The Anniversary Edition of Titan Quest includes the base game with the Immortal Throne add-on merged into one game. Additional coding was made to improve the performance and stability of the game, as well as resolve bugs and exploits, support more resolutions, rebalance the game, restore multiplayer with in-built voice chat and NAT resolving, and improve AI. New characters and bosses are also included, while challenges and rewards for larger parties are increased.
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). You are a hero who 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 you create a character and level up by killing thousands of monsters, like Hydras or Gorgons. At the beginning of the game your hero has no profession, but upon reaching level 2 you are given the choice between eight unique “masteries”. Upon reaching level 8 you are granted access to a second mastery. This allows you the choice of creating a warrior who is good magician or a necromancer who can also kill his enemies quietly. If you feel that you’ve misspent your skill points, you can rearrange them (for a nominal fee) by visiting a certain NPC in each act.
The story of the game is based on the real mythologies of ancient Greece, Egypt, and Babylon, so you’re bound to recognize many of your enemies. Additionally, you can learn much about the legends of the land you’re adventuring in by talking to storyteller NPCs.
If you don’t want to beat the hell out of the Titans alone, you can invite up to 6 friends and play in LAN/WAN with them in the cooperative mode through the entire game.
It was a big fight high above on Olympus but in the end the hero won the fight and eradicated the evil from the earth. Or did he? Zeus knows that the hero missed something and sends him to the temple of Apollo on the island of Rhodes. There he hears of the evil that still resides in the one place that was not visited: the domain of Hades, the resting place of the dead. Hades commands his demons to kill all living creatures and the hero cannot allow that to happen, so he descends into the underworld, crosses the river Styx and even travels to the Elysian Fields in order to hunt Hades down and make himself a customer in his own realm.
To do so the add-on Immortal Throne not only expands the level cap to 75 (+10 compared to the original game) but also adds a new mastery called “Dream”. This mastery uses deceptions and illusions to seduce, disorient and, of course, kill enemies.
In the item department the expansion not only adds over 500 new items but also new types of objects such as arcane formulas which, once deciphered by a Enchanter, reveal how to make powerful artifacts which can be placed in the new slot in the character screen to increase the abilities. To make these artifacts, three reagents are needed, which can be everything from relics to other artifacts and scrolls.
Scrolls are new, too. They contain powerful one-time spells such as “Raise the Dead” or “Heal me completely”. The last new item is the Gravestone. A Gravestone appears on the location where the hero is killed and when it is revisited, a large part of the lost experience points is regained.
The companion system has also been reworked. The player can assign different behavior patterns like Aggressive or Defensive to anyone. It is now also easier to control them as they can be selected either directly with the function keys, or marked as a whole group with a single key. The new companions are not the only new NPCs in the new and old world. There are also the Caravans and the already mentioned Enchanters. In the wagons of the Caravan items can be stored for later use when the available space in the inventory becomes scarce, similar to the chest in Diablo II. Items can then be accessed anytime and at any Outpost. The Enchanter not only deciphers arcane formulas but can also remove Relics from weapons and armor.
A few changes were made in the multiplayer part of the game. The most obvious is the overhaul of the lobby system. Open games now have detailed information shown including a list of the characters currently playing. Completely new is the possibility to activate PvP on a server to spice the action up a bit.
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