Torchlight III Review — Welcome To The Dungeon
After the closure of Runic Games, a proper third sequel to the quirky dungeon crawler series Torchlight seemed unlikely. Then from the ashes of Runic, Echtra Games rose with the help of Torchlight co-creator Max Schaefer, and Torchlight Frontiers was born. This new game would feature a setting, art style, and combat that Torchlight players would be familiar with, but would abandon single-player and traditional co-op in favor of an open-world MMO where hundreds of players could meet in a persistent shared world. After an initial closed alpha, Frontiers was scrapped in favor of a more traditional installment in the series, Torchlight III.
Whenever a game gets a complete overhaul before it releases, it's usually a recipe for disaster. Sure, there have been exceptions like Until Dawn, but Torchlight III seemed to be doomed before it even made it to the masses. Having been a fan of the first two games, I was still hoping for the best. When I started the game, it looked like the bright cartoonish anti-Diablo art style that I fell in love with, and two of the four classes (Railmaster and Forged) obviously displayed the offbeat and imaginative spirit of Runic Games. The other two classes available are your more standard garden variety RPG classes, Sharpshooter and Dusk Mage.
I have a serious indecisive problem when it comes to picking and choosing characters and classes — what if I make the wrong choice? However, I'm a sucker for a robot, so I went with the Forged class who kills things with a sword of fire, thanks to the Flaming Destroyer relic I equipped him with. I suggest carefully choosing the relic that best suits you and your character's playstyle, as it will complement the already intricate skill tree that Torchlight III possesses. The junkyard robot is well-versed in both melee and projectile combat thanks to his chest-mounted cannon. Having the two combat styles in one character works out really well for the solo player, or if you really like to shoot things, like me.
As I set off on my Torchlight III journey, I started with a pet llama but promptly switched to a dragon named Nugget. Each pet brings with it a helpful skill to aid you in combat. As you progress, you can unlock more pets and their skills with a total of four per companion. Your pet can also help you haul your loot when your inventory becomes full. For the sake of saving time, I started the game on Normal difficulty, but I highly recommend raising the level one above your comfort level for a good challenge. If you are new to Torchlight or dungeon crawlers in general, I'd start at Normal until you get a feel for the game, as it doesn't hold your hand as you get to know the basics.
Torchlight III picks up nearly a century after the events of Torchlight II. Novastraia once again finds itself under attack from the Netherim, and it's up to you to stop them and their allies. I'm not going to lie, I know there is more to the story than a one-sentence summary, but honestly, much of the lore is lost in translation. That's meant as no disrespect to the writers, but as with all dungeon crawlers, I hack and slash first then ask questions later. Torchlight III started off strong and it felt like everything I wanted in a sequel, but the more I played of it, the more frustrated I became.
My biggest gripe with the game is that it is a nightmare traveling to and from various destinations. When you finish a quest, it will unlock the next part of the map you need to go to. But often, you must return to the home base of the area to reap rewards and get the new intel of the next mission before your next adventure. This means that you must backtrack through previously-played areas to find the newly-opened portal. In retracing your steps, you will once again face the foes you just defeated. The first thing you want to do when you get to the new area is to seek out and unlock the portals that allow fast travel. If not, should you have to quit for any reason or your character dies, it's backtrack time once again.
Well wait, "isn't there a mini-map to help you navigate," you ask? Well, there sure is, but it's as confusing and useless as the one in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Waypoints are marked, but the mini-map's view is so claustrophobic that until you are in direct proximity of the waypoint, it doesn't show. This, unfortunately, leads to a lot of aimless wandering and replaying of the same areas with the same enemies. I felt as if Torchlight III was trying to channel Groundhog Day.
The redundancy of getting lost in Torchlight III is even more aggravated by the fact that the enemies might take on several different forms such as goblins, skeletons, and spiders, but they all seem to pose the same challenge. Sure, there's levels of difficulty with enemies, but they can all be defeated in almost the exact same way. Even bosses are defeated not by challenging you to tactically use all the cool perks and weapons at your disposal, but rather by avoiding and attacking for several minutes until they have absorbed enough damage. It's often their tiny minions that rush to attack you with their various elemental abilities that are more deadly than the actual boss.
One aspect of Torchlight III that I didn't spend much time on was the Fort feature. The Fort is a fully customizable home area where you can store pets, weapons, and gear while also utilizing the space to craft items. I'm guessing the Fort was a leftover from the Torchlight Frontiers days, but it's a cool feature for those of you that like to personalize their in-game living quarters.
