Torchlight Interview and Preview

Runic Games' Torchlight is the subject of both a new interview and a new preview that made their way to the 'net this weekend.

The Q&A is at Gamebunny (thanks, RPGWatch):
gamebunny: Tell us a bit about the included editor and your stance on the modding community.

Runic (Wonder Russell, Greg Brown): The editor, or (Preditor) as it's called, is an extremely special and important facet of the single-player version. All the tools we use are hand-made with love by our Tools Engineer, Greg Brown, and will be made available around the same time as the single player game. So far, people who have seen the Editor in action are really excited by how easy it is to use, even for inexperienced modders. It's pretty intuitive and has a LEGO-snap together style. You can also go ahead and play within a level you're creating, to test it out without exiting the toolset proper. The level of customization possible is going to be limited only by players' imagination and innovation. Dungeons, levels, bosses, particles, weapons, loot, rate of drops, experience, how hard monsters hit and more it's all in the player's hands.

We love modders and want to support that community. Our stance has always been that we can't wait to see what they come up with!

While the preview is at Play Magazine:
I think we're all crazy about loot in action RPGs, and Torchlight will have satchel-loads for everyone to collect. To defeat the guardians of said treasure, Runic is preparing three player classes for the SP game, two of which have been revealed thus far. The Destroyer is your weapon specialist melee master, given a unique twist in the Ancestral spirits he may call upon for protection and destruction. These ghostly warrior entities hover around the Destroyer, bestowing bonuses and clawing at nearby foes. The Destroyer loves to wade through oppressive crowds of undead and beastmen, surrounding himself with a thick stew of monsters before releasing devastating area-of-effect rage. The second class detailed to date is the Alchemist, a ranged magic user. He funnels his arcane incantations through a focus glove on his left hand, channeling magical force and fire into missiles and waves of destructive energies--keeping the slavering savages of the depths at bay, lest they tear his weaker frame to shreds. That third class is destined to be a hybrid of warrior and mage...