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Same hack-slash routine..a bug..decent game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 108 / 124
Date: August 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Playing Dungeon Siege 2 is like playing Dungeon Siege 1. There's absolutely no difference in playing style, a few improved graphics, a new skill tree, lots of things to kill, a "save at town" save feature, and a mysterious bug where items you had in your pack seem to disappear when you respawn after getting slaughtered.

Technical Part:
The game comes in a whopping 4 CDs (or 5?). Comes in a nice plastic case, and a manual. Installation is straightforward. Install, replace CD, click OK, then wait, then put next CD. The game runs pretty well on a medium build PC (e.g 2.5g P4 with a 128 mb card). You can always adjust the resolution and texture quality of the game. No crash to desktops. All in all, pretty stable installation and game playing

Bug:
Ok...now the bug. For some reason you lose items when you respawn after getting slaughtered. Now...it only happened to me once. After hearing other players about it, I realized it is an existing bug. So...my advice. Keep all your important stuff in the storage.

Gameplay:
There's no point in really trying to focus on who to target specifically when the fighting starts. You can get mobs thirty deep so all you can really do is squint and view the monsters, the special lighting effects, and a mass of confusing graphic paperdolls hacking away at each other. Getting mobbed by thirty baddies is almost downright impossible to see your team from the rest of the unforgiving hordes of baddies. There's a lazy fix to this. Go to Options and select: Auto Attack and Auto Defend. This puts your Dungeon Siege 2 act like it's Dungeon Siege 1. Remember the first Dungeon Siege where the game auto kills anything without mashing your mouse button? Well, you can do that here too through the Options menu. Select both options, sit back and relax...throw a few heal potions using hotkeys and you have one automated hack slash festival.

So....is the game any better than other hack and slash games? Umm...nope. In fact, DS2 borrowed so many concepts and structures from Diablo 2...from storage chest, teleporters,save a town only feature, skill tree, and separating the whole game into chapters. You can say DS2 is the 2005 version of Diablo 2. Structure and framework almost similar to Diablo 2.

How's the fun factor? Well...let me put it this way. If you don't want to think too much and you basically just want to get your mind involved to do stuff (besides sleeping and staring at the TV), DS2 does the job well. It's one of those games where you just want to play it and not lose your mind over a brain-damaging puzzle. It's a pure hack-slash mindless romp across exotic locales. Sometimes it's good not to use your brain and just want to relax. Well...DS2 does. It's a good game. Good graphics...simple and easy to beat. My advice: BUY IT.

Great graphics, great RPG fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 112 / 130
Date: August 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Dungeon Siege II is finally out!! This is computer RPG gaming at its finest. The graphics are great, the gameplay is addictive, and there's even a storyline!

First, you create your character. You can be a human, an elf, a dryad (wood / nature spirit) or a half giant (large, brawny type). Each race of course has its strengths and weaknesses. There is some basic customization of how you look - light / medium / dark skin, hair style and color - but really, your character on the screen is about 1/2" tall on good resolutions. It's not worth obsessing much over how those teeny pixels look :)

Off you are launched into your world. You don't choose class or profession or anything like that. In a style that I really love, what you do determines what you progress in. If you do a ton of archery, your archery skills increase. If you do a ton of combat magic, your combat magic skills increase. It makes sense.

You start off as a mercenary assaulting a village area. I have to admit that I didn't like this beginning. First off, it says you and your blue-haired elf friend have been mercenaries for many years, yet they have you hitting training dummies. I realize this is necessary for helping newbies learn the combat system, but really, they could have had a pre-assault training area, instead of landing you on a beach and then saying "Oh wait we have some training dummies here for you to play with" :). Also, having the instructors call you "maggot" and "worm" incessantly got a bit much. Someone was watching a few too many old boot-camp movies.

However, soon enough you are free of the mercs and off on your adventure. The characters you interact with seem real, they have their motivations, secrets and goals. It's up to you which people you want to help out. I really would have loved more options in the dialogue - sometimes they only give you one option and I really don't agree with it. It made me feel like my personality was cemented in a style I did not enjoy.

