Dungeon Siege 3 - Review @ Suicide Girls

The first full web review for Dungeon Siege 3 seems to be up at the Suicide Girls Blog. Before we take a quote, SG is a softcore scene-girls nudie site, so don't get lost on the way to the actual review. The article is generally positive and here's a snip on bugs:

Fortunately, from my experience so far, having played through this game twice as different characters while doing every side quest and vacuuming up every bit of coin and loot I could lay my hands on, it appears Obsidian have maintained their winning tradition in the writing department, while also delivering a solid and highly polished technical experience. Playing the PC version, I experienced absolutely zero significant issues: no crashes, no unfinishable quests, no pathing weirdness, and no corrupted saves — even though I never passed a save point without using it. It also ran smoothly and looked gorgeous on maxed settings even on my fairly mid-range PC.

More information.

Unfortunately, they also state this:

Within seconds of booting this game for the first time, I knew that hardcore PC gamers and especially fans of the old Dungeon Siegegames would instinctively hate it. It cannot be said clearly enough that this is a console game. The PC version might have higher resolution textures and other graphical whizzbangs, but otherwise it appears to be exactly the same as the Xbox 360 version, right down to the menus and UI.

Which is kind of what I expected, given people's issues with the demo

I might buy it, but mostly just to support Obsidian.

I am a bit surprised that there are RPG reviews on SG.

And it's actually a good review, though he could have gone into more detail regarding the combat. While the comparison with X-Men Legends is understandable, I find DS3's combat to be a huge improvement over both the X-Men Legends series and the Marvel Ultimate Alliance titles. I feel that Obsidian should have made the inspiration for the combat more clear to PC gamers, this could have saved them from a lot of the pre-release bashing.

Although I am glad to hear that, for once, there are little technical difficulties in an Obsidian game. I hope DS3 turns out to be a success for them.

It really does look and feel like a console game. I willl pick it up for a rainy day. I still wait for the day when a hardcore , topdown , openworld RPG comes out for PC only. GRIM DAWN will desroy this game.

Console Game = no buy.

I save a lot of money these days…

Sigh. What to do.

I predordered the game but i fell into the tempation of pirating this game 10 days before release.

One major problem. The game is only 10 hours long. So i feel bad about paying $50 for this game when it should be atmost $25. There is little replay value in the game, however there si absolutely no grinding required for this game, there are also no set items either, which my friends who aslo played it says is a good thing because it makes other items obsolete.

That said it was a fun romp. Hope that helps people. i am still paying fo rit since i finished it, however i am not happy.

Sad to hear about how short it is, not good at all. I have it preordered for the pc as well and still look forward to it mostly, but wish it had more differentiating loot, as all the screenshots of the different armors look the same. Is this true as well in your opinion?

There is a lot of different loot as you progress. They however didnt do much to differentiate the looks o fthe armors even though they look different in the item view.

Another game that could and should have been so much more. What is going on with the production of the high profile games when the developers put soooo much hype in it. Is it the economy, no love in the product, is it developers are only pushing what consoles can handle ???

Thanks for warning Damian! I am not prepared to spend 50 bucks on 10 hours game. Will wait until price drops to more acceptable level.

The controls were made for a console so was the ui and inventory. Everything I said about the demo. The game is also linear and short. The graphics aren't bad to me either is the writing. Another obsidian red mark.

If I refused to buy games that were designed to run on consoles I wouldn't be playing much. Thankfully I am not picky enough to care really, as long as the game is good.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
If I refused to buy games that were designed to run on consoles I wouldn't be playing much. Thankfully I am not picky enough to care really, as long as the game is good.

When a game is optimized for consoles and doesn't even bother to map the controls right on the pc that is a problem to me. Its enjoyable but it still lacks something like every other game they make. Its a shame.

Originally Posted by Fenris
Console Game = no buy.

I save a lot of money these days…

Agreed, as do I.

Good review. The game actually sounds better than I expected.

I'll probably pick it up tomorrow and play through it during the weekend.

Been playing it recently, and the resolution of the characters are so low its blurry and hard to even make them out. Also if you dislike follow this path and only this path with a few dead ends scattered about, you'll hate it. I havn't yet gotten to any area like an open field or massive cave/dungeon like DS2 had plenty of. Its all very short levels with extremely tight paths and the controls along with a wonky camera make it even worse!

Very clearly a console game horribly ported to PC…as shoddy as it is, they should never have spent the money on a port to begin with. Honestly it should never have been made really…its that bad!


Its really sad to see such great series' being ruined, that had far better resolutions and core designs from years ago, and on much older tech, that far surpass the dumbed down, blurry and extremely shoddy gameplay they release today. What is happening to the damned gaming industry!?!?!?


