Dungeon Siege 2 out?

[Mochan]

I've located "a copy" already. When was the release date supposed to be again?

[DBS]

It is gold now and my ship date is 25th I think.

[Mochan]

Well I'll be getting the "demo" version by this Saturday so I'll tell you guys how it goes.

[Renzatic Gear]

According to most release dates I've seen it's coming out on the 16th. So expect it arrive anytime between the 16th to the 23rd.

[Mochan]

It'll be arriving on my PC 3 days early then, lol

[Mochan]

I've been playing for a couple of hours and I can't say I like the game all that much. In terms of gameplay, Diablo II is still better (as was the case against Dungeon Siege 1) though DS does have a different mechanic with the party system going on. Still it's too early to write it off as the complexities of the gameplay have not yet surfaced.

What I do find very striking though is how BAD the graphics are. They are very messy, the textures look like rejects from Diablo 2. I really think Dungeon Siege 1 looked better. The characer models are also horrendous but since you can zoom out I think I will zoom out so I don't see them in detail.

Overall not really spectacular, I will probably end up shelving this game like I did DS1.

[BaneNWN]

I've been playing for a couple of hours and I can't say I like the game all that much. In terms of gameplay, Diablo II is still better (as was the case against Dungeon Siege 1) though DS does have a different mechanic with the party system going on. Still it's too early to write it off as the complexities of the gameplay have not yet surfaced.

What I do find very striking though is how BAD the graphics are. They are very messy, the textures look like rejects from Diablo 2. I really think Dungeon Siege 1 looked better. The characer models are also horrendous but since you can zoom out I think I will zoom out so I don't see them in detail.

Overall not really spectacular, I will probably end up shelving this game like I did DS1.


Didnt realize Diablo 2 had gameplay.Point and click isnt exactley what i consider gameplay.Heck if im not mistaken atleast in Dungeon siege you could set each charcter to his or her own strategy.Im not a huge fan of either game but i do like DS quite a bit more.And if ur talking graphics Diablo 2 would give me headaches if i played more then an hour that game was flatout ugly.

[Mochan]

Diablo 2 was a lot older than DS1, so the graphics being bad are understandable. At the time though the graphics were pretty good.

What makes D2's gameplay better in my book is how rich the skill paths are, and in how they let you really change the way you fight. In battle you do point and click but with the combination of being able to assign skills to your eight hotkeys and switching between the abilities you need to dispatch certain foes, it made for very good gameplay. I've never understood why all the Diablo clones seem to want to make you just use one or two abilities, the hotkey system is never as flexible as Diablo 2's so you end up being constrained in the skills you use.

[Renzatic Gear]

You're not the only person I've heard compare the game to Diablo II graphicwise....and just I don't see it. Some of the textures are muddy here and there, but overall it's pretty sharp from what I've seen. And the characters, though not much higher polywise than DS1, are a bit cripser in comparison. From a graphical persective I think it stomps DII into the ground...it's a lush looking game.

Gameplaywise it's DS1 with a skilltree and some sidequests. If you liked the original you'll like this one, if not then there isn't much here to change your mind.

[Mochan]

Well yes, it does stomp D2 in the ground graphically, (and it better!) but the thing is, due to the textures it is using, it has the same "grainy" and "dirty" impression Diablo 2 had.

This was really the feel that I got from looking at it. Personally I think there's no place for graphics of this level in this day and age, and from a highly-anticipated relatively well-budgeted game at that. There's another recent game which has the same dirty look, Empire Earth 2. I swear, games like this should only be coming out from indie devs or similar small outfits.

[BaneNWN]

I think i know wht you mean here.I do remember focusing on my charecter and he got really blurry.I thought the landscapes were fine but the charecters atleast when u focused in were pretty ugly and blurry

[And_so_it_goes]

is the game non-linear? can you go where you want, take on side quests, explore the map, etc?

[Renzatic Gear]

Sorta. The game is ultimately linear, but now you have little sidepaths that go off the main road that you can explore. It gives you lots of secrets and extra quests to discover to break up the constant hack 'n slash.

I've been reading a few reviews of the game and I've found that 1up.com's pretty much wraps what I thought of the game up in one nice little phrase:

"It's as if answering the critics became such a preoccupation that instead of a sequel, Dungeon Siege II became the perfected version of the original."

One good thing is that GPG is releasing the Dungeoneering toolset, so there's tons of room for improvment and new quests. Plus they might release free multiplayer only expansions like they did with DS1.

[Mochan]

I'm at least getting into DS2, unlike DS1 which I couldn't quite get into. My only real complaint with DS2 is the graphics.

[Renzatic Gear]

I just got it. :D

I'll tell you what I think about it once I get past the demo area.