Let's Play: Dungeon Siege II

[Sacred82]

"If you trust in yourself. . .and believe in your dreams. . .and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
- Terry Prattchet

Let's Play Dungeon Siege II:
Lazy Man Edition


"A thousand years ago, a magic sword, wielded by Zaramoth the Unmaker, and a mighty shield, worn by Azunai the Defender, clashed upon the field of battle. In the ensuing cataclysm, the very souls of both generals' armies were ripped from their bodies, and the world of Aranna was changed forever..."

Greetings ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this Let's Play of a 2005 - let's say classic -, Dungeon Siege II. When the first Dungeon Siege was released in 2002, it met with generally favorable reviews, and it succeeded in bringing together the hack&slash and loot gathering of Diablo clones and the party management of more traditional RPG's. Despite my faint recollection of the first game I'll go out on a limb and say Dungeon Siege II improved upon its predecessor in virtually all aspects, while keeping the basic ideas intact. The story and characters are more fleshed out, the locations memorable, and - most importantly - the character and party building more complex. Come on then, let's venture into the world of Aranna one more time, and do it by exerting a modicum of energy. For loot!

Spoiler

Valdis, before and after doing roids claiming the sword of Zaramoth


Our story begins when a young prince named Valdis, aided by the grim necromancy of the Dark Wizards™, reclaims the sword of Zaramoth, and follows in the latter's footsteps by plunging the world into war. Our hero, a young mercenary, and their friend Drevin, decide to throw in their lot with Valdis' Morden army, a bunch of butt-ugly alien soldiers. The elf Drevin and the hero grew up in the Elven town of Aman'lu together (you can be any race thogh - hello?).

Spoiler

Oh forsooth Valdis, the company you keep leaves much to be desired.

Spoiler

Not the hero we deserve, but the one we need right now. Trust this guy to never clean his kitchen.

Our goal in this playthrough will be to do as little as possible ourselves, while our pets and especially our summons clear the way for us. To achieve this we will need two casters both training in combat magic and nature magic, which will allow us to improve or summons' attack speed and power. Every caster can have only one summoned monster around at any time, so better make sure they are as powerful as possible.
For race we pick human; the choice of race is largely inconsequential, any race can train in any skill, and the bonuses quickly become negligible. Humans actually seem to get the best bonus, as 10% chance to find magic items can matter quite a bit early on in my experience. Half-Giant bonuses OTOH are a joke, as you can't just sit around with an empty HP bar waiting for it to refill. Also, as a human, we get 2 skilll points that we can allocate as we like. Also we make him an ugly, unkempt old geezer. This is the Codex after all.

Spoiler

Flash Gordon anyone? The intro movie is okay-ish, but it doesn't look any better than the Orc warmachines in Warcraft III's intro from 2002, and no amount of harpy butt could change that. No wonder reviewers tended to focus on Dungeon Siege II's outdated graphics.


Arriving on the beach of Greylin Isle, a heavily forested patch of land inhabited by wild beasts and skillful Dryad hunters, Drevin and our hero first learn how to merc. We will use this little (mandatory) tutorial to level up our combat magic skill. We also level up our Devastation and Brilliance skills, which unlocks the Energy Orb power, a nifty little device that keeps firing even after our hero bites the dust. Noice.

Spoiler

Drevin also entrusts to our hero a special amulet, which we are to safeguard. Sure thing, Drevin. Your valuables are safe with us.
At the end of the tutorial, our two friends join the Morden host as they advance upon a temple of the Dryads, to obtain a shiny... thing. Valdis arrives in a foul mood and slaughters everyone. This is apparently a great time to ask for a raise, and Drevin tries to work his charms on Valdis ('gib moneyz, nao'). Predictably, Valdis flips his shit and kills Drevin dead.

Spoiler

NOOOOO, DREVIN!! You were an... ok henchman.

Our hero tries to valiantly shield Drevin from harm, but Zaramoth's sword flashes once, and the world goes dark...

 

[Darth Roxor]

drevin more like drebin

 

[abnaxus]

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

I'm interested in seeing more of this.

 

[abnaxus]

I forgot most of this game but I vaguely remember a couple of neato boss fights.

