Let's parallel Might and Magic 6 and Diablo 1.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Diablo came a year or two earlier, but despite one game being third person hack-n-slash RPG and MM6 being 3d hack-n-slash RPG I'm surprised how many spells they have in common.

First of all, the classes. First of all, there was no real "clerical" magic branch in Diablo 1. Only two healing spells in Diablo 1 (heal and heal other), that every class can learn, and scrolls of resurrection that anybody can buy. No status ailments whatsoever in D1 - so the classes of Diablo 1 are what the classes of MM6 would turn into if clerical magic didn't exist.
Knight = Warrior
Archer = Rogue (edit: oops)
Sorcerer = Sorcerer

Character skills:
Warrior's Item Repair = MM6 repair skill
Rogue's Trap Disarm skill = MM6 disarm trap
Sorcerer's recharge staff (wand) = sadly, only exists as a spell in MM7-MM8.

Item skill "Bigger light radius" = MM6 Torch light spell


Spell comparison:
First of all there are only three magic "elements" in Diablo 1, plus the "physical" damage element, compared to MM6's five magical elements + physical + energy (Energy based damage is: blasters, robots' attacks, gold dragons' attacks, power liches & warlocks attacks, and the "of the dragon" enchantment due to a bug)
Diablo 1: Fire, Electricity, Magic. Poison damage is "magic" damage in D1
MM6: Fire, Electricity, Cold, Poison, Magic.

D1 Fire Bolt = MM6 Fire Bolt (identical)
D1 Holy Bolt is a weaker version of MM6's Destroy Undead.
D1 Charged Bolt = MM6 Sparks. Except that D1 doesn't bounce off walls, so it can't be used to concentrate power on a single powerful monster like in MM6.
D1 Healing + Heal other are much stronger versions of MM6 Cure Wounds
D1 Inferno != MM6 Inferno. Both are equally weak in damage, but D1's inferno only burns at close range. At least MM6's inferno burns as far as your characters can see.


D1 Fire Wall has no MM6 equivalent (which is a shame, definitely a spell I would have liked to see in MM6 to take down hordes of ranged attackers). But at least there's Meteor Shower for outdoors.
D1 Flash is like a magic-elemental based MM6 Ring of Fire, but much weaker, shorter ranged, and unlike MM6 Ring of Fire, generally useless.
D1 Identify exists in MM6 as a skill, not a spell
D1 Infravision (allows you to see monsters behind walls) = the closest MM6 equivalent would be Wizard Eye.
D1 Lightning is better than MM6's Lightning spell, because it goes through monsters ine line, so it's a good area of effect spell when monsters are lined up.
D1 Resurrect = MM6 raise dead/resurrection, although in D1 it only appears in scroll form.
D1 Stone curse = MM6 Flesh to Stone, with the difference being that D1's lasts shorter, but allows you to attack stoned monsters!
D1 Telekinesis = MM6 Telekinesis. Identical in their use.
D1 Town Portal = MM6 Town Portal + Lloyds Beacon. D1 acts like both spells at once since it always gets you back where you left off in the dungeon, automatically

D1 Phasing has no MM6 equivalent (and thank god for that... it's a random teleporting spell)
D1 Mana Shield has no MM6 equivalent... and thank god for that, one of the few advantages of Knights (their high HP) would be taken away!
D1 Chain Lightning has no equivalent in MM6, sadly. But as far as lightning based AOE spells go, at least Sparks remain useful for the entirety of the game while Charged Bolt eventually becomes too weak to be useful. And there's always Starburst for outdoors.
D1 Elemental = kind of like a homing MM6 Incinerate.
D1 Fireball = a stronger, but more expensive, MM6 Fireball
D1 Flame Wave = kind of like MM6 Fireblast, but flames don't spread out as much and it goes a longer distance
D1 Guardian = no MM6 equivalent

D1 Apocalypse = a cross between MM6's Inferno and Armageddon that works indoors, but exists in scroll/staff form only.
D1 Blood star is a magic elemental based, single projectile spell, so the closest in MM6 would be Psychic Shock.
D1 Bone Spirit = MM6 Mass Distortion
D1 Golem = no MM6 equivalent. Closest would be MM7's light elementals, (and the one golem that defends your castle in Harmondale!)
D1 Nova = a stronger, lightning elemental MM6 Ring of Fire. But only exists in Scroll/staff form
D1 Teleport = a much faster, short ranged MM6 LLoyds Beacon.

