Torchlight III (formerly Torchlight Frontiers)

[ADL]

the fact that it was a sequel to either of the Torchlight games should've been the first and only red flag you guys ever needed to know this would be dogshit. The only reason Torchlight was ever popular is because the most recent aRPG at the time was Titan Quest.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

the fact that it was a sequel to either of the Torchlight games should've been the first and only red flag you guys ever needed to know this would be dogshit. The only reason Torchlight was ever popular is because the most recent aRPG at the time was Titan Quest.

The game indeed looks like shit.

Tell me this. Why are you posting in this thread?

You said this game would be shit. You said the word babby 3 times. Then you said "I told you it would be shit"

Are you really this fucking dull? You're more interested in a game you didn't care about, than I was was when I still thought it might turn out well

Edit: And, as usual, the most dreary posters you encounter have hidden their profile. What an odd pattern

 

[abija]

the fact that it was a sequel to either of the Torchlight games should've been the first and only red flag you guys ever needed to know this would be dogshit. The only reason Torchlight was ever popular is because the most recent aRPG at the time was Titan Quest.

If you evaluate games at release or shortly after, TL2 is the best arpg.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Early signs are definitely not good.

We got that with a friend of mine for coop. Couldn't even log in weekend, yesterday we had some chance but got stupid lag, many DCs and lost gameplay due to those DCs. So refund it is! You think we knew better after Wolcen...

Just stay away from this one for a long time. We are getting back to PoE with the new league this weekend.

 

[Kruno]

The character customisation is locked behind game progression, so you get your third skill tree, selectable from 8 (?) skill trees along with the unique two skill trees you start with.

I have gone back to play Torchlight 2 + Synergies mod and found that T3 and T2 are similar, but T3 does offer more customisation, but you do need to get further in the game to unlock these.

The Fort character enhancements are account wide, and will work across all your characters.

When the servers stabilise I will do a more in depth dive of the mechanics, but so far I have enjoyed 5 hours of fuckery this game had to offer.

 

[Kruno]

Been playing the game for most of the day.

This game needs a year in development.

Main Issues:
* Fighting bosses is same-ish in a boring way; like in an MMO.
* Areas need more diversity, they are just a slog to go through, and they are just tunnels and open areas are too small. This issue was levelled against Diablo 3 as well...
* The third skill tree that you can choose just adds PoE'esque passive ability spam, nothing more, and without the customisation that PoE gives.
* Itemisation is boring; why choose a wand as a mage when I can use a giant greatsword and melt everything faster?
* HP bloat isn't terrible, but it is still there.
* Skill system is no longer there because everything else has become simplified.

T2 is a better game by far.

Rubes like myself may have purchased a lifeline for this game to get where it needs to be, let's hope the devs listen.
Torchlight 3 is worse than release day Diablo 3.

11.2 hours on the game so far.

 

[Sweeper]

Hey guys, lets make a sequel to a bland and mediocre Diablo clone that was a sequel to a fun little Diablo-esque romp that only succeeded cause Diablo clones were dead at the time.
We only have to compete with PoE, Grim Dawn and the unfortunate retards who still cling to Diablo.

But I ain't even mad. Max Schafer is a man on a mission. I would have just ragequit after Hellgate London.

Thing is, Hellgate London could have been what Borderlands was if it was more polished.
It's like he's always so close, but never manages to hit the mark. Gotta feel for the guy.


On a different note, I really need to stop looking people up on twitter.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The character customisation is locked behind game progression, so you get your third skill tree, selectable from 8 (?) skill trees along with the unique two skill trees you start with.

I have gone back to play Torchlight 2 + Synergies mod and found that T3 and T2 are similar, but T3 does offer more customisation, but you do need to get further in the game to unlock these.

The Fort character enhancements are account wide, and will work across all your characters.

When the servers stabilise I will do a more in depth dive of the mechanics, but so far I have enjoyed 5 hours of fuckery this game had to offer.

Been playing the game for most of the day.

This game needs a year in development.

