Dungeon Siege III Demo Out

[daschrier]

A point and click game like Diablo may work better with a mouse, but an action game is much better with a console, as Dungeon Siege 3 seems to be.

I'd much rather sit on my couch in front of a 50" TV than hunched over a keyboard with a mouse and my fingers on the WASD keys.

While Dungeon Siege was originally a PC series, its not like it was a great ground breaking RPG. It was an auto pilot snooze fest.

[neogalahad]

I agree that it does work really well on the controller, and I have to say playing with multiple people is hard and very fun. The bosses have a lot more splash minions to cover the screen when you are playing with other people. We had a blast playing it online though. There was no problem with connection ever! Its a little glitchy but hopefully that will be patched soon because I am really enjoying this game.

[Eusis]

A point and click game like Diablo may work better with a mouse, but an action game is much better with a console, as Dungeon Siege 3 seems to be.

Diablo more or less IS an action game though, action RPG anyway, and Dungeon Siege III doesn't operate so differently that they couldn't have made a better control scheme on PCs as far as I can tell. Devil May Cry it certainly is not.

I'd much rather sit on my couch in front of a 50" TV than hunched over a keyboard with a mouse and my fingers on the WASD keys.

All personal preference and not really what I was calling out, but the fact you have to keep your fingers on WASD is part of why people are frustrated with how Dungeon Siege III turned out.

While Dungeon Siege was originally a PC series, its not like it was a great ground breaking RPG. It was an auto pilot snooze fest.

Can't really comment here, the original game didn't really catch my attention and honestly I'm more interested in the Ultima mods than anything else.

EDIT: By the way Obsidian DOES intend to fix the PC controls.

[Taelus]

I think I'm about halfway through the game with my girlfriend on coop. I really dig this game, it's a total blast. I love that the idea is for me to teleport/dodge around and hit enemies, and the selection of skills and abilities is really tight and balanced. The art is great, it's colorful, and the quests are actually pretty interesting. There's a haunted house side quest that is better than basically the entirety of D&D: Daggerdale. Sure, it's not like old school Dungeon Siege, but I'll be damned if this isn't some of Obsidian's best work. It won't be swayed from the opinion that they clearly cared about this game, and even if it isn't for everyone, they put some effort into it.

I haven't played online, but I've heard the multiplayer setup there isn't too solid, so there's points against that-- but I think the idea they were going for was a multipalyer game you'd play with the same group of people throughout, which has made it fine for me. I could see why some people wouldn't be happy with that decision, though.

[PaleRobbie]

I'm enjoying the game in part, but I have some major beefs.  The game requires a pad on PC, which is just unacceptable.  I like the resource management aspect of the combat, but it can leave you screwed if you have no focus, low health, and no ability points to use.  It's a rare occurrence, but one that shows the flaw in the system.  The combat is fun overall.  Making the game more action focused helps to differentiate it from the crowd of hack 'n slashers.  Multiplayer is busted to hell and back, unfortunately.  It's great if you have a buddy to play on the couch, but without a proper online component the appeal of this game is quite limited. 

My biggest issue with the game is actually the camera and environments.  Most of the areas in the game are really f'ing dark, and that can make it hard to see pathways and chests.  The camera adds to the problem.  The two options are either far too pulled out or way too zoomed in.  It's really easy to lose your character in the fray, and I would often lose a huge amount of health and have no clue how.  I think Blizzard's description of the Diablo 3 color pallet rings true with DS3.  Making the game more vibrant would have helped mitigate these problems. 

[Taelus]

I have to disagree, Rob, I think the colors and brightness work well (though I do agree about what Blizzard said)-- and in terms of darkness, ahve you tried cahnging the settings? I don't think I've had an issue with not being able to see paths and chests. Though I do agree, the camera can be frustrating in multiplayer. On the other hand, coming off of Daggerdale, it's like a miracle. I also think the online coop is designed for playing with a close group-- it does have a 'proper' component, it's just not the Diablo-style "jump in with anyone and kick some ass."