Oh yeah, and another thing just come to mind that annoys me to no end are the conversions. The camera is always just over your characters shoulder {kinda a side profile view} pointing at the person talking, but it never ever shows your character when they're talking and now that I think about it I don't recall the camera ever moving period…its fixed in that position for every talky bit! Its just so bad…

As a standalone little snack, it's quite decent and polished. However, I suspect it will be forgotten soon after you're done with it.

Dungeon Siege 2, however, is miles ahead of this in every way - except for the dated visuals.

Originally Posted by Khalus
Been playing it recently, and the resolution of the characters are so low its blurry and hard to even make them out. Also if you dislike follow this path and only this path with a few dead ends scattered about, you'll hate it. I havn't yet gotten to any area like an open field or massive cave/dungeon like DS2 had plenty of. Its all very short levels with extremely tight paths and the controls along with a wonky camera make it even worse!

Very clearly a console game horribly ported to PC…as shoddy as it is, they should never have spent the money on a port to begin with. Honestly it should never have been made really…its that bad!


Its really sad to see such great series' being ruined, that had far better resolutions and core designs from years ago, and on much older tech, that far surpass the dumbed down, blurry and extremely shoddy gameplay they release today. What is happening to the damned gaming industry!?!?!?


Oh yeah, and another thing just come to mind that annoys me to no end are the conversions. The camera is always just over your characters shoulder {kinda a side profile view} pointing at the person talking, but it never ever shows your character when they're talking and now that I think about it I don't recall the camera ever moving period…its fixed in that position for every talky bit! Its just so bad…

Is your insight based on the demo, a review copy or on less savoury means?

Regarding the review it actually sounds like its the kind of snack game with a bit of Obsidianesque storytelling that I was expecting. I will have to check out the demo if I can deal with the controls. Usually I am flexible in that regard.

Originally Posted by Damian Mahadevan

One major problem. The game is only 10 hours long.

Capital piece of information. 10 hours are really short. Thanks.

It brought to mind classic arcade beat-’em-ups like Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara or console games like X-men: Legends. The joy of this game is in the gameplay, which I found rewarding in and of itself, and not especially in the roleplaying.

Makes the stuff clear. Redeemable quality.

Personally, I found the friendly AI impressive. My counterpart used all his or her abilities well and was genuinely useful, doing a significant part of the damage and saving my ass several times. A good thing, too, because unlike previous Dungeon Siege games, apart from picking gear and talents you have absolutely zero control over your party member in combat.

Is it true? Does this game provide with partners able to pull their weight? How much is the killings ratio between you and the partner? How able is the partner when it comes to cleaning the path?

Originally Posted by Khalus
Oh yeah, and another thing just come to mind that annoys me to no end are the conversions. The camera is always just over your characters shoulder {kinda a side profile view} pointing at the person talking, but it never ever shows your character when they're talking and now that I think about it I don't recall the camera ever moving period…its fixed in that position for every talky bit! Its just so bad…

I can confirm that from the demo.
It strongly reminded me of Dragon Age 1, though.

And, as I have said before, the UI screams with every bit "console !!!" - whereas the actual gameplay doesn't do that. It plays rather like a standard action RPG - keep in mind that I have very few experiences with actio-RPGs - and once you get used to the WASD thing, you might be able to use it quite well. At the beginning, though, it is something you must become used to, which means : lots of training. An tutorial is imho definitively missing here.

But everything - and I REALLY mean EVERTHING UI-related just screams "console" - everything UI-related is simplified so much it isn't an RPG anymore (my personal impression) - the inventory - for example - reminded me very much of that of Jade Empire. Items aren't displayed anymore. They are just represented by symbols.

Armor and weapons, however, are still there in the inventory - but you get - to put it extremely - 10.000 same-looking swords, short-swords, sables etc. with each one having a different name … Same goes for any other kind of armor.
The "different names", however, are all according to the prefix-/suffix-system of modern action-RPGs (interesting that "old school" RPGs still don't use a similar system; this seems to me merely limited to action RPGs).

I found the in-game graphics very good - but on the other hand I had put everything on maximum and the gamma value higher than the game wanted me to.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Is it true? Does this game provide with partners able to pull their weight? How much is the killings ratio between you and the partner? How able is the partner when it comes to cleaning the path?

In the demo I had only 1 fight when my character - Mountbarron - died and the female fire elemental battled against the enemies - it was fairly impressive (apart from the fact that I couldn't see much of it because the camera focused ion "my" dead character and stubbornly refused to show my "companion") how she acted - and on to of all she came back to "my" character and she revived him !

I found that fairly impressive - but please keep in mind that this was nothing but a single fight.