 

[Sacred82]

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. After the resounding success of part I, I know you're hungering for more real time goodness. Well, your wait is over.


Dungeon Siege II: Part the second, where we frolic through the woodlands and dance with killer smurfs

Act I: Greilyn Isle


We wake up with a headache the equivalent of a hundred Half-Giants stomping their feet on frozen ground. How shitfaced did we get last night? Oh, right, a brute in death's head amour killed our childhood friend and collapsed a stone temple on our ass. In our heart awakens the call for REVENGE. This is Omerta. Slowly we get up and take in our surroundings; a holding pen of some sort. A leafy lady is standing outside and regards us cooly.

Spoiler

St. Anger round muh neck. He never gets respect.

We have been made prisoner by the resident treehuggers, the Dryads. They're not sure what to do with us, so just in case they have planted a device around our neck that they can use to kill us, should we prove troublesome. We have seen it in action so there's no reason to doubt its effectiveness.

Spoiler

Warden Celia is persuaded by an Elf named Amren to set us free. Good guy Amren. He had a dream about us, you see. Apparently, we are destined to do great things.

The warden releases us and gives us our first fetch quest (that's cruel and unusual punishment for you). On the way, we meet our first two potential companions, a Half-Giant named Lothar and a Dryad named Deru. The retarded sullen Half-Giant seems like a good lackey for our party, so we recruit him.

Spoiler

We decide to spec Lothar as a shield tank. In my experiece, shield tanks are among the best builds in the game. Not only are they extremely survivable, with tons of HP, armor, resistances and block chance. They are also competent offensively, with their Brutal Attack power that does a huge amount of damage in one strike, and their Whirling Strike power, which is a whirlwind attack with a stun effect. Also, they can aggro enemies in a radius around them with the Provoke power.

As soon as we leave Dryad City, we are beset by Morden. After a short struggle we are informed that the Morden have built towers that they use to encroach upon the tree city. Driven by self-preservation as much as the lust for revenge, we have no choice but to agree to destroy the towers (no really, you have no choice to say no). But fiirst, let's do some grinding.

Spoiler

A friendly Elf teaches us the art of chants, which are temporary buffs you can activate at shrines. You can only have one offensive and one defensive buff on you at any time, including those from spells. You can find new chants wilfully scattered in the wilderness, on music stands no less.

Out in the jungle we soon meet what passes for blue goblins in these parts, the Hak'u. Formerly shy forest creatures, they have turned violent since the Morden showed up. We teach them a lesson, as they give good XP and aren't very dangerous except in large packs. There are several varieties of Hak'u, and many of them also do lightning damage.

Spoiler

Hak'u are the answer to the old question of what happens when you mix smurfs and rabies. You never ever want to play the game zoomed in like that btw.

Once we have leveled up a bit, we can take on the Morden. Every tower is guarded by a squad, and they get progressively tougher. Good thing we are working on Lothar's defensive skills while improving our own fire damage skills, but still, it comes down to lots of kiting. Our strong nature magic summon also helps a little, as we have built up our Summon Fortitude skill that increases summon HP's. Our hero switches between fire magic and healing regularly to build up both combat and nature magic.

Spoiler

We waste no time in severing our ties with the Morden using the fine art of diplomacy.

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Fire... wood... fire... hang on a second, I think I'm onto something... just... one more second...

Spoiler

It's super effective.

Since you have to equip the torch as a weapon to burn down the towers, be sure to forget you have a doused piece of wood equipped and proceed to beat the crap out of the Morden with it, just to show them how wimpy they are. "Edgy", as the young folks say.

We head back to Dryad City to report on our success, only to get diagnosed with jungle fever or something. The only cure is sacred water from the Elven shrine deep in the wilderness, which has been overrun by monsters. The battle against the mini-bosses of the shrine is tough, but with enough potions and the help of our newest party member, an Ice Elemental pet that freezes enemies, we emerge victorious.

