Torchlight

[Masterfade]

After playing for about six hours, my impression with Torchlight can be summed up as: Light-hearted Diablo I clone with a little bit of Diabo II mechanics. Which is good for me since I had always preferred the original Diablo over its successor.

 

I think the greatest strength of Torchlight is its lack of ambition. The choice of a Diablo I style, one hub, one major dungeon design is more suitable for a smaller developer than Diablo II's chapter-based, multi-hubs, open world design. Same for the choice of a clean, stylized low poly art direction over the pursuit for graphical fidelity. The end result is developers are a lot more focused on getting the bare-bones of ARPG right.

 

Diablo I clones like Torchlight are rare comparing to those big and broken Diablo II clones (Titan Quest, Sacred series), probably due to the $50 boxed game mind-set a lot of publishers and developers seem to have. You just can't do a full price Diablo I game anymore.

Edited October 29, 2009 by Masterfade

[kirottu]

I like how companies have been trying to emulate Diablo for over a decade now and the first one to actually do it properly is an indie developer that slapped a game together from scraps in under a year.

 

It

[LadyCrimson]

So after reading this thread and waffling between signing up for PayPal, Google account, or Steam, I installed Steam again (when I told hubby he said "That virus?" haha, he's a card)...but I haven't bought the game yet.

 

I bought Fate back when, and had a lot of addictive fun with it for a few weeks but it was soooo simplistic & very repetitive even for, y'know, a hack n slash, so replay value wasn't terribly high. Does Torchlight use the same wildtangent thingie? Are the levels never-ending like in Fate or is there an actual 'endgame' & then you start all over?

 

Also, does it have any outdoor areas or is all dungeon, ala Diablo1? That was something else that got annoying w/Fate after a while...no outdoor areas. Titan Quest wasn't the most superb game, but I did love its outdoor stuff. Endless spiraling dungeon levels don't quite cut it anymore.

 

Edit: Oh and also...is the Steam version the SP only version? I'm unclear about it?

Edited October 29, 2009 by LadyCrimson

[Tigranes]

I havent played Fate, but the torchlight forum feedback (which I've read extensively the last few days) suggests that it is quite Fate-inspired. In comparison to Diablo 2 (which I played to death) and Diablo (which I played), the game *is* a bit simpler and a bit more repetitive, but there is still a lot of appeal. It is also all dungeon, a la Diablo 1.

 

Basically it is Diablo 1, esp. the neverending dungeon, with all the 'modern' enhancements of Diablo 2 / Fate (gems, enchantments, etc), with a few nice fun touches (Pets), but lacking the skill synergies that gave D2 esp. an additional layer of complexity, fun and 'tactics'.

 

A full-length $50 version of Torchlight with outdoor areas, a bit more nonlinearity and more complex skill sets would have been amazing, but I guess that's for Diablo 3 to cover.

[LadyCrimson]

K, thanks. I went to their forums and did a bunch of reading myself. It does sound a lot like Fate, only refined. for 20 bucks, that seems acceptable.

 

Still can't make myself buy from Steam tho...changed my mind, making a Google checkout account.

 

Edit: After reading icky stories about Google's checkout I'll skip on that, too. Guess it's Steam after all. :/ One thing about Steam I don't like is it really makes me feel like I'm renting a bloody game, not buying it. Ah well, again, for $20 I can live with it. Once I stop playing Torchlight I'll probably never play it again and can uninstall Steam again. heh

Edited October 29, 2009 by LadyCrimson

[Majek]

Don't do steam. do Paypal if google checkout isn't safe enough.

 

And they already released a RespecMod http://www.torchlightinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270 for poor crybabies that "miss click" in their char development.

[LadyCrimson]

Don't do steam. do Paypal if google checkout isn't safe enough.

Don't have a Paypal account either. Altho looking at the buy-torchlight link, maybe I don't need an actual PP account to just buy the game. Maybe. Sigh.

