Torchlight was released yesterday and I bought the game for $19.95 from the main website ($17.95 on steam from what I heard). First impression, this single player action RPG looks good as the graphics are nice and crisp. It is a bit cartoony but in a nice way as the cartoon-ish style preserves the beauty of the graphics for years to come without making the game look old. Gameplay is very simple your avatar starts off in a town called Torchlight and apparently this town is the world's richest source of ember which is a magical type of mineral/resource that has many uses. Many people has come to the town to make a fortune for themselves (kinda like the california gold rush) but where they are embers there are hoards of monsters and people are starting to go insane (out of greed, frustration or the machinations of some powerful evil being we don't know yet). Anyway, the game mechanics is pretty much a 2D action RPG (the game is 3D btw), you click on things to kill, collect loot and complete quests. If you have ever played Diablo or Diablo 2 by Blizzard Entertainment it's pretty much the same type of game as the guys who made Diablo/Diablo2 were pretty much the same guys who made Torchlight (they now work for Runic Games Inc.). Just like Diablo the dungeons are randomized so you'll never have to go thru the same dungeon over and over. Loot comes in various grades of rareness (grey for trash, green for uncommon, blues for rares, orange for real rares, etc.)
Features that I like:
- I like the pet feature (you can choose between a dog and a cat) and you can name your pet. Your pet serves many function. One of which is to be your trusty combat companion (your pet can level up) and has it's own inventory and equipment slots (altho only for rings, necklaces). One of the most useful feature of your pet is the ability to carry loot and you can order your pet to go sell in town (LOL! Such as smart dog to be able to count money). Another feature is your pet is able to transform into various types of creatures (for a limited time) if you feed them fish (which you can fish up from a water hole inside the dungeon).
- The skill system is pretty open and you can make your own "build". It has 3 skill trees for each class. And you can pretty much mix and match skills. You only gain 1 skill point per level so choose wisely.
- Spell/Skill scrolls can drop from monsters which lets you learn skills that cannot otherwise be learned by your class. This include things like healing spells and buffs.
- Personal Stash is shared by all your characters in the game. This means the loot you got from one of your characters can be given to your other characters.
- Huge variety of loot which has interesting properties.
- NPCs that offer services such as removal of socketed gems, transmutation of items, enchanting of items, gamble npc (sell random unidentified loot like Wirt from the Diablo series).
- Dungeon pieces are handcrafted hence it feels fluid instead of being too modular.
- Skill can be hotkeyed Diablo style (left click uses one skill while right click uses another), tabbing can switch skills or MMO style which is 1-9 on your hotkey bar.
- Game offers hardcore mode.
Features that I don't like or feel is lacking:
- Easy mode is too easy. Most monsters die in 1-2 hits. I think this mode is made for those who has never played Diablo/Diablo 2 or any other action RPG.
- Cannot change difficulty mode in the middle of the game. Instead you have to restart a new character.
- Potions only stack to 20 and takes up 1 whole item slot. I wish they stack up more as they take up precious inventory spaces.
Conclusion:
Torchlight is a great value at $20 bucks as it offers tons and tons of hours of fun. The main storyline would give you approximately around 10-20 hours of play but your character can still continue to get loot and level up after you complete the main quest. An infinite dungeon is offered to test your mettle once the main game is completed.
MMORPG.com writes:
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