Torchlight III....

The Spring update interested me as the new class came with it. The Cured Captain.

While I've only played a few levels in game with the class, overall it's been fun. I'm biased and lack the finessed nuances of the games min/max 'serious' gamers. I'm all about overriding brute force firepower. Firepower and electric relic. The main weapon of the class is a ships cannon used as a shotgun. Whats not to like.

I really like the looks, the aesthetics of the class are great; The abilities even more so. They really fit with the class and make it fun to play. That's not to denigrate the capes.... The capes are cool.

While the notes say there are more pet slots... I already had the max of 50 and there were no new pet slots. The second I got my new character in game I was hit with the 50 limit and was asked to ditch a pet. Not a fun thing after you've just selected a new pet for your new character.

The resource of the class comes from chance drops from enemies; That chance is high. Maybe too high! (Jinxed it!!) As the main dev blog says "Doubloons have a chance to drop upon striking enemies with any attack or skill.  Unlike most resources, the Doubloons must be physically collected in the world, so positioning and awareness of a fight is critically important.". It's an easier system than it sounds. I had no problem with it at all. The only annoying thing is that once the meter becomes full and there's no more enemies to kill, the area still has Doubloons that you can't be pick up. That's a very OCD me thing.... Drops I can't pick up lead to me overusing abilities for no purpose other than to pick up items that I don't really need to pick up.... OCD for sure. I'm sure I could learn to visually block out their animation but yea ..... OCD.

The Cursed Captain has been good to see and I think it's a class I'd favor over all the others after the Forged. However it's not enough for me to really 'get back into' the game. The Forged is still my goto favorite class.

Torchlight III....

So... Some more use of the other classes in the game shows that what I thought of them initially has only gotten more true as I've played them. That is until I found that all game-play is based on being lucky. The best way to enjoy a class, no matter what you pick is via being lucky. Lucky with gear drops that is(characters shown below are all mainly transmogged). 

My leveling of the Railmaster to level 10 was torturous. Survivability got worse as I leveled him. Drops were all green with a smatter of blues. So the worse his drop luck the worse he did against enemies and in turn the worse my gaming experience got.

Leveling up my Sharpshooter was great fun. Drops were way better, Orange(legendary) and blues with the rare green or two. 

So a switch around with my liking of the Railmaster and Sharpshooter classes, all via luck of the drops. 

Not due to their abilities, nor their class overall...... Gear drops! Not even class specific gear drops.... General drop quality. Even with a mish-mash of gear the better the quality the better the gaming experience.

The mage class was also better to play than had been last time.... All due to the better drops he'd gotten. For the mage, not great drops but better, mainly blues with a few legendaries.

Luck. Quality luck of the drops; Repetition and luck of the drops. An insidious grind that is RNG hell!

Skill does play a part. But the game is casual for me so it's not that tricky of a button mashing experience. Just no escaping that the better the gear the better the game experience.

Long story short and with the gear quality in mind the only other thing that came of my 'testing' was that the other classes are a lot more dependent on class specific stats than the Forged. The forged is a true brute force of the systems. Wade in blasting, it's all good.

Forged can wade through like a tank and just hammer rounds at everything in volume with speed while electrocuting everything in sight. Hard to beat that as a class. 

Forged is best, the rest are for those that want to be overly involved in the game for however long they want. This game is what you make of it.

That's a broad, generalist, quick and non meta take from a casual gamer. 

The game is fun but is very dependent on a gamers own take on the game.

I've no reason to go back to them. I've got a completed play-through that I enjoyed with my forged main and I'm happy with that.

Multiplayer is not real multiplayer. It's a co-op mess of random individuals doing their own thing. A lot like the way I found Ghost Recon Wildlands.  Not bad but not great and very dependent on random strangers.

Hardcore mode in the game is 'just' a reduction in the damage you do and an increase in the amount of damage NPC's can take. Same journey for no other reason than it's hard to kill things. I got a Forged to level 3 in hardcore. His main activity was to run a bunch of NPC's around a tree, dog takes aggro, then he fires at the NPC's. Other side of the tree, dog takes aggro, then he fires at the NPC's. Rinse and repeat. Again and again and again and again..... 3 level was enough of that. Especially all the while doing 1 point of damage per shot... Large groups can be 'kited' about but the lack of outgoing damage means your better off either avoiding them or get swarmed. So you end up taking single targets in a painstaking use of time and effort that's not worth it(imho)... Unless you like this kind of thing but it's not for me in this game(unlike here).

