Torchlight II (not the MMO)

[murdoc]

Got my beta invite - now just need some time to play.

[Yegolev]

My lifestyle is not conducive to beta-key campouts.

[Malakili]

My lifestyle is not conducive to beta-key campouts.

Mine came in my e-mail this morning.  I don't recall ever having signed up, but I was extremely active on their forums for a while, so I suspect I may have made it onto some list at some point.  Either that or there was a sign up a really long time ago that I did and forgot about.  My point being keep an eye on your e-mail just in case.

[Tarami]

My lifestyle is not conducive to beta-key campouts.

If you can't get your own key and are jonesing to play, you can have my account. Just let me know and I'll PM the info. I played ten minutes and sort of confirmed this is still not my kind of game.

[Xanthippe]

If you make an account on the Runic Games website, they are randomly picking people to send beta keys to.

Twitter is where I found my beta key giveaway (searched for #Torchlight 2 beta key).

I am very impressed with this; bought a 4pack and gifted some friends. Really well done game.

[murdoc]

I had signed up for s Runic account at some point and they just sent me an invite.

I like this game. I like this game a LOT. Having said that, I knew I would and had already bought a 4 pack.

[Ratman_tf]

I didn't get a key, but I'm kinda wrapped up in schoolwork anyways.  IGN posted a 15min video of some beta play.  It looks really, really fun.  I'd link the video, but frankly the VO was a tool and spent most of the video fiddling with menus and being an obnoxious fuck.

Seems like a no-brainer for $20, and makes me wonder how they're profitable that that price point.  The whole overworld aspect looks really good, and I think it will go a long way to curing the "funnel" feeling of the first game.

They didn't license an engine, don't have a ridiclously overbearing publisher, already had the original engine developed for the most part, ditto with the tools. Small-ish team for the scope of the game. At least that's what I'm guessing makes the $20 mark profitable.

Truthfully, I wish we'd see more developers doing this.  Smaller scale everything, but just execute it really well.

Bigger budgets certainly don't make games any better. And small developers tend to be more willing to do fun, quirky things. (For Blizzard to copy.  )

[Mattemeo]

Just pre-bought the game on Steam since doing so gives you a copy of the first one for free (I didn't have it) right now. If you're in the same position, that deal seems a total no-brainer to me.

Also, for anyone on the fence or not in the beta, the Yogscast (as ever) have started a series of beta videos so if you enjoy good old British Ineptitude, check them out from here.

[Fabricated]

Wow, it looks really good actually. Monsters aren't exploding into piles of useless shit, the gems seem to be more varied/interesting, the combat looks fun, and the interface is pretty good.

[Malakili]

Wow, it looks really good actually. Monsters aren't exploding into piles of useless shit, the gems seem to be more varied/interesting, the combat looks fun, and the interface is pretty good.

The combat is really good.  I've only played, I think its called Outlander, right now, but shotgonnes (for some reason they didn't choose to spell it shotgun, but whatever) and cannons are amazingly satisfying.  I found a unique cannon off the first boss too, that thing is badass.  The interface is actually probably my least favorite part right now actually, but it certainly isn't bad, just a tad on the busy side to my mind.  Definitely superior to Torchlight in pretty much every way, and I really love the fact that there are side dungeons now.  For some reason I just love coming across optional side dungeons.

[Xanthippe]

I want a gem transmuter!

[Sheepherder]

(for some reason they didn't choose to spell it shotgun, but whatever)

Origin of GUN
Middle English gonne, gunne
First Known Use: 14th century

[Tebonas]

This will be my Diablo 3, I'm really looking forward to it.

I basically wanted to play it instead of Diablo 3 just as a "Fuck you" to the Online for Single Player policy Blizzard forces through, but the more I see about it, the more excited I get.

