[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Diablo? Never was a big fan of it. It strikes at my biggest weakness- indecisiveness. There obviously was a big audience for it- but two games I preferred in the genre were Nox and Sacred, Heretic (aka Kult), Divine Divinity (there were other games I preferred even more, such as Arx Fatalis, Ultima VI, etc, but they weren't exactly the same genre).

First off, Sacred vs. Diablo
Stat growth was partially fixed, with one free point to spend each level, the rest of the gains preassigned. Diablo, you'd have 5 points to assign each time, and there was no going back. With Sacred, I could customize for a high agility or strength or charisma character but I did not have to worry about picking the wrong stats and ending up with a completely unviable character. As well, unlike D2, I could save. While there were random drops, the maps were not random - I liked that.

Nox had an interesting spell system (really) that wasn't dependent on irreversibly, uncertain skill picks. As well, it was rather linear (but I liked that) maps were not random, enemies were not, and there were lots of little secrets. They made the world into a character all of its own, one I was curious about. Diablo players would say that decrease the fun of replays (though there was mp deathmatch mode), but I say it made a single player game worth playing on its own merits - practically every Diablo review overemphasizes the multiplayer component. It is good for its audience, but with blizzard I just feel a bit lonely in the SP world. It was interesting enough that I actually played each characters campaign twice, and would still be playing it if I hadn't lost the serial.

As a side note (I'm looking at you Nox, Diablo) there's nothing romantic about smashing barrels. Save the world, kill monsters, fulfill quests, and smash barrels. What is up with that?