How does Diablo 3 gamplay compare to Torchlight 2 ??

[zanemoseley]

So I played Diablo 2 way back when and was awaiting the 3rd but have yet to buy it due to all the bad press. I've played through Torchlight 1 and am in the 3rd act of Torchlight 2 and am impressed so far. How do the two compare, are they similar or totally different. I will probably buy Diablo 3 either way when it gets to the $20-$30 range but I'm just curious.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

They are very similar in my opinion.

 

[DAGTA]

Game play is similar. D3 is a bit more polished in the controls, in my opinion, but Torchlight 2 is overall a more polished game.

In terms of fun, Torchlight2 is much more fun than Diablo 3.

 

[Geosurface]

I've played a little Torchlight 2 so far, I never did manage to hold interest in Torchlight 1 long enough to finish it.

I started off on Diablo 1 when I was like 16, and maybe that's why I have such a soft spot for that series. There was a lot about Diablo 2 that let me down, but I still ended up loving at least the story, cinematics, single player. The graphics were sort of a letdown.

Diablo 3 pissed me off with it's lack of true single player offline, and the auction house nonsense, plus it's story was pretty stupid, but the gameplay and graphics, music, settings were all perfect. It was a lot of fun ultimately. Too bad it didn't have the brilliance of D2's story/cinematics.

I think I just fundamentally have a strong preference for the more realistic, dark asthetic of Diablo's world to the more cartoonish Torchlight thing. It's good but, I have trouble getting fully into it.

I wouldn't pass up Diablo 3 if I were you, but waiting isn't a bad call.

 

[Obsoleet]

I'm betting Torchlight2 is better. I wouldn't touch Diablo3. Blizzards been dead since the buyout and talent purge. The only game from them I'd remotely consider is SC2 and not because it's actually good, it's the safest most corporate rehash they could have cooked up. But, it's one of the few traditional RTSs that are very popular.

I did own and played Diablo3, I'd advise to skip that bloated POC, it's not even fun. Just get TL2.

 

[mango123]

Yup I second that...

I feel like I wasted money on diablo 3.

The second I fired it up on release date the first thing I thought was....
Hmm, this MUST get better...
LOL

And I've been playing torchlight 2 and I must say that it's not the most interesting story wise, but mechanics wise and gameplay flow wise that game is 5x the fun, and EVERYTHING THAT DIABLO 3 should have been.

Diablo 3 is worth MAYBE playing through once, and that is it. Is that worth 60$ to you?

In retrospect, I could have picked up 3 20$ titles for that much!

 

[Geosurface]

I have my issues with Diablo 3, no doubt, but I think you guys are being too harsh on it.

 

[Harabec]

I have played D2 for about 5 years since its release (then moved on to WoW til a year ago).

I *wasted* $60 on D3. After getting through Normal on my Monk I felt zero incentive to carry on.

 

[Geosurface]

I feel D3 was a letdown in many ways, and does not motivate me to play through further times... but frankly I never did the kind of repetition in D1 and D2 others did anyway. I did the most playthroughs of D1 probably, but I've always just sort of wanted to play through single player, or with one friend, a couple times... enjoy the novelty of the areas, and the story, and that was that. I wasn't ever about powering up a character with great gear.

I did D3 up through partially on Inferno, that was a lot for me. I enjoyed it's settings and gameplay a lot. Story was somewhat lacking, but not totally awful... it didn't quite knock it out of the park, but it isn't a total loss. It's gameplay is great. It's graphics are great. It's music is great. Locations are great.

Story and replayability and AH and online requirement are my issues with it.

 

[Goothry]

If you have any love for Diablo 2 stay away from Diablo 3. As an avid fan of the past Diablo games, in particular Diablo 2, Diablo 3 has been the biggest let down in gaming I have ever experienced. The only similar aspects that Diablo 2 and 3 share are that gold is still worthless, you can play the barbarian class, you kill monsters, and that's where the similarities end.

In terms of comparison between Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3, it is a very similar to the argument between Diablo 2 and 3. Honestly, I haven't tried to compare the games directly. I've only compared them in terms relative to Diablo 2 as a base line of what is an improvement and what isn't (if that makes any sense to you).

Take this next statement to heart: of the many reasons why Diablo 3 sucks, has failed in the eyes of its fans, or has been considered a horrible game, the issue revolves around the fact that Diablo 3 is NOT an "RPG." If you expect RPG elements in this game I can assure you that you WILL be disappointed. In my opinion, for what ever that is worth, Diablo 3 fails at being a "Diablo," game. There are tons of reasons as to why Diablo 3 is unworthy, and I can expand on them if you like.

However, I can sense that you'll want to experience this game regardless of what others have said about it. Hell, I would have been the same way. If someone on day one had told me exactly what this game would be like I would not have believed that person and purchased the game anyway.

I honestly would not pay more than $10.00 for Diablo 3, and that's being generous. If I were you I would seek out a friend that has quit playing, and just play on his account. That way it is free, and you won't ever get the feeling that you wasted your money.

