Is diablo 1 worth playing?

Im thinking of finally getting this game, but is still playable in the year 2009. Ive always wanted to play it but never got the chance. 

Have you already played Diablo 2? If so then no. The improvements D2 made over D1 are so vast that once you go D2 you don't go back. Beyond that D1 really has not aged well in any area. So I can't really recommend  playing it. Then there is the fiasco the online for D1 became, because Blizz was inexperienced and ill prepared at the time. 
 
In short, yes you can install it and boot it up and play it, but I don't recommend doing so. If you do boot it up and play it DO NOT play online as the online has been hacked to death.

Don't bother, it's not that it's a bad game but Diablo 2 with it's expansion pack is just so much better Diablo 1 only has 3 classes and 1 town whereas Diablo 2 had 4 worlds (5 with expansion pack) and 5 classes (7 with expansion pack) also the skill trees and loot are much more developed in Diablo 2, it's just all in all a better game.

Considering you can pick it up for cheap, hell yea! It hasn't aged well at all, but you should be able to blow through the game in one or two sittings. There is still fun to be had with the original Diablo.

Diablo 2 is a much better choice if you've never played a Diablo title.  In fact, I think Diablo 2 is still supported by Blizzard.  I believe they released a patch just last year and there is another (1.13) on the way.  That's a long time to keep working on a game but that's because the fan base for Diablo 2 is still very strong.  You could go back and try Diablo 1 as an education, but you'll probably get more out of D2.  From what I remember, Diablo 1 was a much uglier, grayer game than Diablo 2. 

I certainly couldn't recommend it instead of Diablo 2, but Diablo 1 is still playable if you're interested in the story or progression of the series. It's not a very long game, either. I did find it to be a much harder game, though, so you may need to restart with the character which will obviously add play time. Or if you really just want the story there are plenty of hacks to make it really easy.

It's playable in some sense of the word, and it's really cheap. However, Diablo 1 as a game has not aged very well. There are some serious interface issues that D2 fixed (i.e. Hotkeys), and if you want more than the three basic classes you will have to get the somewhat rare and expensive Hellfire Expansion.
 
Basically, my recommendation is to get the Battle Chest. It comes with Diablo 2 and its expansion, but also throws in the original Diablo as a bonus.

That sounds great i will get diablo 2, the expansion is hard to get so ill leave that for now.

If you're a big fan, I'd say yeah.  But like others have mentioned it's not as good as the second, it's aged badly and is very difficult.  (Dying forces you to reload).
If nothing else, it's worth having to keep in your collection, simply because you can get it so cheap.

" Basically, my recommendation is to get the Battle Chest. It comes with Diablo 2 and its expansion, but also throws in the original Diablo as a bonus. "

 
Diablo 1 is a bit more gloomy in terms of atmosphere. I think it is worth playing, if only to experience the game which started the whole franchise and the Hack N Slay craze. The Spell system is considerably different , so is the structure of the game. Yet, in terms of appeal and atmosphere, I would prefer Diablo I over II. Maybe buy both games in a bundle. I would definitely play Diablo I first, because once you played the 2nd game, it is hard to go play the 1st for the first time.

There's some carry on from Diablo 1 to 2 though that you'd might like to know...
Basically, Diablo 2 assumes the warrior class killed Diablo in the first game, after which he jams Diablos soulstone (you'll learn more about soulstones as you play D2) into his own head to contain him. In Diablo 2 he's known as the wanderer, fighting a losing internal battle against Diablo. 
The rogue and sorcerer classes are also in Diablo 2, the rogue you'll find in Act 1 as a chick named Blood Raven and the sorcerer is in Act 2 called the Summoner. 
Obviously Tristram is the town everything takes place in (underneath) in Diablo 1 and you'll get to go there in Act 1. 
 
I think that's it.

 My brother got the battle chest a while ago and I loaded up the first one.  
 
Its old as fuck.
 
That doesn't mean that it's a bad game, but some of the standard gaming conventions that we take for granted today were not even invented yet when that game came out.
 
Take running for example. There is none. There is no run button, there is not run toggle. You walk the entire way through the game.The entire way.
 
Everything else is kind of similar, but once again, because you might be used to new fangled, hi - tech games of today, you might have a little bit of trouble grasping how simple it actually is. 
 
 My first playthrough I was given a mission to kill some corrupted guy called the Butcher.
 
4 hours later I'm like level 25 whupping deamon ass right in front of the gates of hell itself. I still had not killed the butcher. 
 
I had no Idea that the entire game would take place in 1 location that just kept descending levels.
 
So I opened up a portal back to town went back into the cathedral, checked around the 1 level of the building a bit more, and there is was! The Butcher. He died in a single swipe of my sword.
 
