Yeah, many of the people who were originally working on Diablo 3 made Torchlight 1 & 2; the Blizzard North team before they were shut down and laid off. Torchlight's music is done by the same composer, Matt Uelman, and many of the pieces are obviously reminiscent of D2- because I'm sure many of them were being designed for D3 in the first place!

I think D3 is a really great game, but the replay value is absolutely shit. And I didn't really feel like exploring any of the classes, especially since they didn't have much customization or any skill trees to speak of, just inevitable skill unlocks, the majority of which were useless or uninteresting anyway. And even when an interesting skill came along for a certain class, the typical Blizzard monkeying with "balance" ensured it would be completely altered or neutered the next patch anyway. I don't think we'll ever see that sort of thing in Torchlight- their game is infinitely more open to experimentation and eventually modding, a stark contrast to Blizzard who says "don't touch our game or we'll fucking spank you". Well I think 60% less people are touching their game at all these days, from the numbers at launch.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

i actually liked the skill system in D3. i liked being able to chop and change on the fly depending on what was going on. but agreed, the replay value just isn't there. especially since so many of the maps are exactly the same. i hated that, especially given you have to play through it 4 times. finally killed diablo for the final time and there is absolutely no incentive whatsoever to play thru with a different class.

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN i liked being able to chop and change on the fly depending on what was going on.

What? You never got to Inferno. Caught!

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

I'm liking this as well. Not too much to add as I'm only a few hours in, but it's a superb sequel. A little off topic, but I can say stay away from this POS game Dungeon Lords MMXII. Some of you may be familiar with the series, and this is just like the rest...unfinished!

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On What? You never got to Inferno. Caught!

Eh? I just told you I finished the game, cockfag!

Then maybe it was just in the way you worded it; "chop and change on the fly depending on what was going on" is most certainly not how Inferno difficulty is designed to work, as you lose all your Nephalem Valour when you change skills. D3 tries so hard to make every skill useful, but their constant fucking with it ensures that you're simply going to be using different skills each patch, and if WoW is any indicator (it is), things iwll only become more exasperated once PvP is unrolled.

TL2 does a much better job with the skills (in my opinion, and I am far from beating it, so I might still be wrong), but passives and actives tend to synergize quite well, and all of the trees are 'open'- you need not pick a talent tree and stick with it, though you are better off doing so to some degree. In essence, it takes a simplistic thing and does not innovate, but rather polishes it to remove essentially bad options from being immediately possible- the mark of great design, if you ask me.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On Then maybe it was just in the way you worded it; "chop and change on the fly depending on what was going on" is most certainly not how Inferno difficulty is designed to work, as you lose all your Nephalem Valour when you change skills.

Meh, I just bought items on the AH. Sure, I liked stacking the valour but I really just wanted to finish the game. so early on (before 1.04) I had a build specifically just for elites. And then I’d change it for bosses depending on how they were killing me. after 1.04 I found it beneficial to change depending on the environment (close quarters, room to run, open area etc). even after 1.04 and nephalem stacking I still didn’t get a single item that I equipped, so wasn’t that big a deal for me. I wasn’t interested in getting the best of best gear, just whatever I could use to finish the damn thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On TL2 does a much better job with the skills (in my opinion, and I am far from beating it, so I might still be wrong), but passives and actives tend to synergize quite well, and all of the trees are 'open'- you need not pick a talent tree and stick with it, though you are better off doing so to some degree. In essence, it takes a simplistic thing and does not innovate, but rather polishes it to remove essentially bad options from being immediately possible- the mark of great design, if you ask me.

Yeah me and my buddy definitely looking forward to it when finished with borderlands (which is likewise awesome).

And I'll bet Inferno Diablo dropped an ilevel 52 Follower-specific item for you, too!

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Hahaha, no rares at all I think, just magical. Useless magical lol.