Spoiler

As soon as the last boss dies, the wards on the shrine doors fall, and we can scoop up the precious last drops of the holy fountain before it dries up. Back in Dryad City, the Dryad healer Taar is devastated to hear that the fountain has dried up, as the Dryads have exiled the infected members of their tribe until they can be cured. Against all reason and common sense, we agree to carry the few drops to the exile colony, so the disease-ridden Dryads can fight over it. Taar offers to join our party. She is an apt nature mage, so we accept. We now have two mages who can switch between healing and offensive magic (as soon as we have built up Taar's lightning magic).

Pets in DSII cost money, while companions do not (contrary to DSI). Pets level up with you, but they also need to be fed items to go through different stages of growth. On the way they develop stronger attacks, spells, and, when completely mature, an emanation, which is an aura buff. Every pet's emanation is unique and can't be gotten any other way, so be sure to read up on pets when planning your party. The Ice Elemental will eventually boost everyone's mana regeneration. The type of item you feed your pet determines what bonuses they get when they mature. For a mage pet, best feed them mage armor (for resistances) or mage weapons (for intelligence) or mana potions (for more mana). Generally, pets will never do damage comparable to a humanoid though. The main advantage of pets is that they take 0 XP to level up, instead scaling to the level of the main character.

With four party members, we have reached the maximum party size on Normal difficulty.

Together, the four-piece sets off into the Southern Jungle, to bring help to the distressed Dryads in their exile colony. Although, if we can believe Al Yankovic's Leper Colony, they're probably having a ton of fun.

Join me next time when we explore the Southern Jungle where we experience our first difficulty spike, and make our way up to and journey through Kithraya Caverns, the first slog in the game. Thanks!

 

[Sacred82]

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. As the way through the Kithraya Caverns up to the Azunite Desert is not that exciting, in today’s update we will talk more about how the game works and plays. Maybe I should have done that before, but bear with me, I'm new to this LP business


Dungeon Siege II: Part the third, wherein we travel through the southern wilderness to Kithraya Caverns and beyond, while taking a closer look at the game’s mechanics

Disclaimer: I won’t cover any of the sidequests in DSII, as they are where the game derives all of its non-linearity from, and I don’t want to spoil future players‘ fun. The only exception here are those sidequests that net you extra skillpoints, as I wager most people will look those up in a walkthrough anyway, so I’ll mention them in passing. Let it just be said that there is a buttload of sidequests, and we aren’t talking Dragon Age: Inquisition sidequests here. They tend to be reasonably fleshed out, often requiring NPC interaction, and some come with their own cinematics (such as the Hak’u monster sidequest).


Every item in Dungeon Siege II is aligned with one of the primary skills: melee combat, ranged combat, nature magic, and combat magic. Lothar has fought with melee weapons all the time, so his skill has improved so far that he can wield more complex weapons and wear heavier armour. More advanced weapons, such as two-handed weapons, throwing weapons and crossbows, as well as dual-wielding and shields, require an investment in the corresponding secondary skill to be used. You can no longer switch weapon sets on the fly, either. This reinforces the finality of a build. You can switch from weapons to spells though.

Spoiler

Halfway through Act I, we are already decked out in set items. The set item drops are heavily skewed towards your party; parties with many ranged fighters will find many ranged sets, etc.

On every level up, you get one skill point to distribute between your secondary skills. You need to advance your primary skills, such as melee combat, to unlock secondary skills, such as Critical Hit. Improving your Critical Hit skill will unlock and improve your Brutal Attack power. Powers have a cooldown, and the recharge rate goes from "fast" to "very slow".

Spoiler

The top two rows are the default skill tree for shield tanks. You can see Lothar spent points on both offensive and defensive skills.

Spoiler

Our hero has to advance to level 12 in combat magic to unlock the Summon Alacrity skill that improves his summoned monsters‘ attack speed. He also had to advance to level 12 in nature magic to unlock the Summon Might skill that improves his summons‘ damage.

Higher level spells also need higher skill levels. If you want to summon stronger monsters, or cast better heal spells, you need to push your skill levels. Only nature magic has party wide heals. Nature mages can summon different monsters than combat mages; combat summons do more damage while nature summons are more durable. We will want combat summons to do the dirty work for us, but we also need nature magic for when we switch to our healing role.

Attributes improve based on skill usage; e.g. casting spells will improve your Intelligence. Damage is based on the corresponding attribute. Strength has the greatest influence on HP; Intelligence has the greatest impact on mana.

