Five Reasons Torchlight II is a Better Bang For Your Buck Than Diablo III

Many comparisons of this kind have already been made, with press members and gamers alike pointing out pros and cons of both the upcoming hack’n’slash releases, but in case you’re interested to read one more take on it, Forbes argues that Torchlight II is a better “bang for your buck” deal than Diablo III. Here are two of the reasons:

2. Always-online play

Blizzard justified its requirement for always-online play for Diablo 3 by claiming it allows single-player characters to hop online at any point. If Blizzard didn’t constantly monitor character development they wouldn’t be able to allow single-player characters online for fear of cheating. This way a seamless online/offline experience is possible. Unless, of course, you have a poor internet connection. Or no internet connection. Or just want to play without worrying about an internet connection.

Even in single-player mode, the always-online requirement prevents players from pausing the game, and will log you out of your session after a certain period of inactivity. In other words, this has the potential to be a huge pain, whether or not the anti-cheat feature makes sense. Torchlight 2 on the other hand, has no always-online DRM. By contrast, TL2 requires players to log in to access patches and matchmaking. The rest of the time, you’re out of the clutches of developer Runic Games.

Blizzard could give players the option to have an offline-only character or an online-possible character and avoid this invasive DRM. So far, this does not seem to be an option.

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5. Guns, pets, and UI

I realize this is entirely a matter of taste, but I really like the steampunk features in Torchlight 2. Not only can you wield a variety of pistols, canons, and rifles, you also crawl dungeons with one of a number of pets at your side. I played as a pistol-wielding Outlander with a dog (named Barque Barque) at my side. You have an entire array of options for your pet, and can even have the handy side-kicks carry items for you once your bag fills up.

In my brief time with each title I found both the user interface and gameplay mechanics of Torchlight 2 to be more fluid and intuitive. Diablo 3 was inexplicably more complicated and less user friendly. Of course, this was a beta so take this with a grain of salt.