Torchlight 2 Open Beta +Small review
- Thread starter JadeWah
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I got my key in my e-mail this morning, which was a pleasant surprise as I didn't know I'd ever signed up to get one but apparently just signing up for the newsletter was enough for them.
I've played about an hour of it so far and I'm really impressed by it. As someone who's PC just barely meets the requirements I barely had to adjust the settings to get the game to run at a tolerable framerate and I only had one major instance of lag when there was an absolute shitton of enemies on the screen. Keeping in mind that this is a beta version of the game, and that I was connected to someone else's server since the beta weekend is online only this bodes well for the finished product being well optimized and not low-balling the minimum requirements just to move more units of the game like some other publishers do...I'm looking at you EA.
From a gameplay standpoint it's still your standard Diablo style hack and slash RPG, you click on the enemies and they either fall over or explode into a bloody mess and cool stuff falls out of them. I'm liking the outdoor environments with tons of areas to explore and a wider variety of enemies to kill, so far it's just been skeletons and some sort of bi-pedal bear looking things and the rat guys from the first game but I've only played for about an hour. I also like how now when you complete a quest you're given a choice of three different items to choose from as part of your reward instead of it just randomly generating one thing that you're probably gonna sell right after you get it. I've actually gotten some useful items for my character and my pet from quest rewards this time.
I was really on the fence about whether or not I was gonna get Torchlight 2 or Diablo III first even though I can't run Diablo III knowing that I'd have my copy secured for when I could run it was kinda heavy on my mind but after my time with the beta I'm thinking that as soon as they guy whose computer I fixed last week comes and picks it up and pays me I'm gonna put in my pre-order for Torchlight 2 and then start working to finish the main story of Torchlight 1. From what others have said earlier in this thread I'm really close as I reached floor 30 not that long ago.
I've played about an hour of it so far and I'm really impressed by it. As someone who's PC just barely meets the requirements I barely had to adjust the settings to get the game to run at a tolerable framerate and I only had one major instance of lag when there was an absolute shitton of enemies on the screen. Keeping in mind that this is a beta version of the game, and that I was connected to someone else's server since the beta weekend is online only this bodes well for the finished product being well optimized and not low-balling the minimum requirements just to move more units of the game like some other publishers do...I'm looking at you EA.
From a gameplay standpoint it's still your standard Diablo style hack and slash RPG, you click on the enemies and they either fall over or explode into a bloody mess and cool stuff falls out of them. I'm liking the outdoor environments with tons of areas to explore and a wider variety of enemies to kill, so far it's just been skeletons and some sort of bi-pedal bear looking things and the rat guys from the first game but I've only played for about an hour. I also like how now when you complete a quest you're given a choice of three different items to choose from as part of your reward instead of it just randomly generating one thing that you're probably gonna sell right after you get it. I've actually gotten some useful items for my character and my pet from quest rewards this time.
I was really on the fence about whether or not I was gonna get Torchlight 2 or Diablo III first even though I can't run Diablo III knowing that I'd have my copy secured for when I could run it was kinda heavy on my mind but after my time with the beta I'm thinking that as soon as they guy whose computer I fixed last week comes and picks it up and pays me I'm gonna put in my pre-order for Torchlight 2 and then start working to finish the main story of Torchlight 1. From what others have said earlier in this thread I'm really close as I reached floor 30 not that long ago.
i looked up TL2, cause a friend is getting it.
not getting it.
its the art style, it's just ugly to me.
other then that, looked good, hope you all have fun with it
not getting it.
its the art style, it's just ugly to me.
other then that, looked good, hope you all have fun with it
The correct term for what you're talking about is aesthetics.JadeWah said:
Graphics is just the tech stuff, rendering software, antialising, ambient occlusion, shaders, etc.
People not using the correct term may very well be part of the reason why the industry focuses way too much on raw graphical power, photorealism, and the totally brown colour palette.
