Torchlight 2 Will Still Be Cheap

[John Funk]

Torchlight 2 Will Still Be Cheap

The sequel to the excellent Diablo-clone-on-a-budget will be just as budget-friendly as its predecessor.

Back in the day, we recommended Torchlight as an excellent (and cheap) stopgap [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/6697-Review-Torchlight] for those awaiting Diablo III. Now, D3 is right around the corner and Torchlight 2 has no release date in sight. Even if developer Runic Games can't beat Diablo to the proverbial shelves, it'll certainly beat it in price - today Runic announced that Torchlight 2 would be just as inexpensive as the first game.

For those of you who can't remember back to the distant mists of 2009, that means that Torchlight 2 will retail for $19.99 (£14.99 / €18.99). The game might not have a release date, but you can now preorder it at Perfect World Entertainment [http://store.steampowered.com/app/200710]. Steam preorders will also come with a copy of the first Torchlight for the low, low price of absolutely free, so that's kind of a no-brainer.

Even without a release date, Runic maintains that the game is just about finished. "We're pretty excited to see Torchlight 2 approaching completion, and can't wait to get it into players' hands to see what they think," said team lead (and company president) Travis Baldree, "It's been a long haul, and taken more time than we expected, but we hope you'll agree that the additional time has been worth it. Thanks for sticking with us!"

Indeed, Torchlight 2 has been in development for around two years [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102577-Torchlight-2-Coming-Next-Year-UPDATED] at this point - significantly longer than the rapid development of the original. It's good to see that even with the dramatically increased scope of TL2, Runic is still committed to keeping the game affordable for gamers on a budget - and gamers prone to making impulse purchases.

Like Runic told The Escapist [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95934-Torchlight-Shows-Why-its-Good-to-Think-Small] back in 2009, you can pick up Torchlight 2 and order a large pizza to eat while you play, and still have about $20 left over from the price of a big-budget full-price release. Then, you could spend that $20 on another copy of Torchlight 2 and have a LAN party with a friend! I mean, you're not going to eat that whole pizza by yourself, are you?

(Via Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-26-torchlight-2-steam-pre-order-bonus-price-revealed])

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[Qitz]

Lan Play
No DRM
Built for computers first
co-op added
and all for $20

Was going to buy it before, still going to buy it now.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Lan Play
No DRM
Built for computers first
co-op added
and all for $20

All of which are also true about Grim Dawn (from the Titan Quest guys). You can get a copy of Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn and still have spent $20 less than what Diablo 3 will cost, along with (in my opinion) being treated better as a customer. Right now is a good point in time to be into non-Blizzard ARPGs.

Edit: Oh, and they also both explicitly support mods, which not everyone cares about but is something that makes me happy.

 

[PingoBlack]

Oh look!
Another amazing offer to pay in advance for product that doesn't even exist yet! And it came out only a week after similar offer from Arena Net!

Looking at the popularity of these offers, I have only one conclusion:
The world is screwed!

Can we rename common sense to rare-as-ice-in-hell sense?

 

[Tanakh]

Saw it earlier on Steam today and was tempted, but I'll go with Diablo III. Why? Because of the always online, because I don't see it as DRM but as an anticheat system and i want my drops to mean something.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Oh look!
Another amazing offer to pay in advance for product that doesn't even exist yet! And it came out only a week after similar offer from Arena Net!

Looking at the popularity of these offers, I have only one conclusion:
The world is screwed!

Can we rename common sense to rare-as-ice-in-hell sense?

Wait what? Pre-orders for games have existed forever. I don't know what you think this is but it's just pre-ordering the game.

 

[Corven]

Oh look!
Another amazing offer to pay in advance for product that doesn't even exist yet! And it came out only a week after similar offer from Arena Net!

Looking at the popularity of these offers, I have only one conclusion:
The world is screwed!

Can we rename common sense to rare-as-ice-in-hell sense?

A product that doesn't exist yet... right so I guess this 56 minutes of in-game coverage from last years gamescom is an illusion?


Save your games doesn't exist rant for the next kickstarter thread buddy.

 

[PingoBlack]

Wait what? Pre-orders for games have existed forever. I don't know what you think this is but it's just pre-ordering the game.

Forever? Since when have people started forking out cash in advance with no chance of refund for product that doesn't even exist yet?

Don't mix up order with purchase.

Would you pay for your hamburger today in knowledge you might get it sometime between lunch time and next Christmas? My guess is with that kind of offer you would be out of the burger joint in milliseconds.

 

[Fappy]

Pre-ordered it last night. Been waiting for this game for years XP

 

[PingoBlack]

Save your games doesn't exist rant for the next kickstarter thread buddy.

Oh look, videos from same guy that is peddling the other pre-purchase I mentioned!
Yeah, you are right, guess I am the crazy one ...

I'll go off looking for common sense some more, don't mind me. Although I seem to bother your fan nerve ...

 

[Fappy]

Wait what? Pre-orders for games have existed forever. I don't know what you think this is but it's just pre-ordering the game.

