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Video Games => Video Game Chat => Topic started by: WarpRattler on October 29, 2009, 09:55:22 PM

Title: Torchlight
Post by: WarpRattler on October 29, 2009, 09:55:22 PM
Based on the awesome demo (http://store.steampowered.com/app/41510/), I'm absolutely buying this Diablo clone.

1. It runs well on my computer and looks good doing so. Torchlight has seriously low requirements and is able to be run on netbooks (it even has a special netbook mode). Low requirements are a good thing!

2. Pets. I don't know if the full game has more variety (the demo lets you choose a cat or a dog), but I think any differences are purely cosmetic anyway. Your pet will fight alongside you in combat, can act as a second inventory (holding as many items as you can), can be sent back to town to sell every item it's holding (!!!), and can be fed fish to transform into other creatures for short periods of time. For me, the sale feature almost renders scrolls of town portal useless.

3. Only three classes, defined by their looks, skills, and stat distribution. The Destroyer is your standard fighter, the Vanquisher is a ranged combatant, and the Alchemist is a magic-user. Simple class structures, and the only real differences between the classes are the skills.
3a. Unlike in Diablo II, where certain classes could dual-wield (and only certain weapon types) while others couldn't, any combination of one-handed weapons can be dual-wielded by any class. Want your Alchemist to hold a warhammer in one hand and a fireball-flinging wand in the other? Go right ahead. Want to dual-wield pistols? Be my guest. Furthermore, I have yet to see any items tied to a specific class.

4. Torchlight ditches the item durability system for one where weaker items become far less effective as you fight stronger enemies. This means you'll be switching weapons far more often than one might in Diablo, meaning at least a bit more variety.
4a. Shops actually sell equipment worth using.

5. You don't get as much loot as you would in a Diablo game. This is due largely to the lack of "broken" equipment that's not worth its weight in gold. Instead of a billion pieces of worthless equipment dropping every time you sweep through an area, you'll find a lot of gold, a few standard pieces of equipment, and maybe a rare or two depending on if there were any champion monsters. This is a case where less is more, and I'm glad for it.
5a. No inventory Tetris. All items take up one square. Not a good thing for people who enjoyed rearranging their items every time they wanted to pick something up, but great for everyone else.
5b. Between your inventory, your pet's inventory, your stash, and your shared stash (any item stored here can be accessed by any character saved on that computer), you shouldn't have any problems with running out of space to carry items.

6. Attacks feel meaty and look cool. Sending enemies flying through the air with a screen-rocking explosion from a standard attack is awesome.

7. Runic Games is releasing mod tools for free.

8. The demo isn't too short like with some games. I finished it in a couple of hours, which let me do a few decent-length quests. This is a good thing for the purposes of other people who'd want to try the game - I figured out that I'd have to buy Torchlight five minutes into the demo.

So, guys, your thoughts on Torchlight?