See also
The entire gameplay and loot mechanics, for starters. The plot evolution between the games in their respective series. LAN, Offline, and Internet mutli- and single-player. Procedural/random terrain generation. Skill tree advancement. Class diversity and flexibility.Soopy said:
In short: Everything that made Diablo II good, especially that which Diablo III has abandoned. And I shall rejoice.
I'm really, really, really liking TL2 at this moment.
I have a super bad ass bird bird and I can shoot heat seaking fire pillars and make zones of lightning.
Veteran is a really good starting point, IMO anyways, for people used to the genre. That's right, you can pick any difficulty from the get go!
I have a super bad ass bird bird and I can shoot heat seaking fire pillars and make zones of lightning.
Veteran is a really good starting point, IMO anyways, for people used to the genre. That's right, you can pick any difficulty from the get go!
What part of "Torchlight was made by the guys who made Diablo 1 and 2" do you not understand? How can you make a clone of your OWN DESIGN? You might as well have said that Diablo 2 was a clone of Diablo 1.Das Boot said:
Honestly, it sounds like you secretly know that Blizzard screwed you over on Diablo 3 and now you're trying to justify dropping 60 USD on it by taking a dump on a competing game.
I played all classes on Veteran level, softcore mode, finishing the beta.Evilpigeon said:
However the one I invested most time in was Berserker and Engineer.
Engineer from the get-go is the easiest of all classes due to Healbot and I choose to go range on her.
Berserker was a bit trick at start but a few levels later became totally overpower.
I'll try out Hardcore to see if makes any difference.
captcha: moon chesese ...mmmm cheesee...
Really? I just made one, got him to level 6 and he can't take a freakin' hit despite the 10 points I pumped into his vitality and his moderately good armor. And his knuckles do crappy damage too, even though they have 25 strength attribute points backing them up on top of their 50-ish damage.Fappy said:
How are you making the Berseker work?
Wouldn't mind knowing this as well, although I've attempted to make a lifestealing mostly shadow beserker (lifesteal from hunters tree, which lifesteals on crits then shadow abilities) which whilst I'm not getting loads of crits right now, I'm sure later on with loads of vitality it would be much more viable. As of now I'm having to be fairly careful and can't just dive into everything.Syzygy23 said:
Couldn't disagree more with the OP as far as combat. It's my favorite feature of the game so far!!
It is fantastic and actually has been rated the best when compared to Path of Exile (expected cause that is clunky as heck) and even Diablo 3.
Love how the shift and control keys affect combat.
It is fantastic and actually has been rated the best when compared to Path of Exile (expected cause that is clunky as heck) and even Diablo 3.
Love how the shift and control keys affect combat.
Well it is...Mr.K. said:
Anyway, I think it's fantastic. Fixes all the problems of T1, which I liked, although it was far to easy and repetitive
I can't wait for the game, so freaking fun.
It's not very easy. I played on veteran and some of the boss fights were really hard. On elite I think it'd be very very hard.Zeckt said:
Well Torchlight might share the colorful nature but the designs don't really resemble, meanwhile D3 feels very close to WoW, the animations, model style and writing bring me right back to to my WoW binge years, not to mention the whole MMO system surrounding it.Nazulu said:
But anyway it's true that these aren't very grim-dark games, there is however a third contender called Path of Exile that is far more grim and it does need lots of love now that it's been completely overshadowed by the big names.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuPwHYlrHCA
Having been in the beta for several days now and completing it on 3 of the 4 classes on 2 of the difficulties I have to say that Torchlight 2 is one of the funnest action rpgs and one of the funnest games I've played in a while.
As far as isometric action rpgs go I have only ever played the original Torchlight, Titan Quest, Bastion and a bit of time in the Path of Exile beta and I've put more time in Torchlight than the others. Comparing Torchlight 2 to the original I would say that Torchlight 2 upon Torchlight 1 in every way.
The gameplay in Torchlight 2 is faster than the first game and the combat feels crunchier. Basic attacks in Torchlight 2 have a good amount of impact and the skills feel really satisfying to use. Every weapon type works differently than the others in some way and adds a dimension to making your playstyle as you have to decide whether or not you prefer the mid-range arc of a shotgonne to the long-range shots of a crossbow or whether you prefer the quick armor-ignoring strikes of claws to the slow wide arcs of a hammer. In Torchlight 2 you can equip any non class-specific piece of gear as long as you reach either a level requirement or certain statistical requirements.
