I just want to die. I feel so worthless...

[Barghest]

I've previously said that I would rather put my eyes out with a pencil rather then buy another 'interactive screensaver' ALA Dungeon Siege. Guess what? I went and bought Dungeon Siege 2. I feel dirty.

I played the game up to the end of ACT 1, but overcome with guilt, and shame, I uninstalled it. I hate to admit it, but I did quite like some parts of the game. The AI, the 'roleplaying', the story, and the fact you can only use 4 characters sucked.

I need to choose between the following options...

a) If it gets better in ACT 2, should I swallow my pride and reinstall DS2?

or

b) Sell it on eBay, and buy Sacred Gold instead?

 

[Chefe]

hello world

 

[Whipporowill]

Keep trucking, it gets better.

 

[Chefe]

hello world

 

[Barghest]

I like self-abuse!

I played the original Sacred, but I haven't played Sacred Plus/Underworld.

Is it worth doing a trade?

 

[Vault Dweller]

a) If it gets better in ACT 2, should I swallow my pride and reinstall DS2?

It doesn't. I mean it's as good (or bad) as Act 1. Imo, it gets worse simply because you realize that the whole game is like that, the character development becomes even less interesting, and the game less challenging (if that word could be applied to it)

Keep trucking, it gets better.

Do tell

 

[Whipporowill]

Keep trucking, it gets better.

Do tell

Might be a matter of opinion, but I liked it - but then again I played quite some DS1. That said, DS2 is a lot (and I mean A LOT) better - worthless voice acting and semi-transparent story nonwithstanding.

 

[Sandelfron]

It's a bit limited in some senses obviously, though the best way to give a game
you've bought a chance is to blank out what reviews have said (good or bad)
and just play it as if you'd never heard about it before.

BTW: I think I found a progress-stopping bug in it; there are boulders covering
an entrance in ACT 1 that were cleared away as part of a quest - on returning
from a teleport to town they reappear.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Of course, it's a matter of opinion, and it's clear that you liked the game, so tell us what did you like. That's what I was asking.

Good:

I like the environments, the atmosphere (the forest at the beginning of Act 1 was very different from the one at the end of Act 1), details like bridges, caves, elevators, not-so-secret areas; dungeons design was generally good, the journal was superb, speshul affects, including sound, were well done, etc. Some quests are nice.

Bad:

Character system is crap. D2 and DD/BD did a much, MUCH better job there. The races are a joke. "+2 to Strength" is meaningless, it's not Dn-fucking-D, Chris. The loot system is crap. Comparing to D2, loot is practically worthless, as in "I hardly care what particular piece of equipment my characters are wearing". Combat is bleh. Some quests are crappy.

 

[Barghest]

I did uninstall the game in a mood when I discovered that the I could only play with four characters on first play (Was this documented anywhere?)

I would say this is a MUCH better game then DS (And I did play the demo) but I have the option of selling on this game for around £25, and I can get Sacred Plus for about the same figure. Is it worth going for it?

 

[Vault Dweller]

It doesn't take much for a game to be better than DS1; as for the question, the answer depends on your own likes and dislikes. You've played both games, if you prefer Sacred's gameplay style, go with it, as like I said, DS2 offers the same gameplay in Act2 as it did in Act1.

 

[Elwro]

Just think about the real reasons you had for uninstalling the game. If it was really "guilt and shame", install it back and have fun.
If you didn't play Divine Divinity: sell DS2 on eBay, buy DivDiv and have a nice evening out with your girlfriend for the remaining cash. DivDiv is, I think, better than both Sacred and DS2, but Sacred was quite a nice game after the patching, too...

 

[Sandelfron]

Or better still, send me the cash.

 

[Sol Invictus]

What a stupid reaction.

Why do you care what other people think about the game? Feeling shame for enjoying a game? If you enjoy it, who gives a fuck what other people think?

By the way, if you haven't played the game, please don't comment on how "act 2 is worse". Bullshit.

 

[Sarvis]

I haven't played DS1, but from descriptions other people have given I'd say DS2 is a lot better.

For instance, you ca't just set all the characters in the party to aggressive and have them clear the dungeon while you go take a dump... which is what one guy told me he did.

You have to control one character, and you have to tell them when to drink healing potions. Generally, in any fight that is even moderately tough one or two of my henchies will drop and stay down for most of the fight.

