This game doesn't deserve the hate it gets.

[Shockwaves]

TL;DR at the bottom. I want it to be known that if you dislike TL3 or if you think it's not a great game, I can understand why and I respect your opinion. If you played the game back in early access and had to deal with bugs, I can understand why you would be frustrated and avoid the game completely. But that being said, calling the game absolutely terrible or saying it isn't worth the money AS OF TODAY is completely unfair.

I've played and enjoyed all the Torchlight games. It's definitely a lot different compared to TL2, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. TL2 was way more different than TL1. The story isn't great and is completely forgettable, but so were the stories of TL1 or TL2. I played a lot of TL2 and still have no recollection of the story. But let's be honest here, no one buys these kinds of games for the story. It's about the gameplay and the loot.

As for the game itself, I just started playing a few weeks ago and think it's amazing. I've experienced very few bugs, most of which were only in multiplayer. The game runs at 150 FPS at max settings with zero crashes and is optimized really well. The graphics and visuals are phenomenal (for a dungeon crawler), especially when you compare it to TL2. The gameplay loop is addictive and fun and the class + relic system is one of the most unique action RPG skill systems I've seen in a long time. The ability to completely change the dynamic of a class with a different relic creates the potential for hundreds of different builds and hours of playtime. And I know I'll be in the minority with this one, but I also really enjoy the endgame with Fazeer's dungeon. The incentive to progress is high since the further you go, the statistically better your drops will be.

I think part of the issue is that people are expecting a game as complex as Diablo 3. Let's not forget how Diablo 3 was at launch compared to now. People said the game was trash and it ended up turning into one of the best hack and slash action RPG's in the past decade. As for Torchlight 3, it's definitely not perfect. It could use a bit more variety in items and quests as well as some quality of life updates (like making shops useful and increasing the potion cap). And for the life of me, I can't understand why they removed fishing, which was a Torchlight staple as far back as the FATE games (the predecessors to the Torchlight series). But as far as the game itself, I think it's a lot of fun and 100% worth the money. I took the chance and paid full price and have zero regrets. It's the first action RPG I've played in a while where I'm excited to max out the rest of the classes.

TL;DR: If you're on the fence about the game, I recommend ignoring the people crapping on the game and giving it a shot. The game is in an enjoyable state as of now. If you want to kill stuff, get better loot, and repeat without spending hours theory crafting and planning your build, you'll have a lot of fun with TL3. I know I definitely am.

[Elveone]

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

Origineel geplaatst door Shockwaves:

Yeah, because games like Grim Dawn and PoE are transcendental experiences. Get over yourself.

Grim Dawn -
Current Players 3,172
30-Day Avg 4,549.6

Path of Exile
Current Players 23,719
30-Day Avg 43,456,1

Torchlight 3.............
Current Players 134
30-Day Avg 231

Tochlight 2
Current Players 383
30-Day Avg 430.7


T3 is a lame, boring, full of bugs, simple and dead game.

And Grim Dawn had 6 years of development and a year in early access before it ever broke over 1000 concurrent players. I've played early Grim Dawn and it was kind of ♥♥♥♥. Give it time. Oh, and 188 hours is not nothing in a game with 15 hours of content.

[Reaper]

Grim Dawn 1 shot game, T3 came from 2 games with a moderate fan base and a dude with Diablo on his back..

[Khavarum]

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

T3 is a lame, boring, full of bugs, simple and dead game.

The stats you show only prove that entire Torchlight franchise isn't very popular, this includes TL2.

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

Grim Dawn 1 shot game,

Nonsense, it came from the devs of Titan Quest.

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

T3 came from 2 games with a moderate fan base and a dude with Diablo on his back..

Moderate fan base? Are you that delusional? I would say, when compared to many other games, Grim Dawn has moderate fan base, PoE has large fan base and Torchlight franchise has small fan base.

[Elveone]

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

Grim Dawn 1 shot game, T3 came from 2 games with a moderate fan base and a dude with Diablo on his back..

