That was me. I played in the beta, and liked the game. It’s a good game.
But its interface is a direct copy of Diablo II. Its inventory management is just as horrible.

Their passive skill tree is incredibly innovative and I love it, but they make the game so tedious to play it sucked all the fun out of it for me. I don’t want to have to go back to town every 5 minutes because my inventory is full.

fasty:
I love the trend of not giving games a score. Is this a new thing for the site or has it been like this a while? Also, great review! Loving this game so much

We changed back in April, haven’t given a single review score since. Glad you like it!

I thoroughly disliked the D3′s skill system. It felt like a step backwards. It felt too dumb downed.

http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/vbdownloads.php?do=download&fileid=18

Which one am I enjoying more?

I loved D3′s skill system. When a game doesn’t limit me to what skills I am able to use at any particular time (apart from the 6 active skills limit), I am free to try out different builds. I really wish TL2 allowed for full respecs on stat and skill points… sometimes, you just need this flexibility to change things up.

However, TL2 does let me use 3 skill points with the option of respecs and there’s learnt spells which, in TL1, got me through most of the campaign. Amazingly, Torchlight is still fun without the use of skills but not as fun as D3′s skill system.

TL2 drops good loot way more often which I believe is a better system compared to the D3 AH. And I can play TL2 without having to be online continuously.

For me thats a big deal, forcing people to play D3 on their servers without setting up local servers for each location was a truly poor effort. I enjoyed D3, but playing 1/4 of a second (At it’s best, nearly half a second at it’s worse) behind the game is truly unsatisfying.

ausjoker: Here’s hoping this post came across reasonably sane.

All good :)

Tim Colwill: Diablo III changed a lot more things than Torchlight II did, but the problem was that it made a lot of people angry by doing so. I’m not saying they were good changes, but they were changes. Torchlight II is very content to stay exactly where it is.

If you read the linked Reddit thread, you’ll see the dev team are tired of making Torchlight games, and frankly who can blame them? Core members of the team have been making the same game since 1996.

I’ve tried hard to avoid making comparisons between D3 and T2 but I actually said Torchlight 2 was Diablo 2 for 2012, not Diablo 3 for 2012, so I’m not sure what you mean.

Ah, I misread that II as III. My mistake.

I can’t blame the Runic team for wanting to move to something different. I’ll miss the possibility of any future Torchlight games (although in all honest, I’m pretty sure there will be more at some point) because as far as I’m concerned Torchlight II the best ARPG since Diablo 2, but you’re right – a team of their talent should be taking chances with new stuff.

I suppose Diablo III does deserve credit for attempting to change the genre – I just find myself pretty annoyed that the whole loot system seems to revolve around the auction house. I guess that clouds my judgement a bit. I’m all for developers finding other ways to make money, but there most definitely is a problem when those money-making avenues have an effect on the game itself (in this case, the whole loot system has become pretty shitty). It’s not just because of the auction house, I suppose – removing player-designated stats has greatly limited item selection too.

Anyway, I better not rant as I could write essays on Diablo 3. I love the game and I gladly played it to death, but it frustrates me more than any other. Here’s hoping this post came across reasonably sane.

xviper:
It’s not Diablo II for 2012.
Path of Exile is.
Torchlight might be the same genre, but its not even close to being the same game.

Not sure I agree with this. Torchlight II is a lot closer to Diablo II than Path of Exile is.

I think what you’re saying is “Path of Exile is what a Diablo II for 2012 SHOULD have been”, but that’s not what we ended up with.

Torchlight II is a very slavish imitation of Diablo II.

xviper:

I’d much prefer a company stick to making something they are good at making, instead of breaking off into a new genre and fucking it up completely (like many developers have done).

As technology evolves, so do the ability of the games that can be made. There is so much potential in this genre and style of game. IF they made a Torchlight 3 (which they probably wont), they could incorporate increases in technology with the best parts from TL2, Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. Add in support for larger amount of players per server, faction support, PvP, persistent worlds and merge it all into one.

There are plenty of ways to continue a genre while continuing to be innovative.

I don’t disagree with any of this in particular, I just think it’s time for Runic to move on. They’ve really done a spectacular job with this game and if there’s more room to move in the genre, I think other developers should be the one to do it. Runic seem fixated on recreating the past — which is fine, I love the crap outta this game and everything it represents — but it needs to be questioned.

I’d much prefer a company stick to making something they are good at making, instead of breaking off into a new genre and fucking it up completely (like many developers have done).

As technology evolves, so do the ability of the games that can be made. There is so much potential in this genre and style of game. IF they made a Torchlight 3 (which they probably wont), they could incorporate increases in technology with the best parts from TL2, Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. Add in support for larger amount of players per server, faction support, PvP, persistent worlds and merge it all into one.

There are plenty of ways to continue a genre while continuing to be innovative.

ausjoker:
Diablo 3 hardly delivered innovation. It simplified the genre to a stupid degree.

It seems strange to argue that there shouldn’t be a Torchlight 3. There aren’t enough truly good ARPG’s around, especially ones that include full mod support. The ridiculous amount of fun I’ve had playing this with friends indicates that it’s hardly a waste of the dev’s team potential. And Diablo 3 for 2012? I’d argue Torchlight 2 is a far better game than Diablo 3 simply because it didn’t base one of the most important parts of the game around a money-generatingauction house.

Diablo III changed a lot more things than Torchlight II did, but the problem was that it made a lot of people angry by doing so. I’m not saying they were good changes, but they were changes. Torchlight II is very content to stay exactly where it is.

If you read the linked Reddit thread, you’ll see the dev team are tired of making Torchlight games, and frankly who can blame them? Core members of the team have been making the same game since 1996.

I’ve tried hard to avoid making comparisons between D3 and T2 but I actually said Torchlight 2 was Diablo 2 for 2012, not Diablo 3 for 2012, so I’m not sure what you mean.

It seems strange to argue that there shouldn’t be a Torchlight 3. There aren’t enough truly good ARPG’s around, especially ones that include full mod support. The ridiculous amount of fun I’ve had playing this with friends indicates that it’s hardly a waste of the dev’s team potential. And Diablo 3 for 2012? I’d argue Torchlight 2 is a far better game than Diablo 3 simply because it didn’t base one of the most important parts of the game around a money-generatingauction house.

Torchlight II for me is an absolutely amazing game, and it feels wrong to say it was pretty much most of what I wanted Diablo III to be, although D3′s story was better if only for memorable cutscenes (or just one, at the end of Act 1).

Great review :D