The art team and level designers did an excellent job of creating the cartoon fantasy world and characters in the Torchlight tradition with bold colors, making the game stand out from the gloom and darkness of others in its genre. With a perfectly orchestrated score, lush sound effects, and decent voice acting, the game definitely was made with care to appeal to fans of the franchise without reinventing the wheel. Unfortunately, all of this may not be enough to introduce the series to a new audience, as overall I would say that Torchlight III in some ways feels inferior to the recent console port of Torchlight II.
They say there's a fine line between love and hate, and despite Torchlight III's flaws, I was still oddly captivated by it. The second act seemed to be slightly more user-friendly in terms of getting from one destination to the next, or perhaps I just got better at navigating after a while. Even in my frustration, I couldn't wait to see what the game had to offer next. Combat and enemies might be indistinctive, but I still had moments of fun playing it.
My initial thought was to compare how Torchlight III paled in comparison to the growth and development that Diablo III took that franchise in, but then I remembered that the launch iteration of Diablo III was nothing compared to the game it is now. I think Torchlight III has the foundations to be great, and hopefully, Echtra Games can bring the franchise to its full potential.
The post Torchlight III Review — Welcome To The Dungeon by Laddie Simco appeared first on DualShockers.
After I able to get my hands on the upcoming Watch Dogs: Legion and dive into the open world myself (you can check out my preview of the game here), I was able to speak with Ubisoft Toronto lead producer Sean Crooks in a brief but very enlightening interview. We discussed the size and scope of London, permadeath mode, how real world politics shaped the story and gameplay, and more.
Allisa James: How large is the new map (London) compared to San Francisco from Watch Dogs 2 and Chicago from Watch Dogs?
Sean Crooks: So while the map, if you compare it, is about as large as the other two cities, it's far denser. There's way more locations such as parks, government buildings, and other landmarks than San Francisco and Chicago, which was a huge challenge to incorporate and recreate. There's a lot more content in London, much more to see and do.
AJ: How much influence have real world politics surrounding Brexit and other countries had on the world building in Watch Dogs: Legion?
SC: Quite a bit; even now with everything that's going on in the world, we wanted to reflect that and the idea of fighting against systematic oppression, of banding together and citizens combining their efforts to overthrow this oppressive entity. We felt that it was our responsibility to reflect these real world events in a game like Watch Dogs and even now as we're developing the game, there are still current events happening that we need to incorporate into the final product, and some that we can't even fit in at this time.
AJ: What made you and the Watch Dogs: Legion team decide to go in this narrative direction, as well as the gameplay mechanic of playing and recruiting anyone?
SC: In the original Watch Dogs we had this main character with his own unique narrative and inner demons who went against these huge mainstream corporations. And so for Legion, we wanted to expand that idea; like, "how do we incorporate an entire population into this fight against mainstream corporations?" In the game you can see each character's profile and history, and so it leads into how all these people would use their unique abilities and skill sets to fight back, and reflect how all these people with different lives and personalities would deal with this situation and would fight back against this system.
For instance, there's a system in the game that lets you see where they work and what they do for a living. You can see what's going on in their lives and how you can help them with their abilities, which is one of the ways you can recruit them.
AJ: And what were some of the challenges involving the development of this system?
SC: This was easily one of the biggest technical challenges that we faced. Because each one of these characters not only have their unique backstory but occupation, skillset, a unique mission to recruit them, and history. Not only that, but they also have unique hairstyles, cosmetics, clothing, voices, and other characteristics. And we had to manage this function of having millions of millions of characters being generated. So the next challenge is how to manage this system while ensuring that these generated NPCs reflect London's population and feel like people in London.
AJ: Whether in permadeath mode or not, there are some characters who are more likely to die or a trait leading to sudden death. Why was this implemented and what scenarios or traits could lead to death even in a non-permadeath playthrough?
SC: In Watch Dogs: Legion we wanted to make it realistic, that some people would have certain traits that could make things more difficult once you fulfill certain requirements or conditions. Not every character is a perfect ally, but some have traits that can make things more difficult even in non-permadeath mode, whether it's dying at a certain point or some other characteristic that puts them in more danger while on dangerous or high risk stealth missions.
We had a lot of fun with making challenges using characters with certain restrictions like this, like making it through levels with characters who had traits involving flatulence or hiccups and trying to stealth high security areas. And so players could do the same–create their own challenges–and we already had players create challenges themselves. For instance, there was one in which you recruit only elderly people and beat the entire game that way.
AJ: Accessibility is a huge part of Watch Dogs: Legion; how more diverse are the options available within the game in comparison to other Ubisoft games, or the previous Watch Dogs titles?
