Unfinished: Torchlight III (06/15/2020)

This game is a bummer

I was hoping this game would be good since Max Schaefer is back creating Torchlight games, but TL3 kinda seems like a disaster.

From the beginning of the quick look this doesn't seem half-bad, I'm curious (outside of the online only part of it) why the reception is so bad. That said, it being early access and all, they can still put that thing on the right track I guess. I'll wait and see.

My brother and I have been looking forward to this. The Steam reviews are absolutely vicious, but watching this, I don't get it. It looks like Torchlight to me. Looks like it will be fun to play with my brother, and that's really all I'm looking for.

I didn't know anything about this before seeing this video. My first impression was that it seemed really simple, like a mobile game or something. Then I read up on it. Oh boy. Sad to be right about this one. Also totally forgot that Runic no longer exists.

I've been waiting for a cool, new single-player ARPG to come out since Grim Dawn - which is the last good one I know of. Was excited for Wolcen too, but we know how that went. I would love some recommendations for anything I missed!

ALWAYS take Steam Reviews with a grain of salt, 3 word reviews and RECEIVED THIS PRODUCT FREE reviews are weighed the same as reviews that might seem worth reading.

I laugh whenever I see a bundle for games that are "overwhelmingly positive" on Steam... yeaaa that's a really reliable metric.

@ph00p: I tend to take the horrofically review bombed ones with a huge grain of salt, that's for sure. Usually some entitled asshats mad at something only tangentially or entirely unrelated to thw game. Or making a mountain out of a molehill. I never bother to follow up but I'm guessing dickweeds like that most likely only have the one review to their name. Also amazes me how much wasted time and energy it takes to hate on something like that.

Anyway Torchlight good and will see why this one is (theoretically) bad.

@fear_the_booboo: the issue is largely that it was originally designed as a F2P game, and because of a fan backlash, they took all those hooks out. But the design is still clearly very based around itemization, meaning there's very little character progression, and there are mechanics like the fort that almost don't make sense until you imagine all the buildings having 48 hour timers that you can pay to rush

It's not a horrible game (although obviously unfinished, and servers are pretty bad rn), but it's never going to be the sequel to Torchlight 2 that people wanted

@ph00p: "RECEIVED THIS PRODUCT FREE reviews are weighed the same as reviews that might seem worth reading."

Surely receiving a game for free wouldn't make it seem a better/worse game?

I'd say most new releases on Steam receive a more negative hit due to the marketing being at its height during that period. (Also more people have misconceptions about what the game is and isn't rectified, for better or worse).

I've never been much of an ARPG fan but this one seems about as generic as Minecraft Dungeons (Not to say it's bad, just not great/interesting).

When I tuned in at the start not knowing what Jeff was playing I honestly thought it was DOTA for a minute there.

Maybe I should just download Diablo 3 or Torchlight 2 for Switch.

@homelessbird: Yeah that make sense. They're pretty vague about the early access duration and we've seen games fix some pretty large issues with some patches, so it doesn't seem impossible to me that this ends up being okay. But as a product that they sell right now yeah, this is a bummer.

GB Quick Look Of Tourchlight 2 was the First Game i ever bought Immediately after watching the Quicklook TL3 Looks like a bummer

Jeffs eyebrows look exquisite!

Ya, user reviews anywhere can be pretty bad. I hate steam reviews anyway for just being either positive or negative. I would love to have a great place for scores devoid of asshats that ruin the whole system. Gamefaqs has been the best place I have found. Though there's been some outliers. Void Bastards 2.97/5. Come on! For Gamefaq scores that is considered bad.

I played the closed beta when it was an online only game and had a good time with it, outside of balancing issues I was and still am very much looking forward to it.

For a split second, I thought that class said 'Dunk Mage' - and, let's be honest, after the robot and the white steampunk-ish John Henry, I don't think a Dunk Mage would be totally out of place - and immediately pictured a dude throwing basketballs as his basic attack with a big dunk as one of his special abilities and was ready to say, "Fuck this game."

It really bothers me that the sword is two handed but the animation shows it one handed...

Yet "professional" reviews have traditionally been the most trusted and are almost exclusively received for free.