That's when I put Diablo down, haven't picked it up since.

Just play D2. It's far, far better. There are probably even still people online.

I hate the hate on the original Diablo. C'mon! See funny thing is that all the ppl that have ignored D1 don't know or understand shit about the story of D2. Yes the STORY.... "story? what story?" as ppl always say... Yes Diablo is actually an RPG with a STORY.... wow... amazing huh? Like for example.... The "Dark Wanderer" in D2 that ends up turning into Diablo.... Do any of you even understand that? I do.... The "Dark Wanderer" is YOU from D1. YOU ARE that Wanderer in D1... The Dark Wanderer was the HERO... He is who KILLED Diablo... Yeah the guy that turns into Diablo in D2 in that cutscene in the game was who actually killed Diablo to begin with. So wait why he turn into Diablo then? Cuz he was an idiot and at the end of D1 he takes Diablo's soul gem and shoves it into his own forehead.... Why was he tempted to do this I dunno, perhaps being in Hell at the present time there were maybe dark influences from the gem to do so so Diablo basically could be resurrected.
 
Anyways yeah that is just an example of what kind of story every one misses out on without have playing D1 and without actually reading/listening to all the dialog in the game from what ppl say and stuff. 
 
There is a great story and really only true way to understand the story is to have played D1 first.
 
And there is still ppl playing D1 and D2 so don't worry about that. And seriously it won't take you too long to go through D1 anyways. Yeah D2 is better for sure, but D1 was the original and it is great.

Diablo 1 is a great great game. Completely different to Diablo 2.While Diablo 2 is a complete loot whore session Diablo 1 is a much more strategic and difficult dungeon crawler.
 
I also hate when people knock the game for having ''no story''. As with Diablo 2 the story in Diablo 1 is purely optional.If you actually listen to what people have to say in town and talk to them about their various histories etc. as well as reading the many books in the dungeons you'll find a incredibly rich and compelling story.I like to think of Diablo 1 as a beautiful short story in comparison to the epic adventure of Diablo 2.
 
The mechanics through which the story is portrayed in Diablo 1+2  which people bitch about isn't very different from the techniques Valve used to create story in L4D;something they're continually praised for.

Diablo 1 is great.
@Icy said:

" @EvilTwin:   Yeah by the way info he say was wrong. Rouge from D1 is not Blood Raven and Sorcerer from D1 is not The Summoner. I don't know where he got that from lol.  I really curious how they are gonna bring back Diablo for D3? very interesting since all the soul gems were crushed.... "

" @PureRok: Actually no there aren't lol. I'll be first to admit myself being wrong, but not without evidence. Tell me what/where this info about it is at in the game and Ill head there and do whatever right now. If ya can't then shut up. "

Diablo is still playable, but Diablo II is far better for online and playing with friends.

Diablo I is okay if you can get past the old school graphics/interface.  Although I said fuck it after about 3 hours of playing.
Diablo II is definitely where it's at.

Get the Playstation version of Diablo if you do - saving your game takes an entire memory card.

" @PureRok: Actually no there aren't lol. I'll be first to admit myself being wrong, but not without evidence. Tell me what/where this info about it is at in the game and Ill head there and do whatever right now. If ya can't then shut up. "

 Bloodraven is the Rogue from Diablo I and appears as a Super Unique found in the Burial Grounds of Act I of Diablo II. You must kill her as part of the Sisters' Burial Grounds quest, given to you by Kashya. 

The Summoner is the Sorcerer from Diablo I, driven to madness by the Lord of Terror. He is a Super Unique monster in the Arcane Sanctuary in Act II. He is found near Horazon's Journal, on a platform with six glowing glyphs. Killing him completes the quest The Summoner. 

Considering I've read everything there is to read from the Diablo universe, and have played all of the games to death, I think that I may know what I'm talking about. You need to learn to chill out.
 
In case you can't find the specific passages in the wiki pages, I'll quote them for you:
 

It is hinted at that Bloodraven may, in fact, be the Rogue character from the original Diablo I, seeing as it's commented that she was on a mission to Tristam and came back "different."

Apparently, Drognan and the Summoner knew each other as they were both mages from the Vizjerei Clan. Drognan calls the Summoner "a comrade of mine whom I believed to have died at Tristram."

@Icy if you play through D2 and actually read/listen to all the text the various NPC's have for each quest, and at each stage of the quests, they pretty much spell out the Rogue/Sorcerer thing from D1. I went back and played through D2 when D3 was announced and actually did that, since I couldn't even remember the last time I actually listened to what they had to say without skippin ti

Go with Diablo 2, just so many improvements over Diablo 1.  Don't get me wrong in its day Diablo 1 was amazing, I put many an hour into it, but Diablo 2 is the way to go.