My quest for the perfect action-RPG, the elusive Nox-killer, continues. I’ve heard a lot about Titan Quest over the years, constant rumours of its goodness, but it was never purchaseable so I shrugged and moved on.
I think you already know how this story begins. A remaster appears on gog.com, it is deeply launch-discounted, and gosh, I’m not playing anything right now.
Nox is possibly one of my favourite games of all time. Needless to say, it’s a lost gem — an action-RPG accused of being “just another Diablo clone” at the time, it was made by Westwood Studios and vastly overshadowed by their more successful Command & Conquer franchise. Nox still brought its own unique flair to the table though, and the world is a worse place for having let this game slip through its fingers.
Why do I think and say this? Well…
You’re right, I was a bit ambivalent about the first Torchlight, even though I got it for free. There were still things to like about it, though, and I was in the mood for some more pretty-but-brainless hacking and slashing and then Torchlight II went on sale on gog.com.
Yes, it’s the same old story. Shall we?
When I played Loki the first time around, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. However, I was in the mood for something fairly brainless, and why buy a new action-RPG when you can give an older one a second chance?
I mean, I am making an action-RPG myself — and that is mostly because nobody else’s action-RPG has ever hit the spot for me (at least since Nox). So I decided to take a closer look at why this one didn’t hit the spot either…
ArcaniA is a nice third-person hack ‘n’ slash action adventure RPG. According to the loading screens, it is also Gothic 4 but I have no idea what that means.
Having given Helios a decent work-out with Crysis, what could I do next but pick up an ancient 3D hack ‘n’ slash from GOG.com that it could probably run while switched off?
Hey — my game is going to be a hack ‘n’ slash, it’s totally research.
They say that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I was vaguely interested in Torchlight at the time, but based on its status as a digital-download-only title and rumours that it was just a cash cow for an eventual MMO, it fell by the wayside (ain’t no way I’m funding an MMO if I can help it).
Then GoG.com offered it to me for free. Free. What kind of man would I be if I refused?
While I am meaning to replay Planescape: Torment at some point soon, I felt that I should probably leave it off until my mind is released from the brilliant but bewildering complexity of Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series. With the days increasingly lengthy from a new job bookended by at least 1h30 of commute, I also felt that maybe I needed to settle in a bit before biting into a super-giant slab of RPG… So I wanted to play something a little more lightweight.
I enjoyed Venetica the first time around, and that was a long time ago, so why not give it another spin and see what falls out?
Rao Dao Zao 