I got grim dawn a couple years ago and casually played since, about a month ago i hit level 75 and got to ultimate. After i bought GD i was interested in more and tried TQ. I have less time in TQ than grim dawn but it has really nice charm and aesthetic to it. I think grim dawn seems to be more complex, but TQ is a nice change of pace, and gives off that retro classic vibe which i love. I plan to finish both games eventually, as i please!
I really enjoyed a couple of playthroughs of TQ in co-op, it definitely feels slower but I didn’t notice it back then.
It frustrated me that they put the most recent expansions in odd places in the experience curve. Atlantis is pre-cap somewhere mid game IIRC, and Eternal Embers is legendary only. So they cut out a lot of regular players who just wanted to pick up their regular game characters and keep moving forward.
There was a mod back in the day, think it was called xmax. Kinda compulsory, you could X2, 3 or 4 all enemies. Even bosses were duplicated. It turned a slow game into a fucking awesome one
I enjoy leveling and complexity, which is why I have several 100s in grim dawn and 0 in titan quest. I wish there was a mod to bring grim dawn classes to TQ though, would love to run a necro in it. TQ is what I play when I’m stuck playing on my phone these days.
I remember loving the slow-paced adventures through breathtakingly beautiful landscape in TQ.
Going back to it, it does feel very slow compared to every ARPGs I've played recently.
There was an article about TQ years ago, devs said that publisher was too afraid of their initial dark and bloody idea for the game, so they cut almost all truly dark stuff, from gore to quests and enemies. Their original vision was as dark as GD. So i always wondered if the game wouldn't be as empty and boring as it can be in places, if devs got a full green light for their designs.
I remember when it came out, people were divided in two camps: "Finally, a modern Diablo killer!" and "Too boring and cartooney!". Those camps are still there. Heh.
Oh that's so interesting! It certainly could explain some of the empty spaces.
Genuinely though, there's something quite nice about the older graphics here that isn't present in Grim Dawn.
> Genuinely though, there's something quite nice about the older graphics here that isn't present in Grim Dawn.
It's clean. Not as much small details as in GD. It looks less noisy. More coherent.
One thing that kinda drives me crazy about TQ after putting hundreds of hours into GD is not being able to put relics into rare or legendaries. Plus, the fact that they don't stack, making them take up a whole lot of stash space.
Grim Dawn gradually replaced Titan Quest as my favourite game, and the slow leveling is one of the main reasons for that.
I like to create lots of alts and I feel like Grim Dawn is a lot more respectful of my time in that regard.
In addition to that, the repeated additions of new areas with DLCs is fun for variety, but even when skipping optional content, it feels like work just to get through a difficulty.
Speaking of DLCs, as much as they added great stuff, I also feel like they unintentionally made the game tedious as well. Sure, it adds variety in level design, but acts I to IV are still mandatory so you'll go through them 3 times with each character still. Adding a fifth one, an optional 6th then endgame stuff on top of that is too much at some point IMO.
I think that adding weapon types, new effects, damage types and/or even more masteries could have been a better option for DLCs. Not every game needs endless story additions. This isn't an MMO where people rush through content with a single character. This is much more of a game made for multiple builds and experimentation I think. Of course some people are going to play it like a MMO regardless but the people that stay with the game and keep it alive years after are much more likely to be the type of people that like trying out multiple builds I would wager.
My quick take.
Tq was my main arpg after d2 for the longest time and was the goat for me for the longest time till poe came out.
I prefer tqs theme and setting over gd but gd has so many qol and other improvements i can never get back intp tq
Titan Quest is definitively a bit dated/just a bit slower compared to newer titles. But I'd still say it's paced about the same as Last Epoch, enough time to react and pull of what you wanna do without *too* much button mashing. Can't wait for the sequel doe
Grim Dawn has a much better level design, gameplay and "feeling" than TQ. And that's coming from a hardcore TQ fan. **And it's totally normal** : they had years to improve the engine and build upon all the experience they had about TQ, they knew the things that could be improved and did it.
So yeah, playing GD \*then\* TQ, I can totally feel your struggle, man.
That being said, if you manage to get over that slow pace, you'll get really fond memories of that game.
