Review Dungeon Siege 2 leghumping at GamingNexus

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Dungeon Siege 2

<A href="http://www.gaspowered.com/ds2">Dungeon Siege 2</a> also gets a <A href="http://www.gamingnexus.com/Review.asp?ID=769">positive review</a> from <A href="http://www.gamingnexus.com/">GamingNexus</a>. Score's an <b>8.6/10</b>. Anyway, character creation:
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<blockquote> When you first startup the game you create the character you’ll be spending about 40-60 hours with so choose wisely. Given the usage based system the only real choices you have to make are the race, gender, and basic appearance of your character. I was a little disappointed with the limited options you have in customizing your character but it might just be that I’m spoiled but the excellent system in City of Heroes. It really doesn’t matter that much as your character is going to be wearing a lot of armor which can mask any poor design decisions you make. The four races are Half-Giant, Dryads, Elves, and Humans. Each races leans a little more towards one of the classes but you can still have a Half-Giant magic user if you want to. It’s just not as efficient. Gender plays no real role in the game as far as capabilities are concerned.</blockquote>
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I have to agree with this. Even the choices that are there dealing with appearance of the character don't seem particularly interesting. The selection feels way limited as well considering they're so focused on a certain skill tree.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[chaedwards]

So, according to the reviewer we have to choose wisely, but the choices make no real difference. Nice oxymoron there. Sometimes I wonder whether reviewers have to use a certain numb er of a set stock of phrases in each interview, no matter how incongruous.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

He worded it way funny. He should have just said you can't build a character to do everything because that makes the character way too weak in everything. The only choices you can make in character creation really aren't much of a wise choice. You just have to pick a race and then use that race to it's advantages.

It really would have been nice if Gas Powered had come up with other weapon/class types for the game which would have allowed more character building options. Allowing something like unarmed combat as a new tree of physical combat would have been nice, for example. Perhaps dviding melee in to more than just one tree would have been good as well, say blunt and bladed. It's really just way too simple still, even for an action CRPG.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah, but then you open yourself up to bullshit like Throwing Weapons Mastery in Diablo 2 or an entire tree of worthless skills as with the Druid's Elemental skills that are utter garbage compared to Sorc's.

 

[Spazmo]

That's a really stupid argument. You're basically saying that they shouldn't try to do more stuff because they might mess it up. There isn't an inherent necessity of failure in trying to expand the skill system.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I have to say, Spazmo is right. Sure, you could possibly end up with useless things in the skill trees if there were more of them. However, it's not hard to come up with useful skills for unarmed including monk-esque things like the ability to block ranged attacks, parrying with arms or feet, and so forth.

Considering how melee is NOW, there's a whole lot useless about that tree. There's three branches and I doubt too many people will pick more than one of those branches. If it were divided in to blunt and bladed, you could have additional branches that focus on aspects of those types of combats. You could have variations of stunning and crippling attacks for blunt force trauma attacks as a skill tree for blunt and you could have things like bloodletting and severing for bladed.

Right now, you have a few melee special attacks and with the majority of the skill tree being so passive that the only thing that really increases with dumping points is how much damage you do and how much you take. If there were additional effects to the attacks, you could cripple an an enemy based on a percent chance and then switch to a more mobile, active enemy. Things like that would allow for a more tactical approach rather than just holding down the right mouse button and waiting.

 

[merry andrew]

Are there throwing knives in Diablo 2? I might buy it, then.

 

[Sandelfron]

Sacred is better imho imho..

 

[Vault Dweller]

Yep

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/ ... hrow.shtml
Even unique throwing stuff http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/ ... wing.shtml

 

[merry andrew]

Oh man.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Right now, you have a few melee special attacks and with the majority of the skill tree being so passive that the only thing that really increases with dumping points is how much damage you do and how much you take. If there were additional effects to the attacks, you could cripple an an enemy based on a percent chance and then switch to a more mobile, active enemy. Things like that would allow for a more tactical approach rather than just holding down the right mouse button and waiting.

Agree. Too much hype, not enough substance. Basically, DS2 is a good reminder of what a great job Blizzard did with Diablo 2 and what a moron Chris Taylor is for failing to understand and use the example that was in front of his eyes.

 

[Sarvis]

Can you dual wield in Diablo 2?



Also, in the DS2 demo, you know that wall near the first teleporter in the forest? Is there a way to get through it? In the demo I mean... I've already pretty much played through with 2 chars, and I hate that I ran out of stuff to do with them before I got bored...

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Yes, but only with a Barbarian.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Can you dual wield in Diablo 2?

Yep. There are dual wielding and even dual throwing skills and masteries

 

[Sarvis]

Bah... I don't want to be a barbarian...

Do need to grab D2 someday though...

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Get it. Don't listen to Roqua or his horde of dumbfucks, even though it's not much of an RPG, it still kicks monstrous amounts of ass.