Spoiler

Since our hero levels up both combat magic and nature magic, he can maximize his Intelligence gains.



Act I: Southern Wilderness

Spoiler

The Hak’u have an entire multi-part sidequest dedicated to them, one of many in the game.

In the Southern Jungle, we encounter many new foes; the hulking Vulk (aka Shambling Mounds), the massive Rhinocks, or the Feral Hak’u Slayers, towering spearchuckers. Luckily, item drops also increase noticeably, so we have enough cash to buy those sweet sweet potions.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Considering these strong enemies, it’s likely that one of our heroes is going to croak sooner or later. When a character is reduced to 0 HP, they are knocked unconscious. Any damage they sustained after hitting 0 HP is also applied, and if the character goes too far into negative HP, he permanently dies. Dead characters can be resurrected on the spot if you’ve bought a scroll, or you can have their corpse teleported back to town by the Necromancer, for a fee of course. Luckily, unconscious characters aren’t targeted by monsters. If they’re hit by an AoE though , you’re shit out of luck.

Spoiler

Aaaaand we’re back on air.


When we reach the exile colony, we stumble upon an old man beset by horribly changed Dryads. After cutting down the abominations, the old man tells us a tale about Valdis, and how he believes to be the reincarnation of Zaramoth, and wants to bring about the Endtime, an apocalyptic event that leads to the birth of a new world (in which he rules, apparently). The old man also reveals that the Shiny Thing stolen from the temple of the Dryads in the prologue is a piece of Azunai’s shield, the only item that can stand against the power of Zaramoth’s sword. The old man urges us to follow the jungle path to Kithraya caverns and beyond. Because we were so kind to listen to the blabbering old fool, he gives every character 1 skill point.

Spoiler

To fight off Dryads it seems, not to get dressed.


Kithraya Caverns


After cutting our way through the jungle, we arrive at the entrance to the Upper Kithraya Caverns. Outside, someone saw fit to build a house (real estate is really cheap there, presumably). Inside, a veteran soldier named Vix relates to us how his fellow soldiers were attacked and „changed“ by something inside the caverns. Vix offers to join but we decline, as we have no need for a ranged fighter in this party. Also he smells like elderberries.

Inside Kithraya Caverns, we encounter hordes of enemies that are plenty deadly, especially the death magic using ones. Note how when I say „deadly“, I mean if you’re trying to cut through an area in the swiftest way possible. If you want to take the time to grind and kite, no area will pose much of a problem.

Spoiler

The Trasak use death magic, against which we have little resistance at this point. Monsters OTOH have plenty of death resistance right out of the box. Mean.

Inside the caverns, we watch the transformation of a soldier into a kind of murderous shuffling zombie, as a floating spectre enters his body. As we exit the Lower Kithraya Caverns and head towards the beach, we come upon a crystalline structure, from which are swarming exactly such spectres. We destroy the crystal shard, and the spectres dissolve.

Spoiler

Down at the beach, the old man is already waiting for us. This guy is certainly more resourceful than he looks, even if he smells like Earl Grey and old farts. Before we punch him in the nuts for sending us through Kithraya Caverns, he apologizes and gives us some information. Apparently the spectres we saw are the ghosts of Zaramoth's army; or rather, their souls that were ripped from their body during the cataclysm when the sword hit the shield. They were bound in crystals which are now being mined by Valdis‘ Dark Wizards™, who use them against their enemies. Once a possessed body is killed, the ghost can finally rest.

The old man urges us to go through the portal on the beach. Ever the adventurous sorts, we reluctantly comply.

Spoiler

The teleport screen. Be prepared to see this one a lot.


P.S.: Discerning readers will have noticed that we have switched out the Ice Elemental for the Mule pet, as we needed a second tank. The Mule is a fighter pet, which means it is very sturdy, even if it doesn't do much damage. Its emanation will be an aura that automatically opens all chests and destroys all barrels around it, and you'll certainly agree that this ability is absolutely essential to our Lazy Man party.


Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next episode, when we discover the mysteries of the Azunite Desert. What does it have to do with Azunai? Find out!

