I was pretty sure that he was taking a jab at the D3 complaints, especially when he mentioned "gloomy" in the previous game:)

In all seriousness though, I haven't played online multiplayer in many years, but I still think it is good fit for a Diablo-style game like Torchlight (Diablo-style in terms of game mechanics/interface, not visuals/atmosphere - there has not been a true Diablo-style game since, well, the original Diablo).

Hey, my skills of observation tell me that I'm even more intolerable IRL!

I do feel a lot better admittedly.

What's the general consensus on the game though? I've thus far read positive/lukewarm responses for varying reasons. Like I said, will want to give this a go but will have to find out how well it will run on my laptop first.

Tittan Quest took the Diablo formula and knocked it out of the park. To be fair it certainly was a later game so it's easy to improve with that kind of retrospective look back. There wasn't a single thing that TQ didn't do better, and its few flaws (gameplay wise) were corrected in the expac.

It did take some community work to fix the performance issues in the patch as Ironlore got shut down by the pubs within a week of the expac launch.

I like it a lot, it has a very good arcady pick-up and play feeling. It is generally TL1 improved by an order of a magnitude and a little more freedom.

It plays like a dream on my Dell laptop.

It's pretty damn amazing, and like I've said countless times in numerous threads from other forums, I'm not even an ARPG fan. This, and Path of Exile, have rekindled my faith in ARPGs.

Let's talk about combat first. It's really good. It feels gratifying to plow through monsters - and there are a lot of different mobs, from big hulks to swarms of bats. It never gets boring.

Graphically, it's the same shit again. I would have preferred something less cartoonish, but after a while, I got over it. Besides, it's not like I would expect anything else from the sequel to Torchlight.

Audio is great. Voice-overs are nice. Playing as a gun-wielding Outlander, there's a lot of PEW PEW and BOOM BOOM going on at once. Only thing that grates me is the fact that my pet is always low on HP, so the narrator practically recites "Your pet is fleeing" throughout the entire game.

Itemization is good. Unlike Path of Exile, it's very conservative, but there's nothing flawed about it either. Doesn't try to fix what isn't broken.

Outdoor environments are great.

Tl;dr version: I hated Torchlight 1. To illustrate, I played it for 30 minutes, then uninstalled. Felt too much like the same old shit with none of the satisfaction from killing stuff. Torchlight 2, however, is like the same old shit, on steroids. And it's great. I love it.

My Outlander makes shit explode. They really amped up their game on this one, had time to put in all the features they probably would have wanted for TL. It has a few warts, the keymapping is absolute ass (which I'm sure will be fixed by the community the second the mod tools are out if not by Runic).

I haven't even given multiplayer a shot yet!

My basic problem in this game is the loot collection (as it always is), since I don't yet know the ideal loot for each class I keep more than I would and fill up my stash, mods make this a non-issue, but mods aren't yet available.

If you buy DRM free from Runic, though, you can basically back up your save games, try some skills out, and then revert if you hate them. You can go halfway through the first act with one point invested (which the de-trainer in town will let you reclaim). After you save 10-15 points you can try whatever out.

If you want any okay-ish Outlander build: Max Rapid FIre, Max passives Long Range Master and Poison Burst, 1 in Rune Vault for escapes, grab a shotgonne and watch shit explode (literally). Shotgonne Mastery is also probably great for this but I haven't yet put points in it.

I'm playing an Engineer with a healbot, never heard this unless I forget to call him when entering new zone or reloading... playing on Veteran and feeling a little overpowered...

Did you seriously find 5-6 legendaries? I've been playing over 40 hours and haven't found a single one yet. Lots of uniques and rares, but not a single legendary. Am I doing something wrong?

Edit: Perhaps you're confused? The screenshot doesn't show any, just more rares and uniques (which are surprisingly ununique).

I thought Runic's version had internet authentication and limited activation.

That's really the selling point after D3.

How so? I fail to see the logic underlying that conclusion.

I just tried the game after having the patch installed (didn't have auto-patching turned off- something that is now corrected). Map data got reset, but there don't seem to be any other problems (stash is fortunately intact, as I had just found my first legendary item and stuck it in there).

I haven't tried my middle mouse button, but it recognized one of my additional mouse buttons without any problems. It might vary from mouse to mouse on what it will recognize.

In case you didn't notice a lot of folks were disappointed by D3, so they turn to a game that does things the old way.

Having classic builds that you invest in, for example, not just rearranging unlocked stuff.