Diablo 3’s a “significant product,” but Torchlight 2 will offer more, says Schaefer

By Stephany Nunneley

Diablo 3 is a “significant product,” from Blizzard, according to Runic CEO and former Blizzard man Max Schaefer, especially since it’s nearly “impossible” to meet the expectations of the Diablo community.

Speaking with IGN, Schaefer said while Diablo 3 is a good product, in comparison, Torchlight 2 will offer players offline single-player and more replayability.

“First of all, I think [Blizzard’a] geting a bad rap. Meeting the expectations of the Diablo community is going to be impossible,” said Schaefer. “No matter what they do, it’s been 10 years and the expectations have built up so much. They’re going to run into criticism.

“They’ve actually put out a significant product there. But what I think we’re offering something that some players may prefer [with Torchlight 2], things like the offline single-player play. Basically, we’re not trying to create a secure economy. We don’t have to have these crazy protection mechanisms in place. We’re giving our development tools out with the game so that the modding community can go crazy with it and make all kinds of cool new stuff.”

Schaefer said there will be more randomization of dungeons and character customization with Torchlight compared to Diablo 3 as well.

“Some of the criticism of Diablo III was about how there isn’t really a lot of differentiation between builds of a character, because they all unlock the same skills at the same time,” he said. “There’s less of an opportunity to make a character that’s truly individual for you. I think that could have the possibility of reducing longevity, because once you’ve played through it with a character, there’s no particular reason to go through and try a different build.

“I think that we also have, maybe, a longer game at this point. More randomization. A little bit more replayability. I think that Diablo III focused a little more on super-polished mechanics and balance and look and art direction. They’re on a Blizzard level. They’re seriously good. But it’s at the expense, a little bit, of the replayability.”

Torchlight 2 is out this week on September 20.