 

[Darth Roxor]

individually spoilerino every pic is a bad format men

 

[RK47]

^

 

[Sacred82]

individually spoilerino every pic is a bad format men

hm-hm. Personally I prefer to know what's inside the spoiler so I can decide if I want to waste my time looking at it. I'm lazy like that. What's your advice then?

edit: oh, wait. You're talking about the actual tags. Hmm... I'll see what I can do about it.

 

[Sacred82]

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to the next instalment in our Dungeon Siege II series. This time we will explore the hostile Azunite Desert, and we will learn a lot about ourself and our own history in the process.



Dungeon Siege II: Part the 4, wherein we explore the desert of the Azunites, recover ancient relics, and have a meet&greet with the ghosts of our past



Act I: Azunite Desert


In the last episode, we entered a portal on the beach of Greilyn Isle that takes us through time and space. When we arrive, we find ourselves in a desert environment, complete with sandstorms and crawling with mutated vermin such as giant radscorpions. As we step away from the portal, A soldier from Windstone Fortress, Captain Suzor, greets us. By her account, the soldiers are scouring the desert for signs of an ancient Azunite weapon that could turn the tides of the war against Valdis in their favour. There are rumours of a map in a secret underground chamber that points the way to just such a weapon. However, to gain access to the map, one needs to be in possession of four stelae. These are guarded by the Skath, a race of hyena-like humanoids. We agree to help and set off in search of the stelae.

There is an encampment of Skath not far from the portal. As we are told, the Skath believe that they were created by Azunai himself to guard the secrets of his people, and the Skath didn’t become a hero's watchdogs by trusting nosey strangers. When we ask to see the stelae, they lose it and try to bite us. Their loss, as cruelty against animals is a common occurence in Aranna, and we quickly dispatch them. One stela down, three to go.

Spoiler

You could always desert… pardon the pun.

We are far from Greilyn Isle, on the mainland. Bet they didn’t even calculate the continental drift. Eora > Aranna, clearly.

That's the last time we try to reason with a giant desert dog.

Character deaths or at least k.o. statuses are getting more frequent now. First among the PITA’s in this desert is the firebreathing Giant Thrusk, but hordes of acid spitting Skitters are hardly better. There’s no acid or poison resistance btw, so they may as well be doing what you could call raw damage. Special caution should be taken when both of these hazards appear together, as happens at one point on this map. Only running back into a tunnel and taking an elevator to the floor below saves our lives. The Thrusks somehow jump down the hole, but we ride the elevator up again, and the Thrusks can‘t follow.

Spoiler

On long, winding stairs such as this, prepare for jerky animations.

Scary critters, these Thrusks. They’re probably from Australia.

The desert is full of the remnants of Azunite civilization, and some unpleasant inhabitants. We’re punching above our weight in this fight.

After obtaining all the stelae, we head off to a shrine of the Azunites, where we place the stelae on corresponding sockets in the inner chamber. A wild map appears!

The map shows the way to a vault, where we hope to find the coveted weapon. Inside a large cave, we come upon a group of rotatable statues with mirrors in their hands, placed around a rock formation. With some patience, we can arrange the statues in such a way that they reflect a beam of light into a hole in the rock formation. The cavern shakes, and the path into the Azunite vault is clear.


Inside, the fabled Azunite weapon turns out to be a bowl. Not what we expected. Maybe it does +4 damage against the undead or something?

As soon as we grab the bowl, a helpful Azunite spirit appears, and dispels our doubts. He explains that the bowl is largely a symbolic weapon; if we activate the bowl’s power in a shrine at Windstone Fortress, we can use it to rally the dispirited soldiers against Valdis‘ approaching army. But the good news don’t stop there; only someone related by blood to Azunai himself could touch the bowl. Turns out Drevin knew that he and the hero were both of Azunai’s tribe, as he had the gift of seeing. Drevin’s medallion, which has been resting in our pockets all this time since we got it back from the Dryads, has some significance to be revealed in the future. The spirit urges us to hold onto it.

Once outside the vault, the spirit opens up a path along the Cliffs of Azunai, by which we may reach Windstone Fortress. Truly, this spirit is a bro.