The combat is great, of course, and as you build up party members, you really get into some massively fun fights with spells flaring, arrows flying and swords swinging. You have to learn what area the large creatures are weak in, and exploit those weaknesses to win. You can't just hack and slash your way through if you want to do well. By customizing your party members, along with pets, you can really have the combat experience match your individual style.

Add in the armor / weapon enhancements, the ability to resurrect or to have corpses brought back to safety (for a small fee), and general teleportation fun, and the game really does address many of the annoying issues that make other, similar RPGs a bit cumbersome. For example, if you leave a corpse in a field of battle, it still of course has your "stuff" on it. You can choose to try to wade back into battle with a "fresh you" to retrieve your stuff, or you can pay to have the corpse brought back into town magically.

Once you finish the main game on all 3 difficulty levels, there is endless fun in online multiplayer action!

Highly recommended!

Dungeon Siege 1.5

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: September 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Five years or so ago DS1 traipsed party-based, 3D hack and slash through some lovely scenery, and the result was good mindless fun. There were some gripes - not enough customisation in how a character could level, no interaction from the NPC, for instance - but they didn't spoil the overall fun. Now in 2005 I pay $50 and get... well, the same game as 5 years ago.

Not quite the same of course. Those gripes have to some extent been addressed. Your NPC companions do occasionally chip in some mindless chatter, and each has a side-quest. The skill tree adds a nice level of customisation. The trouble is that many of the improvements are distinctly half-assed. Thus you companions mostly start chatting when you're being attacked, so the conversations are interrupted. The dialogue is so corny and the voice acting so appalling that it is clear that they used the old "friends and family" approach to game production rather than getting professional writers or actors.

Still, it's churlish to complain about that kind of thing in a hack-and-slash game. The real problem is that the game fails to do several things that it promises. For instance, "a party up to 6" means that on the *third* run-through the exact same game you are allowed 6 party members. "oh well" you might think, "another run-through will let me try another player character class". Wrong. If you want to try a new PC you go right back to beginner level and max 4 party members. More seriously, although the box blurb happily talks about tactics and use of the terrain this is nonsense. You cannot do anything with your party other than pile in mindlessly. Remember in DS1 carefully positioning your archers before opening doors? None of that this time. Spellcasters and the rest charge into the fray regardless. As for the terrain, the AI is so bad that it's nothing but an inconvenience. For some reason, if you tell your archers and spellcasters to attack a foe just over a ridge the archers will stand there shooting the ground while your mages either do nothing or go stand next to the beasties, getting eaten. Happily none of this really matters since the combat is so easy that you can just leave your guys hacking while you go make coffee.

There has definitely been an attempt to spice up the story a little and give it a less linear feel. While the main plot is as bog-standard a fantasy yarn as you will ever see, there are enough side quests to prevent it feeling too linear, and the game retains enough of the compulsive feel of the original to keep you going.

Finally, the graphics, so outstanding 5 years ago, have basically not changed from DS1. There are some improved textures, but there is no getting around the fact that while other games have moved on Dungeon Siege is serving up the same old engine. This is not all bad: some of the scenery is simply beautiful. But the character and many monster models are primitive and clunky.

All in all, if this had appeared 3-4 years ago as an expansion to DS1 it would have been a nice job. For those looking for no more than a new run at an old favorite, this is worth playing, though in some important respects (party control in particular) it is inferior to the original. For those expecting the new game that "DS2" implies, it's likely to be a disappointment.