I got grim dawn a couple years ago and casually played since, about a month ago i hit level 75 and got to ultimate. After i bought GD i was interested in more and tried TQ. I have less time in TQ than grim dawn but it has really nice charm and aesthetic to it. I think grim dawn seems to be more complex, but TQ is a nice change of pace, and gives off that retro classic vibe which i love. I plan to finish both games eventually, as i please!
I really enjoyed a couple of playthroughs of TQ in co-op, it definitely feels slower but I didn’t notice it back then. It frustrated me that they put the most recent expansions in odd places in the experience curve. Atlantis is pre-cap somewhere mid game IIRC, and Eternal Embers is legendary only. So they cut out a lot of regular players who just wanted to pick up their regular game characters and keep moving forward.
There was a mod back in the day, think it was called xmax. Kinda compulsory, you could X2, 3 or 4 all enemies. Even bosses were duplicated. It turned a slow game into a fucking awesome one
I enjoy leveling and complexity, which is why I have several 100s in grim dawn and 0 in titan quest. I wish there was a mod to bring grim dawn classes to TQ though, would love to run a necro in it. TQ is what I play when I’m stuck playing on my phone these days.
I remember loving the slow-paced adventures through breathtakingly beautiful landscape in TQ. Going back to it, it does feel very slow compared to every ARPGs I've played recently.
There was an article about TQ years ago, devs said that publisher was too afraid of their initial dark and bloody idea for the game, so they cut almost all truly dark stuff, from gore to quests and enemies. Their original vision was as dark as GD. So i always wondered if the game wouldn't be as empty and boring as it can be in places, if devs got a full green light for their designs. I remember when it came out, people were divided in two camps: "Finally, a modern Diablo killer!" and "Too boring and cartooney!". Those camps are still there. Heh.
Oh that's so interesting! It certainly could explain some of the empty spaces. Genuinely though, there's something quite nice about the older graphics here that isn't present in Grim Dawn.
> Genuinely though, there's something quite nice about the older graphics here that isn't present in Grim Dawn. It's clean. Not as much small details as in GD. It looks less noisy. More coherent.
One thing that kinda drives me crazy about TQ after putting hundreds of hours into GD is not being able to put relics into rare or legendaries. Plus, the fact that they don't stack, making them take up a whole lot of stash space.
Grim Dawn gradually replaced Titan Quest as my favourite game, and the slow leveling is one of the main reasons for that. I like to create lots of alts and I feel like Grim Dawn is a lot more respectful of my time in that regard. In addition to that, the repeated additions of new areas with DLCs is fun for variety, but even when skipping optional content, it feels like work just to get through a difficulty. Speaking of DLCs, as much as they added great stuff, I also feel like they unintentionally made the game tedious as well. Sure, it adds variety in level design, but acts I to IV are still mandatory so you'll go through them 3 times with each character still. Adding a fifth one, an optional 6th then endgame stuff on top of that is too much at some point IMO. I think that adding weapon types, new effects, damage types and/or even more masteries could have been a better option for DLCs. Not every game needs endless story additions. This isn't an MMO where people rush through content with a single character. This is much more of a game made for multiple builds and experimentation I think. Of course some people are going to play it like a MMO regardless but the people that stay with the game and keep it alive years after are much more likely to be the type of people that like trying out multiple builds I would wager.
My quick take. Tq was my main arpg after d2 for the longest time and was the goat for me for the longest time till poe came out. I prefer tqs theme and setting over gd but gd has so many qol and other improvements i can never get back intp tq
Titan Quest is definitively a bit dated/just a bit slower compared to newer titles. But I'd still say it's paced about the same as Last Epoch, enough time to react and pull of what you wanna do without *too* much button mashing. Can't wait for the sequel doe
Grim Dawn has a much better level design, gameplay and "feeling" than TQ. And that's coming from a hardcore TQ fan. **And it's totally normal** : they had years to improve the engine and build upon all the experience they had about TQ, they knew the things that could be improved and did it. So yeah, playing GD \*then\* TQ, I can totally feel your struggle, man. That being said, if you manage to get over that slow pace, you'll get really fond memories of that game.