Dungeon Siege : First Impressions

LNCPapa

LNCPapa

Posts: 4,320   +582
TS Special Forces
First off, let me just say that I think this is a great game...

Now, lemme fill in a few details. I've only been playing it for about 3 ½ hours but I've enjoyed all except the first two minutes. All the controls are very intuitive if you've ever played the likes of Diablo II and/or Starcraft/Warcraft/etc. or if you've done any 3D modelling on the PC/Irix. Microsoft did very well crossing Warcraft with Diablo on this one. The controls are a mix of the two and it works just great with a 3-button wheel mouse (5 button works fine too, but have't checked to see what the other two buttons do yet).

The game is pretty much Diablo II in complete 3D and without any true character classes. You're a farmer and your land had been attacked by stupid monsters. You can run around and pick up anything you see - a hoe (not that kind), a shovel, a pitchfork, or whatever. Kill monsters and take their stuff to improve your inventory. Kill magic casters and steal their spell books to learn more magic. Typical RPG sort of stuff - improve your armor, strength, intelligence, dexterity, and magic.

Lemme say that this game is jaw-dropping beautiful. Not sure how it runs on a slower machine, but for me it's quite nice;). Passes the resolution limit that diablo 2 has (by a hair) and maxes out at 1024x768x32 (still quite nice though). I can see that my time will now be shared between Diablo II and Dungeon Siege.

Would love to hear what anyone else has to say about this one. I jumped on it to get a different pace from the FPS games I always play.

LNCPapa
 
Originally posted by LNCPapa
You can run around and pick up anything you see - a hoe (not that kind)
Click to expand...
lmao :haha:
Actually I might give this game a try - if I get it in the near future I'll reply with my thoughts.
 
I may go find this one today at my local BB and see what its all about. I never played the original Diablo but when Diablo II came out I got it and played it for months..
 
Originally posted by LNCPapa
First off, let me just say that I think this is a great game...
Click to expand...

Still impressed? Haven't played it myself, but it seems very tempting. Is the actual gameplay/fighting cool? Is it possible to pause the game á la Baldurs Gate while fighting so one can micromanage every detail (one of the great things with BG imo)?
 
Yes - still impressed - been playing for 4 ½ hours now - and yes you can pause the game if you want to micromanage - however, the interface is set up so well that I doubt you will be doing much pausing.

LNCPapa
 
I gotta try and find it today..My local Target had no signs of it. I may try EB instead..
 
I just got a copy of this game today form Best Buy, haven't had time to install it yet, but will do later, and let you know what I think.
 
Its Good

A lot of people have been saying this game is like Dialbo, when in fact it seems much more like baldur's gate. You can pause the game anytime you want, and there isn't the mindless clicking like in Diablo. The graphics are very nice, and run fine at 1024 on my piece of junk Geforce 256.

Also, there is a coupon in PC Gamer for 20% off any game at best buy.

Another really cool addition is you can have mules to carry around your stuff! (And you get lots of loot) And the more stuff the "packhorses" have, the more packs and boxes they have on their back. Also, like in BG's and Diablo, each piece of equipment changes your character's looks, but now, you can zoom in and see it up close in amazine detail. It looks really cool when you get the magical weapons that have effects attached to them.
 
svoboda, in addition to the 20% coupon there is also a 20 gift card with the purchase of Dungeon Siege. As long as they have it in stock Im gonna pick it up today.
 
I like Dungeon Seige so far. I am up to chapter 4 in the dark forest. I have 2 melees, 2 archers, a nature and combat magician, and of course a pack mule :) The gameplay seems like a combination of Diablo and Starcraft. The graphics look great at 1024 x 768 max detail with 4xfsaa. The story line is so-so but its great to see your whole group go wild with magic weapons and spells. This is a little break from FPS's and will hold me until Never Winter Nights is released for a taste of a 100 percent genuine RPG. So far I have Medal Of Honor, Jedi Knight II, and now Dungeon Seige. Its going to be a great year for gaming.
 
Alright, I finally tracked down a copy last night at Best Buy and I already put 3 hours into it. This game is awesome and is a must buy for Diablo fans. The game plays very similar to it.

First of all, there is a 185mb demo available at http://www.dungeonsiege.com. I downloaded this at 8:00p.m last night and started playing. About 20 minutes into it, I uninstalled the demo and drove 100mph to Best Buy(I was racing some lowered Honda). Got the game (I was so excited to buy it that I forgot to use my 20% off coupon!) and then went over to a friends house. Sat there for an hour and then went home to install this 1GB+ monster. I fired it back up around 10:00p.m.(after all settled down in my household and didnt stop till almost 1:30a.m. This game is amazing. It is very addicting and easy to get going with. Im gonna give a more indepth review later on today..
 
After logging in 10+ hours Im ready to review:

Gameplay:

Arguably the most important aspect of a game, Dungeon Siege delivers in full force. The game does play alot like Diablo II but this is not a bad thing. Your left mouse button is used for walking around(by clicking to your destination) and picking your fights. The right mouse button does not have many functions. I have yet to find a use for it. If you have a scroll wheel mouse, the scroll is used to zoom in and out which is really helpful during fighting. Zooming out gives you a very good shot of your surroundings and on larger screens, the game is very playable when zoomed out. When zoomed all the way in, the game actually plays like a third person game. Its a bit tough navigating around though when you are zoomed all the way in. Best bet is to find a happy medium somewhere in the middle.
The fighting part of the game is great. At first I had a tough time killing these birds that were always flying at me. Then I figured out that if I just click the enemy once, my character will go over to the enemy and take care of business. You dont have to click your mouse 100 times to click an enemy. I like this option alot.
My only gripe thuse far with the gameplay is when you add more than one player to your "team". It tends to be a bit difficult to get them to follow you sometimes and also when you have more than one character with you there is no real leader. Im not a big RPG player so this may be the part of the game that will take me some getting used to. I guess some more time will tell.

