The release date for Diablo 3 is right around the corner (May 15th) and I am happily expecting a beautiful collector’s edition to arrive at my door. Before jumping into the game though, I needed to refresh myself on the lore since it’s been years since I played any of the Diablo games. Check it out if you too were scratching at your memories trying to remember the plot like I was.

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I searched around on Google first without much luck, and then decided to visit YouTube instead as I was hoping to actually see some of the dialog from the games to really jog my memory. Although I could have played through the games again and read the books, I was more interested in the quick version. I found quite a few crap videos, but among them was a 3-part-series gem. I actually found what is quite possibly the most perfect video recap of all the lore  (including the lore in the books) ever! It’s straight to the point without a lot of fluff and tells the story in an easy to understand and cohesive manner.  The series was done by Force Strategy Gaming, a company whose self proclaimed mission is “to provide fellow gamers with the best strategy and tactical advice anywhere.” They consider themselves “a central location for competitive gamers of all kinds to come together and discuss strategies and tactics to the games they love.” I looked at their Facebook fan page and liked what I saw there (in addition to loving their videos) so I think you should check them out.

The first video in their series talked about the lore of Diablo prior to the beginning of the first game. Yep, they go into the lore found within the covers of the Diablo books. Don’t worry though, watching the video won’t ruin reading the books for you in case you have intentions of doing so. There are a few spoilers though, so if you like to be 100% surprised by the content in your reading, I would suggest reading the books and skipping this video for now; otherwise, enjoy!

The second video goes through the lore of Diablo 1. This is a pretty old game that only recently got some updates from Blizzard that allowed us to replay it on larger monitors so many of you might really need this refresher. The plot is pretty simple though so hey, maybe you don’t. I still recommend the video though as it is very well done and has some nice artwork to look at.

This brings us to the third installment into the Diablo lore series. This video covers the events of the second game Diablo 2, and its expansion, The Lord of Darkness. Diablo 2 has also gotten some love from Blizzard as of late allowing you to play it on a larger monitor without buggy issues, but if you don’t feel like replaying it then this video is great alternative… and much quicker too. Personally, I tried to replay it but these days I just find it kind of boring – don’t grab your pitchforks! I still love the game! I just played it enough that I no longer find myself as interested in it is all. This video claims a “to be continued” tag at the end… yet there has not been a part 4 posted by Force Strategy Gaming thus far. I imagine that they are waiting for Diablo 3 to release in order to wrap up their series because this video really does cover everything leading up to the events to come in Diablo 3 perfectly.

I am counting the days until May 15th (only two days after my birthday… happy birthday to me!) when I get my collector’s edition and dive headfirst into Diablo 3. I already plan to play the wizard, which I tried out in the beta and LOVED. After my wizard I think monk might be calling my name pretty strongly as well. I see many, many hours of my life getting devoted to this game and I am tickled pink about it. I have waited too many years for this game! I have followed the updates on Diablofans.com while I waited for the development to progress and I also watched each year’s Blizzcon and other conventions featuring Blizzard games in hopes they would drop ANY tidbit of info about the game. Most years I was disappointed, but for the last few years I was greatly rewarded for my patience. This is the cinematic teaser trailer I saw after it was released at the at the 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris. The day I saw it, I jumped up and shouted my joy to the heavens… I wonder if Tyrael heard me?

Are you as excited as I am for Diablo 3? Let me know all about it in the comments!

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