Review Dungeon Siege review at RPGRadar

Saint_Proverbius · Mar 4, 2003

Tags: Dungeon Siege

<A href="http://www.rpgradar.com/">RPG Radar</a> has posted their <a href="http://www.rpgradar.com/reviews/pc/ds.html">review</a> of <A href="http://www.dungeonsiege.com/index.shtml">Dungeon Siege</a>, giving it a 9/10 because of the great gaemplay(That's a quote, not a typo).
 
 
<blockquote>Through all of this great gaming goodness, the only true thing that I find repulsive about the game is the group formation commands. When I click the triangle formation, I don't want to have my pack mule go to the front of the force to lead the attack and get itself slaughtered? I want my strongest warrior to be placed in the lead. Common sense can tell you this. I lost many a mule with this idiosyncrasy, many a mule with many a item. Kind of makes me want to cry? And of course, as with all hack n? slash RPGs there is a slight problem with path finding, but it's the best I've seen to date so I'll give the game tops there.
 
 
In the end however, Dungeon Siege turned out to be one of the most pleasing experiences I have been able to have been apart of. Even my Mom got into, which is a rare occasion. That goes to show you this game is for anyone looking to experience a great game, with great gaemplay and unpardoned graphics.</blockquote>
 
 
I guess not having to really be involved with much other than walking is great gaemplay.
 
 
Spotted this at <A href="http://rpgvault.ign.com">RPG Vault</a>.

Spazmo · Mar 4, 2003

His Mom got into it? What kind of a terrible site hires 13-year old reviewers?

Section8 · Mar 5, 2003

I like action games. I like RPGs. Dungeon Siege was neither. Move. Press H. Move Press H. yawn. uninstall. There's probably more gameplay in a Bonzi Buddy.

Spazmo · Mar 5, 2003

Looking over this review snippet again, it's extremely poorly written. It looks like the writer is using a bunch of big words he doesn't quite understand in a vain effort to look smart and well-informed. I swear this is the work of some 13 year old.

Storn · Mar 5, 2003

Heh, I was thinking the exact same thing, Spazmo ... it's like he had a bunch of big words written down on a napkin and he was bound and determined to get them into this review somehow. "The only thing I find repulsive" ? That's a pretty strong word to be using in what seems to be a favorable review.

I enjoyed Dungeon Siege for about ... eh, five minutes. It got pretty repetetative after that. They usually do these days

S.

Saint_Proverbius · Mar 5, 2003

Give the kid bonus points for spelling and using the word idiosyncrasy in a correct fashion, though. I'm not sure that most people capable of enjoying the lack of things to do in Dungeon Siege could manage that.

Constipated Craprunner · Mar 5, 2003

Spazmo said:
Looking over this review snippet again, it's extremely poorly written. It looks like the writer is using a bunch of big words he doesn't quite understand in a vain effort to look smart and well-informed. I swear this is the work of some 13 year old.

*Tells Spazmo to shut up, he will blow my cover*

Fleshmaker · Mar 13, 2003

Just so you know, it was written by a 14-year old. The same 14-year old that made the site, and put a lot of effort into making it what it is today. Dungeon Siege was simple, yet addictive, something I think isn't well executed these days. Reviews are based upon opinions, and opinions are sacred. Of course, criticizm is always welcome.

Oh, and this seems to be the only site to conflict with my opinions so far... everyone else has in some way or another agreed with my reviews.

Rosh · Mar 13, 2003

Funny, since most of the people I know consider that game to be a waste of time, money, and drive space past a certain point.

It's like Diablo. Only...you just move.

Sabotai · Mar 13, 2003

Well Fleshmaker,

I appreciate the effort you put in building and running a website, but a lot of that review just doens't make sense.

Take for instance your recap at the top of the page:

"Dungeon Siege turned out to be one of the most pleasing experiences I have been able to have been apart of. Even my Mom got into, which is a rare occasion. That goes to show you this game is for anyone looking to experience a great game, with great gaemplay and unpardoned graphics. "

First sentence: "apart of" means seperately or "seperate of". So you are saying that you haven't been part of the experience.