Spoiler

Placing all the stelae nets us a map. It probably has a large X on it and the word "bowl".

Statues bar the entrance to the Azunite vault. You don’t play this game for its sophisticated riddles, do you?

Best conversation I’ve had with a dead person in a long time. My thanks.

Epilogue: Of Treasures and Goblins


Stay with me awhile longer, dear reader, for a little excursion into gaming history.

Dungeon Siege II is an intricately designed game, with little quirks and secrets. In your travels, you will sooner or later be surprised by the sudden appearance of a hunched over, gangly little creature, with a big sack slung over its shoulders. The mysterious entity runs around in circles, and keeps dropping magic items if you whack it. Sounds familiar? It well should.

Spoiler

Dungeon Siege II’s Treasure Goblin, although it isn't called by that name. Its name is given as "??? (level 100)"

Diablo III’s Treasure Goblin. The resemblance is uncanny.

In Dungeon Siege II, the Treasure Goblin's appearance seems to be triggered exclusively by the dropping of rare (turquoise) items, and it only drops rare items itself. Just like Diablo III's Treasure Goblin, it cannot be killled, and disappears quickly.

This Diablo III Wiki says the idea can be traced as far back as Golden Axe (1989), so it seems I got my pants in a knot a bit prematurely, but still, it’s one more loving touch in a lovingly designed game.




Thank you for your time, dear reader. In the next episode we will venture into Windstone Fortress, a stronghold under siege by Valdis' forces. They have plenty of problems of their own though. One of those is the boss of this act, a nasty piece of work that will bring our party to its limits. See you soon!

 

[Aenra]

Sacred82 two questions if you don't mind?
- What kind of screen are you running this on?
- And is it the Steam version?

 

[Sacred82]

Sacred82 two questions if you don't mind?
- What kind of screen are you running this on?
- And is it the Steam version?

My venerable old Iiyama ProLite 23", fullscreen, at 1024x768

And yes it's the Steam version, works right out of the box. The first Dungeon Siege needs some tweaking though, but nothing major.

 

[Aenra]

yes it's the Steam version

O.K., thanks dude. I asked because far as i recall, Steam doesn't have the expansion and it also has a different executable, making it impossible to use mods.

 

[Sacred82]

yes it's the Steam version

O.K., thanks dude. I asked because far as i recall, Steam doesn't have the expansion and it also has a different executable, making it impossible to use mods.

True. There is a fix ("Killah's Fix") to enable the expansion on Dungeon Siege I, don't know about II. Judging from the reviews, Broken World was a bit of a hackjob though. Also it introduced multiclasses, which I dislike. Better to get creative within the constraints of the original game.

 

[Aenra]

Oh i don't care about the new classes, just the added land really

(which i've never played through, lol, so got no idea how it goes. Never got that far)

edit: found it. Full game (expansion, v2.3) + .exe parameters:

Spoiler

https://thepiratebay.org/torrent/9395068/Dungeon_Siege_II_(incl._Broken_World)_Lossless_Repack

Spoiler

Parameter Description
dpnsvr=false If you receive a black screen while you try to join or to host a multiplayer session of Dungeon Siege II, this parameter may resolve the issue.
fpslog=true Records frames-per-second information and outputs the information to the Fps.log file in the Dungeon Siege 2 folder.
nosound=true Turns off all sounds. This includes music.
nointro=true Skips the Microsoft and GPG logo movies when the game starts.
noloadintro=true Skips the game’s cinematic introduction when you start to play a single- player game.
fullscreen=false Forces Dungeon Siege II to run in windowed mode.
height=xxxx Forces Dungeon Siege II to run at xxxx resolution height.
width=xxxx Forces Dungeon Siege II to run at xxxx resolution width.
bpp=xx Forces Dungeon Siege II to run in a specific color depth, where xx can be 16 or 32.
nospacecheck=true Skips the free-disk-space and available-memory checks on startup.
maxfps=xx Forces Dungeon Siege II to run at a maximum frame rate of xx.
Tutorial_tips=false Disables all tutorial tips in-game.
keys_path=path Specifies a location other than the \My Documents\My Games\Dungeon Siege 2 folder where the Keys game files are saved.
save_path=path Specifies a location other than \My Documents\My Games\Dungeon Siege 2 folder where the Save game files are saved.
shots_path=path Specifies a location other than the \My Documents\My Games\Dungeon Siege 2 folder where the Screenshots game files are saved.

