I loved Diablo 1, liked Diablo 2, didn’t like Fate, and didn’t really like Mythos, either. Yet for some reason I love Torchlight. To me it has the best of Diablo 1 (minus the slightly spooky/haunted atmosphere) – loot, loot, and more loot, and lots of stuff to kill satisfyingly. Plus it adds in lots of additional mechanics and great 3D graphics.

What makes it better than Fate are the better graphics (not just in the technical sense but also in the art direction – just miles better), better dungeon design, better combat. I love the satisfying thunk and shake of attacks in Torchlight. You feel really powerful. It’s a great “blow some steam off and relax” game.

Some people play games almost as interchangeable experiences. I feel like those people grab titles off the shelf because they’re the next big-name FPS or RTS game rather than for any concern over story or message. I don’t seem to be built that way.  I loved the Xenosaga games not at all because they were sci-fi RPGs, but because I get into the stories told. (For that reason, I appreciate every single cutscene, and I don’t think any of them are extraneous.)

I feel like, as art, a game is much more than a list of bullet points. And, on the other side, I do NOT feel that features should be added to a game in order to make it more marketable. Pity the industry doesn’t share that belief. 

Part of me believes that this is the reason we’ll never see Mother 3 in the US.