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All of the fun, none of the hassels

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: June 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I am quite simply, blown away by this game. The graphics, music and game play are just incredible! The transistions from one environment to another happen seemlessly. You will never see a screen stating that the game is "loading". It NEVER happens. When you enter a dungeon or building you will notice that the environment you just left, the outdoors, simply fades away as the new environment fades in. This is cool to watch but it has the unfortunate effect of preventing me from getting any sleep or food!

I have been a fan of PC RPGs for a number of years and used to play D&D. However, this is by far the most fun I have ever had playing a game. This is due, in large part, because you do not have to be bothered by things such as sleep, food, torches, arrows, etc. If you have a bow, you simply select the weapon and attack!! You also don't have to "sleep" to memorize spells, like you do in some other games, but you do have to have enough mana to cast the spell. Mana and health regenerate simply by staying alive and away from combat. Although these features might take away from the "realism" of the RPG, I believe this has the benefit of allowing you to become totally imersed in the story by removing annoying details.

There are a huge number of magical items to be found and places to explore. However, on of my few complaints about the game is that you are not truly free to explore the entire world. This is because the world you inhabit is U-shaped so you're limited in your searching. This limitation has you going from point A to B to C, etc. but not from A to C or from A to R for that matter. At times you get the feeling that you are being forced to go somewhere you would rather not go. However, this is overcome by the georgous graphics, intense combat and truly amazing musical soundtrack. At times I felt like I was creating a movie.

Character development, although somewhat shallow in the beginning, is determined by your game play. If you want a fighter, simply equip the melee weapon and start fighting. Your characters strength and dexterity will increase the more you fight. However, you are free to start using spells at any time after you acquire a spell book and some spells. Then equip the spells and start attacking. Your intelligence will start increasing and you will then develop a wizard that retains all the melee skill. Then switch back to melee or a ranged weapon and .....well, you get the idea. There is no limit to your switching. If you are used to the limitations in D&D and other PC RPGs, where your abilities are limited by your class and race, this is an interesting and fun feature.

One word of warning, this game is a hog! I have a 1.4Ghz AMD with 256MB Ram and a GeForce 3 card with 64Mb and it will slow way down when I turn everything up. I have seen frame rates as low as 12 - 14 FPS. I actually keep all the details turned up pretty high and usually have around 20 - 25 FPS. I have not installed this on my old computer so I have no idea how it would look or play. If you have older equipment, check some of the other reviews before you buy this game.

I highly recommend this game but only if you have plenty of time to burn. This game might not "adhere" to standard D&D rules but who cares. I'm looking for a diversion from my life and an imersive story to capture my imagination and this game delivers!... This is truly a new and exciting way to create games!!

Great Entry Level RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Dungeon Siege by Chris Roberts is a great introduction to the world of RPG, just like the Diablo series. If you have a friend that likes console games or has never really delved into a hardcore RPG, this will get them in the door. Every aspect of this game is completely intuitive and can be mastered in seconds.

The graphics are sumptious. Neverwinter Nights players will be impressed by the incredible camera control and beautiful outside environments as well as the huge variety of underground/indoor textures. 3d video required, I recommend at least GEForce2 with 1G or more processor. I use GEForce 4 w/ 1.6GH.

The controls are overly simple. Stick a weapon in every characters hand and click on a group of monsters, then sit on your hands as the battle unfolds (I recommend playing around with the camera and pause key for maximum effect if you are bored.)

This game is a goody-box of features that make RPG easier. Invetory management is straight out of diablo 2. Everyhting is drag and drop, no weight to worry about. Pack mules carry your extra stuff. Waypoints, formations, quick keys, even a transmute spell which can turn your less valuable and larger items into gold on the spot saving room for the really good stuff. Partial potion drinking (just what you need). Quick sort buttons for inventory. Click a button and everyone runs around picking up the treasure and loading it into the pack mule.

There are no classes. You learn by doing. Shoot an arrow get better with bows, cast a healing spell get better at nature magic. You can't really get lost. If you do, just look for the huge signs everwhere telling you where to go!