SC: Well this was something that we were really passionate about, and I think to date this Ubisoft game has some of the strongest accessibility experiences. And that was something very powerful. I felt very strongly about what was needed to address the options available in our game and in the end, our team was very proud of what we were able to accomplish and how we created something like this for our community. I was very happy that the team worked so hard and was able to develop such strong accessibility options.
Watch Dogs: Legion will release for PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC on October 29, followed by its release for Xbox Series X/Series S on November 10 and PS5 on November 12.
The post Watch Dogs: Legion Interview — Lead Producer on What Makes This Massively Interactive Open World Tick by Allisa James appeared first on DualShockers.
Blue Protocol Lets You Change Costumes And Cosplay Shop NPCs
On October 15, Bandai Namco shared a new update for its upcoming anime style, PC online action RPG, Blue Protocol, focusing on costumes. New screenshots were shared on Twitter, and show player characters dressed as shop clerks of Astellize, the starter city. This is basically cosplaying as existing ingame NPCs. This is one of the many features the development team previously teased.
The tweet mentions more NPC costumes will be available in Blue Protocol.
最新の開発情報をお届け！
今回はゲーム内に登場した施設のNPCになりきれるコスプレ衣装をご紹介します！
他の施設の衣装も準備しておりますのでお楽しみに♪#ブルプロ #BlueProtocol pic.twitter.com/7o5voNTSn3— BLUE PROTOCOL (@BLUEPROTOCOL_JP) October 16, 2020
The latest Blue Protocol stream happened on October 12, it most notably showed a new desert settlement called Salamzart Oasis, and some new gameplay. We also learned players inexperienced with action games will be able to ask NPCs for help. The development team also teased a new fifth Class will be available at launch. Check our summary of the October stream here. We also have summaries for the past streams: The first stream was on February 13, 2020. Stream 2 was on February 20, 2020 and most notably had a Blue Protocol Q&A. The third stream on February 27 was when the devs teased the Blue Protocol global release. The fourth stream, which happened on June 18, had a full report of the Blue Protocol Closed Beta Test.
Blue Protocol Latest Trailer
Blue Protocol has no release date yet. The development team also stressed out they'll carefully test the game, so it's not releasing anytime soon. Judging from job listings, it won't launch before April 2021. While only announced for PC, still judging from job listings, it's possible the game will come to PS5 or Xbox Series X as well. Last but not least, while no official confirmation happened yet, it's very likely Hiroyuki Sawano (Xenoblade X, Gundam Unicorn) is the composer on Blue Protocol. All the OST tracks revealed so far reeks of Sawano doing Sawano-isms. Overall, it's definitely one of the games any anime aficionados should keep their eyes on.
Blue Protocol will have a Matching Test on November 7. This will purely be to test the new automatic party matching system for dungeons, and players will be asked to follow very specific instructions. Taking this into account, I wouldn't recommend trying to register for it unless you understand Japanese.
The post Blue Protocol Lets You Change Costumes And Cosplay Shop NPCs by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.
Phil Spencer Comments On Whether More Xbox Exclusives Could Come To Nintendo Switch
Xbox True Last Boss Phil Spencer was interviewed by Kotaku, and he was most notably asked about Microsoft exclusive games getting to Nintendo Switch, stuff like Game Pass. Over the years, a very few amount of Xbox exclusives ended up ported on Switch: games like Cuphead, and the Ori series, Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Phil Spencer told Kotaku that Microsoft has a "very good relationship with Nintendo", and that every conversation they ever had "has really been easy". However, the games that ended up on Switch so far are all special cases and exceptions, and it's unlikely more will come on a regular basis. Spencer explained considering every Xbox exclusive game to get ported to Switch one by one "doesn't feel sustainable".
Phil Spencer added that in order to support more Xbox games coming to Switch, he'd instead like a full Xbox ecosystem, like the Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass, on Switch. In a past interview with Gamestar, he basically said Sony and Nintendo aren't really that interested in having a full Xbox experience on their PS4, PS5, or Switch. Asked about this previous comment, Phil Spencer now corrected himself, saying that he "shouldn't speak" for Sony or Nintendo, and that they should be the ones to answer that.
Dream with us.
Dream of blazing fast speeds.
Dream of more vibrant gaming worlds.
