Sequel to ex-Diablo devs loot-em-up has no set date after push from 2011 release, preorders still available.
Dungeon delvers who found their loot lust unquenched by Diablo III still have an indefinite wait ahead for Torchlight II. Runic Games, a studio formed by several ex-Diablo developers, said the online-enabled sequel to the critically and commercially successful hack-and-slash game is in a period of polish after a closed beta.
While the game's content is there from beginning to end, said an official forum post from Runic head Travis Baldree, many changes have been made in response to beta impressions and many more are still in store. "[We're not] all twiddling our thumbs behind our desks," he said. "Nor are we feverishly polishing the doorknobs while the house is yet to be built."
Baldree specifically avoided giving any date for release or specific time remaining for development. The game was originally targeted for a 2011 release but since its delay has remained in a state of "when it's done." Preorders for the game have been available since April 26.
Connor Sheridan is the News Intern at GameSpot in San Francisco. He loves Super Metroid and has seen "Weird Al" Yankovic in concert three times.
2 Like I'm willing to wait a little longer for TLII to be released. If the devs do take their time to polish a game, then I can wait. Yes, it is frustrating, but in the long run, it be worth the wait. In the mean time, I'm gonna play more Torchlight on my XBOX, and you should to!
2 Like Who cares! Just make sure you release a solid game, with as few bugs as possible! Most of us will gladly wait an extra year if it makes the difference between disappointment or bliss.
I pre-ordered, and want to play so bad... but please don't rush on my account.
Aw Man, haven't we all waited long enough already? ._.How much can you polish a game anyways? Not that I wouldn't appreciate the effort, but we're only a half year away from 2013 now and for a game which is there from "start to end", 1 year for mere "polishing" is ridiculous in my opinion. :/
1 Like This headline is a little misleading. Makes it sound like they're just starting to polish now. If you havn't been checking the runic forums fear not we're still in line for a late summer release!
3 Like I'm hoping Runic Games nails this completely. There is a lot to learn from D3's shortcomings.
2 Like Just got my new September PC Gamer issue, guess what? A one page color add for Torchlight 2. My bet, a September release. Why would they pay all this money for advertising and release a game, (an August release) before people even see the ads? Again my guess...September 11th release date.
2 Like Hopefully it isn't too long a delay. At least it's not gonna come out with tons of bugs and whatnot. Getting kind of sick of that crap lately.
2 Like Hopefully, Torchlight 2 developers learned from Diablo 3's mistakes. Torchlight 2 should retain lots of customizations for the game's main characters, add more technique into the combat system, have more interesting and diverse themes, add some humor into the story (D3 took itself too seriously), add in some political incorrectness (Offend everyone and things will be good for me!), and provide cooperative multiplayer, deathmatch, and team deathmatch. Honestly though, I'm not too hopeful.
@Utahraptor_ Humor? Takes itself too seriously? Go back and play Diablo 1. There was no humor to be found there either, and if you don't want a game that takes itself seriously, then you shouldn't have been looking towards the Diablo series in the first place.
Gamespot censored my previous reply.
I'll make a quick redo. The Diablo series had light, dry, or subtle humor in it, but it's unnoticeable to cement heads.
(I'll take your advice and insult you in return. Oh yeah, I apologize for the late reply. I was busy. Better late than never!)
I was originally talking about Torchlight 2 improving on Diablo 3, thus, for ONE example out of a couple, Torchlight 2 should add more humor.
I wasn't talking about your experience with strippers and prostitutes. Stay on topic.
@leviathanwing @Utahraptor_ Well, for some of us, dry or dark humour is like extra spice on the food, without which the food would be ok but a bit ... bland.
@Utahraptor_ very dry humor but just only. not exactly worth puffing out your chest and doing a ritual mating dance for big guy. also insults beget insults so theres yours.
1 Like Oh but Diablo 3 and error 37 was so bad right? People act like TL2 is the 2nd coming of Jesus. This was foreseen but keep talking what ever negative talk about Diablo 3, at least that game came out.
I was overall disappointed by D3. The normal difficulty was so easy a 3 year old could have breezed through it. Subsequent playthroughs were interesting, but then things just got stupid at Hell difficulty and it became a grind fest to get gear just to survive mob AOE orgies in Inferno. Talk about tedious. I was done with it after a month because of this and it definitely wasn't worth the non-resell price of $60.
2 Like @unreal_master And how long did we have to wait for it from the time Blizzard announced it? Keep being a good little puppet.
5 Like @unreal_master When TL2 takes a decade to come out, then you will have a valid point.
Ah, you mean that Turd that Act-Blizz passed off as a finished game or the polished Turd they are using to milk more money out of the sheeple.
6 Like When they first delayed the release of T2 I thought Runic was crazy to wait until after D3 was released. Now I realize they were being very crafty to wait and see how ActiBlizzard botched things up and also so they could hear what folks are complaining about most so they can make sure that T2 does not go down that same lame path. Brilliant I say! They are already advertising the fact that you can play single player offline, that T2 still has skill trees and manual allotment of stat points and such, and I believe co-op can support more players at once than D3 can. I hope T2 outsells D3 whenever it hatches.
It should support more players. but runic said the ideal number is 4 which makes it sound like more players could be a total cluster even if they make it an option. I'll definitely give T2 a shot with my co-op buddy when it comes, but I'm really just waiting for Borderlands 2 to drop. That's going to be a blast.
The headline is inaccurate. Travis never said that the game was being delayed. Runic has stated that the game is still on track for a 'Summer 2012' release.
http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=30225&p=268610#p268610
1 Like i have a feeling the preorderes are funding the polishing of this game they want to make this perfect and honestly seeings games like BF3 for instance come out like a buggy disaster i would rather this game come out when its ready to and be excellent then come out to soon and feel half baked.
2 Like @helldew Runic doesn't get the money from pre-order sales until the game is released. Hence, why you can get a refund for a pre-ordered game on Steam vs not being able to get a refund once the game is released. The game was fully budgeted to completion before production started as Runic is no longer 'indie'.
7 Like Typically when publishing a news article to potentially thousands of viewers, one would want to actually have something to report.
You know, something more substantial than a forum post that says virtually nothing to begin with.
While it doens't personally rattle me for the delay (I'm waiting patiently for Darksiders 2 also) I know a few people that'll be upset by this. As long as they are actually polishing it up its a good thing for us.
7 Like A case of ex-Blizzard devs taking a very Blizzard stance. It'll be done when it's done.
I can respect that. Some other devs should pay attention. They could learn that patience leads to refinement leads to MY happiness.
And isn't that the most important thing, after all?
Runic Games says there are no plans for Torchlight MMO; dev team would like to move away from RPGs in the future; team discusses thoughts on Diablo III, Blizzard, and Torchlight II on Linux.
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