Happy Birthday Torchlight 2

TL2 is celebrating it’s first birthday today, I have a great fondness for these games and have spent a huge number of hours enjoying adventuring through the worlds. If you haven’t played it the second game refines on the original with enhanced features and expansive and unique unlock tree for each class, plus a new class.

One of the biggest features that TL2 brought with it was multi-player functionality that was sorely missed in the first title. This much needed feature enables LAN and online games to take place without too much hassle, allowing groups of up to 8 persons to team up, however I hear that managing more than 6 is rather chaotic, which is fine as we are Chaotic Neutral here.

This games was opened up to integration and uses the community Workshop features in Steam combined with the games mod tool GUTS. Many of the add-ons have been rather good, but you have to be selective as installing and using a combination links to a unique save file, meaning that you must have that combo of features activated in order to play that game save again.
I have more adventuring to do in the game before I will be maxed out on the replay factor, so far my wife and I have playing through on our primary characters via the New Game Plus (NG+) system at least twice and we are fast approaching level 100.

Level 71 - Outlander & Engineer
Level 71 – Outlander & Engineer

Since the editor launch there hasn’t been much in the way of updates, I had hoped to have seen a little more content released, maybe for the anniversary. It would have to complement the end game and be level independent like the level-less enemies that existed City of Heroes. Thus being open to all players who were in that end game situation.

As if by magic

Well that’s my annual “can’t be arsed to blog” period over with.

A quick update on my gaming habits of late:

I’ve not resubbed to Secret World as I’d not played it in such a long time, a shame as the concept and world were fantastic yet the game felt like a single player game with the difficulty set to MMO. I could run quests but the mobs took such a beating as you progressed through the areas.
I feel sad to be letting the game go after the rough start it got, maybe I shall revisit that secret world in the future we’ll have to wait and see.

Torchlight II – Runic games 2nd game and sequel to the 2009 title, this game retains the good qualities of the first and enhances them while adding new features that suit the game well. Both Rachy and I enjoyed playing the first but as most people commented the lack of Co-op didn’t allow us to play together.
Thankfully that is a big part of Torchlight 2 which allows you to play over LAN/internet with upto 5 other players, this has meant that we can easily team up on a local to battle our way through dungeons.

Orcs Must Die 2 – Another title that was screaming out for co-op mode and rather nicely a sequel comes along and deliveries the missing goods. As action tower defence games go, OMD2 delivers a solid game that may feel some what like the original, but he spell upgrade system is far better and well defined in the sequel. Once my firewall connectivity issues were resolved the Co-op via Steam worked very well and gives a completely different dimension to the game compared to when playing solo.

Planetside 2 – yeas another 2. The original SOE MMOFPS game that is in my opinion the only Massive Mutliplayer Online First Person Shooter, has had a lot of fans and a lot of fond memories. SoE are looking to bring their unique game into the modern age with a Freemium title that is bigger and better that the first.
while most people had their first MMO experience in a land filled with NPCs and quests, mine was on the harsh environment of Auraxis where an endless war was raging.
I’ve avoided playing too much of the beta as to not burn out on the title too soon, I have some extra things to write but they will have to wait for a separate post.

World of Tanks – WoT is such a drop-in game that just sits on your desktop waiting patiently as you play through other titles, knowing fully well that when the shine has gone from your new game it will be waiting exactly were you left it. There is no denying the fact that levelling can be grindy, but only if you look at it from a levelling perspective. If you put in an hour a day you are likely to get in between 5 to 8 matches, each will be different with different threats or terrain, you may have to play each one differently and that is what makes the game enjoyable and less grindy. The latest major patch complete revamped the physics engine along with a redesign of some of the maps, this game sees a lot of continued activity to enhance and expand on an already enjoyable title.

I think that covers the gaming side for now.