Hail all,
I wasn't a big fan of the first Torchlight. I certainly liked it but I felt the skills, combat, and depth of the game fell short. However I have been extremely excited for Torchlight II. I knew with more development time the Runic Games staff could produce an epic Action RPG.
My beliefs were confirmed this weekend at the Penny Arcade Expo(PAX), I was able to sit down and play TL2 for almost an hour. Immediately I was impressed by the sharp and attractive graphics. Everything was extremely colorful which I expected with the more cartoon art style, but them pixels were darn crisp. I started on the elite (hardest of the four) difficulty with two other PAX-goers whom I talked with while waiting on the play line. I figured the difficulty would be no problem for us after speaking about our rather lengthy gamer resumes, but this arrogance was quickly met with the death screen.
Leading my Beserker a bit more carefully, my teammates who were an Engineer & Outlander started to make some progress. On one of the many side-paths we noticed a necromancer type skeleton and decided to try our might against it. Immediately a group of skeletons were summoned which we tried ignoring to take out the summoner, but the minions were too much at this low level and we were forced to retreat. After not seeing the necromancer give chase we curiously ran back in only to find him continually summon more skeletons. He finally decided there was enough minions and gave chase to our party who was in full retreat from the dozen plus mobs. We led them to a large previously cleared area and stood our ground for an epic fight trying to kill this necromancer without getting surrounded. After many character deaths we were successful, but it should be noted the mobs health were not regenerating after our deaths (even a complete party wipe). I won't detail the other encounters, but they were surprisingly varied in the small amount of time I played. There were a handful of elites that had substantially more health, damage, or unique attacks/spells that require to be dodged a certain way (for example an elite with a hammer that when struck on the ground emits a forked lighting attack that you must dodge).
I'm also happy to report the skills have been immensely improved, both in graphics and utility. The Beserker class starting skills called upon his animalistic powers to aid him in battle- a giant dark wolf would appear if I used his skill to charge and damage enemies in a straight line. His more defensive skill would call upon a blue colored wolf that showers enemies in ice, which would effectively make them take more damage and other ailments. My Engineer ally seemed to be the slower hulk-smash type character, wielding a powerful two hand weapon. I noticed he had stronger and more powerful single and AoE attacks, while my Beserker dealt quick smaller damage attacks. The Outlander teammate played the role of an extremely high damage range attacker- if not interrupted I noticed him cutting down enemies much quicker than I could.
On my second day of playing I chose the Embermage since I have not seen it in action, but this time I did not group up with anyone. Knowing the elite level difficulty and expecting to not have much gold for mana potions, I decided to try the second to hardest (Veteran) difficulty. You start with a firebolt type skill which was good for single target damage, but for increased mana you have the option of holding down the hotkey to make the mage continually shoot out with both hands to decimate a small area. The second skill I tried was a more devastating frontal AoE ice spell, dealing a significant amount of damage to a wide area in front of the mage, but also much more damage to my mana pool- I could only cast two of them with my available resources. The third and last of my main abilities I used was a magic missle type spell that fires multiple bolts which seeks out enemies and delivered damage of a few elemental types(fire/ice/poison/lighting)- this will probably be one of the more popular spells used as it's easy to use for decent damage. All of the skill effects were very cool looking, much more entertaining animations than other ARPG games at low levels.
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with Max Schaefer and the Runic Games staff and asked a few questions. They let me know their end game plans of having a retirement system, essentially you'll start a new game+ with your character when beating a difficulty and the mobs will be even more difficult (didn't ask further, should have got more specifics), and that the level cap will be 100. There's a few other nifty features like a pet shopping list. You can send your pet to town and a minute or so later he'll return with items you asked of him (health/mana pots). Seems like a nice idea which allows you to keep the action going.
The game completely exceeded my expectations, it was an absolute blast to play. I'd have to say the most appealing feature was how challenging the harder difficulties were. It will be released after D3 (don't know when), but it's certainly not a game to be overlooked- especially with a $20 price tag, LAN, singleplayer, and mod support.
