Topic: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne -> Update: Anniversary Edition released

[MysterD]

NEW -> 02-27-2016:
OWNet -> Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition released, which is Free for Steam-owners of TQ; also for sale on GOG + Steam for $5; and more info in this post (click me!).


OLD:
Nordic releases a Titan Quest: IT Beta Patch (which you may currently option into or not) on Steam to re-implement Multiplayer; add more resolutions; more graphics bells + whistles; etc.
Nordic is planning to bring TQ: IT eventually later to GOG.Titan Quest will expand in Q1 2007

[Xessive]

Cool. That was a decent game.

[MysterD]

More info on Titan Quest's: Immortal Throne, the upcoming expansion pack

Titan Quest Add-on Info [November 08, 2006, 11:32 am ET] - Viewing Comments

FiringSquad reports on a story in the Holiday 2006 print edition of PC Gamer Magazine that sheds a little light on the upcoming Titan Quest expansion (thanks Frans). Word is the add-on's title will be Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, and it will offer 10-15 hours of gameplay, 20 new monsters, over 30 quests, and a "Dream Mastery" system that adds eight new classes to Iron Lore Entertainment's action/RPG.

[Xessive]

8 new classes? That's pretty intense considering the base game had about 8.

[MysterD]

8 new classes? That's pretty intense considering the base game had about 8.

Especially for an expansion pack.

Often, in an expansion, you're lucky to get 2-3 new classes...nevermind 8.....

[Xessive]

Especially for an expansion pack.

Often, in an expansion, you're lucky to get 2-3 new classes...nevermind 8.....

Exactly! I remember with Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction you only got two new characters.

Hehe this game will forever be benched with Diablo

[MysterD]

Trailer for TQ: Immortal Throne on this website

I like the trailer for this one, in which you'll be delving into The Underworld.

[Pugnate]

I still am paused at ACT 1 heh.

[MysterD]

Interview w/ GameBanshee for Immortal Throne

Given the industry reception to Titan Quest, it wasn't too surprising when Iron Lore announced in November that they were developing Immortal Throne, an expansion pack for the action RPG that would offer us the chance to "transverse the famed river Styx, cross the Plains of Judgment, and clash swords on the famed fields of Elysium." To get a better idea of how the ambitious expansion is coming along, we fired over some questions to Iron Lore producer Mike Verrette. Our questions and his answers to follow:
 
GB: When did development of Titan Quest: Immortal Throne actually begin and where do you currently stand in the expansion's development cycle?

Mike: Production on Titan Quest - Immortal Throne began in early June, just a few short weeks after we went gold on the original Titan Quest. Even while we were wrapping up work on Titan Quest we were already working on creating feature lists and determining what types of changes and improvements we wanted to make in the expansion. That allowed us to really hit the ground running in June. Currently we are working through the final weeks of bug fixing and testing and things are looking really well.

Cool.

GB: What is the premise surrounding Immortal Throne? What will the overall objective be for the player as he travels into Hades?

Mike: I will do my best to answer this question without giving away the ending on the original game for those that may not have finished it yet. The short story is that at the end of Titan Quest the pantheon of gods has agreed that the time has come for mankind to inherit the earth and control their own destiny and that the gods are packing up and shipping out. The player soon finds that life in the ancient world is in fact still threatened as it appears that a new army is amassing in the depths of Hades and venturing out into the land of the living which is no longer under the protection of the Olympian gods. In a nutshell, the player will need to find the entrance to Hades and ultimately discover the source of the new army – and destroy it.

Okay.

GB: Tell us about the new Dream skill mastery. What skills will this new mastery offer and how will they complement existing masteries and their respective skills?

Mike: The dream mastery is really unique in both concept and function. It is not a typical skill family that one would expect to find in a traditional role playing game. Conceptually it focuses on warping the world around you. From a game play perspective we designed the dream mastery to work as a great support tab for either a casting or melee style player, while still holding its own as a primary mastery. There are skills within the tab that run the gamut from crowd control to direct damage… there are a few powerful auras called trances that function a bit differently than other auras in the game. There is even a new Nightmare pet which greatly strengthens the abilities of other pets in your party.