Like in Torchlight 1 there are 4 stats in Torchlight 2: Strength, Focus, Dexterity and Vitality. Unlike Torchlight 1 every stat is useful for every class in number 2. Strength increases your attack and critical damage, Dexterity increases your dodge and critical hit chance, Focus increases your maximum mana points, increases your magic damage and also increases your chance to execute which is when you strike with both weapons at once if you are dual-wielding 2 of the same weapon type. Vitality increases your health pool and your armor rating.
The classes in Torchlight 2 have a good deal more uniqueness to them than the ones in the first game did. They each have their own passive charge bar which affects their playstyle in some way. They also have a lot more active skills compared to Torchlight 1 and what passive skills they do have are unique to the classes and aren't shared between them. There are a few balance issues with a few of the skills and certain builds in the beta, and the skill trees are also going to be changing in some ways before launch but the changes won't be in the beta so I can't comment on that.
The 4 classes in Torchlight 2 consists of the Berserker, the Outlander, the Embermage and the Engineer.
The Berserker is my favorite class of the 4. The Berserker focuses more on dual-wielding and getting critical hits, although using 2-handed weapons is perfectly viable. The Berserker's charge bar fills up every time you hit an enemy and when it's full you enter a Frenzy state in which you gain increased movement speed and all of your attacks are critical hits. The Berserker can put points into either the Hunter, Tundra or Shadow trees. The hunter tree is focused more on melee skills and hitting hard. The tundra tree is focused more on ice damage and magical type attacks. The shadow tree is focused more on bypassing armor, hitting groups of enemies and life-leeching.
The Engineer is more of a tankey type class than any of the others. The Engineer's charge bar consists of 5 pips which fill up when you attack enemies. Certain skills use the pips on the charge bar to become more powerful. The Engineer can put points into either the Blitz, Construction or Aegis trees. The Blitz tree focuses more on using 2-handed melee weapons and fighting groups of enemies. The Construction tree focuses on using mechanical-eque skills like summoning a turret or heal bot or lobbing a grenade. The Aegis tree focuses on using a shield in combat and protecting your allies by tanking blows.
The Embermage is your standard mage class. The Embermage's charge bar is rather simple, when it's full your magic attacks are 25% more powerful and consume no mana. The Embermage can put points into either the Inferno, Frost or Storm trees. The Inferno tree is focused on hard-hitting fire attacks, whether they hit a large area or only a single target. The Frost tree isn't as damage focused as the Inferno tree but puts more emphasis on crowd-control with slowing and immobilizing skills. The Storm tree is based around short-range electric damage and causing knockback and explosions on death.
I can't speak very much on the Outlander as I have only played it once and I haven't played it all the way through the beta. The Outlander's charge bar gives them a variety of stat boosts as it fills up. They get improved cast speed, chance to dodge and get critical hits and improved attack speed. They can put points into either their Warfare, Lore or Sigil trees. The Warfare tree is focused on using ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, shotgonnes and pistols. The Lore tree is focused on keeping enemies away by using the Outlander's glaive. The Sigil tree seems to be focused around using curse type attacks on your enemies.
The world of Torchlight 2 is also done much better than in Torchlight 1. Whereas in Torchlight 1 you only had a single town and 1 long dungeon that got a bit samey after a while, the beta for Torchlight 2 had a single town with several over-world areas, each with at least 1 dungeon in them. There were 2 rather large and open main areas that had several dungeons each in them. These areas also had several different kinds of monsters in different areas that helped make the areas actually feel like a world. There were also a couple of "transition" areas that connected the larger areas to the town. These were smaller and more linear than the other zones and only had 1 dungeon each in them. The 2 larger zones also had waypoints near the entrances that connected to the town so you wouldn't have to run through the transition zones constantly to get back to town. The areas are also randomized much better than in Torchlight 1. Unlike in Torchlight 1 where the areas started to feel samey, areas in Torchlight 2 are randomized with many more set-pieces and in a much more varied way so the same areas don't always seem like the same places.
