[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch, I wouldn't say I am much of an anime fan, but I do enjoy watching anime series. Seeing how producers and the cast in movies take on the challenging parts makes it much more exciting for me.

Aren't they also busy with a Castlevania anime? I've heard it will be released soon, alongside Devil May Cry.

Putting It All Together

You can see that Torchlight, and probably all hack-and-slash games, are about skills. That’s what you play the game for, and so that’s what you plan your character around. It’s somewhat counterintuitive, but you have to look at your character’s skills first. The skill tree determines what attribute you focus on, either Strength, Dexterity, or Magic (for most builds). That, in turn, determines the item types your character will use. Finally, you choose an attribute distribution that aligns with the desired skill tree and item types.


One thing I glossed over here is hybrid builds. In Torchlight 1, skills only have a level requirement; they don’t need points spent in prerequisite skills to unlock them. This means you have a lot of freedom over the skills you want to use in your build.


You can easily adapt the process I used here for your own set of skills. Just make a list of the skills to want to use. Those skills will determine your desired attributes and item types, just like if you chose all skills from a single tree. Then, you can go on from there same as before.

You can change your whole build by changing only gear if need be.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Does not have to be anime, can be animation. Like what they did with Invincible, for example. Also, if it is the creative process you like, have you tried animes about how to make an anime? Like SHIROBAKO or, more recently Eizoken ni wa Te o Dasu an! (though that latter one is more about creativity than the actual process)?

I heard about Castlevania anime, but it has several now, and they sometimes do not get it quite right, so I am not following it too closely.

I was thinking more in terms of how finite the builds are. Like how in RPGs builds fall into several categories. You have builds that you need to plan for from the start, choose the right skills and generally plan for what endgame build you want. Like in Borderlands (though it is more shooter than RPG). Then there are games where you eventually get all the skills, so you need to do some planning, but in the end will master everything, like Fallout 4, for example. And finally, games where you can respec in the middle at any time.

Torchlight 2 seems to balance in between there with the skill-restricted system, now I have a better idea about how it works. But I assume there are still limitations, even if you change gear, you will not turn into a mage, for example. You mentioned you did not want to start all over before, that's why I thought that game is still to a degree restricting even with the flexibility that gear gives.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch The main reason I do not watch Anime as much is because of the subtitles. If I have to read the subs throughout the whole series or movie, I get bored. It also feels like I'm missing what is going on in the background.

The creative part is a highlight and the most of what I like about Anime, Still, some do not appeal to me because of certain storylines and off of course, all the reading.

Me neither. I only watched one of the Castlevania animes and haven't bothered with the rest.

When playing Torchlight, my builds are not based on a certain category. I do not plan my builds from the start. I adapt my build and skills depending on the levels. For example, I will keep most of my emique items like armor in my inventory and switch them out constantly. If I play a level where there are enemies who are more Ice magic-based, I'll wear fire armor and equip fire-based weapons.

With Torchlight, you can plan a build if you want to from start to finish, but I found switching gear makes it a whole lot easier, especially in harder levels.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Ah well, then I have an easy solution for you. All you have to do is learn Japanese 😉

Well, storylines are natural, the same as with movies and books, people like different stories and genres more than others, and anime is no different there.

On a personal level, I prefer watching anime when I am having some snacks. I am usually using headphones, so when I am watching a film and I am chewing something, it disrupts my hearing, and I need subtitles during those times to follow the plot because I am missing half of what people are saying, even if they are using English. So, when I am having a snack, I usually watch anime where I need subtitles anyway. Then I can eat while watching and it's ok. The point is, that there may be a scenario you can find where subtitles are a benefit rather than a hindrance.

Does it not get tedious, though, needing to switch gear all the time? I get somewhat annoyed if I need to do that often in a game. A certain level of customization is fine and welcome, but if you need to rearrange the gear for every new zone or something, for me it becomes less of a gameplay enjoyment and more of a chore.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch Learning Japanese is one way to go, or I need to adapt. Both will be a difficult task. 😂


You're right. I can't have all my eggs in one basket. Storylines are there to appeal to different crowds.

