Diablo 1 is my favorite Diablo game, but last time I tried this there were some weird changes (needing to use a town portal scroll in the butcher's room). Is that still the case?
I believe the "X" in DevilutionX signals that there are opinionated QoL changes made to that distribution of the game. There is another repository called Devilution that is unmodified.
The X is a reference to it being able to running on other systems then Windows.
Most QoL are optional and is either off by default or can be turned off in the settings. Devilution is more of a reference work then something intended for anyone to use.
This doesn't sound like DevilutionX, I think what you might have tried Belzebub which is an entirely different project with no relations. The game play adheres closely to the original and only bug fixes are addressed.