Runic Games' famed infographic◊ claims that Torchlight II contains 158% more Set Bonus items than its predecessor—85 to 33, to be specific. While this sounds exciting, the practical result was that my Stashes were cluttered up with pieces of gear I was hanging on to in the hope of completing their sets... which I almost never did, because they just don't drop often enough. Eventually I had to sell them blindly and buy sets from in-game vendors. This sums up my experience with the game: hindered by its own decisions.
One of the great things about the first game was its sense of focus: you're trying to defeat Ordrak, you have to plumb 45 levels of dungeon to do it, off you go. In the second you're Going Cosmic and visit a large number of dungeons, but they average about 3 floors, which feels anticlimactic. While their level designs are much more varied, they also whisk by too quickly to be appreciated. There are a lot more monsters in each fight, but I often lost track of my character in the first game's Design Student's Orgasm of particle effects, and wasn't inclined to welcome further visual overload. The first game's feature of dungeon maps that re-roll after a short absence was ported to this game's overworld maps, which does help in Level Grinding but also makes it frustrating to step away from the game for any length of time—or switch from 1P to co-op either, as that restores Fog of War as well. The Final Boss is a Damage-Sponge Boss devoid of any distinguishing characteristics. And let's not talk about the loot... or the fact that the Stashes are smaller despite having a larger amount of EQ to store.
Your Mileage May Vary. I understand that a lot of people liked the game for the very things I lament here. I personally prefer depth to variety. Halfway through my second playthrough, I just lost interest; the game is too incoherent and spread too thin. The engine is great, but the content is unpolished. Sometimes less is more.
VideoGame Is Bigger Truly Better?
Runic Games' famed infographic
◊ claims that Torchlight II contains 158% more Set Bonus items than its predecessor—85 to 33, to be specific. While this sounds exciting, the practical result was that my Stashes were cluttered up with pieces of gear I was hanging on to in the hope of completing their sets... which I almost never did, because they just don't drop often enough. Eventually I had to sell them blindly and buy sets from in-game vendors. This sums up my experience with the game: hindered by its own decisions.
One of the great things about the first game was its sense of focus: you're trying to defeat Ordrak, you have to plumb 45 levels of dungeon to do it, off you go. In the second you're Going Cosmic and visit a large number of dungeons, but they average about 3 floors, which feels anticlimactic. While their level designs are much more varied, they also whisk by too quickly to be appreciated. There are a lot more monsters in each fight, but I often lost track of my character in the first game's Design Student's Orgasm of particle effects, and wasn't inclined to welcome further visual overload. The first game's feature of dungeon maps that re-roll after a short absence was ported to this game's overworld maps, which does help in Level Grinding but also makes it frustrating to step away from the game for any length of time—or switch from 1P to co-op either, as that restores Fog of War as well. The Final Boss is a Damage-Sponge Boss devoid of any distinguishing characteristics. And let's not talk about the loot... or the fact that the Stashes are smaller despite having a larger amount of EQ to store.
Your Mileage May Vary. I understand that a lot of people liked the game for the very things I lament here. I personally prefer depth to variety. Halfway through my second playthrough, I just lost interest; the game is too incoherent and spread too thin. The engine is great, but the content is unpolished. Sometimes less is more.