Interview Dungeon Siege II Q&A at GameSpot

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Dungeon Siege 2; Gas Powered Games

<a href=http://www.gamespot.com>GameSpot</a> has posted an <a href=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dungeonsiege2/preview_6109534.html>interview</a> with <b>Kevin Lambert</b>, <a href=http://www.gaspowered.com/ds2>Dungeon Siege II</a> lead designer.
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<blockquote>We've taken many strides toward eliminating things that fans complained about having to manage. For example, when I played Dungeon Siege, I found myself spending a lot of time managing my inventory when I came back from a big dungeon haul and it was time to hit the shops. The reason I spent so much time with my inventory was that I wanted to go through each item and compare and contrast the stats to make sure my party had the best possible gear. In Dungeon Siege II, we've automated this comparison through the interface. When you pick up a piece of equipable gear--a sword, for example--it is compared with your currently equipped gear and the interface shows you "up" and "down" arrows to clearly indicate which piece of gear is better. </blockquote>
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I guess weapon statistics are too complicated for some people to read.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Limorkil]

Re: Dungeon Siege II Q&A at GameSpot

We've taken many strides toward eliminating things that fans complained about having to manage.

Yes, I hated having to move my characters around - I was sort of expecting the game to be cleverer than that, what with all that 'AI' they have these days. It also pissed me off how I had switch on my computer, insert the CD in the drive and double-click that icon thingy to start playing. You would think that in this day and age we would be able to look at stuff happening on the screen without having to interact or whatever. I mean, how can I eat popcorn and drink coke when this so called 'game' expects me to use one hand to click a mouse every so often.

 

[EEVIAC]

This is an old console trick. Select the item without equiping it and it shows whether your attack/angst/hairstyle increases or decreases. You're still going to have to go through the data and work out whether you want a fast weapon, something that hits harder, or whatever the variables are (unless it generates damage per second information as well,) so its essentially useless.

 

[xemous]

Yes, I hated having to move my characters around

roflmao :D absolute pissa of a game DS was

 

[baelstren]

"Roleplaying," spoonfed to the masses at $50 a head. DSII will probably get the usual treatment of Exclusive Preview!!! (i.e. screenshot pr0n) and the gentleman's 85% in the pc game rags.

 

[Kamaz]

Reminds me of BardsTale, just here it is not automated.

Its dumb. I find Diablo rather deep, reading this info. Its the essence of weapons in cRPG - there should not be cases "bad weapon", "good weapon", every weapon should have its strong sides and weakneses as well, in ideal situation weapons should have rock-scissors-paper technology under. If you have sword that can be easely evaluated as good or bad, that kinda tells a lot about game. And players. Dumbarses and dumbarses' game.

 

[Barghest]

Interactive wallpaper.

...and what shit wallpaper it was, and will be.

I friggin' hate DS.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I don't know man, DS II seems different. I think it's got some potential. DS was a piece of shit, no questions asked, but I'm willing to give DS II a chance, especially since they have so many more writers on this one than the original ever did. The storyline intrigues, and the skill path system (similar to Diablo II) looks like it could give the game a necessary edge.

 

[The Exar]

Dont like the game, too. Compared to other games, even the main element - the battle - sucks. The weapons aren't the main problem here. Of course there are better and worse weapons - in every game you have bad and good items. It`s inevitable. Kill me, but i don't like FULL 3D games(NWN, DS). They make my head hurt.

 

[Barghest]

I don't know man, DS II seems different. I think it's got some potential. DS was a piece of shit, no questions asked, but I'm willing to give DS II a chance, especially since they have so many more writers on this one than the original ever did. The storyline intrigues, and the skill path system (similar to Diablo II) looks like it could give the game a necessary edge.

It'll have to be a big change to make me forget the money I wasted on DS. I'll wait for the demo.

 

[z3r'0']

This Game is gonna suck big time

:hurl:

 

[RGE]

Considering that it sounds as if the unique thing about the game is the high level of automatation, I don't see anything wrong with making it easier to compare stats on the (probably) vast amount of magic items that are found during a regular dungeoncrawl. Maybe the characters could automatically check items for enchantments and curses, and then equip them if they seem to be better? It could end up like watching a movie, except you might not know who's going to win. For a long time now I've been increasingly bored with movies and TV, because too often it's obvious who's going to live and die, so a great many life/death situations end up being a waste of time.

But no, I don't think I'd enjoy watching a dungeoncrawl no matter who lives or dies. Maybe a similar 'game' where the dungeoncrawl is exchanged for intrigues and investigations in a futuristic world? The player could design a character which is then given a task, and depending on circumstances various things could happen. Could be pretty cool. I'm guessing that I just might buy Sims II if they set it in a cyberpunk world, and if the characters could play out some serious and complex plots.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Damn RGE, you just described Restricted Area.

 

[RGE]

Really? I thought that was mainly an action game. No plots or intrigues, just running around killing mutants that are literally too stupid to live. Are you pulling my leg with your powerful cybernetic arm?

And BTW, your avatar and signature are cool indeed. They're brown too, but not "too fucking brown".

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'm not pulling your leg. You really did describe the way Restricted Area handles the storyline - from multiple viewpoints.

 

[Flarnet]

This is turning in to Progress Quest quicker than I had imagined possible.

No seriously, what exactly IS there left for the gamer to do after they remove cornerstone after cornerstone in the action rpg experience?

 

[Stark]

In Dungeon Siege II, we've automated this comparison through the interface. When you pick up a piece of equipable gear--a sword, for example--it is compared with your currently equipped gear and the interface shows you "up" and "down" arrows to clearly indicate which piece of gear is better.

the idea above is broken. it implies there's a linear scale of comparing different weapons. what if a weapon A deal less damage than weapon B but is quicker? Or deal more damage against certain type of enermies? Or longer reach?

speaking of loot comparison... how about the following:

if a weapon stats is "dominated" by some weapons that player possess, it is grey out/shaded differently. By "dominated" I mean all its stats are inferior to a set of non-dominated stats weapons (also possessed by the player).

it'll make selling of loot much easier. (rather than scroll over each weapon and compare their stats manually, one can sell shaded/greyed out ones without further consideration. As for non-dominated set, one can do manual checking and make decisions accordingly)

but of course, the best solution is not to force someone to carry so much loot in the first place.