Torchlight 2 Release Date set

[Mavfin]

September 20, 2012

Finally. I still like D3 a lot, and MoP's coming, but TL2 will be a nice $20 diversion.

[Kevin]

September 20, 2012

Finally. I still like D3 a lot, and MoP's coming, but TL2 will be a nice $20 diversion.

I think the Steam Summer Sale killed any chance of me getting this anytime soon. I'm still working through a lot of that backlog and having fun with them since I got a fairly wide variety of game types and recently I want different things for my entertainment fairly frequently. That and I'm sure I'll get back into D3 at some point because of that too. I won't need another similar game.

[FoxBat]

Apparently they chose to release right on the very same day as Borderlands 2? That seems a little nuts.

[MonTy]

Nice, look forward to playing it also dig the new skill system: http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.p...80#p286494

[LochnarITB]

$20? Cool beans, not eating for a couple days will probably do me some good anyway.

[FireIceTalon]

I really want to try this, but no time right now. I still never even played the first one.

[Frag]

Working through the first one since I got it for free pre-ordering the second and I've gotta say, I dislike so much about it that I find it really endearing. Also, even though I'm not really up for spending more money on games at the moment I figure that even if I hate TL2, I owe the Schaeffers & Hu the $20.00 just for the enjoyment I'm still having from D1/D2.

[ryan4nayr]

Looks like Steam allowed us to Pre-Load the 1.2ish GB of game data. Yay!

[Kurosu]

I bought a copy today.
Seems like their servers are being hammered though, so it's not possible to register an account on their website to play online right now.

[ryan4nayr]

I'm guessing Runic Games is going through their version of Error 37.

I've just been playing Single Player since 1:10pm East Coast time. Utterly clueless about what in blazes my Outlander's skills do But that's okay, I'll just find a respec mod eventually.

I find myself reverting to old D1/HF/D2/LoD/TL1 habits and it's working out beautifully. For now Veteran level is just the right amount of fun for me. Hope everybody else is finding their fun in-game.

[NiteFox]

Describe Torchlight II in one word:

Dull.

I know it's early; perhaps a little too early to form an opinion on a game like this. I'll be fair in that it took me a while to "get" Diablo after playing the demo a few times on my godmother's computer back in the day before I owned one myself (she enjoyed it too, just not enough to buy the game), but the thing about D2, TL, and even D3 is that they were good enough to grab me in the first ten minutes. D3, for all the faults that have arisen since release, was a tremendous "page-turner" of a game to me; I spent every moment that I wasn't playing D3 wishing that I was playing D3. The only thing TL2 has done is make me wish I'd bought Borderlands 2 instead.

When I picked up TL in a Steam sale years ago, the impression I got of the game was "Diablo 1.5": Diablo 1 structure, Diablo 2 mechanics. It held my attention because it had been a while since I had played either Diablo game at the time, but the repetition quickly set in and... I kinda quit at the point where I thought the game should have ended (And a guesstimate of the remaining storyline achievements suggested that there were a couple dozen more dlvls to go through before the end on top of the twenty or so that I had finished).

It was a good game, but extremely flat: The only two characters I can name in the entire cast are Syl and Brink. The town NPCs were just flat vendors/service bots and there was no story to any of them. Whatever you may think about Blizzard's hit-and-miss characterisation you could at least come to the conclusion that you were playing Diablo and D2 to save the townspeople from something, they had a plight that was at least existent. And God, did it get repetative. What was the most memorable monster type you fought, the critters that rushed into melee or the critters that stood behind them to shoot things at you? But it was at least playable, and fun for as long as the illusion of fun held.

Okay, I'm going to spoil the first half an hour of the game for anyone who hasn't played it. It's a relatively minor spoiler, but nothing you probably haven't heard before in previews or on TVTropes by now. Just glaze over the next paragraph if you're determined to experience Runic's halfassed story exposition for yourself.