Second sentence: there seem to be some words missing.

Third sentence: "unpardoned" means unforgiven. So the graphics are so bad they cannot be forgiven. And I'm assuming that "gaemplay" was intentional.

Apart from semantics and structure (i.e. "With all these character possibilities possible...") your review is littered with spelling errors. "Breathe" instead of breath, "lively hood" instead of livelyhood. Although I'm not a native English speaker, spelling appears pretty poor. I understand the message you are trying to convey but it's immensely irritating and hence hard to take a writer seriously.

Rosh · Mar 13, 2003

Livelihood is the correct spelling, depending upon which English-speaking region you are from.

Other than that, yes, the review makes hardly any damn sense at all. I find it immensely ironic and unlikely any other sites "agreed" with it, particularly so given the atrocious grammar in a document of presentation.

Unless it was by others of the same caliber, that is.

Sabotai · Mar 13, 2003

Damn Rosh,
You are right. Seems there is only one way to spell livelihood. I tried to find out if there was a South African or a Jamaican English way of spelling livelyhood, but havn't found any.

Fleshmaker · Mar 14, 2003

Call it bad editing... the version I have saved on my PC doesn't include any of the errors you guys pointed out. However, when I read the supposedly "edited" version, the errors are all there. Looks like it is time to put my new editors to work.

It's not the first time this has happened either, my preview od Duality was ruined because of horrible editing. I found it unreadable, and I was greatful that I had enough sense to look it over before putting it up.

And when I said sites agreed with me, it was in regards to the rating. Most major publications also seemed to think the game was fun, and well deserving of high marks.

Now, I've had my eye on RPG Codex for a while and never really visited the forums until the other day. It was actually my statistics tracking program that alerted me of these threads. Thankfully, I'm not the kind of guy that gets angry at well thought out criticizm and gouges everyone's eyes out with a spork. Instead, I embrace it, and use it to improve my work. So all I have to say is thank you.

Saint_Proverbius · Mar 14, 2003

Fleshmaker said:
And when I said sites agreed with me, it was in regards to the rating. Most major publications also seemed to think the game was fun, and well deserving of high marks.

Most publications are shameless extentions of corporate marketting, only they aren't smart enough to figure out they're not getting paid to be that.

If you check comments on articles about Dungeon Siege on various gaming sites, however, which are written by the consumers, they'll say Dungeon Siege is a shallow experience with little to no gaemplay because there's nothing to do the character system and two of the basic tenants of a dungeon crawl are automated so the player doesn't need to be involved in the least.

I really fail to see how a dungeon crawler where character advancement and combat are done for you is actually fun at all.

Fleshmaker · Mar 14, 2003

Most publications are shameless extentions of corporate marketting, only they aren't smart enough to figure out they're not getting paid to be that.

Lmao. So true, so true.

But let's see how I can explain the reason I gave it such a high mark. It's simple... a nice change of pace from monsters such as Balder's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, where I spent nearly 4 hours creating my character for the first time. It was deeper than Diablo II, but didn't go to far as to dissapoint you in the end with lame plot-twists. It was accessible to newcomers of the genre, hence the reason for stating that even my Mom was able to play the game.

The game was well-built, from the bug-free point of view. I always play games I review without installing patches, and on two configurations. It played on both with no problems, or slow-downs. (One is a high-end system, the other is basically the shiitiest thing I can throw together)

A few things could have been included to make it better... such as a stats distribution system. In that aspect, it doesn't even begin to compare to Icewind Dale II which in my opinion had an awesome distribution system. Maybe some puzzles would have made it better as well, now that I think about it. But the score I gave it still stands. The review isn't meant to represent the worlds view on Dungeon Siege. It's my opinion and recommendation, and people that trust my reviews haven't been dissapointed yet. ( Common sense leads me to believe that this is why they trust me reviews?)

Spazmo · Mar 14, 2003

Icewind Dale II doesn't have a nice character creation system. Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition has a nice character creation system.