I think it's going a bit far to call the balancing in combat a "flaw."  It's part of the design-- and in my experience, it's pretty evenly balanced to build your focus-- if you run low, play hit and run with a longer-ranged attack to build focus, or dodge a bunch of attacks to build up a power sphere and heal yourself. It can be difficult when you've got 5 HP and low focus to swing the fight around, but the satisfaction from doing so is pretty high, especially since it's a little more based on reflexes and skill than numbers and potions?

TL:DR: I can see where you are coming from, but I don't totally agree. Should make for good podcast discussion.

[PaleRobbie]

Oh yeah, the move away from potion spamming is a huge improvement for this genre.  I much prefer this system.  I'm just saying that it can get really frustrating when you're faced with a hopeless situation.  Remember that I'm playing as the melee dude, so I can't exactly use hit and run tactics all the time (especially during one incredibly frustrating boss fight).  I hate that the game still relies on massive damage to kill you on occasion (and the AI is too stupid to help), but it is still fun and satisfying.  Has the path finding ever completely broken for you, Stephen?  I've had quest objectives, bread crumb paths, and even the map screen completely break on me a number of times.  It's probably Obsidian's most stable game to date, but that ain't saying much. 

[John]

Oh yeah, the move away from potion spamming is a huge improvement for this genre.  I much prefer this system.  I'm just saying that it can get really frustrating when you're faced with a hopeless situation.  Remember that I'm playing as the melee dude, so I can't exactly use hit and run tactics all the time (especially during one incredibly frustrating boss fight).  I hate that the game still relies on massive damage to kill you on occasion (and the AI is too stupid to help), but it is still fun and satisfying.  Has the path finding ever completely broken for you, Stephen?  I've had quest objectives, bread crumb paths, and even the map screen completely break on me a number of times.  It's probably Obsidian's most stable game to date, but that ain't saying much. 

Maybe that's specific to the PC version?  Like Stephen, I've had no issues with lighting, pathfinding, anything else.  I like the way the system is set up - it works well and gives you a chance to actually flee fights, separate enemies from the pack, etc.

[PaleRobbie]

A quick look shows that some PC players feel the game is too dark.  I'd be interested to see the difference with the console game running side by side. 

Edit-
I adjusted the gamma settings, and now I can see a whole lot better. 

[Cyril]

I started playing.  It's like the demo picked the two worst characters to show off and, in general, seemed to be a rather bad representation of the full game.  I started with Katarina.

Given the comments I've been reading here and other places, I decided to get it for PS3.  I'm not sure if my install is corrupted, but I am getting no voices during any of the narrative movies, when I am absolutely positive there were voices in them during the demo. The only voices are the ones during character interaction and battle.

[Maxximum]

Apparently, the multiplayer is a terrible mess, but I might still pick this up if the campaign is decent.

[Taelus]

Yeah, I wasn't having any issues with that stuff either-- it's definitely Obsidian's most stable game to date. I'm willing to bet the console experience in general is probably less buggy-- they've practically admitted it when they said they were patching in better PC controls and that they didn't have as much time to work on the PC version. Also, good on being able to see better

Also, there's a map screen?

[PaleRobbie]

The mini-map is all screwed up at times.  I've had it just disappear on occasion.  There's no actual map, which is another issue.  It makes you reliant on the bread crumb path, and that doesn't always work. 

[Taelus]

Hmm. i know you can press a button on console to have the minimap go away, but I've never had it disappear or provide bad info. Nor have I had a problem with the breadcrumb path. Maybe it really is busted on the PC.

[Britton]

If you play online co-op multiplayer with the same people throughout the game, there's are almost no flaws at all. If you wanna play online with random unknown people, you won't like it. I played with the same friend throughout the game and it was near perfect. Since I hosted he didn't get to keep his progress for other games, but he kept it for my hosted game, got all the 360 achievements I did, etc.