Main Issues:
* Fighting bosses is same-ish in a boring way; like in an MMO.
* Areas need more diversity, they are just a slog to go through, and they are just tunnels and open areas are too small. This issue was levelled against Diablo 3 as well...
* The third skill tree that you can choose just adds PoE'esque passive ability spam, nothing more, and without the customisation that PoE gives.
* Itemisation is boring; why choose a wand as a mage when I can use a giant greatsword and melt everything faster?
* HP bloat isn't terrible, but it is still there.
* Skill system is no longer there because everything else has become simplified.

T2 is a better game by far.

Rubes like myself may have purchased a lifeline for this game to get where it needs to be, let's hope the devs listen.
Torchlight 3 is worse than release day Diablo 3.

11.2 hours on the game so far.

Who are you and what have you done with Kruno ?

 

[Infinitron]

Torchlight 3 director Max Schaefer and composer Matt Uelmen helped create Diablo and Diablo 2 at Blizzard North 20 years ago. Now, they're taking everything they've learned about action-RPGs and pouring it into making what they hope will be their best ARPG yet in Torchlight 3.

 

[Metro]

I'll give it another look after Early Access. That is, if they actually address things like the stunted character depth. In TL2 although attribute allocation was pretty straightforward (just dump stats into primary damage stat and maybe some in defense) at least it had really well done skill trees (http://ralrom.github.io/tl2-calculator/). Even though the Outlander seemed to be a ranged class, you could make it a caster. Same for the Berserker who was melee and you could even come up with a ranged build. Engineer had cannons and a summoner build. The fact that this was originally a F2P game shows badly in the design and it will take some significant changes to get this to even TL2 levels of quality.

As an example, the Outlander skill trees from TL2:

 

[Seethe]

No point in playing this as long as Grim Dawn exists, to be honest.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.torchlight3.com/en/news-article/11479033

ANNOUNCING: TORCHLIGHT III LAUNCH DATE
TORCHLIGHT III OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES OCTOBER 13 FOR PC, XBOX ONE, AND PLAYSTATION®4

TORCHLIGHT III OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES OCTOBER 13 FOR PC, XBOX ONE, AND PLAYSTATION®4

Coming to the Nintendo Switch™ System Later This Year

We're incredibly excited to announce that Torchlight III, the light-hearted and fast-paced dungeon crawler, will exit Steam Early Access and officially launch on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation®4 on October 13 - and release on Nintendo Switch later this year - for $39.99. Players who have been hacking and slashing their way through the Steam Early Access version of Torchlight III will automatically be granted access to the full version. In addition, all versions of the game will include an exclusive Fairy pet for each platform.



“The full release of Torchlight III wouldn’t have been possible without all of the incredible work from the entire Echtra team and our excellent community of Early Access players. We’ve put our heart into this new adventure and it has been awesome getting so much support from players while the game has been in live development. With the significant changes we’ve made throughout Torchlight III’s journey in Early Access, we have done our best to meaningfully integrate players’ feedback as much as possible into the game as we march toward launch. Next month, we can’t wait to welcome all players to the Frontier!”

- Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise

Spoiler

Torchlight III will feature all of Torchlight’s signature mechanics, including satisfying hack- and-slash combat, a charming and vibrant world, online 4-player cooperative multiplayer and offline single-player, and the beloved pet system that captured the hearts of ARPG fans. This grand adventure will also introduce new features, such as three epic acts, unique Relic subclasses, fully customizable forts, a challenging end-game experience “Fazeer Shah’s Dun-Djinn”, the multi-tiered progression system “Contracts” that lets players earn Fame and unlock elite items, along with a myriad of quests and boss battles across randomly-generated areas filled with epic loot drops.



In Torchlight III, it’s been a century since the events of Torchlight II, where the great heroes of old defeated The Dark Alchemist and sealed the Netherlord’s heart inside the Clockwork Core. The heroes brought peace to the world of Novastraia, but now the Ember Empire finds itself on the brink of collapse as it’s under threat of invasion by the Netherim and its allies. To save Novastraia, Torchlight III players will need to gather their wits and brave the frontier in search of fame, glory and new adventures to become the legends the world needs them to be.

