I think everyone in TL remembers Flagship Studios and Hellgate London, and their sibling game called Mythos that never saw the light of day. Well when FSS went under the team that was working on Mythos in Seattle formed another company called Runic Games which is being headed by Travis Baldree, and Max Schaefer. A couple months after they formed they revealed what they were working on a game called:
In less than three weeks the single player version will be available to buy which also features a mod pack where players can use modding tools to edit levels and so forth. After the single player version is out the door they will start working on the MMO version in hopes to release said version 18 months after the singe player.
It looks really similar to D3, except more cartoony =\. These guys have a ton of talent, but it would be nice to see them do something like hellgate: london again instead of going back and basically remaking diablo.
Follow this game since it's first announced. It does look like the last game Flagship worked on before its collapse - Mythos, which took over by Hanbitsoft afterwards. Cartoony style hack&slash MMO.
Don't know it's good or bad for Runic (the name of their new studio) to sign Perfect World as publisher, who is relatively small and less-known among western gamers. It's actually a Chinese MMO-specialized company -_-;;
I will definitely buy this game I thought Mythos was awesome. Torchlight looks like it could be fun enough to fill the void till something good comes out like SC2 beta if nothing else.
The cool thing about this game is that it was developed in an entirely open-source graphic engine - OGRE. Depending on how well it sells, we might see more developers switching to open-source engines and game libraries drastically cutting development time and giving engine creators additional stimulus to make the engine more competetive with commercial designs. Might open a new page in gamedev, seriously.
On October 11 2009 19:09 BluzMan wrote: The cool thing about this game is that it was developed in an entirely open-source graphic engine - OGRE. Depending on how well it sells, we might see more developers switching to open-source engines and game libraries drastically cutting development time and giving engine creators additional stimulus to make the engine more competetive with commercial designs. Might open a new page in gamedev, seriously.
what they developed the game with OGRE 3D? that's awesome!
First of all, Torchlight is a lot of fun. Think a cross of the original Diablo and Fate.
There are three character classes that are very unique from each other in looks, style, and gameplay. Combat is your standard point and click + hotkeys for potions, spells, and skills. Very intuitive and easy to use. The loot system (a major draw of ARPG games) is well-balanced with a great variety of items (Weapon/Shield, Body Armor, Shoulder Armor, Helmet, Gloves, Belt, Boots, Rings and Amulet slots) including your standard melee fare + bows/xbows, rifles, pistols (did I mention you can dual wield pistols?) and more. Also, the loot system isn't as stingy as in Diablo II for example, as you WILL find a healthy smattering of unique and set items as you progress.
You can choose from 3 pets when creating a character. A wolf, a lynx, or an "imaginary" pet which acts only as item storage but does not actively engage monsters/cast spells like the former 2 pets. The pet can make trips back to town to sell stuff, so you don't have to, fights, can be equipped with items and spells.
The sound is pretty good.The music is great and omposed by the same guy who did Diablo's music I believe. Effects sound good, though some of the voice prompts can get annoying after awhile.
Environments look great and varied enough that you won't get bored (at least on the first few playthroughs =p)
Difficulty is kinda weird. The "normal" mode is way too easy in my opinion. I'd recommend any decently experienced gamer start with hard mode and than move up to very hard mode. Hard mode is balanced and very hard mode is actually difficult. There is, of course, also the option to play hardcore in any difficulty.
The overall game is well polished. I've heard of a few minor bugs + the occasional person who has had trouble with crashing or running the game, however, I have experienced 0 problems with it. It also runs perfectly on the highest settings on my 1+ year old system. My only beef is with the games loading times, which seem excessively long considering the low stated requirements. Roughly 20-30 seconds for me between areas/trips to town, though I've read of even longer on their forums. I believe this issue may be corrected/made better in a future patch, going by dev statements.
There is also an extremely robust editor to be released sometime in the next week I believe. It's supposed to be easy enough for anyone to use + you can play through the game WITHIN the editor and make adjustments on the fly. I expect awesome mods to come in the future.
Overall, I find that Torchlight is great fun and totally worth the $20 asking price.
FYI, I pirate a lot of shit, but I bought this game. I feel the development team at Runic deserves it.
Ok this game is really fun. I am enjoying the environment and overall feel of the game. I just bought it today and I spent all my time playing it instead of writing my essay that is due soon haha. Plus they have great customer service. I can't wait for the editor to change things around and keep things new.
On October 29 2009 14:37 Conquest101 wrote: Bumping this, as I've had the pleasure of playing this game over the last couple days since release. A rambling review to follow.
First of all, Torchlight is a lot of fun. Think a cross of the original Diablo and Fate.
There are three character classes that are very unique from each other in looks, style, and gameplay. Combat is your standard point and click + hotkeys for potions, spells, and skills. Very intuitive and easy to use. The loot system (a major draw of ARPG games) is well-balanced with a great variety of items (Weapon/Shield, Body Armor, Shoulder Armor, Helmet, Gloves, Belt, Boots, Rings and Amulet slots) including your standard melee fare + bows/xbows, rifles, pistols (did I mention you can dual wield pistols?) and more. Also, the loot system isn't as stingy as in Diablo II for example, as you WILL find a healthy smattering of unique and set items as you progress.
You can choose from 3 pets when creating a character. A wolf, a lynx, or an "imaginary" pet which acts only as item storage but does not actively engage monsters/cast spells like the former 2 pets. The pet can make trips back to town to sell stuff, so you don't have to, fights, can be equipped with items and spells.
The sound is pretty good.The music is great and omposed by the same guy who did Diablo's music I believe. Effects sound good, though some of the voice prompts can get annoying after awhile.
Environments look great and varied enough that you won't get bored (at least on the first few playthroughs =p)
Difficulty is kinda weird. The "normal" mode is way too easy in my opinion. I'd recommend any decently experienced gamer start with hard mode and than move up to very hard mode. Hard mode is balanced and very hard mode is actually difficult. There is, of course, also the option to play hardcore in any difficulty.
The overall game is well polished. I've heard of a few minor bugs + the occasional person who has had trouble with crashing or running the game, however, I have experienced 0 problems with it. It also runs perfectly on the highest settings on my 1+ year old system. My only beef is with the games loading times, which seem excessively long considering the low stated requirements. Roughly 20-30 seconds for me between areas/trips to town, though I've read of even longer on their forums. I believe this issue may be corrected/made better in a future patch, going by dev statements.
There is also an extremely robust editor to be released sometime in the next week I believe. It's supposed to be easy enough for anyone to use + you can play through the game WITHIN the editor and make adjustments on the fly. I expect awesome mods to come in the future.
Overall, I find that Torchlight is great fun and totally worth the $20 asking price.
FYI, I pirate a lot of shit, but I bought this game. I feel the development team at Runic deserves it.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. The load times are around 30 seconds for me, but I have an older system. Still, the load times got longer after I changed the video settings and lowered the resolution.
I was pleasantly surprised by this game, having never heard of it before it was released. I participated in Mythos Beta, and must say that I've enjoyed Torchlight much, much more so far. The only thing that really has been bothering me so far is how the item names on the ground stack, having to loot all the crap to get to the sweet uniques at the bottom Loading screen for every portal and stairs is also sort of annoying. That being said, I'm having a blast on my Destroyer thus far <3
Conquest101 wrote: FYI, I pirate a lot of shit, but I bought this game. I feel the development team at Runic deserves it.
EPT![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/Torchlight_logo.png){kind=logo}
![[image loading]](http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3449/torchlight1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4657/torchlight2.jpg)
Loading screen for every portal and stairs is also sort of annoying. That being said, I'm having a blast on my Destroyer thus far <3
