Matriarch Artemis

Again, no screenshot. It's a strange problem. Diablo II plays perfectly on this computer, although I probably made some adjustment for the graphics back when I first set the machine up. And yet, no matter what I try, attempts at taking screenshots of the game result in a solid, black rectangle. I don't know what to make of it.

Well, after probably five years and changing computers twice, from my original desktop (circa 1999) to my HP laptop and then to my new desktop, I've finally completed my first amazon in Diablo II. I'd say, "Maybe some day I'll complete all the other characters I've started." But really, until there is some drastic change in my life, it's pretty much inevitable. I've started a lot of Diablo II characters, but I just keep coming back to this game. I started playing Diablo II back when it was new, but I only dabbled in it. Then, a few years later, I returned to the game and actually beat it for the first time. I was getting into it, but we lost most of the game discs and I ended up eventually uninstalling the game, but keeping my characters. Later still, I think it was in 2008, I bought the Diablo II Battle Chest and began a whole new set of characters, starting with Oberon, my first druid. Artemis was the next character that I started. I don't remember exactly how long it's been. I do remember that I beat Normal Diablo while playing with my brother, Matt. I also remember playing with friends in Seattle in 2011 and around that time, Artemis cleared Nightmare difficulty.

I know I just said it, but I keep coming back to this game. I've always been the sort of person that, when playing video games, will play the same game a lot, exploring different aspects of it, rather than doing brief playthroughs of many games. Even though I've been playing it for several years, in any given month, it's almost never been the game I played the most. And yet I think I've logged more total hours in Diablo II than in any other game, all because I keep coming back to it. That's why I'm pretty confident that I'll finish many more characters. Not right away. Torchlight II is, in many ways, a better game, and I do want to get back to it (I've had problems losing all of my accumulated items). I started Morrowind, but have not gotten into it yet. There are other games I still haven't tried out even though I have them, like Just Cause. For this post, I'm not getting into non-gaming activities, although those also exist. Anyway, Diablo II keeps getting older and all but the die-hard fans have moved on. But somehow, something keeps bringing me back to it.

Artemis beat Baal today, reaching Level 90 and using a lot of arrows. Unlike my newer characters, she wasn't on /players8 the entire time (back when I started her, I wasn't aware that the option existed)., but she did spend most of her career on that setting (hence the large number of arrows needed to kill Baal). The skills I focused on were Guided Arrow, Strafe, and Valkyrie. Physical immunities were the main problem for this build. Bowazons are a bit underpowered. I will definitely be doing other amazons and I want to do at least one more bowazon, one that actually uses the elemental arrow skills.

I don't know what's next. I still have yet to fully complete a barbarian or assassin, which means no bringing necromancers or paladins into Hell difficulty (a little rule I made up for myself), but there is a certain sorceress I have in Act V Nightmare that I'm eager to test against Hell's legions...