Dungeon Siege III – Review
Platform | Release Date
PC | June 21, 2011
PS3 | June 21, 2011
X360 | June 21, 2011
Developed by Obsidian Entertainment
Published by Square Enix
The Pitch:
For centuries legionnaires have protected the nation of Ehb until they were betrayed and all but driven to the brink of extinction. Now that evil has returned to Ehb the people turn to the few remaining Legionnaires for the protection of the past . As an heir to the legion will you accept this plea for help? How it will all be resolved is up to you!
Dungeon Siege 3 is an Action RPG that seamlessly blends intuitive fast-paced gameplay, a robust RPG system featuring a large selection of abilities, loot galore and the depth of story Square-Enix and Obsidian Entertainment are known for creating. Players will be able to adventure by themselves, on the couch with friends, or online in a fully multiplayer experience.
I love a good hack n’ slash adventure, which is why I was excited when I heard Square Enix was teaming up with Obsidian Entertainment to create the newest installment in the Dungeon Siege series. Obsidian is known for picking up other franchises, such as Fallout and Neverwinter Nights, and putting their own touch on them. Luckily with their latest project, Dungeon Siege 3, they’ve produced a solid entry into the glutted Action RPG genre.
DS3 casts you as a member of the 10th Legion of Ehb, a group of elite soldiers who have been broken and stripped of their former glory. No matter which of the four characters you choose, your goal remains the same; re-unite the scattered remaining Legionaries, defeat your enemy, and restore their name to its former glory. If this sounds like a generic RPG storyline, that’s because it is. If you never played Dungeon Siege 1 or 2, fear not, because this game’s story is easily accessible and self-contained. You won’t really miss out on anything if you quickly catch up on the lore online. Generic as it might be, the first telltale sign of Obsidian’s hands in this was the excellent presentation and interesting characters. They’re masters of making you enjoy the same thing you’ve heard twenty times before.
Action takes place across a multitude of fantasy locales you’ve visited in past video game lives. Caves, swamps, crumbling castle ruins, and of course, dungeons. While the graphics aren’t anything to write home about, the environments and characters are well thought out and highly detailed. DS3 is a very linear game, but there are enough nooks and branching paths to explore for extra loot that I never felt like I was simply marching in a straight line to my next objective. The quick pacing of the story, including the short side quests, works well and keeps you from getting too burnt out in any one area. To add some variety to the story, there are multiple conversation choices during dialog sequences. There are also “moral” choices to be made, but they are more subtle than in games like Mass Effect. For example, turning down all offers of gold as a reward for each side quest in a town ultimately granted my party a permanent upgrade to Willpower in the form of a “Deed”. I applaud Obsidian for managing to add these elements to the game without bashing people over the head with them.
Although the locales and enemies you’ll fight change fairly quickly, the process you dispatch them with is basically the same time and time again. There is a definite pattern to the game of enter room, get assaulted by horde of enemies, kill them, move to next room, repeat. While the encounters can be repetitive, the combat itself is fast-paced and fun thanks to some smart mechanics like the focus bar. No character, not even the mage, uses a traditional mana bar. All special attacks and skills rely on focus which can only be built up by attacking enemies or collecting focus orbs from fallen ones. This creates a more frenetic pace to the combat, where you have to confront your foes head on rather than falling back and waiting for meters to recharge. Combine this with powerful combinations of special attacks, and an active dodge mechanic, and you have a game that feels more akin to Marvel Ultimate Alliance than a traditional RPG. Additionally, each character has a set of similar but distinct powers that can be customized to your own style of fighting. Ranged attacks feel somewhat under powered at the games start compared to melee, but with the right combination of gear and proficiency points you’ll be able to take down even the strongest enemies before they can get near you.
Another benefit to the combat and gameplay overall is the excellent party AI. You’ll always have at least one other party member with you, and they can be swapped at any time via a menu. No matter who you choose they seem to know the right powers to use, where to stand in combat, and will prioritize resurrecting you when needed. There was no point in the game where I felt frustrated by my companions. I was reminded of the heroes from Guild Wars since I could easily customize their specific powers and gear on a whim, which allowed for added flexibility to compliment my play style. Speaking of the gear, Obsidian did a nice job of handling inventory management on a console. You scroll through a list of items by category, where the most expensive/powerful is at the top. While gear maintenance is simplistic, the reality is that ninety percent of the time you’ll only be wearing your most powerful items and then sell the rest of them to add to your gold stockpile.
If you get bored of outfitting and fighting alongside an AI partner, there are multiple cooperative modes available. I ended up having mixed feelings about these. The two player couch co-op is excellent. Basically a friend can simply join in as one of the three heroes you didn’t choose, and play alongside you with the stats and gear you’ve collected for that character so far. When they are done the controller goes off and that character seamlessly switches back to AI. It’s a great system since killing demons is always more fun with a friend. Online multiplayer is slightly less enthralling. Things can feel too busy with four people on the screen, and I found myself dying some unneeded deaths at the hands of the up-scaled enemies since I couldn’t tell what was actually going on. Adding to these issues are problems with the camera that seem to have everyone fighting for control of it. It seemed to be an odd design flaw because the camera had more flexibility in single player, and I had very few issues with it. Another aspect that disappointed me was that the lack of any persistence when playing online in someone else’s game. You can easily jump into a scenario from a lobby, but you won’t be able to bring your own character into that session and consistently develop them, unlike the systems in Diablo 2 or Borderlands.
Overall, Dungeon Siege 3 is a very solid, accessible experience if you’re looking for an Action RPG that doesn’t require a lot of personal investment. An RPG-lite if you will. Anyone who goes into it expecting a deep story like Dragon Age, or insane number crunching along the lines of WoW is in for some disappointment. However, if you simply want some easy to pick up hack n’ slash action that you can play for a few hours with a friend, Dungeon Siege will most certainly scratch that itch.
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I can agree with the comparisons to it feeling similar to Marvel: Ultimate Alliance just from the 40~ minutes or so I played at PAX East.
For the most part, it really does feel more like an action game than an RPG, but it’s still satisfying, especially when playing local co-op. Punch-ifying goblins faces and whatnot.