torchlight-2
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Torchlight 2 is finally coming to Mac next week
Torchlight 2 for Mac hits Steam on Monday, February 2, just over 28 months to the day Runic said a Mac version would take a "couple of months at least." Why has it taken so dang long? Last we heard, the answer was "unexpected complexities." - that was back in August 2013. As for details... well, Mac owners, you've waited 861 days so far for Runic's action-RPG sequel. Apparently you have to wait a little bit longer for more info. Runic is not unaware that this development is somewhat surreal. Check out how the studio announced the news below the break.
Let there be Torchlight for free
If you've yet to try it, Torchlight is a decent way to while away the holiday hours this week. A frequent flyer in our 2009 Best of the Rests, Runic's loot-heavy action-RPG is free until Sunday, November 30 on Perfect World's Arc client, and that's for keeps. If you don't have Arc then it's another PC client to clutter up your desktop, but on the flipside... free game. While you're at it, keep the Torchlight on inside the birdhouse in your soul. In other, less obscurely referential words, you can also get the deeper, multiplayer-enhanced Torchlight 2 at a cut-down price. It's reduced from $20 to $5 on Arc, again until November 30. [Image: Runic Games]
Guild Wars 2, Torchlight 2 slash box prices for Halloween
If you're looking for a subscription-free MMO to spend Halloween in, ArenaNet has an offer for you: The studio's slashed the price on Guild Wars 2's digital edition by 50%, making the cheapest version of the game just under 20 bucks. If OARPGs are more your style, then check out Torchlight and Torchlight II; both are half off until November 3rd, Runic announced this afternoon. We included a bunch of other Halloween-related sales in this morning's MMO Halloween roundup, and we expect more to keep rolling in today and tomorrow. Most games with cash shops are running some sort of promotion... just remember, you're a person, not a wallet.
Founders leave Torchlight developer Runic
Runic Games co-founders Travis Baldtree and Erich Schaefer have departed the studio responsible for Torchlight and its sequel. Baldtree announced the decision on the Runic forums, and wrote that he's "super-stoked" to return to indie development and the ability to wear many hats at once. "I should say from the outset that this is an amicable departure, that I consider the amazing team at Runic my friends and family, and that it is a privilege that they've let me get away with running the place for this long," he explained. VG247 reports that Erich Schaefer's brother Max, a fellow Blizzard North alum, is staying on as Runic's CEO.
Torchlight 2 is free to play, 75 percent off this weekend on Steam
Runic Games' Diablo-like loot-'em-up Torchlight 2 is free to try this weekend on Steam. If you and your friends have been looking for a chance to delve into its cooperative multiplayer component, you might want to organize a dedicated dungeon raid party right about ... now. If you like what you play, you can purchase Torchlight 2 at a 75 percent discount over the weekend. Personal copies are priced at $4.99, while a sharable four-pack will run you $14.99. You're likely to find more than a few warriors to team up with during your quest, though, as over two million copies of Torchlight 2 were sold as of last year. Torchlight 2 is freely playable through Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific.
Torchlight 2 sends pet back with two million sales
Action-RPG Torchlight 2 surpassed two million sales over the weekend, doubling its trade over the course of 2013. As developer Runic announced on New Year's Eve, the follow-up took three months to hit the million mark, which the first Torchlight reached in two years. In the seven months since Torchlight 2 sold another million, news that delighted Runic CEO Max Schaefer. "We are overwhelmed by the reception for Torchlight 2," said Schaefer. "To hit this milestone is a testament not only to our dedicated development team, but also to the greatest, most positive gaming community I've ever seen." We gave Torchlight 2 four-and-a-half-stars in our review last year, saying "fans of the original will be overjoyed to find most of what they loved is still here, with lots more of it."
The Daily Grind: How complex is too complex for MMOs?
I'm a huge fan of isometric clickers like Diablo, Torchlight, and Titan Quest, so I admit to being secretly pleased when pseudo-MMOs like Path of Exile were approved for coverage on Massively. In fact, I jumped into Path of Exile this past weekend to give it another spin. And as soon as my new character got her first skill point, I gleefully clicked over to the skill panel, only to be confronted with the game's notorious and glorious SKILL TREE TO END ALL SKILL TREES. It's not even a skill tree. It's a skill maze. A skill constellation. A skill galaxy. The screenshot above isn't even half of what's available. It's overwhelming at level 2 to say the least. I like complexity in character development, but I had forgotten how over-the-top Path of Exile really was, and I had to wonder whether this sort of complexity-dump scares off newcomers to the genre, or indeed, whether it's intended to scare them off, convince them the game is harder-core than they are, or possibly just entrap them with poor early game decisions. Doesn't the skill avalanche just drive gamers to tab out and look up guides, and is that really the best idea for retaining brand-new players? How complex is too complex for MMOs and pseudo-MMOs? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Torchlight 2 in-house dev tool 'GUTS' released
Runic Games has released a consumer version of the internal development tools it used to build Torchlight 2. Dubbed "GUTS," the suite of tools allows the user to change everything "from item and skill balance, to level layouts, animations, quests, and much more," according to the game's official blog.Mods created with GUTS can be shared online and also support multiplayer, sessions for which can be found in a separate "modded games lobby." The tool also includes a utility to help convert pre-existing mods into the new GUTS format.As part of the GUTS addition, Torchlight 2 now features full Steam Workshop integration, allowing users to subscribe to (and subsequently receive automatic updates for) the mods they're particularly fond of. The full GUTS wiki can be found here, along with instructions for its installation.