In fact the game is almost too easy to control, and this ease takes away from the tactics, which, sadly, is one of my favorite reasons for playing an RPG. BUT IT LOOKS AWESOME!

Hollow Beauty

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: April 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Good Lord, it is beautiful. If immersive atmosphere was the most important factor in a game, "Dungeon Siege" would be fine.
But after playing it for no more than one hour, most players will emerge from the wonderful world of fantasy and realize they are utterly bored.
In that one hour they will have slain hordes of monsters and they will have seen some nice views. But they will have made only one choice: Which way to kill them.
And what kind of choice is that? Could be interesting to develop a character, who starts as a farmer and changes according to his actions.

But it is not.
The changes are marginal and their effects on the game are absolutely restricted to the graphics.

This game has nothig to excite after the first hour. Nothing can be done other than killing monsters, there is exactly one way to go, there is no dialogue, only the occasional monologue of some stationary "character", the story is utterly predictable and even in combat no variety exists, which is especially sad for a game which offers only combat.

Combat oriented roleplaying games can be fun. This one is not. Strictly speaking "Dungeon Siege" simply is no roleplaying game, as the only "role" one plays is completely predesigned.

So, instead of buying this game, watch a fantasy movie. Or, if you look for a real rpg, wait for later this year, when two of them hopefully will be released. ("Morrowind", which might provide the other extreme of character freedom, and "Neverwinter Nights").

Did I mention the graphics? It makes the game beautiful. But like a succubus, it makes one hot, but does not deliver satisfaction.

Good Graphics, Too Easy to Beat

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: August 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I am probably the ultimate RPG fan of all time. I have all the great games: BG, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, and the Dark Age of Camelot. As such I can safely say that DS is not great at all. With all the great reviews its been getting you would have expected more. The game is either too easy or too hard to beat. In the beginning it was fun. The graphics are superb, even on my system (Wind98se,128MB,8mb3RD). The world is well made and engrossing. I apprecite the fact that there are no loading screens, which can be a real help. Otherwise, the game isn't that good.

It is far too simple. There is no need of strategy. You only need to click "select all" and lead your guys into the fray. Simply hotkeys a fireball for your mage and hav him chucking mana potions. That's all. All the spells have pretty much infinte castings, and the mages are almost as powerful as the fighters in terms of HP. The mule u can buy is simply useless. It only trudges back and u'll have to continously ressurect it because of low HP, slow speed, and weak HP. Pretty soon the game becomes repatative. Go, walk around, and kill. That's it. U don't have any options such as conversing with NPCs. Your characters have no emotins and are much like zombies. At the easy difficulty I beat it in 5 days, at the hard, I couldn't get past the first group of Krug. Also, doing quests is worthless. You get no experience points, and usually the items that you do get are simply terrible. It also lacks a storyline. I couldn't understand how the elements of the game are connected. The only thing you do is go around and kill evertyone. It doesn't even letr you steal gold.

If you want to go on a killing spree buy it. If you prefer strategy, get Baldur's GateII, Icewind Dale or Neverwinter Nights. That's it. I give it 2.5 stars.

Mindless but addictive fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Dungeon Siege (DS) is a combat-oriented RPG. You can compare it with Diablo 2 and a bit with IcewindDale. The big difference between Diablo 2 and DS:
- DS has great 3D graphics compared with the relativley simple 2D graphics in Diablo 2.
- The most impressive feature is the continuous, integral world: you do not get loading screens with DS. You can change from indoor to outdoor locations and vice versa without the game having to load a new area.
- DS lets you control up to 8 characters so there is a lot more strategy involved than in Diablo 2's combat which consists mailnly of mouse-clicking.

