Torchlight: Like Diablo II’s smarter, sexier baby
True story: I dropped out of college because of Diablo II -- seriously. The allure of doing Meph runs and Baal runs, of stacking loot and power-leveling MF (magic find, in D-speak) characters was too much for my weak-willed 19 year-old self to handle. I remember I wouldn't sleep for days on end, stopped showing up for my lucrative part-time position at Pep Boys and basically forgot what haircuts, shaves and -- more than I care to admit -- showers were. Enter: Torchlight, spiritual successor to Diablo II and Lord of Destruction, a title so finely crafted and adept at providing engaging dungeon crawling experiences and loot hoarding that I initially feared for my future. When I tried the demo, I kinda got worried that some of that old obsession might come crawling back, but the one thing that has kept it at bay has been the lack of multiplayer.
That means that everything I find is really only for my characters -- it's ingenious to have a shared stash in the main town. I don't have to get rushed through acts and power-level my guy so I do boss runs for loot to trade for more loot to trade for more loot and so on and so forth. Instead, this allows me to enjoy the game at my own pace and savor its robust character skill system and progression at my own leisure. There was a certain rush to Diablo II's gameplay for me; trading up for items and the thrill of scoring a big sack of loot was only amplified by the pleasure of ripping off people who didn't know any better in the game. It was a sick obsession, one I'm not too proud of, but it was what it was.
Torchlight, however, provides me with all of the fun of the core Diablo gameplay experience, without any of the pressure of a peer-regulated trading system dictating the worth of rare items. It's an experience unsullied of cheaters and people like myself back then, unflinchingly dedicated to finding that next score. Instead, the score for me is progressing in the game and experiencing its wonderful narrative.
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Quick bio:Hi! I'm David Hinkle, Contributing Editor for Joystiq, former Lead of DS Fanboy and Wii Fanboy and co-host on the Xbox 360 Fancast. Basically, I write about games, talk about games and play games -- all the time.
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November 15th, 2009 - 18:42
I agree with your sentiments on Torchlight. Another thing I feel is lacking is the narrative. After the first few quests I just started ignoring the quest text and just clicking accept, where Diablo 2 still had an epic storyline and lets not forget the phenomenal CG cutscenes. Granted Torchlight is only $19.99 and Diablo2 was $60 at release, I still find the lack of story a downer.
Another thing I really like about this game is the pets. Being able to send your pets to town is ingenious and equipping them with spells can be really fun. Having my pet heal me and also summon a trio of zombies is cool beyond measurement.
No multiplayer does limit the amount of time I spend with this game as there is no way to show off my accomplishments, but this game certainly gets me interested in their MMO which is probably what they were going for. I find it really interesting that we are playing a proof of concept and are enjoying it so much.