Titan Quest

aka: Titan Quest HD, Titan Quest: Deluxe Edition
Moby ID: 22901
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

It is believed that at the dawn of time, there was a great war between the Titans and the Gods. During this war which spanned many centuries, humanity was born and stood beside the Gods. At the war's conclusion the Gods were victorious and the Titans were banished to the great darkness. Now the Titans have escaped and spread their evil over the ancient world of Greece (and beyond). A hero arrives in this time of need to fight the Titans and bring peace to the world once more.

Not unlike Diablo or Sacred, Titan Quest is a hack 'n' slash action RPG in which the player creates a character and level up by killing thousands of monsters based on real mythologies of ancient Greece, Egypt and Babylon. At the beginning of the game, the hero has no profession, but upon reaching level 2, a choice is given between eight unique "masteries". Upon reaching level 8, access is granted to a second mastery. This allows the choice of creating a warrior who is good magician or a necromancer who can also kill his enemies quietly. These skill points can be rearranged at will (for a nominal fee) by visiting a certain NPC in each act.

Up to 6 friends can play in multiplayer in the cooperative mode through the entire game.

Spellings

  • 泰坦之旅 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

203 People (193 developers, 10 thanks) · View all

Lead Designer
Executive Producer
Producer
General Manager
Director of Technology
Art Directors
Associate Producer
Lead Gameplay Designer
Lead Content Designer
Lead Engine Programmer
Lead Game Programmer
Design
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Senior Concept Artist
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 43 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 65 ratings with 5 reviews)

Diablo, what?

The Good
This game is addictive. Not quite in the 'one-more-turn, Civilization' sense, but close.

I played a demo of Diablo when it first came out and at the time did not enjoy it. So I never played it, and for years afterward tended to shy away from the genre that Diablo essentially created (except for a brief and bored foray into Dungeon Siege and a bewildered jaunt through Sacred). The reason I picked up TQ at all was a simple intersection of 1) I'm bored and 2) it was on sale for cheap.

Needless to say I was quite surprised at how it drew me in.

The graphics are spectacular, given the game design and format. The sound design is sufficient, though not spectacular.

What really piqued my interest though, is the sheer volume of STUFF to be had. Over the years I'd read much about the Diablo games' variety of loot and not paid much attention to it. Once playing TQ though, it became a near obsession to get more and better stuff. So I played the game like mad until I beat it. And then I played it again, which leads directly into what I didn't like about it.

The Bad
Repetition. Gobs and gobs of it. I beat the game and then was promptly invited to play it again on "Legendary" level. As I already noted I haven't played many games of this genre, the first being Dungeon Siege which I didn't finish due to boredom, and Sacred, which I did finish and have precisely the same complaint about:

Playing through the EXACT same game but with bigger numbers (hit points, weapon and character stats, monster stats etc.etc.) doesn't really qualify as "more game." Now I'll admit I played most of the way through it again with my original character, but quickly discovered some fundamental limitations of that character as I'd formed him that made it exceedingly difficult to proceed past a certain point. But I couldn't simply create a new character and play at the "Legendary" level, I had to start over at a lower level and work up to it. Again. So I never did get to see that wonderful, high powered stuff, because I sure wasn't going to play the SAME GAME four times. It replays EXACTLY the same each time, there is no deviation aside from character choices, and while there is a wide range of character advancement options, after 100+ hours of playing, they all blend together pretty well in execution... An arrow is a fireball is a whack on the head with an axe.

The Bottom Line
The story was mostly irrelevant, some drivel about a Titan on the loose, a chase through exotic locales, etc. etc. blah, barf, blah. Which is really quite odd when you consider that the writer is a chap by the name of Randal Wallace. Yeah, that guy. The one related to Mel Gibson's Oscar. The story in Titan Quest isn't bad in the same vein as "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" was bad, it's just..... inconsequential.