 

[KaOTiK]

I received D3 as a gift and while I thought it was ok at best on its own, as a Diablo game is was pure trash. The entire time playing it, you could see and feel a lot of design decisions built around the real money auction house. Also the lack of truly randomized areas was a big killer, there were a few versions of each with some other differences, but there were plenty of times I knew exactly where to go and where stuff was already. If I would have paid for the game, I probably be a lot harsher on it honestly. It feels more like Diablo Adventure instead of Diablo 3.

Torchlight 2 I've only put around 7 hours into. I'm enjoying it and at its price it is a steal. The story really hasn't pulled me in, but the gameplay is a lot of fun and very well polished and that is what makes me keep playing. On that alone I'd give T2 the nod over D3.

 

[Majes]

Gameplay: Torchlight 2 is much faster than Diablo 3. Diablo 3 on the other hand is much more smooth and the combat is better. You definitely feel more immersed in D3 combat and movement.

I think the best way to put my comparison of the games is the following... I wish Blizzard had made Torchlight 2 and put it on their servers with the same protection and economy that D3 has. I play Torchlight 2 a lot because the items are fun and there's a lot to do. I still play D3 only because the items have value...

I guess I play torchlight 2 when I want to have fun and Diablo 3 when I want to work.

 

[crownjules]

Diablo 3 is very polished. It just lacks in depth since you get every skill in each class and your choice involves which ones to put in your bar and with which modifier. Outside of that, it's simply a gear grind. The thing is, you rarely find gear that's better then what you have which forces you to go to the AH. While it looks and sounds pretty, it quickly gets repetitive and boring.

TL2 is more like D2. You get stat points and skill points on level up to distribute as you see fit. Gear is way better than in D3 in that you'll often find stuff to use. You can play single player offline. The only thing it does worse than D3 is the graphics but that's no big deal if you enjoy the game play.

I give the nod to TL2. D3 is worth it once it drops to $20 or so but that could be awhile.

 

[EDUSAN]

i played d3 for like 3 months and i still need to finish torchlight for the 1st time (i have a lvl 35~ engineer) and this is my little comparison, not at all biased since im no fanboy of any of the titles

you asked for gameplay so here it is

skills:
Although there are some skills/runes that are clearly better than others and you will probably stick to at least 2 skills all the time with each of the characters, in Diablo 3 there is a bigger variety of skills+runes than in TL2. In D3 as soon as you get your 6th skill slot you will be using 6 skills. In TL2, you will find (this happens to me) that you will have more skillpoints invested in passive skills than in active skills. You will have 2 (MAYBE 3) active skills and 2 or 3 passives. You are all the time using the same skill all the time

Enemies
Its a tie i guess. Both games have lots of enemies that do different things

Bosses
Until now i have found the diablo 3 bosses/minibosses more epic and entertaining. TL2 on the other hand has more bosses around.
About difficulty... TL2 upto now has been extremely easy (and im playing it in epic difficulty from the start), Diablo 3 has some challenging moments, at least the boss fights

Items
Here TL2 wins, as everyone has been saying since the beginning. TL2 has more usable loot while you play. You find stuff your level or a couple levels ahead of you, while in D3 you always find stuff that you would have loved... 5 lvl before.
and TL2 has all the fun stuff that d2 had. The gambler, a "horadric cube" guy that converts stuff to something else, sockets, a random stat giver
And as far as i saw, the different stats that you can get are more varied too. In TL2 you have items with stun chance, aoe damage, life steal, mana steal that dont suck as much as the "enemies receive 10 damage when you are hit" stat in d3 (and some others useless stats)

Coop
Works fine, its easy to join and leave... pretty much the same


as a final comment i would say that THE KILLING in D3 is more fun because you have more stuff to cast and i found TL2 to be a bit too caotic when there are a lot of spells and enemies goin on.
but i would say TL2 is better in the rest of the stuff

 

[zijin_cheng]

D3 for me held no appeal in singleplayer (even multiplayer with strangers), it wasn't that fun, Torchlight 1/2 on the other hand, is quite fun to play, it actually sucked me in, unlike D3

 

[PowerYoga]

TL2 is a more refined D2. D3 is fine if you're a barb, otherwise it's setting into a wow trend where everything viable gets nerfed except for jay wilson's class (barb).

 

[Dumac]

Diablo 3 is basically Auction House: The Game. If you don't want to spend a large amount of your time on the auction house, getting all of your gear their, then don't bother playing.

In TL2, loot actually drops, so it is a lot more fun. Plus, you can't respec at will, getting rid of flavor-of-the-month builds that D3 has. There is a lot more depth to character customization in TL2.

 

[KaOTiK]

Diablo 3 is basically Auction House: The Game. If you don't want to spend a large amount of your time on the auction house, getting all of your gear their, then don't bother playing.

In TL2, loot actually drops, so it is a lot more fun. Plus, you can't respec at will, getting rid of flavor-of-the-month builds that D3 has. There is a lot more depth to character customization in TL2.

