- Torchlight II is free on Steam this weekend, so I decided to give it a shot. It plays much like its predecessor, very slick and effective controls, and kind of unengaging story presentation. I made a female Embermage named Syltegirl that is accompanied by Slambert, her pet ferret. She's a unique sort of mage, in that her current favourite approach to killing enemies is pummeling them to death using brass knuckles.
- This is getting pretty difficult, as I am a bit underleveled, which makes it pretty fun to play. The free weekend is up in 2 hours, but I'll gladly spend the 35 DKK to play the rest...
- BTW, I'm playing on Veteran. It's not very hard, and a lot of fun. Definitely the recommended difficulty to start with.
- Now my Embermage has reached level 14 and specialized in the fine art of Pyromancy. It works well in the Frosted Hills, where everything is ice, ice.
- Completed act 1/4. Played with Erik @ Playdead. He had another Embermage girl, slightly higher level.
- Torchlight is still good, simple fun.
- I have completed 10/26 main quests.
- Got the Lizard Breaker achievement. - I'm proud, defeated level 31 Aruk with my level 26 Syltegirl.
- Completed Act 2/3.
- Arghh... So much Torchlight. Syltegirl is now level 35.
- Although I generally like RPGs, there are certain aspects of them that really gets under my skin after a while: I don't like sifting through hundreds of items, carefully optimizing my equipment, I don't like pointless fetch quests, I don't like the threat of certain areas messing up your game by draining your resources and destroying your equipment. What I do like is the basic process of leveling up by combat, especially if the game is hard enough where it really makes a difference. I love once in a while getting some cool new equipment that changes the game. I also like progressing through a story of a limited length and completing a game. A game like Torchlight II has a lot of the annoying elements mentioned above, but I realized that the game's relative openness and low difficulty allows me to modify it to be more enjoyable. So here are my Torchlight house rules:
- Play on Veteran difficulty. It's way easier than e.g. the original Diablo on its easiest difficulty, but it will keep the game from being too boring.
- Never pick up anything that is below orange rarity. This means that you get fewer and more interesting items.
- Generally don't do side quests, unless you're too underleveled for the main quest.
- Don't carry any money. This was a bit of a revelation, but you actually don't need money in Torchlight. The enemies drop plenty of health items and you find plenty of Identify and Town Portal scrolls. When you die, you can respawn infinitely, but you will lose a percentage of your money. Obviously, this is no longer a problem if you're not carrying any money. A bonus is that you don't have to pick up gold anymore.
- Lava level? Must be getting close to the end.
- Completed the game with Embermage on Veteran difficulty. Syltegirl was level 45 when she defeated the Netherlord, that big squid. At this point, she was a horrifying force of nature, unleashing torrents of fire and bolts of ice around her. She was as brittle as glass, but most enemies never got close enough to discover it. Torchlight II is a fun, well-designed RPG with good graphics and atmospheric music. And playing on Veteran difficulty is definitely recommended for optimal enjoyment.
- According to the in-game statistics, I played for 26.5 hours, died 189 times (ouch), completed 77 quests, and killed ... oh my ... 68566 monsters. That is an alarmingly large number.
2014-01-12
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