Monte Carlo

Dungeon Siege, the ultimate action-RPG-as-screensaver.

Where TH is correct is the annoying tactic of enemies rushing through my lines to attack spellcasters without sanction. D&D 3 at least provides the attack of opportunity as a sanction, Dragon Age does not.

^ Morrigan is Jaheira without the annoying husband. Approval rating yo-yos but I'm stuck with her since the, er, incident with Wynne. We now have fireball, wow now that's what I call a spell.

It is hard, no doubt about it. I'm still trying to beat a certain encounter by a gravestone in the woods, but again it's like the old BG games where you knew there was a certain party to fight in a certain location (which had nothing to do with the critical path) that you are meant to return to when you were ready. My weakness is the D&D hangover that I need a thief in my party - Imoen Chick is a real weak link. When do I get exotic elf assassin dude? Cheers MC

Favourite NPC = Sten. Have grafted to get +80 approval, for some strange reason he's into (SPOLIER) * * * * * * * Fine art. And in his homeland they don't have cookies. I got +8 approval for talking about freaking cookies.

^ Hmmm, I see where you're coming from. Mebbe it will be modded - "open tactics slot mod"

OK about twenty hours in and some more pros and cons as well as general thoughts: Pros: * Combat is fun, it's not geeky TB greatness like TOEE but it gets the balance between classic RTwP and Diablo-ish twitching just right. * It's a 2AM game, haven't played one of those for ages. * The NPC approval thing isn't quite as annoying as I thought it was and there are even a couple of non-annoying ones, Sten is my favourite. * Spellcasters, for the first time in MC-land, are fun to play and add lots to the tactical mix. * The game is huge. I mean really big. This is one thing Bio weren't talking hype for the sake of it about. * Crafting is fun for the first time, too. * I've found it easy to avoid soppy romance crap. Cons: * The areas are quite linear, more dungeons please. * It's about as dark as the end of "White Christmas", some cleavage and betrayal does not 'dark' make. * Containers & inventory - you dropped the ball Bio, sometimes the small things are the big things. Wake up QA. * CUTSCENES OMFG PLEASE STOP! General Points DLC is no big deal. The VO? Heck, I'm English why the plaudits? They all sound like anedoidal Estuary English southerners to me. Final Score: A very solid 8/10. If it was a bit less, well, Bioware, then it would get 9 or even 9.5.

It's identical to Diablo, some weapons have slots. Talk to Sandal and an arbitration screen opens up, pop the appropriate rune into the item and that's it. All the crafting in this game is so easy even I can do it. I make lots of potions, it's a shame plants don't regrow. Cheers MC

My fighter was able to take the Diabolist skill tree.

I've only paid for one piece of DLC directly (i.e. outside of the the collector's edition) and that was Soldier's Peak. I've written about this elsewhere, but I liked it and am enjoying the skill tree that you get in it if you play your cards right (it's agreeably Diablo 3-ish, even the graphics). It was perfectly reasonable value for money, as a result I've done loads of playing and only scratched the surface of the game. This is good. Shale is also good, the little quest to get him is pretty easy but he's a solid NPC and wittily written. The bonus items are a bit like BG2 - the twinky Red Dragon armour is unlikely to be of much use to you until you hit level 9-10 because you need 38 STR to wear it! The little tome that improves your stats is useful too. Cheers MC

^ Yeah, me too, although this is a record in that I've only re-started once. My party, level 10, is struggling with the end battle of the Brescilian Forest, and I've got Red Dragon armour and other twinkiness. Cheers MC

The scaling in this game is unusual, am finding that I can clear out whole areas bar one or two fights so I have to go away and get some more exp. to come back and finish the job. I'm level 9 verging on 10, have some pretty good loot and kit but am only done the Brescilian Forest (not yet complete) and Soldier's peak! Of course, I'm still trying to master the game controls, this is the first CRPG ever where I'd consider playing a spellcasting character. This is a compliment BTW.

^ Hmmm, I followed the dialogue option that allowed him to stay, I just asked him very nicely at swordpoint to moderate his prices. The lack of merchants is a bit of a problem, am buying hundreds of flasks to make potions!

