablo managed to garner so much attention before it started selling.
Moreover, Western Fantasy themes, especially in Europe and America had always been popular, moreover, Diablo was an RPG, meaning that it’d have a bigger audience than an RTS game like Warcraft.
One thing that was different was that the international players didn’t have too many doubts of complaints when it came to a third person RPG as there were more indie games overseas, with more players liking single player games.
Most of these indie games are made by smaller companies, which would naturally meet with some financial difficulties, which was why they could only manage third person RPGs. This meant that the players overseas were more accepting of RPG games like these.
After the pre sales promotions, many players were eagerly waiting for Diablo’s release!
Diablo was priced at forty-nine USD, much pricier than Warcraft. This was because Diablo had a greater cost, was higher quality, and was an RPG game with greater acceptance.
—
Diablo officially started selling overseas.
Many players who had their eyes on this game bought and downloaded the game in the first moments it was main available, and many of these were hardcore Warcraft players. They believed that a developer who was capable of making Warcraft would produce an equally good RPG game.
Soon, these players were completely taken away by Diablo’s unique style and high quality story.
The overseas players, especially players from Europe and America were even more familiar with the theme of the game compared to chinese players, so it was more likely for the players to all agree and recognise the execution of the theme.
At the same time, the ideas of Angels, Demons, and Nephalem were incredibly close to the hearts of the European and American players. The story of saving a world also fit with western Heroism, and Tyreal’s morals also aligned better politically with the players.
The players worldwide had nothing but praises for this game.
-In the High Heavens.-
Tyreal, the ancient law of the High Heavens strictly forbids us from interfering with the mortal world!”
“Yet you have done so – brazenly!”
Imperius sat high up on his throne wearing shiny golden armor with flaming wings, signifying a god of some sorts.
Tyreal who was in silver armor didn’t back down, “All I am guilty of, Imperius, is bringing justice, while you hide, cowering, behind your throne!”
“Silence!”
Imperius turned into a stream of light and rushed towards Tyreal, grabbing his breastplate with one hand.”
“You will now answer for your transgressions!”
The gold and the silver started battle one another, and finally, Tyreal grabbed Imperius’s spear and pointed it towards an archangel who was part of the Angiris Council and said righteously, “You cannot judge me! I am Justice itself!”
“We were meant for more than this – to protect the innocent!”
“But if our precious laws bind you all to inaction… then I will no longer stand as your brother!”
Tyreal grabbed his angel shoulder plates and let out a painful scream. His godly energy started flowing out of him, enveloping the hall.
Imperius stepped back and said angrily, “Sacrilege!”
Tyreal’s wings fell to the ground before disappearing. A red flame surrounded his body, before tendrils of light rose up from the floor and grasped him, pulling him through it, into the mortal world.
He was the “falling star”, falling from the heavens as the great fireball towards Tristram Cathedral
—
Diablo’s story started a lot of discussion among the international players.
“To be honest, I was really surprised with Tyreal’s story. Diablo’s world seemed incredibly hopeless as the main character battled alone no matter where they went. I don’t think they’ve made any allies at all, but I think Tyreal could could help a tiny bit at the very least.”
“I think the writers executed Tyreal’s character perfectly, flawlessly conveying his character through the story.”
“As an angel of justice, he strictly abides by the law, rules and order, and maintains fairness and justice at all times, because this is the duty of the angel of justice.”
“But at a critical moment, in order to save the world, Tyreal chose to stand on the side of humans, personally violating the law and order of the High Heavens, and abandoning his identity as an angel. I think that was really admirable!”
“Yeah, there are only a few games from overseas that managed to move me this much through the story, and Diablo managed that. It seemed that Thunderbolt Entertainment still maintained their high quality stories, this was excellent!”
—
It was similar to when Diablo first started selling in China, most players really liked the game at the start, especially the moments after they completed the story. The international version managed to maintain a score of around nine.
Moreover, the international players got attached to the theme quicker and easier, so Diablo’s performance internationally was better than Chen Mo’s expectation, estimating to have sold around six hundred thousand copies in the first week, and three million copies in the first month.
Chen Mo estimated that with overseas and Chinese sales combined, he would’ve sold around ten million copies. Although this doesn’t compare to thirty million copies of the original in his previous life, this number was still incredible.
However, more and more angry comments started appearing following Diablo’s huge success overseas.
Some of them were from international players.
“I feel scammed by the developers, the story was decent, and the game was high quality, but the post game is so boring! I can’t believe it, this game doesn’t come close to Warcraft’s quality!”
“For sure, even when taking the fact that it is a single player game into consideration, this game was quite monotonous. This reminds me of a certain korean game, it looked great, but was a complete mess!”
“Ugh, I think the last two posters were a bit harsh, I do agree with them. There are no complaints in terms of the quality of the game and its story, but it’s postgame doesn’t even compare with the sincere indie games. That’s why I’m giving it a seven.
“An incredibly boring game. I have no idea why the designer felt the need to add so many difficulties. Do they expect us to grind day after day to the highest difficulty?”