Cool.

GB: How will the new caravan system work to introduce more storage space for characters?

Mike: Caravans serve two main purposes in the game. The first is that they provide the player with additional expandable storage. For a fee you can opt to increase the amount of storage that you have. The other service they provide is a way to transfer items to your other characters. So if you find a great staff with your melee character, there is now a way within the game to get that item over to your mage type character, etc.

Cool.

Mike: The caravans can be found throughout the ancient world – not just in the new content that is unique to the expansion.

Oooh....that part sounds damn good -- you can even use that in the original game. Very nice!

GB: Aside from the caravan system, what other gameplay improvements will the expansion introduce to the original game?

Mike: We have made improvements across the board in Immortal Throne. We have added auto-sort to the players inventory, redesigned the multiplayer lobby, added the ability to lock item pick-up to only occur when using the show item keys,an undo option for assigning ability points, we have added powerful items called artifacts which are crafted by enchanters which requires an arcane formula and a specific set of ingredients, we have also added scrolls, the ability to separate relics from items… the list is pretty extensive.

Sounds nice.

GB: Tell us a bit about the new enchanter NPCs and the arcane formulae that players can use to create artifacts. Can you give us a few examples of such artifacts?

Mike: Arcane formulae are basically recipes for powerful artifacts that can be created by Enchanters – for a fee of course. Once a player acquires a formula (and they are somewhat rare) they will then need to acquire the necessary ingredients – these could be charms, relics, or possibly even other artifacts. Once made, an artifact can be equipped on the character in a new equipment slot. When worn, it will grant the player with new skills and bonuses unique to that artifact.

Enchanters can also be used to separate relics from items, although players will have to choose which they wish to keep, as the other object will be destroyed. And like all things in life – this service is not free.

Damn...all the good stuff ain't free!

B: The press release states that the expansion will introduce "hundreds" of new items for players to loot. Can you give us a few examples of some of the higher level equipment you're adding? Are you introducing any new item effects as well?

Mike: I don’t want to talk about any of the specific pieces of equipment because that takes the equipment going into the expansion pack. Many of them have unique effects on them, some even animate. A few even offer the player new skills.

Okay. So much for that!

GB: Players didn't have a whole lot to spend their money on in the original game. Will this change in Immortal Throne?

Mike: We have done a great deal of work to improve the economy in Titan Quest – Immortal Throne. There are a considerable number of new things to spend your hard earned gold on. The Enchanters and Caravan drivers all offer services worthy of your coin. We have also added scrolls which are powerful one shot spells which can be purchased from merchants throughout the ancient world. While expensive, these scrolls are devastating and come in a variety of different flavors.

Okie dokie.

Mike: We have added over twenty new monsters to the game in addition to a number of cool tweaks we made to some of the existing monsters. There are also a number of very unique “boss” battles in Immortal Throne. My personal favorite is the encounter with Charon while trying to cross the river Styx. You don’t want to be having a bad day when you run into him… oh, and bring an umbrella.

New boss battles are always a good thing.

GB: How will the three separate TQ editors change (or be improved upon) with the release of Immortal Throne?

Mike: The editors will remain essentially the same. There were some performance improvements made and a couple of development features that were needed such as a day/night cycle tool which will allow you to lock a level at a particular time of day with a particular lighting setting. We also added an asset preview window so you will no longer need to drop an object in the world to see what it looks like. I think a lot of modders will find that really useful.

Nice.

GB: Once Immortal Throne hits store shelves, what's next for Iron Lore? Are there any plans for a Titan Quest sequel or a new game altogether?

Mike: There is more in store for Iron Lore and as much as I would like to talk about it – I can’t, which is probably exactly what you expected me to say. I can say that the wheels of progress are turning on the “What’s Next” front and people won’t be disappointed.


Thanks Mike!

I wonder what Iron is up to for their next project, myself.....

A new game entirely?
Another expansion to Titan Quest?
Titan Quest 2?

Hmmm.....