Most of the time, I watch movies and TV series before bedtime. Occasionally, I'll watch something while I'm eating. I do not have the same issue as you with hearing, but I tend to look away a lot from the screen and have people around me disrupting my watch time.

The subtitles do not help much if I'm unable to concentrate, and sometimes, when I do not have a disturbance while watching, my eyes tend to lose focus, and my vision gets blurred, especially when the subtitles are displayed small or go by fast.

Not for me. I enjoy switching out my gear. I do not have to do it all the time. Certain levels do a bit of reaggranging depending on the enemies.

As mentioned before, I like games that I can play for months on end instead of finishing within a few days or weeks. 😊

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Learning Japanese may be harder, but more useful in the long run, you can use it for stuff other than watching anime 😉

Really? I thought it was normal to have this thing with hearing if you're using headphones while eating. I may need to have that checked out now... I usually watch series in the evening either before bed or during dinner, that's why.

That's fair, but then again, practice makes perfect. The more you read subtitles, the better you get. and these days, sometimes you can adjust the font and the size of them, too. Maybe that would help. That, or choosing animes where there aren't that many subtitles. Like Joshikausei, although not that great as an anime, interestingly, has no spoken text. Maybe @AmrAli1 knows more examples.

To each his own. If you like that about the game, keep doing it.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I think I'm now too old to start learning Japanese. Won't be able to master it at all. I'm too forgetful these days. I need to get use to the subtitles, that's all. 🤣

Depends on the earphones you are using. If they are noise cancelling ones or in ear there is a good chance you will hear yourself eating.

Practice does make perfect and adjusting the subtitles to a readable size will work I guess. Maybe it's because I haven't watched any anime in a while. Naruto was a great watch and think I need to rewatch the whole series and train my brain to get used to subtitles again.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Up to you, but studies show that learning new skills, particularly those needing cognitive effort like learning new languages, helps to regenerate brain cells. So it may be in reverse: start learning it, and you'll feel younger 😉

They are not fully noise-cancelling ones, but they are the type where the big leather-bond foam goes around the ear.

Possibly, I mean, taking long pauses can be detrimental to any skill. Except for riding a bike, apparently. But rewatching Naruto is a tall order, how long is that series by now? Personally, I prefer short finished stories or ones over a few seasons at most, I like things to have a proper ending and move on to something new. I guess that our approaches may be different in that regard both when it comes to games and anime...

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I can speak a few languages and always wanted to learn Mandarin but sidestepped it because of it being such a hard language to master.

Working in the medical and industrial training fields, I learned Sotho and Sepedi from the people I worked with. I don't speak them fluently, but I understand what people are saying and can communicate.

I'm fluent in Dutch and Afrikaans, which are my home languages. Then English, German and a tiny bit of French.

Ah, I see. Those headphones tend to let you hear yourself when eating, and if they cancel out noise, you can sometimes hear your breathing and even your heartbeat.

I'm talking about those very expensive ones you use in recording studios. I have most of the Naruto series on my PC and do not have other animes, except Dragon Ball. The series is long. Yes, I do not mind watching two or three before bedtime, even if it's going to take ages to complete. It's one way to train my brain to get use to subtitles.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Well, you may have an easier time learning Mandarin because you play a musical instrument. I gave it a try, but that language depends so much on the ability to hear vowels, word meaning changes depending on the intonation that is used to pronounce it, you need to have a very good hearing pitch:

Japanese, on the other hand, is very mathematical, like many European languages, German, for example. It depends on prepositions and follows formula-like grammar rules, so is easier for those who have a more logical learning process.

Then again, you already know plenty of languages, so maybe you do not need anymore. Though they say the more you know, the easier it is to learn more, but I never really felt it in my studies, personally.

Yeah, that's exactly that. I could hear myself breathing loudly when I first got these headphones, but then I got used to it. Never got used to the disturbance from eating, though.

Makes sense, if you like the story and characters. I get tired of similar things rather quickly, so I prefer to have series in shorter format, but everyone is different. If you already have it and have fun watching it despite having done so before, that's all that matters.