When most of us first heard about Torchlight, we only ever intended to think of it as a “Diablo” clone. Or even just as something to tide us over until “Diablo III” is released (if that ever happens!). However, “Torchlight“ has grown into a worthy title in its own right, and Relic Runic Games announced a sequel in 2010.
There’s a lot to be said for sticking with a winning formula, and there are many aspects of the original “Torchlight” that we want to see more of. There are also some completely new ideas that exist only in rumor, but that sound potentially awesome. With only a tiny peek at any details of the game at all, here are some things we’d like to see in “Torchlight 2”!
More Character Classes
While it was nice of them to have a fighter dude, a magic dude, and a hybridized ranged weapons lady, action RPGs really need more customization if they want to keep up with the kinds of options that gamers expect these days. How about 4 or 5 character classes that each focus on a different skill set? Or better yet, for each character class, how about allowing the player more freedom with regard to gender, hair, skin, and maybe even body type? This is probably a tall order, but customizable avatars are starting to become the norm, and the bar has already been set pretty high.
Pet Leveling
The whole idea of having a pet was part of what made the original “Torchlight” so great. Pets solve multiple problems. They could run back to town to sell off extra loot, aid players in battle, and even be taught spells to heal. It would be great to see the pets concept expanded a bit, so that perhaps pets could level up in certain skill sets as well. Imagine training your faithful dog specifically in melee attacks, or having your cat learn to hang back and use most of her power to cure you when wounded, poisoned, burnt or whatever else those ember-crazy monsters dish out.
Pet Armor
Pets had some limited ability to wear accessories and use spells in the original, which was great. Once you figure that out, it can change your whole game. But there comes a point when your pet just can’t quite be strong enough with a little more help than a necklace and healing spell can provide. Could there be options for pet armor, perhaps? No one wants their dog to look like Tinkerbell, but maybe something more dignified, like a fire protection vest or something similar.
Pet Weapons
And as long as we're contemplating pet-specific items such as armor, perhaps there's some kind of weapon that they can carry on their backs that deals a ranged attack, if that can be managed without looking too silly. After all, there’s already quite a lot of suspension of disbelief that has to go on in these games anyway. Is one little cat-mounted arbalest going to make that much difference?
Accessories
Seriously, you find so many of these things that it becomes kind of distracting trying to make a selection, since you can only wear so many. Either give us more space, or don't have as many choices. Otherwise, you end up with such a ridiculous amount of gold from selling them off that actually having money doesn't mean anything.
More Traps
There were some traps down in the secret labyrinthine passages beneath the ember mines, of course. Spikes that shot up from the floors, fires that suddenly blazed under grates when walked over, and little huts filled with demons. But see, the problem with this is that once you experience one of these, you can generally avoid them in the future, because they all looked the same and were easy to spot. The few that were unavoidable we not that difficult to get through, either. We’re not saying that it should be turned into a bunch of horrible timing puzzles that cause painful deaths unless done just so. Honestly, it kind of sucks if you’re into the hack and slash thing, and suddenly you find yourself dealing with a platform situation that you must navigate in order to progress. But perhaps if there was just a little more variety in the traps. Or maybe not have the same amount of demons storm out of the very same hut every time. You know, mix it up. Variety is the spice of life, after all.
More Dungeon Variety
There was a very distinctive look to various levels of the game, which was great. But within each area, things often seemed identical. Perhaps it was intended to add to the difficulty, but it often had the effect of making me try to die on purpose so that I could re-spawn somewhere else.
Weapons Upgrades
Rather than a traditional upgrading system where components have to be gathered, or a more simple system where players just keep obtaining newer, better weapons in place of the old ones, “Torchlight” had sort of a hybrid system with an element of randomness thrown in, as well. Players could find weapons, and some of these even had sockets in which to place various types and grades of ember. Players could choose to stick with this system, or they could rely on drops. Weapons could be obtained with minimal effort. However, the truly adventurous soul knows that the best way to get a badass weapon is to gamble on the magician back in the village. Sometimes nothing would happen, and sometimes the weapon might even lose a little something, but with patience and money, there were some unbelievable scores to be had. We hope they don’t change a thing, here, because it was awesome and should remain so.
Social Elements
Achievements on Steam are just not enough. “Torchlight 2” could stand to take some cues from Bioware and Blizzard by implementing profile pages for players to show off their characters, their assorted gear and their accomplishments.
Cooperative Multiplayer
Besides hunting for loot and slaying monsters, the biggest draw in any action RPGs is to do all of these things in the company of a friend. The experience of playing “Torchlight 2” could be twice as fun if the “2” in the title stood for “2 players,” though we’re not going to complain if the game supported more players than that.