[MysterD]

Part 1 of an interview w/ Producer Mike Verrette on the Titan Quest expansion pack, Immortal Throne

Titan Quest: Immortal Throne -- Hades, part 1
Producer Mike Verrette takes us to the boatman with two coins for the passage.
by Mike Verrette - Producer, Iron Lore

US, February 2, 2007 - In the upcoming expansion pack for Titan Quest, Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, players are sent into the depths of Hades to combat a powerful daemon army. In this series of Designer's Guides we will be walking through some of the key geographic areas of Hades and giving insight into our artistic and creative process.

Yay for going after the Underworld and the undead!!!

The Immortal Throne expansion pack has a much darker, mysterious, more sinister tone than the original Titan Quest, and we wanted to make sure that fell came across clearly in game world. A major design issue we faced was that we needed to create a mythological world that was technically "underground" but also gave the feeling that it existed in a completely different dimension. On a high level, it was important that we created a new experience for players that would contrast the "fire and brimstone" stereotype that often gets associated with Hades. To the Greeks, Hades was much more alive than the volcanic landscape so often used to depict the Underworld. To help reinforce this distinction, we chose to work with a color palate of blues, greens, purple and grays, rather than the usual. orange, reds and blacks. For us, Hades is a world that was very much alive despite being inhabited by those that were already dead.

I like the sound of this already.....I like darker tones in games.

In ancient Greece the people believed that when they died they would become shades, or spirits, and then make the journey to Hades. They would seek passage across the great river Styx before moving into Hades, where they would eventually be judged. Those deemed worthy were sent on to Elysium, where they lived out their afterlife amongst some of Greece's greatest warriors and heroes. Those deemed unworthy were condemned to Tartarus to suffer for eternity. Some shades were never judged at all, and instead left to wander through the different regions of Hades reflecting on all they did or didn't do in their previous lives. Immortal Throne features shades from all walks of life, from farmers and merchants, to famous warriors.

Sounds good....

We're not in Kansas any more…

Upon entering Hades, players will immediately sense a huge change in the mood of the game. Unlike the lush green plains and rolling hills found in previous levels, Hades is dark and unsettling. Trees are sapped of their pigment and take on an albino look. Plants and mushrooms sway in a silent breeze, glowing with an eerie iridescent purple light. Even the slate grey stone ground is dry and cracked despite being in close proximity to the river Styx.

Our sound design also embodies the cool, eerie feel of the Greek underworld. Quiet whispers drift in from the shadows, leading the player on through a maze of rock croppings and cliff walls towards the River. These environmental details all help to reinforce the Greek conception of the underworld as a dead yet living land.

Sweet.

Crossing the Styx

The river Styx divides the level into two main regions. A drier, rocky highland which I already described, and a rising flood plain which breaks this region into a series of small islands set amongst a shallow watery swamp area. These islands help form a dual elevation gameplay space where players will fight through the swamp below and over a series of islands connected with bridges. The islands themselves hold the small military camps set up Hades advancing army. These are mostly small supply depots used by front line scouts from the daemon army, some of whom have already moved out of Hades to wage their war on Greece.

This treacherous region of swamp features overgrown briar trees and also deadly geysers that froth and overflow with a putrid, glowing substance. Smarter players will keep their distance, if the stench does not leave a strong enough impression I can assure you that the toxic spray will.

This trip through Styx is not just a scenic walk through the park. There are plenty of new myth-inspired monsters in Immortal Throne, and the Styx level will be the player's first introduction to many of the underworld daemons. The Empousa are winged assassins capable of magic. Their hair burns with fire and they are as deadly as they look. In the darker rock crags of the level lurk the Keres - ancient, and with a ravenous appetite for heroes. Packs of Troglodytes also lumber along the banks of the River Styx. These are hulking troll-like creatures with immense strength. Unarmed they provide formidable opposition, and they are even more dangerous when wielding a hammer or club.

In future installments of these designer guides, we will be talking more about the other regions of Hades found within Titan Quest: Immortal Throne. Stay tuned!

Cool beans.

One thing I liked about Dungeon Siege II: Broken World (expansion) was that it was a MUCH darker game than the Dungeon Siege II: Original Campaign.

