Torchlight: Like FATE mixed with Mythos...

[BasiliskWrangler]

I just read that the Torchlight team is made up of ex-Diablo 1 and 2 developers. Very interesting indeed!

[getter77]

Yep, and now you can check out all 3 parts of those Preditor scripting videos as the final part just landed recently. Still can't believe the great price point and prompt release they've wrangled. Seems that, for the first month, it'll be exclusive to their website directly, then from there it should make the rounds at the usual suspects like Steam, Impulse, and so on.

[Iane]

Yep, and now you can check out all 3 parts of those Preditor scripting videos as the final part just landed recently. Still can't believe the great price point and prompt release they've wrangled. Seems that, for the first month, it'll be exclusive to their website directly, then from there it should make the rounds at the usual suspects like Steam, Impulse, and so on.

yep not long too go and can't wait - the Preditor is gonna be fun to play with

[llew silverhand]

just pre-ordered this on Steam

[BasiliskWrangler]

I am really anxious to hear some reviews from you fine folks before I grab this one...

[getter77]

I'm suspecting good reviews from people that approach it for what it is. I mean, I've already seen some people swear the game off entirely just because it doesn't have a multiplayer component regardless of everything else it has going for it.

I too went ahead and placed a Steam pre-order for only $18.

[Iane]

I am really anxious to hear some reviews from you fine folks before I grab this one...

http://www.torchlightinsider.com/?p=397

http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/2009/1 ... ht-review/

we shall see in less than 2 days

[ttomm46]

It is released today on Gamers Gate..hopefully a demo soon!

[Sslaxx]

http://www.ogre3d.org/2009/10/27/torchl ... ches-today

Shows just how powerful Open Source can be, no?

[BasiliskWrangler]

I broke down and bought a copy from Steam. I figured $20 was worth it, even if I didn't like it. After 30 minutes of game time, here are my thoughts...

Well, overall it is "interesting" but I think I truly have a problem. See, I spend so much time playing old RPGs that I have almost lost the ability to even understand what is going on in a modern RPG.

The issue with Torchlight is that I didn't do anything in the 30 minutes I played. I clicked the mouse. I didn't spend any time making my character or fidgeting with stats. There was no need to purchase anything before my quest(s) began. Items I found auto-equipped, meaning I never really needed to go into my inventory. My attributes are "Strength" and "Dexterity", which they should have just called Power and Speed.

For 30 minutes I walked around clicking on anything that moved, then watched the beasties pop in a screen-shaking spray of gore. Yeah, it's cool the first 50 times you see it, and I will confirm that the environment is beautifully rendered as bright, cartoony dungeons go. But why did I assume there was more "role-playing" in it than there is? We've all read countless articles where some blogger or editor tries to define what an RPG is, and it turns out that Torchlight has essentially none of the elements that commonly define an RPG from, say, an action shooter.

Sidenote: my finger even became sore after a bit and I realized I was trying to use the middle-mouse button like Eschalon's "Walk Lock" feature as I back-tracked through some empty dungeon. Action gamer, I am not.

I guess I was just sideswiped by the assumption that there was an RPG here. If I was told before I bought it that this was going to be a modern take on the arcade game "Gauntlet", or that Torchlight was an isometric medieval version of a game like Quake, my reaction would not have been so polarized.

Please, I welcome other opinions! Perhaps I am just missing something here. I will certainly continue to play and if my opinion changes, I will update this mini-review immediately.

[quasimodo]

Ahh.....Welcome the the Brave New Gaming World BW. You do realize this is why I hang around indie RPG sites waiting anxiously for games like EB2.

[getter77]

Well...I thought the title I put up for the thread would've been some head's up especially considering the team's background?

One thing to consider: Part of the design philosophy was to appeal to older gamers, to writ, the notion of not necessarily having lots of time on hand for great stretches. Hence, they wanted to steamline/pick up and play the thing to the hilt---so that nifty slayings and such could fit into perhaps 30 odd minute chunks.

The biggest thing to watch for will be the TorchED editor set to come out in a week or so while they add more documentation to it and tend to what issues are coming up so far in the land of the game itself. I, and other folk, have already began pondering and jotting of ways to muck about with it to lend to more tactical, if not generally turn based, machinations and deliberations.

Good times ahead as people settle into the game and begin to challenge the Infinite Dungeon for a decidedly more Roguelike flavor---same for challenge builds to vary one's approach to the game.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Well...I thought the title I put up for the thread would've been some head's up especially considering the team's background?

You are right, and I certainly don't blame anyone for my misunderstanding of the game's mechanics. I should have read a bit more about it before assuming I knew what I was getting.

Other than that, I have managed to waste a good 2 hours now on it, so it does have some mindless appeal. As you mention, it is very easy to pick up for a few minutes in between other tasks.

[Painted Lady]

I just love Eschalon so much that everything else seems sort of "not interesting" or (dare I say it) simplistic by comparison. It's the complexity of the environment, the options for character development and the story line that keep me interested. So, I guess there is still nothing to do but wait patiently for Book II......

[dare49devil]

Well...I thought the title I put up for the thread would've been some head's up especially considering the team's background?

You are right, and I certainly don't blame anyone for my misunderstanding of the game's mechanics. I should have read a bit more about it before assuming I knew what I was getting.

Other than that, I have managed to waste a good 2 hours now on it, so it does have some mindless appeal. As you mention, it is very easy to pick up for a few minutes in between other tasks.

-Were you a player of Diablo II/D2LOD?