Better than the first

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 22
Date: August 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This review is based on my impressions from about 4 hours of gameplay. From the start, I think this is a better game than the first one (and I loved the first game). The first game was pretty straight forward: see enemy, click to attack enemy, kill enemy, gather loot, repeat all the way through the game. Dungeon Siege 2 improves upon all the aspects of the first game and adds some twists. The game plays more like a roleplaying game than a hack-and-slash. Think of it as a Neverwinter Nights (not Baldur's Gate) game without the swing-and-a-miss attacks. You still click on enemies, but this time, there are bonus attacks, skill trees to improve your character, new items that can be enchanted, and places to add temporary points to your stats. Overall, the game world is more convincing - there are more enemy types and each now have a different mode of attacking, offering a bit more strategy during combat. The game is now a bit harder because you only have two character to start the game until you buy more spots for others. On easy, you are only allowed 4 characters (more open as you beat the game). The enemies exhibit better AI and do more damage, so you are constantly attacking, healing, and moving around to getter better attacks on the stronger enemies. Also, you can no longer "creep and save" through the game. Loading a game takes you back to the closest town, which means you have to adventure out to get back to where you were (and killing more enemies along the way). The graphics in the game are fantastic, and you can zoom all the way in to see every detail on the character. There is more terrain to walk over and more natural effects to keep you glued to your screen. So far, the game is fun to play - there are more items to discover, quests to fullfill, characters to interact with and a feeling of strategy in each battle. I found myself thinking much more about what I was doing in Dugneon Siege 2 than I did in the first game. Dungeon Siege 2 feels more like a roleplaying game than the first, but maintains the same amount of "fun" by making you want to keep clicking on enemies and killing them to find out what happens next. I think it appeals to both kinds of gamers - those who want a roleplaying experience and those who want a dungeon crawler. I highly recommend it!

Worth the money

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 19
Date: August 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Veterans of the first Dungeon Siege will find much here that is familiar. DS2 sports the same party-based 3-D action with the same engine as it's predecessor, and while the graphics are prettier this time around, I wasn't blown away this time around as I was playing the first DS.

Starting off, you will notice there are three difficulties of play, the latter two only unlockable by completing the game on an easier setting.

The four main disciplines are still present: melee, ranged, nature magic, and combat magic, although there is a skills/feats system for greater character customization than the first.

As a fighter, you start off only being able to use a weapon in your main hand. When you advance a few skill levels you will find you can train along one of three main skill paths: one-handed weapon with shield use, dual-wielding, and two-handed weapons. As you take skills along one path, it unlocks other skills you can learn to enhance your abilities further. Additional skills are restricted by both level and prerequisite skills. Which feats you get are determined by your skill choices and the levels your skills are at.

Ranged weapon users start with bow only but can then specialize in bows/crossbows, and thrown weapons.

Nature and combat mages can tailor their spell affinities to various elemental damage spheres as well as
death magic, summoning, and healing for nature mages, to name a few.

Some other differences:
You start off with a party of two, and can purchase up to 2 additional slots when you meet the level requirements to do so. In the harder difficulties, it is possible to purchase additional spots above 4. That's a shame you can't get a fifth in normal difficulty, because the pet system is great and it's nice to have one character of each discipline, as well as a pet on the field.

Animal companions in addition to your packmule are not new to those who played the expansion to the first DS, but here they have been greatly enhanced. There are about 10 different pets available (dire wolf, ice elemental, dragon, etc..) based on your game progression and some only unlockable by doing side quests. Pets carry stuff for you with varying capacity, as well as fight alongside you. Pets stats and level always match those of your main character, but you can "mature" them by feeding them equipment. The type of equipment you use determines the bonuses they get when they reach their next maturity level. Use ranged weapons to increase dex, melee weapons to increase str, health potions to increase health, etc.. Maturing them also upgrades their attack weapon and gives them access to feats. A fully mature pet constantly emanates a useful power for a certain range around it to your party's benefit if you are in that range.

Items no longer have stat based requirements to use them; they are purely based on character level or combat discipline level. Some items can also be enhanced by adding reagents to them, in basically the same method as the socketing system from diablo 2.