• Travel the Frontier: Players can explore the wilderness, party with friends, gather materials to craft loot, use magical maps to enter unknown dungeons, or show off their spoils in town! There’s always something to do in the new frontier.
  
  
• Build & Upgrade Your Fort: It’s time to rebuild! Players will enjoy their very own account-based fort, where they can upgrade gear, and make renovations to show it off to their friends and the world. The game allows them to build monuments of power, pet stables, and more!
  
  
• Choose a Relic: Relics are objects of great power that grant players a suite of active skills and passive skills. Players will choose one of five of these at the beginning of their journey and use skill points to unlock or enhance their relic’s abilities. The relic is an important part of a character's strategy - choose wisely!
  
  
• Collect Epic Gear: Suit up in a robust variety of armor and weapons found across the frontier including charming hats, pet apparel, and unique locomotion options. Players can select from a wide array of weapons that suit their playstyle and class build. With over a hundred Legendary items,players can permanently acquire their special abilities in order to make themselves more unique and powerful.
  
  
• Pets are Back: Players can fight their way to fame and glory with loyal companions! Each of the many species comes in a myriad of colors and styles so adventurers shouldn’t settle for the first one they find. They can make these trusty pets stronger by adding skills, equip them with gear to make them hardier, and together battle enemies as a team. Pets also have their own vast inventory for items, and players have the option to have their pets sell items directly in town.
  
  
• Build Your Hero: With four classes to choose from, along with 20 class and Relic combinations -- each combination offering a unique playstyle -- and a wide range of choices of where to place skill points at, players can utilize class-specific mechanics to
  

Each version of Torchlight III will come with the following exclusive Fairy pet:

• Steam: Violet Glittersprite
  
  
• Xbox One: Verdant Glittersprite
  
  
• PlayStation®4: Azure Glittersprite
  
  
• Nintendo Switch: Ashen Glittersprite
  

Torchlight III features four diverse hero classes and five powerful relics with unique abilities and strengths:

• The Dusk Mage is an enchanter who harnesses the power of light and dark energy to conjure devastating attacks.
  
  
• The Forged is a powerful robot who relies on an arsenal of weaponry to build up heat and unleash explosive assaults.
  
  
• The Railmaster is a locomotive savvy powerhouse who steams into combat with a massive hammer and heavily armed battle train.
  
  
• The Sharpshooter is a powerful and nimble ranged character who uses incredible skill with ranged weapons and magical trinkets to take on enemies from afar.
  

Relics

• Bane - Summons a cluster of spiders and casts forth volleys of deadly poison.
  
  
• Blood Drinker - Heals a player’s wounds while enemies bleed.
  
  
• Coldheart - Controls crowds by freezing, slowing, or knocking back immoderate threats.
  
  
• Electrode - Unleashes an unpredictable surge of electricity.
  
  
• Flaming Destroyer - Consistently burns enemies and sets things ablaze.
  

Torchlight III is the latest successor to the ARPG cult classics, Torchlight I & II, originally developed by Runic Games. This fast-paced dungeon crawler brings fans back to the beloved Torchlight universe to hack and slash their way through a brand new world filled with hordes of goblins, undead and other dangerous Netherim creatures. Adventurers can party up with friends or venture into the vast wilderness alone, where they will find loot, explore dungeons, collect epic gear and build their very own fort to show off to the world. Torchlight III features four unique hero classes (Dusk Mage, Forged, Railmaster and Sharpshooter), plus a myriad of new and familiar combat pets to help players fight their way to fame and glory.



Learn more about Torchlight III at Torchlight3.com. Follow the game on Twitter (@PlayTorchlight) and Facebook.com/PlayTorchlight for the latest updates.

 

[ADL]

This game needs a year in development.

:^)

 

[Kruno]

I have been playing it today with Huntress and max difficulty. It does seem a lot better than it did before, it seems more enjoyable than Diablo 3, but without modding support I can not see this game becoming anything other than the Kleenex of ARPGs.

I will let you know how it is after another 15-20 hours.