Modding tools released for Torchlight II
If you're a Torchlight II fan, you've got GUTS now. As does the rest of the community. The game's latest patch doesn't just add new armor sets, pets, and tilesets, it also adds the game's primary modding tool known as GUTS. And this isn't just a halfhearted implementation, as the modding functionality extends through the game to the very core. Playing the game through Steam? It's integrated through Steam Workshop. Want to play a multiplayer game with your favorite mod? There's full multiplayer support and the ability to see which mods are enabled in a given game. Want to start modding but have no idea where to start? There's a whole wiki filled with documentation on how to get started. Don't own the game but love the idea of modding a multiplayer game? That's cool, too. The game is on sale until April 8th for $9.99 to celebrate the release of the modding tools. So if this sort of thing tickles your fancy, you've got almost no reason not to check it out.
Second Wind Roundtable: Torchlight II
Welcome to the first ever installment of this "roundtable" edition of Second Wind, where the best and brightest (or barring that, whoever's available) here at Massively get together for an evening to act stupid in video games and then talk about it. For our first trip down the rabbit hole, Bree, Eliot, Lis, and I decided to give our mouse-clickin'-fingers a workout by way of Runic Games' Torchlight II. Our intrepid party of fearless adventurers was made up of Viase the Engineer (played by Eliot), ZERKIN the Berserker (played by Bree, and yes the caps are necessary), and a pair of Embermages played by Lis and me because it was the only class neither of us had played yet. We spent a few hours hacking and slashing our way through the first couple of zones of TL2's campaign, and much hilarity ensued. Click on past the cut for our full, insanity-fueled conversation on the ups and downs of our joint Torchlight II experience.
Trine 2 Director's Cut 25% off in Wii U eShop, GOG.com holding RPG sale
Frozenbyte has announced that Trine 2 Director's Cut is currently on sale in the Wii U eShop, meaning the $19.99 co-op puzzle platformer is now on sale for $14.99 in the US. That price will last through February 28 in North America and all the way to March 7 in the EU.And if that sale and the ongoing Steam for Linux price drops aren't enough for you (FTL for $5!), GOG.com is also having a sale this weekend, on a number of impressive role-playing games. You can grab The Witcher 2 for $9.99, Divinity 2: Developer's Cut for $9.99, or pick up the original Torchlight for $7.49. Steam is also offering the sequel to that last one for just a few bucks more.
Torchlight 2 has sold more than a million copies
If you're the proud (or maybe humble; that's OK too) owner of a copy of Torchlight 2, you're far from alone; Runic Games recently announced that over a million copies of the game have been sold. If you're not the proud (or maybe humble) owner of a copy of Torchlight 2 but have been toying with the possibility, this is a pretty good time to pick it up. Steam, known for its annual wallet-eating sales, has marked the game down to $9.99 (or 50% off). You can also pick up Torchlight for a measly $3.74 if you're the kind who likes to test out the original.
Torchlight 2 sells over a million copies
Runic Games has been relatively quiet since the launch of Torchlight 2 in late September, but the company popped up on this New Year's Eve to note its game sold over one million units during 2012.Repeated delays of Torchlight 2 caused inescapable comparisons to the long-awaited Diablo 3, which released earlier in March. The two games were never intended to launch in the same year.Torchlight 2 is regularly $20, but is currently on sale through Steam for $15 until January 5.
Time names Guild Wars 2 the top video game of 2012
What's the best video game of 2012? If you're Time magazine or are looking at the headline of this article, chances are you probably know the answer. Time's website counted down the year's top 10 video games, putting Guild Wars 2 at the top of the list. The author seems taken with the game's dynamic event system: "All those events and hundreds more play out in real-time -- with, as Bono would say, or without you -- lending Guild Wars 2 the feel of a living world, and the sort of compulsive anywhere-you-go playability other MMOs only dream of." Torchlight II also made it into the list at the number 10 spot, with the author saying that it delivered the same action-RPG rush of Diablo III at a third of the price.
Torchlight II might take some inspiration from Minecraft down the road
You like Torchlight II, right? Pummeling your way through waves of baddies, reducing those baddies to nothing more than piles of gold and items -- it's exhilarating, isn't it? But what if you could do more? Maybe like building a little house or planting a field of wheat? Max Schaefer, designer extraordinaire, hinted in a recent interview that that's the sort of future addition he'd like for Torchlight II. He said that his personal hope for the game would be "to get the building and resource aspects of Minecraft and put them into an ARPG, just so it's a little more than just wandering from one monster to the next and hitting them." Schaefer is a fan of this idea as a way to lend a sense of permanence to the game and a way for players to add to their game world. However, he's not the only person at Runic Games, which means his idea is just one of many possibilities for the future of Torchlight II. "We're a long way from exhausting the possibilities," he added. To hear about power creep, player mods, and how awesome a Minecraft-Torchlight II fusion would be, hit up the full interview.
