Review Dungeon Siege 2 first imps at GameDaily

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Dungeon Siege 2

<A href="http://www.gamedaily.com/">GameDaily</a> offers up a <A href="http://www.gamedaily.com/pc/preview/?id=110&type=1&source=00001&gameid=2761">first impressions</a> dealie about <A href="http://www.gaspowered.com/ds2">Dungeon Siege 2</a>. It's not a full review, so no score. It's actually more like a preview in nature, as seen here:
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<blockquote>Your weaponry has also been given an upgrade from the original Dungeon Siege. Players can now create their own weapons and items by enchanting them with various powers and abilities. This makes it possible to create items that work well with your specific style of play. In addition, there are now several types of weapon classes including: rare, unique, enchantable, and special weapon sets.</blockquote>
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I will admit the item system is improved. I didn't run across any items I just couldn't use because they were way out of my skill level in that item class even though I was focusing on that skill, either.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[EvoG]

Oh and those lifts and elevators! Can't forget those...again...Saint!

 

[Lemon]

Enchanting is a nice feature, in the demo I managed to upgrade a set of mundane armour into something far better than the available shop sets.

 

[Shagnak]

Okay, I have to admit it, the demo of this game is slowly growing on me like some sort of insidious fungus.
(Yes, I know I'm prolly the only one who hasn't finished the damn thing STILL; and my experience is based on "play for 15 mins max at a time")

My brief opinion on some stuff:

• Dialog - the VO is actually not too bad (but not brilliant either...). There are some instances of rather crappy overacting that make me wince, but, really, we all should have encountered many degrees worse.
  The thing that annoys me is that, like most people here, I can read faster than the VO can deliver, but the damn text dialog is only uncovered at the pace it is read out. I like having all the text there so I can zip through it and exit the VO prematurally if I can't be bothered waiting for the actor to finish speaking - but you don't seem to be able to do this (have I missed something?).

• Grafix - a mixed bag, but overall positive. In one respect, it looks slightly like an aging engine where they have just thrown in an overloaded amount of detail to distract you, but in other respects this incarnation of the DS engine does things rather nicely.
  Having no load times is absolutely wonderful, I love it (well, barring teleporting and between story chapter bits, but that is understandable). Nice touches like mood lighting and so on are used rather well also.
  "Level design" seems very very linear in parts, just like the original.

• Interface - well, there was a big shit-fest about the content of the journal and so on, but I think the journal itself is fine - so I'll just say that by and large the interface as a whole of the game works. There is nothing here that offends mine eyes to a large degree.

• Story - as pointed out by others in other threads and previews, the story and character motivation and so on is suspect. I won't say more than that. Oh well, nevermind, it is an action-rpg, and in that respect the following bit probably matters more...

• Game mechanics - okay, I'm no RPG rules-lawyer type, so I'll just say that after a while I rather enjoyed the customisation of my character(s). Certainly better than the original DS. Okay, so maybe not as many skills n shit as some CRPGs, or Diablo 2 for that matter, but enough to keep me happy for the hack n slasher that it is. Item enchanting is pretty good, and they have some good lootables (inc armour sets).
  The tips seem to point towards concentrating on one skill area, but I found that if I kept some small levels in distance stuff for my Soldier-d00d then if shit got too heavy at least I could do some strategic run back and shoot from a distance kind-a-stuff.

So that's what I think.
A mixed bag, some good, some could-be-better. Overall I think it's worth a purchase if you have nothing else better to play in the CRPG arena.
Unfortunately, I have a batch of games including Sacred Underworld and Divine Divinity yet to finish, so I could be waiting for a price reduction before I bother :wink:

Presently, I give it 6.5 Shagadelics out of 10 on the Shagnak scale.

[And it could increase yet...who knows :wink: ]

 

[dagamer667]

I haven't got a chance to play with mage characters, but I hope they fixed the XP distribution balance. In the first game, I always had mage characters fall behind in leveling.

 

[Whipporowill]

In DS your char didn't get xp for healing - heard that was supposedly fixed, if that was what you were referring to?

 

[Lemon]

You get xp everytime you use a skill be it melee or magic so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Talorc]

The thing that annoys me is that, like most people here, I can read faster than the VO can deliver, but the damn text dialog is only uncovered at the pace it is read out. I like having all the text there so I can zip through it and exit the VO prematurally if I can't be bothered waiting for the actor to finish speaking - but you don't seem to be able to do this (have I missed something?).

If you click on the text of the "speaker" as it is revealing, it reveals all the text at once. It may also skip the VO, I cant remember exactly. (I was using it to skip through all the dialog on a second run through of the demo)

After my first impression from playing the demo a little bit I had very much told myself I certainly wouldnt purchase DS2, as it is mindless drivel, with the mere veneer of a storyline at best.

But after the second character play through (first as melee guys, next as combat mage), I find myself checking the release date on Online stores....

It is strangely addictive in a clicky, must collect more loot to power up my little avatar way.

I suppose a little action RPG fix is better than nothing :-(

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

It is strangely addictive in a clicky, must collect more loot to power up my little avatar way.

I suppose a little action RPG fix is better than nothing :-(

I'll take "Damning with Faint Praise" for $500 Alex.

 

[Digit]

So, I had just opened a chest which dropped a load of items. One of which was some kind of uber-bow (it said Unique, so I was all "yay!" and stuff). So I changed from my nature magic character to the ranged one, and the magic dude instantly cast Transmute and turned all the items to gold...

-_-

I hope that gets fixed, cos there sure as hell ain't no 'Turn Gold Back to Items' spell.

Otherwise I am still enjoying this, pets are a whole new game in and of themselves. :D

Digit
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Forum fly...

 

[Whipporowill]

Having transmute in an autocast slot - or as an active spell for a player currently uncontrolled is pretty stupid, so I'd say it's more of a fuckup on your behalf rather than a "bug". Still, pretty annoying thing to happen...

 

[Digit]

I guess yes, I should know better but gah! My bow!

Digit
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Forum fly...

 

[Shagnak]

If you click on the text of the "speaker" as it is revealing, it reveals all the text at once.

Yeah it works exactly like that.
I actually worked it out soon after I wrote the above, and remember thinking "Oh, you dumbass" to myself. I really should have gone back and edited the above to save face

Anyway, thanks for the response (and for not rubbing my cluelessness in!)