Torchlight

[Man0warr]

Torchlight by Runic Games

New Action RPG by Runic Games, which is a new company that includes the Schaeffer brothers (Diablo 1 and 2), the team that did Mythos for Flagship Studios, music producer of Diablo 2 and World of Warcraft: TBC, and the guy that created Fate.

If you liked Diablo 2 you have to try this game.

It costs $20.00 and comes with the complete tool set used to make the game.
It's currently not in retail, but you can purchase it from Steam, Direct2Drive, Gamer's Gate, their Homepage, and many other places.

Steam Demo: Torchlight on Steam

They are working on an MMO version of the game, and buying from their website gives them 100% of the profit towards that, where as Steam takes 40%.

[Pikarya]

Very fun, enjoying it a lot.

[Darwinion]

I decided to give this a try. It's a very fun game, but it is very easy on the Normal setting. I started a Vanquisher again on Hard setting after completing a few floors as it was cake.

If you like Diablo style hack & slash then this is a must try. There is no multi-player though. It's strictly a solo player game only. It has been criticised in reviews for that but then again people have already found out how to dupe items in the game within hours of it being released. So even if it had multiplayer it would have been ruined by nobs already. (Then again I'm sure they wouldn't have had client side saving I spose if it had multiplayer)

The graphics are very much in the WoW style, which isn't a bad thing. The slightly cartoony look helps it from not taking itself too seriously as it's bound to get the Diablo comparisons thrown at it.

There's three classes to pick from (melee, ranged and mage) and you get a pet dog or kitty that follows you about. This pet carries items like a pack mule and can help in fights too if you set it to aggressive mode. One of the cool things you can do is to send the pet back to town to sell off all your junk while you carry on with the game uninterrupted. 30 secs. later the pet returns with your cash. Not sure if that's been done in games before (probably has) but I thought it was a neat trick to help lessen the constant trips back and forth to town. It's a kinda simple and addictive game and for $20 (or £15) won't break the bank.

[Dezzimal]

Started off with Very Hard right away. Bit of a challenge, I'm level 14 or 15 now, died 3-4 times but never got hung up on anything for any period of time. I wish I had a little cheat sheet of what all the specific effects of feeding each type of fish to your pet was.

It has been criticised in reviews for that but then again people have already found out how to dupe items in the game within hours of it being released.

Cheating in SP games only hurts yourself. They'd have used a closed realm system like d2 did, and although that didn't fully prevent duping, it certainly stymied it. The game itself is very moddable, download this if you haven't already http://www.naivesoftware.com/temp/RespecMod.zip its a mod written by one of the developers that allows you to purchase a respec potion from the general goods vendor to reassign your talent points.

[Darwinion]

Started off with Very Hard right away. Bit of a challenge, I'm level 14 or 15 now, died 3-4 times but never got hung up on anything for any period of time. I wish I had a little cheat sheet of what all the specific effects of feeding each type of fish to your pet was.



Cheating in SP games only hurts yourself. They'd have used a closed realm system like d2 did, and although that didn't fully prevent duping, it certainly stymied it. The game itself is very moddable, download this if you haven't already http://www.naivesoftware.com/temp/RespecMod.zip its a mod written by one of the developers that allows you to purchase a respec potion from the general goods vendor to reassign your talent points.

I'm not too fussed about respeccing right now. I'm not a Diablo veteren and so I basically suck at these games compared to a lot of people. I just have a blast fucking around and seeing what works and what doesn't.

I like that they kept hardcore mode in like Diablo II. Not tried it yet though. I'm sure there will be a patch out soon that will include the respec potion anyway. There are one or two issues already like one of the first quests where that guy you are supposed to help simply won't follow you. (He does follow you on the very first time you see him... but on any subsequent games or characters you make he won't). Also that duping bug needs fixing. But like you say in a SP game who cares if other people wanna cheat?

[Insanecyclone]

Started it on normal as the big melee guy and I'm really enjoying this.

I know it's made by some of the guys that did diablo but it feels weird hearing the amazon starter music, or at least sounds like it, in the town.

[Waef]

Played the demo. It was a fun game for a while, but was also a blatant Diablo ripoff. They even kept the sounds for picking up / dropping scrolls, as well as various other sounds. The music was incredibly similar to D2 music.

I did end up getting pretty bored with it by the end of the demo, though. I don't think I'll be buying this game.

[MisterBob]

I don't know if you can "rip off" your own game.

[tonyg]

Bought it, as said before, it's a Diablo 1 with WoW graphics. Very similar feel and drop pattern. I said Diablo 1 since you only have one dungeon with a shitload of floors for the maingame, and when you finish it you get access to an infinite dungeon that gets harder on each floor. Everything in the game is moddable, so you get plenty of new weapons/classes/pets/maps that are user-created, even potions made to reset your skills or stat points can be added using a mod.

I highly recommend it, as it's a very light and enjoyable game that you can play whenever you have free time and no remorse when you turn it off since you can warp in and out of the dungeon whenever you feel like it.