Note: all screenshots open in a new window.  Every attempt has been made to keep the report plot-spoiler free.  I am aware the screenshots are dark; apparently, it doesn't save my gamma rating with the shot, because it's not THAT dark as I'm playing.

As I've said before, there's so much to talk about that I can't ever seem to get it all in.  I'll spend some time on socketing, now.  It's a very impressive system that shows a lot of potential.

Socketing
Imagine being able to control what prefixes and suffixes you could place on an item in Diablo 1, and you have some grasp of the socketing system of Diablo II.  You take a normal, everyday weapon, shield, or helm (with non-magical properties) and socket gems into it.  Items which support socketing are shown in gray text, as opposed to blue or white.  Each gem controls what kind of effect you'll have on the item.  Socketing gems to weapons usually adds to their damage by applying a magical damage type to them.  Socketing gems to shields and helms can add to your stats, raise your resistances, or some other effects based on the gem.  You have the lightning, cold, fire, and poison based gems, and then the Chipped Skulls.  I enjoy those.  :)  Chipped Skulls add mana and life steal when you socket them to a weapon and mana and life regeneration when you add them to a Helm.  Don't get too excited, though, the regeneration rate is slow, and the steal effects are 2% to mana, 1% to health.

Gems can be stacked.  Sticking 2 Chipped Skulls, for instance, in a socketable axe will bring about 4% mana steal and 2% life steal.  In general, this allows you to customize your items using these gems to create your own magical effects.  Need a boost to strength?  Find a helm you can socket gems into and shove a strength-adding gem into it.  The danger, of course, is that once you socket a gem to an item, you can't pull it back out.  This necessitates careful planning of your gem use in order to get what you want.  I find myself storing gems in my Stash quite a bit for use on a rainy day.

So far in Act 1, all you get are low-quality gems, like Chipped Rubies or Chipped Skulls.  It appears that later in the game you'll receive better quality gems which boost the stats more in order to match them up with the magical suffixes and prefixes you'll be finding in the dungeons.  One of my favorite gem effects right now is the addition of cold damage to a weapon; my Paladin abuses its effect heavily.  It's not so much for the handful of extra cold damage points he deals with the weapon, it's the fact that each hit slows down the enemy by freezing it.  This keeps him safe.  One of my Sorceresses uses some poison damage on her sword; with it, even if she only hits her enemy half the time, the poison damage kicks in and hurts the foe even as she's whiffing air (yes, she'll often wade in melee-style to conserve mana...with her defense rating thanks to two awesome special items, shown later, she can go toe-to-toe with tough mobs).

Graphics and Sound
I'll wildly change topic here and talk a little bit about the game's graphics and sound.  If you've been reading beta buzz on other sites, you'll know by now that Blizzard has been taking heat for the 640x480 resolution graphics.  I'll admit myself that upon that first game loadup, walking around town, I felt that things seemed pixilated.  Graphics wise, things work differently than in Diablo 1.  We're used to the sprites that the game used which were very highly detailed (especially for 1997 graphics!), but those highly detailed pictures were also pretty limited in scope; after all, the characters could only face in 8 directions, with instantaneous switching between them.  When that open beta is released (I know you're waiting, hoping that it'll be soon), upon your first game, just try standing in one place holding down Shift and turning your mouse pointer from side to side.  Try walking around in town and viewing the quality of the animation.  While the graphics aren't in 1024x768 glory with sharpness so good you can see the color of Akara's eyes, the animation quality is superb and it shows throughout the game - from mini-cut scenes when special bosses die, to just the simple death of a standard monster such as the Dark Rogues souls being ripped from their bodies, and the Tainted's blood boiling up into the air.  I only really started to think about when after 2 days of play I realized that I no longer thought of the game's graphics as pixilated.  You get used to it very fast.  Anyway, you'll see what I mean when you get to try it for yourself.  I keep saying "you have to see it in motion," and I bet you're getting annoyed by now.  :)

Ahh, the sound effects.  Especially in the ambience department, the game really shines.  One time in the Rogue Encampment I just closed my eyes and sat there with my 4 speaker setup and let the 3D sound of an incoming thunderstorm wash over me.  It truly sounded like I was out in the marshlands on a cold, blustery day, with peals of thunder rippling through the skies above me.  Might I add that the natural effects of a lightning flash are then coupled with a thunderclap a few seconds later?

Some of the sound effects are recycled from Diablo 1.  There's the ever-lovable "pling!" when that Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac (ok, no, I haven't found one of those) drops on the ground.  Various equipment items sound like the original game when being moved around in inventory.  All these old sounds are mixed in with new ones, and it's pretty cohesive.

The Roommate Factor
Being a college student, I naturally live with a roommate, one which I suppose you can hate now for his opportunity to play Diablo II.  While he played Diablo 1 in Single Player mode once, he's hardly a fanatic of the series, and he loves D2.  This is NOT a guy who plays computer games at all, with a few rare exceptions.