^ That's not entirely fair, in fact the tactics slots allow you to tab fairly simple AI models to the NPCs (scrapper, defender etc). I've not really tinkered with the tactics slots yet, only assigned three or four actions but if left to their own devices Morrigan does crowd control, Sten activates his 2H weapon feats in a non-annoying way and Imoen Elf chick (please can another rogue come along soon?) switches naturally between archery and melee when approached. Cheers MC

Alan, I think you'll agree I've been pretty positive about the quality of the DLC and I'm not that bothered about the rather outre marketing of it within the game. All in all, for me, I've been a model of fairness. I'm just trying to see it from the other guy's POV. XPs used to come out after the main game (TotSC is an excellent example, even if it was made at the same time as the main product - look how it bashed down the fourth wall by taking you back before you completed the main game!). Everybody was on the same page and had done broadly the same things. Of course, this is only noticeable in gaming communities like this, if I chose not to go online to discuss games I'd not be bothered by what anyone else was doing. These people are the mainstream majority. So this is new and there are birth pains. In a couple of years time everyone will be wondering what the fuss is about. Cheers MC

It took me just over an hour, it's two-and-a-bit (small) dungeons, two interesting characters with lots of dialogue which I more or less went through. The loot is good - especially the armour for your tank fighter. The special abilties are neat, would suit a rogue very nicely, augmenting melee combat abilities. They have a sort of nasty supernatural theme. All in all, yeah it could have been a bit longer but then again the vanilla game is massive and the guys who put this together did a pretty good job, they should make more modules. Bottom line? This cost me the same as a pint-and-a-half of beer in a pub. So it's perfectly good value for money IMO. Cheers MC

^ Soldier's Keep isn't particularly long, but the story is interesting, you get to make some meaningful choices and there's some moral ambiguity around the history of the Grey Wardens. Plus did I mention how nice my new armour looks? And there's about 3/4 of a level's worth of experience in it. The skill tree reminds me of the Slayer in BG2. It would complement the Reaver warrior sub-class I'm considering.

Seriously, even I, lover of BG and TB games, had forgotten the patience required for this type of thing. I've been Neverwintered into letting my party get on with it. It feels good to be back the way I like it.

^ Vol, try to look at it this way... extra content, encounters and items? Cool. Unique and (frankly) twinky skill tree unique to that product? You can see why some people might freak.

I've articulated my (mixed) views on the effect the Soldier's Peak bonuses you can get in my dedicated DA thread, it's slightly but not totally spoilerish. Some people will freak when they see the twinky skill tree you get for spending the extra money.

*** OK Soldier's Peak spoiler *** I'll be general. In SP, there is an item that you can use which opens up a pretty cool new skill tree for your character. Hint - your achievement is called 'Diabolist' (obviously a homage to the game ) OK, there's a DLC debate going on elsewhere, but at this stage I'm in possession of one set of uber-cool armour (looks cool, is cool), a sword, a mage's staff and a boatload of experience. The combat to win this stuff wasn't particularly challenging, although I've not yet completed the boss-fight. There's no getting away from it - buying DLC means your game pans out differently - I have skills and items that will impact on the wider game to my advantage. Cheers MC

Yeah the inventory is a pain if you're a bit of a packrat. The only way to deal with it is to be brutal, I sell everything at the moment, and TBH it's not like you can make lots of money (and I'm level , all my cash goes on healing poultices and injury kits. I can only gaze longingly at all the Gucci armour and kit I'll never be able to afford ::sniff:: *** SOLDIER'S PEAK TEENSY SPOILER *** After my, ahem, issues with a certain creature in the werewolf ruins I thought I'd go to Soldier's Peak to toughen up a bit and see if there was any lewt to be had. It's rather good, I'm getting a Where Eagles Dare vibe with nazis replaced by undead and a pinch of Durlag's Tower. It's worth the four quid I paid for it. Cheers MC

I'm opening a book on when somebody mods a bag of holding.

^ @ virumor. honestly, you kill me.

Sure, every game has unintended tactics that = win button. BG1 - archery, cloudkill cheeze, backstab BG2 - sequencers, horrid wilting cheeze And so on. FWIW, I'm pleasantly surprised by the combat, I'm just not sure that the skill trees are particularly intuitive. This game would have rocked if on day one the design team had envisaged a game without classes and let me make a warrior with a bit of stealth and a couple of spells.