Torchlight 2.

[Beriallord]

Did anyone else manage to play it when open beta was up?

 

Just from playing the beta, which is only act 1, its a substantial improvement over TL1, and is more like Diablo 2. Instead of 1 dungeon with multiple floors like TL1, its open maps areas similar to Diablo 2. And a change of scenery with each different act. They have stated that there will be a NG+ with increased difficulty and better drops. This game honestly reminds me more of Diablo 2 than Diablo 3 does.

 

Its hard to scale the difficulty based on just playing act 1 in NG, but I'd say its comparable to D2, or D3 act 1 normal. Some enemies near the end of act 1 hit for pretty punishing damage. The difference is in TL2 is the melee attacks don't track you and you can avoid them mid swing. Some spells will home in but you can outrun them and reposition to avoid.

 

Decent gear dropped, including several legendary items, and frequently enough where you didn't really have to worry about running into a gear check, you could make progress in the game, and you could even progress if your gear was crap if you were careful. By the end of act 1 by Embermage had pretty terrible gear compared to what my Berserker had, but I still did good, because the skills I used for damage with Embermage weren't weapon DPS based, but I had to kite some mobs that my Berserker could have face tanked. I don't mind kiting as long as I'm kiting and killing and not kiting + tickling my enemies to death like in D3. Also the bosses were the hardest fights. In this game elites/champions aren't harder than the bosses. And unless you are built to tank, you will have to kite and avoid attacks, and reposition during boss fights to win.

 

I like how they mixed the skill trees up with some skills that were dependent on weapon DPS, and there were also a few that had set modifiers based on character and skill level, so they would be useful even if you didn't have great gear. I also think the classes are much improved over TL1.

 

If anyone played D3 and was severely disappointed and is hoping for another ARPG, TL2 is definitely it. Its a vast improvement over the first game. This game has better itemization, better classes, better mechanics, and better character development than D3.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Beriallord

[brokenergy]

This is because TL2 was made by the people who made Diablo 1 and 2.

[Vindekarr]

That's great news, Torchlight 1 wasn't bad to begin with-best $8 I spent that year I swear.

[DaedalusMachina]

Interesting. I played a bit of Torchlight and didn't think it was all that impressive. I may have to re-examine it.

[hoofhearted4]

loved T1. pre ordered T2 a while back. cannot wait!

[Vagrant0]

Interesting. I played a bit of Torchlight and didn't think it was all that impressive. I may have to re-examine it.

Play it on hardest difficulty and use some of the re-balancing mods.

 

There are really only two criticisms of Torchlight:

 

The first one was that the graphics were too "WoW-like" which turned those people off who were used to the dark and gritty graphics of Diablo. Torchlight 2 is better in this regard since environments are more detailed and there are plenty of explosions and other things going on to make it feel more visceral. It may still not be enough to keep some happy though.

 

The second one was that the game really didn't have any difficulty to it. Early on it might have some minor challenge, but past like level 20 you never needed to use potions for anything and usually had heavily enchanted equipment, even on the hardest difficulty. And the only boss to really give you any challenge was the first one since you had only a few skills and minimal equipment by that point (not that different from D2 in retrospect). After the second beta, Torchlight 2 reportedly worked on this aspect better, and has been tweaking the game to be more difficult when playing with the harder difficulties.

 

 

Torchlight in my opinion has become the spiritual successor to Diablo for hack and slash type games. But there is another contender on the list called Path of Exile. http://www.pathofexile.com/. Path of Exile is more like Diablo from a style standpoint... in using a fixed camera and having a much darker feel to the world. Unlike both, it features a skill system that looks ridiculously complicated and bewildering, but which allows for a good deal of customization.

[hector530]

Still doesn't have date I don't thinking gonna make its promised summer release

[hoofhearted4]

great link Vagrant! thats more what i had in mind for Diablo 3. its dark like D2 but upgraded graphics. im gunna keep my eye on it! thanks or sharing!

[Beriallord]

http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=31847

 

They finished up polishing act 2 just a few days ago. Which still doesn't mean the tweaks are 100%. Seems like they got a ways to go before the full release. I doubt it will be this summer, and maybe we can hope for sometime before November?

[mizdarby]

Sounds really promising, Diablo 2 is still one of the best hack n slash games period, and if Torchlight 2 comes close to it, it is definitely on my list of must have games.