 

[TemplarGR]

It officially launched in torrents yesterday

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Bara]

I hope some how they were able to salvage enough of a game to get decent sales.

The series was allright and it be a shame if they wash their hands of the games.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Hmmm... so its now MMO shite? Dandy..

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Raghar]

So is it playable this time, or dogshit?

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/10/13/torchlight-3-review-a-disappointing-and-dreary-return/

Torchlight 3 review: A disappointing and dreary return

At the end of the first of three acts in Torchlight III, there’s a boss character who repeats two of the same barks over and over. One is “This should be fun.” The other is “Let’s make it interesting.” I couldn’t help but hear both as the ignored voice of a quiet developer at the back of a Torchlight III planning meeting.

Torchlight III feels an awful lot like what it is: a free-to-play multiplayer game that thought better of itself, and decided to become a proper full-price microtransaction-free primarily solo release. If I didn’t already know the path it had taken, I’d have spent my entire time playing the game being gnawed at by wondering just what it was that made it all feel so off.

Because despite its Damascene moment, it doesn’t feel like it ever quite shook off its Sauline routes. Torchlight III (TL3) feels an awful lot like 2012’s Torchlight II, except massively spaced out, featuring the corner-cuttingiest static cutscenes of all time, with a bunch of leftover F2P ideas that don’t seem to do anything any more.



I recently replayed Torchlight II, and found myself embroiled in a confusion of ennui. While the game had been well loved on its release, including by me, something was wrong. Something was missing. It’s in playing TL3 that I’ve finally realised what it is: it’s the last decade of gaming.

The Torchlight series, originally created by the founders of Diablo and Fate, has always been plagued by the same failed ambition to become an MMO. The original game by Runic was supposed to be the precursor to an online multiplayer world. Then Torchlight II came out, and was, er, a test for that future, they claimed. Then with Perfect World investing to finally have that MMO realised, well, two of the company’s founders left and Runic made Hob as their final game instead. Oops. That left only Max Schaefer of the original Diablo team still interested in realising this dream, and so Perfect World-owned Echtra Games was formed by him and some Runic colleagues. Which brings us to… oh, yeah, another single-player Torchlight game. And one that is, tragically, driven only by a failed desire to be a gaming format that had already had its time ten years back.

In an alternative timeline there’s a version of Torchlight III that’s inspired by the decade of roguelites that have dominated PC gaming, that has learned lessons from the evolution of the ARPG and the massive breadth of a genre that spans from Dark Souls to Hades, and brings in the best of these new ideas to a solid core action role-player. Meanwhile we live in the timeline where Torchlight III is some more Torchlight, but you have a fort for no reason.

Spoiler

What’s surprised me most, beyond the lack of imagination that’s gone into advancing the formula, is just how poor the opening to the game is. An all-too common curse of Early Access-developed games, Torchlight III is a game that’s clearly spent too long being iterated for people who’ve already played Torchlight III. And that’s going to be a bit of an issue considering the game’s coming out cross-platform, onto consoles where “Early Access” has only ever meant getting a game a day early because you pre-ordered it. From the opening desultory cutscene, it barely cares to explain a single thing that’s going on, presumably relying on decade-old memories of the previous (equally poorly told) games, or just assuming people who play ARPGs don’t care why they’re clicking on goblins, just that they’re clicking on goblins. They may not be wrong.

The issue is, the small number of things that have been thrown at the game presumably when it was still intended to be emptying whales of their life savings. There’s a central hub littered with stalls, but none of the stall owners explaining their wares (which might seem trivial until you learn that the weapons vendor uniquely ‘sells’ the worst possible items for 0 coins each – uh?). There’s very soon a player’s fort to develop, new to this series, that is dumped on you while full of debris, although you’re told to build in it (but not why), and then the next time you visit it’s suddenly an empty rectangle with your built items stood in the middle of nothing. There’s the four character classes, each of which has you instantly pick three different sets of skill tree paths in the most inaccessibly overwhelming way. Seriously, here’s the entire chunk of introductory text for the “Adventurer” chain of skills:

“Adventurer skills use artifacts the Sharpshooter has collected to debuff enemies. Each Adventurer skill gives an Adventurer’s Bonus buff that applies to the next 3 Precisions skills.” [sic]

Good grief.