[Mattemeo]

Even if at the very least it's simply Torchlight with added multiplayer, I'm seriously glad I decided to pre-purchase it. The first game is way more fun than I'd hoped it would be, the loot system is surprisingly deep (if a little overly trashy) and the action is extremely well balanced so far (I'm playing a Marksman Vanquisher). It feels like everything Diablo is not, despite being so close in structure.
That said, I might have spit a few bullets on my first disenchanting. My Golden Fusilade Hyper Rifle of Untold Pwnishment was reduced to the Golden Mantlepiece Dustgatherer in one fell swoop.
Somehow, though, I don't think the game would be the same without that element of upgrade danger.

[Malakili]

At the beginning that wasnt there so the best way to play was to spam upgrade the first stuff you found.  Cost was based on item level even after enchanted a million times.

[Ingmar]

I would go so far as to say the enchanting system nearly ruined the whole experience for me.

[schild]

This is 1/10th the game that is Diablo 3. Shame, really.

[Tebonas]

But its infinitely more playable than a Diablo 3 with dead login servers.

God, how I wished Torchlight 2 was out already yesterday.

[Lucas]

C'mon with my beta key already 

[Fabricated]

This is 1/10th the game that is Diablo 3. Shame, really.

based on hours of gameplay deep into both games i'm sure

[rk47]

Heh, I doubt D3 will last me 30 hours. I didn't play that much in D2 cause it seemed kinda boring just farming for items in the same environment. I took a few char builds to 40-50 and played some Hell difficulty before deciding, it isn't worth the trouble. Blizzard games will rarely drop in price, so yeah, I'll just settle for a $20 clone to kill time while waiting for something more emotionally engaging to come out. Have fun, folks.

And mentioning Torchlight II while a bunch of friends talked about 'queueing for 8 hours to grab their boxed pre-orders' got me a few funny stares. 'Are you stupid' kind of questioning looks. Not even gonna bother to argue. And not succumbing to the peer pressure. There's hardly any pull to grouping in most hack and slash either, so you kill shit faster. Big whoop. Really reminds me of Hellgate days. I know I won't end up having the last laugh this time, but I doubt I'd regret sticking with a $20 clone and dropping it after 12 hours of fun.

[Ingmar]

You are some kind of space alien, right?

[Mattemeo]

This is 1/10th the game that is Diablo 3. Shame, really.

Made with 1/100th the budget, 2/3rds cheaper to play and with 100% less Blizzard 'singleplayer online' server bullshit. Shame? I call that something to be proud of.

[rk47]

You are some kind of space alien, right?

Yeah, people have different tastes. Shocking, I know.

[Azazel]

Even if at the very least it's simply Torchlight with added multiplayer,

That's all I wanted from the first one...

[Lucas]

Got an invite for the beta weekend (no NDA), running from Friday 18th May at 11am PDT 'til Tuesday May 22nd at 11am PDT  .

Check your mail if you have registered a Runic account but still have to get your beta ticket!

[Falconeer]

I am honestly and sincerely curious: let's pretend they can both be played offline, or they both need for you to be online to play, what are your (people in this thread) reasons to play Torchlight 2 instead of Diablo 3? I haven't betatested this, but I played enough Torchlight 1, so I really would like to know your angle on this cause personally I can't see it. As I said, this is not a mock. I am really interested.

[rk47]

I'd take D3 any day if it's offline play capable. And it doesn't have crap lag for a single player component. Or ...server full...for a solo run game. I wasn't a devoted player in D2 and the price point disinterests me.
If both are online-only, I'd skip both for better buys in the future.

At the current shape, T2 is a better buy for me, cause I can't be assed with lag and login queues when I'm interested in just running the game mostly in private, plus it's $20 for some quick diversion. Easy to let go and pick up. I just didn't care enough about the hack and slash genre to spend $79.99 of local currency due to the SEA distribution being a stupid monopolistic cunt.

