It’s a bit odd to be playing Dungeon Siege III on the PS3. After all, the previous two entries were PC exclusives and that’s what I’m used to experiencing them on. I did try the PSP side story, Throne of Agony earlier this year, but to say that I was less than impressed is a bit of an understatement. The story was lacking and it was way too repetitive for my tastes. Supervillian Studios, like Mad Doc Software’s Legends of Arcana just didn’t hold up to the quality of the original studios titles.
First, Obsidian Games was developing the title instead of Gas Powered Games. This was an odd change to me, especially since Obsidian has developed a reputation for buggy titles. However, I do have a strange sense of loyalty to them since they used to be half of Black Isle Studios, the greatest dev team ever, and Obsidian did give me Fallout: Las Vegas and Neverwinter Nights 2 so I that made me want to take the plunge. The second curiosity was that Square-Enix purchased the series from Take Two, who in turn originally picked up the rights from Microsoft. This passing around of the Dungeon Siege franchise, like an old MLB player long past his prime, seemed to be the sign of a potential train wreck to me. The third curiosity was if the franchise had any name value left after the Uwe Boll film. The fourth was how the game would play on a console and if console gamers would even care about the third entry in a previously PC only franchise. The fifth and final was how much of Chris Taylor’s influence would be felt in the final product. Chris Taylor, the original creator of the Dungeon Siege series was an advisor on DS3. All these things combined to make me at least download and fiddle with the demo. So if Dungeon Siege III a game I’m going to review when our copy arrives in a fortnight, or is it something I’m going to pass off onto another staffer? Let’s find out.
Right away I’m not a fan of the default control setup. I’m so used to the attack button and the “investigate/interact/talk” button being the same thing on nearly every RPG that it feels really awkward to use a shoulder button (R1 to be exact) for that. I’m sure as I progress through the game it will feel more natural but between that being there and a block button (L2) for this series, you can tell right away that Dungeon Siege III plays drastically different from other games in the franchise, including the PSP offshoot.
In the demo, you are able to choose between two characters. The first is Lucas Montbarron who is the typical warrior class character. The second is Anjali (not to be confused with the British born Indian porn star who comes up when I googled for character images…). Anjali is called an Archon in the game, but she’s basically a Pyromancer that can take on the form of a fire elemental. Also, she has the “amnesia” background trait that drives me nuts. You also get to choose between three difficulty settings in the demo. That’s a lot of play options for this snippet. Very nice.
I won’t lie – the bulk of the game feels exactly like a lot of action RPGs out there. Thankfully the ones it plays like are Dark Alliance, Baldur’s Gate and the like so the game is a solid, well made one that is sure to please those of you that just want a basic hack and slash game to pass the time.
I played an Anjali first and then as Lucas Montbarron. I was pleased to see that both characters have distinctly different opening cut scenes. The majority of the demo’s storyline was exactly the same, but there were some differences regarding dialogue. It’s just different enough to make it worth playing through a second time, although probably not right away.
No comments:
Post a Comment