Torchlight II Preview
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 1530
So as well as exploring Torchlight's familiar dungeon setting (featuring both randomly generated instances and persistent dungeons), players will be able to venture out together into expansive randomized outdoor areas of the Overworld, where you will experience Torchlight II's new weather system and (time of day) events. You will begin in a lush, mountainous region of the world, but the idea of Torchlight II is that your characters will progress through a series of very distinct areas, each with their own style and cultural background. Sounds like a good idea to us this progression should make it feel like you (or your party) really are on a journey, battling a whole host of new monsters, finding tons of loot and completing quests along the way rather than the slightly forced notion of simply delving into a dungeon in order to complete quests. In addition to that, the levels are less linear than in the original Torchlight, so you can be out exploring and stumble across a cave, or find multiple exits to a region which should give the game a more natural feel. There will also be random events in the world and you can decide whether to intervene or ignore them which will definitely make it feel more RPGish.
Only two character types have been announced at this time, the (Outlander) and the (Railman). (Note that these are working names and Runic might still change them before final release!) The Outlander sounds like a bit of a ranger type a bit of a survivalist outsider who's proficient with ranged weapons and low magic. The Railman is more like a melee warrior, engineering type who wants to push the frontier into new unpopulated regions. Runic has confirmed that the original Torchlight classes will not be playable in the sequel, to avoid rehashing old material. Though you are likely to come across them during the course of the game to give it a coherent, sequel feel rather than randomly throwing them out altogether. The new characters in Torchlight II will also be customisable so you can pick your own hairstyle and gender, etc.
