Torchlight II Message Board

Have you recently suspected that you’re living an Inferior Life? You might not be wrong. Thousands of people are diagnosed with Inferior Life Syndrome every day, and to hear forums, gaming sites, and Internet comment threads – all of which are made up 100 percent of doctors – tell it, it’s probably because those people aren’t playing the right games. There’s plenty of science to back up these allegations, too. I mean, have you honestly not played Torchlight II? Seriously? Many Web MDs (and probably also WebMD) would declare you legally dead on the spot. Fortunately, Steam is here to help. Runic’s furiously fun hack ‘n’ slash is free all weekend.

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Holy cow, everyone. People bought a videogame! Look at all these HOT NUMBERS, sensitive bits conjuring curiosity from behind the slimmest of dollar signs. Yes, I know this sort of news isn’t typically very exciting, but I think Torchlight II warrants an exception to that oh-so-sacred of RPS rules. Runic’s finished taking count on the fingers and toes of all its employees and their many pet millipedes, and the total tally’s come out to two million. In ten months. That’s pretty huge for a PC-only ARPG from a developer not named Blizzard. But then, Torchlight II did a rather incredible number of things right.

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Torchlight II‘s actually already seen some rather brilliant mods, which is impressive given that modders have only been able to paddle themselves through its stat-laden sea of systems with their wits. For its part, however, Runic promised official mod support ages ago, and now – after maybe a little more time than most people were expecting – it’s finally delivered. So then, what do burgeoning loot pinata crafters have at their disposal? GUTS. Which, honestly, was how I would’ve answered that question no matter what because I’m in a weird mood right now, but luckily, it’s actually relevant in this case! That, you see, is the name of Torchlight II’s spiffy new modding suite, and it locks in with Steam Workshop like a gem into a modding-suite-shaped socket.

There is also a panda.

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When you played through Torchlight II, did it feel like something was – I don’t know - missing? Wait, for real? Because there was a whole, whole lot of stuff in Runic’s brilliant sophomore slasher (read that phrase again; videogame lingo is weird sometimes, you guys), so I was mostly joking for the purposes of introducing this sentence: Torchlight II was a glorious loot pinata explosion of glowy, sparkly, monster-y things, but a positively mad mod team has decided to add more anyway. Heaps more. A new Necromancer class, 108 Elite monsters, 28 raid dungeons, a new hub, and new quest lines. And that (available right now) is only the beginning of a plan so absurdly grandiose that it may as well be the sun to vanilla Torchlight II’s tiny disposable travel bag flashlight.

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I am a monocled engineer with a pet bulldog called Mr Kibbles. Eyebrows aside, the only hair on my head is an attractive piece of lip furniture that I call The Handlebars of +4 Roughhousing. Torchlight II really does seem like a pleasant way to click away the hours, as John excitedly reported yesterday. If you’re not convinced that this is the ARPG for you, or if you’re not convinced by ARPGs at all, you could always try the demo and see if your fancy is tickled. I’m not entirely sure how much content the demo includes but it shouldn’t take long to decide if the rest of the game is something you’re willing to invest in. Download it from Runic or on Steam.

Torchlight II will be out on 20th September of this very year and that’s pretty much all there is to say. Does anyone remember when it seemed like there’d be a collision between Diablo III and the indie charmer? For a moment back before summer failed to begin, I imagined a pileup of ARPGs, all rushing down the internet pipes, erupting in an +4 burning damage fireball and fusing into a mangled mess of stats and potions. It’s strange to think that Torchlight II won’t be something to look forward to for very much longer but hopefully actually being able to play it will make up for that. And there’s always Grim Dawn to take its place in the future-time anticispace. I’m hoping for some jolly multiplayer shenanigans from this one.

If the Internet serves as a representative sample (and I don’t see why it shouldn’t), the first thought on the minds of most humans – the goal that sustains our insatiable will to live – isn’t love, sex, eating, fighting, curiosity, or figuring out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. It’s Torchlight II‘s release date. When word got out that the vibrant hack ‘n’ slash was facing an uphill battle to completion, chaos ensued. The Internet collectively wept, and hope festered into bitter sorrow. All of which is, in retrospect, pretty silly, because everything’s probably going to be a-okay.

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If you’re anything like me, then not only are you uniquely handsome, but you’re also wondering what the bloody hell is taking action RPG Torchlight II so long. Come ON Torchlight 2! My mouse has just recovered from Diablo III, and I need SOMETHING TO CLICKCLICKCLICK on. Oh, they’ve said. As Eurogamer spotted, Runic bossman Travis Baldree has posted on their forums saying why there’s still not a release date for the pre-orderable game.

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If you don’t have a muscular clicking finger a lot of the discussion around these parts may be a little disheartening as of late. It’s all Diablo this and Grim Dawn that, and maybe Exile the other. How about a bit of Torchlight II to go with all that, or as an alternative to Blizzard’s biff ‘em up? If you haven’t already had a chance to play the Tochlight beta, this weekend could be your lucky two days. Runic have announced that this will be their final stress test: “We’ll be sending out many more beta codes to those who have already made their Runic Games Account. Haven’t signed up yet? Go for it now! Creating your account is always your best chance to receive a beta invite – especially this weekend.”

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It’s the weekend. I should have a perpetual grin plastered across my face as I skip down the street with cartoon birds fluttering in my wake. Instead, I’m feeling a bit like finding a corner with a shadow that’ll cover my face just so and gazing wistfully out a window. The cartoon birds are still invited, but this isn’t really their scene, you know? And who, pray tell, de-springed my step? Why, that’d be Runic, purveyor of whimsical hack ‘n’ slash rainbow adventures and opening cut-scenes that kill everyone - in lavish, faded-parchment-style 2D, no less, but my point still stands. At any rate, this new villain apparently packs quite the punch. Watch as he politely introduces himself – and then, somewhat rudely, does that whole murder thing – after the break.

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An MMO has always been the end goal for Runic’s proposed heir to the throne of click-click-click, but its path to production has been anything but straightforward. Originally, Torchlight was the warm-up, and the MMO would follow soon after as the main event. Then Runic decided it needed to spec its collective skill tree into multiplayer, and thus, Torchlight II was born. So, naturally, the runway’s now  finally clear for the MMO, right? Not exactly, Runic CEO Max Schaefer told us.

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Joystiq‘s crystal ball lit up earlier today with notification of a blog post by Runic bosslord Travis Baldree in which the man from Runic states that “a game of this scope up to the quality and polish level we want to achieve is going to take a little longer,” and also: “We’ve probably had 18 months of full development time on it so far – not excessively long yet, as far as that goes. The amount of time we need to take it the rest of the way is relatively small.” Basically, it’s not going to hit in 2011 as expected.

“Besides, you’re all playing Skyrim right now anyway, aren’t you?” observes the astute Mr Baldree. Why yes, I am. I just saw a giant totally bat a wolf up the side of a mountain! Awesome.

Torchlight II was supposed to come out this past summer, while the original's Xbox Live Arcade port was finished. Then, Torchlight II was supposed to be out before the end of the year. Now, Torchlight 2 won’t be released until next year.

“We've come to the realization,” said Runic Games president Travis Baldree on the game’s official website today, “that getting a game of this scope up to the quality and polish level we want to achieve is going to take a little longer.”

Part of the reason for the delay, Baldree revealed, was the studio’s desire to have a beta period.

After making a series of promises about a date, however, Baldree isn’t making any grand proclamations today, instead dancing around the idea of a “relatively small” period of waiting time.

“Right now our job is to ensure that the quality level is consistent all the way to the end,” he said.