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Torchlight Review: Why Wait for Diablo 3?

Torchlight Review: Why Wait for Diablo 3?

 

 

A long time ago, a group of developers who made Diablo, Fate and Mythos banned together to create a perfected action-rpg. This action RPG goes by the name of Torchlight. It is far from perfect but you know what? It’s fun and that’s all that matters! These days all we get is realism this, and turn based that, but what happened to the simple click and beat action-rpg?

 

 

 

Graphics:

Talking about graphics is like talking about how shiny a dog turd is. Graphics shouldn’t be the deciding factor for any game but if I may say it is quite decent and the requirements to play this game is minimal at best. A netbook (yes a damn netbook) can play this game and if that could play Torchlight, almost any computer can play Torchlight !

 

Gameplay

The gameplay completely emphasizes on having fun. You will get monsters climbing up the mining shafts, dropping out of trap doors, jumping off stairs, walls, balconies, and just about anything to get to you. The monsters are unique and in a huge variety. As you go lower into the dungeon the greater variety of monsters you will have to fight. The models do not get reused over and over again (an example would be changing the color of a monster and naming it something else) and each monster is unique with special abilities. 

Also Quests are quite short and explanatory. Talking to the npc won’t give you a mountain of text but instead a quick where and why. There is only one “kill x monsters” quest in the game and most of the quests revolve around killing bosses, and finding treasure.

 

Very Very Brief Overview of the Story:

The town of Torchlight is troubled by the appearance of bizarre creatures inhabitting the local mines. As you are sent to investigate the cause of this infestation, you travel through an interconnected almost endless dungeon until you reach the end boss who resides at the very bottom of the earth. Going ever deeper through the mines, catacombs, necropolis..etc.  

 

Controls:

The controls are very similar to Diablo I and II (which is no surprise since some of the people who worked on those games made Torchlight). Click an empty space to move. Left click is attack, Right click is use skill. The number keys can be assigned skills and items.

The hot keys are very self explanatory such that even my 6 year old cousin could play this game. Press C for character, I for Inventory, Q for Quest, S for skill…etc. Some games tell you to press “Ctrl + O” for inventory. Why the hell “O” ? Why 2 buttons? God what were they thinking. It’s about damn time someone got this right.

 

Interface

You have your health and mana bars and then you have two leveling bars. One is the exp bar and the other is the fame bar. You achieve fame points by either killing boss monsters or doing quests. You have four categories of stats to allocate: Strength, Dexterity, Magic, Defence. Each time you level up you get 5 stats and 1 skill point. Each time your fame levels up you get 1 skill point. 

The interface is probably has the most minimal learning curve of any game I ever seen. The one thing I like about this game is that it doesn’t bombard you with stat points and skill points right when you start off. It doesn’t force a job system onto you and instead you can do whatever you like depending on which category you put your skills into and your class. Most games make you suffer if you try to build a character with different groups of skills. In Torchlight there are no consequences if you try a hybrid build for your class. It doesn’t make you weaker or stronger. Doing this just offers more different types of playing styles.

 

Downside of Torchlight?

There is no multiplayer support !! On the bright side though there are free level editors and mod tools so you can make your own world and story. Many players have been doing this already.

Also for those reluctant to give Torchlight a spin, a mmo (yes Torchlight mmo) will be released in the near future.

 

Final Say:

I am sick of all this WOW, Witcher and Aion Rpg crap that is flooding the market. Click a monster, watch your character hit it a couple times, yawn and do it over and over again. I have nothing against this, but can’t we speed up the action a bit? Like maybe fight hordes of around 20 enemies all at once and not just slowly grinding and watching your character hit an orge for the 20th time.  Why can’t they make a real mmo with instantaneous action? 

Torchlight is everything that an RPG has been doing right and what rpgs/mmorpgs should have been doing for the last 8 years.  It is reasonably priced for only $19.95, comes with a level editor and modification tool kits. Still don't like it? A MMO based on Torchlight will come out next year.

 

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Torchlight Review PC Action RPG Cheap
Article Url:
http://my.mmosite.com/d413f10a092d1baa9680ed413fd444af/blog/item/c15c401b3060b8fdc5cde744376b8c92.html

Comment ( 22 )

burngFLAME says
Post Time : Dec 10,9:12 pm

i felt like i was really gona like this game until i saw that it supports no multiplayer.....

lous55 says
Post Time : Dec 05,1:15 pm

Why wait for diablo? Because it will have more characters to choose from, More hours of gameplay, More Fun, Multiplayer,More support,Mods,Graphics,Going to be better polished,ETC

Ajatz replied at 7:39 pm Dec 08,2009

Diablo 3 won't legally support mods but it will do everything else a heck of a lot better. 2012 man. 2012 (unless the world ends then we don't get to see Diablo 3)
Guest says
Post Time : Dec 04,11:35 pm

 This game sucks. I completed it in 3 hours and it's boring. The number of skills they have is little as well. 

pooole says
Post Time : Nov 26,2:30 am

look gay

Ajatz replied at 3:24 am Nov 28,2009
Lol
Nyapism says
Post Time : Nov 25,7:57 am

i dont really like this game, dunno why..

