Reviews / previews
Microsoft is jumping into the role-playing genre with Dungeon Siege, a fantasy RPG with real-time strategy elements and an emphasis on action. Players will control a party of up to 10 characters as they traverse through the 3D world, which will be one huge, continuous environment-not broken down into individual levels. The developer, Gas Powered Games, has bypassed the complex puzzles of traditional RPGs to focus on exploration and combat. Multiplay will be available for up to 10 players and will allow for short skirmishes, as well as longer campaign-style adventures. Also included will be a world editor, allowing players to design their own dungeons, which can then be posted to the web for download by other gamers. Look for Dungeon Siege when it journeys into stores in 2001.
-- Brian Wright / GamePro
The popularity of games like Diablo and Baldurs Gate have made others stand up and take notice. Gas Powered Games is prepping their take on medieval mayhem with Dungeon Siege, a real time RPG/action hybrid that looks good enough to eat.
Scheduled for a fall release, Dungeon Siege is a true 3D game with 3D terrain and characters. A full particle engine gives realistic lighting effects from explosions and spells. In addition, the game features dynamic loading, which constantly updates the environment so you won't see any load screens when entering a new area.
Gamers start out simply as a male or female character, and slowly build up skills and acquire items. Carrying treasure and items in Diablo and Diablo II is limited by what you can carry, but Dungeon Siege will let gamers hire a helping hand to carry loot. Either a human or pack mule can hoist items for you when you're overburdened. Combat is in real time, but you can either let characters act for themselves when encountering beasts, or give them explicit orders to follow. If managing a whole party is too much in real time, gamers will be able to pause the game to issue combat commands. Characters can fight with weapons as well as use magic and there will be a slew of defensive (such as heal) and offensive spells in the game.
Gamers can use a single character to hack and slash through Dungeon Siege, but you know the saying: the more the merrier. In Dungeon Siege, you can build parties of up to eight different characters. Using multiple party members also involves a bit of strategy. You have a number of party formations available, and can set waypoints. Outflanking the enemy and using the terrain to your advantage can prove useful at times.
You can manage the whole party by yourself or team up with eight humans and play multiplayer games online. Multiplayer games vary from short and specific quests such as rescuing a certain individual or capturing a castle, to longer campaign-style games. When you're done with the single player adventure and have tired of multiplayer gaming, you can create your own unique characters, spells, and adventure environments, which should extend the gameplay even further.
Dungeon Siege looks to take the action RPG genre one step further with a host of graphical and gameplay features that should add up well. This monsters and magic game will venture forth on the PC in the fall.-- 0 / GamePro
Some people like RPGs, and some people dont. Gas-Powered Games hopes to make everyone like Dungeon Siege, thanks to its fully 3D world and what GPG promises will be fast, action-packedyet deepgameplay. Some inspired additions to the norm will include squires and pack mules to help carry your loot. Youll also be able to hire, rescue, or recruit up to eight characters of any combination of fighters, sorcerers, and more; or you can go it alone. Plus, youll be able to build your own worlds and characters for online play with up to 10 players.
-- 0 / GamePro
Action RPGs have a storied past on the PC, with Diablo (and its sequel) and the underrated Darkstone as examples, but recently the genre has come under fire by diehard RPG fans who accuse it of being just another action clickfest, not worthy of the "RPG" title. To answer this concern, Diablo II introduced skill trees and more intricate control over your characters advancement, but even that level of customization looks primitive next to the build-as-you-go nature of Dungeon Siege.
Dungeon Siege will cast you as a humble farmer wrapped up in a dark plot that takes you through deep, dark dungeons and over lush, outdoor terrain to discover the source of this new evil and destroy it. Youll go from being a newbie farmer armed with a hoe to a seasoned warrior, archer, or mage as you complete your time in the Kingdom of Ehb.
Dungeon Sieges sweet graphics looked great zoomed in or zoomed out, indoors or outdoors in the preview version. Everything was in 3D, meaning you could zoom and rotate the screen at will, unlike in Diablo II. There was no loading time at all in between indoor and outdoor settings, which was certainly a welcome development.
As for character development, Dungeon Siege will feature the most flexible and intuitive level-up system ever. Simply put, youll get better at the things you do most. If you use a lot of offensive spells, youll get better with combat magic; if you swing a sword a lot, youll become a fine warrior. Pretty much any combination of mage, warrior, and archer will be possible, and your class will depend on how you playnot the other way around. In other words, play your role, and youll be rewarded.
If building up one character isnt enough, youll be able to gather a party of adventurers to help you in your quest. Each member of your party will advance depending on how you use them, and youll be able to set their A.I. settings to tell them when and whom to attack. For example, youll be able to tell archers to attack the strongest enemy and have warriors fight the closest. Party fighting in the preview version felt a bit like controlling an RTS, and casting spells in the heat of combat was a bit awkward. You could even hire a pack mule as a member of your party to carry all the loot you "liberated" on your many deep dungeon expeditions.-- 0 / GamePro
The Kingdom of Ehb is beset with horrible creatures and evil plots, and its up to a humble farmer to save the world. Thus begins the tale of Dungeon Siege, the best PC action RPG to date.
Dungeon Sieges story line is minimal, but its there. You take the role of a simple farmer who has been asked by a dying friend to take a message to a nearby town. Along the way, you meet up with violent creatures and helpful allies, and before long, you find yourself embroiled in a plot to save the Kingdom. The story is skeletal for a reason: The story is created as you play, and the main characters develop however you like.
Unlike other RPGs, which ask you to do a lot of stat-juggling and which shackle your characters within the limits of classes, Dungeon Siege lets you develop your character however you wish. In the beginning, you choose a gender and set the look of your character, and thats it. Your character develops the way you play; if you fight with swords a lot, youll become a fine warrior, whereas repeated magic use will improve your spellcasting skill. This mechanic guarantees that youll end up with a character thats good at the precise things you enjoy the most, and this sort of behind-the-scenes character development makes playing Dungeon Siege intuitive, seamless, and fun.
The Kingdom of Ehb is a place filled with amazing visuals and engrossing sounds. By the time you enter the ice-covered lands near the town of Glacern, youll be driven to progress just to see what the next part of the Kingdom looks like. Your characters are highly detailed and no less gorgeous with equipment that changes the look of your characters as you don new weapons and armor. Ambient sounds of forests, caves, swamps, and catacombs keep your nerves on edge, while the growls of enemies and the clashes of weapons and armor make sure that youre involved in the combat. The attention to detail in the sights and sounds is stunning; from the tiny faeries flitting about in the forests to the whispered scuttling of offscreen spiders, every aspect is gripping and realistic.
Dungeon Sieges gameplay is perhaps its biggest and most transparent improvement over previous titles in the genre. The controls are so intuitive that youll have mastered them well before the game becomes difficult. Casting specific spells in a full party in fast-paced, RTS-like combat can be tough, but you can hotkey each spellcasters two most used spells, and theyll cast them when needed. Customizable hotkeys allow you to quick-select tactics and weapon/spell layouts, and you can group characters RTS-style for easy party control. Best of all, you can recruit a packmule into your party, so youll never have to stop adventuring just to sell excess items. Only a few camera control problems get in the way of a perfect gameplay experience.
Dungeon Siege walks all over its competition with almost effortless grace. Anyone whod like a little action in their RPG should look into this title. Its easy for the non-gamer, deep enough for the hardcore addict, and pretty enough to please the finicky graphics snob in all of us.-- 0 / GamePro
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