Which is what actually helped Grim Dawn succeed - they were not burdened by high expectations when they first released. On the other hand Torchlight Frontiers was lambasted for being too different from the previous games which resulted in a complete re-implementation of several systems which slowed down the development even further. Even now after all the reworks the game is still being mainly criticized for two reasons - that it is buggy and that it is too different from the previous games. There are far buggier and far worse aRPGs being released today that have high public scores despite being complete crap in comparison to Torchlight 3 in terms of graphics, gameplay, itemization and content so the main reason that the game is perceived negatively is because it bears the name Torchlight. And yeah, I think that this name is the main problem of that game in each and every one of its iterations.

[Shockwaves]

Origineel geplaatst door Elveone:

Origineel geplaatst door Reaper:

Grim Dawn 1 shot game, T3 came from 2 games with a moderate fan base and a dude with Diablo on his back..

There are far buggier and far worse aRPGs being released today that have high public scores despite being complete crap in comparison to Torchlight 3 in terms of graphics, gameplay, itemization and content so the main reason that the game is perceived negatively is because it bears the name Torchlight.

I agree and I thought this myself recently. If you remove the Torchlight name from TL3, I don't think people would criticize the game as much. I can't blame people for expecting something more similar to TL2 - when a game goes from 2 to 3, you would expect more of a continuation in gameplay and design.

I think they would've been better off keeping the name as Torchlight Frontiers or even something like Torchlight Reborn or whatever. At least then people would have known right from the start to expect something new.

Game developers do this all the time and have great success. For example, look at the God of War series: God of War (2018) is completely different game play and design wise than God of War 3 (2010) and yet got amazing reviews. Instead of naming the new game God of War 4, they made the smart decision to change the name completely so people knew to expect a brand new experience. I'm simplifying it a lot here, since God of War (2018) was also an amazing game, but I still think the new name helped a lot.

[Elveone]

They renamed the game to Torchlight 3 mainly to signify the change of business model, the addition of single player and the forgoing of the MMO elements. I don't think Frontiers should have been called Torchlight to begin with.

I think they had the name Torchlight for mostly sentimental reasons though. I think Max loves the franchise he created(not singlehandedly obviously) and was tired of starting over with new franchises. He made Diablo and lost it as a franchise, then he made Hellgate London and Mythos and lost those as well and then he created Torchlight and it would have been too much to loose that as well.

[Khavarum]

Origineel geplaatst door Elveone:

I don't think Frontiers should have been called Torchlight to begin with.

Indeed, like I mentioned before, the franchise doesn't seem to have a lot of fans.

Origineel geplaatst door Elveone:

then he made Hellgate London and Mythos

Didn't knew about that. Never liked Hellgate, but I generally am not a fan of England. As for Mythos, I only heard about it, never tried it. What I heard about it though, wasn't very interesting.

Origineel geplaatst door Elveone:

and lost those as well and then he created Torchlight and it would have been too much to loose that as well.

Hard to blame him considering the former.

[Shockwaves]

Origineel geplaatst door Kamari:

Indeed, like I mentioned before, the franchise doesn't seem to have a lot of fans.

That makes sense. The series was first released on PC and then ported over really poorly to console for 2 and 3. PC is way more niche than console & mobile.

Atop of that, the hack and slash action RPG genre is already a (usually) PC-specific niche genre. Once you add in the colorful/cartoony visual style Torchlight uses to differentiate itself from all the other dark-themed action RPG's, you're left with a super niche series.

Maybe Zynga acquiring Echtra will bring in a much wider audience. The Torchlight series has the potential to be incredibly popular if they expand to more people and stay focused in the product they want to deliver.

[Elveone]

Origineel geplaatst door Kamari:

Didn't knew about that. Never liked Hellgate, but I generally am not a fan of England. As for Mythos, I only heard about it, never tried it. What I heard about it though, wasn't very interesting.

Well, I played Hellgate when it released and I didn't like it very much as well. Mythos though...

The version of Mythos that was publicly released years later was atrocious - whoever Hanbitsoft got to "finish" the game didn't know what they were doing. I think Flagship at the time also gave them a severely outdated version of the source code before they got disbanded because the game that was released was really broken version of the alpha with a fraction of the content and it was even worse optimized and ran worse despite running on a better PC years later. I had the opportunity to play while the game was still in development with Flagship back in the day and I think that they had something really special on their hands, even moreso than Torchlight 1 and 2. They really nailed the exploration of a large shared world area with people running around and the dungeons that were all varied and each had a unique boss at the end. And that was just the first town, the first act of the game. The classes were pretty interesting and featured a customization akin to what we see in Titan Quest and Grim Dawn but the skills were a lot more interesting IMO and the classes were unique and offered many different builds... ah, made myself nostalgic :)

[Limp Squirrel]

how is TL3 nowadays compared to Wolcen, in terms of depth, available content, and stability?

