Dungeon Siege 3 - Preview Roundup #2

The whole fantasy setting here is absolute, with sporadically placed villages, forests, marshland, narrow ridge-lines over-looking valleys below from up on high and those all-important dungeons. My escapade took me through a few desolate villages and encampments before coming across a massive, derelict mansion. The mansion itself was unassuming, but being the exploratory gamer I am, I found a mass of hidden goodies and rooms, and a locked door that required a key... oh how it had me chomping at the bit for that key. But I was pressed into a more main-story oriented direction by my Ubisoft guide to get the most out of the demo, but damn if I don’t want to get back and find that key.

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Players can choose to take part in new sub-quests given by villagers, or ignore them. One quest saw us volunteering to locate a mysterious creature said to be living in a nearby lake, with the aim of retrieving a tooth, as proof of its existence. Doing this successfully will grant you a reward should you choose to accept it. Decline said rewards and you’ll be honoured for your generosity. Your reputation stays with you throughout. Perform negative actions, and villagers are less likely to help you out in future.

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Slaying foes fills up your focus meter, and using special abilities expends said focus -- so combat is a constant back-and-forth between regular combo attacks and abilities such as Shield Pummel or a Sword Charge. Each class has two stances that utilize distinct abilities (the sword-and-shield stance obviously can do the Shield Pummel, while I need to be in the two-handed-sword stance to use the Sword Charge). To add some variety, each special ability has two distinct proficiencies that you can develop -- such as a Shield Pummel that stuns foes versus one that knocks them flat on their bottoms.
Again, it sounds simple and rudimentary, but that probably helps a lot in simply making the game work. Dungeon Siege 3 already has its gameplay loop and fundamentals feeling more solid than previous Obsidian games, and that's before I get to mess around with other classes, multiplayer, more abilities, or branching dialogue/story choices. At the moment, compared to other times I've played Obsidian games in a similar state, Dungeon Siege 3 simply looks and feels better.

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