Ajatz replied at 3:24 am Nov 28,2009
maybe it just doesn't suit your taste. Everyone likes different things =P
Guest says
Post Time : Nov 25,12:23 am

Hmm actually I don,t know I mean fast action rpg if you can exemple move backward so the enemy can Hit the ... emptiness would be good but what I liked In rpg is not "action paced" its mostly about storyline I was born with Final fantasy IV so Imagine ( on SNES )

if newcomer wnat action there is action games if they want action rpg well they could try dragon age origin

 

and as for AIOn its true you point and click but ... I don't suggest to Yawn because if you kill an enemy without skill ... GOOD LUCK but hmm still I understand what you mean but a real rpg Fan won't care Much about ACTION spaced

 

as for diablo I'm not Interesting yet to play it ( I have many games to satisfy Myself first )

Ajatz replied at 3:23 am Nov 28,2009
It is true I am not a real RPG fan D=. The only Final fantasy game I ever beat and truely enjoyed was Crisis Core (which was a prequel to FF7 lol). I guess I am not the RPG type person
PaleLord says
Post Time : Nov 23,10:18 pm

Torch Light is really a good game. lol Thanks for sharing.

BTW, thank you for your visit, too.

tray241 says
Post Time : Nov 10,8:35 pm

what the link to this game

Ajatz replied at 10:29 pm Nov 10,2009
Here you go. The site is like the most ugliest site I ever seen =P. Try the demo first. http://www.torchlightgame.com/
Hetman says
Post Time : Nov 09,5:27 pm

just about your final say... Wow, Aion and what- Witcher ? what those 3 games have to do with this? Witcher is not mmo, its not even just another rpg. Thats most oryginal game last years so think first before you write something.

Ajatz replied at 2:27 pm Nov 10,2009
Witcher isn't original at all. Its style and gameplay has been done many times but never in that depth. There are also plenty of games like Witcher *cough Gothic series*. The point I am trying to make is that rpgs in general (which includes mmorpgs) need to increase the battle speed. Sure Geralt can do hit a target like 3 times in a second, but if you are fighting a regular monster and it takes you over half a minute to kill it, this gets kinda tedious throughout the course of the game. The Witcher is a great game, but I am just trying to show one of the many faults that turn away people (especially newcomers) from playing rpgs in general.
EmoKin says
Post Time : Nov 09,12:52 pm

TorchLight is a good Game Overall I Like It And Eeveryhting It Fells Like Diablo 3 and stuff but the only problem is that there is no multiplayer plus there isn't much choice for classes either also this game feel a little like a game that i played called Fate so yea nice review

Ajatz replied at 2:30 pm Nov 10,2009
Never played Fate yet. I heard about it but never played. The only reason I guess I favor Torchlight over other rpgs (including mmorpgs), is that the action is a lot faster and its very user friendly . It could definitely use Multiplayer.
Dexcross says
Post Time : Nov 07,3:17 am

Wow, love the review.  Short, straight to the point, and provide the information that I need.  Good job man, will try this game soon.  Haven't seen review like this lately.

Ajatz replied at 3:31 pm Nov 07,2009
Thanks. I think this is one of my better reviews (slowly improving). A couple reviews I did in the past were kinda crap lol
Ketla says
Post Time : Nov 06,12:39 am

Excellent review!

On the subject of multiplayer, fear not, this is a fully moddable game and the mod community are already working on adding multiplayer support to it. See this thread on the official Torchlight forum: http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3569

Ajatz replied at 3:32 pm Nov 07,2009
Thanks for the link. I am glad the mod community is hard at work ^^
Guest says
Post Time : Nov 05,10:36 pm

well i can wait for diablo 3 and i still think torchlight is a good game

Ajatz replied at 3:33 pm Nov 07,2009
Same. Actually I can't wait for the Diablo 2 version update to promote diablo 3. (who knows when it will come out).
Guest says
Post Time : Nov 05,9:41 pm

Hmm "Fate" engine

Ajatz replied at 7:21 pm Nov 06,2009
Haha really? I don't even know the engine it uses =p
Firekiller87 says
Post Time : Nov 05,2:16 pm

Sounds good. and tbh i love flying and shit, but if its not central to the story or used just for fun, then it can gtfo.

 

And i hate Blizzard. The only good games they made were the original Diablo, Warcraft I,II, and III, and Starcraft-the TRUE originals. Everything else can go suck on my d**k, because they simply aren't good games-just majorly hyped up shit.

Ajatz replied at 3:53 pm Nov 05,2009
I don't hate blizzard but I never liked World of Warcraft or their expansions. I think its time they put more resources in other areas instead of dishing out like mad for that one mmo =P.

