With the release of Titan Quest just around the corner, there is quite a bit of talk being generated about it over at the PC forums. And nearly every thread has something in common - besides the topic of Titan Quest of course - the mention, or more to the point, the comparison to Diablo "sodding" 2.

Now i like to think of myself as an RPG fan, and the isometric view RPG being my most favoured type. But does every isometric RPG have to be compared to Diablo 2? Sure, back in 99/2000 when Diablo reared its ugly head, it was a pretty decent game. But gaming has moved on, and the isometric view RPG is implementing new gameplay mechanics that give each game a sense of individuality. Yet, they're still compared to Diablo 2.

Just because the games share the same gameplay foundations, doesn't mean they're each instantly compariable to each other. Doom and Quake broke the FPS genre, but just because they're set in the first person you don't see any Half Life 2 review saying "The Best Quake Clone Yet!". But for some obscure reason, the large majority of isometric view RPG's is a Diablo 2 clone.

One of lifes lost causes, i suppose.