Titan Quest, worth a second look

I suppose I may have what some would call a bias toward older games.  It's not that I don't like new games I just wish they didn't come with all the baggage.  It wasn't so long ago that you could buy a game, maybe play it with couple of friends and if you wanted more content chances are an "expansion pack" would show up a few months later.  Not that you needed one.  It's only in the past couple of years that game development has been based more on a quarterly earnings report than its content. 

Games stood on their own, literally, no Internet connection required unless you needed to install a patch and even that was optional. 

So when I get the opportunity to play an older game that can still hang with the best of them after half a decade I'm in.

A friend did me a good turn and bought me a copy of the Gold Edition of THQ's (game now dev'd by Nordic) Titan Quest which included the Immortal Throne expansion.  It was on sale for less than $5 (currently $19.99) on Steam and worth at least what my friend paid. 

Titan Quest was released in 2006 and the Immortal Throne expansion showed up a year later to critical acclaim. It's the kind of game that perfectly symbolizes what used to be good in games.  In fact I'd go so far as to say it's a perfect template for how games should be produced.  None of this assembly line crap with its endless DLC, Internet connections and rushed development ultimately leading to overpriced sub-par titles like Battlefield 4 and Diablo 3.

So what about the game itself?  Well, here's the down and dirty, no punches pulled and while all isn't perfect I still say it's a great game.  So let's go...

Titan Quest places you in the role of a hero running around ancient Greece, Egypt and China.  In your travels you'll meet a myriad of characters from their respective mythologies as you continue your quest.

The story opens with a short explanation on how the world was once ruled by mighty Titans who were overthrown and imprisoned by the gods of Olympus.  But something's gone wrong and the Titans are trying to make a comeback. Monsters are appearing everywhere laying waste to civilization.  It's your job to figure out whom or what is causing all the trouble and on the way enhance your fame by completing related side quests as they avail themselves to you.

Some say Titan Quest is the best of the Diablo 2 clones but offering better graphics and gameplay.  The base game is eight years old now and having played newer titles like Torchlight 2 and Dungeon Siege 2 and 3 among others, I think that may be selling it a bit short. 

It's held up well although you won't find features now taken for granted like player customization, Steam achievements, auto-mapped player movement and multiplayer party features.  You don't pick a class either.  Your class is determined according to how you allocate your skill points.  That's both good and bad because you could theoretically create a combined class like the classic "fighter-magic user" without the rigid confines of being either or.  The downside is that your character will never be as effective a "fighter" or "magic user" (mage) than if you had chosen to specialize which makes the omission of a character selection at the beginning of the game a problem if not a bit misleading.

Still, the game is engaging and challenging but just enough to keep pulling you along in the story not making you throw up your hands in frustration. 

Just as in Torchlight, or Diablo, there are no 20 minute play sessions, more like a few hours or more so settle in.

The perspective is third person and you control your character with mouse movements and assigned keystrokes.  The game looks great and the maps are interesting but sometimes it does seem a bit long between merchants and you can run out of health potions quickly when you're in a particularly heated battle.

When that happens it can be a bit of a grind as you take out a few baddies, die and run back from your "rebirth" fountain but at least you get some XP for your trouble.  The camera angles are fairly limited but you can zoom in and out but in battle chances are you'll stick to the "helicopter" view. 

There are times I wish I had more control of the camera but it doesn't really get in the way of playing the game.  Unlike Dungeon Siege 3 whose camera controls were so bad they made the game unplayable with their wild and random swings.   Titan Quest stays locked on in comparison and you're never left looking at a wall when you're trying to see your opponent.

If I had one complaint in the single player it would be the combat system.  You're forced to fight one enemy at a time even if you're going up against 30 baddies.  You spend a lot of time selecting individual opponents and chugging health potions as a consequence of it.  At least I haven't been trapped by a such a group.  

There always seems to be an avenue to run away when needed and the baddies only chase you for a short time giving you some reprieve especially if you're out of the aforementioned health potions.  You can also use this tactic to draw out individual enemies to thin out the herd but it doesn't always work and you either end up drawing out everyone in a tri-state area or get ignored.  It's almost an art to make it work but it is possible and the fact that it is just adds to the playability of the game.

The ability to save on the fly is available unlike even some new titles but expect to have to hack through everything you already dispatched all over again when you come back.  I kind of like things I kill to stay dead in the same game.  Although to its credit if you don't leave the game session,  dead things will stay dead no matter where they are.  I just wish the saves would follow suit.  It's another example of how the game can be a bit of a grind in some places.

You can customize weapons and armor with enchantments and the inventory system is very much like Torchlight or any other RPG with inventory slots set up in a grid.  The skills tree is easy enough to understand but the game is a bit stingy with skill points meaning your special abilities won't do you much good till you're done with the game.  It can be annoying to get beaten by a lower level enemy who has a special ability that you're nowhere near achieving.

There is fast travel capability and you can portal to any city you've visited on the quest map that has an activated portal shrine.  You can also portal to a city from any point on the map using a personal portal and when you're done you can go right back where you started from.  Just be sure you pay attention because the return portal indicator is not obvious and I completely missed it making my life much harder than it needed to be.  You may also notice a few new baddies have respawned whenyou return as well but you'll be ready for them.  Fast travel portals were something I liked in Torchlight 2 and Dungeon Siege 2 and I'm glad to see it in Titan Quest.

If this game really falls down anywhere, however,  it's the multiplayer/co-op gameplay.  Yes it has a LAN play option which is welcome but unlike newer games in this genre, XP and loot isn't shared between players.  That means if you're level 3 and you go into a game with a level 16 player all they can really do for you is play bodyguard which means there's not much in it for them.  The loot drops don't level with the player either so often times you'll pick up items you won't be able to use due to being a much higher level or attribute than you have or they are so weak as to be useless to you.  Although that's a common complaint in RPG's in general and not just Titan Quest.

In the end even with its flaws I really liked the game and the benefits far outweigh the annoyances and goes in the list of my top 3 favorite RPG's so far.  

Even if it is older than dirt in comparison to current games...