GhostofAnakin

Dungeon Siege III. Obsidian represent!

This is the part I have most trouble with, with regards to anyone who complains the game's not clear on what each ability/stat means. The help section is a huge help, I should know. I've never played DS before, and was unsure on some of the stuff and what their effects are, like Momentum, Retribution, Doom. The help section cleared that up with no issue whatsoever.

I wasn't too thrilled with it at Saudi, but I became a fan after it opened up after that and you could travel to the other countries in whatever order you wanted.

Did you ever get around to playing it for longer than the first mission outside the tutorial yet? Unless my memory is foggy, you gave up on it at or just after Saudi, without actually getting to the meat and potatoes of the game (ie. the main bulk of the game, and where the choices actually show).

It was well worth its price tag. While a bit shorter than I would have liked, it's hardly too short. My final play time, I believe, was just over 22 hours. That's not much less than what it took me to finish Dragon Age 2, as a comparable. The combat is fantastic, the story is good, and since I'm not obsessed with MP, a lack luster MP isn't going to deter me from praising the game. If Obsidian made DS4 and it was the same length as this one, I'd buy it on release.

Likes/praises: I liked the combat. It was arguably the most fun system I've played in an RPG. The controls on the 360 were quite intuitive, as well. The story was good. It would have been cool if it was a bit longer, and included some of the areas/towns talked about in the game to flesh out the overall conflict. But it was certainly a fun romp. The characters were cool, though I would have liked to have learned a bit more about my companions. See below. Disappointments/complaints: The saves checkpoints thing is weird, IMO. Maybe I'm just not used to them in Obsidian games, but it's frustrating to have to wander around to find a save check point when I really have to turn the game off. I don't want to have to fight through another couple of waves of enemies just to save, otherwise risk losing what I'd just done since my last save. I was also hoping for more interaction with the companions. After the initial conversations with them when they first join up, they turn into silent bodyguards (other than chiming in once in a while with comments during dialogue). But nowhere near the stuff you saw in KOTOR II, NWN2, or FO:NV. I was hoping that each companion would have their own little backstory you learned more of as you went along, possibly culminating in a quest for them. I was also hoping for more sidequests. The main quest, while short, seemed alright. But the lack of number of sidequests was disappointing.

I always get a chuckle out of Marten Guiscard in his battle stance, even though we're sitting there in the Chapterhouse having a friendly chat. Dude's really intense.

I enjoyed my first play through. I liked the combat, thought the story was good, and enjoyed the characters. I've only played MP a couple of times with a friend, and while I'm sure some of the complaints are valid for those really wanting a massive MP experience (ie. different kinds of game settings), it was fine with me. Not great, not bad. Just fine. But I'm more of a single player gamer anyway. I came into Dungeon Siege III with expectations similar to how I come into any Obsidian game -- story, characters, and choices. They didn't disappoint me.

I don't know if it's vastly different on the PC version, but on the 360 version you simply press the back button (or whatever that little button beside the start button is), and it brings up all the stuff like Equip, Items, Lore, Deeds, etc. At the bottom of the list is party select. Go there, then pick whichever party member you want.

re: the bolded part. I actually thought that's what was going to happen, that each character played differently not due to just their style/builds, but in terms of certain quests only available to each individual.

I've convinced three of my friends, who aren't even RPG fans, to buy it so we can play co-op. Obsidian, you owe me for that additional +3 to unit sales!

Probably a dumb question, but do the companions actually have to be in the active party to gain influence? I used Katarina for the majority of the time after I was able to recruit her, so could I still gain influence with Reinhart or Anjali even if they're not my active companion? I also must be doing something wrong, because there doesn't seem to be enough actual dialogue chances to influence Katarina. I even tried to go with her pragmatic answer to *every* dialogue, but she only gained influence for half of them.

That was a terrible commercial. The majority of it, if you were flipping channels and came across it, you wouldn't even know what the heck it was for.

Was this game even advertised on television? I recall seeing tonnes of Alice or Duke Nukem commercials, but I can't recall a single commercial for Dungeon Siege III.

I could see maxing Anjali out since you get her from near the beginning, but I wonder how difficult (impossible?) it is to max out Reinhart or Katarina. I was something like Level 12 or 13 before Katarina joined me, and Level 16 or 17 before Reinhart did.

I'm nearing the end of my first play through, but I'm only at half the bar of influence for Katarina. For Anjali and Reinhart I'm barely near a quarter of the bar full.

Can you max out the influence bar with any of the companions? And other than statistical bonuses, does having high influence with someone actually do anything (ie. learn more about their story, etc.)?

It appears it's a good thing I never did play DS 1 and 2, because from the sounds of it this one plays nothing like them. In that respect, I'm glad I went in not knowing the previous installments. I'm thoroughly enjoying this game, from the fun combat, to the solid (though not very deep) story, to even the loot I find along the way. The only complaint I have is the sometimes awkward camera angles.

Just my take, but from what I've played, the MP isn't nearly as bad as some folks are making it out to be. The fact the characters are "tethered" is certainly an issue, but it hasn't seemed that big a deal so far. Maybe at higher levels it gets worse, but I was playing earlier with a friend at around level 6 or 7, and it's not that much an issue. If they could do something about the tethering thing, that's pretty much my only real complaint about MP. I don't really care that I can't carry my character over from SP into MP. And since I only play with my friends, we just keep a save for our MP game and only play that save when we're both online, thus our characters remain as we built them.

So instead of clicking "Find XBox Live Game" from the main menu, I start a new game? And then there's options for MP there? I've been playing the SP campaign, but I don't remember seeing an option when I began it to play MP in it.

XBox360 version here. -When I go to the main menu, the only online option is "Find XBox Live Game". -When you click on that, it brings up the "Local Players" screen. -I click the A button to advance and it brings up on three options to choose from: Quick Match, All Games, XBox Live Party. Selecting "Quick Match" instantly puts you into a match, selecting "All Games" brings you to a list of games you can JOIN, but no option to host/start a new campaign, and selecting XBox Live Party just allows you to add people to your part, but no actual game options. Where is the option to HOST a match of your own and start from the beginning? I seem only able to join someone else's game in progress.

I ... there's no option for private game. When I press start, the option is "join multiplayer game" and then three options show up: quick match, a custom match option (where I choose which lobby to join), and Party UI (which only brings up the 360 party screen). I'm going to feel really foolish when I find the option, but so far I seriously don't see any option under the multiplayer menu to select private match.

If you want to refine your char from the start shouldn't you start the mp game yourself. How do you do that? I haven't played around with MP yet, just a quick glance at the main menu, so maybe it's obvious. But from what I saw, the options were only to join someone else's game. I couldn't see how to start one for myself. Also, how do you get friends to join your game, and not allow anyone not on your friends list to join? XBox360 version here.

That's what happened to me, then. Because I'd visited both Hsu (and received quests from him) and Motor Runner before Diane gave me her quest. Can't believe there's *still* no fix for this, if it's so widely known.

I didn't realize just how bad its reception was until I browsed some of the gaming sites and saw their review scores. Holy hell!