XBOX360 Demo Impressions

[Starwars]

I love the artwork usage in cutscenes and hope there'll be a lot of it. Loved it whenever the Witcher 1 used it though I wasn't crazy about the art-style they used in the second game.

[Labadal]

My impressions:

 

Let's start with the gameplay. I really liked it, and it felt to me that this is basically a BG:DA/CoN inspired game with some twists. Add dodging and different stances, remove enchanting of weapons/armor and you have Dungeon Siege 3.

 

let's start with stances.

Anjali can be played in very different ways. make her a tank with great crowd control or let her play as a mage with a summoned hell hound to rip enemies apart. Let's start with the melee approach: She uses her spear to hit several enemies at once, with the right equipment her criticals are great. I got her critical chance in melee up to 23%, wich means every fourth hit could be a critical. I only used one special attack with her melee form and it was great for dealing high damage at once. Pump her agility up and her block rate increases if you upgrade the right talent, or she could sometimes get healed by enemy attacks. Then we have the fire form. Aura of Immolation is a very useful ability. hurt enemies over time. you can either raise the damage output or get healed by it if you stand in it. I used this vs bosses. AoI on the boss and take out the henchmen with fireballs. Summon the Hell Hound to help you. Most of my upgrades went into this. The way I liked to use her like this: Focus on melee, and the Hell Hound. Now go pummel the hell out of enemies. use fire form only when in deep ****, because you can use aura of Immolation. When you use enough skills and attacks a purple power sphere appears. use RT and A for an extra strong attack. These are very effective. I had tons of fun playing as Anjali. I might even play as her on my first playthrough.

 

Lucas is a tank as you expected, using a one handed sword+shield or two handed swords. there's not really much to say about Lucas, melee. two handed swords for crowd control, sword and board if you want to last longer, used this one on one. To be honest, I didn't like playing as him. That's ofcourse because I had no interest to play as a pure melee character. He does have an ability that has a good range that can be used against long range enemies for both stances. this would probably be a good character to play as if you aren't used to these kind of games.

 

Dodging and blocking.

Never did use block much, but dodging was a life saver. My HP went down to red a few times and dodging saved my life several times. Easy to use, can't be spammed, but still used enough to save your ***. I wonder how this will be handled on PC, more on that later.

 

Loot.

I started as Anjali and the first armor I got changed my appearence. every piece of armor does not change your appearance, but with 15000 generated items, it is no surprise that this is the case. I got four different looking staffs during the demo, and i think three different looking armors for Anjali. I didn't finish the demo with Lucas, but his appearance did not change. new looking swords, I did see. lots of loot to get, and some hidden in areas you don't have to visit. the store had some good items, but I didn't nuy anything. this part of the game will most likely not disappoint me, lots of loot and I changed equipped items lots of times.

 

Voice acting, writing, story and music.

Not great, but not awful in any way. Anjali is so-so but ok overall. Don't get the complaints at all. I skipped most of this for the full game. Music was up my alley, but this is a very subjective matter.

 

Graphics and performance.

Graphics during gameplay is solid. not the best, but FAR from the worst. I personally think it looks very good. I like the design and detail is ok. Some framerate dips in the town, the only time I actually noticed the framerate drop. I don't see very well wich means I have the "luck" to not see screen tearing, framerate drops and jaggies as well as others. Dialgue models aren't super hot, but they don't make my eyes bleed. they're basically standing still and talk to you, atleast their mouth moves. I think the PC version will look very good. The lighting was what impressed me the most.

 

Exploring.

In the demo, it is mostly corridors, but you can ofcourse not visit everywhere. There are crossroads that leads to different places, but this is as we all know a demo. I think there will be some exploring optional areas, but don't expect Sacred 2 style exploring.

 

Overall: If you are a fan of the previous games. You will either rage or accept that it was either this or no Dungeon Siege III at all. Deal with it, or not. I advice you to try the demo. it might be disappointing to you, but what I played felt like a competent game.

 

I only played solo, when Lucas joined me, I got to level him up and equip him as i saw fit. After playing the demo, I am very excited to play the full game. PC and PS3 versions for me.

 

EDIT. The only big worry for me is how this plays with KB&M. I know I will be using a gamepad. And for the love of god, up the brightness the first thing you do.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Labadal

[rafoca]

DEMO REVIEW:

 

Last words:

 

In the end I think the demo has really killed the excitement I had about the Dungeon Siege series coming over to home consoles. I guess that's what demos are good for though, right? Making sure that people know exactly what they're getting themselves into before plopping down $60 on a game. Maybe the PC version will be more of what I was hoping for. Good thing I own my computer now.

 

 

http://www.goozernation.com/video-games/in...iew-and-trailer

[Oner]

Link not working.

[rafoca]

Link not working.

 

http://www.goozernation.com/video-games/in...iew-and-trailer

[Alpha]

Agreed with Labadal impressions.

