Diablo 2 is probably the best ARPG ever made.
That really depends on what you call an ARPG.
The English Wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_role-playing_game#Point_and_click) says "Some of the aforementioned diablo clones are: The Sacred series, Divine divinity, Beyond divinity, Titan Quest, Dungeon Siege series, Loki: Heroes of Mythology, Legend: Hand of God, Fate, Torchlight, Path of Exile."
Of these, in my eyes at least Sacred 2, Divine Divinity and Dungeon Siege 2 were better games than Diablo 2. Some aspects of Diablo 2 were admittedly very well done, but it was terribly lacking in others. I wouldn't even call Diablo 2 an action role-playing game (ARPG), it was a pure character-advancing game (CAG) or maybe a stat-improving game (SIG), without any role-playing.
I have to admit, I think 'RPG' is the most abused term in computer gaming. So many games companies don't understand that term, so they wrongly label their games as RPGs because they think anything where you level a character up or equip them is an RPG. Which it's not, of course, but unfortunately the players of RPGs never bothered to protest when the problem started (And yes, I'm as culpable as any other RPG player for this) and now we're stuck with a definition that could be applied to almost any game you care to name. It's an utterly ridiculous situation.
True RPGs are determined by one thing and one thing alone: characterisation. Role playing is freeform acting; it is assuming a role. As such, the player must be able to affect the personality and characterisation of the character they play.
Even with set characters (As in The Witcher) there can be a huge amount of personality variance if the game is done right, because of the choices you make as the character. In a true RPG.
So yes, you are right. Diablo 2 is no kind of RPG at all. Most of the games on that list aren't (And I'm only saying 'most' because I haven't played some of them so can't be sure). But, unfortunately, far too many people think they are for that battle to ever be won.
As for which of those games is the best, well, that's always gonna be a matter of opinion
