Character creation and skill sets
As you will have no doubt guessed from the intro Titan Quest is an action based RPG set in ancient Greece which, later on, also sees you fighting in Egypt and China. Each of these countries have a rich history chock full of myths and legends, ripe to be used as inspiration for some good old fantasy role playing. Sure, there may be parts of Titan Quest that have bugger all to do with Greek mythology but the inspiration for some great monsties is there.
When starting a game of Titan Quest for the first time, you select a male or female character and the colour of their tunic and that’s it. There’s no fine tuning to sculpt a body shape or hone facial features, just pick a sex and what colour their outfit is and off you go. You don’t even have to muck about with any specific skills or character types.
Click for larger imageOnce in the game you start in the same way as many other RPG’s, near a small town or outpost with nothing but the clothes on your back and a small knife. Talking to the locals gives you the much needed info to kick start the story and send you on your way. Basically, the Titans have broken from the prisons built for them buy the gods and, now they’re out, they’re off on the rampage. Of course, this being Ancient Greece, there’s no shortage of folk shrugging their shoulders and wondering what to do, so it’s up to you to step forward, strike a heroic pose against the setting sun and rid the lands of the Titan menace. You and your trusty knife…
So obviously your character isn’t up to taking on a Kraken or putting one in the eye of a Cyclops just yet, so it’s back to that RPG favourite of levelling up! Once you reach your first level you get to decide what type of character you want to play and then you can select your first skill mastery. In the run up to level 1 you’ll see a bit of combat and generally find your feet in the Titan Quest world. This gives you a chance to get a feel for the combat system and the environment and helps you decide what style of character best suits the way you play. Like pretty much most RPG’s, magical characters will find Titan Quest a little more difficult than other classes at the lower levels, but after level 8 things really take off, for all the classes in fact.
Click for larger imageOnce you reach level 8 you can select a second profession, similar to the system used in Guild Wars, which opens up the options for some great character types and allows you to diversify from the primary role you chose way back on level 1. The possibilities then become virtually endless on how you’d like your character to develop within the game. Levelling up gives you 2 points to add to one of your five main attributes. You have to choose carefully though as the success of your character depends on how you increase the attributes they need for the class you’re playing. Warriors need strength whereas mages need intelligence… all standard RPG stuff really.
You also receive 3 points to add to your skills and here is where you’ll see a skill tree similar to Diablo 2. The main difference here is that you have to add points to the mastery to get the higher level skills, so the more points you add to the mastery the more skills become available.
Click for larger imageThere are a total of eight different classes to choose from, all of which can be selected as a primary or secondary skill mastery. Warfare is the warrior class and lets you wield two weapons at once, stun enemies with a blast from your war horn (ooer, missus) and also use a ‘berserk’ mode where you feel no pain and don’t take as much damage. Hunting is the ranger/archer class and gives you skills such as puncturing shots, exploiting weaknesses and monster lore. Spirit is just one of the mage type classes that, amongst other things, allows you to summon a powerful liche king as an ally. There’s plenty of others two, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
With these eight main skill masteries and all the individual skills available to you in each category the options open to you are immense meaning you can build up your character exactly how you’d like them to be.
Click for larger imageOnce you’ve got a few new skills under your belt you can start adventuring further into the wilderness without fear of being beaten up by bunny rabbits and you can now seek out the more powerful monsters which give you a greater experience boost and help you level up faster. Certain skills work in the background to enhance your character and are ‘on’ all the time; certain other skills have to be equipped to the slots at the bottom of the screen and have to recharge before they can be used again. The quick access slot system is something we’ve seen before and is a standard in RPGs now, once you’ve equipped a slot with a skill or potion you just have to press the associated number key to activate it… sorted.