There are unique item drops as well as special unique items called set items. Unique items are based on existing items with more powers than rares, although as they are pre-defined, their stats are not random. Set items have a unique appearance which carries over to your character when wearing them. Each set item belongs to a group of typically 2-5 items where if multiple items in a set are worn together, you receive additional bonuses. A single item in a set is usually very good, but you may find better equipment. Add a few more pieces to the set and you will find they are much better again, a full set adds even more powers to the mix. To start you off, there's one full set of 4 items (2 in hidden locations) early in the game, found roughly between levels 2 and 10 or so. Many higher level uniques and set uniques will add ranks to many of your skills while worn. Although ranks added in this way function normally even if you don't meet the requirements to learn the skill yet, these additional ranks don't count towards prerequisites for learning other skills.

I found in playing so far that you will sometimes find duplicates of set items, which sucks. Unique items are supposed to be unique and set items are legendary unique items. Hopefully they will fix this "bug" at some point, at least in the single player game. That being said, any time you find a very rare and cool set item is one of the best moments in the game.

When you re-spawn after your whole party is killed, your equipped items, but not inventory items, are on the ground where you died. You can pay 25% of your gold to have your items teleported back to town, or you can go get them yourself. A nice feature is that when you get close to your death site, the items all re-equip themselves on your party members exactly as you had them.

You can save the game quickly at any time (ctrl+s), and there is only one save spot. There's no easy way to load a game, you have to exit the current game and then select continue, but you should find no reason to do this often. Your items, stats, and quest progression is saved, also the status of any boss or unique mobs you may have killed, but your actual position is not. When you load a game you always start at the teleporter in the last major town you reached. There's a large equipment storage chest for your use next to this teleporter which is a nice addition. While this can be a pain at times, in general you will find teleporter destinations to be plentiful and reasonably close to wherever you may wish to go. In addition, you can teleport via a spell to town and back to that exact location whenever you want.

The main story is "okay", and you will find most of the meat and fun of the game to be in doing the side quests and exploring areas off the main path. While the game and areas are in general very linear, there are lots of side areas along the way to keep you occupied for much more time than the main storyline will.

The AI could be a little better but it's okay. There are two modes of combat, mirror and rampage. In mirror mode your party all follows the lead of whatever the main character does, and they will not attack on their own, although they will cast certain buffs, summons. and healing on their omn if you set it up that way. In rampage mode, the characters will attack on their own, with the exception of the selected character, whose ai is always automatically disabled.

In closing, this game is a lot of fun, and fans of diablo and nwn will find a solid dungeon crawl with a lot to offer, and only a couple minor flaws. I am looking forward to playing online as well as using the harder modes of play when I complete the game in normal mode.

I paid $50 for this?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 14 / 16
Date: September 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I was a huge fan of Dungeon Siege, and couldn't wait for DS2. After playing it for more hours than I'm comfortable acknowledging, I'm left with a serious case of disapointment.

My biggest complaint is that someone actually thought it'd be a cool idea to have you play the exact same game three times over before you can call yourself "done." You start as a novice, playing at an easy level. Once you've finished the game, (the major story line, anyway, not necessarily the side quests), then the only thing left to do is to play again, starting from a middle level of difficulty. Once you've finished, you start over again, from the expert level.

This may sound like an interesting way to make the game challenging, but by the time you've gotten to the expert level, you'll have so many weapons & special powers at your disposal that it's not challenging at all. Especially if you've got a full size party, (6 characters). I think I died about 6 times in the easy mode, and once in the middle, (against the archmage, so 90% of the way through the storyline). I'm 1/3 of the way through the expert level, and I cannot envison death at this point; my team is too strong. A couple of characters with dual-wield swords and you cut through the enemy troops like a hot knife through butter.

It's true that you can make the side quests variable by changing who's in your party, (some quests are only reserved for specific characters - so if they're not in your party, you won't receive the quest), but I can't fathom sitting through all the huge areas, (and they are huge, and beautifully rendered), just to get one new quest.

I also dislike not being able to control my party formation & spacing. In DS, you could right-click & scroll to set how closely one character followed another. This was a useful feature as you could put the mages towards the back, since they'd have flimsy armor, and put your tanks up front. You could also set single file, wedge, and other party formations. Now you're stuck with either rampage, (every party member attacks whatever they want), or mirror, (everyone whacks what you tell them to), and that's it.

