Dungeon Siege 3 - Review Roundup
 

Well, Dungeon Siege 3 is out in EU and the early reviews are in. The response is quite favourable, with these scores a little over or under 8/10. The camera and loot get some criticism but the coop is widely praised and most find the campaign satisfying, despite some niggles.
A general intro from VG Revolution - 8.4/10, X360:
Eurogamer on combat and difficulty - 8/10, X360:
CVG - 7.9/10, X360:
ActionTrip, who played on the PC. 7.8/10, PC:
PC Gamer on the story campaign - 78%, PC:
[quote] The real shocker for Dungeon Siege fans is the terrific 18-hour story’s memorable characters and choices, where a spared enemy might turn out to be a convenient ally later.

But adding story depth seemed to cause Obsidian to forget some action-RPG fundamentals. The mini-map provides no indication of which direction you should be going, conv…More information.

I've seen most reviews of 7's and 8's mostly. One site I visited even said its better than The Witcher 2. I couldn't stop laughing my ass off.:lol:They gave The Witcher 2 a 6.5 and DS3 a 7.5.

Well, according to the trailers I saw from the game and the demo's reception, I thought this game is going to mostly score around 4 or 5 out of 10. I am surprised by these positive reactions. ( Especially by Eurogamer's positive reaction. )

Most reviews i have seen are all console reviews, and we all know you have to lower your standards for those toys. Very angry at console gaming for lowering gaming quality.

I'm likewise surprised by the very positive reviews (that EG one in particular; though they may not exactly be old school RPG gamers I didn't expect someone affiliated with the PC-centric Rock Paper Shotgun blog to care much about a game like DS3 at all).

Personally I can't see much point in buying a linear-ish hack'n slasher now that I'm currently busy with games like Two Worlds II and Witcher 2, but when the PC version gets cheap(er) I just might pick it up…

I think 7-8 is about right as a console game in the same vein as Dark Alliance. As a PC game with the DS legacy - I'd have to say 8 is too high. 7 at the most, and I'd probably rate it 6.5 myself.

Well I thoought the controls sucked and that is -2 right there and while the graphics weren't the best I though they were quite charming. It is a style. Also they pc reviews claim the game is 18 hours (bit short but better than 10). Still definitely not a $50 game;esp with some wonderful indies games out there these days for $10 and $15.

As much as I hate this game's controls, menus etc, I find it amazing, they are asking $20 less for a PC version (amazon). Still, the asking price is about 3times more compared to what I would pay.

Nice collection of reviews. Got me the feeling these reviewers some wrote to fill space, having little to say on the game.

The guy's review with the story of identity crisis is the funniest to read.

Very little information on the coop quality through five reviews.

I laugh at your elitist views. Ha!

And that's exactly what it is. And it does this quite well! On the Xbox 360 (one of my "toys" lol), the controls are pretty much flawless, one of the best I've experienced on the platform (a few camera issues aside). It is paced well, the story is interesting and the graphics are pretty good.

So it is linear… as far as I'm concerned, it is supposed to be that. And I love it for it! I don't get this "it needs to be open world or it sucks" attitude. Sometimes I want the former, sometimes the latter. The platformers we used to love in the '80s were linear to the extreme. So? Anyhow, it's a mindless hack-and-slasher, as most of them are. And that's what I want to play sometimes as opposed to The Witcher 2 or some of the other "deeper" games.

Compared to DS1 and DS2? I wouldn't know. I do smell their influences in the art and level design.

Only two words: boooooring, ugly

Thaurin, If you played DS2 and expantion you would understand why people are complaining about the controls and the linearity. Its a step backwards from the originals . My question is why would they it be a less than experience from a game made 5 or 6 years ago.

Linearity of DS3 is only one problem. DS2 had so much more going for it in this way, though. It had HUGE expansive levels with a ton of worthwhile backtracking - many interesting puzzles and secrets to be found.

My primary issues are about simplistic character mechanics, limited selection of classes with no gender option, inflexible multiplayer options, lack of ability to take your character through the game at progressively higher difficulty levels - increasing longevity, relatively short length, counterproductive focus on story given the multiplayer legacy of the franchise, simplistic loot diversity, lack of strategic gameplay, unforgivably poor mouse/kb implementation, checkpoint saving, low-res textures on PC, and more.

In short, Obsidian completely ignored the history of the franchise and they just didn't get the strengths of Dungeon Siege.

What they DID do instead, was create a decent little timewaster hack/slash with a good story.

That's fine, but they should have called the game something else.

See, i have no trouble taking the game on it's own. It probably helps that I was craving for a game like this. I have played both DS1 and 2, the first one almost to the end before I lost interest. They are not really the same, DS3 and it's prequels, but so far it is a very competent game for what it tries to do, I.e. admittedly console hack and slash. That has nothing to do with less quality, but yet I feel the same neurons firing when playing this. Calling this simplistic is just perspective. I could be much simpler and I do recall people complaining about 1 & 2 that the game almost "played itself". Don't suddenly pretend the first games were deep experiences, because they were not. They were mindless hack and slash just the same. This has better story and dialogue. Can't comment on the skills/talents/proficiency system yet.

Seriously though? No gender choice? Who fucking cares, it's a hack and slash.

There is no gender choice - but a choice between a male or a female character.

The first game was crap, in my opinion - but it had some strengths that should have been kept intact.

The second game is vastly more deep and complex than you give it credit for, and I doubt you've really played it - or you should be remembering it better. DS2 is a fantastic hack/slash game - end of story.

It's fine that you like DS3 for what it is, but don't get upset because other people have higher demands :)

I happen to like investing myself even in a hack/slash game, and for that - I don't like playing female characters. It doesn't work well for me.

So, I fucking care.

Can someone explain about this?
I hope it doesn't mean you can save your progress and XP points you gained only at certain points.

Checkpoint saving was turned off in the demo - in the demo there was no saving at all …

That's exactly what it means.

But, from what I played of it - the checkpoints are rather generously placed.

So, it's not a big concern - simply an unnecessary and annoying console concession.

Im glad people are enjoying it . Im sure its a great game when playing on console. The PC calls for a better experiance that why i will put my money on Grim Dawn, TL2, D3. Hope they reach consoles so they can see how a hack and slash is suposed to be developed. People say dont expect greatness , its a decent game for what it is . What it is is another dumbed down port. Its a hollowed out hack and slash. People still play diablo2 . I mean 18 hours Really ? I still Sacred 2 .