Ultimately, this game was a blast. The first time through, anyway. So if you're into hack n' slash, loot-heavy games your money is well spent on this one. Just get the expansion, too. It adds quite a lot of new loot immediately accessible in the original game.

Windows · by agamer (24) · 2009

It could have been so much better!

The Good
It's not hard to say what I liked most about Titan Quest, it's the graphics and the fantastic soundtrack. I'm not really too enthusiastic about having a soundtrack running along in the background while gaming (at least not the provided soundtrack), because in most cases the music doesn't hold up well for continuous playback and I usually decide to turn it off altogether. But in Titan Quest you can set the music to play only occasionally (which is also the standard setting, I believe), and I absolutely loved it! Also, when it plays it's lovely and relaxing to listen to, subtly running in the background. That's the way it ought to be by default, not taking centre stage as is usually the case, and being overly orchestrated and penetrant to the point of brainwashing the player. I hate that, and this also goes for most movies.

As for the graphics, I don't think I have to mention the absolutely beautiful presentation of the game. Lovely rippling water and leaving a trail behind as you wade along on the shore, for example. Or take the steaming wetlands, as much as I hated them they were a pleasure to behold anyway.

The monsters and the player character are animated lovingly and smoothly, it's a mere pleasure just hacking away and watching monsters fly, turtles toppling over. The spiders and spidermen are also particularly mentionable, they're giving me the creeps whenever I think about them. Or take the neanderthals along the Silk Road, and how they're hopping around and screaming to their peers for aid. And the whole tigerman set is amazing. The statues, the Terracotta army, the walking mummies, the zombies, the stone guards in the Minoan labyrinth. It's all really amazing stuff, if not to say art, yes a stunning piece of art, hands down!

And the locations blend over perfectly and without any loading screens to put up with. There are so many different settings to enjoy. Admittedly, I got a bit bored with the Egyptian desert environment and it was there I had to take a break from the game, only to return with a renewed thirst for more of the same: fantastic visuals and music.

The Bad
Unfortunately, this game goes to show that presentation isn't everything to keep the player satisfied in the long run. It all looks so great that I really hate to say it, but the stale game mechanics get so utterly tedious after a while that I really only continued to play on to improve my skills and equipment and to get to see even more beautiful settings. The game and its plot itself didn't really interest me at all. Every second or third word in the NPCs speeches was 'monsters'. Apparently there wasn't enough time on hand to elaborate on the storytelling bit of the game, because it simply isn't compelling. And in an action RPG like this you have to put in some effort here if you don't want the player to just click the 'dialogue' aspect away just to get on with it.

Also, as much as I praised the design of the monsters and the player, I was disappointed to see the other NPCs in the villages and towns didn't move around much, in fact always staying fixed in their spot. And they didn't put on any lively communication among each other in the background. To see how this can be bettered, have a look at Sacred 2. Okay, it may not be fair to compare a 2006 game with a 2009 game, but it doesn't matter, the NPC acting in the background is not a new thing. Even in the old Ultima RPGs, most prominently in Ultima IV, from the 1980's the characters were moving about freely, and vendors weren't in their shops at night time.

Even though you get your day and night cycles in Titan Quest, they're purely cosmetic. The vendor presence is unaffected by the time of day, and also the player never needs to sleep. Okay, fair enough, we just want to have fun here, and this is what it was made for. Having said that, I think I did notice that some beasts like wild boar appeared to be resting at night because they didn't notice me approaching. But it could just as well be my imagination.

Another thing that ruined the game was the well-meant introduction of the much praised two-mastery system. It does sound interesting with the thought in mind I could replay the game with my advanced character. Which you can, in fact, in Epic mode. By the time I reached the finale I had reached level 31 or so, and none of my masteries had been taken to the highest level by that point. It takes an awful long time to bash your way through a seemingly endless progression of always the same type of monsters or two for a stretch of half-hours each before there'd be a variation, and then you still have to fight another thousand of them or so to finally get the chance to invest three more points into your two skill trees. Ridiculous. Progression is really slow. It would have been perfectly okay to choose only one class and focus on that throughout the game. Like this, you really HAVE to replay the game once you're through so that you can see the effects of other skills you may have not been able to unlock yet.