The opening cinematic starts (Which is very nicely animated, I'll give them that). Syl and a bunch of redshirts are stood outside the entrance to Torchlight's mine. The entrance explodes. A huge guy in full body armour emerges with the heart of the previous game's bad guy built into his staff. There's a fight. The Destroyer player character from the previous game shows up and joins in on the fight. Armoured Dude kills Syl. Destroyer retreats with what is presumably the player character. Game begins, you talk to the Destroyer who tells you that Armored Dude was actually the Alchemist player character from the previous game even though absolutely nothing about his design or what was previously shown in-game hints at this and orders you to head to an encampment of Estherians, whatever the hell they are. You get to the encampment which is just a small outpost with vendors, stash, and a main quest and sidequest NPCs. Main quest sets you off to a temple to protect a Water Guardian from the Alchemist and the sidequest guy sends you in completely the opposite way to the temple. You get to the temple, fight a big boss, and you meet up with another NPC (presumably the Vanquisher from TL) and the Water Guardian. You get portalled back to the Estherian outpost, told by NPC-Who-Is-Probably-Vanquisher that the Alchemist seeks to destroy all Ember to cure his (again, previously unhinted at) Ember Blight and his efforts are already making magical creatures such as the perfectly healthy Water Guardian and the Estherians ill.

God. Damn. It. I've got a feeling it's only going to get worse from here on in.

So, gameplay. You run along a few steps, kill everything that moves, loot everything that drops and repeat. I'm playing an Embermage, and the first skill you start with (Magma Spear) is pretty damned overpowered: Straight shots that overpenetrate and can mow down entire packs of mobs before they can get to you. The Outlander's Glaive Throw skill seemed to be similar in that you just chuck a few at a pack and kill them all before they can react. There's probably more strategy, but everything I've seen so far hints that you can probably chew through the game by just buffing your starting skill and a few passives. Your pet is actually slightly less useful in combat than it was in TL, since it seems reluctant to actually engage in combat unless you set it to Aggressive (And having played a WoW Hunter for years I can tell how much of a bad idea this would be), it shows more enthusiasm in rushing forward to pick up loot if you command it to.

As a plus, the pet can now buy up to four different types of items (potions, scrolls and the like) whenever you send it to town to sell your vendor trash.

It's strange to think, but there's no heart in the game. No enthusiasm. You just carry on forwards with no real aim or goal. I know this is something that can be levelled at pretty much the entire Diablo-like genre, but while Diablo 3 is Explore! Kill! Loot! Torchlight 2 is Explore. Kill. Loot without any of the enthusiasm. Diablo 3 just does what TL2 is trying to do in a much better way and that's the simple truth of it. That probably won't stop it getting pretty good reviews in the press, but I can honestly say that I've never had buyer's remorse about a game as quickly as I have done here.

I dunno, maybe I'm being a little too harsh on a game I haven't sunk much time in, but I really can't see TL2 holding my attention for very long. Guild Wars 2 is out, and I'm beginning to reconsider my decision to wait for Borderlands 2 GOTY.

I may be remembering things incorrectly, but when TL was released there was a lot of crying about the lack of multiplayer. I seem to remember that Runic had promised that MP would be patched in at a later date, but that never happened and seemed unlikely to happen when TL2 was announced. TL2 is that patch. And you have to pay for it.

Sorry for all the negativity, but this game has got me pretty bummed.

[FoxBat]

You're not alone. D3 has plenty of issues that have been rehashed here, but as far as I'm concerned they've done such a better job on combat and skill implementation that I can't go back to the older ARPG style, even if I'm not playing much D3 at the moment. I don't care how awesome your items or character building is, that reactive aspect to action combat is rather important for me, 100% mindless mowing with no defensive movement or resource management bores me quickly.

I actually don't think it would take much modding to improve this situation substantially, but seeing what the TL1 community offered in this realm, I'm not holding my breath.

[MonTy]

I've put five hours into my Engineer that's playing on Elite difficulty and I'm enjoying it. I don't see it being my go-to action rpg, in fact I stopped playing due to wanting to load up Diablo 3 instead. But having an ARPG that's challenging from the very start is a nice change of pace (granted we'll be able to do this in Diablo 3 with the new monster power feature getitng introduced in 1.0.5).

The overly generous loot pinata is just plain fun. I've found tons of set and unique items, and am currently wearing five set pieces. While it being fun, I'm suspecting it's a bit too generous for it to be balanced. But at the moment in elite difficulty it feels right. I can't see myself playing on anything other than the hardest difficulty, and understand how experienced ARPG players would complain about the difficulty if they're playing on anything lower.

