OK, you hated Fate … so I assume you aren't a huge action-RPG fan, since all the stuff you ask is pretty much a summation of the sub-genre …
Torchlight is a pure action-RPG, and is clearly derived from Fate as Diablo 2 is from Diablo. If you hate Fate you'll hate Torchlight.
I was playing Fate when some technical problems drag me to Torchlight. I played the beginning of Torchlight demo and you are right, the base is Fate. Many details come from Fate and not Diablo. The more important, the whole Pet system and all its details, is the good design element of Fate and comes fully from Fate, and that is enough to make a real difference with Diablo 2.
There are many tiny details also coming from Fate and not the Diablo series, the fame system, the pure Dungeon approach saving the trouble to design outdoor and outside world, the bet shop (or did Diablo 2 had it?), the ability to take back items or gems, the focus on items identification, the random enchanting, and more.
But there are three important elements that drag Torchlight closer to Diablo 2 than was Fate:
- The class system in Fate was no class but general skills and spells plus base attributes you could increase at each level, and you had to specialize your skills choices to survive better in the Dungeon. Torchlight offer 3 different classes and each has 3 skill trees quite like Diablo 2.
- In Fate levels are rather like in the classical Rogue like line, very random but also with the maze approach that has its plus when its about strategy/tactic and fleeing. In Diablo 2 the idea is still here but through the random the dungeons are more structured and distinct but also lost the maze approach. Torchlight SEEMS have give up the maze approach and with more complex levels the approach seems quite closer to Diablo 2, but with differences. I appreciate the use of heights in Torchlight, a real plus, but from the few I see the maze approach seems quite forgotten and for such games it's not necessary the best idea.
- The story or story background is much more developed in Torchlight than in Fate. It's not CRPG and nor really like Diablo 2 but it makes it closer to Diablo 2 than Fate was.
Other than that, the global coherent cartoon approach is rather impressive. This is spread through all elements of the game and in fact it's even more coherent than Bioshock. The parallel with Bioshock is rather obvious, firstly there's few minor elements of Steampunk with pistols among magic bows and swords is quite like a wink. Also the graphic style is special and different to Bioshock but like in Bioshock there's a subtle choice of colors slightly washed and slightly grayed. This build the mood of a 50's like cartoon. But there isn't only graphics but also sounds and animations that reinforce the cartoon feeling quite a lot, and funnily the controls feel quite cartoon like too. I don't think the story follow the same approach but I cannot say as I didn't play enough the game.
For the real gameplay of the game I didn't play enough to know but it's clear that it has much more appeal than has a game like Fate, but this could be (or not) a superficial appeal. One thing in Fate keep me on it's how the game become somehow difficult at some point, past this point (roughly Dungeon level 9/10) this make me explore with a lot of caution each level of the Dungeon and the whole pet system increase a lot the value of the game at this point. First parts of Torshlight seems too easy, perhaps a higher difficulty mode would be a better choice even for the first play.