Forever? Since when have people started forking out cash in advance with no chance of refund for product that doesn't even exist yet?

Don't mix up order with purchase.

You realize when you pre-order a game you are just as entitled to a refund as if you had bought the game a few weeks after release, right?

I would know. I've done it before.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

--

 

[Eric the Orange]

Wait what? Pre-orders for games have existed forever. I don't know what you think this is but it's just pre-ordering the game.

Forever? Since when have people started forking out cash in advance with no chance of refund for product that doesn't even exist yet?

Don't mix up order with purchase.

Would you pay for your hamburger today in knowledge you might get it sometime between lunch time and next Christmas? My guess is with that kind of offer you would be out of the burger joint in milliseconds.

This isn't just some game that someone is saying they will make if you give them money. This is a game that is being made and has been for the last few years and will be released this year. There's tons of gameplay footage and updates on there site. So saying that your just throwing your money at it with no guarantee of return doesn't make sense. You can wait to pay later if you want I guess But I already know I will buy the game so I see no reason not to do so now.

Also the hamburger analogy doesn't really hold water. hunger is something that needs to be satisfied on a limited time budget, gaming is not.

 

[Epona]

Saw it earlier on Steam today and was tempted, but I'll go with Diablo III. Why? Because of the always online, because I don't see it as DRM but as an anticheat system and i want my drops to mean something.

Just my opinion though.

The reason you have to worry about cheaters is because you're forced online. It is DRM.

 

[Epona]

Wait what? Pre-orders for games have existed forever. I don't know what you think this is but it's just pre-ordering the game.

Forever? Since when have people started forking out cash in advance with no chance of refund for product that doesn't even exist yet?

Don't mix up order with purchase.

Would you pay for your hamburger today in knowledge you might get it sometime between lunch time and next Christmas? My guess is with that kind of offer you would be out of the burger joint in milliseconds.

It's called a Pre-Order and it has existed pretty much as far back as I can think in the 80s. You basically just order the game so they save you a copy, with Online shops nowadays there is no problem of cancelling a Pre-Order at any point before the game is out either, that's where the "PreOrder cancelled!" line comes from every time a dev does something even remotely stupid

It's not the same as "buying/forking out cash" in advance, since you don't pay till the products is delivered.
I don't see any problem with the practice, I DO see a problem with the amount of people doing it nowadays (especially on consoles with the likes of Call of Duty, Dragon Age, Mass Effect etc.) over the amount of Hype generated without knowing if the game will be any good or not.

When I pre-order, I fork out cash in advance, you don't?

 

[TheProfessor234]

Lucky for me, I signed up to get Diablo 3 for "free," via Annual Pass. Probably one of Blizzard's smarter ideas. Works for me really. I get to bum around WoW from time to time and don't really have to worry about another full game purchase that I know I will enjoy.

Chances are I will enjoy Torchlight more since I think it'll be more "fun" but that's obviously a personal preference. I'm just glad that there's a continuation of these top down RPG games. Maybe I'm blind but they don't seem to be too popular anymore.

Also, +1 for Aku.

 

[Corven]

Save your games doesn't exist rant for the next kickstarter thread buddy.

Oh look, videos from same guy that is peddling the other pre-purchase I mentioned!
Yeah, you are right, guess I am the crazy one ...

I'll go off looking for common sense some more, don't mind me. Although I seem to bother your fan nerve ...

Fan nerve, I'm not even buying torchlight 2, didn't really like the first one that much, but that's besides the point. I'd kind of understand your point if this was like I said a kickstarter promising people a game that may exist with their funding, but this is a game that already exists, and your only reserving a copy when it is available.

Either way I personally view pre-ordering as "I have the cash now but I may not have the cash upon release, So I'll reserve a copy now knowing that I'm guaranteed a copy upon release despite my financial situation in the future" with or without a release day it is still the same core idea, because games with release day's are prone to being delayed and pushed back causing more disappointment than those without a release date.

 

[PingoBlack]

Also the hamburger analogy doesn't really hold water. hunger is something that needs to be satisfied on a limited time budget, gaming is not.

I would say so myself, but I see very much evidence to contrary. Especially in the video game sales, much more than any other media or product.

 

[Epona]

The pre-order bonus doesn't make sense. After all, everyone who would pre-order already has the first game. Seems like they could do better than that. A second copy of a digital game is useless and sometimes Steam doesn't even give you the second copy (if you bought Portal and then bought the Orange Box, you didn't get a second copy of Portal).

 

[Epona]

When I pre-order, I fork out cash in advance, you don't?

Not really, every shop I know, the largest of them being Amazon where I Pre-Order stuff every now and then only charges when the item is being shipped and not before, so yeah I don't.
I can also cancel at any point in that time period without being charged anything.

This is Steam though. Further, when I order through Amazon I put the transaction into Microsoft Money, even if they won't take it out right away. Unless people enjoy bouncing things because they forget about things like this, who wouldn't? The money is spent if it is gone from the balance.