I've played both by myself and in groups of random people and the game is fun in both single and multiplayer. Playing singleplayer allows you to take your time more and analyze things better whereas playing in a group of random strangers, while still extremely fun and more challenging due to the scaling of monsters, felt just a bit frantic and like I was constantly rushing everywhere. I'm sure if you were playing with a group of friends or family the pacing will probably be different.
The difficulty of Torchlight 2 is higher than the original game and playing with other people makes the monsters scale up in damage and health and the game becomes even more difficult. I haven't been able to do any multiplayer on Veteran difficulty but in Normal mode some bosses were able to nearly one-shot some of my characters and it made have to actually be careful.
As far as the length of the game goes it has been extremely varied for me. The beta consists of the full Act 1 of the game and when going everywhere and seeing everything I could on 4 characters I have found that it has taken me sometimes just under 6 hours on some characters and sometimes just under 12 on others. Acts 2 and 3 are supposed to be even bigger than the first and there is supposed to be a fourth act after that.
All-in-all I would say that Torchlight 2 is one of the funnest action rpgs I've ever played and is already well worth the $20 that I'll be spending on it.
As far as isometric action rpgs go I have only ever played the original Torchlight, Titan Quest, Bastion and a bit of time in the Path of Exile beta and I've put more time in Torchlight than the others. Comparing Torchlight 2 to the original I would say that Torchlight 2 upon Torchlight 1 in every way.
The gameplay in Torchlight 2 is faster than the first game and the combat feels crunchier. Basic attacks in Torchlight 2 have a good amount of impact and the skills feel really satisfying to use. Every weapon type works differently than the others in some way and adds a dimension to making your playstyle as you have to decide whether or not you prefer the mid-range arc of a shotgonne to the long-range shots of a crossbow or whether you prefer the quick armor-ignoring strikes of claws to the slow wide arcs of a hammer. In Torchlight 2 you can equip any non class-specific piece of gear as long as you reach either a level requirement or certain statistical requirements.
Like in Torchlight 1 there are 4 stats in Torchlight 2: Strength, Focus, Dexterity and Vitality. Unlike Torchlight 1 every stat is useful for every class in number 2. Strength increases your attack and critical damage, Dexterity increases your dodge and critical hit chance, Focus increases your maximum mana points, increases your magic damage and also increases your chance to execute which is when you strike with both weapons at once if you are dual-wielding 2 of the same weapon type. Vitality increases your health pool and your armor rating.
The classes in Torchlight 2 have a good deal more uniqueness to them than the ones in the first game did. They each have their own passive charge bar which affects their playstyle in some way. They also have a lot more active skills compared to Torchlight 1 and what passive skills they do have are unique to the classes and aren't shared between them. There are a few balance issues with a few of the skills and certain builds in the beta, and the skill trees are also going to be changing in some ways before launch but the changes won't be in the beta so I can't comment on that.
The 4 classes in Torchlight 2 consists of the Berserker, the Outlander, the Embermage and the Engineer.
The Berserker is my favorite class of the 4. The Berserker focuses more on dual-wielding and getting critical hits, although using 2-handed weapons is perfectly viable. The Berserker's charge bar fills up every time you hit an enemy and when it's full you enter a Frenzy state in which you gain increased movement speed and all of your attacks are critical hits. The Berserker can put points into either the Hunter, Tundra or Shadow trees. The hunter tree is focused more on melee skills and hitting hard. The tundra tree is focused more on ice damage and magical type attacks. The shadow tree is focused more on bypassing armor, hitting groups of enemies and life-leeching.
The Engineer is more of a tankey type class than any of the others. The Engineer's charge bar consists of 5 pips which fill up when you attack enemies. Certain skills use the pips on the charge bar to become more powerful. The Engineer can put points into either the Blitz, Construction or Aegis trees. The Blitz tree focuses more on using 2-handed melee weapons and fighting groups of enemies. The Construction tree focuses on using mechanical-eque skills like summoning a turret or heal bot or lobbing a grenade. The Aegis tree focuses on using a shield in combat and protecting your allies by tanking blows.
