Dungeon Siege
by Microsoft
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Video Game Reviews of Dungeon Siege
Customer Review: A game that provides you a different experience.
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't realize Dungeon Siege was a good game until a few years after I played it. It begin to dawn upon me that I did have a few unique and different experience with Dungeon Siege than I have with other average RPG games. I ignored those experience and concluded that the game wasn't good enough, but then I now know that it does have the some unique characteristics and differences. As for how entertaining the game was, I'd say that at first the game is BORING. If you're playing a single playing mode of kingdom of Ehb you start out as a farmer with very little equipment. You'll start fighting these annoying Krugs who don't seem like the worthy opponents as well as the mosquito bugs that annoyingly flies around you. But as you progress through the game you might find yourself addicted to it. The various types of armors, weapons, and magic will become your major incentive in the game. You'll travel around the world hacking and slashing your opponents to gather gold, and sometimes you go beneath the dungeons to find a few treasures so you would have enough money to buy items. The traveling is another part of the addiction. As you travel around, you'll be curious enough to ask yourself what kind of items do merchants sell in the next town. Since you already have what you need from the current town you would want to go to the next to get more. Another incentive in this game is the exploration. The Peninsula map in Dungeon siege for example is HUGE. I played at least 24 hours total (If I can correctly recall), and I'm still around lvl 33, and I haven't even explored the world completely. I probably only traveled probably around 1/3 of the world. Again you'll probably be curious enough to ask yourself if there are other parts of the world that'll catch your interest. The only uniqueness and differences I found within the game are obviously these: 1) There's absolutely no loading when you travel around the world 2) Your character naturally chooses his own class and increases his attributes/skills based on what weapons (or magic) he uses. 3) The party adds up the fun of the game, traveling alone makes it much more difficult for your character 4)The Siege tools are unique part of Dungeon Siege, I never used them but you can learn them yourself or from Siege University.5) You can download MODS or worlds such as a DS version of Ultima V, you can have fun with those. 6) Traveling can be fun out of curiosity, the journey seems endless. 7) You can use pack mules to carry your equipments 8) you're character's status changes as he develops such as a Page, Squire, and Knight, and then Legionary. I personally found that creative.
The graphic of this game is outdated but it is still adjustable like other games. Nevertheless you'll still find yourself amazed by some of the scenes of the environment you interact with. The sound quality wasn't great in my opinion. I thought the hack/slash sound didn't sound realistic, and the enemies crying out after they die sounded retarded. The music however is well done, it fits very well in certain scenes of the game. Sometimes you'll get a feeling from the music.
The Multiplayer Mode is interesting. I haven't played it as much as I wanted to but all I can say is that I encountered a few interesting things. You can load up a mod you downloaded for both you and your friends to play in. It doesn't have to be one mod, which is a single-playing map, it can also be other mods as well. After you are finished playing the game the result status will show how many enemies you killed, how much you leveled up, how many dungeons you discovered, and ect. The statistics are interesting, which is one thing I like about the multiplayer mode. Playing with your friends is something I didn't do, but I can imagine that it would be fun traveling in a vast world with yoru friends.
The only flaws I found in this game is that the game can get repetitive. No matter who you slew down you feel like it's the same enemy. The hack and slash can get annoying, there's really no reason in doing this except getting some money. The game can get old pretty quickly, but for me sometimes I just want to go back to the game. Another flaw is the lack of side-quest. There aren't enough quest to keep you interested, thus the game does get boring because of that. Sometimes you can get lost in the world if you don't know how to properly use your map. There are even times that no matter how much you properly used the map you still can't find an exit. This makes the game challenging but it also makes it annoying at times, it shows that the map can be confusing.
I'm pretty sure there are more to say, but I want to go straight to the point. This game did give me a different experience, If you give this game a chance for a while you'll find yourself addicted to it. Depending on who you are this game either gets old quickly or you'll still find yourself enjoying this game. So do I recommend this game? Yes I do, this game is different from other games, it's not the best game out there but it definitely provides you something different that other games do not have. I already listed the things that this game has, but there are probably more. If you wish to know what I'm trying to say, play the game.
Customer Review: Tedious
Summary: 1 Stars
I can't remember playing a game as tedious as this. This game along with Diabolo are often compared to the mid 80s arcade game Gauntlet. I do have recollections of playing Gauntlet in arcades in the 80s. Was Gauntlet as boring as this? I honestly can't remember.
Anyway to sum up the gameplay of Dungeon Siege-
a) Jog along path
b) Enemies appear in front of you and from your side
c) Enemies will attack you if in range
d) You click on enemy to attack them. Your character(s) will automatically fight back if attacked, so there's not much to worry about here.
e) Enemies sometimes drop potions, gold and equipment if killed. Your character can pick these up if he/ she wants to.
f) Repeat process.
