Preview Dungeon Siege 2 E3 piece at GameSpy

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Dungeon Siege 2

<A href="http://pc.gamespy.com/">GameSpy</a> has a <A href="http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dungeon-siege-ii/514552p1.html?fromint=1">preview</a> of <A href="http://www.gaspowered.com/ds2/">Dungeon Siege 2</a> talking about things like feeding pets magic items and other good stuff. Here's a bit for you arsonists out there:
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<blockquote>The maps are much more immersive and interactive than before. In the jungle level that we saw the vegetation was thick, enabling creatures to hide in the underbrush. Maps can have big scripted sequences: while raiding an enemy encampment, we were able to take a stick, set it on fire to turn it into a torch, and use it to burn down a wooden watchtower. The watchtower burst into crimson flame and then exploded into a mushroom cloud leaving rubble behind - very satisfying! The developers aim to have great moments like these spaced out at regular intervals, so that you'll always have something to sink your teeth into. </blockquote>
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There's a lesson in that. Never build your watchtowers out of fresh pine, then seal it with the sap.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Voss]

So... they intend to have scripted events throughout the game... so you really don't have to do anything.
DS2! Twice the screensaver!

And why do wooden watchtowers explode? What, exactly is blowing up?

Underbrush, eh. Happened in the first one. Why monsters hide in bushes is beyond me...

 

[Spazmo]

Monsters hiding in bushes? Maybe it's a metaphor for American politics.

Gah, I feel like a cheap Late Show writer.

 

[Jed]

And why do wooden watchtowers explode? What, exactly is blowing up?

Must've been eucalyptus.

 

[HanoverF]

Ex-Dateline segment producers are building watchtowers nowadays I guess

 

[Nightjed]

"Lord Musha, we have 50 barrels of gunpowder left and there is no more space in any of the houses and warehouses, they are completely stuffed with barrels holding magic items and stuff, where should we put these ?"

"I decree for the barrels to be stored inside the defense towers, barracks and other tactical defense positions!"

"But, Lord, that might cause segurity issues..."

"Worry not!, if Lord Bill Grates can live with it, so can i!"

 

[Sol Invictus]

Dungeon Siege 2 might be 'fun' in the sense that there's a lot more to watch than simply hacking monsters to pieces, compared to the previous installment. Certainly doesn't excuse the fact that there's still nothing to do besides click on things mindlessly, though.

I've been playing the Guild Wars e3 demo for the last couple of days and most, if not all of the missions have some kind of cool semi-scripted sequence, but still requires the attention of the player(s) involved. There was this one part where you could lure out a bunch of monsters into an open field, from which you could fire a nice big catapult, kiling anyone standing in the location. What was cool about it was that you could choose to fight those monsters on your own or you could use the little machines in the area provided for you to do the job.

Parts of the machine were scattered throughout the map (in a small area) for you to use. It's kind of like a 'really interactive Diablo 2 with party cooperation' but I'll get to that in another post.

 

[Shevek]

Guild Wars was ok but I think the gameplay was a bit too simplistic. Diablo 2 implemented special abilities/spells/etc and character development a bit more interestingly I think. I do think the missions were kinda cool in Guild Wars though. A Diablo 3 with a little bit of that kinda thing would be nice.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Actually, the gameplay in Guild Wars is pretty team-oriented. You have to have a good team to play with (say 2-3 buddies of yours. E.g. PAMANS!) but personal development is pretty slick too, especially considering that the game is still in late Alpha stage. Like I said in my other post, the character system provides a lot more leeway than Diablo 2 did so you have less chance of screwing up your character, but the spells and abilities do take a lot of development. Granted you might not need to be level 30 to use the skills you want to use but finding the right combination of spells and abilities is pretty important in Guild Wars. A knight with cold magic might have an easier time fighting fast monsters, while an archer with healing magic could use his ranged capabilities to stay out of a fight, while providing healing support and assistance to his teammates.

What's nice about the game is that you have a main class and a subclass so while you can't necessarily use all the spells that you want (unlike Dungeon Siege, which does, thus making a majority of the skills worthless on their own, and since there's only 4 freaking stats in DS) you're definitely going to have to devote a lot time deciding how to spend your skill points to how you develop and advance your character.

 

[Barghest]

I hate online games. Pah.

 

[Shevek]

I dunno, I felt the character development system was pretty weak. I think games that try so hard to create a safetynet so players don't shoot themselves in the foot and gimp their character end up being very boring because they are far too limited. Sure, its a nicer system than, say, Everquest or some such but I think you can come up with far more interesting and varied character builds in D2. Yes, teamplay was emphasized but when playing D2 with friends I found that good party party play was rewarded as well (especially when playing certain classes such as a Necro or Barb).

 

[Nightjed]

oh yeah, you are well rewarded until a rare drops, at that point "ITS EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" and everyone leaves the fight and tries to steal the loot often resulting on half the team death and enough tension to ruin the game
its impossible to play on groups without RL friends and even then in large groups (>3) there are still problems with the items, thats what they get for making the good items so freaking rare.

edit: btw i like "you can screw up if you dont use you brain" skill systems but the problem with d2 was that a lot of the skills are useless or at least "not as good as the other one", its pretty hard to "predict" which spell is better in the long run without a faq or experience with it and it didnt even have a "training area" to test spells so when you played for the first time you didnt even know what to expect

 

[Sol Invictus]

How exactly do you think D2 has 'far more varied character builds' when GuildWars gives you a main class, subclass, and a shitload of skills to learn (from either class)?

Last time I checked, there were only 3 types of paladins, 2 types of sorceresses and 1 type of barbarian that could only survive in hell.

oh yeah, you are well rewarded until a rare drops, at that point "ITS EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" and everyone leaves the fight and tries to steal the loot often resulting on half the team death and enough tension to ruin the game

Yep. That pretty much describes every experience I've had playing with strangers in D2. Guild Wars completely eliminates that little problem by assigning loot to players randomly as they drop. The assignment expires after a minute if the owner doesnt pick it up - so the person who picks it up gets it.

Playing a druid in D2 was fucking moot.

 

[Shevek]

Well, I havent played the lastest patch much, but when I played D2 I made a Throw Barb, Frenzy Barb, Zoo Necro, Meteor/FB Sorc, CL Sorc, Traps Assassin, Chargadin, Avenger, Javazon and Werewolf Druid all in Hardcore. My buddy tried alot of others too since he plays more than I did. All together, we made assorted builds that all allowed for some fairly varied play experiences. GW just doesnt have the opputunity for that - it just seems so much more dry. So, as far as my play experience goes, my statement stands. My buddy, who still plays with some friends, tells me survival in hell is very possible with tons of builds now so long as you play with people you know and you play well. He made what he terms as a Bonemancer and is loving it.

 

[Spazmo]

Guild Wars completely eliminates that little problem by assigning loot to players randomly as they drop. The assignment expires after a minute if the owner doesnt pick it up - so the person who picks it up gets it.

That's not necessarily the best idea--the fighters in the group are going to be mighty frustrated when the wizard randomly gets assigned the +42 sword of devastation. Or does the game only toss characters items appropriate to their class?

 

[Nightjed]

well, random assigns are a start but they will get really ugly if only 0.001% of item drops are actually worth picking up like in D2, you really need a item making system based on work (money ? spending xp ? questing for parts ?) other than luck that could at least make up to 8 class weapons (in a 1-10 scale), making rares and uniques interesting (maybe with unique powers and effects normal weapons cannot have) but not neccesary for survival