Monday, December 21, 2009
I Guess I Can Finally Uninstall Diablo II Now...
Okay. I took advantage of Steam's Torchlight sale this weekend. Between that, and Depths of Peril, I think I can finally uninstall Diablo II. The only thing those games are lacking is multiplayer, and I haven't played Diablo II with other players in years.
Well, come to think of it, I haven't actually played Diablo II since I discovered Depths of Peril anyway...
Bottom line - I'm very impressed with Torchlight. Unlike Depths of Peril, it doesn't stray too far from tried-and-true Fate + Diablo 2 mechanics. At least not from what I've seen. But what it does, it does very well.
And no, I don't think it qualifies as indie, in spite of embracing some very cool (and hopefully profitable) features of indie-dom. Including using an off-the-shelf open-source 3D engine (Ogre3D). They are a larger team that financed the game through traditional means (publisher funding). But I think this is yet another example of how the entire video game industry is changing, and there is no longer a single "one true path" to getting your game financed, out the door, and in the hands of gamers. I think it's a change for the good.
Labels: Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:05 AM (Permalink)
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I did a steam special a couple of weeks back and got the valve pack and in it was Titan Quest + expansion, semi interesting but no diablo ii :(
I've played a few Diablo clones that never really did much for me. And I doubt Torchlight will prove capable of matching the scope of even single-player Diablo II. But - it definitely scratches the itch nicely.
Well, even though they may not fit the formal definition of "independent developer", Runic Games is still pretty indie if you ask me. They're a reasonably small development team compared to the AAA title crowd, work within a very specific subgenre (the Diablo-like action RPG) and apparently couldn't afford to start developing the (no doubt more lucrative) Torchlight MMO before first having created a singleplayer version as fast as they could to generate some kind of cash flow.
As for the game itself, Torchlight was a fun little dungeon romp with a great visual style and almost unprecedented "PC backwards compatibility" (i.e. low system requirements). At the same time, I've felt for a long time now that the world doesn't really need more straight-forward Diablo clones; it's just such a terribly limited and easily exploited genre that it should be best left to a few developers...
As for the game itself, Torchlight was a fun little dungeon romp with a great visual style and almost unprecedented "PC backwards compatibility" (i.e. low system requirements). At the same time, I've felt for a long time now that the world doesn't really need more straight-forward Diablo clones; it's just such a terribly limited and easily exploited genre that it should be best left to a few developers...
I agree entirely about Torchlight--I have been enjoying it a ton. Sometimes it seems like designers (especially of RPGs) forget that not every game needs to be an epic masterpiece. A smaller game of more modest ambitions can be just as fun when turned out well. I also very much appreciate the price point (and here I mean the $20 I paid!). As an adult with precious little time for games, I would probably get more RPG-fun utility out of three well-made Torchlight-type games than out of one Dragon Age (though I do like my BioWare epics). Thanks.
# posted by 
: December 21, 2009 1:14 PM
: December 21, 2009 1:14 PM
@Demiath - Exactly. It seems like they are occupying a (growing) interstitial zone between "indie" and "conventional mainstream." And I hope they really, really prosper there.
And yes, in all honesty, while I'm having a blast playing it, I really think Depths of Peril (and, I expect, the upcoming Din's Curse) is a better game for taking the premise of a Diablo clone and really pushing the boundaries of what you could do with it. But I am still having a lot of fun playing Torchlight.
@Aelfric - I think you are right. As much as I love to sink my teeth into a hefty, epic RPG... would three excellent $20 games be better than one excellent $60 game?
And yes, in all honesty, while I'm having a blast playing it, I really think Depths of Peril (and, I expect, the upcoming Din's Curse) is a better game for taking the premise of a Diablo clone and really pushing the boundaries of what you could do with it. But I am still having a lot of fun playing Torchlight.
@Aelfric - I think you are right. As much as I love to sink my teeth into a hefty, epic RPG... would three excellent $20 games be better than one excellent $60 game?
Coyote/Jay--Exactly. And, in an odd way, it's one of the reasons as basically an RPG fanboy type, I feel like I have something invested in the indie movement. Leaving aside arguments about categorizing Runic Games, it seems to me that Torchlight-type games (smaller scale, open license use, more of a 'labor of love', lower prices) are more likely to come from the indie context. That is, of course, beside all of the moral, ethical, and general kick-ass imperatives as to why there should be an indie movement. Thanks for all you indie designers do.
# posted by : December 21, 2009 2:56 PM
: December 21, 2009 2:56 PM
At this point, about the only thing I could reckon that'd bring me back to Diablo II would me the Snej modding project for it somewhere down the line.
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