The Embermage is your standard mage class. The Embermage's charge bar is rather simple, when it's full your magic attacks are 25% more powerful and consume no mana. The Embermage can put points into either the Inferno, Frost or Storm trees. The Inferno tree is focused on hard-hitting fire attacks, whether they hit a large area or only a single target. The Frost tree isn't as damage focused as the Inferno tree but puts more emphasis on crowd-control with slowing and immobilizing skills. The Storm tree is based around short-range electric damage and causing knockback and explosions on death.
I can't speak very much on the Outlander as I have only played it once and I haven't played it all the way through the beta. The Outlander's charge bar gives them a variety of stat boosts as it fills up. They get improved cast speed, chance to dodge and get critical hits and improved attack speed. They can put points into either their Warfare, Lore or Sigil trees. The Warfare tree is focused on using ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, shotgonnes and pistols. The Lore tree is focused on keeping enemies away by using the Outlander's glaive. The Sigil tree seems to be focused around using curse type attacks on your enemies.
The world of Torchlight 2 is also done much better than in Torchlight 1. Whereas in Torchlight 1 you only had a single town and 1 long dungeon that got a bit samey after a while, the beta for Torchlight 2 had a single town with several over-world areas, each with at least 1 dungeon in them. There were 2 rather large and open main areas that had several dungeons each in them. These areas also had several different kinds of monsters in different areas that helped make the areas actually feel like a world. There were also a couple of "transition" areas that connected the larger areas to the town. These were smaller and more linear than the other zones and only had 1 dungeon each in them. The 2 larger zones also had waypoints near the entrances that connected to the town so you wouldn't have to run through the transition zones constantly to get back to town. The areas are also randomized much better than in Torchlight 1. Unlike in Torchlight 1 where the areas started to feel samey, areas in Torchlight 2 are randomized with many more set-pieces and in a much more varied way so the same areas don't always seem like the same places.
I've played both by myself and in groups of random people and the game is fun in both single and multiplayer. Playing singleplayer allows you to take your time more and analyze things better whereas playing in a group of random strangers, while still extremely fun and more challenging due to the scaling of monsters, felt just a bit frantic and like I was constantly rushing everywhere. I'm sure if you were playing with a group of friends or family the pacing will probably be different.
The difficulty of Torchlight 2 is higher than the original game and playing with other people makes the monsters scale up in damage and health and the game becomes even more difficult. I haven't been able to do any multiplayer on Veteran difficulty but in Normal mode some bosses were able to nearly one-shot some of my characters and it made have to actually be careful.
As far as the length of the game goes it has been extremely varied for me. The beta consists of the full Act 1 of the game and when going everywhere and seeing everything I could on 4 characters I have found that it has taken me sometimes just under 6 hours on some characters and sometimes just under 12 on others. Acts 2 and 3 are supposed to be even bigger than the first and there is supposed to be a fourth act after that.
All-in-all I would say that Torchlight 2 is one of the funnest action rpgs I've ever played and is already well worth the $20 that I'll be spending on it.
A lot of it comes down to what gear you're using. If you're dual-wielding you should try to use 2 weapons of the same type so you can land plenty of execute attacks. Focusing your skill points on Frenzy Mastery, Blood Hunger and Executioner are good if you want to focus on building your charge and life-leeching, it's also good to put the majority of your stat points in strength if you want to hit hard. That particular build is rather squishy when you're not in frenzy mode but when you are you clear out groups of enemies very quickly. It's also best to put at least 1 point in shadow burst so you can regenerate health while staying mobile.DazZ. said:
Another build I used was using 2-handed weapons with putting points in Raze and Shadow Burst and pumping up Cold Steel Mastery to help increase my damage output. Frost Breath and Storm Claw help a bit too but they don't last long and not many points are needed in those skills.