I really like the sounds of where Immortal Throne is going, myself......


Screenies:

[Quemaqua]

The screens look pretty sweet.

[MysterD]

The screens look pretty sweet.

I knew Que would like info about a game and some screenies that involve a lot of dark-tone to it.

[Pugnate]

I am surprised Que hasn't jumped on this yet.

[MysterD]

I am surprised Que hasn't jumped on this yet.

Probably b/c the expansion ain't out until March

[Pugnate]

No I mean the original.

[MysterD]

No I mean the original.

Ooooh.....hehe.

That makes sense.

"Duh" on me!

[Quemaqua]

Because Que is obscenely poor and has no money.

[MysterD]

Because Que is obscenely poor and has no money.

That sucks.

[MysterD]

New preview for Titan Quest: Immortal Throne

Immortal Throne takes place after the events in Titan Quest, and it's being designed for high-level characters.

Sweet.

It doesn't look like you can create a new, first-level character and jump directly into this content, not that you'd want to judging from the high-level monsters inhabiting the early parts of the expansion.

So, you can't create a NEW character and bump his/her stats and skills to the Level that the pre-set characters start at? That kinda' stinks.

DS2: Broken World took that same approach, as well.

Most players will most likely carry over their existing Titan Quest characters to the expansion, though hopefully Iron Lore will include some premade high-level characters so that those who haven't finished the original game yet can jump straight into the new content.

That's probably what I'll do, once I get TQ and beat it and want to start TQ: Immortal Throne -- import my character into Immortal Throne.

One of the major new features of Immortal Throne is the new dream mastery. In Titan Quest, there are no distinct class types, such as warrior or thief, as there are in most role-playing games. Instead, there are nine masteries that you pick two of when creating a character. That way, by combining different masteries together, you can create all sorts of interesting character combinations. For example, you can create a magic-wielding fighter if you combine the warfare mastery with the storm, nature, or spirit masteries. The new dream mastery focuses on tapping into the power of the dream realm. For instance, the temporal flux ability lets you accelerate time around your character, letting your character attack more quickly while causing enemies to move more slowly. The trance of convalescence results in increased life recovery and damage absorption for your character and allies. And the distortion wave causes ripples in the fabric of reality, damaging enemies considerably.

Cool.

The new dream mastery is also available if you create a new character in the original game (assuming you have the expansion installed), so you can play with these new abilities from the very beginning if you'd like.

That's freakin' sweet -- able to use the Dream Mastery system in the original game!

Very nice.

[MysterD]

TQ: Immortal Throne (Expansion) is golden; should be out March 6th.

Adds around 12 hours of new content

[MysterD]

GameSpot went hand-on w/ the new expansion, giving some impressions, so far....

[MysterD]

This is for those planning for installing the expansion AND about Patch version 1.3 that is coming for TQ...

Iron Lore's Mike "V" Verrette has posted in the official Titan Quest forums about an upcoming v1.3 patch:

    Hello All,

    I know everyone is anticipating the release of TQIT next week. I just wanted to remind everyone that if you have any unsupported MODS installed that have altered any .exe, .dll or database files you should perform a clean install of Titan Quest before installing the expansion. Reinstalling the original game will not uninstall any of your characters.

    I should also be posting the patch notes for version 1.3 in the near future. Most of these changes involve prepping TQ for the expansion, but there were some tweaks made to Typhon and boss drops that I think a lot of players will be happy with [smile]

    This patch is not essential for installing TQIT - your game will be updated in the installation process. I also want to make it clear that you do not need to purchase TQIT to get the 1.3 patch. It will be available as an in game update just as the previous patches have been.

    Thanks - and we shall see you in Hades!!!

[MysterD]

9.0 from 1Up for this expansion pack

Reviews: Titan Quest: IT
Bigger monsters, phatter lewt.
By Jeff Green  03/02/2007    

To paraphrase a famous quote, I don't know if I can define "good gameplay," but I know it when I see it. And in 2006, I saw it for many, many late-night, eye-bleeding hours in Iron Lore's ridiculously addictive Titan Quest -- an action-RPG that, like many games before it, stole blatantly from Diablo II -- but unlike the others, Titan Quest utterly nailed that same elusive, indefinable magic groove that made D2 a classic. Put another way, Titan Quest was the first Diablo clone that deserved to not be labeled that way.