DS has a very comprehensible interface. It'll only take a couple of minutes to get into the game. And it's very difficult to stop playing!
Don't expect a intricate storyline, complex quests, open-endedness or NPC interaction. If you'll like that, wait for a game like Morrowind. DS is just mindless, combat-oriented RPG fun. And it's very, very good at that both in singleplayer and multiplayer modes.

addictive goodness

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

as a dungeon crawler it's less than original and light on storyline and a far cry from r.p.g purity,but what it does so well is borrow the best elements from everything and succinctly meld it into pure intuitive and fun game play...it plays much like a diablo if it were a squad/team game, the versatile 3d camera work angles is remiscent of the myth series games, and within the map view and team based play very remiscent of baldur's gate...the 3d graphics and animation should drop your jaw to the floor if you have a system that can run the game with all graphics and audio options maxed out...the manual is very brief, but it's quite okay because the game interface is incredibly intuitive and the learning curve is about 30 minutes...there are a few minor graphics glitches and sound effects are sometimes laughable (repetitive skeleton bones shattering)...the most important tip is to save very often and also remember to delete old files when possible as each save takes about 1 mb of hdd space...dying is a pain ... and the pack mule comes in handy, but still need more space for the stuff...regardless of the shortcomings of this game...you must buy this and play it as soon as possible...it's simply the most fun and addictive game that i ever played...hours feel like a blink of an eye while playing this game...

Really Fun for the First Twenty Hours or So...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I first played Dungeon Seige as a demo. It was pretty much just the first level, but I was able to let a couple of characters join me on my quest, and I even bought a pack mule. I was so impressed with the demo, I rushed out and bought the full version. I bought it at the same time I purchased Morrowind, and I like this game so much better. However, eventually I started playing Morrowind a lot more, and suddenly Dungeon Seige didn't seem so special anymore. However, it was the game that got me interested in RPGs. Before this, I was pretty much just playing first person shooters like Doom and Serious Sam, so this was a welcome change for me. I could choose my character's sex! I could choose her hair color! What she wore! I named her! And the graphics were great. At first, I was a little annoyed with the point-and-click-to-where-you-want-your-character-to-go feature, but it did allow for multiple camera angles, which was good. My other complaint is the fighting. Ok, there is a really big snow monster. Now, just watch as your characters do the work for you. You don't even have to click the mouse button to make them battle. I wasn't used to that. While I guess that can be nice at times, it's also a little boring. Of course, while your characters are fighting, you do have stuff to keep you busy: like making sure none of them run low on health or mana. Though, it is really fun to resurrect one of your characters if they die in battle - it makes you feel...powerful :)

So far, I have played close to 20 hours, but I've had the game for 5 months now. For the most part, it's just collecting dust. I honestly do still adore the game, but after a while, it gets too repetetive - go into a cave or dungeon, kill evil things, take gold and other assorted loot, emerge from cave or dungeon 3 hours later. Go stock up on health, mana, armor and spells at a store, walk a little ways, then enter another cave or dungeon. Personally, I prefer the freedom of Morrowind (Dungeon Seige is VERY linear), but I'll always have a soft spot for this one.

Great graphics, poor game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When I first loaded up this game, I was wowed by the beautiful opening graphical sequence. The landscapes, characters, buildings, and enemies are all wonderfully rendered. Many of the CG vistas are breathtaking, most notably, a bridge over a deep chasm at the beginning of the game. I have to give Microsoft credit for an excellent job on the visual aspect of this game.
Sadly, the graphics are about all Dungeon Siege has going for it. When I discovered that my character, as well as the virtual people she encountered on her quest, had absolutely zero by way of personailty and development, I was disappointed to a degree that the game's aesthetics couldn't help me with. The plot of this game is also very, very weak. You start off working in your field-- you're a farmer, of all things-- when suddenly you are called on to defend your village against invading monsters, the "Krug". From then on, the game seems to go absolutely nowhere. As you explore dungeons, wilderness, and icy caverns, you'll find it hard to stop wondering what the point of it all is.
Just a little plot and character development could have put this game up there with Neverwinter Nights. If you're thinking of buying Dungeon Siege, don't-- shell out the extra twenty for Neverwinter Nights.

Starts out promising but disappoints in the end

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The shortest summary I can offer is, when the game was done, I was EXTREMELY disappointed.

All you do in this game is fight monsters while walking down a fixed path (never so much as even a major crossroads for travel choices) and collecting way more items than you ever need. Oh, plus you kill a couple big monsters, including one at the end. The story is weak, and its lack of depth makes it pretty much impossible to immerse yourself for very long.

