Dungeon Siege 2 - review

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Good game, not the best, yet playable and replayable to some extend.

Dungeon siege 1, to me, was a disappointment. There was no control over ... whatever. i did not have to devise any tactic, just shotgun my way through everything. Very little side quest and it was straight line from start till the end.

Dungeon Siege 2 attempted to change that linearityness. You have side quest that takes you back and forth. Unlike say Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, side quests of DS2 don't shrink down to non existance in last chapter. They are not evenly spread, but still you will need to do stuff other than straight forward yourself to the final boss. Many quests will need you to teleport through several areas you previously visited.

That being said, the actual quest solving is not really satisfying. There are some puzzle but not really innovative. Often, even, the puzzle theme is repeated, i.e. you get to do the "adjusting mirror to reflect light" puzzle multiple times. Most puzzle solving are just trial and error, no real accomplishement solving those. And there is no "choice" quest which differs in material reward and experience-al reward depending on your choice.

DS characters advance in level according to what fighting style they use most of the time. In DS1, that's just it. Melee fighter uses a sword to cut meat from start till the end. In DS2, special skills and power are added to give more variety. You might be a melee fighter all the way, but you get skill points for leveling up and these skill points can be spend in dual wielding, two handed wielding or sword and shield style skills. On top of that, according to these points, you will get different powers. Sword and shield player will get provoke ability to attract all enemy which other melee fighter cannot get.

Apart from that, DS2 also added the ever favorable pet system. You feed your pet stuff and they level up accordingly. As for the "stuff", they are just loot you encountered during the game. So if you feed your dire wolf only with shields (fighter armour) and red potion, you will eventually get a high armour rating, high hp level meat shield.

The replayablity lies in how serious is your "collect all items, uncover all posibilities" RPG syndrome. There are set items in the game and wearing a whole set gives you extra boost. Serious patient of "collect 'em all" RPG syndrome will have the motivation for playing the game over and over. The game offers 3 difficualties, and you can only advance to the highier one after you have completed the previous one, a potent motivator for "finish 'em all" RPG syndrome patient.

The sound and background music are so so. The graphic is outdated and will not whooo ahhhh anyone. The technical gem in this game, as same with DS1, is you don't need to wait in the "please wait while loading" screen once you started the game till the very end, if you can stay awake that long.

Well, as always, game like this comes down to Diablo. You get your whole team fighting aganist evil instead of Diablo's solo style. You get your pack mule. You get your skill point similiar to Diablo style, you still don't get your stats points though, it levels up automatically. i would say if you are not new to action RPG, then this is a game you can skip, nothing special, nothing new. For someone who new to action RPG and Diablo 2 is too old for you, then at this moment, this is you gateway.

[ October 16, 2005, 10:33: Message edited by: teekc ]

 

Dungeons Siege 2 was better than the first one. That said, it's an okay game for some hack n' slash, but just don't expect anything revolutionary.

 

Tell me about it. I made the mistake and bought DS1 back when it was still fresh, after a TV review program gave it full 5/5, and boy did I regret it. Damn if I make the same mistake twice, RPG or no RPG.

Anyway, hope they start making Diablo 3 soon. It, at least, has a in-depth skill-system, kewl fantasy world, and a whole load of interesting loot to find. If it just had good story and BG-style party management to boot...

 

Oi der buddy! Some of us gamers like hack 'n slash and little party management! I found DS1 better than Diablo 1&2 because my weapons weren't constantly getting weakened and broken with use.

It's nice to know Chris Taylor is out there, developing games for those who dislike constant micromanagement of NPCs, class restrictions and reloading for the umpteenth time. This mindset also made it possible for me to 'solo' a character and not have one of those, Omigosh, I don't have a <insert missing class here>! What am I gonna do?!? moments.

When I can ditch my old, GeForce graphics card for something capable of running Dungeon Siege 2, I happily will spend the $60 on a new game.

 

Kuemper does have a point - yes these games are 'RPGlite' but that's Roll-Playing Game lite.

But the mechanisms of the stats, classes, combat system aren't supposed to be the be-all and end-all - they're there to support immersion into a RICH, INVOLVING STORY (the rolE-playing aspect).

If one gets TOO involved in the 'nuts n bolts' it can interfere with getting involved in the STORY, and playing a part in that. All the IE games have a rich, broad, only semi-linear storyline to their credit, but I'll confess, I've never gotten around to FINISHING any of the myriad I have. Why?

"Aw crap, I *knew* I should have brought a better thief along here..." "Oh, these undead are so damn hard, if only I had a cleric instead of a druid..." "Nuts, that HLA isn't any use at ALL for me; I'll just go back to an old save and get this one instead..."

And I still love BG/IWD and the IE in general to death!

I'll also admit that I never technically finished Diablo (did in MP, but not SP) but that was because the hack-n-slash was getting too monotonous.

But IMO everyone's focussing on the roLLplaying aspects, which can be fun, but there's two types of fun there:
1) the deeply-engrossing 'stats from hell' where you end up pouring over differing attributes, abilities and the like for you PACK ANIMAL, and
2) the 'beer & pretzels' where you just wanna go in, beat the bleep outta some baddies.

BOTH are fun, some people find one or the other more fun, but I myself will dip my toes in both pools from time to time - I enjoy the occasional Risk or Axis & Allies game with the friends, but I also still enjoy 'Counter Insurgent' - a home-grown board/pbm game that a college friend brewed up by adding socio-economic aspects to a game of Diplomacy; I played Austria-Hungary for FIVE years by mail/email even after I finished uni, and kinda pine that I can't find anyone that willing to sink themselves in just a deep political 'juggling game'

But all this is secondary to what I look for in an RPG - is the STORY gonna grab hold of my belt and pull me in kicking and screaming? A 'non-rpg' like Deus Ex did that - I'd be wondering about choices and options outside of playing it - the 'RPG' aspect was no more or less complex than DS1 or Diablo1, but the story sucked me in - I felt the actions I took and choices I made actually CHANGED the story...

But this is getting far too long a treatise for a mere $.02, so I'll clue up by saying "AW" upon hearing the story is non-linear with DS2 but still not quite up to Bioware standards; applaud the 'RPGlite +' mechanics, and prolly pony up some cash for DS2 when the price begins to drop (just got a better vidi card that should be able to play it)

 

Add a link to the official site and any major fan / mod site teeck. That would be just as helpful. And whats with you and elementals, first fire now air

 

There's just something about Diablo that makes it sooo frickin' addictive. C'mon how many times have we replayed Diablo/D2, how many times have we done Laz runs, levelled up to 99, killed Diablo, etc etc. All other games have just failed to deliver what this legend of a game has. Such a simple game with such staying power. Pure genuis.

 

The markets are full of frag'em'ups and hack'n'slash, so it's only natural to hope for something different, ne? Especially since I loathe ultra-high-pixel-graphic no-brainer frag'em'up Counter-Siege games...