Combat is simplistic, character building is only slightly less simplistic. Collecting loot is fun, but you do get inundated with a lot of items you don't really need. At this point (near the end of Act 2) I only get excited when I see a set item drop. Killing monsters is kind of a low key fun, and not as involved as diablo 2 seemed to be for what little I played it. It is fun though to set of your special power and watch an entire screen full of enemies get gibbed!

The last boss fight I had was pretty cool too. Dragon, had to use a ballistae to hurt it and they kept throwing tough spider/crab things at you too. They would have been cake, but your entire party is pretty much instantly and permanently incapacitated by the continuous dragonflame. (If I go through again, everyone gets lots of fire resistance.)

 

[Whipporowill]

There are a couple consoleish bossfights that's actually pretty interesting - it's clear it's a boss your fighting, and not just a power-up monster - as they're all unique, require some minor problem solving/tactics to beat.

 

[theverybigslayer]

You should have either:

A.) First read reviews.

B.) Played the demo (I did!).

C.) All of the above.


C is the right answer.

I am not sure this is the right answer.

Age of Empires 2:
I red the reviews. They said it was a great game.
I played the demo. I thought it was a great game.
Then I was playing the first campaign of the full game and I disliked it

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

Don't buy sacred, sacred sucks. What is the fucking delusion so many people have with sacred.

 

[Chefe]

hello world

 

[Naked_Lunch]

It gets old. Fast.

And the droppable skill system thing pisses me off.

 

[Second Chance]

Don't buy sacred, sacred sucks. What is the fucking delusion so many people have with sacred.

Sacred was ok. Sacred underworld makes the game a whole lot better.

 

[Grantus]

Dungeon Siege 2 does require a bit more user input than 1, although that's not saying much. I'm now into Act 4, and because of the lack of anything else right now, I've so far stuck with it.

Gee, when does Indigo Prophesy come out? I need a new game, been downloading indie space sims lately. Just got Space Rangers 2, that looks fairly entertaining, at least for a little while.

I do have to say there are some games I'm looking forward to this fall:

-- Indigo Prophesy (demo is out, it's short but interesting)

-- X3 Reunion (can they fix the terrible control scheme of X2?)

-- Fable for PC (yeah, I know, everyone's got low expectations)

-- Oblivion

What am I forgetting?

 

[Fintilgin]

Ugh.

That about sums up my feelings towards DSII. I got to about the end of Act 1. The story is horrible. I won't dignify it by saying it was a lousy knockoff of Tolkienesqe fantasy. It was more like a pastiche of an autistic 12 year olds D&D campaign. The SWORD OF DESTROYING! The SHIELD OF DEFENDING! An ancient artifact shattered into peices and scattered across the land! All life should fear the evil of Dark McBadguy!

The initial tutorial was lousy too, though I may be being a bit harsh. It felt more like something you'd see in a budget title then a big name 'AAA' game. You're part of an invading force attacking a temple and an evil skeleton monster has, in the middle of battle, set up a redemial training course for a couple random mercinaries. Not only that, but he says things out loud to your character like "Grrarr! Welcome to the army! Right-click to attack!" Immersion-breaking dosn't get much worse that that. I mean, seriously, that whole sequence started things off on the wrong foot. It just really felt like the development team couldn't be bothered to create something that made sense and didn't respect their own story enough not to completely shatter any hint of immersion or realisim.

What really got to me though, was the insanely linear maps. Apparently the whole world is a single hallway. No real exploration, a bright arrow always pointing you where to go next... God forbid that we wander from the path. March forward, kill monster, march forward kill monster, march forward, kill monster, march forward, kill monster, march forward, kill monster. Repeat until bored.

Honestly DSII felt like a parody of an RPG.

So I took it back and exchanged it for a pre-order of Civilization IV. Sid Meier. Now there's a man who knows how to make games. Mmmmmm. Civ IV.

 

[Grantus]

To be fair, it gets a little less linear after the first act, but it's still far from being open-ended. After the first act, you can ocassionally go off the main path for a few minutes and kill things.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I don't know what's so great about Sacred. It's a decent game for awhile but it gets old, and fast. Area transition takes too long and the bad guys aren't that different in each area, so it's just more of the same.

DSII is a dungeon crawler. You're not supposed to compare it to Baldur's Gate or Fallout, so yes, it's a "parody of an RPG". You'd be idiotic to expect something more.

It's still better than Sacred. The skill system in Sacred sucks.