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You've Been Warned: Not a True RPG

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: April 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Let's cut to the chase. You've undoubtedly heard that "Dungeon Siege" is a game brimming with awesome graphics, "seamless" gameplay, and heralded sound. And that's all true. But Dungeon Siege lacks the one thing that it claims itself to be: role-playing. Don't get me wrong; it's still a fun game to play. But if you're a gamer who likes strong plots and powerful character development (as I am), then Dungeon Siege may not be the game for you. However, if you were enthralled with Diablo II's hack-and-slash mayhem, then this might be just your thing. Still, Dungeon Siege lacks any type of user-chosen skill development. Rather, Microsoft has taken the opportunity to present us with a new kind of "RPG" that makes your character excel in different areas, whether it be magic, bow, or weapon, depending on how much you use them. Although I understand this thinking and feel it's a novel approach to a game, I would rather decide myself where my character's strengths are. In addition, much of Dungeon Siege is run by smart AI, meaning that your party of adventurers will do what they're told, letting you sit back and watch the melee until it's time to heal with a potion or change somebody's attack scheme. This is all fine until you realize that the whole game can seemingly play itself!

I liked Dungeon Siege for its simplicity, as it presents a nice break to real time-stealers like "Baldur's Gate 2". But I can't help to feel a little let down by its elementary nature. The eye candy and sound are awesome, but everything else simply feels rushed. Quests are limited, as are social interactions with non-player characters. Too much of the game is simply walking into a field and left-clicking until everything is dead, with a random award of treasure.

If you're a Diablo fan, I have no doubt that Dungeon Siege will suit your taste. It's actually less of an RPG than Diablo II, but it's hack-and-slash nature will delight. It's hard to put down once you stop. For those into the epic storylines of Bioware's RPGs, then I urge you to play a copy of Dungeon Siege before making the full purchase. It's simplistic, unassuming tone will offend true "RPG'ers," so you've been warned.

All in all, Dungeon Siege is a fun game to play, regardless of its faults. And isn't that what gaming is all about?

Play the demo first!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: January 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

For those of you unsure of whether or not you will like Dungeon Siege, my recommendation is to download the demo. It gives you quite a bit of gametime and the opportunity to build up a decent number of characters in your party. I loved the demo and went straight out to purchase the game.

The graphics are beautiful and the single player game is very engaging. I was a big fan of Diablo but when I bought Diablo 2 I was quite disappointed. I was worried about a similar results with Dungeon Siege but my fears proved unfounded. The single player game is very enjoyable. Unfortunately, it is too lengthy the game does become slightly tedious and repetitive towards the end.

The multiplayer game of the version is even larger than the single player game. However, I found lag to be a very big problem and I also spent long periods of time adventuring without finding a single enemy to engage. Dungeon Siege comes with lots of extras, such as the ability to generate your own maps. However, I'm only reviewing what came in the box.

In summary an excellent game with beautiful graphics that gets tedious towards the end, after 30 or so hours of play. Still highly recommended especially to any Diablo fans out there.

Great way to pass time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: May 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's pretty easy to describe Dungeon Siege. It's essentially Diablo with less clicking, a party of up to 8 characters, and better graphics, which means (#1) it doesn't take much intelligence to play it, and (#2) you'll play it until you realize you're wasting away from forgetting to eat.

The biggest difference, aside from the obvious graphical edge, is the fact that the world is unchanging and absolutely gigantic. There are more places to explore than there are in Baldur's Gate, and some of the dungeons are so huge it'll take you an hour to walk from one exit to the other- even if the monsters are all dead.

As noted previously, the graphics are top-notch 3-d and the engine in general is very streamlined and intuitive. I have noticed a few bugs here and there, but the game itself is very stable and runs well. As in Diablo, there aren't any tricks or puzzles to work though. If you explore everything, you'll probably find everything- pretty straightforward. Some battles are quite tough, however, and take a bit of fancy maneuvering to get by.

About the only big (non-bug) complaint I have is that the AI is pretty stupid. If you send out one character, all the enemies in a certain radius will attack that character and will not stop until they are incapacitated. This makes is possible to wipe out a massively superior horde of monsters by getting a bunch of archers or wizards and having one warrior lead the goons in circles around them. I really expected better from the likes of Chris Taylor.

AI stupidity aside, Dungeon Siege is definitely worth the money and worthy of the hype. For those who are tired of Diablo 2 and don't feel like waiting another decade for Diablo 3, go get this game!

