I'd recommend starting on a lower difficulty. If you want a challenge you can try going for Veteran. Elite tends to be very damage spiky and very difficult without experience and gearing.

Originally posted by steffire3:

Originally posted by Faust:

I am compelled to play these kinds of games on the highest difficulty, which depending on the game can either be a great idea that enhances the experience or an exercise in very a very boring kind of self-torture. So I wanted to find out which category this game falls into, and how hard it is to beat on the highest difficulty as a new player, before I make a terrible mistake and waste a double digit number of hours on a questionable endeavor.

Oh... I know the feeling; if only the Hardest Difficulty were... fair.

Difficulty in Torchlight_II is summed up in two factors:

Numbers (need more strikes to destroy enemies).

and most of all: Farming for specific items (the infamous stat checks in all Rpgs).

Now... a player could just randomly stroll through Elite without any previously acquired Shared Stash items gifted from other characters, could ignore hidden defenses altogether, and just invest pure damage which "may" get somewhere in Softcore (die, revive, repeat).

However - it'll be grueling to do so.

If you want a read on what players usually do to prep or work-around for Elite - here's one of my all-around, general-purpose, hidden-basics - Guide:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1709334997

Otherwise - kite enemies like no tomorrow and play very defensively because wayward high critical enemy strikes are common in the vanilla game for TL2.

The only difference between fairness and the unknown in this game are a few obscure and not well-telegraphed items or affixes that make all the difference.

Elite Difficulty in TL2 is not a skill-thing - it's a check-list thing.
Once the Elite enemies are brought down to size - game becomes enjoyable again.

Ye, this is exactly, surgically precisely the kind of information I needed to know. I know games with this kind of difficulty. Takes a special kind of an... "eccentric" personality to enjoy. And even though I possess some 'eccentricity' that can resonate with such game, I'm not 'eccentric' enough to do so blind.

I'll just start a game on Normal and play until I get the hang of it. Appreciate the information given.

Steffire has already gave a good answer.

But I would say if you have played any ARPG games before so straight into Veteran. Normal was not very engaging for me.

Similar to Gangstalker, I'd say if you are a longtime ARPG player you can go straight to Veteran in this game for 1st playthru. Normal will be just too easy for you and is nothing at all like Elite.

The thing that is quite unnerving with Torchlight 2 difficulty is that the challenge is not balanced throughout the game. Act 1 elite is very tough but still OK, by playing carefully you can manage. Act 2 elite, you start to see snipers that may one shot you if they crit, but still, not too bad. There is an infamous area that will require you many attempts but you can make it.

Act 3 elite. Oh my. That's when the damage really starts to outscale you. You will die, a lot. Unless you go for the broken unbalanced mechanisms of the game, of course. Very challenging.

Act 4. At this point you're like "I don't care if I die 10 times, I just want to make it to the end of the game".

Veteran is probably more enjoyable for most people. Elite is for elitists ;)

But if you want to go for the broken mechanisms and most OP builds, then I would say Elite is a must, else you will find Veteran too easy.

I kind of already commited to a normal mode playthrough, on account of not actually being all that familiar with the diablo-like ARPGs. I played a few hours of PoE and an hour or so of Grim Dawn and that's where my experience ends.

Originally posted by Faust:

I kind of already commited to a normal mode playthrough, on account of not actually being all that familiar with the diablo-like ARPGs. I played a few hours of PoE and an hour or so of Grim Dawn and that's where my experience ends.

You'll have a much easier time in TL2 whether on Normal, Veteran, Elite, or with Hardcore - compared to Path of Exile or Grim Dawn that are both much more complex and more check-list heavy than TL2.

TL2 also enables players to level-up builds much faster than PoE or GD.

Grim Dawn adds additional mechanisms that check enemy strikes on individual pieces of armor (TL2 only checks the total of equipment) and contains double the TL2 amount of damage types to build defenses for.

You may actually enjoy Chronicon (2d, less interesting combat, yet good on everything else) which has a more balanced vanilla game, a good post-game, and plenty of quality interfacing to filter items in detail.

As for TL2 - I enjoy mods that cut out the imbalances... although years spent in vanilla have made me appreciate getting to know the game better and removing the mystery that clouds the first-time players who are always in need to know what the game doesn't tell them.

In fact - if TL2 told players in-game about these details - we'd have much less discussion to demystify the unknowns in this game.