So having committed to a class type, and their progression types, without ever having played the game, you then get to discover at your leisure that it’s not what you wanted, whereupon you can enjoy starting the entire game over. Where I so desperately wish TL3 could have smartly learned from the myriad rogue-ish games that let you restart or resume with different classes, pushing further in as you discover your ideal builds, here it’s all or nothing, with nothing to go on. (It’s worth noting that one of the three skill chains was once a separately levelled Relic, an intriguing idea that let you switch it between your characters, offering a glimpse of those ideas I wish we could have seen. Sadly it proved tricky to balance, so it was pretty much abandoned as a concept, and just used to make character skill picking more frustrating.)

I rather fancied playing as a meaty melee type, because I usually play these games ranged, so I picked the Railmaster. He has a train that follows him around, increasingly armoured and powerful! A literal train! However it turns it’s a colossal pain to play with, the screen smothered in tracks and trains where you want to see enemies to aim at, and I was quickly done with it. Sigh. So I started over as the more familiar Sharpshooter, essentially the ranger character, not particularly loving her bland attack, but then getting too far in to be able to bring myself to do it all yet again to play as the other melee, the metallic Forged.



Because, extraordinarily, TL3 really doubles down on the linear traditions of the genre. You go through the corridor-shaped regions, doing the single quest that’s available, until you fight the boss at the other end. It’s fine. It’s some more Torchlight, and that’s mildly distracting. But there’s so little variety, so few extras, that playing it a second time offers nothing new. Which makes its habit of forcing me to play things a second time a smidge galling.

There is either a really weird design decision, or the most egregious of bugs, where once you return from a boss’s dungeon after clearing a large section of the aboveground map, the entire map has blanked and reset. It’s astonishingly annoying, the whole sprawling route wiped, all minibosses revived, as if you’d never been there. It feels like a punishment for clearing a dungeon, being stuck in the middle of a blank map that you only just finished exploring, right down to story elements you’ve already listened to getting remarked as unheard. Often I’d deliberately gone on past a dungeon entrance, filling out the map, playing for maybe another half hour or so up to the next exit, before then finding it all erased. Sure, you keep the XP and loot, and then get it all over again, but what a tedious chore being made to replay great sections for no discernible reason. It then tells you to go to the next destination, but with a void where your map once was, you just have to assume it’s going to be to the right. (And note this is very distinct from that odd ARPG tradition of having zones repopulate after you’ve quit and reloaded the game.)



As I say, when you’re just clicking through the battles, it’s OK. That’s a damningly faint praise to be sure, but it’s not an unmitigated disaster. It manages to be another ARPG. But because of this averageness, it’s hard not to notice the really damned weird nature of what it’s tried to add. Which is, really, Forts.

Forts, as I mentioned above, are the badly introduced areas that are said to be your home. In this bland brown square you can build various things, most decorative, some “useful”, that really only serve to allow you to build other things in your fort. Don’t get silly pretty ideas in your head like these becoming a place where you can refine your weapons or armour, or tweak your equipment to match your playstyle. You can build a sawmill to turn wood you chop during the game into wood you can use to build more decorative nothings for your ghoulishly pointless home. And yes, that’s right, as you’re playing there are now trees to chop and boulders to pick, which give you the resources for what was clearly meant to be the monetisation aspect of the F2P ghost that perpetually haunts proceedings.

Now, you’re just given everything cosmetic for free, simultaneously making it feel worthless and conspicuous. Where I’d far rather get a juicy weapon drop, I’m more likely to be told I can now unlock a brick type for my fort. Oh gee whizz, what a day! You can, it proclaims, see other people’s forts, go see how pretty they’d made theirs. Which was, of course, meant to be a thing to have you want to spend more money on your own. But now the only thing you could possibly think to yourself on seeing another player’s fort is, “Why?”

So you’re stuck with an assault of cosmetic loot, rewards and goals, despite those holding no appeal in a game where they’re all infinitely available. Which as innovations to the genre go, well, it’s not up there.