How Torchlight 2 gets character progression so right
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Here's the moment I realized I loved Torchlight 2: It's the screenshot right above this. This is an Engineer. He's actually my second engineer, and probably the sixth or seventh character I made – although most of the others had only been played for a few minutes. In this case, I created him because my previous main character, around level 40, was running into extreme, frustrating difficulty in the third act. He was also intended to be used primarily in multiplayer, built upon the Engineer's more supportive skill tree (Construction) for which hand cannons are the ideal weapon.Then I bought him a helmet that looked like a mask, and I realized: I'd just made a Big Daddy from BioShock. And playing my Big Daddy was some of the most fun I'd ever had in an action RPG.Aesthetically, it's good to look at. It's not just the excellent paper doll effects, it's also the way the Engineer carries the cannon and the recoil when firing. I actually found the original Torchlight's aesthetics off-putting, but tweaks in setting, tone, and graphics did just enough that my distaste turned to enjoyment. While that's a necessary component of what made me enjoy my 'Construction' Engineer, it's not the most important aspect.%Gallery-166151%
PSA: Sizable Torchlight 2 patch available on Steam
Valve detailed the latest patch for Torchlight 2 on its Steam blog yesterday. Available now, the update includes wardrobe tweaks, map visibility toggle controls, a fix for the merchant system's "buyback" tab and dozens of other improvements.The patch also addresses a few hardware crashing issues as well as areas in the game where players could get stuck.
Torchlight 2 on Mac 'will take a couple months at least'
The Mac version of Torchlight 2 is "next on the agenda, but it will take a couple months at least," Runic CEO Matt Schaefer says on Reddit. We knew Runic Games was working on a Mac version of Torchlight 2, before the team travels far away from any form of technology for a few weeks, and now we know when Runic will be booking their cabins.Nine of the developers involved in Humble Indie Bundle 6 are answering questions in a Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' session, and even though Torchlight 2 isn't part of the bundle, Schaefer answered a question about the highly rated sequel. Schaefer added that he'd even like to see Torchlight 2 in a Humble Indie Bundle "down the road."
Humble Indie Bundle 6 devs ask you to ask them anything on Reddit
A few of the developers with games in the rather fantastic Humble Indie Bundle 6 are hosting an AMA on Reddit right now.In attendance is Runic Games co-founder Max Schaefer, representing Torchlight (and Torchlight 2, it seems); programmer Matt Bush and composer Terrence Lee of Dustforce's Hitbox Team; Jan Achrenius and Sampsa Lehtonen of Recoil and Rochard; Mario Wynands of Shatter's Sidhe, co-founders of MinMax Games Andrew Hume and Richard with Space Pirates and Zombies; and John Krajewski of Strange Loop Games representing Vessel.Already the developers are discussing the likelihood of their Linux games on Steam, the benefits of being in the Humble Indie Bundle, and answering programming and gameplay questions galore. If you want to know what engines these guys use, how they handle physics or what those space pirates are doing hanging out with zombies in the first place, head on over to Reddit.
Metareview: Torchlight 2
The running theme in nearly every Torchlight 2 review is its inescapable comparison to Diablo 3 – heck, even we did it in our glowing evaluation of the game. Given launch proximity and that Runic Games CEO Max Schafer co-founded Blizzard North, creating Diablo and Diablo 2, it's only natural. Even with Torchlight 2's comparison to the behemoth of Diablo 3, with its bottomless budget and army of designers, the $20 title holds its own. GameSpy (5/5): "Oh yes, there's LAN play, and yes, it works perfectly. I didn't even sign up for the Runic account you need to play online until after I'd tested out a couple of hours of four-player co-op (it supports up to six) over the gold old-fashioned LAN. Dropping in on a friend with an open game is as easy as popping open the server browser -- and when I had to leave, the other three guys kept playing as though the host dropping were no big deal." Ten Ton Hammer (93/100): "Easily the richest, lowest wattage, and most fun dungeon crawler experience launched in recent memory, at a third of the box price (and seemingly without the launch frustrations) of Diablo 3. Or just buy the four-pack for the same price of ~$US 60 and introduce or re-introduce someone to this side of PC gaming." IGN (91/100): "Torchlight 2 doesn't do anything radically new, but does everything incredibly well. It fits all the pieces of varied monster behavior, interesting items, excellent skill design and random surprises together into a near-perfect formula, where the action never stops and rewards are never far away." GamesBeat (85/100): "Torchlight 2 is undoubtedly worth the $20 price, and it's high on replay value with new classes to discover. The problems it does have are mostly minor, but it's not for gamers looking for an involved story. And in some places, it could use a little more depth."%Gallery-166151%