Disappointing!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: April 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As many others, I had been waiting for long to play this game. I really thought I would love it...but I dont. Lets get to the point:

This game looks great. My only complaints are the restricted camera movements and zoom, but they are not a problem. Sound is ok, and the music is very good.

The real problem of the game is the extremely repetitive gameplay. You simply have to kill thousands of monsters, collect loot and sell part of that loot.

There is almost no story. There is almost no interaction with other characters. After playing games like the Baldur's Gate series, it was a bit dissapointing to see that the characters that join your party end up being a bunch of stats, and not a character with some kind of personality, goals he/she wants to achieve...

As killing monsters is the only thing you are going to do, at least you can choose how to do it. Your characters can use melee weapons, bows, and magic.

About melee: there are lots of different weapons. There is not specific weapon training, so it makes no difference for your characters if its an axe, hammer, sword...your characters won't be specially good or bad with any particular weapon; you will only care about the damage it makes. The same melee skill affects every melee weapon in the game.

About ranged attacks: you will have your bow and arrows. Actually, an infinite number of arrows! In a game like Myth, there was some strategy involving the use of bowmen. You could attack from the distance, but arrows could hurt your own troops, so when some of them were fighting monsters in melee, you didn't shoot in order not to injure your soldiers. In Dungeon Siege, forget about that. You can keep shooting arrows in any situation, even if the monsters are just beside the archer. No real strategic element at all.

About magic: there are two kinds of magic, nature magic and combat magic. Actually they don't feel as different as one would expect. The problem with the magic system is that you simply don't need it! You will have countless healing potions that you can use at any time, so you don't really need a character that has healing spells. In games like Baldur's Gate and others, having magic casters in the party is very important. Here, you have them because/if you want to have them. You DON'T NEED THEM AT ALL. They have ranged attacks, but so do the archers.

Spells use mana, but you also have mana potions, so you can cast spells non-stop. Does this make sense? The existance of mana in this kind of games is a way to limit the ability to cast spells all the time. Introducing mana and countless mana potions, you put a limit and then remove it! If you want to be able to cast an infinite number of spells without stopping, simply use a magic system that doesn't use mana!

About the loot:there are lots of different items, but when you get them, in most cases you won't use them. You will keep finding really weak items, and also items you will have to wait a long time to use, because your character needs to advance a lot for that items to be usable by him/her. The inventory system can get a bit annoying, because you will need to place your items in a certain way so some of the new items you get fit in. You can buy a mule to be able to carry more loot, but it counts as a party member, so if you have 8 characters, you can't buy a mule without dimissing a party member. Besides, the mule's behaviour can be a bit upsetting at times.

Gameplay is very linear. Quests are rare and rather boring. So in the end this game is about walking from one town to another killing everything you find in the way, entering dungeons and get to their exit killing everything you find ...

About the mosters: you will not find much variation in monsters. Killing a krug is fun. After having killed hundreds its not so fun (even though there are krug raiders, krug guards, krug shamen... that look pretty much the same but have a different attack or power).

About fighting: Monster AI is very simple. If a monster has a melee attack, he will come to kill you. If you get in a fight that seems too much for you, or simply don't want to melee, you can just run and throw arrows or spells as monsters come for you. If monsters have a ranged attack, they will shoot from the distance, and won't seem to care if you get closer to them in order to chop them with you axe. Fights don't really require the use of melee weapons, or any other particular kind of attack. It is a bit upsetting that having 8 archers in the party, or having 8 magic casters would be almost the same (apart from graphical differences). But if you had 8 melee fighters, and no ranged attacks at all, it would be also ok. You don't really need ranged attacks to kill every monster in the game.

It is nice to be able to develop your characters the way you want, the problem is that it makes no big difference!

I rate the game with two stars because even though the game looks and sounds great, and is very accesible, it is extremely repetitive and gets boring fast.

Well worth your time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: August 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The beauty of Dungeon Siege lies in its simplicity. It is not often that you get an RPG which has both a simple user friendly interface and an engine that automatically customises the way you play your character.

Dungeon Siege is the work of Chris Taylor, the genius behind the award winning Total Annihilation. His goal was simple: Create a game that is not riddled with overhwhelming statistics and present a clean and understandable interface that is accessible to all kinds of gamers. And Taylor has succeeded in both areas.