Okay.

Now, Iron Lore returns with Immortal Throne, the first TQ expansion pack, and it's an essential addition -- both to vets and to new players -- fixing nearly everything that needed fixing in the original game, while adding a buttload of new content. Nothing here is mind-blowing...but once again, all the smart choices, cool options, and creative little touches prove that the developers know exactly what they're doing.

Sweet.

Underworld Dreams
Immortal Throne picks up just seconds after you've killed TQ's final boss, Typhon, up in Olympus. Now, for the expansion's new fourth act, you descend to Rhodes&only to discover -- shockingly! -- that the threat of the angry Titans isn't over, and that you must head toward the Underworld and face off against the Lord of the Dead, "Don't Call Me Diablo" Hades himself. Along the way, you traverse eight humongous maps filled with loot-toting monsters and a couple dozen side quests that should keep you busy for a good 15 hours or so (or more, if you suck as much as I do).

Sweet.

The new act is fine&but the real appeal of Immortal Throne comes from all the cool things added to the base game. The big one is the new skill tab, Dream Mastery, a kickass combination of magic damage, pet summoning, and restoration. It's so good that, after finishing the expansion with my melee-only Conqueror dude, I felt compelled to start the entire game over just to bathe in its awesomeness (it's also so good that a nerf seems almost inevitable).

Okay.

Best of all: the new ways to spend money and manage loot -- by far the original game's biggest shortcoming. The original TQ gave out too much gold and not enough stuff to spend it on; now, the choices are plentiful, and tie directly into gameplay, adding yet more strategic decision-making to the mix. Do you spend it all on powerful one-shot scrolls, which are now almost essential to beating the game's almost unfairly tough boss monsters? Or do you save up to buy the new artifacts, which can add extremely powerful -- and necessary -- bonuses and resistances? By the time I hit Immortal Throne's final boss, I had gone from bored millionaire to desperate pauper -- and I'm calling that a good thing. The choices were maddening, yes...but, see, that's the whole "good gameplay" part. Immortal Throne continues Titan Quest's winning blend of killing, shopping, and strategic decision-making. It's a textbook case of a great expansion.

Pretty sweet.

[MysterD]

From a chat log on XFire w/ Xfire members AND Iron Lore (TQ and TQ: IT's makers).

[IL] SFrison: Question: HeatDrive: How do you feel about some people pirating your hard work and playing without paying for it?

Answer: It's always disappointing when you've worked hard on a product and people don't support you, but unfortunately it's just one of those unavoidable realities of PC gaming. We try to take it as a compliment. (That said, there are many ninjas here. And as we all know, ninjas and pirates are mortal enemies. You better watch yourselves!)

Oooooh....a ninjas and pirates RPG would be sweeet!!!

[IL] Brian Sullivan: Question: potte: Do you have any other games then TQ exp. coming up in the next few years?

Answer: We hope to continue with TQ, and move into some other franchises.

Maybe a TQ: Expansion 2?
Maybe a TQ2?

[MysterD]

TQ: Immortal Throne (Expansion) is $19.99 @ EB/GameStop from 7/13 - 7/20/2007.

[MysterD]

Gamersgate has TQ: Gold Edition (TQ + TQ: Immortal Throne) for purchase-to-download for $9.99 this weekend.

[MysterD]

Steam has TQ: Gold Edition for $10 for today only.

[MysterD]

Mid-week Steam Sale for Titan Quest: Gold Edition = $4.99.
Contains TQ + Immortal Throne expansion.

[Ghandi]

I just installed the original a week or so ago and couldn't get into it.

[idolminds]

That was my problem. Something about it just didn't click.

[MysterD]

Nordic releases a Titan Quest: IT Beta Patch (which you may currently option into or not) on Steam to re-implement Multiplayer; add more resolutions; more graphics bells + whistles; etc.