PS: When is starcraft II comes out? I hope it's good
Belphecore says
Post Time : Nov 05,1:07 pm

your title sucks, while torchlight sp may be a decent diablo clone ( without multiplayer, wich makes it pointless) it doesnt hold a candle to any diablo title. Runic said they'll bring the mmo version in 1 year (!) by that time d3 might be out and that would be the death sentence to torchlight. Anyway, lets be honest, who played d2 through more then 1~3 times, after that its just repetition, what breathes live into d2 is the lan and bnet modes. Torchlight missing that is unable to catch my interest in the slightest. I know Runic (ex Flagship Seattle) can create diablo clones ( been mythos beta tester) but not including atleast a lan modus was a huge mistake.

Ajatz replied at 3:50 pm Nov 05,2009
Ha its comments like these that make me happy (its a while since I got a good one like this). I am a hardcore diablo fan and I still play diablo 2 (I play on US west =P ). Its true that multiplayer is what makes diablo 2 live but Torchlight should be given a try at least (even if it doesn't have multi). Its true that Diablo 3 will probably whoop Torchlights (and its future mmo counterpart) butt anyday, but when Diablo 3 comes out I have no clue (there is no release date anymore). While we all wait for D3, we might as well give other games a try until then. Also not including Lan is a huge mistake is totally true. I feel that way for so many games nowadays that don't have Lan support D=.
Guest says
Post Time : Nov 05,12:26 pm

Nice blog on Torchlight i have it and i gotta say it is fun and i don't have to put alot of hours into it but what would make this blog more appeasing and believable is if you don't try to bash other game types. One don't try to bash other games as a last comment, people have different tastes and although WoW and Aion aren't action-rpgs( and they weren't meant to be), they are still fun also if you have ever played aion you can't stay still while fighting a monster(unless you are in the warrior archtype). I can say this with full understanding because i have played all the games you have mentioned including aion which has a higher diffivulty rating than WoW( and all other mmo's out there at the moment). Flight is not a means only a means of transport and the only people who say it is only that or mainly that have never gone to the abyss for pvp before. Other than that this is a good blog if i do say so myself but don't turn away the audience you are trying to inform.

Cheers :D

Ajatz replied at 3:27 pm Nov 05,2009
Thanks for the tips. I also played Aion for a set period of time and wrote a review on it too (which I still get hate mail for it). Aion isn't bad, but I feel like it doesn't meet my expectations for the game. Maybe I have been spoiled by playing too many NCsoft mmos and really expect Aion to be the cream of the crop.
Demolife says
Post Time : Nov 05,11:12 am

"F**** U Aion is one awesome game. What do you mean action-RPG? Aion gots action and flying. NO MULTIPLAYER so your game seems like a total piece of crap."  wuhuhuhuh LOL made me laugh "and flying" LMAO

Ajatz replied at 11:30 am Nov 05,2009
Ya tell me about it. I don't get how flying makes any game that much better =P. Most of the time people just use it for transportation. (look at FlyFF !!! Its called Fly For Fun but everyone just uses flying for getting from one place to another =P)
Guest says
Post Time : Nov 05,11:07 am

F**** U Aion is one awesome game. What do you mean action-RPG? Aion gots action and flying. NO MULTIPLAYER so your game seems like a total piece of crap.

Ajatz replied at 11:20 am Nov 05,2009
Action RPG means not having to wait to kill each monster. If you got to sit there and wait over 15 seconds to kill a regular monster, it isn't considered an Action-RPG. Also since when did you consider games with No Multiplayer Support a total piece of crap. I seen tons of shit MMORPGs with no storyline, map glitches and don't provided explanation for anything. Half of them don't even give you an explanation for why you are here, what you do...etc (why kill monsters, what are you doing in this world...etc). If you are going to play a game, you want to play a game that knows what it is doing. Not something that just throws itself all over the place in a random fashion
gucky says
Post Time : Nov 05,7:56 am

Yes, this Game is not free - $19,95 one-off payment

Ajatz replied at 10:58 am Nov 05,2009
Ya I know that (because I bought it =P). In the comment below I was just talking about their FUTURE MMO and whether it would be F2P or P2P. Torchlight is actually a promotion for their "MMO version" of the game which will be released next year (I guess its smart marketing and they make some money on the side *cha ching*).
Ajatz says
Post Time : Nov 04,6:32 pm

Whaaa on the forums it said their future MMO based on Torchlight would be F2p D=. I hope this gets clarified lol. In the meantime i'll edit my post until I find out. Thank you for the infor =)

gamerXtreme says
Post Time : Nov 04,4:21 pm

 ....funny on its main site it says its p2p

Ajatz replied at 11:03 am Nov 05,2009
You mean the "Torchlight" or "Torchlight MMO"? I mentioned both in my blog so I hope it didn't get confusing. Torchlight is singleplayer and $19.95. The Torchlight MMO hasn't been released yet and will be F2P (I assume you were talking about the Torchlight MMO)

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