[hopfrog16]

Well, since everyone else is doing it, I might as well too. =) Being a Dungeon Siege fan, it's hard not to compare this game to it's predecessors, but those games are pretty damn old... so I will try to keep the comparisons to a minimum if I can help it (except for more timeless elements, like music).

 

1: Visuals

 

I think the game looked good, and the art style was very interesting to me (especially the visual effect of the sweeping blades Lucas has). I liked the artistic cutscenes as well. I'm not sure if they were better than CGI cutscenes, but they seemed to serve their purpose in conveying the story for me (I think the artists hired by Obsidian are pretty good). =) The atmosphere and ambient lighting drew me in and led me to want to explore Ehb's world. Unfortunately, the Demo was very constrictive and linear, so that wasn't very possible. This doesn't bother me too much, but still... it would have been nice to go off into the woods a little bit and explore. This was one thing I was hoping they would translate from the first Dungeon Siege. For it's time, the game was very atmospheric, and I think Obsidian really delivered in that aspect. I will say, though, that the FPS in Raven's Rill got pretty damn obnoxious... Just looking at the skipping screen was giving me a head ache. =P

 

2: Sounds/music

 

The ambient sounds in the demo were adequate... but meh. Doesn't seem that many newer games really do much with ambient noise, and that's a shame (especially with story driven games, where suspension of disbelief is an important thing... at least for me). As far as music goes, the music isn't bad at all. Some of the music is very beautiful, I think (especially the one playing at the title screen, for instance). That being said, however, I much prefer the music in the earlier Dungeon Siege games (or any other game that Jeremy Soule has written music for). The older games (especially the first one) had an adventurous, epic music that was very memorable.

 

3: Character and NPC interactions

 

I didn't like em. =P Many people have given their reasons why, and I can see why now that I've played the demo.

 

4: The menu

 

I actually really liked the way the menu was laid out. Everything was easy and quick for me to do so I could get back into the game quickly. I just wish there was a paper doll so I could see what my character's equipment looked like (and the vanity cam isn't that great I don't think, so I still can't really tell what a lot of my gear really looked like). =P

 

5: Items

 

I loooove loot. This demo showed that the game will have a lot of different kinds of loot, and that different pieces all have strengths and weaknesses (which I enjoyed a lot). =) My only complaint is why doesn't Lucas have a helmet?! I love helmets. =P The more ridiculous and gaudy the better.

 

6: Enemies

 

I like the enemies. =) It seems obvious to me that a lot of thought has gone into their design. Ultimately, though, I think DS1 had a little more of the edge as far as enemies go (not DS 2 though, bleh... BW though? Hell yah!) and their diversity/origins (then again it's really hard to tell that from a demo... Hopefully there will be a lot more enemy types later on in the game).

 

7: Combat Mechanics

 

The first half of the demo was very boring for me... After meeting Odo, however, it started to pick up, and by the time the demo was done, and I got to play with my companion a little, the game became quite a bit of fun to play. At first dodging was a little awkward, but it's easy to pick up after a few tries. Blocking was just about useless to me, but meh. I love that you can't just go toe to toe with enemies... You have to actively dodge and weave. I will say, however, that the two handed "combo" (regular strikes) that Lucas uses is pretty obnoxious... So much so that I just stop myself from attacking the third time (the third strike is very slow).

 

8: Gameplay

 

This reminds me a LOT of BG:DA or CoN. This is a very, very good thing. Though, to be honest, I didn't even really notice until after halfway through the demo. The first half was just too damn boring, heh. As far as the level system goes, it's alright... Somewhere in between DS 1 and DS 2 in complexity, but I think they could have made it much better than it is.

 

9: Multiplayer

 

I'm sorry, but the multiplayer just was not fun for me, which is really surprising since I loved CoN and games like that for their multiplayer. A lot of people already gave their reasons for not liking the multiplayer, and I would agree with them. Then again, I came into it knowing the multiplayer wouldn't be what I wanted, but I can't help but feel that it's even worse than I was expecting... So much so that I'm debating whether or not I should cancel my pre-order, since my brother and many of my old DS buddies (who canceled their pre-orders after playing the demo) aren't going to play it.

 

Ultimately I think this is a good game, and it would be a fun way to spend a week or two casually playing. I will probably get the game after the price drops down on it some. Who knows, though? If it has some good DLC, I may pick it up sooner. =)

[GreasyDogMeat]

Link not working.

 

http://www.goozernation.com/video-games/in...iew-and-trailer

Dragon Age II was able to balance the linear feeling by making the action fast and fun, despite the criticisms aimed at how "dumbed down" the combat in DA2 was it cannot be disputed that it was done well. DS3 doesn't seem to have it quite as locked down as DA2 did, feeling almost like a cross between a Hack'n'Slash like Baldur's Gate and Dynasty Warriors. Spamming the 'A' button kills most enemies, with the occasional 'X' or 'Y' to use special abilities

 

That reviewer just lost all credibility with me. The last sentence fits DA2 to a 't' and yet it is a bad thing in DS3?