I am addicted to this Diablo 2 inspired dungeon crawler now. (Gameplay video) You can find the demo at the official website.
It’s by the group that was doing Mythos before Flagship sunk. And I am quite pleasantly surprised by that they could put out a game so fast (I think they re-code it with Ogre3D). It’s only SP, but it’s addicting as hell. You get to wield a pistol and a sword in one hand, and could transform your dog (or cat) into different monsters. Plus there is a map/class/skill editor.
If you are looking for a D2-style game to tide you over till D3 comes, guess you can give Torchlight a try (though I got to say I am spoiled for choice between Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Torchlight)
I was thinking about downloading this last night; it looks really cool. My hesitation is that I don’t know how it will run on my laptop and I don’t want to lose $20 if my laptop can’t keep up.
What is the copy protection like? Does it use a license key or does it connect with their server?
If you download from their site, it uses their own license key. You can get it from Steam, Direct2Drive and etc, but those sites would use their own DRM.
I notice a netbook options in the page. According to FAQ, it can even run on netbooks. But definitely on lower settings.
I got it today and I really enjoy it as well. I completely agree with the 2.5 comment. I like the tweaks to the UI in particular.
I also like the shrines that enchant one of your items. It let’s you play with the weapons that you want instead of just the weapons that you find. I also like that you can recover gems at the cost of an item. Now I don’t hesitate to use gems instead of saving them up for later.
The pets and the fish food are a cool dynamic. And I like the twist on traditional fantasy by adding technology (guns, robots, etc.).
How do you do this? I got the tip, but I didn’t see how to issue the command. It is a really cool feature that I would like to use.
Downloaded and played the demo off Steam. This game is so similar to Fate that I went and checked to see if it was made by the same company. It’s not, but the games are similar enough that I’m surprised there’s not a lawsuit in the works. Doing some research, I see that one of the developers worked on Fate, and another came from Flagship studios (who developed the never-released Mythos). You got the single town with its huge dungeon, a pet dog or cat that can be fed fish to change it into something else, the very simplified stats and ability screen, etc, etc.
Is this a bad thing? Not at all, Fate was a fun little game, and Torchlight (at least from what I’ve seen in the demo), does a good job of addressing some of the flaws that Fate had. For instance, Fate had a lot of different spells, but no real attack skills or moves, the warrior I played in Torchlight had a skill tree with some decent moves in it. Pets seem much more useful and less weak than in Fate (where it was hard to keep a pet alive). I got a couple portals open to other areas, so you’re not stuck in the same dungeon for the duration. From what a couple reviews said, you do get access to an “endless dungeon” at some point, so if that was a big appeal of Fate, it’s in here also.
I might pick this up at some point, the demo was fun. The cartoony style might be a turn-off for some, but didn’t bother me. The game seems like a nice little fast-paced dungeon crawler. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it Diablo 2.5, it doesn’t seem to have the depth that D2 had, but definitely Fate 2 comparisons wouldn’t be out of line. Or maybe Fate 3.5, since Fate is up to its second expansion (I haven’t played either of them, just the original Fate). One question for the others that have played it, how do you open the pet inventory?
I did notice that there’s an option to run in “Netbook mode”, so I’m pretty sure your laptop will run it fine. The full game is available on Steam, so you wouldn’t need a license key, but you would need to connect to Steam. The game is available elsewhere, but I’m not sure what, if any, copy protection other versions use.
I picked this one up last night, I’m having fun with it.
What I really need is a good manual (game manual is pretty basic), a good FAQ (none on GameFaqs yet) or a good Torchlight wiki (one exists, but it is skeletal).
Example - I found a huge damage bow for my Vanquisher (well, for my tiny lvl 4). But I also have two medium damage pistols. How is dual-wield damage calculated? How do weapon speeds play? Faster in main-hand or off-hand?
Also, the send pet back to town to sell junk might be the best videogame idea of 2009. God bless it.
There’s awfully little data for dual wield, but it seems that it uses the DPS of each weapon, so if you don’t boost your Dual Wield passive skill it’s kind of useless. But if you boost Dual Wield, plus your regular Ranged Mastery, you can do crazy damage.
I got the demo from Steam first, and I bought it last night. The other brilliant thing is the Shared Stash. Holy crap is that great. If you’re an alt-o-holic like me, you constantly want to move gear from one toon to another. D2 made this really difficult for single players, but this Shared Stash thing is sweet.
This game is short on instructions and such though. If you have a sword and a pistol it seems like you shoot the pistol only at range and attack with the sword otherwise. It’s not clear at all whether either of the weps get a damage nerf based on which hand they’re in, though.
I am really enjoying this game – probably a little too much. From what I have noticed as well as read, it gets noticeably more difficult after you complete the storyline and move on to the crypts.
The shared stash and sending your pet to town are great ideas. I also like the fame concept.
I wonder why they kept the identify concept? It is not as much of a pain as in D2, but I still think it is unnecessary.