- Jan 12, 2004
- 11,093
- 11
- 81
Final Beta Impresssions
After spending about 5-6 hours with the beta--which is most of Act 1--I'm left completely impressed. Runic has managed to expand, improve, refine and polish just about every single system, machanic and technology from Torchlight 1.
First off I've got to mention how impressed I am with the level of polish--it's astounding. I experienced nary a hitch, glitch, hiccup or crash. The only thing I can even think of mentioning, and this is digging, is the fact that every time I fired up the game I had to reset the resolution. Again that's nitpicking though.
Ok, so, T2 looks Fantastic! Thanks to the much (MUCH!) more varied aesthetics and enviroments, I was treated to a very rich, lush and colorful pallate that seem to run the full spectrum. It's a game the REALLY pops on the screen, and yes it seems to have reached a point where it's more World of Warcraft (again, in aesthetic) that World of Warcraft. That's a compliment, and I love the sort of chariature design of it all.
The dungeon designs are light years beyond the ones from T1 where it seemed like we eere constantly running through had the same, mundane caves we experienced in T1. Just in the beta I ran through a Pirate themed cave that was crawling skeletons wearing eye patches and bandanas, with a boss called One Eyed Wily. Another had me running through a frostbitten cavern, filled with yeti's and ice...panthers, or something. My person favorite was the a bandit warehouse that was consumed in flames, and watching it crumble above me dropping embers and scafolding all around as I set some people free.
Again I played as an Outlander, and the combination of dual-pistols, the Glave and the pet really rocketed me through the action. It was very fast and furious filled with mountains of glorious loot. I'd probably recommend people who are interested in even a slight challenge to play on Vetertan difficulty because I didnt die once throughout the whole 5-6 hours. That doesnt mean I wasn't running away from boss or mobs, but some additional challenge would be recommended.
Speaking of the bosses, their fights were always made with grand entrances. They were fun, over-the-top and always the most challenging thing in the game. Each one always left me with a sense of accomplishment. It's also worth mentioning that there is a good variety in the enemies, and in the way they attack. They're not all just charging at you, some shift through things, some teleport, some spit goop, some charge, and some summon snot (or something). The point is, you will have to vary some of your strategies.
So there it is. At a full sprint I smashed my teeth into a stone wall called the level cap. Next I did the only sensible thing--started over.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I got invited to the beta last night and only had time to play for about 3 hours, and here are my impressions and notes.
Here is what my Outlander looked like after those 3 hours: https://twitter.com/#!/heymarkd/status/200220939705790465/photo/1
Visuals - Playing Torchlight 2 at 2560x1440 with all effects turned on and maxed out shows just how GOREGEOUS this game can look! But beyond it's technical capabilities, the actual art, assents, models, level design and animations have also come along splendidly. So far I think the thing that has stood out the most is the environmental designs. They're just spectacular and really just far beyond the sort of banal cave-after-cave we played through in T1. One cave had a pirate theme, and within were the animated skeletal remains of pirates, ghosts and other seaworthy nefarious creatures. Another dungeon was completely different in that it looked like a Gothic library, sort of like the one found in the Diablo 3 beta.
The game still has a more World of Warcraft aesthetic to it than a Diablo one. I love the look of it all.
Classes - I decided to go with the Outlander, mainly because ranged attacks coupled with a pet sounded like a blast, and you know what? It's a freak'n good time! Dual-pistols coupled with a Glave and I was mowing through mobs quickly. Oh and when creating a character you now have the option of 6 different pets. Pets still sell things for you, learn spells, can equip a collar and now have a shipping list to purchase things like identity scrolls or health potions.
- The GUI is unobtrusive, clean, responsive and does exactly what it should--stays out of our way!
- The loot, oh god the loot, THE LOOT!
- The world is more explorable, at least so far. As it opens up when you leave town and there are things to encounter. Like dungeons and NPCs. NPCs seem to guide you to various dungeons to kill someone who did something bad. The dungeons now have a level marker on this so you know if you're capable of handling the opposition. Its nice to see because it essentially means the world is your oyster.
There is more, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them, just keep in mind I've only played the game for a few hours and it's only the MP portion not the SP.
