Game News Keeping the Action in Action-RPG : Torchlight Reviewed

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Torchlight

Action RPG Torchlight has been <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=143&ref=0&id=389#">reviewed by RPGWatch</a> scoring 4/5.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#ffffff;padding-left:5px;">Let's start with the visuals, since that is the most immediately similar aspect between the games. Both feature vivid colors, and cartoon-ish styles and characterizations that are neither scary nor inappropriate for a younger audience. The games both use a fixed angle perspective viewpoint that cannot be tilted or rotated. Note that the visual style of Torchlight is darker than Fate, and the world-view is grittier and there are more depictions of blood and dead bodies as you battle your way through room after room. Torchlight is not trying to compete with games like Fallout 3 or Dragon Age: Origins in terms of blood & gore, but it has clearly shifted to a much darker and more detailed visual style that cuts a narrow path between casual and hardcore presentations.</p>
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The Codex digs hardcore presentations.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#ffffff;padding-left:5px;">Torchlight is a pure action-RPG, and as such doesn't pretend to be 'story driven' or character centric - not even to the limited extent of games like Sacred or Titan Quest. But as I said at the outset - it never tries to be those things, it just aims for pure action-RPG fun..</p>
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So what is the codexian verdict, does Runic Games offering deserve a 4/5 rating?
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=143&ref=0&id=389#">RPGWatch</A>

 

[Emotional Vampire]

4/5 out of what?

 

[tarkin]

4 out of 5 forks rammed into your skull. Hell, i think it deserves 5.

But on topic: is demo available? I might give it a go.

 

[Longshanks]

Torchlight is a pure action-RPG, and as such doesn't pretend to be 'story driven' or character centric - not even to the limited extent of games like Sacred or Titan Quest. But as I said at the outset - it never tries to be those things, it just aims for pure action-RPG fun..

The combat-circle-jerkers should be all over this one.

No story. No dialogue. Just pure click, click, click, lightning bolt, lightning bolt! you die!. Roleplaying at its best.

 

[kingcomrade]

So by "it never tries to be those things" Longshanks interprets that as "this is a pure roleplaying game"

 

[Longshanks]

That's how you interpreted my post? Creative.

 

[markec]

I would give it 2/5 because its too easy and levels and enemies quickly become repetitive. I just dont understand why so many people praise this game.

 

[ghostdog]

Hack&Slash = action RPG ?

So this is what it has come to.

 

[Joe Krow]

HINT: Dungeon crawler combat refers to the character sheet more then dialogue trees do.

Wizardry 7 > Planscape ... at least in terms of referencing the character your playing.

Torchlight is an action rpg. 4/5 as such.

 

[Vault Dweller]

So what is the codexian verdict, does Runic Games offering deserve a 4/5 rating?

The design is horrible, but then again, it's been in development for less than a year, so it's hard to expect more. 4/5 is 3 points too generous.

Btw, glad to see you newsposting. Congrats!

 

[Malakal]

I'd give it 3/5 at best but well, what do I know. Graphics were horrible, most levels were badly designed and game bored me quickly. OTOH some skills were nice and erm they cloned diablo so it's not like it is unplayable...

 

[Vault Dweller]

Had they cloned Diablo, the game wouldn't have sucked.

 

[Malakal]

Had they cloned Diablo, the game wouldn't have sucked.

By 'clone' I actually only meant all the gameplay ideas and execution. Not the 'good' in Diablo. In b4 there is no good in Diablo.

 

[Silellak]

2.5/5 or 3/5 at most. It's fairly entertaining for what it is (lolz), but anything more than the $5 I paid for it would be too much. It's an amusing time killer when there's literally nothing else I want to do - but it's not much besides that.

 

[yolesaber]

The game is fun enough for the first 20 levels, but certainly nowhere near enough to merit 4/5. It is an overall average release - nothing special, but it doesn't outright suck. I enjoyed the pace of the combat, the items were varied enough to keep me going (although eventually the stats became just absurd. I'm talking like 8-9 different enchantments on rares), the music was great, and for a title that was in development for apparently less than a year, the game is rather polished.

Nevertheless, it's just a vanilla hack and slash - a dumbed-down, severely limited graphical roguelike. Nothing really sets it apart from other games of its ilk. The lack of online play is hurtful as well.4/5 is retarded score to hand to the game. At best, it's a 2.8

 

[Vault Dweller]

Had they cloned Diablo, the game wouldn't have sucked.

By 'clone' I actually only meant all the gameplay ideas and execution.

Sadly that's not what happened.

Like most so-called "Diablo clones", the only Diablo aspect Torchlight developers cloned is "you fight monsters non-stop and collect loot", leaving the character system, the skill trees, the loot system, and the balance completely broken.

 

[janjetina]

"Keeping the RPG out of Action RPG" would be more appropriate title.

 

[Shannow]

3/5 for a hack&slash... but then, I don't like hack&slashs so I might be too lenient in my attempt not to judge by my over-arcing tastes.

 

[Yeesh]

Does price get taken into account? Torchlight was refreshingly cheap.

 

[shihonage]

The game would be awesome with multiplayer. Without it, it bored me in approximatively 37 seconds.

 

[Metro]

I definitely think it's a 4/5 for what it is -- and don't necessarily confuse the adjective 'pure' with good. It's relative to what you enjoy. I'd describe Serious Sam HD as a 'pure' shooter but I don't think it's particularly entertaining. Torchlight has excellent graphics and sound and the game play is fairly solid albeit a bit wonky at times. And I do agree the 'talent trees' and class customization is a bit rushed/lacking but again... you're talking less than a year's development time.

The developers (who even posted on this forum) don't insult the consumer's intelligence marketing it as anything other than a bare bones ARPG with mod-ability. The list price is $20 and it sold on Steam for as low as $5 within two months of its release. Judging a game in relation to another genre is pointless, that said if you understand going in that you are paying for game play and not the story of a Diablo or Titan Quest then Torchlight is one of the best of that genre.

No one should kid themselves -- this game is meant to wet your palate in anticipation of the MMO they are working on which will obviously be more developed in terms of RPG aspects.

 

[circ]

For what it is. FOR WHAT IT IS. Big surprise there. Ok now, Torchlight developers have had three games to 'wet your palate', three more or less exactly alike games. Let's take a look at another extremely small developer, Introversion. Cheap games. Good games. Original games. Not the same fucking game with a new title every year. Shit is shit sir, don't dodge the issue.

 

[yolesaber]

Speaking of Introversion, how is Multiwinia?

 

[Grunker]

For what it is. FOR WHAT IT IS. FOR WHAT IT IS CODEX DO YOU HEAR ME THOSE FOUR WORDS MAKE ME REALLY MAD!

Game cost me 10 euros. Did I have 10 euros worth of fun? Yep. As such, it was p. decent for what it was.

Wouldn't label it 'good' though.

Also, Longshanks: I'm pretty sure this isn't the kind of tactical depth the "anti-story" crowd would praise.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah, Torchlight doesn't work for neither crowd: not for LARPers/storyfags but it doesn't work for Mondblutian combat crowd either.

I played the demo and can't see myself ever playing the full game.