Torchlight OMFG

[BonsaiK]

It's not often I write something in here recommending a game to people. Far be it for me to drag you away from your whatever-it-is-people-play-these-days. However, I just downloaded Torchlight today from Steam and... goddamn I think I need a towel.

It's basically the first Diablo, with the same basic gameplay and random everythings, but also with a user interface that is pure perfection and makes both Diablo games seem clumsy and awkward in comparison, plus beautiful graphics from heaven above (that run fantastically on my 2006 PC with all the detail on max), no annoying trekking, no stupid respawning enemies, and awesome pets that do heaps of the boring stuff for you (like heading back to town, selling your unwanted inventory items and bringing back the cash!) so you can concentrate on doing all the fun stuff. Apoparently some of the Diablo project developers worked on Torchlight, and it shows - it's like a committee played the first Diablo, said to each other "right, how can we make this game absolutely bloody perfect?" and then brainstormed a bunch of neato ideas and then did all that stuff and put it in a new game, and that's Torchlight.

If you've played it, feel free to add your opinions below. (No spoilers though thanks.) If you haven't... get your needlework skills up to scratch before you play it because it will rip a hole in your jeans.

And if you don't believe me there's a free demo on Steam you can download and see for yourself.

(I didn't put this in the reviews section cos it's a little short to be a review, more of a "general comment of awesomeness".)

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Please, we already have the review on the Escapist to tell us this.


But I am really thinking about it.

 

[BonsaiK]

We do? I couldn't find it. My apologies. Anyway at least you know someone else agrees.

 

[Jandau]

We do? I couldn't find it. My apologies. Anyway at least you know someone else agrees.

It's on the front page of the site, kinda hard to miss [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/6697-Review-Torchlight]

 

[BonsaiK]

We do? I couldn't find it. My apologies. Anyway at least you know someone else agrees.

It's on the front page of the site, kinda hard to miss [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/6697-Review-Torchlight]

Yes yes yes okay then, please chill out. I said I'm sorry okay? For chrissake give me a break. We all make mistakes.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

Never got into diablo, I might download this demo though just to try it out.

 

[DazZ.]

I'm playing the Torchlight demo right now and really enjoying it.

I couldn't get into Diablo 2 for graphics issues (which I annoyed myself by being hung up on) but I really like the style of this.

If this is like Diablo I'll happily mess about with this until D3 is out.

 

[Jandau]

We do? I couldn't find it. My apologies. Anyway at least you know someone else agrees.

It's on the front page of the site, kinda hard to miss [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/6697-Review-Torchlight]

Yes yes yes okay then, please chill out. I said I'm sorry okay? For chrissake give me a break. We all make mistakes.

I meant no offence. You said you couldn't find it and so I linked it for you. Sorry if I came off as hostile, wasn't my intent.

 

[BonsaiK]

We do? I couldn't find it. My apologies. Anyway at least you know someone else agrees.

It's on the front page of the site, kinda hard to miss [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/6697-Review-Torchlight]

Yes yes yes okay then, please chill out. I said I'm sorry okay? For chrissake give me a break. We all make mistakes.

I meant no offence. You said you couldn't find it and so I linked it for you. Sorry if I came off as hostile, wasn't my intent.

It's all good. Now I know. Anyway yeah I agree with that review, although the review didn't even mention what I think is Torchlight's biggest strength - the user interface. It's so effortless, and really takes the chore out of inventory management etc - the shift-click to sell/buy is so useful, and the space bar which simultaneously pauses the game and brings up every useful screen at once is so good it makes my eyes water.

 

[TPiddy]

Good review, good price, sounds like a good game but no multiplayer co-op in a Diablo style game is a Cardinal Sin as far as I'm concerned.

 

[BonsaiK]

Good review, good price, sounds like a good game but no multiplayer co-op in a Diablo style game is a Cardinal Sin as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea of multiplayer co-op but in practice I always found that multiplayer co-op in Diablo was populated by dickheads and so never worked that well in practice. It'd be good with friends though. Mind you, apparely in Torchlight they're adding multiplayer soon.