To manually add parameters to the Dungeon Siege II shortcut target line, follow these steps:

Right-click Start, and then click Open or click Open All Users.
Double-click the Programs folder.
Double-click the Dungeon Siege 2 folder.
Right-click the Dungeon Siege 2 shortcut icon, and then click Properties.
Click the Shortcut tab.
Click the Target box, press END, press SPACEBAR, and then type the parameter that you want to use. If you want to use an additional parameter, insert a blank space after the first parameter, and then type the next parameter. For example, the following target line includes two parameters:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Dungeon Siege 2\DungeonSiege2.exe" nointro=true fullscreen=false

 

[Sacred82]

Dafuq is going on at Gamebanshee, they're my #1 resource

edit: what in the fucking fuck happened to my screenshots, I can't access them anymore at photobucket. It says I've got 52 pictures uploaded but it doesn't show a single one.

 

[Sacred82]

Aaaaaaaaaand my account is gone. It's literally gone. When I enter my email adress to get my password re-sent it doesn't recognize the address anymore. What in the flying fuck. This after I sent an inquiry to customer support where my pictures have gone.

But even the powers that be can't stop this LP. Like Cleve, I will beat them with sheer determination and autism.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Maybe photobucket (rightly) concluded that Dungeon Siege 2 pix are offensive and against their rules of conduct.

 

[Sacred82]

Maybe photobucket (rightly) concluded that Dungeon Siege 2 pix are offensive and against their rules of conduct.

Photobucket is recommended in the sticky in this forum, so I didn't think they'd have a policy of scouring user accounts for screenshots. I'll try some other site then.

edit: aaaaaand they're back. These shenanigans are typical for photobucket it seems.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Dungeon Seige II is probably the worst game I've ever played. I certainly can't remember anything else that was bug-free enough to be considered a game and yet such a torment to play. I've had more pleasant toothache. You should be rewarded for this gift to the Codex, saving future generations from having to suffer as you did.

Yes, I've played both DS1 and DS3.

 

[Blonsky]

Not really a part of this series but Space Siege was the worst game off them all. Boring, generic, spaceship where every room, corridor or railing looked exactly the same.

 

[Sacred82]

Dungeon Seige II is probably the worst game I've ever played. I certainly can't remember anything else that was bug-free enough to be considered a game and yet such a torment to play. I've had more pleasant toothache. You should be rewarded for this gift to the Codex, saving future generations from having to suffer as you did.

Yes, I've played both DS1 and DS3.

> complaining about DS2
> having played DS3

choose one.

DSII (at version 2.3) is one of the most polished games I've played, there are very few things that you could cite as aggravating. Actually the only real complaint I have is that positioning is not really a part of the game as the party always moves as a tightly packed rectangle. Unless you use the wait command, but that really screws up the pace of an ARPG.

oh, and occasional AI and pathfinding issues. Like your character approaching an enemy, then circling around it before hitting empty space, as the enemy has already moved on. Or your character casting spells right into a hillside instead of walking up the slope. Or setting curse spells to autocast, which cause your caster to stand around idly for a while instead of switching to default attack. It happens infrequently enough that it just gets your blood pumping though. Still a diamond compared to Pillars' pathfinding.

 

[Sacred82]

Not really a part of this series but Space Siege was the worst game off them all. Boring, generic, spaceship where every room, corridor or railing looked exactly the same.

AFAIK Space Siege also pretty much did away with the party concept. First clear sign of decline.

 

[Sacred82]

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to our Let's Play series. Occasional setbacks have been overcome, and we're back with some new and exciting features (number of pictures > 0). Let's hope it stays that way.


Dungeon Siege II: Part 5, wherein we travel to Windstone Fortress, only to find it besieged by the forces of darkness, and deal with a nasty surprise courtesy of Valdis

Act I: Cliffs of Azunai

We leave the Azunite vault by a system of caves that run from the desert to Windstone Fortress. The caves are a mostly linear, unspectacular affair filled with boring enemies. One of the caves is called Isteru's Cavern. What a peculiar name. After some scuffling, we arrive outside Windstone Fortress.

