It's interesting to note, now that Diablo II has come out, how many of the improvements Darkstone incorporated into the Diablo play model are now found in Diablo II. Darkstone has a "previously visited  locations" menu that allows you to reduce the tedium of having to  navigate a lot of area you've cleaned out already; Diablo II has  "waypoints". Darkstone had extra skills which you could customize  classes with, as does Diablo II. Darkstone had a populated wilderness area,  as does Diablo II.