[Ambushbob]

its not as bad as i thought it would be, but its not as good as TL2

[Limp Squirrel]

Origineel geplaatst door Ambushbob:

its not as bad as i thought it would be, but its not as good as TL2

While I love TL2, I'm not under the assumption it will be better. Similar to Wolcen, I take these games with their flaws and shortcomings that I read in reviews and see in videos. In terms of value for money, do you reckon it's worth it for the current price?

[Shockwaves]

Origineel geplaatst door Squidcake:

Origineel geplaatst door Ambushbob:

its not as bad as i thought it would be, but its not as good as TL2

While I love TL2, I'm not under the assumption it will be better. Similar to Wolcen, I take these games with their flaws and shortcomings that I read in reviews and see in videos. In terms of value for money, do you reckon it's worth it for the current price?

Torchlight 2 has more depth and complexity but Torchlight 3 has superior gameplay, mechanics, and overall "polish". I bought TL3 at full price and have had zero regrets thus far, it's been very enjoyable. If you ignore the story and focus on the loot and progression, I think you'll have fun.

[Elveone]

Origineel geplaatst door Squidcake:

how is TL3 nowadays compared to Wolcen, in terms of depth, available content, and stability?

I haven't experienced crashes in either game and in online play sever stability is mostly based on how stable your internet connection is. Both games have some minor bugs and annoyances. And both games have people saying they've experienced far more game-breaking ♥♥♥♥ than I ever did.

Wolcen has more content and on the surface it offers greater amount of customization but it is also a lot easier to make an overpowered build that would just go through anything at endgame. In Wolcen the customization is what you see at face value - passive skill trees with rotating elements, active skills that are tied to a weapon equipped and that can be customized and a very basic stat system where you invest in a particular stat depending on what kind of damage you want to do. The skill customization system is fun and you can get a bit of variety of each skill through it but there aren't that many base skills to begin with and the fact that you do have to have a certain weapon type equipped to use those skills limits build variety. The passive skill graph is fun to rotate and there are pretty obviously overpowered nodes to get along the way and you can get a lot of it covered.

In Torchlight 3 you do seem to have a lot less to customize with the class having 2 skill trees and a third skill tree being added at character creation from a set of 5 but you kind of have to plan ahead as you can have vastly different builds depending on those choices. Your builds can be almost purely based on your class or your relic or a mix of the two but you kind of have to invest in both to get an optimal build as there are a few nice buffs in each side that greatly improve the other. Class skills have a passive component attached to them that enhances the whole character and not the skill itself so you might want to take skills that you do not use just to get the passives. The relics skills are separated into actives and passives. The active skills of both types do have some milestones that change them but for the most part you don't get to customize them on a skill level as you can in Wolcen. However you can enhance some skills or change their purpose based on the legendary items you have equipped. And that's the thing about Torchlight 3 - a lot of your build does depend on legendary items and you can do a lot of varying builds with them but while initially you do get a lot of them at endgame the drop rates are currently atrocious. Still you can do some pretty awesome builds when you combine all of the elements of the puzzle.

Are the games worth the asking price - it depends on how tight you are on money. I would say that for me both are worth it but because there is some jank with both games I cannot really say that you are not going to regret buying them if you do. I will be amiss though if I didn't point out that Torchlight 3 is coming to gamepass for PC next month.

[Bust-E-Pona]

I just picked it up, played for like 40 minutes before I gotta get to bed but so far the game seems extremely jank. Very, very unpolished. There is something to like here for sure but so far everything is just kinda... meh. Needs work.

Voice acting is very rough, clear audio issues. If I can tell it's a person talking into a mic it rips me out of the game.

Animations are just stiff and awkward. Like, the into when I picked my character the rail master's arms just look like they're bending in ways they shouldn't. Same with in-combat animations, the default pound attack just looks bad. Same for the train pet, it is so jank.

I think this game could be good, but for it to be they would need to do a lot of work that is most likely out of the question budget wise.