Fun has been had. I've tried to get more from the game but I think I'm too casual for it/with it. I'm done for now. Maybe done for good. All told with the main play-through and faffing about with the classes I've played for about 40 hours. Not a bad game for the cheap price I paid. Worth it overall.

Torchlight III....

While I've recently completed my main characters 'story' run of the game; Torchlight III is all about the 'end game', post story grind. I can totally 'get' why that is and why players would be into it. I've just had too much of that in my lifetime of gaming. Seeing what this games end grind is, is off-putting to me. There isn't enough enjoyment in it's 'doing'(for me) to warrant such a grind of effort and time for rewards I'd have appreciated more as the main story progressed. Then again if that was true I'd complain that it was too much of a grind in it's doing... 

Grinds aside I'm not done with the game yet. My main character may have 'done' the main story; But I'd like to level up the remaining characters to level 10. Despite what I've said about them. 'The more you know' I guess. Get some use out of the items I've got stored to equip them. Give each class one more try at the very least. To quell a niggle that would eat at me if I'd just bailed on the game now.

Progress in the contracts system so far is about halfway-ish' for me. As they are all kinds of endless..... Like a lot about this game. Still I'm happy with what I've received from it so far.

I was surprised to see that enchanting unlocked after the first 'complete' run of the game. A system that seems to act like gems in WoW, enchants being 'socketed'. A far cry from the enchanting of items in Torchlight II. From what I recall of Torch 2 it was a system that was almost immediate from the outset of play. For Torchlight 3 all I knew was I couldn't enchant anything, as none of the items I've gotten in the entire run had 'a socket'. I didn't think there was enchanting... Apparently it was part of the first act... Which I missed.... Somehow. Ignorance is bliss? That and RNG..... Enchant recipes.... items with sockets.... I was clueless as I never saw them.

In my defence I've avoided a lot of web searches to stay as spoiler free as possible. So I'd not read up on a lot. Including info about enchanting. 

Then again there were lots of scrolls to bind an item so that it's stats could be increased at the expense of it's removal if/when your character was killed respawned. 'Lifebound' items are too much of a tradeoff for me. Items are dropped via luck. RNG and I are not good friends. Truth is I didn't want to risk loosing a 'legendary' item I may never see again with that system.

The more I look into the games systems, never mind define 'end game', the more I see how it really is a grind of a grind of a grind. Not a thing for my casualness. The game is fun to visit but not for a long stay like that. Again that's a me thing.

After just over 32 hours of gameplay I can say that I have more appreciation for the initial game journey than I did before. I also have a greater appreciation of the Forged class. Which does outdo all others in both damage and survival and all-round gameplay options(imho). It's a class that puts the action into the A of ARPG. Playing the other classes after it feels slower, more awkward and when dealing with large enemy groups very frustrating. Again I'll try each class and see 'how it goes'.... If I get them to level 10 I'll be 'happy'.... I'll have given it a 'good go'.

Including a new Forged character on Hardcore difficulty.

With a complete run I've also unlocked The Wanderer; The couch and genie for my fort that enables 'challenges'. For both good and bad 'rewards'. Whats a grind without negative rewards due to RNG!! I've completed a few of them but it's a system I'm not 'into. Not motivational, not a me thing at all in this game. 

I like the couch in the fort and the genie as well... Some great characterization with him.

As for the end boss, the story was 'ok' and the mechanics of the fight I felt were a bit more simple than others up to that point. Each boss unique in their way but I expected a bit 'more'.

Still no surprise that it's the boss that killed my character the most(three times due to the fire waves) so maybe I should shurup.

The game ends with an unsurprising open ended view. Always another fight ahead. DLC? Expansion?

Yet even after the end boss fight my charterer was still being called 'recruit'. It's the polar opposite of WoW where everyone is the super elevated known hero. It was a bit of a jarring moment to get back after killing the end boss, saving the planet and still be called recruit.... 

