I know what you’re saying about polish, but as an experienced player of video games this isn’t enough to keep me interested anymore. Voicing approval of this process propagates the same system that is able to churn out retrofits, remakes and visual upgrades of classic video games on Xbox Live, Steam, etc. We are buying the same product over and over with minimal effort from the producers. It’s one of the reasons this industry has no tangible history that you can access at a given time. Technical upgrades are rendering old hardware obsolete, so it is a terribly tedious task just to be able to play an old game as it was originally intended. This is mostly in reference to the PC, but can be applied just as easily to arcade games, and pre-Nintendo era consoles.

As for the genre itself, you’re right to say it doesn’t see many releases. But why does it have to when it is now in constant competition with MMORPGs? Titan Quest (Review) was a fantastic game with an original setting that captured what made Blizzard’s seminal genre template work so well. If a developer limits themselves to issuing clones with highly polished exteriors, and players reflexively confirm their greatness, what does that say about the people that happily consume it? What does it say about the industry?

I’ll agree that the low price definitely helped Torchlight‘s reception; I actually recommended this game to some of my friends over the holidays when it was on sale. But if I’m weighing quality versus the return on my investment of time, well…that’s one of the issues I cover in the original post.

For what it’s worth, I have some great memories of plowing through the original Diablo. I’d go back and play it if I didn’t think Diablo II and its expansion were such colossal improvements. So why do I need Torchlight?

@Michael

I’m glad you caught the reference to Fate; as Sean notes above there are many people who are really into the genre that also easily made the connection. What I’m referring to in the original essay is the “mainstream press”: the big websites or magazines that don’t have the time to look any further than what is blindingly obvious, but are still expected to be the big decision makers and the ones that keep writing “those lists” that everyone loves to argue about.

Regarding the social media chatter: it certainly helped, but as usual with me I never buy any of it. It’s always fast-talkin’, exaggerated commentary that frustrates more than informs. As I’ve said many times before, I don’t care about keeping up with the crowd. I’ll write when I’m ready and post “when they’re done.” As I noted in the essay, Torchlight for me was closure more than anything else. To see Fate receive the attention it did for offering nothing of value felt like an affront to me, and the genre. That was my personal stake.

I’m actually happy you stopped when you did, because this could easily expand into a discussion on why I think twitter is ruining the serious discussion and criticism of video games.

@Rob Z.

As I said in my review of Borderlands that was heavily referenced in the text, the “action role playing game” is further bastardization of what first started on the tabletop, and slowly evolved into character building simulators instead of storytelling devices. MMORPGs may have added the social structure with actual humans, but the paper doll, number crunching and skill loadout is still at the forefront. BioWare has thankfully invested more into character interaction over recent years, so that their games are starting to resemble something actually worthy of the phrase “role playing game”.

For a game primarily focused on action, Diablo and Diablo II had loads of atmosphere. The music was perfectly suited, and the lore (although sparse in both installments) provided a solid enough foundation so that you felt like you were accomplishing something. To me, that’s the only reason I keep going in these types of games: A story, a goal, closure.

You want to be able to “beat” something. The game itself is building up the challenge and your ultimate opponent through the proceedings. Why else would you be provided with all that gear and points to level up your skills? It’s why instances are so popular in World of Warcraft. The only way you can survive them is by building up your equipment loadout. They provide easy justification for players to keep themselves on the treadmill.

What has me a bit puzzled is why you would check out Torchlight in the first place, if you weren’t that impressed with Diablo. I love this genre, and despite the occasional disappointment I still enjoy watching it evolve. It seems to me this genre just isn’t for you.

Finally, I’m going to ignore your last line for the time being. What you’re asking for is another essay, which I may end up producing at some point thanks to this discussion. But as usual for this place, I’ll get to it when I’m ready.

@Salaryn

That’s just it. It doesn’t end. Even when you vanquish the final boss on level 35, you can keep going. From the town portal that opens up after level 35, there are all but infinite levels and associated random item fetching and monster slaying quests that become available. Have fun!

Torchlight and games like it are pretty straightforward: you march into dungeons and slaughter legions of enemies, like an Achilles or a Lancelot, and steadily grow more awesomely powerful with more astonishing gear. You use all this to kill more enemies.

Since the game is based on constant, fast progression, the pace is very fast. There’s not much thought in an encounter. Do I wade in, do I kite, or do I soften them up from range and let them come to me? Those are the 3 main tactics I’ve used, and it’s usually clear what the situation calls for.

So I don’t need to make decisions except when I level and when I select gear, and most of the time that’s just a question of the particular flavor of superhero I want to be. So now I’m just clicking, watching my avatar kill a bunch of monsters, and sorting through the loot. Over and over again.

Diablo might have had a more engaging story and a better atmosphere, but I still felt this aspect of the design was a problem. When I start playing Diablo or Torchlight, I’m actually disengaging from the experience and just letting muscle memory do the work. To me this seems the opposite of what a game should do.

I’m running this by you because you seem pretty damned knowledgeable about this type of game. What separates a good one from a bad one? What makes a game like this interesting?

I’m guessing the curious momentum for Torchlight has mostly to do with the explosion of social media chatter – something Fate never benefitted from in ’05. There’s a persistent vacuum in this space that a game will inevitably fill. Recently, it’s been Dragon Age or AC2 or Demon’s Souls, but it may as well be any old game because we’ve got to have something to chat/argue about.

You mentioned timing in your essay, and I think that’s a big part of what happened with Torchlight. It arrived when it did, among some AAA big-commitment games, as a colorful mindless fun machine and it briefly became “the game.” I also think we enjoy “discovering” games that don’t receive big media hype, and Torchlight became the game to champion with tweets, wall posts, blog posts, etc. (I’m certainly not immune from that impulse when I come across a game I enjoy.) If enough people behave similarly, it begins to feel like a collective push with momentum, and we receive gratification if the game catches on, as if we have a personal stake in it. As you suggest, most of this has little to do with carefully examining the game itself. At a certain point “the game” becomes fodder for other things.

I would say more, but I see I’m beginning to sound like an amateur sociologist, and that can’t be good for anybody.

For the clicky-click action RPG in particular, it’s not one that sees very many releases. Titan Quest was the last big one before Torchlight. There are always a million shooters to choose from, but not so many that scratch the itch for absurd amounts of loot.

I’ve seen many reviewers and regular players make the connections to Fate and other games that these developers have made, so I don’t think that the most hardcore players are ignorant of its influences.

The low price, even at initial release, certainly had to help get more people to play it. Titan Quest was a full $50 with a $30 expansion later. That might narrow the audience a bit.