RPGWatch Feature - TQ: Immortal Throne Review

Dhruin

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Are action-RPG's your thing? Then Titan Quest almost certainly scratched that itch for you in 2006! Mike Anderson takes a detailed look at the expansion Immortal Throne in our latest feature. Here's a snip:
The main quest portion of the game is essentially a linear march to a final battle, yet it is so well wrapped up in the side-quests and diversions along the way that it actually feels more open than the original. The areas you encounter are larger and have multiple paths in and out with side-quests taking you in all directions. You are never in danger of getting lost, but some of the areas are large and challenging enough to be quite exhausting! This is a definite improvement that I noticed immediately when I started a new game after completing the expansion - and it is a highly welcome change, as the highly linear areas in the original tended to become tedious.
Read it all here.
More information.
 
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Special thanks to magerette for sending me a character. After playing that I went back and did my own - but I never would have managed it if she hadn't gotten me started. What a wonderful babe! :)
 
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You know, TQ is one of the few major RPGs I never got around to playing. It sounds pretty good for a hack'n'slash but I'm not sure I can find the time.

I have enjoyed it - but it is what it is ... which is just hack'n'slash in a different setting.
 
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Special thanks to magerette for sending me a character. After playing that I went back and did my own - but I never would have managed it if she hadn't gotten me started. What a wonderful babe! :)

Always my pleasure to contribute to your hack-n-slash dependency. ;)

Great review--hope it will inspire others to give the game a shot. It is in every way worth it if you enjoy the thrill that is h-n-s; anally building the perfect toon while scouring the universe for superlative equipment.:cool:

Sadly, this is yet another game that apparently didn't sell "enough" to warrant support from the publisher. There is a chance that if expansion sales pick up they may authorize a patch. As you say, it's far from unplayable, but there are a few annoying issues.

It's hard to believe that a game this good is not selling better when the market is flooded with mediocre hack-n-slash titles that truly are nothing but Diablo knockoffs. This is not just one of that pack. I would rate it as one of the top two or three action rpgs ever made, almost better (because more up to date graphically and otherwise) than the grandfather of all the Evils, D2:LoD. If it had shipped with a secure server comparable to battlenet, there would have been no looking back.


Boils down to this:Implementation and craftsmanship are even more important in a genre that is nothing but gameplay. Brian Sullivan's experience and feel for the ancient world shows in this game that was his 'someday' project while making Age of Empires.

Thanks for writing it up, Mike. :)
 
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A solid add-on, no doubt. I agree with most in the review, although to me the "can't jump right into the new content" drawback was bigger than it should've been. They should have made a similar option to that of Baldur's Gate 2, NWN, the upcoming NWN2 add-on and so on where you can create a new character, pop him right into the add-on, and he's given X amount of levels to make sure he's fit for the new content (you level the character up manually through 20 levels for example).
 
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although to me the "can't jump right into the new content" drawback was bigger than it should've been.

I'm honestly not sure if I would have ever gotten through it if magerette hadn't sent me the characters. But since I then turned around and played all the way through again I toned down that criticism over what it would have been initially.

But I still think back to Sacred Underworld - that gave you loads more starting options.
 
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