I'm considering it. Installing the demo right now, as a matter of fact.
My system is just about the recommended specs for the game, 'cept the processor which is a 1.8GHz.
I've been curious about this game for a while now, so if the demo doesn't run too horribly, I might pick it up.
Edit: Okies, the demo runs... good, at 800x600 with all graphics detail keyed to minimum - It still looks pretty damned awesome, everything except the low-detail shadows. I would kill for an option to disable them completely - From experience, I know that shadows are extremely system resource-intensive, and killing them helps in most cases. So as punishment for not being able to run shadows at full depth, we get jagged and distracting abominations instead. Wonderful:rolleyes:
Otherwise, my (admittadly short) experience was pretty good. Combat flowed, the scenery was gorgeous, and since that it <strike>ripped off</strike> borrowed so much of it's interface and combat style from Diablo II, I could just leap in slaughter some satyrs. And, damn, does the scenery look impressive; while flinging arrows at an unfortunate enemy in long grass I could swear that the passing of the projectiles caused the foliage to sway in its path.
Schlepping the character and inventory screens together was confusing, and for some reason I doubt I'll ever get the hang of it. Much of the character editing eludes me at this moment, but this is the sort of thing I like to learn by leafing through the manual.
Oh, inventory management. Having spent so damn long playing Guild Wars and its "A breastplate occupies the same amount of space as a tooth and a sword and a shield and 250 ingots of iron" it's somehow good to be back to essentially playing Tetris with weapons. Unfortunately, the automatic inventory placing seems to be closer to Diablo's "left to right across the top, then start a new row" than D2's "top to bottom heading right", if that makes sense. 2x2 items stack up next to each other rather than the second item being placed beneath the first. Anyway, that annoys me, since it requires constant inventory checking and slotting helms into a more sensible arrangement.
Another gripe I have is this: Remember arriving at the Rogue's camp? Remember the people that were there? Remember Gheed, Charsie, and co? For that matter, remember Tristram and her people? I do. Now, can you remember anyone in Helios? Thought not. I hope that the game's trend for faceless NPCs doesn't continue, but part of me knows already that even when I've reached the final outpost in the game I still wouldn't have met a single memorable character. Blizzard injected a fair bit of humanity into even incidental characters, and let's face it, even if you never made regular visits to Wirt's Emporium o' Crap, you can still remember the li'l cripple from your first meeting. You can even remember most, or at least some of the bosses of Diablo. King Leoric had a story, as did Blood Raven, Nihlathak, Bartuc... The list goes on.
With Titan Quest, we've just got Generic_Panicky_NPC_07 running around and Generic_Panicky_TownElder_01 who tells you to go into the woods and show Localised_Monster_Boss_02 just how sharp your axe is. Include a faceless shopkeep, and a few overly-talkative NPCs designed to give you some filling in on the story but never get through more than half of it before the player walks away in disgust and you're done. We're hardly talking Kurast Docks here, are we?
I'm thinking that the devs should have spent a shade less time hiring graphics designers and maybe hired a few more skilled writers.
I guess I'll stuff this game into my 'maybe' pile.
My system is just about the recommended specs for the game, 'cept the processor which is a 1.8GHz.
I've been curious about this game for a while now, so if the demo doesn't run too horribly, I might pick it up.
Edit: Okies, the demo runs... good, at 800x600 with all graphics detail keyed to minimum - It still looks pretty damned awesome, everything except the low-detail shadows. I would kill for an option to disable them completely - From experience, I know that shadows are extremely system resource-intensive, and killing them helps in most cases. So as punishment for not being able to run shadows at full depth, we get jagged and distracting abominations instead. Wonderful:rolleyes:
Otherwise, my (admittadly short) experience was pretty good. Combat flowed, the scenery was gorgeous, and since that it <strike>ripped off</strike> borrowed so much of it's interface and combat style from Diablo II, I could just leap in slaughter some satyrs. And, damn, does the scenery look impressive; while flinging arrows at an unfortunate enemy in long grass I could swear that the passing of the projectiles caused the foliage to sway in its path.
Schlepping the character and inventory screens together was confusing, and for some reason I doubt I'll ever get the hang of it. Much of the character editing eludes me at this moment, but this is the sort of thing I like to learn by leafing through the manual.
Oh, inventory management. Having spent so damn long playing Guild Wars and its "A breastplate occupies the same amount of space as a tooth and a sword and a shield and 250 ingots of iron" it's somehow good to be back to essentially playing Tetris with weapons. Unfortunately, the automatic inventory placing seems to be closer to Diablo's "left to right across the top, then start a new row" than D2's "top to bottom heading right", if that makes sense. 2x2 items stack up next to each other rather than the second item being placed beneath the first. Anyway, that annoys me, since it requires constant inventory checking and slotting helms into a more sensible arrangement.
Another gripe I have is this: Remember arriving at the Rogue's camp? Remember the people that were there? Remember Gheed, Charsie, and co? For that matter, remember Tristram and her people? I do. Now, can you remember anyone in Helios? Thought not. I hope that the game's trend for faceless NPCs doesn't continue, but part of me knows already that even when I've reached the final outpost in the game I still wouldn't have met a single memorable character. Blizzard injected a fair bit of humanity into even incidental characters, and let's face it, even if you never made regular visits to Wirt's Emporium o' Crap, you can still remember the li'l cripple from your first meeting. You can even remember most, or at least some of the bosses of Diablo. King Leoric had a story, as did Blood Raven, Nihlathak, Bartuc... The list goes on.
With Titan Quest, we've just got Generic_Panicky_NPC_07 running around and Generic_Panicky_TownElder_01 who tells you to go into the woods and show Localised_Monster_Boss_02 just how sharp your axe is. Include a faceless shopkeep, and a few overly-talkative NPCs designed to give you some filling in on the story but never get through more than half of it before the player walks away in disgust and you're done. We're hardly talking Kurast Docks here, are we?
I'm thinking that the devs should have spent a shade less time hiring graphics designers and maybe hired a few more skilled writers.
I guess I'll stuff this game into my 'maybe' pile.
When in mortal danger,
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout.
BattleTag: Schrau#2386
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout.
BattleTag: Schrau#2386