XBLA Catch-Much: Farewell to XBLA

Is this had multiplayer, I'd be able to relive the Dark Alliance experience.

stauf7 wrote:

Is this had multiplayer, I'd be able to relive the Dark Alliance experience.

That's exactly why I'm being patient for the console release of Torchlight 2.

Gravey wrote:

I got to play about half an hour before work, and yeah it's a pretty seamless fit (other than the small text).

That small text is kind of a problem, though. In a game that's all about the loot grind, having to lean forward and squint to see what the magical properties of any new bit of loot are kind of defeats the advantage of it being on a lean-back-on-the-couch platform. I'm playing in 720p on a 32" set. I shudder to think what that text might look like to someone playing in SD or on a smaller screen.

When oh when will game devs get their stupid UI text right?

My only other minor gripe is that your zoom level resets to fully zoomed-out every time you go up or down a level or through a portal; any time you go through a loading screen, in other words. The fully zoomed-out view is good for large battles, but for exploring and fighting enemies by ones and twos, I'd rather be able to actually see my character. It's annoying to have to zoom back in manually every couple minutes.

Gravey wrote:
stauf7 wrote:

I've set skills to the triggers and don't require additional button combinations for them to fire.

Then maybe I did miss something. I'll investigate further. And by "investigate further" I mean "play more".

Further investigation reveals that I was wrong, and everything is perfectly normal. But I swear the first time I played nothing happened when I pulled a trigger until I pressed X. Oh well, not an issue now.

What about weapon set swap? Is there any way to do that? If not, that seems like an oversight.

Trashie wrote:

What about weapon set swap? Is there any way to do that? If not, that seems like an oversight.

There was an interview with Max Schafer on the latest Giant Bombcast in which he said they just ran out of buttons. I can't really speak to the validity of it, having not played the PC version for more than 30 minutes. Just too simple for me. I think I'm over click-fest lootgrabs.

Trashie wrote:

What about weapon set swap? Is there any way to do that? If not, that seems like an oversight.

Yeah, not as far as I can tell. But I'm now rolling with a pistol in one hand and sword in the other, so I'm satisfied to think the problem has become moot.

How'd they run out of buttons? The left stick button doesn't do anything as far as I can tell, and I'm pretty sure left and right on the d-pad don't do anything either. I can see if maybe it was a menu issue, but saying they ran out of buttons seems like a cop out to me.

Other than that, I'm really enjoying using the controller instead of m/k. (Yeah, I'm one of those guys.)

ThomasJay wrote:

How'd they run out of buttons? The left stick button doesn't do anything as far as I can tell, and I'm pretty sure left and right on the d-pad don't do anything either. I can see if maybe it was a menu issue, but saying they ran out of buttons seems like a cop out to me.

Other than that, I'm really enjoying using the controller instead of m/k. (Yeah, I'm one of those guys.)

Iunno, just saying what the dude from the company said.

I tried the demo and was more intrigued than on PC. I am also one of those controller guys. I also like big screens.

I downloaded the Torchlight demo. They did a really slick job with the interface, and I like how it plays with the controller, but I don't think it's enough of an improvement to get me to buy it again. Maybe if it goes on sale... if I re-up my gold subscription so's I can qualify for sales...

I was hoping that they'd patch controller support into the PC/Mac version, but the developers have said they aren't going to. Apparently it's not a trivial job and they'd rather spend their time working on Torchlight 2. That one will include support for both controllers and keyboard/mouse.

Speaking of action RPGs with on consoles, has there been any word on when Magicka is going to hit the XBLA?

Torchlight on the PC didn't grab me. It was too much clicking effort to farm the trash mobs.

Torchlight on the Xbox, on the other hand, is the most fun I've had for 15 dollars since my last trip to TJ.

I love the combat, but the constant loot makes me anxious. I wore the same single piece of armour in Oblivion, from maybe level 2 to level 28. Now as soon as I get used to something, or find a cool-looking hat, I find something better to replace it, like within minutes. I guess this is old hat to everyone who's played Diablo II a million years ago. That the items are all randomly-generated (I think?) takes some of the pressure off, as I'm spending less time scrutinizing the stats and weighing the effects of every piece that comes along, and making more snap judgements.

Socketing and enchanting also help to prolong the life of some items, but Idle Thumbs weren't kidding: he is truly a sh*tty wizard: enchanted—lost everything!—enchanted—lost everything!—enchanted—lost everything! He's settled down now, but man that sure didn't feel like a 4% disenchantment chance.

I never enchant unless I have a backup item. In fact, that's how I break ties when I have two sweet pieces of gear and can't quite decide which one to equip: I just enchant one, then the other, back and forth, until either one of them gets way better than the other, one of them gets disenchanted, or I run out of money.

I'm enjoying Torchlight on the Xbox. I also have it for the PC, but it always felt "lite" in comparison to better realized dungeon crawlers like Diablo 2 and Titan Quest.

