Torchlight II Beta Review
After successfully leveling both the Engineer and Outlander to 21 (beta level cap) and completing all 30 quests, I can definitely say that I’m impressed. I’ve been lucky enough to not run into any of bugs that have been reported thus far. This tells me that Runic has put a lot of effort into making this game run smoothly, even in the beta phase.
What I don’t like:
The character run speed is far too fast. Aside from one or two champions who are extremely fast, there is literally zero challenge when attempting to escape mobs or near death situations.
The difficulty settings need to be adjusted as well. Playing normal feels like casual and playing casual feels like playing a game where enemies practically kill themselves. Speaking of difficulty, I was expecting the Outlander to be a bit more difficult due to the weaker weapons, but with the critical skills, and ranged weapons, the Outlander becomes way too overpowered. I started to crit around 700+ damage every couple of shots. It was overkill and took away any challenge because I could do it from such a distance.
If you’re a mage or just someone who really likes to use their skills, expect to spend a good portion of your gold on mana potions. Health potions drop so much in the game, it’s not uncommon to be carrying around 60 at any given time. Mana potions however are few and far between. I think finished with 18 potions, and only that much because I was really conservative after the first run through.
Lastly, I wasn’t thrilled about how often rare items dropped. While I like rare items due to the enchantments and abilities they offer, having them drop every couple of enemies is a bit much. Both of my characters finished the beta with all rare items equipped. This allowed me to pile up money like no ones business, so I just started randomly enchanting stuff to rid myself of all the gold I had. No point in buying things from the merchants if you continue to find better and “rarer” items while out on your adventure…
What I Do Like:
The new classes are a big plus. The original Torchlight classes were pretty cut and dry. You had melee, magic, and ranged. Torchlight II offers melee (berserker), magic (embermage), ranged/magic (outlander), and melee/ability/magic (engineer). This creates a much needed balance for people who don’t want one single specialization. I was immediately drawn to the engineer and outlander simply because they were different from what I was used to.
The updated graphics are a nice touch as well. They look fresh and clean and don’t take a toll on your computer. So even those with lower end machines will still be able to play smoothly and appreciate the new graphics.
Again, Torchlight delivers with a stunning amount of items. This makes customization a lot of fun. You literally have hundreds of possibilities in building your character.
Following along the lines of customization, I like the ability to respec a character up to level 10. This allows you to get a feel of the character and respec if you didn’t like your initial choices. However, I do feel level 10 is a little low. I’d like to see the ability to respec at later levels, but obviously the game needs to be challenging, so I think a significant amount of gold should be charged for each respec after level 10.
Things I’m Neutral About:
Online play. The ability to play with others can create a fun experience, but it can also be a big hassle. Unless you set up a room with a password or for friends only, you run the risk of having someone randomly show up in your room. They can be helpful and you might run a couple dungeons together or they might be selfish and just run off doing whatever they want. On more than one occasion I was running a dungeon when someone spawned in and set off the boss fight before disconnecting. Little annoying things like that are always a possibility when online play is involved.
The soundtrack. By my second character, I had already turned the music off and supplied my own. It just wasn’t very memorable. Of course, it wasn’t bad either, it just doesn’t really call attention to itself. Nothing like Bastion where the soundtrack was a great experience.