He played his first session of Diablo II for 5 straight hours.  Reaction afterwards: "Oh boy, I forgot about dinner!"  The only reason he stopped was because the game crashed...evidence enough?  I think Blizzard has a winner...

And the reason for its success is the same tried-and-true formula that made Diablo 1 such a smash hit.  Depth of gameplay.  This is something those sites which bash the game's graphics will never seem to understand.  The beauty of Diablo was that on the surface, it was an amazingly simplistic design of game.  Yet underneath that first layer there existed a whole complex system of game elements which made it worth coming back to time and time again.  Someone asked me on Battle.Net chat, "What's it like in a nutshell?"  I laughed to myself as I realized the only possible answer to the question was "much like Diablo, but better." 

Fire and Lightning
I've been playing a lot of the Sorceress lately, playing with her skill trees.  One Sorceress named ThunderBolt has been specializing in Cold and Lightning skills only (with an exception to one point in Warmth).  Check out a shot of her cleaning house with some Static Field (an area of effect spell which reduces the current hit points of a monster by 1/3) here.  The spell does suck a good amount of mana, but it's worth it for weakening large mobs and boss groups.  It's a fantastic co-op spell, too, allowing a Sorceress to beat up on the monsters for her friends without actually killing any of them.  ThunderBolt's also become a Raider of the Lost Ark in this shot (no, there's nothing special about that altar, it's just a set dungeon piece).  And you should check out this sweet-looking lightning effect as the 'Bolt misses her mark by a hair.  Lightning is a nice spell as, like in the original game, it can pass through multiple targets; however, you pay the price in that it takes about a half of a second to fully cast the spell, time in which you're standing dead still.  Shots have to be set up carefully.

Some boss names are randomized in Diablo II, and I've seen some funny combinations.  One that should bring a smile to every Diablo player's face is in this shot.  In case you're wondering, the hand symbol floating above me is the effect of a Skill Shrine which temporarily boosts my skill points by 2.  All shrines which alter you for a time place a symbol above your head to tell you what effect you're currently using.  You can see what happens right after I touch a Combat Shrine - my Attack Rating takes a huge boost raising my effective to-hit%. 

One of the main elements of Diablo is the variety of items you can find, and what would a beta report be without a look at some more rare and unique items?  I simply could not believe my luck after finding this unique, the Pelta Lunata.  44 defense on a buckler?  What a fantastic item for a Sorceress!  But if you think that's sweet, take a gander at my Dire Shell, a rare Ring Mail providing a whopping 72 defense and a fabulous set of additional properties.  Now, Defense Rating is the new term in Diablo II, replacing our beloved AC or Armor Class statistic.  DR's are higher in D2 than their D1 AC counterparts; a Ring Mail in Diablo 1 would range from 17 to 20 AC, but in Diablo II the Ring Mails have Defense Ratings up over 50.  So, don't be thinking that a 72 "AC" Ring Mail is unbalancing the game like crazy.

But it can't hurt.  :)  Last of all is an interesting item prefix, Vulpine.  Not as impressive as it initially sounds, since monsters at this stage of the game only perform a measly few points of damage at best, with bosses being able to knock off 20-30 hit points a shot on me at times maximum.  I wonder how effective this prefix would be when the monsters really start to do damage, though.

Random Tidbits
Rumors are flying about the upcoming big beta patch from Blizzard.  Characters' abilities and skills might be toyed around with.  The chat interface might get a big overhaul.  Jarulf might finally get that NPC named after him (ok, that was more of a stretch, but I wish).  Everything's a rumor, naturally.

Anybody else notice how completely useless Blizzard's Diablo II Beta Buzz Forum is most of the time?  It's filled with posts consisting of:
A) Ignorant beta testers complaining that their characters lost items and - get this - they want Blizzard to restore those items to their characters, despite the fact that all characters will be wiped at the end of the beta
B) People asking GFrazier the same questions over and over and over again
C) People demanding that Blizzard release the open beta "now"
D) Beta testers complaining every time the servers go down.
It makes me worry for the future of the upcoming D2SF...

There are quite a few areas in Act 1 that don't need to be explored.  They are simply added in as extra areas to explore for more experience and more items.  This is a great new feature in the game, in my opinion.  You no longer feel that you're being driven from point A to point B (to get to level 9, folks, you gotta fight your way through level 8, you know?).  So when you're exploring the Dark Woods area in Act 1 and you see that cave entrance, go spelunking!  You never know what you'll find in there.

The Necromancer is fast getting a reputation in public games as the guy nobody wants to game with.  His minions are pretty annoying to other players as they constantly get in the way, and if you ever play on a level full of skeletons, have fun trying to separate the Necro's skeletons from the bad guys.  I don't know what Blizzard plans to do about this; it might only be a factor early on in the game.

Well, as soon as I publish this I'll probably think of something to add; but for now, see you next time.  Thanks for reading.