Lots about the game I like, some bit's I love; Some bits not so much, but that's more in the abstract view of the game. This is a game that's a completionist dream or nightmare... It's designed to go on forever. Great if your a casual gamer with no other games to play....  

I've completed my playthrough, done a lot and did it the best way on the best character(imho). I'll get some more time with the game on the other classes, then call it 'done, done'...... At least untill there 'maybe' new content(other than fort decorations).

Torchlight III....

 Cute factor rising....

Torchlight III....

Playing Torchlight III on Xbox "for free" via Ultimate was great. It let me see the game and play to almost the end of the first act(there are three). By that time I'd seen enough to know that I wanted to buy the game on PC. That's not a disparagement of the Xbox version.... I'm 'just' a PC gamer more than an Xboxer.... Even if I can play the game for free there. Odd and questionable for a lot of people I know but it's how I've rolled with games(pun kind of intended). I like ownership(of games), software downloads today, physical media yesterday....  

The Forged is my class of choice. It's a cute class, Johnny 5 alive cute fun and has the best animations.

Instead of an axe to cut trees he has a buzz saw, instead of a pick to mine he has a jackhammer. 

Not to mention a huge freaking repeating cannon in his chest. I was all about the guns in Torchlight 2. So playing the third game has only confirmed my super casual 'shoot all the things' take in this franchise.

Torchlight 3 has evolved a lot since it was first talked about. I've been interested in it since. Like the game my interest has evolved and I was glad to see it become a non MMO game. I'm also glad that a lot of the MMO mechanics have been changed and comply with a single player experience. That some ideas are still in the game, but that the game doesn't force you to choose them; You can ignore and interact with as many in game systems or ways of doing things as you want.

Torchlight III seems to have gotten a lot of flak for not being Divinity OS 2 in it's breath and depth. I'm a big fan of Torchlight 2 and from what I've seen, 2 builds on from the first game as 3 builds on from 2. There are also die-hard fans that are not happy about a lot comparing 2 to 3 ..... And although I'm super causal I see going from 2 to 3 as all plus's! Different strokes for different folks. For those that care or are previous dedicated gamers of the franchise, who are reading into it what they want, all seem to be ignoring what it's supposed to be. FUN for what it is. There's fun for all gamers who like casual action RPG's. Different strokes for different folks. You can't please all of the people all of the time; Some can't be made happy at all.

Torchlight 3 is casual on 'normal'. If a player wants to up the difficulty then fair enough. The harder the difficulty, the more you'll need to 'think' about the game; But the more option can be opened up.

There are so many parts of the game that allow 'progression' and so many ways a class can be 'built' it's a game that will keep a lot of gamers happy, for the most part. Each to their own but it's worth a try to find out. All the better if you have an Xbox/game-pass and can get to see it that way.

I do much prefer the game on PC, still using an Xbox controller but it 'feels' better. More comfortable. All a very personal preference.

After about 18 hours on and off in the last few weeks I'm two thirds the way through the game on PC.

As a game on sale for just under €17 I've well gotten my monies worth as is. From my limited knowledge the best is yet to come. I've been trying to avoid spoilers. Not much to spoil but I want to discover what is there myself.

I've not progressed far on the other classes level wise. Just a scratch on the surface to see what they're like; I created and got them to about level 5 or so. Enough to see the basics. 

No surprise the Sharpshooter(blood relic seemed apt) is a class that should click with me; Bows and guns but being a lot slower than The Forged chest cannon is in reality a more frustrating class for me to play. It felt like too much effort was needed. Positioning for shots, positioning for damage avoidance, position for everything. If a gamer likes running around and 'feeling' like they are doing more than they are, then this is the class to do it. 

Sharpshooter Vs Forged is akin to the Swordsman Vs Indiana Jones, Forged(Indy) wins every time.

The Railmaster(Ice relic for crowd control) with it's modular train following was a strange class to play. As immersive as you can try and get in this game I found the Railmaster to be a real immersion breaking oddity of a class. One that didn't click with me. I can take The Forged more seriously.... I can't with the Railmaster. 'A' for effort in class theory.... Yet still a class that worked in practice for me. Large hammer to the face of enemies. Playable, practical, just not a class I want to play.