 

[EEVIAC]

The Assassin can dual wield too, can't she?

 

[Psilon]

Yeah, but just claws and punch daggers.

 

[Sarvis]

I went out and bought it tonight...

I'm playing an assassin, and yes she can dual wield. It doesn't seem like she attacks more or anything though... does the second blade only get used with certain skills or something? Or am I just missing the animation because I should have been asleep like three hours ago...?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Agree. Too much hype, not enough substance. Basically, DS2 is a good reminder of what a great job Blizzard did with Diablo 2 and what a moron Chris Taylor is for failing to understand and use the example that was in front of his eyes.

The thing that gets me about Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege 2 is that the dungeons and such are really good. If Gas Powered Games could actually come up with a decent character system that actually had a bit of depth about it, the games would be a hell of a lot better.

The problem is that the character system is so bland, you'll still end up bored within a week or so.

 

[Atrokkus]

I went out and bought it tonight...

Good! Don't forget to patch it -- just log on to Battle.net.
Or, i guess, you already did that.

does the second blade only get used with certain skills or something?

In case of a normal attack, you strike with one blade at a time, one then anothes.
But if you use some skills (Dragon Claw, if i remember correctly), you strike with both, just as Barbarian does, and you get some bonuses.

Going with Claw-Claw or Claw-Shield is a difficult decision and it greately changes the way you progress in skills. For instance, if you go dualclaw, then you must put at least 6-10 points into Dual Block -- it's a passive skill that gives you a chance to completely block an incoming attack, like shields do (although a bit better, since it might block some additional attacks). Note, however, that this skills gives less chance of block than a shield does, although gaining high percentage on shields requires very high dexterity.
If you want a pure melee assassin, you gotta understand the way charge-up skills work. See, there are lots of elemental claw skills. They are basically base attacks, but with improved attack ratings (no dmg bonus tho), but the thing is that when you strike, one lttle ball starts swriling around your character. It means that you have a charge. You can have 3 increasingly powerful charges from each charger skill. ONce you got those charges on, you have to release them. It's done through finisher skills like various kicks, or a normal attack.
You can finish it with dragon claw attack, if you're into dualclaw combat, or you may choose to literally kick the shit out of your opponent, with a resounding "Haaiiaa!". I recommend the latter, but you can do good with claw-finishers too. You don't have to switch between kicking and claw-weilding, of course.
Oh, and don't forget that kick attacks don't get affected by the weapon you wield. Instead, it's the boots you're wearing that add damage to it, as well as your STR. Although dragon tail kick transfers elemental damage from your weapons/items to your kick damage.

I could write a lot more, but I guess it would be better if you just go HERE and read the guides -- they are very helpful.
Diablo ii is one of those games where you have to know A LOT of mechanics to succeed.
Don't even dream of reaching 85+ level without delving into how skills work, effeciency analysis and all math-type things involved. Guides help a lot. Take time to read them, you'll know a lot more.
And, of course, always visit Arreat Summit to check out the item and skill stats in more detail than you would in a game.

 

[Astromarine]

OR, you could ignore all that and just kick some butt D2 is that kind of game where starting new chars and combos is so fun that you don't mind just doing it all again if you realize you screwed up later on. if you're playing in normal difficulty, you can be expected to finish the game at about level 30. Since you never played before, it is pretty possible that you will reach a point where you fid out you can't proceed because your char is too gimped. Just realize that the game has 99 levels, and that when you finih normal you can restart in the next level ofdifficulty with the same character, so the most efficient thing to do at that point is to restart rather than sloggin on until you really can't progress.

Enjoy. I wish I was playing D2 for the first time again, it was one of mybest game experiences ever.

Oh, and if you skip any cinematic I will find you, and I will kill you. Watch them, they're spectacular even years after coming out.

 

[Atrokkus]

D2 is that kind of game where starting new chars and combos is so fun that you don't mind just doing it all again if you realize you screwed up later on

Yeah.. those were the times...

Enjoy. I wish I was playing D2 for the first time again, it was one of mybest game experiences ever.

Too true. But for me, it's almost always like the first time! I play it still... It's what? 5 or so years now... whoo.

Oh, and if you skip any cinematic I will find you, and I will kill you. Watch them, they're spectacular even years after coming out.

Ahhh.. yes. Pure masterpiece.
It's better than most nowadays cinematics, really. ANd of course, in its time, Diablo had THE BEST cinematics.
Not only Diablo tho, WarCraft and StarCraft also ware top-nitch. Hell, that's one studio -- Blizzard (so even without Blizzard North, cinematics stay the same - GREAT).

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

I'm sick of cinematics. If I wanted a movie, I'd get a movie, but I want a game.

 

[Astromarine]

yes, and this has relevance when we're talking about one of the best games of it's genre which happens to have great cinematics because?