And this is where I eventually gave up on Titan Quest. It's too freakin' long for its own good. It wouldn't be that bad if there would be anything new once in a while to keep the whole thing interesting in some way. Of course I have tried a couple of different character classes to see the differences, playing them up to level 12 or so. Nothing changes in the game, it's always really the same, no random monster generation or placement. It's alright if the map stays the same, but at least they could have hidden the monsters in different places. And mix them up a bit, too! Who wants to be faced up against Sartyrs and crows for hours on end? This is cruelty! The AI isn't particularly clever, so fighting gets boring. I was only replaying the stuff in order to see different effects upon impact, like poisoned strikes or seeing a thunderbolt in action (which was disappointing), or summoning a wolf. This could have been so much fun if the game had to offer more diversity and maybe a twist in the 'story' apart from the ever-changing settings.

I got so annoyed by all this in the end that I didn't even bother fighting the final Telekine or the titan, and I will never get so see the underworld of Immortal Throne. But you know what? I don't care any more, it will just be more of the same but with different graphics. And I've got other games that manage to keep me riveted, so this one's got to R.I.P. in my shelf. Such a shame, it could have been so much better.

The Bottom Line
How I would describe it to others? A beautiful to look at action role-playing game which is not too difficult to begin with but gets tedious after a while. If you're happy with slashing and bashing the same monsters over and over for hours on end, then you'll be happy. But I doubt that even a hardcore gamer would enjoy 'more of the same' after about twenty hours into the game. See for yourself, Titan Quest Gold can be had for little money these days, and it's a relaxing experience for a Hack & Slash style game.

Windows · by CoffeeCrack (20) · 2015

Chop bonk chop stab zzz

The Good
I’m going to put this out there and say that the graphics are utterly charming. There is a crispness to them, and the attention to detail such as swaying corn and fluttering birds. This, coupled with some beautifully ambient sound effects, can make simply leaving your character standing still in the wilderness a really soothing experience. With all the effects cranked up water looks great too. As an aside it was sitting looking at these scenes for a few seconds that made me turn off the computer and haul my housemates down to the beach for a random excursion. Not that that has anything to do with the game or anything…

The main thing that really attracted me to the game was the setting. Anyone who watched Troy or knows a thing or two about legends and ancient history will be pleased with the aesthetics of the weapons and armour, although the Egyptian armour often looks silly. While many infamous heads from legend pop their heads in to say hi, they’re rarely much more than things to bonk on the head.

Yup… that’s about all I can manage.

The Bad
Imagine this was a movie. Better yet imagine if the big-thighed protagonist were you. What the hell are you actually doing? You rampage across the countryside, silently bashing absolute hoards of creatures over the head again and again and again, never tiring, never sleeping, day in day out.

I’ve always had trouble with RPG’s in my head (though calling this an RPG is misleading), namely the principle of a group of people (occasionally made up of sassy teenagers) ganging together to go and massacre entire species of sentient animals, often by simply standing in front of them and swinging their weapon once, then stealing their clothes to sell for minute profit. Titan Quest has taken this formula completely to heart. It is, as it were, the embodiment of it.

Yet you really need to take a step back and observe what you’re doing. We’ve all played Diablo II, and this is essentially ‘Diablo: The Sunny Years’. We’ve all seen how addictive, though not necessarily fun, it can be.

But where are you going with this?

The principle driving force in RPG’s is the advancement system, although this is another idea that has always seemed peculiar to me. In Morrowind I started off with a certain numerical representation of my strength, lets say 20, presumably similar to what an average person can bench press, or whatever. By the time I stopped playing I had 100 “strength”. 100 what strength? Am I five times stronger than I was? Am I incapable of lifting something someone with 101 strength can?