However, it feels like the loot slots are WAAAAY looser than the PC version. Anyone else experiencing this? I do have 2 points of magic finding on my equipment. Is it that effective? I'm practically swimming in oranges.

The kill, loot, kill gameplay is much better with the controller, though I can't wait until I get more movement buff items.

hbi2k wrote:

I never enchant unless I have a backup item. In fact, that's how I break ties when I have two sweet pieces of gear and can't quite decide which one to equip: I just enchant one, then the other, back and forth, until either one of them gets way better than the other, one of them gets disenchanted, or I run out of money.

That's a great idea. In fact, I'm enchanting a third-string pistol at the moment (for the achievement natch—seven successes in a row last night, then I ran out of money). But I think I'll go with your tie-breaking method for enchanting/dealing with loot overload.

Since we're back on the Torchlight train, what's everyone's build looking like? I'm rocking a pretty standard Ember Lance specialist Alchemist at level 20-something, with max Critical Strike and working my way toward max EL, with Ember Shield for when the baddies get too close and my pet summoning Skeletons to do some light tanking for me. I'm starting to think I should maybe go hybrid and invest in a golem for some extra tanking power though.

I like Torchlight more on the Xbox than I did on PC. But I'm holding firm to my commitment to not buy any new games until June. The rest of you who haven't bought it, however, should.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

But I'm holding firm to my commitment to not buy any new games until June.

What difference could one more possibly make?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I like Torchlight more on the Xbox than I did on PC.

+1
I bought it when it first came out on Steam, and while I liked it, I was never able to put more then a few hours in before my attention waned, whereas on the 360 it's actually keeping me from playing Dragon Age 2. DA2 may not be as good as the original, but it's still Dragon Age 2, and this little XBLA port is the one holding my interest.

Is it just me or is Normal difficulty too easy?

I'm at Level 17 Vanquisher and I'm one-shotting Level 12 guys as I'm just working through the dungeons. I don't feel like I'm doing too many side quest either.

I'm hesitate to start over at Hard but maybe I should. Or does the difficulty ramp up at some point?

Trashie wrote:

Is it just me or is Normal difficulty too easy?

I'm at Level 17 Vanquisher and I'm one-shotting Level 12 guys as I'm just working through the dungeons. I don't feel like I'm doing too many side quest either.

I'm hesitate to start over at Hard but maybe I should. Or does the difficulty ramp up at some point?

Move to hard, or even very hard. I think they designed normal for people forced to play the game with their feet.

Trashie wrote:

I'm hesitate to start over at Hard but maybe I should. Or does the difficulty ramp up at some point?

It never did for me. Unless you're looking for a cruise control experience, I'd start over. I thought even hard got a little easy later on.

You can swap difficulty levels on the fly, can't you? In any case, I'd definitely move up to Hard. Normal is the new Easy. If you've ever played a Diablo game before, you're going to find Normal to be boring.

I'm finding the controller rumble rather excellent for the XBLA version of Torchlight. It really gives the gameplay a punchy sense of weight.

Trashie wrote:

Is it just me or is Normal difficulty too easy?

This was the general consensus in the PC thread. Interesting that they didn't change it at all, but I guess I can't blame 'em. Hard is fun, Very Hard starts to become pretty difficult, I think there's another unlockable difficulty above that. If you really want a challenge, play in Hardcore mode.

EDIT: Oh, also (for whatever reason) the PC version had a HUGE difficulty spike at level 32. Anyone made it there yet? If not....get ready.

Minarchist wrote:
Trashie wrote:

Is it just me or is Normal difficulty too easy?

This was the general consensus in the PC thread. Interesting that they didn't change it at all, but I guess I can't blame 'em. Hard is fun, Very Hard starts to become pretty difficult, I think there's another unlockable difficulty above that. If you really want a challenge, play in Hardcore mode.

EDIT: Oh, also (for whatever reason) the PC version had a HUGE difficulty spike at level 32. Anyone made it there yet? If not....get ready. :)

Yeah from 30 onward it definitely ramped up on the XBLA version. I barely had to use potions until then.

Does anyone know where to see what dungeon level you are on? All I see is player level. I missed a couple of quest items a few levels back and I had to abandon the quests because I couldn't figure out what level I was up to.

I'm having so much more fun playing this on the big screen while kicked back in the recliner.

I think it's listed in the top-right corner, to the left of your manna meter.

IMAGE(http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2011/03/torchlight_xbla.jpg)

Dark Zealots vex me greatly. No matter how many health and electrical resistance items I stack, they still fricken one-shot me with that lightning bolt half the time.

I was hoping not to be seeing them for a while after completing the first dungeon, but they're popping up on just about every floor now.

I saw that, but it doesn't always show a number. Sometimes it just shows the section of the dungeon, like the mines, crypt, or gardens.

Funniest loot name of the weekend: "Ward's Cleaver". A close second was "Bill".