Reviews

[Bendu]

GameStar: 80 % (which is their lowest rated Obsidian game, including the NWN2 addons, excluding FNV DLC). The coop was rated separately, saying it's very good and a lot of fun.

 

Graphic: 7/10

+ cool effects

+ good animations

- moody textures

- environments are not very detailed

 

Sound: 8/10

+ nice music

+ very good German VO

- little ambient noise

 

Balance: 8/10

+ three levels of difficulty

+ good tutorial

+ good learning curve

- some fights are too hard

 

Atmosphere: 9/10

+ a dark fantasy world aside elves & dwarfs

+ interesting characters

- lifeless landscape

 

Handling: 7/10

+ freely saving possible

+ helpful guide

+ very good to play with a gamepad

- too complicated with mouse and keyboard

- minimap isn't very helpful

 

Length: 8/10

+ a lot of optional quests

+ replayable because of the four heroes

+ Co-Op

- the distances you have to run are sometimes too long

 

Quest/Story: 7/10

+ heroes with different storys

+ nice main quest with choices...

- ... but the solution is at the end very fragmentary and kludgy

 

Character development: 8/10

+ easy to understand

+ three different stances with three subordinated skills

+ useful passive skills

- you can't create your hero from scratch

 

Combat system: 9/10

+ a catchy 'ballet' of attack, defense and healing

+ you have to use special attacks

+ helpful companions

- you can't give commands to your companion

 

Items: 9/10

+ a huge amount of class specific weapons and armors with different bonuses

+ golden items especially powerful

- but the inventory is also full of junk

- collecting gold is unnecessary

 

So that's it. Hope the translation does not sound too bad.

 

 

PC Games (Germany): 85 % (but I don't have read the review)

Edited May 24, 2011 by Bendu

[C2B]

Considering the PC Games score is out too I think I can post the rundown. (Which is very different than Gamestars)

 

 

+Very thought of, action based battle system

+No lenghts during the game. Everythings seamlessly.

+Atmospheric, varied world/dungeons

+Interesting,complex story with C&C

- that isn't that influential

- Charachters act like puppets in dialog

- A little short in comparison to the previous DS games.

 

He especially praised the dungeons, calling them the most varied he has ever seen in ARPGs. He also highlighted the last hours as one of the best part in the game. (In stark contrast to gamestar) Also there are ending slides where the C&C probably has most effect on.

 

Edit: He also needed 15 hours for the main quest.

Edit2: Also they critizied PC controls.

Edit3: The atmospheric, detailed, varied world was his favorite part about the game. Again in contrast to Gamestar.

Edited May 24, 2011 by C2B

[Pidesco]

The score is low by modern standards, I guess, but the pluses and minuses sound really, really good. It reads like an absolutely awesome game with very minor niggles.

[C2B]

The score is low by modern standards, I guess, but the pluses and minuses sound really, really good. It reads like an absolutely awesome game with very minor niggles.

 

PC Gamer said that it was also nearly bugfree. He only had one bug where enemies got teleported back to their original position.

[Sannom]

The score is low by modern standards, I guess, but the pluses and minuses sound really, really good. It reads like absolutely awesome game with very minor niggles.

Yeah, but they're still good enough and I wasn't really expecting 90+ scores .

 

Thanks Bendu and C2B for the run-down! C2B, is there anyway you could tell us why the PC Games guy considers the last hours as the best in the game, without spoilers?

 

PC Gamer said that it was also nearly bugfree. He only had one bug where enemies got teleported back to their original position.

 

Except for the teleporting, this seems to be some kind of design decision, I think? In the jeuxvideo.com videos I posted earlier, the skeleton mages at the beginning went back to their room instead of following the player.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Sannom

[Tigranes]

Sounds like it delivers that main, core experience very very well, but isn't too great outside of that. Suits me. What you really need in an ARPG like this is well designed, appropriately challenging combat, a robust loot & skill development setup and good dungeon design - all of which are getting the ticks. The point about environment/landscape not being so great sounds about right, I thought what we saw of that in the videos were pretty routine and generic.

 

As long as we don't get an AP situation again where hordes of people come expecting a nonlinear sandbox party-based RPG adventure...

[C2B]

The score is low by modern standards, I guess, but the pluses and minuses sound really, really good. It reads like absolutely awesome game with very minor niggles.

Yeah, but they're still good enough and I wasn't really expecting 90+ scores .

 

Thanks Bendu and C2B for the run-down! C2B, is there anyway you could tell us why the PC Games guy considers the last hours as the best in the game, without spoilers?

 

He didn't write it. But in the score system they have a diagramm where they show how much fun they had at certain points in the game. And that went up and between 9-10 (of 10) in the last 4 hours.

 

@Tigranes: I disagree. What we have seen was very varied. From Stonebridge to the ice, jungle, farmlands it was very varied. Thats actually even the best part of the game according to PC Games. Its atmospheric,detailed,varied world.