I wasn't a big fan of the first Torchlight. I certainly liked it but I felt the skills, combat, and depth of the game fell short. However I have been extremely excited for Torchlight II. I knew with more development time the Runic Games staff could produce an epic Action RPG.
My beliefs were confirmed this weekend at the Penny Arcade Expo(PAX), I was able to sit down and play TL2 for almost an hour. Immediately I was impressed by the sharp and attractive graphics. Everything was extremely colorful which I expected with the more cartoon art style, but them pixels were darn crisp. I started on the elite (hardest of the four) difficulty with two other PAX-goers whom I talked with while waiting on the play line. I figured the difficulty would be no problem for us after speaking about our rather lengthy gamer resumes, but this arrogance was quickly met with the death screen.
Leading my Beserker a bit more carefully, my teammates who were an Engineer & Outlander started to make some progress. On one of the many side-paths we noticed a necromancer type skeleton and decided to try our might against it. Immediately a group of skeletons were summoned which we tried ignoring to take out the summoner, but the minions were too much at this low level and we were forced to retreat. After not seeing the necromancer give chase we curiously ran back in only to find him continually summon more skeletons. He finally decided there was enough minions and gave chase to our party who was in full retreat from the dozen plus mobs. We led them to a large previously cleared area and stood our ground for an epic fight trying to kill this necromancer without getting surrounded. After many character deaths we were successful, but it should be noted the mobs health were not regenerating after our deaths (even a complete party wipe). I won't detail the other encounters, but they were surprisingly varied in the small amount of time I played. There were a handful of elites that had substantially more health, damage, or unique attacks/spells that require to be dodged a certain way (for example an elite with a hammer that when struck on the ground emits a forked lighting attack that you must dodge).
I'm also happy to report the skills have been immensely improved, both in graphics and utility. The Beserker class starting skills called upon his animalistic powers to aid him in battle- a giant dark wolf would appear if I used his skill to charge and damage enemies in a straight line. His more defensive skill would call upon a blue colored wolf that showers enemies in ice, which would effectively make them take more damage and other ailments. My Engineer ally seemed to be the slower hulk-smash type character, wielding a powerful two hand weapon. I noticed he had stronger and more powerful single and AoE attacks, while my Beserker dealt quick smaller damage attacks. The Outlander teammate played the role of an extremely high damage range attacker- if not interrupted I noticed him cutting down enemies much quicker than I could.
On my second day of playing I chose the Embermage since I have not seen it in action, but this time I did not group up with anyone. Knowing the elite level difficulty and expecting to not have much gold for mana potions, I decided to try the second to hardest (Veteran) difficulty. You start with a firebolt type skill which was good for single target damage, but for increased mana you have the option of holding down the hotkey to make the mage continually shoot out with both hands to decimate a small area. The second skill I tried was a more devastating frontal AoE ice spell, dealing a significant amount of damage to a wide area in front of the mage, but also much more damage to my mana pool- I could only cast two of them with my available resources. The third and last of my main abilities I used was a magic missle type spell that fires multiple bolts which seeks out enemies and delivered damage of a few elemental types(fire/ice/poison/lighting)- this will probably be one of the more popular spells used as it's easy to use for decent damage. All of the skill effects were very cool looking, much more entertaining animations than other ARPG games at low levels.
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with Max Schaefer and the Runic Games staff and asked a few questions. They let me know their end game plans of having a retirement system, essentially you'll start a new game+ with your character when beating a difficulty and the mobs will be even more difficult (didn't ask further, should have got more specifics), and that the level cap will be 100. There's a few other nifty features like a pet shopping list. You can send your pet to town and a minute or so later he'll return with items you asked of him (health/mana pots). Seems like a nice idea which allows you to keep the action going.
The game completely exceeded my expectations, it was an absolute blast to play. I'd have to say the most appealing feature was how challenging the harder difficulties were. It will be released after D3 (don't know when), but it's certainly not a game to be overlooked- especially with a $20 price tag, LAN, singleplayer, and mod support.