14 DAY TRIAL // Even if Torchlight 2 is in direct competition with Blizzard’s Diablo 3, Max Schaefer, the founder of Torchlight developer Runic Games, doesn’t believe Blizzard did anything wrong with its own product, as it merely followed another strategy.
Diablo 3 came out back in May and, while it became the fastest selling PC game of all time, its experience was riddled with bugs, due to its mandatory online connection, while its Auction House, which traded in in-game gold as well as real-life money, caused a variety of security problems, which forced the studio to implement harsh measures.
Runic’s Torchlight 2, however, can be played offline and the studio even includes mod tools in the game so that players can tinker with the RPG.
Both these strategies are valid, according to Runic boss Max Schaefer, who talked with IGN about Torchlight II and Diablo III.
"There's two valid paths to go when making a game like this. You're either going to have a secure economy, like a quasi-MMO, or you're going to have an open game where you're going to let people have access to all the data and all the files and let them update it and mod it as they please," he said.
"We've chosen the latter path, and Blizzard obviously chose the former path. I think they're both valid, but they do offer alternatives to people who are disaffected one way or another."
"They've actually put out a significant product there. But what I think we're offering something that some players may prefer, things like the offline single-player play. Basically, we're not trying to create a secure economy. We don't have to have these crazy protection mechanisms in place. We're giving our development tools out with the game so that the modding community can go crazy with it and make all kinds of cool new stuff," he added.
Plenty of RPG fans who were disappointed with Diablo 3 have eagerly awaited Torchlight 2, as it offers such a different experience and for a lower price, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it performs later today, when it’s released on the PC, via Steam.