The idea of advancing in Titan Quest is similar, but utterly flawed. The goal is to presumably get stronger in order to carry better weapons to do more damage. Yet from the very beginning, armed with a knife made of jelly and throwing custard pies, I slaughter the enemies with ease, often with one hit (save the occasional boss character, who you just hold the mouse button on for a bit). I continue to kill enemies throughout the game with one hit. Have I advanced?

Sure there is a choice of magic and archery and various buff spells and whatnot, giving you an option for replaying a game that got boring ten minutes in. But these do nothing different, save for some spangly effects, than just bonking the monsters over the head. Click, dead. Click, dead. It’s almost as bad as Dungeon Siege. One of my favourite things to do in the game is killing the crows (crows?!?) as they just leave a puff of black feathers and a disembodied “crawk”. Oh how I tittered.

I’ve mentioned Diablo, and much of its influence lingers here like morning-after breath on a girl who’s renewed your subscription to beer goggles.

There are the same non-descript, randomised weapons, each factoring up in newer, swishier models in tiny damage increments. Yet rather than the “Sword of the Badger” and other daft paraphernalia found in Diablo, these are Bronze, Copper, Iron etc. But what’s the difference between hitting someone over the head with a Bronze or Iron mace??!? A lump of rock will cause significant concussive damage to anyone wearing the thickest armour.

As in Diablo the enemies respawn upon reloading a saved game. Yet the town I emancipated from the terminally weak hoard of enemies, now reincarnated in the field next to the town, is ignored by the locals, who spout their repeating phrases of thanks for infinity. Also the Greeks speak in a Russian accent.

There are technical failings also, aside from the occasional crashes I suffered.

The hoarding aspect of Diablo was its main reason for playing. Yet Titan Quest’s makers somehow deliberately mar it here. There is no auto-sorting inventory, leaving you to carefully arrange each piece Tetris-style. The button you press to highlight the items literally piled around you doesn’t work, rarely showing every item. Even worse was the idea to include a physics engine! Profitable items such as rings are almost life-size for the character, therefore invisible to the player, often tumbling away into thick grass or hidden underneath the torrent of useless weapons and armour. And they truly are useless. The majority of objects will sell for pittance, even a big lump of Iron armour.

The game is relatively seamless and quick to load, but for some reason the occasional cave and indoor area would suffer awful stuttering.

But worst of all of this is that Titan Quest is boring. It takes you nowhere, does nothing new, and does established things badly. It is probably the most soulless game I’ve ever played.


The Bottom Line
If some of you terminal hoarders need another dose, you're presumably still replaying Diablo II. Otherwise there is zero I can say to encourage you to buy this. Unless you like men in skirts of course.

Windows · by Curlymcdom (44) · 2008

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Copy protection

The game includes a hidden security check to battle piracy. Users playing the game using a modified executable have the game crash in the first cave. This however also damaged the game's reputation as illegitimate users reporting this issue on forums made the game appear bug-ridden. The PR department was not able to fully turn this around, especially as the code did not work perfectly and legit users were also sometimes confronted with the crash.

Online servers

The game's online servers which were hosted on GameSpy were scheduled to shut down on 31 May 2014 in the wake of GameSpy's total closure.

An alternate server was added specifically for the Steam version in a beta branch on 24 February 2016.

Awards

  • Games for Windows Magazine
    • March 2007 - #6 Game of the Year 2006
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2007 – #4 Best Game in 2006 (together with 1701 A.D.)
    • Issue 03/2007 – #2 Best RPG/Adventure in 2006 (Reader's Vote)

Information also contributed by PCGamer77 and Sciere

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MDMaster.

iPad, iPhone, Android added by firefang9212.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Sciere, eWarrior, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, garkham, Plok, firefang9212.

Game added July 5, 2006. Last modified March 6, 2024.