Dungeon Siege simply moves away from the hardcore D3D rule-based RPGs like Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate etc and instead allows a player to expertise in either Melee, Ranged, Combat Magic or Nature Magic classes. The three essential skills that get affected according to your style of play are Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. But instead of customising skills manually, you play the character the way you like and the system will automatically enhance your character's skills in that class acordingly. This is an incredible and innovative feature. So if you want to expertise in Swords and Maces, your melee skills and strength evolves. If you want to develop in ranged combat, your dexterity and armor rating gets enhanced. Consequently you are awarded titles like Swordsman, Marksmam, Archmage etc. If you plan to infuse both Melee and Ranged skills you become a Man-at-Arms etc. The combinations are truly staggering. As the main character, you can hire folks, to a maximum of eight, whom you can cutomise to suit your style of play. So a well balanced team should comprise some fighter, ranger and spellcasters. Dabble with the group in any way you like. It's really fun.

You have stores from where you can trade stuff and also have the ability to buy pack mules which carry three times your inventory. Another innovative , and really vital, feature introduced in Dungeon Siege is that you drink potions only as much as you need. This could prove valuable in certain tough-to-beat fights. So if you are a newcomer to the world of RPGs, Dungeon Siege doesn't bog you down with difficult levelling ups. You play in manner that fits your style and consequently have more fun. I think that's what Taylor was looking at. The fun factor. And he has definitely achieved that.

But the game wouldn't have been fun it wasn't impressive to look at and Dungeon Siege has made absolutely sure you don't turn your face away from the screen even for a second. To this day, the graphics are one of a kind. True 3D environments allow you to gaze through the deepest gorges and stare the most vast and forbidding landscapes from a tower. The characters and animation is so well done that you can actually see their outfits appear perfectly distinct and in-sync with what is shown in the inventory. The spell affects are great and myriad enviroments are all distinct and beautiful. In short, this is the best looking game in the RPG genre. I would rate Neverwinter Nights alongside, but this game has true depth and grandeur. For a game of this scope, what is absolutely astonishing is that the game has practically no loading time. Each terrain seamlessly loads up without pausing or breaking the gameplay. Please do me a favour. If you ever come across a bridge, pan your vision so that you see the gorge from above or at an angle. It is breathtaking and a testament to the hardwork and talent of Gas Powered Games.

The music is something that isn't as epic as you would hope. The soundtrack is mainly generic but it serves its purpose. However, there are a few set pieces that are truly outstanding. Almost classical in tune. I was absolutely spellbound, listening to a soft mandolin score while I gazed at the lovely ice capped mountains. I assure you, such moments come quite often and are memorable.

After all the wonderful features that Dungeon Siege has introduced, it cannot but spill out a few disappointments. For one, the story is absolutely ludicrous. Being an RPG, there is no characterisation. Hence you cannot empathise much with any of the NPCs or characters in your group. The game comes with minimal conversation and the voice acting is pretty average. The world of Ehb, though fantastic, is a bit nonsensical in structure. And the gamers who have grown to love the rich D&D rules used in the classic RPGs will sorely miss and get turned off by lack of manually customisable features.

However, the positives far outweight these blemishes. Dungeon Siege is terrific entertainment. It is game that doesn't take itself too seriously but it presents the technology in the most accessible manner possible. Do yourself a favour and check out Dungeon Siege. Have a nice day.