[Humodour]

Yes, I dislike Steam. The only things I will buy on Steam are:

 

1) Games under $20

2) Valve games (which all require Steam anyway)

3) Some games designed explicitly for multiplayer if they are cheaper on Steam

4) Games which cost less than half the price on Steam (this usually falls under group 1 anyway)

 

Steam is also a semi-reasonable alternative to Securom's pathetic DRM activation bull****. But for most games with that I'll just wait 4 or 5 years for them to be sold without it.

[LadyCrimson]

I gave up and made a paypal account just to buy the game. As much as I dislike PayPal, I dislike Steam even more. Either way, it's another place where I have to dole out the money info for an internet 'service' I'll likely never use again and forget I even have one years later.

 

At least I don't feel like I'm renting, lesser of two evils. Even if it's only $20, I better like this game at least as much as I enjoyed Fate. :D Off to play.

[Tigranes]

One thing I do love as a nice touch is how they've taken new innovations in the genre that add to the gameplay, but leave ones out where they are simply annoying, or dumbing-down fluff. You've got pets taking stuff back to sell to eliminate pointless back-and-forth, shared stashes and generally more streamlined loot management; what you don't have is eye-eviscerating bloom that is plagued the world the last 5 years, long boring cinematics waffling on and on, forced, badly-written attempts to make you 'care' or have 'romances'. Win.

 

edit: after another session I've blown through to level 19, and the 21st floor in the dungeon. Hard, Alchemist. I'd definitely recommend most people to start on Hard, as it forces you to quaff potions and watch out for things, but even then I've died only a few times. Alchemist is also a bit broken at the moment as their lv15 spell (ember... lance?) is pretty overpowered. Game remains fun, and probably will until the end of this playthrough at least. After that I'm thinking of playing a Hardcore VH vanquisher, make things exciting.

[Lare Kikkeli]

playing as a barbarian (vanquisher?) on hard and while the game is fun, most of the vanquisher skills are plain useless. also the game is way way too easy, i've died once and that was because of a slowdown. but still, this game is well worth the 20bux and will easily satisfy me until D3.

[Spider]

Playing on what difficulty? I'm playing on very hard and if I'm being careless, I die. So for me, the difficulty so far is about right.

[Humodour]

I've finally got some time to play the game. It's midnight but I figure I can play till 2am.

 

Going to start a Vanquisher (the gun toting chick) on Very Hard.

 

This game is in many ways far better mechanically and tactically than Diablo 1 and 2. I think it's a taste of what we can expect in Diablo 3. I hope.

 

Also, here's a hint: collect fame!

[Humodour]

Very hard is definitely the right difficulty for anybody who has played an RPG before (especially Diablo).

 

Monsters hit for lots and have more HP, so it actually makes it worthwhile to use tactics and potions and just generally think before you run in guns blazing. I'd rate the difficulty as moderate to hard. 'Hard' mode was too easy.

[Lare Kikkeli]

I'm playing on hard, maybe i should restart on very hard.

[Majek]

Also you can abuse Enchanting if you have the money and keep on improving your favorite weapon. Though there is a chance you'll lose all the enchantments in the process, that doesn't happen often enough.

[J.E. Sawyer]

One thing about Steam I don't like is it really makes me feel like I'm renting a bloody game, not buying it.

Is it because you're not getting a physical copy? You can download content purchased on Steam on any computer where you have an account. If every computer you owned were annihilated by a freak bolt of lightning, you could get a new computer, log on to Steam, and re-download pretty much everything you had ever purchased.

[Gfted1]

Is it because you're not getting a physical copy? You can download content purchased on Steam on any computer where you have an account. If every computer you owned were annihilated by a freak bolt of lightning, you could get a new computer, log on to Steam, and re-download pretty much everything you had ever purchased.

 

 

Can you expand on the bolded? Does that mean there is no limit to the number of PC's that simultaneously have the same game installed? For exapmle, could I have at the same time the same game installed on my home desktop, work desktop and a laptop? Or did you mean there is no limit to the number of times you could download the same game, but only on one PC at a time?