It's all very shallow. You can use melee, ranged weapons or spells but the end result tends to be pretty much the same,
Although I can understand that long convoluted plots a la Baldur's Gate *can* get dull, it's the difference in combat that made me play Baldur's gate (and it's spin offs) to the end, rather than just give up in boredom. In Baldur's gate you're often facing much tougher opponents than you, and the fun of the combat is coming up with various combinations of melee. ranged attacks and magic spells to overcome your opponents. There were many different strategies to try. With Dungeon Siege in contrast you're mostly just being swarmed with numerous, weaker opponents. The chances of actually dying are really quite slim considering the abundance of healing potions and other power ups. Combat in Dungeon Siege reminded me more of swatting swarms of pesky mosquitoes than anything.
People often say it looks gorgeous. Well, it's fairly nice, but even some games from 1999 looked somewhat better. There are some nicely done textures and lighting underground especially, but I didn't find it to be amazing graphically.
Unfortunately not evern a soundtrack by the excellent Jeremy Soule makes me want to play Dungeon Siege any further.
Customer Review: Sorry, But It Just Doesn't Cut It
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this in a moment of weakness when there were no new first person D&D type games out there. I had been burned by other 3rd person games, but decided to see what someone else besides the Baldur's Gate people could do with things.
The game was very linear and to me, very annoying to play. I had problems with the party AI and did not like that I could not veer off the path to any extent. I got maybe halfway through it and quit. Not my cup of tea.
Customer Review: Dungeon Siege is an epic piece of work.
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever since the Diablo series came out, there were wanna-bes of that type of RPG. A lot of the wanna-be Diablo games turned out to be worse than Diablo it self. But, when Dungeon Siege was released in 2002, it managed to be a great RPG and wanna-be Diablo (no, can't even say it because of a few reasons):
1. Even though the graphics are dated, it still looks nice. I never said, "Wow, nice graphics" to a game that is a little old (except for the first Crash Bandicoot installment which had some great graphics for the PS1 console). Also the environment is well thought of, you'll be exploring forests, deserts, arctic, and more importantly DUNGEONS (hence the name Dungeon Siege).
2. The game manages to be exciting and here is why: imagine a party of 8 adventurers collide and beat the snot out of the hundreds of monsters you are going to face in DS. There are also lots of tactical strategy involved unlike Diablo's point-and-click method which DS also borrowed. So, let's say RTS/RPG-type adventure is the name.
3. As usual you get to choose to be a warrior, archer, or mage (nature or combat); however you have to stick with it (it is ok to have a bow for a warrior but if you want to stick with warrior, that bow is tempting).
4. The sounds are great and so is the music composed by Jeremy Soule, who also did the score for the famous RTS game "Total Annihilation".
The music can sound eerie, exciting, and mellow, depending on the setting of the story. Although, the voice acting is about 4/10 (the Stonebridge blacksmith sounds like he got hit on the head by one of his weapons and sounds nuts). There are some touchy moments in the dialog that is "professional", pretty much, this is a typical RPG-dialog.
5. A lot of people said that creator Chris Taylor and the gang of Gas Powered Games worked on plot more than story-line. I agree with that but the plot is very good (too much fantasy novels :P). You star as a farmer and then after your dying friend (you are probably thinking, "ummm.... what dying friend?") tells you that the Krug are attacking (they are orc-like nasties), is when you officially start DS. No plot-twists but a good plot to remember.
3. As usual, there is combat involved: arrows, swords, spells, etc are your main attraction. Eventually you'll kill more than the krug: fierce spiders (at Wesrin Cross there is a scary BIG SPIDER at the end of this dungeon), skeletons, monsters, monsters, and more monsters. The weapons and armor looks really amazing but yet doesn't look bulky (as in wearing the huge Anime armor you can hardly wear without falling). Although, little note for the parents: some creatures do get slashed into pieces but as you get stronger, there is a chance of very weak animals to explode, causing gore but no big puddles of blood. Still a note though.
All that turns into a big hack-and-slash fest that is worthy of its praise. I recommend this and play this on hard level, you'll enjoy it more .
Customer Review: A good Hack and Slash
Summary: 4 Stars
This game for all it's fun, is rather confining. You aren't given the opportunity to rove at will. I really like to be able to go anywhere I want to. In this game you have to go in one direction, fighting a plethora of creatures.
The world itself is beautifully done, and the creatures you fight are some of the best around. There was basically no story, you just fight. For those who love a good Hack and Slash, you'll love this game. I found it exciting at first, but then that's all you do. No real puzzles to solve, no mysteries. Oh sure, you have the odd 'quest' now and then, but nothing that really challenges you.
I gave this a four star rating because despite the linearness of it, I really enjoyed it.