Edited May 24, 2011 by C2B

[Sannom]

@Tigranes: I disagree. What we have seen was very varied. From Stonebridge to the ice, jungle, farmlands it was very varied. Thats actually even the best part of the game according to PC Games. Its world.

Tigranes? Where? Oh s***, don't change your avatar like that man, you nearly gave me a heart-attack!

 

And I agree with C2B, this review and a few of the preview we've seen : I think variety in environments, even if they aren't hyper-detailed, is a strength of the game.

[Monokli]

whoa! is the game out then?

[Tigranes]

We've definitely seen a variety of environments, but few of them have impressed me either as particularly good looking, or creative. For instance, the foundry area that we are told is a cool steampunk-ish mix of things is... your classic lava-filled cave with metal railings that you find in a million other platformers. The city area you walk through just before that is a generic medieval town. The haunted mansion/dungeon place is again a typical blue-tinted affair. I'd be pleased to be proven wrong when we can see the full extent of the variety, but yeah, the only part of DS3's visuals that I've really liked so far is the animations and the beautiful lighting effects.

 

- Charachters act like puppets in dialog

 

We've also seen this in the preview videos, too. The game looks polished and smooth when you're playing but the dialogue portions look rough and subpar. That said, again - that's not part of the core ARPG experience. I'm mainly pleased to hear that the combat is smooth and the dungeons are interesting.

[Sannom]

whoa! is the game out then?

 

Nope, still four weeks to go.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Sannom

[Flouride]

The score is low by modern standards, I guess, but the pluses and minuses sound really, really good. It reads like an absolutely awesome game with very minor niggles.

 

The standards vary from magazine to magazine and from region to region. For example if the Finnish magazine I subscripe to gave DS3 85/100 it would mean the game is good. Nowadays they rarely hand out points well over 90.

 

Not sure about the German magazines though...

Edited May 24, 2011 by Flouride

[pmp10]

The score is low by modern standards, I guess, but the pluses and minuses sound really, really good. It reads like an absolutely awesome game with very minor niggles.

When exactly has 80% became low?

The game seems to have production values below the expected norm so breaking the 8/10 barrier should actually count as a major success.

[HoonDing]

+ a dark fantasy world aside elves & dwarfs

They're overdoing it here, especially with The Witcher 2 out at the moment. Dungeon Siege? Dark?

 

Allow me a 'R00fles!'.

Edited May 24, 2011 by virumor

[tenthousandface]

They have got the game?Or It's the review for demo?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Uhm, by moody you mean muddy, right Bendu?

[Bendu]

Uhm, by moody you mean muddy, right Bendu?

 

[Purkake]

Do we have reviews from any non-niche European sources?

[C2B]

Do we have reviews from any non-niche European sources?

 

They are both pretty mainstream magazines. Nothing niche about them.

 

Though it would be cool if there are other reviews coming in.

[Kamille Bidan]

+ a dark fantasy world aside elves & dwarfs

They're overdoing it here, especially with The Witcher 2 out at the moment. Dungeon Siege? Dark?

 

Allow me a 'R00fles!'.

 

 

Demon Soul and Dark Soul laughs at Witcher 2

[C2B]

We've definitely seen a variety of environments, but few of them have impressed me either as particularly good looking, or creative. For instance, the foundry area that we are told is a cool steampunk-ish mix of things is... your classic lava-filled cave with metal railings that you find in a million other platformers. The city area you walk through just before that is a generic medieval town. The haunted mansion/dungeon place is again a typical blue-tinted affair. I'd be pleased to be proven wrong when we can see the full extent of the variety, but yeah, the only part of DS3's visuals that I've really liked so far is the animations and the beautiful lighting effects.

 

I have to disagree on lava filled cave. Did you watch the full sequence?

 

Also, Steampunk city is generic medieval town for you?

 

Also I was impressed with the haunted house it fit the atmosphere and the enviroment. Though blue-tinted affair? Don't you mean green?

 

That said, I'm not really an expert at all in art direction as established before so its just my personal opinion.

Edited May 24, 2011 by C2B

[Labadal]

The official dungeonsiege3 site messed up a little bit. It says "Read the latest reviews from GamesRadar and G4TV!", but the links takes me to previews and there are no Dungeon Siege III reviews on either site.

[Wombat]

- some fights are too hard

(snip)

- too complicated with mouse and keyboard

(snip)

- minimap isn't very helpful

(snip)

- the distances you have to run are sometimes too long

(snip)

- but the inventory is also full of junk

Hi, am I reading about a review about the Witcher 2?

Jokes aside, Obsidian seems to have gone as far as the way points so why not fast-travel, which would suite story-focused RPG?

 

- you can't give commands to your companion

(snip)

- too complicated with mouse and keyboard

With those, of course, I feel sad but not surprised at all.

[C2B]

- you can't give commands to your companion

With those, of course, I feel sad but not surprised at all.

 

If they do their job well this doesn't bother me.

[Wombat]

Judging from info from various soruces so far, that one seems to be by design so I guess more possible problem can be this one. PC Gamer Hands-on

That said, if I