BETA Patch Multiplayer is back & Renderer Improvements - UPDATE #1 Available

Hello folks,

We finally completed our initial chunk of work. We are sorry it took so long but we wanted to do it properly.

To access the beta please do the following:
Follow this guide http://ds.nordicgames.at/SteamBetaBranchGuide.jpg
Under Step 1 select "Titan Quest Immortal Throne"
Password for step 4 is: nordictqitbeta
The branch for Step 6 is named publicbeta

Changelog

Update #1
26th February 2016
-Player name limited to 15 characters. Entering more caused error in account creation.
-Longer email can be entered in the registration menu
-LAN Games are now functional
-Fixed few bugs that caused connection errors.


24th February 2016
- Added new multiplayer and lobby system
- Implemented NAT Traversal and NAT Proxy Connectivity Layer
- GameSpy removed
- Added support for 1280x720 resolution

General & Renderer Improvements:
- Fix shadow acne artifacts
- Fix water shore disco color issue
- Improve shadows (using poisson soft shadows)
- improve editor region selection combobox
- improve lighting
- Re-work shader
- Add shader include support
- Improve Terrain Shader
- Force shader model 3.0
- Add artmanager rebuild menu option
- Improve archive compression level
- Improve archive file buffer size
- Add anisotropic filtering support
- Several small fixes
- Fix mouse pointer out of window issue (ClipCursor)
- Remove virtual memory check

If you have connectivity problems please upload the NATLog (can be found in the TQIT install folder) file from all involved players
Any feedback is welcome!

[idolminds]

Thats pretty surprising that they are still putting work into such an old title.

[MysterD]

@Idolminds
Keep in mind, Nordic also updated a bit ago RF: Guerrilla on Steam (removing G4WL completely). Looks like they're giving TQ:IT the same treatment, removing GameSpy from it and adding a new MP.
Plus, they got the properties a bit ago from THQ Auction.
I'd guess, maybe at some point they want to do sequels to RF + TQ and are trying to get interest in these games.

[Quemaqua]

Even weirder considering that Grim Dawn just released at $25 and is a bigger and better game than TQ by the people who made TQ.

[Xessive]

Apparently people on Windows 10 are having trouble running the Steam version of TQ and TQ Immortal Throne (even after the beta patch). I can attest to this as well, game won't run at all.

[gpw11]

Funny,  I don't think I ever played Titan Quest, but noticed it and it's expansion in my Steam Library about a month ago.  Loaded it up and had trouble with some aspect of it, even under Windows 7 (I THINK this was before I upgraded).   It's kinda classy to see that level of support though.

[MysterD]

Apparently people on Windows 10 are having trouble running the Steam version of TQ and TQ Immortal Throne (even after the beta patch). I can attest to this as well, game won't run at all.

Even more reason that they should split the entries up in the library up something like this:
Titan Quest (old version)
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne (old version)
Titan Quest: Enhanced Edition (new version)

This way, people who have the old-version can run it with fan-patch, old-saves, or whatever - and not worry about this version getting broken.
And if they want to get the new Enhanced Version - well, they could ALSO install that too!

[MysterD]

Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition:

Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition released:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/08/31/titan-quest-anniversary-edition-free-update/

Steam-version owners of Titan Quest, it's FREE for you.
Everybody else - it's on sale now for $5 on Steam for you:

Here's TQ: Anniversary on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/475150/agecheck

Also, TQ: Anniversary is also available on GOG - and it is on sale $5 there:
https://www.gog.com/game/titan_quest_anniversary_edition

Steam-version news for TQ:

Good news:
TQ Anniversary is a SEPARATE ENTIRE ENTRY on Steam.
So if you have your old-versions of TQ on Steam installed, they will be fine + left all alone.
You won't have to worry about being forced away from your old-version over to the new-one.

And if you like, you can have even the old and new versions both installed, since they're both separate entries.

Also - OLD saves do indeed work on the NEW TQ: Anniversary Edition.

Bad news:
Anyone who was hoping to buy the OLD versions of TQ and Immortal Throne on Steam - forget it. It's been de-listed for sale from Steam.
You can only buy the new Anniversary Edition now.