The Dusk Mage(fire relic for dps) may as well be a magic themed Sharpshooter which again didn't work for me. Odd as it's the most 'traditional' theme of the classes. One I'd usually go for in other games. At least the Railmaster was more survivable. The mage was lacking in both damage and survivability for my liking. Plus the way the class uses the claw/fists is not good imho. Not practical; And the magic doesn't 'feel' like spells.... 'just' shooting.  

If I was to order them in my preference... Forged, forged and more forged; Railmaster, Sharpshooter and then Mage... But I'd be more busy playing Forged to notice the others. They have been parked in the fort(for now). 

All classes can use a wide range of weaponry, armour and skills so the combinations for gameplay styles are enormous. Sharpshooter with no gun or bow... it's doable(some abilities magic a bow out of nowhere). I'm sure there are min/max guru's on the net formulating max dps builds and what set of armour/items need to be used with what relic.... I'm an omni setup player of games. Battletech... Xcom... I go omni/generalized. As the saying goes: “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”  Very much me as a gamer. A fit/build for all seasons and encounters. I did the same with this game and this game being casual I wasn't penalized for it. I have a real appreciation that the game allows me to play it that way.

I really like the shared Fort characters have. Design/outfit it to your hearts content. Unlock new items for it. I enjoy the games overall use of unlocking items for all your characters. Sharing items via a chest in your fort like an account bank. Unlocking more items to transmog as well as buff characters, bonus's and rewards in general...... A game that rewards you as you go. The contracts system is another progress indicator. Not busy work for the sake of it unless you want to do it all.... It just helps to be rewarded for doing the things you are doing anyway. No need to make the game hard for the sake of it. You can if you want by maxing out the difficulty and changing how you play the game.... Or enable hardcore mode(no player respawn).

For a game with three acts, there's going to be a repeating process to gameplay. Which does happen 'naturally'. If you clear an area and log off, it does reset and you'll have to clear it again or run through. Repeating isn't as big a deal as some make it out to be. At least not on 'normal'. But you will see a lot more repetition especially playing more than one class as a 'main'. Progress isn't dependent on swapping classes and from what I've seen (so far/so limited) there's no class specific content or interactions of consequence based on class

. 

I really really like the game because it can be done so casually.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

I've been enjoying the story-line and the area's, it's art-style and animations. From vegetation moving as you pass through, to skeletons pushing themselves off an impaled sword only to take it and attack you with it. Lots of small details and animations that build and make a world 'real'. Not that it's a massive world but it's big enough for you to not get overwhelmed. Especially with repeating areas. I'm a completionist(compulsive?) when if comes to discoveries. Area's need to be explored and seen and all items need to be looted. That's me; But even at that I wasn't feeling like there was too much.... It felt right.

My game sessions usually lasted an hour to 90 minutes. Clear a new area, take out the two or three bosses/elites and clear a dungeon or two.... All to usually progress the quest line to open up the next area in the act. I'd then warp gate back to the main town/quest hub or fort and do all the necessary character admin(cheap items get sent to pet and the pet gets sent to sell them during area completion). Stone, timber and metal all get processed. Good loot items get stored for other character use(keeping my options open), the rest are sacrificed to the luck tree.

Lots done, more to do and get. Time yet to savor the rest of the game.

On a side tangent I stuck my nose into Rebel Galaxy Outlaw for a minute(it's still on the 'to play long finger')but was surprised to see a Torchlight III vanity item for the ship dashboard.....

There was even another cute one for Astroneer!

Torchlight 3....

I've only ever played a small bit of the first Torchlight game on PC, which I don't really remember(loaned game disk and never got it back... Game faded away). I did get to try it out on Xbox when it went free with gold. The second game was one I was well into. So in turn Torchlight 3 is of interest to me.

Torchlight 3 has been available as an ongoing early access title for a few months. In that time there have been small and large changes to improve the game and it's mechanics. While I've not really been that interested in the changes or news it's now at a stage where enough has been done to peek my interest and look into it. Everything that I've seen in it's transition from MMO(Frontiers) to the next iteration of the single/co-op Torchlight franchise has made me happy. What I've seen, seems to be good.

I've no hype for it, I'm excited that a good game seems to be closer to release. I'm not going to jump on it immediately but it's on the wish-list and I'll be keeping a closer eye on it.

Idodmg

Vulkan