Then it makes mistakes that are just plain weird. Torchlight II, especially, was notable for its amazing variety of enemy types. Torchlight III’s first act is notable for the unbearable number of goblins and spiders. Oh God it’s just goblins and spiders forever and ever and ever. And rather crushingly, their AI is pretty dreadful, making battles a scramble rather than a tactician’s delight. Goblins just tend to run toward you, often straight past you, flailing with no apparent goal. The most tedious enemy, the Goblin Hound, has what should be a cool charge attack, but it more often wanders in the wrong direction while you’re attacking it. And I swear it’s more surprising when a treasure chest isn’t a Mimic than when it is.

By the time you finally, finally reach Act 2, there’s the desperate hope things will change, and yet the new insectoid foes behave almost identically to the goblins and spiders that came before. And showing just how blind it is to its own issues, it almost immediately has goblins back in the mix.

But most problematic, I think, are those skill trees. Levelling feels like it’s also part of that F2P that once was, grindy and slow, dinging all too rarely. Then when it does you’re given a single stinking upgrade point, which allows the most miniscule incremental changes to your abilities. I noted at one point that when I improved my right-mouse skill next, Tight Grouping (which fires three arrows together), it went up from +20% to +25%, along with the Tier 1 Bonus: “Tight Grouping now Slows enemies for -40% movement for 2 sec.” Those aren’t skill upgrades in an ARPG! They’re the sort of bullshit you see in grindfest MMOs! And no, min-maxers aren’t going to be rubbing their trousers with delight – it’s all nothingness, the game not offering that depth of tweaking many will have hoped for.



It’s worth noting there’s one significant improvement over TL2: you can change difficulty. Although in the strangest way. I set off on Normal, because you always review games on Normal, but it was just ridiculously easy. When I found there was yet again no option in-game to tweak that, I got ready to be very mad. But it turns out if you quit to the main menu, then reselect the same character, you can change the difficulty there. So thank goodness, but blimey, what an odd way of going about things. And trust me, if you’ve played any ARPG before, start on Hard. I say this as a person who never, ever chooses Hard on anything.

What else do I like? It drops loot splendidly. Win a big fight against a boss or bosses, and it rains down in a spectacular fashion, with noises and lights, and feels like exactly the celebration it ought to be. Oh, and my Sharpshooter has a team of ghost goblins she can deploy to help her fight, and they make an excellent Gremlins-esque jibber-jabbering sound as they monkey about, and that pleases me.

Oh, and the Lifebound idea is nice. You get spells that you can cast on favourite weapons or armour, that increases their stats by 20%, but means if you die, they’re destroyed. That’s an excellent gamble. Or at least would be if dying felt like an ever-present concern.



The game just feels weary and leaden and bored of itself. I’m not sure who it’s for, since it’s so peculiarly unwelcoming at the start, and yet so shallow and uncomplicated for those familiar with the genre. If you’re after something to click at on a second monitor, while watching YouTube videos of sped up recipes or what have you on the first, then it’ll do that job just fine.

I went through the whole of Act 1, almost all on Hard, and didn’t die once. The most dangerous thing to happen was a knock on the front door, and with no option to pause in single-player, it was somewhat risky to leave the PC. Turns out it was fine. That final boss, the one who laments with me about how it should have been fun and interesting – she barely took a dent out of my middling character. Although she did somewhat help by spending the last quarter of the battle stood completely still, staring off to the left, while I battered her to death from the right.

What a big stinking shame. It begins mediocre, and then wallows there until it starts to feel stagnant. Yes, you can idly click your way through it, barely paying attention, and there’s definitely a crowd that’s after that. But not only is this a massively missed opportunity to update Torchlight for 2020, but it’s a backward step for the series, dragged down by the shackles of a genre it abandoned.

 

[Cyberarmy]

dogshit?

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Too bad, but not surprising. First two games were good fun. Probably the best "recent" ARPGs outside of Grim Dawn.

 

[Kruno]

The game is a slog to play through. It has improved over the EA versions I played, but it feels less enjoyable than working in a coal mine.