Dungeon Siege 3 - Quick Look @ Giant Bomb
 

Obsidian designer Nathaniel Chapman joins Giant Bomb for one of their video Quick Looks at Dungeon Siege III. They play the X360 version, and as usual, the video shows a live play session. The video shows 1 hour long, so I haven't watched it all but it certainly gives a good look at the game.
More information.

I didn't know this game was Steampunk so now I have more reasons to play it. I like that there is 3 different sections that you put points into per level up. This game seems to be much better then the previous Dungeon Siege games and since this is one of only a handful of Steampunk rpgs I am going to be playing this.

Think this is the best video so far of the game in terms of getting a feel for how the action plays like. Like other action-RPGs, it looks a bit repetitive but I must say I am pretty surprised at how well they seem to have meshed a sort of action-y, twitch experience with decent depth and tactics in the RPG system. Abilities look fun and varied.

Not sure if I want to watch this since I know I am buying the game anyway. What's the spoiler level?

The first 8 minutes are about levelling up and gun-girl class. At ~9 minutes there was a conversation and I stopped watching.

Watched the first 30 minutes or so and it all looks rather boring with generic monster designs, lackluster animations and surprisingly little exploration. It feels more like DS1 than DS2, and considering that the sequel was so much better than the tedious first game it's disappointing to see Obsidian taking inspiration from the least compelling title in the series.

As far as action RPGs go, I think I prefer Dragon Age 2 (which of course has no co-op, but that wouldn't be part of my definition of "PC RPG" anyway).

I watched 12 or so minutes but then it got too spoilery. It looks fun though and I love the visual design. My big concern right now is how console focused that UI is. I hope they either have a completely different UI for the PC or that they allow me to use my Xbox controller.

I doubt that the UI will be completely different for PC (sadly). They have confirmed that you can use a controller though, and you can play co-op locally on the PC that way (one on the keyboard/mouse and another using the controller).

Lol I haven't seen anything that wouldn't work well on a PC, perhaps you can explain what won't work?

I agree the visual design is quite noteworthy. But it's not a game for me, too much multiplayer oriented. But for the visual and curiosity I'll pick it if there's a significant sale. And no need play it to know DA2 is hugely better for me, despite all DA2 weakness.

looks like a generic sequel to a generic game

oh wait its made by obsidian.

nothing unusual then.

Well for one thing everything is fucking huge. More importantly though are things like the 9 "hotkeyed" powers only showing three at a time, depending on which button you are holding. He even says in the video it's to replace a standard 10 slot hotbar "like you would have on a PC game." So the question is, will the PC version have that hotbar?

If I have to hold shift to change 1-3 into functioning as 4-6 that's a huge no-go for me. I would rather use a controller.

I could potentially see that as a good thing for the PC. I have played a number of games where the UI and text does not scale so when you play at higher resolutions the game looks great but the text and UI are really tiny.

It's especially troublesome if you try to play with hdmi out to a TV set because the tiny text is near impossible to read at a distance even with a very large TV.

Well, PC UIs are made to be seen up close, that is why they are small. Of course you want them larger if viewed from far away on a TV set, that's why console UIs are huge and why I said it looks consoley.

Well that is true but I have played some games that even up close the UI was too small when run at very high resolutions which does make the games look nicer if you have the hardware to pull it off.

Older games are particularly problematic with this since I'd imagine they hadn't much considered running at that high of a resolution when they made it, but surprisingly some newer ones have this issue too. Sometimes mods can help though, which is always one advantage PC games have. If you don't like something chances are someone else didn't either and made a mod for it.

Demiath: Actually if you pay attention then you would see plenty of potential for exploration (especially in the city) and you can't go by a linear walkthrough of a specific part of the game as indication of what exploration ability is in the game.

PS. This didn't look generic at all and how could a Steampunk rpg be generic in the first place since there are very few in existence.

Well, I watched about 30min of it, then it suddenly ended and wouldn't continue, just kept restarting…so I gave up on the rest.

One thing that really bothers me is the lack of open areas to explore, everything I saw was just follow this incredibly narrow path, and kill whatever gets in your way. The factory appears as though it opened a little bit, but was more just a bunch of smallish rooms and paths close together.

In all honesty, as games are getting better and better looking, if the only way to keep them running with decent framerates, are to force the player through these highly restictive paths with no exploration; then I'd rather stick to playing 2D indie games that are reminiscent of my NES and SNES years!

I'm still kinda interested in this game, since I enjoyed the prior two, but its going to be an iffy purchase. I just hope it doesn't end up being a total waste of dough like Alpha Protocol was…

It looks like a lot of pretty lights flashing around in different colors during battles, almost like a pinball machine. To me it holds no appeal. If I want a game like this I'll wait for Diablo 3.

I've watched a few videos of this and it looks incredible generic (not that Obsidian usually do a good job with the art / world design..)

Mmm I didn't quoted this one, if your supposition are right then I agree with you, if it's just a matter of visual but the PC version allows setup a direct shortkey to any, then it's not a real problem but a minor discomfort.

That's the only point isn't it? Or you have more? (the "fucking huge" point is well… I don't care and don't consider it).

I ask because have on start highlight one wrong point instead of a global reject, that would have been more clear, more fair, and more out of the pathetic console vs pc war.

To be clear, the video show me a game I don't want play but if I get it at a small price. But I agree with you on those points.

The look isn't generic at all, and someone that get lost in a level (during the video) means it's not linear. But also that doesn't mean the exploration is good. Seeing many opening allowing guess and find the right paths or hidden places, possibly it could not be that bad from the exploration point of view.

We saw all the multiplayer crap in this video, ie rush forward to next enemy and next bounty, and some pointless chit chat between players, no care to dialogs and story, so perhaps no care to information and hints, no care of characters (I notice they make comments), and so on. Ie it seems a standard multiplayer crap but it's hard from this video to say that this will be a single player crap. My bet from this video is it will be mainly because of a lack of combat diversity. Obsidian are used to not be good designers of fights (I mean fights not fight system) if I remember well.

It's not about a "pathetic console vs. PC war." I am one of the least likely PC gamers you will ever find bashing consoles. When a UI looks terrible for the PC though I am going to mention it, sorry if that bugs you. Everything about the UI in that video screams analog pad, so I hope the PC version is different.

But the UI look cool, that's the problem of such hyper reaction. But ok perhaps the stance design, a game design not an UI design, has been influenced by the consoles controller.

the entire game is not Steampunk. The city of Stonebridge only has the industrial theme.

Is everyone here an alt of Yahtzee or something?