[Purkake]

Can you expand on the bolded? Does that mean there is no limit to the number of PC's that simultaneously have the same game installed? For exapmle, could I have at the same time the same game installed on my home desktop, work desktop and a laptop? Or did you mean there is no limit to the number of times you could download the same game, but only on one PC at a time?

 

No limit on number of downloads or installs. I think that you can only be logged in at one computer at a time, though.

 

Have you been living under a rock?

Edited October 29, 2009 by Purkake

[Gfted1]

No limit on number of downloads or installs. I think that you can only be logged in at one computer at a time, though.

 

Have you been living under a rock?

 

 

Yes, I have. Im still rocking a P4 3Ghz at home but due to my wifes recent raise that should be changing fairly soonish and Im interested in exploring some games that would make my current rig cry like a little girl. With that in mind, Steam seems like a good way to get stuff fast provided the prices are the same as retail. I can kinda guess the Pro's of Steam but can anyone give me the Con's? Something crazy like you have to be logged into Steam to play them, or something like that?

[Purkake]

Yes, you have to have the steam app running and be logged in. Other than that, I can't really think of anything else that isn't common sense(losing password=bad, servers potentially going down=no gaming...)

 

Good Old Games has completely DRM-free games. You can download them, install them, copy them(burn discs, put on flash drives...) as many times as you want and need no app or connection(other than to download the games in the first place).

Edited October 29, 2009 by Purkake

[mrmud]

I was stupid and picked medium for my vanquisher and it is mindnumbingly boring (This is comming from someone who played a fair amount of diablo and hc diablo 2).

Im gonna try VH and see if thats any better.

 

The thing that bothered me the most on my vanq (lvl 18) is that im really only using 1 skill (explosive shot, and dumped everything else into passive damage boosting skills) and with the skill structure the way it is I have a really hard time seeing that change on a harder difficulty.

Edited October 29, 2009 by mrmud

[Aristes]

I actually buy most games on Steam these days. At first it was weird not having a hard copy, but now I just appreciate not having a bunch of disks around that I wouldn't use anyhow. Even if I do want to play the game again later, assuming I've taken it off my system, I just go back to Steam, double click, and download and install it again. I've actually done this several times.

 

As for Torchlight, any game that let's me nab a 'gruefish' must rock!

[LadyCrimson]

Is it because you're not getting a physical copy? You can download content purchased on Steam on any computer where you have an account. If every computer you owned were annihilated by a freak bolt of lightning, you could get a new computer, log on to Steam, and re-download pretty much everything you had ever purchased.

No...it's because I need Steam, a 3rd party, to run it. If I don't have Steam installed, the games don't work. If Steam goes belly up one day, it won't work. If I don't have online access for some reason, at the time I want to play a game, it won't work. I'm renting the ability to play the game on Steam.

 

I don't mind (too much...) paying online, downloading a digital .exe file to my hard drive and clicking on it to install vs. inserting a DVD disk in a drive. I mind a company controlling how and when I can use what I've paid for. And despite what the more hardcore gamer community might think, retail sales of games still far far far beat out pure digital, so I don't think I'm alone.

Edited October 29, 2009 by LadyCrimson

[mr insomniac]

No limit on number of downloads or installs. I think that you can only be logged in at one computer at a time, though.

 

Have you been living under a rock?

 

 

Yes, I have. Im still rocking a P4 3Ghz at home but due to my wifes recent raise that should be changing fairly soonish and Im interested in exploring some games that would make my current rig cry like a little girl. With that in mind, Steam seems like a good way to get stuff fast provided the prices are the same as retail. I can kinda guess the Pro's of Steam but can anyone give me the Con's? Something crazy like you have to be logged into Steam to play them, or something like that?

You have to be logged in to steam to play them, yes. But you can login to steam in offline mode for any game that doesn't require you to be online to play it, ie most (if not all) singleplayer games. Prices are generally pretty good in my experience, and steam is always having sales and specials. And they're pretty good on keeping games patched and up-to-date. I've heard that with some games with dlc, it can be a little tricky to get steam versions to work, fallout 3 for example. The only real downside is if you have a slow internet connection, or a monthly bandwidth limit from your ISP.