An interesting genre overall - always remember that skill has little to do with the mastery of these games. It's always some group of items that leads to victory.

What these communities tend to discuss heavily is whether other builds can succeed the check-list difficulties of these games. That's where the Theory-Crafting gets intriguing. That's where some of the Replay-Value is for these kinds of games (usually).

Although players play these games for a multitude of motives.
Find what you enjoy in this genre; and these games will become a joy to play.
These games tend to offer options to control your odds of winning - adjust according to what you find enjoyable.

I appreciate the recommendation for Chronicon, though I don't think it's for me. I almost never play the Diablo-like subgenre of ARPGs on account of almost not being able to stomach things like mouse movement and procedural gear. I'm much more fond of moving with WASD in my action games. Torchlight 2 was an exception that managed to make the cut where neither PoE nor GD did on account of the combination of several aspects, that being that fact it is cheaper than dirt, more pleasant for me to look at, has pretty punchy sound design and visuals, and at least a rudimentary character creator (an aspect that tends to be a deal maker or breaker for me when it comes to certain genres/subgenres).

Originally posted by Faust:

I appreciate the recommendation for Chronicon, though I don't think it's for me. I almost never play the Diablo-like subgenre of ARPGs on account of almost not being able to stomach things like mouse movement and procedural gear. I'm much more fond of moving with WASD in my action games. Torchlight 2 was an exception that managed to make the cut where neither PoE nor GD did on account of the combination of several aspects, that being that fact it is cheaper than dirt, more pleasant for me to look at, has pretty punchy sound design and visuals, and at least a rudimentary character creator (an aspect that tends to be a deal maker or breaker for me when it comes to certain genres/subgenres).

All good. Perhaps I can recommend other similar off-genre games that may also match some of those traits while avoiding some of the nuances mentioned:
https://steamhost.cn/app/606150/Moonlighter/
https://steamhost.cn/app/1824580/Dungeon_Drafters/
https://steamhost.cn/app/395620/Ittle_Dew_2/
https://steamhost.cn/app/1140180/MAZEMAN/
Less procedural gear, more WASD, more Action, more pleasant visuals, and less build-dependent overall.
= = = =
And if you want games that feature some WASD exploration yet much more options towards character visual choice (for player and team members) and are definitely pleasant visually in some aspect - I'll throw in both Coromon and Nexomon Extinction that also fulfill some of those traits:
https://steamhost.cn/app/1196630/Nexomon_Extinction/
https://steamhost.cn/app/1218210/Coromon/
Those last 2 are probably not fulfilling the Action aspect yet they may be desired.

One thing all 6 of those games have in common - all feature dungeons, all require exploration, all have some kind of character visual option or characters that affect game numbers ("Ittle Dew 2" unlocks hidden outfits later in-game), art is much more alive, and WASD is more supported.

Just re-read the whole thread and wanted to say that's another thing about TL2, the community is more of the helpful type! 😁 I think it would be safe to say we enjoy this game so much and hope you do too.

Originally posted by steffire3:

All good. Perhaps I can recommend other similar off-genre games that may also match some of those traits while avoiding some of the nuances mentioned:
Less procedural gear, more WASD, more Action, more pleasant visuals, and less build-dependent overall.

I appreciate the effort. Coromon appears to have a character creator from the way trailers look. I'll wishlist that one and keep an eye out for potential discounts. Never played Pokemon, so not sure if it'll be up my alley, but I did enjoy Monster Sanctuary which I figure is essentially a party-based metroidvania Pokemon, so I figure it's worth giving a chance.

Originally posted by Faust:

I appreciate the effort. Coromon appears to have a character creator from the way trailers look. I'll wishlist that one and keep an eye out for potential discounts. Never played Pokemon, so not sure if it'll be up my alley, but I did enjoy Monster Sanctuary which I figure is essentially a party-based metroidvania Pokemon, so I figure it's worth giving a chance.

Yes, I've also played Monster Sanctuary and indeed - it's the closest comparison here to Coromon plus the Pokemon system that Coromon aims for and even more with quality-life improvements in contrast to Pokemon.

Glad to help. It's not easy to find a game that matches the exact traits however I figure to share from my own list of games I've tried or am currently playing that seem related.

As Phanjam stated; we as a community are glad to help where we can.
Thanks for trying out Torchlight_II.

With the right mods is TL2 harder than gd or poe.Synergy is the best example on the easiest difficulty that is just as hard as the vanilla veteran level.Good luck 🏆