Story and characters have been completely forgettable as others have mentioned, so that's one big downside to the game. It really does make the game feel hollow. But most other factors have been enjoyable enough for it not to be a show stopper.

For $20 I've really been enjoying my experience and I believe it'll be a great diversion until Diablo 3 gets patched up with more features.

[Frag]

From rerolling a few times, I can say that Elite difficulty at least early going is vastly determined by your loot luck. Also, Elite + Melee is hard, probably overtuned.

[MonTy]

From rerolling a few times, I can say that Elite difficulty at least early going is vastly determined by your loot luck. Also, Elite + Melee is hard, probably overtuned.

Ahh right, Mr. Hardcore. Keep us posted on your efforts. I've died once on elite with my lvl 14 engineer but only when talking to an npc and getting surrounded by tiny spiders that came out of nowhere. Super lame.

Once you sink your teeth into the game more I'd also be interested in hearing your thoughts from hardcore perspective. Some of the early unique/set items are incredibly powerful, so as you say, I'd imagine your experience to vary greatly depending on luck.

[Frag]

Once you sink your teeth into the game more I'd also be interested in hearing your thoughts from hardcore perspective.

I'd do my best, but... Gahhh. When it rains it really rains. Have three closed betas invites, lasted one was Dota2 which I do have a great interest in, Torch2, Borderland2, Diabo3 1.0.5, and real life to consider (lame, right? ) the reports are probably going to be slower than snail snot on a cold morning running down your glads.

Oy.

Edit: My latest build (zerker) was going fine, until the Frosted Hills and it's back to the same situation as my Engineers. You made it there yet, Monty?
Edit2: Parking this here for posterity. Congrats QC & Beta Testers for allowing the most boring optimal build I've seen in an ARPG in a loooong time.

[MonTy]

Yep Frosted Hills is a pretty big step up, ranged mobs were hitting much harder. Played a bit but back to D3 for tonight.

[Chesspiece_face]

From rerolling a few times, I can say that Elite difficulty at least early going is vastly determined by your loot luck. Also, Elite + Melee is hard, probably overtuned.

I downloaded the Demo to see if it was something I wanted to invest the $20 in now or wait till I had an opening in games and maybe a sale. Elite + Melee is incredibly fun until you see a boss monster. Then it is a lot like playing D3 only if every champ pack was Immune Minion. You run around in circles desperately trying to regen your health while hoping some small amount of your damage is actually getting to the boss. This is overly exacerbated by the fact that (at least the early stages in the demo) nearly every boss you come across has the ability to summon minions...

I played Elite with the Engineer up until I got to Mordok (sp?) at which point there was just no way I could do anything to this huge room full of mobs with the crap gear I had attained. After getting frustrated at that point I dropped it down to Veteran and was entirely disappointed by how easy that mode was. Maybe it was just luck but by the time I got to Mordok again I was decked out in a bunch of set gear and had a massive wrench that did nearly 200 dps.

I've only played the one character so far, but I'm not all that impressed with the skill choices and I'm constantly feeling like there is no reason to invest into a lot of the activated skills as long as I can put points into these passives. Maybe down the line when I get more of an idea of how builds will work some of the skills will seem more interesting but so far the combat and gameplay put forth in the early stages of the game is simply boring.

[FoxBat]

I've only played the one character so far, but I'm not all that impressed with the skill choices and I'm constantly feeling like there is no reason to invest into a lot of the activated skills as long as I can put points into these passives.

While I'm no stalwart defender of the hackneyed skill tree, D2 did have going for it that 1) you were forced to grab a point in pre-req skills so you at least had something to play with while waiting for your point sink, and 2) most early passives had some diminishing returns effect. (Notwithstanding summonmancers which I found dreadfully boring anyway)

Apparently at some point in TL1 the intent was that levels gained you points for active skills while fame gave you passives. That kind of approach would've been very welcome here IMO.

[Mirajj]

I gave the demo a try, and then picked this up yesterday, figuring that I'll get much more than $20 of fun out of it. I like it so far.