Once you're done, there is no continued gameplay, which means there's no more use for your hard-earned characters or items. Finally, there is no satisfying movie or text story to wrap things up. Only you staring at the screen, with your characters standing at the end of a long, linear map you've already explored. The game didn't even make it clear to me that there was nothing left to do until I wasted a bunch of time running all the way back through the map, which was pointless. At least they could have had it shut it down automatically when it was completed and saved me the trouble. I felt like I'd gotten less than half the game I'd expected - basically a demo - and I haven't played it since. That was about a year ago.

Some have complained that the interface was too easy, or that there were too many of certain types of monsters-- these weren't really issues for me. The interface & monsters would have been fine - wonderful, even - if the game had managed to make me feel like I was somewhere else. It didn't, and I'll tell you why.

When I play a RPG, it's to:
1) get drawn into a fantasy world where there are problems that can be solved in multiple ways (whether they be "boss" encounters or complex retrieval quests),
2) build characters which grow & acquire items indefinitely and can be re-used in expansions or harder difficulty settings,
3) soak up plenty of pretty scenery I can get lost in along the way, and
4) enjoy a compelling story that ends in a fulfilling way.

Dungeon Siege fails utterly as a true RPG because:
1) The only solution available when encountering Dungeon Siege bosses is to kill them. Retrieval quests are simplistic and uninteresting (there are no real side quests).
2) The characters have nothing to do once the "end boss" is dead, and the game doesn't even give you the mercy of exiting to an ending screen. You just... stand there...
3) Yes, the scenery is pretty - which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 - but it was far too limited to get lost in.
4) The already poor story lacks any kind of enjoyable ending.

I kept hoping - assuming, even - that the straight line was only a temporary thing, and that I would come to a place where there were multiple directions to go or multiple objectives to consider. Neither ever happened. Consider yourself warned.

My only hope now is that mods - several of which are in the works - will be better than the original game. I just downloaded one called "Copperhead: Retaliation", and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

<==>

Dungeon Seige is many different games!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Okay, everyone likes to start with whats good and then talk about what isn't, so i'll do the reverse-

Weak points-
The game unfolds in a VERY linear fashion.
The game requires no thought whatsoever to learn.
There are no character classes; anyone can be anything.

Strong points-
Graphics!!!! This is a visually stunning game! And unlike most games, the closer you zoom in to the action, the better the graphics look!
The 3D camera action! Zoom in to examine a small item in detail, or zoom back out with the scroll of a mouse button to see impressive scenic vistas (the Cliffs of Fire section is especially inspiring).
If you are new to RPGs, everything from the Weak Points section.
Most importantly, you can make this game do anything!

To those who say this game is to basic, or too linear, i say get out and make your own map! The free Seige Editor allows you to easily re-use components and design your own worlds. The free gmax program allows you to build your own monsters, spells, weapons, etc... (albeit with a much steeper learning curve) to create a whole new game! Many modifications of this game are becoming available, meaning that instead of purchasing ONE game you are purchasing a whole bunch! Think Dungeon Seige should have included sets? Check out the 'Circle of Lorent' mod. Think Dungeon Seige should have included different classes and races? Check out the 'Elemental' mod. Think Dungeon Seige should have followed D&D3 rules more closely? Build your own character class and skill set! Think rule sets are too consticting? Download the 'lightsaber' weapon and see how a Jedi would have handled the issue!
Basically, Chris Taylor and the ganag tried to create a game that was easy to approach and learn in order to appeal to a wide audience, and they did. At the same time, they built in the most extensive modding capability to date to appeal to hard-core gamers. Buying this game gives you a state-of-the-art gaming engine capable of jaw-dropping graphics to play with!
Do not, however, expect this game to run well without 3D hardware acceleration! I recommend 1 Ghz proc, 256 MB RAM, and a GeForce2 or equivalent as a BARE MINIMUM. FPS can be improved by turning off shadows and lowering object detail on the game menu.

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