Dungeon Siege

The Good
I was AMAZED at the 100% seamless world! There are no zones, no load time at all anywhere! The graphics are not cutting edge, but ARE extremley impressive! There are 3 levels of gameplay you can choose at character creation, from easy to insanely hard. (People who complain about this game being too simple or easy fail to realize that the default setting is easy mode.)

The Dungeons are incredibly detailed and realistic. I had to pause and gaze in wonder the first time I entered the sewages, with debris floating by me, etc.. The "spider dungeon" succeeds in setting its mood, and being creepy. To see this stunning game in action go to this link:

http://community.webshots.com/album/104967108nPZHDZ

If it does not work, go to this link:

http://community.webshots.com/user/xplororor_archives01

There are many original monsters, like the crawling corpse - missing it's lower body! The AI is very intelligent.. monsters will and can chase you down until you some how hide, get away, or get killed. The greatest feature is how you can make a party with NPC characters you meet - then level them up AND switch from your "main" character and make the NPC your main character and your former main character a NPC! You can switch back and forth as much as you want. Send 5 members of your party to 5 different locations in the game world! It takes getting used to the new feeling of experiencing this incredible game feature! No other computer game has this feature done the way Dungeon Siege does it to PERFECTION!

This is a 100% skill based game. Any character can learn magic, melee, or ranged combat, and wear any armor - as long as they train in the needed skills. You can make your character be a high level warrior that can cast low level magic, a high level magic user who can wield a low level sword, or any kind of hybrid mix.

The Mules are one of the funnest, and funniest, game features in this game, that no other game has ever done! You can get actual Mules to carry your extra items. As you store more items on your Mules, the game shows the luggage on them increasing! LOL! And you can control each of your Mules as if they were your characters! (You can't level up your Mules though... but the Mules can help fight)

Combat is one of the best ever in a RPG game. Your arrows stick in the enemy, you can dodge enemy arrows. My favorite is casting magic Lightning (if your a Star Wars fan, this looks just like the Emperor doing his Force Lightning!). Not every dungeon, or area of the game needs to be visited to complete it... some dungeons, and areas are just there for the fun and challenge. And yeah, it's NICE how your character will just sip health potions drinking only enough drops needed to heal their exact missing health.

This game is super-L-O-N-G! There is a free playable Demo that can be downloaded (search for 'Dungeon Siege' on Google.com). The FREE demo is roughly 15% of the game and can take a few weeks to go through.

The Bad
Some of the monsters (Just a few) do not look like anything special. Like the very first monster you fight. They look like a wimpy, bland, wanna-be Orc. This game is L-O-N-G! Expect to take 3 - 6 months to complete it if you also have a normal regular life.

There are no spectacular puzzles. It's just find out the best way to use your offense (range, melee, and magic) and defense (healing from magic and drinking potions) to survive.

There's not much else dislikeable about this remarkable, revolutionary, RPG. It could've and should've been more heavily advertised - though it still did sell well and still was successful.

The Bottom Line
An ultra-modern medieval-themed RPG, with NICE graphics. And cutting edge, revolutionary game features. Some of it seems simular to Diablo, the majority of it builds on Diablo then does things 1,000 times BETTER than Diablo. The way the party system works - this alone makes this game a MUST to be played. Anyone who reviews this game negativly has NOT played it to the end! LOL! There are tons of dungeons, some are HUGE!

If you can get your hands on the recently released "Dungeon Siege Editor" you are in for an increadible trip! With the Editor you can create your OWN GAME! You can even make a replica of say... the world of Middle-Earth in Lord of the Rings. Or specific dungeons like Moria in Lord of the Rings. Or anything from your imagination!

The Good
The graphics are pretty, not quite as good as I would have hoped, but still nice. The gameplay has that nice "familiar" feel to it so you never really are at a loss of what to do. The Hack 'n Slash, get reward formula is alive and well.

The Bad
Very bland if almost non existent plot. Character development is absolutely uninvolving. The character/NPC's have no personality at all. The gameplay gets dull way too quickly. That same "familiar" feel that makes the gameplay comfortable initially is also a negative because it offers nothing new to the game.

The Bottom Line
I hate to make the reference, but it's Diabloesque gaming to a somewhat enjoyable degree.

The Good
Great graphics, seamless loading, various automations such as gather loot, follow leader, formations, etc., plenty of graphical touches such as varied swings, lots of enemies

The Bad
Only one type of damage means there's no "resistance" at all, impossible to grow characters beyond a certain level without cheating, no persistent savegame in MP

The Bottom Line
Dungeon Siege can be described as a streamlined version of Diablo with various improvements. Instead of controlling a single person, you control a party. Instead of grabbing loot manually you now can carry almost infinite gold as well as automatically collect gold and loot. There's no poison to worry about, and potion can be sipped instead of drank whole. The graphics have also been improved to truly gorgeous 3D. It's almost someone read the "wishlist" for Diablo series.

However, such things come at a cost. Diablo had multiple types of damage, fire / ice / magic / physical. In DS there's only one type: damage. That takes a lot of decisions out player's hands. Also, the weapons "top out" after a certain point, making growth beyond a certain point EXTREMELY slow. Also, the game mechanics are not quite the same in MP vs. SP. In MP you are limited to a single character, and the world state is not saved, just personal state. Thus can be very confusing.

The fan community has released variety of new content, from simple new weapons to full campaigns with their own stories and such. Still, longevity of the game may be a problem as the game simply ceases to be fun after a certain level. While you can replay the game as different classes and specialize in different areas and such, starting over may not be for everyone.

Overall, this one is a 7 / 10. It gets most things right, but has some faults that prevents it from being "great".