Believe the Hype
The Paladin is a spiritual knight, he has Skills with swords and shields and spiritual magic. His spells are not amazingly powerful but they can be usefull when there are not too much enemys around. His weopon attacks are powerfull but not the most powerful in the game. He is in essence the all around character who isn't amazingly good or horribly bad at anything. He is most suitible for people starting out.
The Sorceress is a spell caster. Her skills are generally with staffs and Fire and Ice magic. Her spells are the most powerful in the game, and are usefull no matter where you are. Her weopon attacks are the second weakest in the game. She is not the type of character you should play as if you are a novice, she is a rather advanced character.
The Barbarian is a worrior. His skills are will an axe. He doesn'r really have spells but feats whitch are not very good. But he has the most powerful weopon attacks in the game. He is easy to use near the beginning of the story, but becomes more difficult after you have played with him for a while. He is deffinately not for beginners
The Amazon is a Archer. Her skills are with bows, javelins, and spears and some slightly powefull spells. Her spells are avrage they are spells like Ice and Fire weopon and the Valkyrie summon spell. Her attacks are long ranged (unless you use a spear) but she has limeted ammo. She is slightly more advanced than the palidan but still suitible for beginners.
The Necromancer is a summoner. His skills are with wands, and summoning spells. His spells are the second most powerfull in the game, he raises servents to fight for him. But the Necromancer himself is pretty useless, he is the weakest weopon attacker in the game. I reacomend him to people who are really afraid to get killed, he generally stands back and lets his lackys do his work.
There are 4 acts in the game.
Act 1 is a rouge camp where strange things are happening, rouges are just dissappearing, and the more they dissapear the stronger the Maiden of Anguish Andareil gets.
Act 2 is a egyptian type place where some desert temples hold the secrets to defeating th Prince of Pain Dureal.
Act 3 is a swampy area where the few inhabbitants that live there are terrorized by the brother of the devil himself. His name is Mefisto.
Act 4 is a metropolis of people that seem almost celestial. In this act you will eventually get to face Diablo, the Master of all Evil.
The graphics in the game are somewhat dated but the game runs without stalling at all really.
The game is difficult and long but most gamers will find this is a worthwile experience.