Dungeon Siege II hands-on preview (PC)

[Everlost_MI]

Gamedaily (http://www.gamedaily.com) has posted a small hands-on preview (http://www.gamedaily.com/pc/article/?id=8939&game_id=2761&source=00001) of Dungeon Siege II including new screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

Here is a bit from the article...
Dungeon Siege II features a brand new character development system, one that promises to be much deeper than the original set up in Dungeon Siege. DS2 features separate skill trees (with multiple levels within those trees) for ranged, melee, nature magic and combat magic. As you put points into those separate skills you can unlock something called power attack. Each skill will feature seven separate powers that can eventually be unlocked by the player.

The original was fun and the screenshots of the sequel are decent.

[Heretic Machine]

Eh... I found the original to be one of the worst games I've ever bought. I mean, seriously... The only cool thing about it was the dungeon design, the gameplay was basically non-existent.

[n3rdXcore]

i loved dungeon siege. yeah, i know it was just a major clickfest and item hunt, but i thought it was fun to play. and the worlds were so beautiful, with such a long draw distance, and no load times. i'm eagerly awaiting DSII for sure.

[Deadend]

Dungeon Siege was boring.

It had boring controls.

[Stooby]

I loved Dungeon Siege. Me and a friend of mine played it all the time. We tried playing the demo of Dungeon Siege 2, and we will not be buying it. The game was extremely fun, however, we both play Warriors, so, there were parts of the game that we could not get past because they required you to have a certain ranged or magic skill. It is a shame, we were really looking forward to the game, but if we can't play just the two of us with whatever skills we want, it won't be fun.

[baz]

he game was extremely fun, however, we both play Warriors, so, there were parts of the game that we could not get past because they required you to have a certain ranged or magic skill.

I played the demo as well and the only places that were locked behind specific skill doors where treasure chests. I played as a warrior, not a problem, completed the demo. There were a couple of rooms that I couldn't get into as I didn't have the skill, but I don't think it hurt the game.

I'm still undecided on this, its a clickfest, and pretty mindless, but I sometimes like that when I just want to chill out.

[greensky]

Anyone got a download link for the demo?

[Pumped'Up]

DS1 was a huge borefest. I couldn't play for more than 20 mins without falling asleep.

DS2...i'll wait for reviews, but it really has to end up getting an average min of 95% score, otherwise, I'm skippin it without a flinch. But obviously it won't get such a high score (not even 90% I'm betting) so yep, I'm skippin this crapfest.

[score]

Man, I hope they sort out the way they deal with dropped booty. The CTRL key (or was it shift?) in Diablo2 has spoiled me. I like to know before I pick something up if its enchanted or not.

Saying that, I haven't test driven the demo yet...

-Score

[Grimgrock]

I admit that I didn't play the demo for very long (about 10 minutes) but from what I did see, everything they are claiming to have done has been done. They did revamp the character development process. They did make the interface different. It also seems like they might have something resembling a meaningful story.

I had some trouble re-learning the controls (for some reason I remember them being different in the original). My first five battles with things that attacked me ended in my death each time. It was more than likely something I was doing rather than something the game lacked.

I enjoyed the first game to a point and then the game became repetative. That's not to say it wasn't fun.

[Arphahat]

I started off really enjoying the first one, but it quickly became repetitive. Also, there wasn't too much thought that had to go into the battles. Never got around to finishing it.

[Subbacultcha]

Ah, Dungeon Siege. By rights it was more of a screensaver than a game. Indeed, 'click-fest' is too generous a label because there were only two player controllable aspects of the gameplay:

- Moving your character along the incredibly linear game world. In this sense Dungeon Siege was the polar opposite of Morrowind: the plot was about as open ended as Super Mario Brothers. You literally started from point A, then walked a zillion miles down a single road to point B. Game over.

- Combat, otherwise known as hitting the health potion key at strategic intervals. Zero player interaction was involved in the actual combat. It was a case of walking your character down 'the yellow brick road' and watching it kick ass on autopilot, hoping that you've got enough health potions to make it past this or that section of the 'Road to No where'.

A conversation in The Sims had more player interaction than the combat in Dungeon Siege.

[Grimgrock]

I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say:

A conversation in The Sims had more player interaction than the combat in Dungeon Siege. because frankly they are 2 completely different kinds of games. Not to mention that the same "issue" applies to Diablo and Diablo 2. Are you saying those games suffer from the same problems? In fact, any RPG, except for Morrowind is essentially a linear quest that starts at point A and ends at point Z. What happens inbetween, even in big games like Baldur's Gate don't affect the end result as far as what happens when the game is over. Lot's of side-quests does not equal a non-linear play experience.

[Kyle Jones]

I'll happily be grabbing this title up when it comes out. Might even pry me away from my newly refound WoW addiction.