I was pre-emptively dissapointed with DS3, so didn't buy it.

So is Torchlight actually any good? I've heard mixed reviews.

EDIT: Worst excuse for a sequel, see Gothic 4 thread currently running.

Torchlight is great. Get it if you want some good old fashioned dungeon crawling.

Torchlight is really fun and lightweight. It suffers from lack of multiplayer and I'd prefer the combat was more akin to Dragon Age (I love party-based tactical combat), but the loot system is amazing and the skill trees are really cool. There isn't an incredibly well-written story or expansive, deep world here either... but I picked it up for 3 bucks on Steam a few days ago, so it's hard to complain :)

EDIT: haven't played any of the Gothic games. I've got quite a few games to get through before I can put something new on the list, but are any of them worth checking out?

I really like Dungeon Siege 3. Important caveat here is that I absolutely hated Dungeon Siege 1. Didn't bother with 2. And when 3 was announced, my only reaction was "why would anyone bother?"

I can understand people who actually liked Dungeon Siege being disappointed by what Dungeon Siege 3 is. But it's still a good game. Now, as a multiplayer affair, it is lacking in features. And as a single player game, Torchlight is a better offering.

G1 and G2Gold, in my very very much biased opinion. But you mustn't let your first impressions dissuade you from these games, as they are sometimes marked as awkward to play by (imo) unskilled people who generally play games just for fun. Once you get over that skill line, these games can suck you in completely. Thou hast been warned.

I got disappointed when I heard that Square Enix was publishing the game.

That was sort of my point, though - other current releases do everything it does, and they do it better. DS 1 wasn't groundbreaking, but it was competent and brought some new flavor to the tried-and-true Diablo formula. Maybe it's that I'm playing DS 3 on pc. It's supposed to be better on consoles, but still... the camera control...

I picked it up on sale after reading the many rave player reviews about it. I didn't like it. I found it tedious and boring and regretted even the measly 5 bucks I spent on it.

*edit* I should add to be fair, that the game is well polished and looks nice. And if you're a fan of Diablo style dungeon crawls, you'll probably like it. I likes me some hack and slash now and then too, but this one just didn't click with me.

Yeah, it's not really exceptional. But I would still call it competent except in MP. No competition to the big names. But I wouldn't say DS 1 was either. I'll just leave your comment about DS 1 bringing new stuff alone. I truly have nothing good to say about it.

It's better with a controller. PC/console isn't much difference.

Torchlight is fine but gets boring fast. It started out retailing at 20 bucks, you can get it for 5-7 these days which is about right for how much you'll probably enjoy it. I played the demo 2 or 3 times, this is the first DS game I've been able to stand. The co-op kind of blows, though.

I am not disappointed in DS 3 at all. I played the demo prior to buying because of all the rage I'd read on the interwebz, and I didn't find the control scheme much different from Dungeon Siege 2 from my hazy recollection.

Never played 1, can't comment on it, but 3 was similar enough to 2 that I felt comfortable in the demo, and it's very sexy to me graphics-wise. Admittedly, I'm not a graphics junkie like some people might be, but I found the demo to be very optimized considering it's from Obsidian.

The discord over playing pre generated characters is pretty far out considering in DS 2 you played pre rolled characters. Not sure if 1 was different, I know 2 goes for a stupid amount on ebay and amazon and is now out of print ($80-90 USD+) where you can find a copy of 1 + Legends of Arana (sp) for about $8-10 USD.

I can understand your disappointment, especially given that I don't know of how to control my party in 3, but 2's shining point was never about the combat, it was about the few and far between puzzles and non combat quests, at least for me. The expansion was awesome, but again it was awesome because it made crafting fun and worth saving mats for. The new classes were pretty hawt, too.

Your mileage may vary, but with my set of expectations I have thoroughly enjoyed 3 more than I anticipated. Waiting for the weather to cool down a bit before continuing it (my office has no central air and when I play certain games between my heatsink + gfx card it heats my office up an additional 10 degrees)
-Cym

The only thing that disappoints me about Dungeon Siege 3 is the August 2nd release date.

I dodged that bullet, luckily i downloaded the demo off of Steam. It could have been great, but it really suffers from a bad case of consolitis. Terrible control and average graphics. I was really looking forward to this, glad i played the demo first.

I finished it recently, on pc. I thought it was fun. I almost finished Dungeon Siege 1 & 2 but could never quite manage it. I rather liked this take on the series, especially their handling of Stonebridge.

Controls took some getting used to. As Lucas its not so bad but using Reinhart can leave you fighting the controls to get to the abilities you want, and aiming some of your 'spells' can be a nightmare of accidental targeting.

As a hack and slash game its rather light weight. Each character learns all their abilities within a single game. There's no replay incentive beyond trying out the other characters. I got through it twice but I doubt I'll last a third. The story is short and sweet.

I'd definitely recommend getting this if its on the cheap and having a fun 10 or so hours playing through it once. Its a fun game but it'll never be considered a genre icon.