After spending about 5-6 hours with the beta--which is most of Act 1--I'm left completely impressed. Runic has managed to expand, improve, refine and polish just about every single system, machanic and technology from Torchlight 1.
First off I've got to mention how impressed I am with the level of polish--it's astounding. I experienced nary a hitch, glitch, hiccup or crash. The only thing I can even think of mentioning, and this is digging, is the fact that every time I fired up the game I had to reset the resolution. Again that's nitpicking though.
Ok, so, T2 looks Fantastic! Thanks to the much (MUCH!) more varied aesthetics and enviroments, I was treated to a very rich, lush and colorful pallate that seem to run the full spectrum. It's a game the REALLY pops on the screen, and yes it seems to have reached a point where it's more World of Warcraft (again, in aesthetic) that World of Warcraft. That's a compliment, and I love the sort of chariature design of it all.
The dungeon designs are light years beyond the ones from T1 where it seemed like we eere constantly running through had the same, mundane caves we experienced in T1. Just in the beta I ran through a Pirate themed cave that was crawling skeletons wearing eye patches and bandanas, with a boss called One Eyed Wily. Another had me running through a frostbitten cavern, filled with yeti's and ice...panthers, or something. My person favorite was the a bandit warehouse that was consumed in flames, and watching it crumble above me dropping embers and scafolding all around as I set some people free.
Again I played as an Outlander, and the combination of dual-pistols, the Glave and the pet really rocketed me through the action. It was very fast and furious filled with mountains of glorious loot. I'd probably recommend people who are interested in even a slight challenge to play on Vetertan difficulty because I didnt die once throughout the whole 5-6 hours. That doesnt mean I wasn't running away from boss or mobs, but some additional challenge would be recommended.
Speaking of the bosses, their fights were always made with grand entrances. They were fun, over-the-top and always the most challenging thing in the game. Each one always left me with a sense of accomplishment. It's also worth mentioning that there is a good variety in the enemies, and in the way they attack. They're not all just charging at you, some shift through things, some teleport, some spit goop, some charge, and some summon snot (or something). The point is, you will have to vary some of your strategies.
So there it is. At a full sprint I smashed my teeth into a stone wall called the level cap. Next I did the only sensible thing--started over.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I got invited to the beta last night and only had time to play for about 3 hours, and here are my impressions and notes.
Here is what my Outlander looked like after those 3 hours: https://twitter.com/#!/heymarkd/status/200220939705790465/photo/1
Visuals - Playing Torchlight 2 at 2560x1440 with all effects turned on and maxed out shows just how GOREGEOUS this game can look! But beyond it's technical capabilities, the actual art, assents, models, level design and animations have also come along splendidly. So far I think the thing that has stood out the most is the environmental designs. They're just spectacular and really just far beyond the sort of banal cave-after-cave we played through in T1. One cave had a pirate theme, and within were the animated skeletal remains of pirates, ghosts and other seaworthy nefarious creatures. Another dungeon was completely different in that it looked like a Gothic library, sort of like the one found in the Diablo 3 beta.
The game still has a more World of Warcraft aesthetic to it than a Diablo one. I love the look of it all.
Classes - I decided to go with the Outlander, mainly because ranged attacks coupled with a pet sounded like a blast, and you know what? It's a freak'n good time! Dual-pistols coupled with a Glave and I was mowing through mobs quickly. Oh and when creating a character you now have the option of 6 different pets. Pets still sell things for you, learn spells, can equip a collar and now have a shipping list to purchase things like identity scrolls or health potions.
- The GUI is unobtrusive, clean, responsive and does exactly what it should--stays out of our way!
- The loot, oh god the loot, THE LOOT!
- The world is more explorable, at least so far. As it opens up when you leave town and there are things to encounter. Like dungeons and NPCs. NPCs seem to guide you to various dungeons to kill someone who did something bad. The dungeons now have a level marker on this so you know if you're capable of handling the opposition. Its nice to see because it essentially means the world is your oyster.
There is more, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them, just keep in mind I've only played the game for a few hours and it's only the MP portion not the SP.
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