[Lord13]

Is not surprise to see such common spells at 2 diffirent games.
Both games besides their gameplay/story diffirences are based
at a fantasy "sword and sorcery" world(MnM at the end-game
also has the sci-fi elements though, but is a small part of the game)
At those kind of games you can see a lot of similarities at items,
spells etc. If we would like to give a start to all this we could point
Dungeons and Dragons pen n paper rpg in my opinion, can't be
sure about it ofc.

[tolich]

Rogue = Archer.

Probably Archer = Rogue.

Also if you want to compare Diablo with smth, it's better to compare it with Dungeon Siege. At least they are of the same genre.

[Macros the Black]

D1 Stone curse = MM6 Flesh to Stone, with the difference being that D1's lasts shorter, but allows you to attack stoned monsters!

You can attack stoned monsters in D1 as well..

D1 Guardian = no MM6 equivalent

I'd say it's an improved version of Fire Spike that can be used offensively as well.

Diablo is heavily based on Roguelikes.. But yeah, it's both a fantasy game with fantasy elements. The whole fighter/rogue/wizard/cleric thing is totally DnD inspiration for both, as well as the hybrid classes. Many of the spells are also straight from DnD.

It's not that surprising that they're quite similar in all but gameplay and story imo.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

D1 Stone curse = MM6 Flesh to Stone, with the difference being that D1's lasts shorter, but allows you to attack stoned monsters!

You can attack stoned monsters in D1 as well..

That's what I said, you can attack stoned monsters in D1 but not in MM6

D1 Guardian = no MM6 equivalent

I'd say it's an improved version of Fire Spike that can be used offensively as well.

Fire spike is in MM7 but not in MM6... and I always found it was kinda sucky anyway

Diablo is heavily based on Roguelikes.. But yeah, it's both a fantasy game with fantasy elements. The whole fighter/rogue/wizard/cleric thing is totally DnD inspiration for both, as well as the hybrid classes. Many of the spells are also straight from DnD.

It's not that surprising that they're quite similar in all but gameplay and story imo.

True about DnD , but DnD doesn't have an early game firebolt or sparks(charged bolt) spell and that's the two D1/MM6 spells that got most of my attention regarding their similarities.

And while they are quite different in story and atmophere, the final levels have this in common: defeat the big bad devils!

[Corlagon]

Diablo's Devils aren't an advanced civilisation of space invaders fighting a thousand-year-war against a futuristic precursor race using laser guns and organ-like computerised vessels.

Or perhaps they are, I dunno.

[Deadguy118]

The thing is, a lot of those spells are just stolen right out of the D&D playbook, so both games would have them. Are there similarities? Certainly, and I wouldn't doubt if there was some Diablo influence somewhere in M&M VI. I enjoy both games quite a bit, but they appeal for entirely different reasons.

I think it would be a better use of time to compare Might and Magic VI with say... Wizardry 8, a game that is from the same genre but has a totally different approach. Of course, if we wanted to be a little more direct we would have to use M&M IX, but we all know how that would turn out. In any case, you aren't wrong.

[GreatEmerald]

There is only a year difference from the release dates of the games, so while MM6 could be influenced by D1, it shouldn't be that much of one. The fact that both are DnD games makes more of a difference.

[Tress]

IMO similarities between games are vague at best apart from being fantasy themed, and thus most likely having more or less roots in DnD setting. Things listed can be found in almost any fantasy game. For example archer - dnd ranger, paladin - no comments, and so on.
I can bet that game series like EOB or wizardry had much higher influence on mm series than diablo.

[Sure Valla]

I played them both for a really big time!

And its true, they have some look-a-likes but thats good

[UndeadHalfOrc]

The other day, I realized there is one thing where MM6 is in complete opposition with Diablo 1:

In Diablo 1, the best option eventually for your warrior late game is sword+shield.

In MM6, Sword+shield is the worst option by far late game. Anything is better than sword+shield: axe+shield, Halberd+Shield, one 2-H axe, one spear, or any weapon+sword combo.

[Sure Valla]

mm6 has a laser shooting reactor, functions as the second-last ending boss, Diablo doesn't have lasers

[koval321]

I dont see any connections between these two games. Every fantasy games have few similar parts but this dont mean nothing.