At this point, I've invested so much time in that I'll probably finish the 3rd go-round, but what a disappointment.

Internet gaming seriously flawed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: September 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm sure you'll read the other reviews so I won't repeat anything they already said, except to agree that the in game graphics are really nice.

But, BEWARE if you plan to play MP with this game.

First, Internet gaming with it requires enabling UPnP services on your router (which we only found after hours of searching online.. its not mentioned in the manual).

Second, Internet gaming requires connecting to a "portal" which verifies your CD Key (no complaint about that).. except that the portal publishes your game to everyone so you will probably get a ping flood (or worse!) from other users. They do NOT allow you connect directly to the IP of a buddy that is hosting the game.

Third, when there is a problem with someones ping/latency/etc, the game doesn't sync back up. It simply DROPs the slower player . And for some reason, the dropped player can't re-join the same game. (even if their network meter shows 4or5 "green bar")

At this point, we are about to give up completely on MP gaming with this game...

Dungeon Siege... Good or Bad?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: August 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Many people are wondering if this game is worth buying. I would tell them YES, but I really enjoyed the first. This is one of those games you will either love, or can't stand. You should first download and play the DEMO before you buy this game. Then you will have your own opinion of the game, and can make a decision from your own knowledge.

Here are my Pros and Cons.

Pros!
1- Excellent enviornment graphics! The world makes me feel as if I'm there.
2- Addicting gameplay, improved over the first. This game has fast action.
3- Many interesting enemies that have decent A.I.
4- More robust skill tree and more interesting skills.
5- Enemies are not just randomly placed around the map. They help each-other and are in larger groups. Its alot of fun to unleash a powerful spell amist many enemies =)

Cons!
1- Poor charcter customization, also the graphics of the character's faces need some work. Wish there were more choices, especially in the hair department.
2- Too much like Dungeon Siege 1. Did they use the same engine? Animations and movment are almost exactly the same.
3- Music isn't terrible but not good either. So its a con.
4- Storyline is weak in areas.
5- Pure hack n' slash gaming, can get old fast.

Overall it is a GOOD game but nothing new. I often wonder why it took so long to publish this game, when many of the graphics and animations were used in the original. Try the demo and buy if you like! I think this game is worth buying and am happy with my purchase.

For me? I would give this game 4/5 stars. Have fun!

It's Dungeon Siege 2, exactly what you think it is

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: September 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Dungeon Siege 2 is a Role Playing Game with extremely simple rules, easy combat and linear plot advancement. This is not a really in depth roll playing game with a capitavating story or flowing dialogues. You have "converstaion options" which are usually very specific and do not give you any sense of actually giving your two cents in decision making or information gathering.

This whole game sometimes feels like you are on auto pilot with your most influential decisions being skill tree strategies for your party members. This game is all about battles, you will be constantly clicking out your party's fate as you move slowly from encounter to encounter. You lead a party of characters and can also have pets this time around, the pet can grow from items you feed it which is a great addition to the old mule "pet" that was really a mobile stash you worried about getting killed in the first game.

Dungeon Siege 2 is NOT a Diablo 2 clone, it's similar in what you do, how you fight and level up - but so isn't every RPG ever made. Diablo 2 is much more cleaner than this game and easier to manipulate, but Dungeon Siege 2 is graphically superior and infintely more engaging. Major battles with multiple enemies in Dungeon Siege 2 are almost automatically handled as the chaos is hard to decipher unless you zoom in on every character and the baddies they are dealing with. Getting an overall view of a battle becomes problematic as the environments are extremely detailed and bushes, debris, walls and buildings block your view to at least some of your party.

If you played the first game, you will not be shocked by this game's improvements. Although the graphics are considerably better, higher resolutions are almost unplayable as the character interface is tiny, your character's life bar will be about half an inch at maximum resolution. The new races and skills are nothing too exciting but cool to have along for the ride - Dryads (nature magic specialist), Half-Giants (melee experts) and Elfs (combat magic or missle weapon specialist) join the fray.

