So I finished up the pre-expansion content in Titan Quest tonight.  Unfortunately, it suffers from the all too common problem of a very weak ending.  The area leading up to the final boss isn't too bad (especially in comparison to some real painful RPG grind pre-final levels like in FF12).  But the final fight itself is pure tedium.  It invalidates most of the useful interesting mechanics of the game so far (like pets, and melee combat) and replaces it with an incredibly boring fight with a brutal boss who can more or less 1 or 2 shot you no matter your resistances.  So the only way to fight him is to "kite" him around the arena, whittling away at him with a safe ranged attack (in my case, as a Dream / Nature character, using the "teleport up to someone and whack them" ability then instantly running away).  Effective but quite boring.

Kiting being a well-established MMO term ... the first time I recall hearing it was for Everquest 1 back in 1999 or so.  I prefer the older Star Fleet Battles term for the same sort of thing, the "Kaufman Retrograde".  But no one has any idea what I mean when I use that one, so "kiting" it is... 

I'm going to give TQ a bit of a rest before finishing the expansion, especially with STALKER sucking up more of my PC time and C&C 3 on the way.  However, I've been having a lot of fun playing it with my 6 yr old son, Xavier -- he knows all the hotkeys to summon my pets and how many of each I should have, and autonomously handles summoning them all up for me from the comfort of my lap.

Also, it was my younger son Alexander's birthday this past week and we had the birthday party today.  Basically a chaotic mob of 3 to 6 yr olds descending up Little Gym and running around like madmen.  Good times.  :)