This is very true. In my time playing D3, I had to get 95% of my gear from the AH because I got nothing from drops. In T2 I am upgrading my gear nearly every level and some times multiple times per level.

 

[EDUSAN]

the Auction house is not bad by itself. I used the AH when i wanted and i have nothing bad to say about it.
You dont need the auction house unless you want to beat the game in inferno.
the problem with the auction house that the diablo games have this philosophy that you MUST have the BEST item there is, even though you dont need them to beat the game... if you want that you will have to use the auction house, cause the chance of you getting the absolute best item for each gear piece is impossible.
But in TL2 you just finish the game and move on, you dont actually care that much about the gear check

and im assuming that TL2 doesnt have Inferno. TL2 finishes when D3 hell finishes.

What is an issue in d3 that tl2 doesnt have is the level of the loot you get. that is a flaw in d3 indeed.

 

[Tweak155]

While D3 isn't as bad as what these guys are making it out to be, it isn't great. I had awesome fun playing through Normal, but it quickly dwindled after that. It still took me a good 15-20hrs to do normal (I tried to explore every last thing), but that was it.

TL2 is so far boring me. I think it is also due to passives as mentioned above. You use the same skills all the time.

 

[PowerYoga]

The auction house is not bad at all. D2 is all about the gear grind and so's D3, the only difference is now it's easier to compare items so you absolutely have to have the best prefixes and best gear or your character's "bad". When I was lvling I had a lot of gear pieces that were "upgrades", even if the item level is 5 levels below your character it's possible to roll higher stats. Flavor of the month is definitely true, and the wow style "balancing" is rapidly putting this game off for me.

In comparison TL1 put me to sleep after lvl 20, and I can't judge TL2 with the little time I spent on it at a friend's place.

 

[SMOGZINN]

While D3 isn't as bad as what these guys are making it out to be, it isn't great. I had awesome fun playing through Normal, but it quickly dwindled after that. It still took me a good 15-20hrs to do normal (I tried to explore every last thing), but that was it.

TL2 is so far boring me. I think it is also due to passives as mentioned above. You use the same skills all the time.

Really? I didn't feel the game got fun until Hell difficulty. During normal I felt like I could have gotten up during combat and went to pee and still had plenty of time to win the fight when I got back. There was no challenge.

The problem with the game is that the only way to advance past hell difficulty is to buy your equipment off the AH. We had a 4 person party with over 1000 combined hours of play and we had only seen 3 legendary drops, and none was worth wearing.
Even though we had decided we were going to play though with out buying anything on AH, there came a point where I had no choice. My level 60 wizard was still wearing several pieces of level 27-30 gear. Between all of us we had not seen a single pair of gloves worth a wizard wearing. Each character has several pieces of equipment like that.
Overall grinding for gold to buy stuff on AH just does not hold my attention.

I enjoyed D3 for some 300 hours, so I'm not going to complain, but it is no where near as addictive as D2 was.

I'll tell you how TL2 is after this month. My group has too much going on this month, so we have agreed to hold off purchasing it until Nov 1.

 

[Tweak155]

Really? I didn't feel the game got fun until Hell difficulty. During normal I felt like I could have gotten up during combat and went to pee and still had plenty of time to win the fight when I got back. There was no challenge.

The problem with the game is that the only way to advance past hell difficulty is to buy your equipment off the AH. We had a 4 person party with over 1000 combined hours of play and we had only seen 3 legendary drops, and none was worth wearing.
Even though we had decided we were going to play though with out buying anything on AH, there came a point where I had no choice. My level 60 wizard was still wearing several pieces of level 27-30 gear. Between all of us we had not seen a single pair of gloves worth a wizard wearing. Each character has several pieces of equipment like that.
Overall grinding for gold to buy stuff on AH just does not hold my attention.

I enjoyed D3 for some 300 hours, so I'm not going to complain, but it is no where near as addictive as D2 was.

I'll tell you how TL2 is after this month. My group has too much going on this month, so we have agreed to hold off purchasing it until Nov 1.

I liked the story and lore.

 

[Aikouka]

I liked the story and lore.

One thing that I found interesting was that during an interview with some guy from Condor (I forget who it was), he seemed to stress that the story in the Diablo games really fell second to the gameplay. The problem is that the story is actually interesting in each game (more so in Diablo 2 than Diablo), and Diablo 3's story isn't too bad (it gets a little long in the tooth in the middle). Now, Torchlight 1 had a pretty forgettable story, and I don't really gather that Torchlight 2 is any different.

I guess it just felt like the guy in the interview seemed to downplay the story, but I do think a good story is rather nice in these games. Sure, the addictive gameplay is what holds people in, which is why that's arguably more important, but I wouldn't consider the story to be a forgettable aspect.

In some ways, I've been soured a lot by Hollywood as of late. I've seen so many movies where I could distinctly say, "this movie would have been so much better if the story was tweaked a bit." So, maybe I'm just craving a good story in my entertainment!

 

[videogames101]

i had fun playing diablo 3 one time through, but thats it