Now Playing: Titan Quest

I don’t play that many games anymore, so when a game hooks me for more than a few hours that’s a major accomplishment. By that token, Titan Quest has already done an incredible job. But I was predestined to play this game ever since it was announced. I have an affinity for Greek myths and anthropology. Combine that with a solid Diablo-type experience and I’m there the day the game goes on sale. Never mind that it took me almost three weeks just to get through the Greek part of the quest. That’s a different story. My actual problem is that now that I’m done with the Greek quest I don’t have any motivation to go back and finish the game even though I really want to want to. The experience curve in Titan Quest is well paced. It looks great. It’s easy to play. But unfortunately the game just kinda flattens out after a few hours. You just stand there clicking away without ever having to dodge anything (the first Telkin battle is a joke compared to the Diablo II bossfights), losing your companions (who do most of the work for you) isn’t penalized at all, and the economy is so out of whack that reaping in all the gold you find doesn’t add to the feeling of accomplishment. I never finish listening to the conversations because they’re non-quintessential to what I’m doing anyway. There’s only one way to follow and I’m following it because that’s where I get more experience, not out of motivation to further the story. But anyway, it’s hard to make great games and it’s easy to criticize them after they’re done (I should know). The point is this: I’m done playing about a third of Titan Quest, a game I really like – and what’s it’s really made me want to do is play Icewind Dale again.

I was obsessed with Icewind Dale when it came out. Of course Baldur’s Gate is the heavyweight with better story, characters and scope. But it was also slightly overwhelming and maybe, just maybe a bit too sophisticated for a quick gaming fix. Icewind Dale was a great Diablo-style experience wrapped in a real RPG system. Uncover the maps, keep playing to gain more experience, listen to the great Jeremy Soule soundtrack – a great overall package. I never finished the expansion packs because I was already done with the main game, and I didn’t get into Icewind Dale II because it was too close to the original one and I hadn’t recovered yet. But now, a few years later, it might just be what I need. In fact I just went through my moving boxes of games and dug out all Infinity Engine games.

As for Titan Quest, it’s a good game with great potential. I’d love to make a mission pack for it that applies some of the virtues of Pool of Radiance (central hub with surrounding areas that need to be liberated, giving the player a sense of progression as the world opens up). I’d love to create items and monsters that break up the moment-to-moment gameplay experience. Add gameplay situations that throw off the exploration (statues attacking out of nowhere, enemies that are really hiding out until I’m on top of them, chests that turn out to be monsters, trapdoors…). And an economy that keeps me running back to the merchants to buy that shiny new dagger I’ve been eyeing for two hours, not just to unload all the stuff that’s cluttering up my inventory. Will I ever get to it? Very doubtful, work always gets in the way. I still have that Neverwinter Nights tileset that I didn’t finish sitting on my harddrive. But if nothing else Titan Quest has gotten me excited about this type of games again and the potential inherent in the genre. And for that alone I salute and thank Iron Lore.