 

[TPiddy]

Good review, good price, sounds like a good game but no multiplayer co-op in a Diablo style game is a Cardinal Sin as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea of multiplayer co-op but in practice I always found that multiplayer co-op in Diablo was populated by dickheads and so never worked that well in practice. It'd be good with friends though. Mind you, apparely in Torchlight they're adding multiplayer soon.

Well that's good... until they do, I'll just stick to Borderlands.... I can totally understand if a game like Dragon Age has no multi-player, but Torchlight? Come on.

 

[BonsaiK]

Good review, good price, sounds like a good game but no multiplayer co-op in a Diablo style game is a Cardinal Sin as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea of multiplayer co-op but in practice I always found that multiplayer co-op in Diablo was populated by dickheads and so never worked that well in practice. It'd be good with friends though. Mind you, apparely in Torchlight they're adding multiplayer soon.

Well that's good... until they do, I'll just stick to Borderlands.... I can totally understand if a game like Dragon Age has no multi-player, but Torchlight? Come on.

Chances are they're releasing the single-player component first so they can get the funds to do the multiplayer part. If people don't buy it, we probably won't get the multiplayer bit.

 

[TPiddy]

Good review, good price, sounds like a good game but no multiplayer co-op in a Diablo style game is a Cardinal Sin as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea of multiplayer co-op but in practice I always found that multiplayer co-op in Diablo was populated by dickheads and so never worked that well in practice. It'd be good with friends though. Mind you, apparely in Torchlight they're adding multiplayer soon.

Well that's good... until they do, I'll just stick to Borderlands.... I can totally understand if a game like Dragon Age has no multi-player, but Torchlight? Come on.

Chances are they're releasing the single-player component first so they can get the funds to do the multiplayer part. If people don't buy it, we probably won't get the multiplayer bit.

That's not a very good business model then in my opinion .

 

[Neosage]

Please, we already have the review on the Escapist to tell us this.


But I am really thinking about it.

Relax dude, more than one guy can do a review.

 

[Kajt]

And if you don't believe me there's a free demo on Steam you can download and see for yourself.

Diablo II without all the boring stuff? I have to try this.

 

[BonsaiK]

Good review, good price, sounds like a good game but no multiplayer co-op in a Diablo style game is a Cardinal Sin as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea of multiplayer co-op but in practice I always found that multiplayer co-op in Diablo was populated by dickheads and so never worked that well in practice. It'd be good with friends though. Mind you, apparely in Torchlight they're adding multiplayer soon.

Well that's good... until they do, I'll just stick to Borderlands.... I can totally understand if a game like Dragon Age has no multi-player, but Torchlight? Come on.

Chances are they're releasing the single-player component first so they can get the funds to do the multiplayer part. If people don't buy it, we probably won't get the multiplayer bit.

That's not a very good business model then in my opinion .

Small production houses probably have little choice to be honest. Multiplayer's always much more of a gamble than single-player, no point them packing in all those extra multiplayer features if no-one's going to buy it because they're too busy playing some other lame crap. Doing the single player first is a way to dip the toe in the water and say "okay, just on the strength of single player alone we can get x amount of market support", which then gives them some idea about the feasibility of continuing.

 

[Flour]

It's very rare I read/watch reviews and even rarer for me to then actually want the game.
It's unfortunate that I don't have a way to buy it online or I would have

I hope there will be some other way to get the game though, that will be the only way I'll ever play.

 

[BonsaiK]

It's very rare I read/watch reviews and even rarer for me to then actually want the game.
It's unfortunate that I don't have a way to buy it online or I would have

I hope there will be some other way to get the game though, that will be the only way I'll ever play.

Yeah according to the promo material you can buy it in a box if you can't use Steam for whatever reason.

 

[DesertHawk]

I played the demo, and have enjoyed the game immensly. All three of the characters are fun to play as, and the loot system (drops and vender modification) is wonderful. It Definately the best Diablo-like game that I have played in a long time.

However, before I make a purchase, I'd like to know a little more information about the length of the game. How long would a standard playthrough, start to finish, take? Can you take a character that has completed the game through again (ie. similar to how Diablo 2 handled Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulties as a form of 'New Game+')? Also, any information on enemy variety, weapon/gear variety, and location/art variety would be nice.

Thanks!