The story is okay, but seems extremely familiar to all generic quest games: There's this really evil guy who found this old and powerful sword and he must be stopped, but by who? Blah, blah, blah - you will not be drawn in by story here, expect no Baldur's Gate level plot. However, if click killing is your thing, pick this game up - it will not diasappoint you. If you are looking for story and a bit more engaging gameplay - look at Guild Wars.

Great Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: October 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have really enjoyed this game. The game designers have come up with a few hits and misses over the preceding versions of Dungeon Siege and DS: Legends of Aranna.

HITS:
--Better story, interesting side quests (I have no problems with [and in fact prefer] a linear storyline!)
--Great graphics: the armor, monsters, landscapes, etc., are all beautifully rendered.
--The Lore books are fun, adding depth and history, and the handling of quest items is much improved (they no longer clutter up your inventory).
--The henchmen have personalities! Yes, the voice acting is a bit hokey and over-the-top, but it does give each character a personality of his or her own.
--Landscapes: Beautiful and detailed.
--Combat: Great spell effects! Well-placed monsters. Some tough battles, but nothing too, too overwhelming.
--Teleportation: You can get straight back to town whenever you want to. Handy!
--Buff spells: Very nice, including creature summons. Having autocast spells is also a big, BIG plus. I never bothered with summons in the earlier DS games because they were such a pain to keep recasting. But now there's autocast! Woot!
--Pets: Awesome! Fun! The addition of pets was a great idea. I'm considering carrying a character through the primary quests with just pets to see how that would play out (or if it's even doable). Pets are great, simple to maintain, and hold their own in combat.

MISSES:
--Enchantments: What were the developers thinking? Enchantments are a total waste of time and inventory space. Found items are far better than anything you can enchant, as far as I can tell.
--Incantations: Again, a waste of space and coding in my opinion. The only one I've used has been "Speak with the Dead" and only because it's necessary to complete a quest. If I were a game designer, I would have scrapped the incantations in favor of a few buff spells that are either learned or earned as quest rewards.
--Landscapes: Both a hit (see above) but also a miss, as they are way too overcluttered. It's very hard to see what is coming at you.
--Stuff: Way, way, WAY too much stuff drops during combat. It's a pain to wade through it all, looking for something useful.
--Combat: A bit muddled and confused. It looks great but it's hard to see what is actually happening or to select and/or position your party members.
--Party size: Having a limited party size (only four your first time through the game, then five, and finally six on your third time through the game) is a drag, especially since you need different party members to complete certain side quests. My solution to this was to skip a number of the side quests (with Amren, Taar, Sartan, Finala, and Deru) and just keep the henchmen I liked in my party (Lothar, Vix, and Eva) for round 1. The size restriction may contribute to the replayability of this game, since you could play through once or twice with a different player character and different NPCs in your party.
--Saves and Death: For some reason, though you can save your game at any point, you cannot return to your save point. For example, if you save before a Big Boss battle and you all die, you cannot return to that point and try it again. Death and restarting the game always, ALWAYS, takes you back to the nearest town. Also, if your party wipes out, you are returned to town with none of your gear. Irritating. To get around this problem, I usually quit and then restart the game at this point. For some reason, this brings back my party with all of their gear in place. Perhaps this is a game glitch? Anyway, the developers should have devised a better save game system--or offered a "revert to saved game" so that you could get back to your last save point.
--Minimap: Maybe it was just me, but I found the "overhead minimap" confusing to use and somewhat disorienting. That said, it was helpful that it indicated hidden levers and nearby enemies and quest-related characters and whatnot that you might otherwise have missed.

All in all, however, Dungeon Siege II is a very fine game: simple and fun to play, beautiful to look at, with an interesting story to tell. I highly recommend it--all the marginal and negative reviews here at Amazon notwithstanding. I even emphasized the negatives in my own review here but I *still* think the game overall is very well done and an enjoyable adventure.

People looking for a "fine wine" RPG will not find it here; Dungeon Siege II is a "chips and beer" kind of RPG and great fun to play.

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