the BEST RPG ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: April 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Dungeon Siege matches and excels beyond that of other RPGs in the graphics department. The amazing attention to detail can be seen everywhere throughout this game. In the intense battles with swamp creatures, drakes, goblins, sorcerers, warriors, krug, and a myriad of other enemies. In the fantastic spell-casting to heal and enhance yourself or your allies. In the nature and enviornment around you, the trees, the desert, and the breath-taking scenery. Ask anyone who has played Dungeon Siege, the 3D graphics are beyond that of any other game.
Dungeon Siege is not a difficult game. Nor is it simple and not requiring of any thought or strategy. I would say it's perfect. Although it consists of a simple point-and-attack and/or point-and-cast spell methods of fighting, it's more involved than it sounds. There are more than 100 spells that you can cast, and even more weapons. Axes, bows, maces, staffs, crossbows, swords, and hammers, made into a variety by the enchantments on some. In Dungeon Siege, there are things called enchantments, which can affect your player's stats when equipped. Such as, a "Superior" Melee weapon has the effects of 1 Health stolen per hit, +1-4 Piercing damage, +5% chance to dodge ranged attack, +5% chance to hit enemy with a Melee weapon, and +2 to maximum damage. If a Ranged weapon is "Incredible", then it has +1 to Ranged skill, +1-4 piercing damage, magic damage reduced by 5%, +5% chance to dodge Melee attack, and +7% chance to hit enemy with a Ranged weapon. These Enchantments can make the difference between two similar weapons.
Unlike other RPGs, your character does not choose and pursue a certain class or certain skills throughout the entire course of the game. There are no penalties for being proficient in multiple skills, and you can take your character in a different skill direction at any point in the game. The four skills are Melee, Ranged, Combat Magic, and Nature Magic. There are three factors in helping build your character, strength, intelligence, and dexterity. Combat and Nature magic users need a high intelligence score, but also can be proficient with a Ranged weapon or Melee weapon. You advance levels by using a certain weapon. The more you use a Melee weapon, the better you will become with Melee weapons, and you will increase in strength. There are also five types of armor. Body armor, helms, gloves, boots, and shields. Each one has a defense rating that adds to your total defense rating. The higher defense rating you have, the more damage you can absorb. Melee characters generally have a higher defense rating than others.
There are two types of magic in Dungeon Siege, Nature and Combat. There is also five kinds of spells. Damage, curse, summoning, enhancement, and healing spells. Both kinds of magic have a variety of both. The 3D casting of the spells is really something unique. Bright colors, all kinds of shapes and sizes, and flame, ice, lightning and more make the spells come alive on your screen. Some spells arc lightning, some roll bombs, some summon skeletons, and some call upon the might powers of the sun to incinerate enemies.
Your party can consist of up to 8 players, and not including the starting character created by you, you can hire NPCs to join your party. Some call for a price, and some join for free. You have to choose who you will allow to join, and who you will decline. There are also dozens of areas in DS. You will travel through dungeons, caves, towns, caverns, forests, mountains, deserts, and more.
After you kill an enemy they might drop loot which you can pick if you have room in your inventory. You can pick up health or mana potions, gold, weapons, armor, rings, amulets, spell scrolls, and more. You can talk to just about any NPC in the game. Also among the items in DS are lore books, which are volumes of stories about the Kingdom of Ehb.
The multiplayer part about DS is great. It's almost like a whole other game. DS is great.

Rompin' Good Time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: February 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Saw this was out in jewel case for 10 bux (as of this review) and thought I might help you decide. Rest assured this game for this price is a great buy, here's why:

Graphics & Sound: the game looks great. Though some say there are better 3D type games out today this one pulls off the look well and the graphics are smooth. The environments look dazzling and there is little in the way of graphic glitches on most machines. The soundtrack and sound effects are great; and all of the sound fits the mood and environment of the game well. Some of the sound effects are amazing: echoes in caves and tunnels, bones crunching for skeletons, etc... Turn it up and enjoy!

I should note that the camera controls take a little getting used to - though you can modify all options via the in-game menus. Make sure you adjust all the settings to suit your needs and tastes (there are many customizable facets via Options)...

Gameplay & Fun factor: Nothing bad to say at all! Of course if you don't like running around beating up monsters, collecting treasure and magical toys, and saving the world then don't bother with this title: because that is what Dungeon Siege is all about! The story is simple and effective, getting you inot the action fast and furious. The game moves more or less nonstop and although there aren't any complex options for customizing characters or developing skills the simplicity makes the game that much more fun. There are more complex role-playing games out there - Dungeon Siege is not one of them.

If you have a home network this game is a blast. There isn't any adult-only materials in the game that I recall: save for the skeletons and monsters that can sometimes be a little gross. There is blood and gore but it can be switched off via the Options menu.

The original Dungeon Siege comes with 2 playable multi-player maps: the single-player campaign map and another map with a different storyline and slightly different world types. This is a great value for people playing multiplayer games!

Performance & System Notes: the specs on the package (recommended configuration) will run the game very well. Be sure that your Video & Sound drivers are up to date (very important) and disable any background programs (like virus scanners) to improve performance.

The various in-game options to configure video and sound allow for a broad range of optimization: even if your PC is slower or has trouble running the default settings you might be able to tweak it and play at a decent rate.

The 4 stars in this review reflects the fact the game, for some, can get very repetitive: there's a lot of killing monsters, finding treasure, and completing quests - if that bores you after the 300th monster slain then Dungeon Siege may get on your nerves. Happy hunting.

Rompin' Good Time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: February 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Saw this was out in jewel case for 10 bux (as of this review) and thought I might help you decide. Rest assured this game for this price is a great buy, here's why:

Graphics & Sound: the game looks great. Though some say there are better 3D type games out today this one pulls off the look well and the graphics are smooth. The environments look dazzling and there is little in the way of graphic glitches on most machines. The soundtrack and sound effects are great; and all of the sound fits the mood and environment of the game well. Some of the sound effects are amazing: echoes in caves and tunnels, bones crunching for skeletons, etc... Turn it up and enjoy!

