Torchlight II Preview
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Items have also been shaved down a bit to make upgrading your inventory a less daunting task. I was not the biggest fan of the socketing system used in original due to the fact most gems dumped a large amount of useless resistances. But now the game encourages players to socket items with random resistances because you will be constantly upgrading, thanks to a better loot progression this time around. A character of mine in the original Torchlight owned a pair of bracers that had been equipped for ages simply because not a single item dropped in almost 15 levels that was even marginally better. In Torchlight 2, I was frequently cycling through better and more optimized gear for my characters that really gave me a sense of true loot progression while taking on more daunting tasks.
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Combat has remained largely the same, which is in no way a bad thing. One of my favorite features of the original was how responsive and precise the controls were. Instant feedback is an integral part of a genre that mercilessly punished players who cannot keep speed. I spent a decent amount of time with the Outlander, a new hunter-type class very akin to Diablo 3'²s Demon Hunter class. Very early on in the game I was given access to abilities that allowed me to move across the battlefield with ease and fluidity. The level limit kept my talent allocation pretty limited, but seeing that the new talent system has been cleaned up massively is a welcome sight. Gone is the clunky, information overload that was very daunting to new players. Simple, clean interfaces give understandable tooltips that help facilitate creating a workable character build. I found it very easy to plan a path that allowed my character to adapt to changing battlefield conditions. This was a major concern for me coming into this sequel, as one of my main gripes with the previous system was that the talent trees were too complex and did not flow very well.