Spoiler

Every companion comes with a side quest. What despicable acts could a Half-Giant have committed in an Elven town? Manslaughter, rape and vandalism are all rather unlikely given Lothar’s temperament. Maybe he scared an old lady’s cat.

Act I: Windstone Fortress

As we advance upon the fortress, more "changed" soldiers are shuffling our way, just like the ones we first saw in Kithraya Caverns. We dispose of them quickly; only the death magic using wizards among them can seriously hurt us. We are treated to a cutscene of Valdis and one of his Dark Wizards entering the fortress‘ Temple of Xeria; they collapse part of the very mountains around us to block our way, so we have to use a side entrance. Carving a path through the horribly mutated soldiers, we sweep through the fortress, having a run-in with a mimic on the way.

As we arrive in the courtyard, we report to fortress commander Captain Dathry that we have arrived with the Azunite weapon, but we need to get to the shrine of Xeria – a legendary heroine who fought alongside Azunai – to activate it. The shrine is locked; it can only be opened with two keys, one of which is held by Dathry. The other is in the possession of one of his lieutenants, who’s still in his quarters, lady problems probably. No doubt he’s feeling even worse right now, and we will make him feel even worser before the day is through. We scour the fortress and slay the lieutenant, who probably welcomed death. After some "cube-in-slot" puzzles, we enter the Shrine of Xeria, and dip the bowl into some ominous-looking blue flames. Voilà, updated my bowl. Now we can return to Dathry with the good news, and the captain in turn is willing to have his soldiers blow up the rubble blocking our path. Valdis is a giant of a man who can slaughter a battalion of men on his own, and his archmage has the power to make mountains collapse, but we have our +4 bowl of fruity death, so we set off after them.

Spoiler

"When you’re hounded by paparazzis and adoring fans, you can always use the obscene powers of death magic to collapse a mountain on them." – Taylor Swift

True to their D&D roots, mimics are powerful enemies which can devastate an unprepared party. The good news is that they drop phat loot.

This is a sanctuary door. A Traveler’s Sanctuary basically is a fighter’s or mage’s happy place. It never contains any monsters, but there’s always treasure. The door needs to be broken down by a character with the required skill level though.

We find the Half-Giant companion Sartan stuck in a hole. Every companion has one developed primary skill and a number of unspent skill points, depending on difficulty level. Sartan is a melee fighter.

After slaying every soldier in Xeria's temple, we can activate a statue, which leads to another cutscene. The statue's magic blasts open the doors barring our way. It also tears the spirits right out of the possessed soldiers' body. Instead of going to their eternal rest though, they rush outside, where they descend on a little snake. Excellent foreshadowing. I bet that snake will turn into a giant cuddly pet. I love scaly pets!

As we stroll leisurely outside, the truth hits us. The giant snake is plenty angry, and it’s aiming to take it out on us! Also, it has three heads. Don’t ask why. We rush the snake, with everyone swinging wildly at the heads, but only our melee fighter actually has the HP to remain standing for any extended period of time, despite frantic potion chugging. I'm sure there are more elegant ways to beat this boss, but it's effective enough. We target the head called Vitalus first as it can heal the others, then we move on to the weakest head. Soon, the worm lies dead.

Spoiler

Which one was the original head? Who gave them these names, during the two minutes it took us to walk outside? No one knows.

The snake’s drilling attack is the only really dangerous thing about it. I don’t know if it deals death magic damage or physical damage, but it knocks out everyone except the fighter. Unfortunately, you can’t target the tail.

Bravely bold Sir Dathry comes out of the bushes to congratulate us on our victory, and express his regret that he couldn’t be there. At least he can give us the hint that Valdis must have fled through a nearby portal. The portal leads to the Elven town of Aman'lu, our birthplace. We tell ourselves that all will be fine though. We are insured out of our ass.



Join me next time when we step through the portal to arrive at the scenic town of Aman’lu… or not so scenic anymore? Find out! Thank you.