I should note that the camera controls take a little getting used to - though you can modify all options via the in-game menus. Make sure you adjust all the settings to suit your needs and tastes (there are many customizable facets via Options)...

Gameplay & Fun factor: Nothing bad to say at all! Of course if you don't like running around beating up monsters, collecting treasure and magical toys, and saving the world then don't bother with this title: because that is what Dungeon Siege is all about! The story is simple and effective, getting you inot the action fast and furious. The game moves more or less nonstop and although there aren't any complex options for customizing characters or developing skills the simplicity makes the game that much more fun. There are more complex role-playing games out there - Dungeon Siege is not one of them.

If you have a home network this game is a blast. There isn't any adult-only materials in the game that I recall: save for the skeletons and monsters that can sometimes be a little gross. There is blood and gore but it can be switched off via the Options menu.

The original Dungeon Siege comes with 2 playable multi-player maps: the single-player campaign map and another map with a different storyline and slightly different world types. This is a great value for people playing multiplayer games!

Performance & System Notes: the specs on the package (recommended configuration) will run the game very well. Be sure that your Video & Sound drivers are up to date (very important) and disable any background programs (like virus scanners) to improve performance.

The various in-game options to configure video and sound allow for a broad range of optimization: even if your PC is slower or has trouble running the default settings you might be able to tweak it and play at a decent rate.

The 4 stars in this review reflects the fact the game, for some, can get very repetitive: there's a lot of killing monsters, finding treasure, and completing quests - if that bores you after the 300th monster slain then Dungeon Siege may get on your nerves. Happy hunting.

Keeping the donkey alive was the only challenge...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: October 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Don't let anyone fool you. This game is a pure 1 dimensional dungeon crawl of epic boredom.

Your first impression upon starting the game is that it really is fun, and the graphics are good, and the gameplay is nicely paced. It was based on those same sentiments that my friends got me to buy it after they had been playing it for 2 days.

Sadly, I did buy it. By the time I had it installed, most of them were complaining that it was getting repetitive and that there wasn't much to it. Just gather up your NPC's and keep going, boy!

Really, this is a game where if you buy enough healing/mana potions, you can survive anything, since your npc's will drink for themselves, and if you get one of the healers with the group heal spell, you can kill for hours without taking a breather, if the mobs would hold out that long.

Needless to say, I was finished with the game after a week, and looking for some poor sap to unload it on, because there is no replay value. You can't make different decisions, so its a one shot deal.

Stay away!

Never seen anything to match this!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 22
Date: April 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

In a word, "WOW!" I have never seen a PC game to equal this one! I had my husband purchase it for me on the day it was released, as a late birthday present for me, since we are avid gamers. I saw the review in my "PC Gamer" magazine. I love Diablo II, but am ready for something else. This game looked to be it!

I am NOT disappointed! The graphics are clearer than any game I've ever seen! You make your first main character BEFORE you even see the introduction of the game. The character you make (down to the gender, hair color, skin color, and outfit) show up as part of the intro movie! Everything looks 3D. You can change the angle of the camera to all sides, even up and down! Your characters can go INTO the huts, teepees, houses, etc. to search around. You can have up to eight characters at once, including pack mules to carry your treasures. Characters can be set up so they ALL attack at once! No telling each character what to do and each creature (good and bad) taking one shot a piece. NOPE! I often have my party hold ground in one place while another of my warriors draw out creatures from a large group and lead them back to my party. Then all my archers, warriors, sorcorers attack AT ONCE! Often my sorcerer is set up to heal the members in my party as they become hurt! No watching your mana gage! Well, unless the sorcerer becomes unconscious. Tired of carrying extra armor? Fine, use a transforming spell and change it into instant money. But you get more money if you carry it into the next town. Need to run to the restroom? Don't need to go to town. If anything approaches your characters while you are gone, they defend themselves automatically! It is awesome! Set one character up to attack the strongest creature, one to attack the weakest, one to attack the closest, one to attack the farthest away, one only to defend the group if an enemy comes near, or any combination of them. You can even see your individual characters moving on the automap as you move! I could almost play it on the automap. Zoom in, zoom out, change angles, etc. Heck, even as I look at the armor of a character (to see if I want to change it for something else) I can see more than just a block to place a helmet or sword. I can actually see my character's outline! I can see the warrior, archer, or whatever moving, shifting as I place the items on! Exchanging items among your group is so easy! If you don't want or have a sorcerer as yet, mana regenerates quickly! Much quicker than in Diablo II.

BUY THIS GAME!

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