Graphics:

Oh how sweet 1024x768x32 is! I had a tough time with Diablo II's 800x600 resolution on my 18" LCD so this is a huge improvement. I would have even liked to see 1280x1024. The graphics themselves are great. The forest landscapes are very lush and full looking. The enemies are detailed good but that is all. There is not much special when it comes to your opponents. There are so many different enemies that this is not to big of a deal because once you get sick of seeing one of the enemies(skeletons in the crypt) they are gone. Your actual character is good looking at well but nothing spectacular, especially when you dress him or her up in a leather or burlap suit. The environments that you play in make up for the lack of character detail in my opinion.
I havent tested the games frame rate yet of my system but it plays very smoothly. It did play perfectly when I was playing as a single player, but as soon as I picked up 2 "friends" I did start to notice some slowdown. Not a huge deal yet but you can have up to 8 characters with you at once. We'll see how the game plays when that happens.
I have read that the game plays good on most computers. I have a 1.33AMD T-Bird with 512mb ram and a Geforce 3 video card and Im starting to think about an upgrade after seeing the slowdown. I think its is a mixture of the high resolution Im playing at and the fact that I now have 3 characters on the screen at the same time all doing different things. I can remember when Diablo II came out I had to buy a Voodoo 5 just to play it smoothly. If someone says that the computer doesnt need to be much to play smoothly, they are wrong.

Controls:

I pretty much explained this fully in the gameplay portion of my review. The game is a mouse clicker. Thankfully, its not excessive because your character will pretty much fight anything you direct them to. The keyboard can be used to cast spells and choose weapons but you do all your moving and fighting with the mouse.

Sound:

The sound is nothing spectacular but then again in this type of game does it need to be? Characters have good voices and there are alot of "envrionmental sounds" in the game. I dont have a Dolby Digital sound setup, but during fighting sequences the effects are good. With a DD card and speakers it would probably be much better.

Conclusion:

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase. I downloaded the demo which just made me want to buy the game even more. There is alot to this game and I have just begun. I go back to the Diablo II comparison over and over again because the game plays just like it. If you are tired of Diablo II or just looking for something new to play then this game is for you. Dungeon Siege was hyped up alot before its release and for good reason. As long as you have a sufficient computer and a good video card this game should play fine for you. If you want to run it in high resolution then I would recommend a Geforce 3 or higher once you get a couple of "friends" in your "caravan".

If I had to give this game a rating I would say it is a 8.5/10. If they can patch a fix for the slowdown then I would probably give it a 9. I will update my review as I get further into the game.
 
Originally posted by svtcobra
First of all, there is a 185mb demo available at http://www.dungeonsiege.com. I downloaded this at 8:00p.m last night and started playing. About 20 minutes into it, I uninstalled the demo and drove 100mph to Best Buy(I was racing some lowered Honda). Got the game (I was so excited to buy it that I forgot to use my 20% off coupon!) and then went over to a friends house. Sat there for an hour and then went home to install this 1GB+ monster. I fired it back up around 10:00p.m.(after all settled down in my household and didnt stop till almost 1:30a.m. This game is amazing. It is very addicting and easy to get going with. Im gonna give a more indepth review later on today..
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I'd missed the demo. And I like it a lot.
I'm going to start reviewing games for a Swedish site - and will start with this one. Not only do I get it for free, but I get (lousy) payed for playing it. Hehe.
 
Alright I just installed the game and have played for about 2.5 hrs. It is pretty cool so far. I really like the graphics, and the gameplay. I played Pool of Radiance 2 if anyone remember that. Well I played that for about 40 hrs, then formatted my drive and forgot to save backup files, so I lost everything. But I really liked that game. This is sort of similar, but only it isn't trun based, which I like a little better. But.....overall impression is that is rocks.
 
I couldn't help it ...

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New cartoons to come out soon. I go there everyday.:D

InkTank
 
ugh.. me suffers..

just got it.. played it for a while and uninstalled it.. the action was too "watery".. diablo's action (game play) was far more better, IMO.. i can't even hear my knife thrusting into the monsters, or my groan when i'm whacked.. graphics was pretty, but the trees were annoying, even if it was transparent. 3D makes the game pretty, but slow (too smooth?). i prefer diablo's pre-render style more. but the shadow.. ugh.. gross..
maybe i was hoping for too much action.. more diablo, not BG..
one interesting thing is the "the more you use it, the better you get at it" type, i think. just like the one back in the days of Final Fantasy II..

another disappointing purchase..
my skills at choosing games is dropping..
hopefully, it'll get better soon.. or it's gonna die in flames.. just like monopoly tycoon..
 
Thas was ... whoa !!!

I just finished it. This game is a heck of a ride. I don't regret my purchase one bit. The no map load system is truely innovative. You could walk from the beginning of the game all the way to the end in one go. Pretty impressive IMHO.

The only problem I have with the game is the map system. It doesn't allow you to view far enough. Otherwise top notch.:grinthumb

PS. In the end there was so much action on screen I had to drop down to 800*600 ( with 16tap Anisotropic Filtering ).
 
Got Dungeon Siege Legends of Arana today.

It's pretty cheap considering it comes with the original game for 28€. For those who haven't played it at all, this is a very good deal.

I'll post some screenshots later.;)
 
A few more for the road

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DungeonSiege0008.png


Of course, it wouldn't be complete without some Dungeons...

DungeonSiege0009.png
 

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