Araanor · Mar 14, 2003

Fleshmaker, the point is that Dungeon Siege plays itself for you. There really isn't much to do except watch, watch and watch some more. It's like a Baldur's Gate with even less interactivity.

I put it down halfway through. The only variation was the change in scenery, undeniably the nicest part of the game.

Rosh · Mar 14, 2003

Dungeon Siege = ProgressQuest 2.0

Araanor · Mar 14, 2003

WHoa! I could watch this for days! :D

Saint_Proverbius · Mar 14, 2003

Fleshmaker said:
But let's see how I can explain the reason I gave it such a high mark. It's simple... a nice change of pace from monsters such as Balder's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, where I spent nearly 4 hours creating my character for the first time. It was deeper than Diablo II, but didn't go to far as to dissapoint you in the end with lame plot-twists. It was accessible to newcomers of the genre, hence the reason for stating that even my Mom was able to play the game.

Well, that whole dice mimmicking character creation deal should have died out in the early 1990s, because it is annoying. The point buy system works so much better in a number of ways, and there's been point buy rules since the original first edition.

Point buy doesn't force a player to sit there and click Re-roll for a couple of hours, just to get a decent bit of attributes, which BG/BG2/IWD seem to encourage because of the combat oriented nature of both of them. It also makes the system more balanced when it comes to multiplayer, if that's included, because the guy who spends the most time clicking re-roll is often the best guy.

However, I wouldn't go patting Dungeon Siege on the back for it's character creation since.. Well.. There's not a hell of a lot to it. Pick a name, a gender, an outfit, color for hair and body, and a hair style. That's all there is to it. There's first person shooters with "character creation" pretty close to that.

I'd rather have a bit more depth to creating my character than what the avatar looks like.

The game was well-built, from the bug-free point of view. I always play games I review without installing patches, and on two configurations. It played on both with no problems, or slow-downs. (One is a high-end system, the other is basically the shiitiest thing I can throw together)

Honestly, for a commercial product, I expect bug free out of the box. I wouldn't pat someone on the back for it.

A few things could have been included to make it better... such as a stats distribution system. In that aspect, it doesn't even begin to compare to Icewind Dale II which in my opinion had an awesome distribution system. Maybe some puzzles would have made it better as well, now that I think about it. But the score I gave it still stands. The review isn't meant to represent the worlds view on Dungeon Siege. It's my opinion and recommendation, and people that trust my reviews haven't been dissapointed yet. ( Common sense leads me to believe that this is why they trust me reviews?)

Well, the thing is, when you run off and call Dungeon Siege a great RPG, many people will question it, because there's really not much "RPG" to it. You can pick what you look like at creation, and that's it there. Beyond that, the only customization you have is which weapon you put in the character's hand, and there's really less to that than there should be since there's only four skills, melee, ranged, and the two magics.

Rosh · Mar 14, 2003

Honestly, for a commercial product, I expect bug free out of the box. I wouldn't pat someone on the back for it.

And in Interplay's case, it's a situation of a bloody miracle.

Fleshmaker · Mar 15, 2003

I didn't say Dungeon Siege had great character creation, did I? I was just saying that it was change from the intricate character creation of games such as Balder's Gate II. hroughout my chats with the development team of Dungeon Siege, I got out of them only two important things.

1.) They wanted to create a simple world
2.) They wanted the player to have fun

My review was bascially based around those two things. I had fun, and the world was simple. They brought to my desk exactly what they had promised, and I enjoyed it. My rating stands where it's at.

And the patch thing, so many games come out over-ridden with bugs... Dungeon seemed flawless. had to give it tops :wink:

triCritical · Mar 15, 2003

Fleshmaker said:
And the patch thing, so many games come out over-ridden with bugs... Dungeon seemed flawless. had to give it tops :wink:

This is directly correlated to its console game simplicity and extreme linearity. The simpler a game is the less bugs it will have.

Review Dungeon Siege review at RPGRadar

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