Dream of high visual fidelity and higher frame rates. #PowerYourDreams with the Xbox Series X: https://t.co/hSdfoAz643 pic.twitter.com/ee0cjqKjkQ— Xbox (@Xbox) October 9, 2020
Personally speaking I don't think Xbox Game Pass or tons of Xbox exclusives in general coming to Switch will ever happen, but we'll see. At least, it's definitely more likely than Microsoft buying Japanese companies like Sega or Konami. And having to manage their game centers, pachislo gambling, sports gyms, and mobile games whose chara designs would be deemed outrageous by most non otaku people.
The Xbox Series X will be launching November 10, 2020. The digital only Xbox Series S is launching the same day.
The post Phil Spencer Comments On Whether More Xbox Exclusives Could Come To Nintendo Switch by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.
Halo Infinite Campaign and Multiplayer Could Release Separately
In an interview with Kotaku's Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Totilo, Phil Spencer, the Head of Xbox said that Halo Infinite may be dealt out piecemeal.
Since being delayed this past August and with no clear release date in sight, the fate of Halo Infinite, once a launch title for the upcoming Xbox Series X, has been a mystery. Spencer's interview released today doesn't clear much up. When asked about the game, Spencer said that he had played it but could give "no update right now" about a release date for the highly anticipated title.
Totilo then asked Spencer if Microsoft would consider releasing the game's campaign and multiplayer separately, to which Spencer responded without giving any definitive answer. Instead, he pointed to Bonnie Ross, the current Head of the Halo franchise and the rest of the Halo team. "I think we want to make sure people feel like they have a Halo experience," said Spencer. "I think we can look at options like that. So, yeah, I think that's something to talk about, but we want to make sure we do it right."
In all, this decision doesn't sound like it's totally under Spencer's control. There have been obvious issues over the course of Halo Infinite's development, enough that the game had to be delayed without a definite release date and for 343 to call on Halo veteran Joseph Staten to lend a hand. For now, we can't definitely say whether the game will release as one complete package or in separate bits. The onus for that decision is on the team at 343.
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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Adds Cal's Lightsaber to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities is getting a few brand new additions to its selection of lightsabers. Soon, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order fans can pick up a replica of Cal Kestis' lightsaber at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. The lightsaber will join a collection of some of the biggest fan favorites in Luke Skywalker, Rey, and Darth Vader. It's a pretty cool move from the Star Wars team and confirms that Cal is a big hit with fans. Check it out.
The votes are in! Cal Kestis' lightsaber from #StarWarsJediFallenOrder is coming to Disney Parks: https://t.co/11gXadgwiM pic.twitter.com/ZXe7ho8ZUd
— Star Wars (@starwars) October 16, 2020
If you've yet to play Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order you should really consider rectifying that. The game mixes elements of classic Metroidvania gameplay and Dark Souls-like combat. Now, before you get either too excited or discouraged, Fallen Order is nowhere near as hard as a FromSoft title. Even the most novice of video game players can play this title. The combat just feels somewhat similar to a Miyazaki game.
Of course, Cal's lightsaber isn't the only one coming to the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge collection. Fans can also pick up Ahsoka Tano's blades from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. And, the one I personally most want is Count Dooku's curved handle. I'm not sure if I'll actually pick it up given the cost, but that hilt has always looked the most rad to me.
Cal Kestis' lightsaber (along with Ahsoka and Dooku's) will be available at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge by the end of the year. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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In light of Microsoft acquiring Bethesda Softworks and all of its studios only a few weeks back, ongoing discussions in the aftermath of the deal have largely centered around whether or not future titles from Bethesda would still come to other platforms outside of the Xbox ecosystem. After all, Microsoft spent a wild $7.5 billion on this acquisition, and considering how well titles like The Elder Scrolls VI would surely do on a platform like PS5 in terms of sales, the value proposition seems to be too much to pass up. According to Xbox head Phil Spencer, however, that's not necessarily the case.
Speaking to Kotaku in a new interview, Spencer was asked about the Bethesda deal and what it might mean in the future. Specifically, the notion of bringing Bethesda titles to platforms outside of Xbox was brought up. In terms of making back its investment, Spencer said very clearly that releasing Bethesda games on platforms other than those that Microsoft has at its disposal right now won't be needed.
"But I'll also say in the model—I'm just answering directly the question that you had—when I think about where people are going to be playing and the number of devices that we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, I don't have to go ship those games on any other platform other than the platforms that we support in order to kind of make the deal work for us," Spencer said. Even though it has previously been said that Bethesda games might come to other platforms on a case by case basis, Spencer's comments here makes it sound as though it might not be a common occurrence.
Additionally, Spencer noted that the Bethesda acquisition in the first place was not one that was made to keep players from playing certain games from the publisher. "This deal was not done to take games away from another player base like that. Nowhere in the documentation that we put together was: 'How do we keep other players from playing these games?' We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to go play games," he explained. The notion of growing the larger video game market has been something that Spencer has talked a lot about over the years.
