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Dungeon Siege II Review
Jon Wilcox
05/09/2005
TVG travels back to the land of Aranna in Gas Powered Games` sequel to Dungeon Siege...
Gas Powered Games' action-RPG Dungeon Siege II is finally released following an earlier US launch on August 16th and returns players to the world of Aranna one hundred years after the events of Dungeon Siege expansion pack, Legend of Aranna.
Taking in the more traditional Western ideas of an RPG, gamers begin their quest by selecting a race and naming a character. However, the idea of then selecting or answering a range of questions to determine the character's class is not one implemented into Dungeon Siege II; instead Gas Powered Games has continued with the decision made during the development of the first title to allow players to mould their characters through the course of the game. Depending on the choice of combat style (Melee, Combat Magic, Nature Magic, and Ranged), the characters hone their skills - changing styles can prove detrimental in the long-term allowing some to become a 'jack-of-all-trades' rather than an expert in one field, but the choice allowed to the player is there to be made. More on that a bit laterâ¦
The game begins with an epic cinematic featuring the fantasy world equivalent of a passenger jet, a recap of the events leading up to the 'present day' Aranna (which in itself would be the length of a full review), and camera sequence over an ancient map emulating Peter Jackson's adaptation of Lord of the Rings. Landing on the besieged beach at Greilyn in the southwest of Aranna, players are shown the basic control systems, none of which will be a problem for veteran PC strategy/RPG gamers. Amounting to the true prologue of the game, the Greilyn Beach missions set up the drive of the player's main character: a mercenary following orders from a race called Morden, the player (and their best friend an elf called Drevin) storm the beach to reach a temple held sacred by an all female race called Dryads. Upon reaching the temple Drevin asks for payment from the Morden leader who promptly kills himâ¦which is when the player's character wakes up behind bars, a prisoner of the Dryadsâ¦
The mission structure and the narrative are linked into a strong hierarchy with the game split into three 'Acts' with primary and secondary quests listed as 'Chapters.' Whilst it would be fair to say that the consequence of this idea restricts the narrative into a strict linearity, the fact is that it emphasises the storyline and the player's position in the game. Secondary quests ensure that there is some choice for the player, but these not essential to the narrative as a whole although there are rewards for every completed secondary quest such as suits of armour. Also, Dungeon Siege II has three difficulty settings, Mercenary, Veteran and Elite although only the easiest (Mercenary) is available from the outset, but with over 40 hours worth of gameplay to be had in the game it will take somebody very strong-willed to complete all three settings. If the prospect of 120+ hours across the three difficult settings were enough, Gas Powered Games has also implemented a Multiplayer option into the game, allowing players to team up to destroy the forces of Valdis. The main criticism of this feature is that it doesn't offer anything new to the player other than the ability experience the world of Aranna with other gamers. The same quests appear in the Dungeon Siege II Multiplayer mode leaving us to wonder who would play the same game over tens and tens of hours.
During the course of the campaign players amass a party of fantasy characters (nothing new there), with a quick trip to the local innkeeper to expand the maximum number allowed in a party up to six members. Switching player control between the various party members is as simple as clicking on their avatars in the top-left of the screen, although a limited number of party wide commands can be issued in the space of a keypress. Taking a much more accessible action-RPG gameplay experience, Dungeon Siege II follows in several recent RPGs that have tried to appeal to a broader audience by taking a more 'hands-on' approach to combat systems. Each attack by the player-controlled character has to be activated by a mouse click, although the option to hold down the right-mouse button to help stave repetitive strain injury is also available to the gamer. Throughout the course of the game (as with all RPG titles) gamers are able to collect weapons upgrades and spells as they gain further experience through combat, but as well as that, characters are able to unlock several Speciality moves that can leave an opponent or group of opponents thoroughly devastated.
Enemy AI doesn't seem to be overly developed however, and once a player's party gets strong enough, even the most powerful evil doers become little more than hacking practice. This is perhaps the weakest element of Dungeon Siege II's gameplay - the game does seem to breakdown all too often into a hack 'n' slash fest with endless amounts of clicking the right-mouse button. One of the main criticisms faced by the original Dungeon Siege was repetitive gameplay, and this is certainly a problem carried over into the sequel - however, the narrative is much improved in Dungeon Siege II and should help to alleviate fans concerns.
The idea of death in the game follows other examples of RPGs most notably Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft; when all of the members of the party die, they respawn at the nearest town where they are met by a representative of the Guild of Death who offers to resurrect the characters for 25% of the total amount of gold held in the inventory's coffers or will allow players to return to the scene of their demise and pick up their belongings from there. For the more cunning and dare we even say it 'cheating' players, it worth knowing that the Guild of Death will remove all of the money from the inventory if a gamer exits the game without rectifying a death - smart move from Gas Powered Games!
Character development in the game is controlled by the decisions made by the player choosing a specialist combat style for the various characters in the party. Originally developed for Dungeon Siege I, Gas Powered Games has once again implemented the idea in the sequel allowing the player a free-reign on the moulding the type of combat expert their characters become. For instance by using the various spells learnt during the course of the game, that character will gain skills in Combat or Nature Magic allowing players to then select a development path unlock Speciality moves specific to that combat type.
Visually the game is more on par with World of Warcraft, although not quite as stylised; Dungeon Siege II doesn't push boundaries for its graphics, although the visual effects are nicely done (on occasion) - this is no Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The level of zooming in the game is fairly impressive ranging from an almost Over-The-Shoulder to a distance experienced in some RTS titles, although there is a certain level of texture detail lacking from objects and characters when viewed up close. Thereâs a consistency in the design of the environments so at least they feel like they belong to the same world, and there's enough of a variety in them so players won't feel like they're walking through the same patch of forest or dungeon again and again.
Navigation around the HUD and the various other components such as the Lore book, Guidebook, and Bestiary is straightforward enough thanks to onscreen buttons and tabs, which thankfully don't clutter up the screen too much. A map is of course on screen at all times, although it does stifle exploration in the game by pointing a yellow arrow in the direction required to complete primary quests, therefore adding to the sometimes overly simplistic gameplay.
The sound in Dungeon Siege is a bit of a mixed bag with dialogue that does have a habit of sounding hammy, especially with the use of fantastically named places and character names. Some of the characters voices sound far too much like they've been pitched down in post-production (which they probably have - it's just that some are unsubtle in they execution.) Audio effects are the usual fare and the music isn't something that a player will inexplicably hum away from the game (something that fans of Metal Gear Solid and other games with memorable themes certainly do.)