Man it's been a decade but Max Schaefer just can't let go of Mythos, huh?

I like the animations, I like the way it looks and the philosophy behind the enemies etc seems very torchlight. I would hope that it gets more interesting to play as you progress, like Diablo etc. However, 30 euro for this in early access when it seems very unfinished indeed is a little too much. Ten euro less and I would have given it a shot.

@fear_the_booboo said:

If I had to guess, I think there are a couple of things going on.

First, the original Torchlight came out in 2009. Not only was it a really good version of the Diablo formula, it came out in the long dead period between Diablo 2 and 3, so if you were spoiling for that kind of experience it was a nice way to scratch that itch.

Second, this doesn't seem to be doing anything particularly unique? Mechanically, this looks a lot like Diablo 3 with a different coat of paint. That's a problem because Diablo 3 is readily available on both PC and console and because some people (myself included), don't really like the direction Diablo 3 went. With the genre as crowded as it is, you really need to do something unique to stand out. That's part of why I like PoE so much - it's still recognizably a looter, but it's got enough twists on the formula to feel like a good alternative to Diablo.

I have to say, it feels like Jeff has a tendency to go in with a mindset that things are going to suck. At every opportunity he assumes there's something wrong or bugged on the games part. Almost like he's looking for stuff to dislike. Like when he missed that huge fort icon on the map he immediately starts blaming the game.

And the pay gold to respawn where you died, he immediately assumes the worst.

Personally I think it looks fun. I like the colorful look and the varied classes.

I like that they've changed up some stuff from Torchlight 2. I wouldn't want the same thing again.

Would be such a shame if the game is ruined just because of the whiny steam reviews as I would love for it to do well and get loads and loads of post launch content.

The part I don't like is the always online part. At least they're going to add in offline single player at launch. Hope they'll eventually have lan too.

As a diablo-like game this seems fine.

With the knowledge that the original Torchlight made the franchise seem like a legitimate contender with Diablo though it kind of makes me sad.

The robot with a gun in its chest seems cool, though it seems like it'd make a better pet than player character IMO

Going to have to wait on this one... I really enjoyed TorchLight 1 & 2, but this I'm not getting good vibes on. Though I'm with Jeff. I -really- enjoy Torchlight 1. I played a bit of 2, had fun, but I bounced off it. I've been looking forward to proper, pay once mobile ports but those have never happened.

Speaking of free to play Torchlight, apparently there's a Torchlight Mobile. 11/10 voice acting and the anime dial cranked up as far as it'll go.

I too enjoyed Torchlight 1, but bounced off early in Torchlight 2. It was practically the same game but bigger, and not necessarily better for it, and it didn't really keep up with the genre conventions.

I remember being really overwhelmed by all the sidegrades, skills you couldn't try out (no re-spec), ambiguous stats, lack of controller support, not being able to bind skills to all the mouse buttons, etc etc. I think I played Diablo 3 on console first, and got really spoiled by the more streamlined, accessible experience.

@stealydan: I'm playing Battle Chasers: Nightwar at the moment and having a great time with it. Its RPG with tactical combat, a top down overworld and isometric dungeons. It kind of reminds me of FFVII on PS1 but with updated graphics and new characters. Its on xbox gamepass, not sure about steam or switch

Thanks for getting rid of the overlay on this one, Jeff.

Also - sweet screen wipes.

I'll have to wait on this one. Looks like it could be good. The new league for Path of Exile is starting this week though, so that's going to be taking all my ARPG energy.

Not a fan at all of the animations and how enemies dont react to melee damage :I

Diablo 4 cant come soon enough

Damn they really needed to change the art style. I've been sick of this style for 15 years.

Jeff finally lost the overlay!

I am extremely into the design of the robot.

@goosemunch: I played Torchlight 2 at launch, and I felt the same way about it as you did. I loved how it looked and played, but it felt overly complicated without being more fun as a result. I think I played Torchlight 2 for 10 hours or so before I just reinstalled the first game.

Wow reviews on Steam for this game are on fire!

Path of Exile, while not new, has had hundreds of hours (new campaigns) added to it recently. Best of all, its free. So no cost of admission.