It remains to be seen just how Bethesda ends up fitting into Microsoft's plans for the future with the Xbox Series X/S, but at this point, it sounds like you might want to invest in that ecosystem if you want to guarantee that you can continue to play games from the label moving forward.
The post Phil Spencer Says Microsoft Doesn't Need to Ship Bethesda Games on Platforms Other Than its Own to Recoup Investment by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.
Marvel's Avengers Tops NPD Chart for September, Mario and Tony Hawk Follow
Yes, it's once again that time of the month folks — the NPD charts for September 2020 have been unveiled. In what was a pretty busy month of releases, the titles that you would most likely expect to rise to the top have indeed done so.
Marvel's Avengers from Square Enix was the top-selling game for the month of September in the United States and was the number one seller across both PS4 and Xbox One. Avengers was the second best-selling superhero game in its debut, only following behind that of Marvel's Spider-Man. Additionally, it has already sold enough copies to be the year's seventh best-selling game.
Following behind Avengers in September was that of Nintendo's Super Mario 3D All-Stars. It seems as though Nintendo's decision to make this release available for a limited time has already paid off, as it has become the publisher's second best-selling game this year behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
While Madden 21 slotted in at third for September, Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 then ended up debuting in fourth. THPS 1+2 had the strongest first-month launch sales of any game in franchise history, which bodes well for the future.
As for other big notes for September 2020, the Nintendo Switch again was the market's number one selling video game console in terms of dollars and units. Sales for the video game market as a whole grew in this month compared to 2019, with total spending increasing by 21%. It seems as though the video game business continues to be strong in a time where more people are looking to stay inside than ever before.
Per usual, if you want to see even more details from September's NPD charts, you can watch the video below from the Group's Mat Piscatella.
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Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is out today and Nintendo has dropped a brand new trailer to get people excited. It features a young kart racer talking about the thrill of drifting around your coffee table and under your couch in Home Circuit. It's quite the showcase for Mario's latest. If you were on the fence, this new footage might be able to sway you. Give it a look below.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is something only Nintendo could do. You're buying both a video game and a real-life Mario Kart toy. The toy kart has a camera, which the game uses to put you right into the action. After you set up a real-world course, you'll use the game and toy to race against digital opponents in classic Mario Kart action.
It is a little out there, but definitely cool, especially if you have kids that are into games. For some, it might be a one-off triffle, but I can definitely see the type of kid who really gets into Legos playing the crud out of this game. As one of those kids, the thought of dreaming up all kinds of crazy courses sounds incredible. That type of creativity is what makes Nintendo so weird and lovable.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is available now on Nintendo Switch. As with Ring Fit Adventure, this comes with an extra physical component, so it's possible Nintendo could quickly sell out of its stock with the holidays fast approaching. Keep that in mind if you're hoping to pick one up for the young kart racing star in your life.
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Hades Cosplayer Looks God-like
Hades has been in the gaming conversation for some time now, ever since its early access release back in 2018. However, it has gained a substantial amount of press and players when it officially launched in September of this year. Because it has been praised by fans and critics alike for its stellar character design, it seemed like incredible cosplays were inevitable. Twitter user @Geheichou posted their take on Zagreus and it's insane.
https://twitter.com/geheichou/status/1316447441273729025?s=21
The original tweet says that it's just a makeup test before they put the whole cosplay together but, the images they posted tell a different story: user @Geheichou looks like Zagreus brought to life. Between the colored contact lenses, exceptional brow makeup, and picture-perfect wig, the cosplay looks like it's already done.
Obviously, what they're most likely referring to being incomplete is the actual outfit itself, but they could be wearing a sheet and as long as they have their wig and makeup on, everybody would recognize them.
In a later post, they showed off another stunning Zagreus picture. In this one, Zagreus is picking up a boon from the goddess Aphrodite and it's incredible. Take a look for yourself:
https://twitter.com/geheichou/status/1316842663417708554
@Geheichou is a Spanish cosplayer who has done stellar work for all sorts of iconic characters. Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, Kicks from Animal Crossing, and Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, are all a part of their repetiteur and deserve to be featured.
You can find @Geheichou's Twitter, Instagram, and art account right here.
For more great cosplays, make sure to check out our tag to never miss an article. Our review of Hades, written by DualShockers' Kris Cornelisse, can be found right here. For more on Hades, check out this article on its potential to be considered for "Game of the Year" at this year's Game Awards.
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