[Ironwood]

I am honestly and sincerely curious: let's pretend they can both be played offline, or they both need for you to be online to play, what are your (people in this thread) reasons to play Torchlight 2 instead of Diablo 3? I haven't betatested this, but I played enough Torchlight 1, so I really would like to know your angle on this cause personally I can't see it. As I said, this is not a mock. I am really interested.

Let's not pretend that.  Let's pretend that most chaps like a single player experience that they can play all the time, for now.

My concerns about D3 are about the simple fact of offline/online.  You put Torchlight into the same system and I probably wouldn't be happy about it either.

Bearing in my mind that my views on this one are not generally held due to the asstastic Internet Experience I am subjected to daily.

[Tebonas]

Online/Offline capability, hands down. Otherwise Diablo 3 would likely be Lootpinata heaven.

Yes, I tried Diablo 3. While I was alt-tabbed out of the game to do something else (looking how you can identify that yellow axe that dropped), Diablo 3 lost the server connection. With that I lost all the progess till the last checkpoint. This is simply not acceptable for a single player experience.

[Malakili]

Online/Offline capability, hands down. Otherwise Diablo 3 would likely be Lootpinata heaven.

Yes, I tried Diablo 3. While I was alt-tabbed out of the game to do something else (looking how you can identify that yellow axe that dropped), Diablo 3 lost the server connection. With that I lost all the progess till the last checkpoint. This is simply not acceptable for a single player experience.

Jay Wilson has come out on several occasions now and basically said "We intend this to be a multiplayer game, so if you don't like it, too bad" which I think is kind of stupid.  They've been sidestepping the issue with "We think always online is the best experience, so that is why we did it" line for a while now, and it seems like an absolutely terrible argument.  Runic is going to sell a lot of copies just to people who are bitter about it. 

That being said, if TL2 was always online like D3, there would be no advantage of it unless you have a huge hardon for the setting.  Prior to playing D3 retail I would've said that Torchlight 2 beta comapred favorably to D3 beta, but having played through all of D3 normal mode now, I have to say that I don't expect Torchlight 2 is going to be able to compete on a pure gameplay level.

[rk47]

Yeah, that's why it kinda balances itself out with the much lower price point, I am genuinely surprised at it. $20? Wow. If it's double that, I'd probably think twice and might settle for D3, but 20.00 - that's perfect.

[Lucas]

I'm a videogame addict, I'll play both  

Currently playing the beta. (very) First impression: I love those BIG icons and the art style, which, on the other hand might be a turn off for someone. Polish of this title seem top notch.

[Fabricated]

Playing the beta for this weekend; this game is really good and stands apart from D3.

The loot is improved; weapons have more interesting/less pointless stats, while armor is a bit more interesting but still heavy with tiny amounts of resistances. Sockets are ridiculously plentiful and the gems/skulls/etc are a lot more random/plentiful. The skills in Torchlight 2 are better thought out than the utterly random mishmash of stuff from the first, and they syngerize better but they unfortunately don't really encourage branching out into other talent trees. It's also obviously less deep than Diablo 3's system, but ironically it feels more like D2.

Monsters are very swarmy and the dungeons/areas feel bigger/more random/more interesting than D3 to me but I'm only a way into Act 2 in D3. Combat feels good and...I dunno, meaty/impactful as an engineer.

It's really a shame they couldn't get this out before D3 because if they had, I think we would've had a lot of people and reviewers comparing it favorably to D3.

[Tmon]

I am honestly and sincerely curious: let's pretend they can both be played offline, or they both need for you to be online to play, what are your (people in this thread) reasons to play Torchlight 2 instead of Diablo 3? I haven't betatested this, but I played enough Torchlight 1, so I really would like to know your angle on this cause personally I can't see it. As I said, this is not a mock. I am really interested.

$20 wins for me, I played original Diablo and liked it enough to finish it but not enough to replay it or buy D2.  Based on playing Torchlight I figure I'll get $20 of fun out of Torchlight 2 and I doubt that I'd get $40 more fun by buying Diablo 3.