dteowner
Shoegazer
Perhaps it was burnout since by that time I had played the crap out of DS2, but I did not enjoy the expansion much and ended up quitting long before I completed it.
My thoughts on Dungeon Siege 3 after completing it
- Thread starter Maylander
- Start date
Thanks for the review. A decent and fair review from an RPGamer. I agree with you about the similarities between Nox and DS3. When I played DS3 first time, Nox came to my mind as well. Also DS3 have some similarities (especially controls) between BG: Dark Alliance 1-2, two Norrath games in the PS2 (all of them uses same engine). Try Dark Alliance games on a Xbox or PS2 (You can't play Dark Alliance games on PC with the PS2 emulator PCSX2 yet). They have much more integrity in the story and characters than Norrath games.
But one thing that I don't agree with you are the graphics. Actually it's not the best looking hack&slash in the PC, it's not good at all. IMHO Titan Quest, which is a five year old game, has better graphics than this one. Textures looks all blurry in the game. They are low quality (because of the graphical capacity of the consoles) and they tried to conceal this by adding lots of bloom to the game (like Two Worlds 2 and Fable 3). Some of you may like it but I hate bloom and there's no way to turn it off. I prefer sharper graphics with low quality textures rather than a blurry screen.
I also like the notes and books that scattered all around the world, the texts that appears when my character is near an object. Weirdly it remembers me the good old Infinity Engine games and it really increased the immersion into the game for me.
But one thing that I don't agree with you are the graphics. Actually it's not the best looking hack&slash in the PC, it's not good at all. IMHO Titan Quest, which is a five year old game, has better graphics than this one. Textures looks all blurry in the game. They are low quality (because of the graphical capacity of the consoles) and they tried to conceal this by adding lots of bloom to the game (like Two Worlds 2 and Fable 3). Some of you may like it but I hate bloom and there's no way to turn it off. I prefer sharper graphics with low quality textures rather than a blurry screen.
I also like the notes and books that scattered all around the world, the texts that appears when my character is near an object. Weirdly it remembers me the good old Infinity Engine games and it really increased the immersion into the game for me.
Thrasher
Wheeee!
Maybe I need to rethink playing a Dungeon Siege (1 or 2)? If DTE liked it, I should give it go. Need to look into it more. Not sure about DS3., though...
dteowner
Shoegazer
DS2 is far superior to DS1, by all reports (I never did get around to playing DS1, so I can't say myself). If you're going to take a spin, I'd start with DS2 and then go back to DS1 if it "clicks" for you. I think DS2 works best for "complete-ists", so put some fresh gas in your map mower and take the time to complete everything (which will entail swapping party members in and out). 
Gah! I've got so many new games sitting on the shelf collecting dust and all this DS2 talk has me thinking bad thoughts…
Gah! I've got so many new games sitting on the shelf collecting dust and all this DS2 talk has me thinking bad thoughts…
Welcome to the club.
dteowner
Shoegazer
Why do we do this to ourselves? It's not like I've got a bunch of "meh" games waiting, either. I've got numerous games that I actually want to play, good games, games that have been blessed by people whose opinions I trust. We whine all the time about the death of gaming and how nobody's making good games anymore, and yet we've got this huge backlog. Something there doesn't quite add up.
Here's how I see this whole situation. My wife has shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. Our closet, garage, and every other storage space is overflowing with shoes. Shoes for every occassion, and non-occassion. Shoes for indoors, for outdoors, dressy shoes and casual shoes. Shoes for a party and shoes for the library. Shoes for shopping for shoes. Shoes for just showing off. You get the idea.
This, therefore, creates all the reasoning and justification, not only for myself, but for all you, to buy all the games you can afford. Whether you play them or not is beside the point. We're all addicts here.
Hahaha, brilliant post!
D
DArtagnan
Guest
Lots of new games, yeah, but deep down inside - we know these flashy new games just can't measure up - don't we
I barely escaped...
Had it pre-ordered, played the demo and decided I'd rather have STEAM credit than pay $49 for a (for me) lack luster experience...And I'm actually not very critical when it comes to games. This just irritated me time after time with the inept design choices, and insane counter intuitive control scheme for PC (guess we'll see what the patch changes) then when I found out how relatively short the game is, it was a no brainer for me to just walk away from it.
Had it pre-ordered, played the demo and decided I'd rather have STEAM credit than pay $49 for a (for me) lack luster experience...And I'm actually not very critical when it comes to games. This just irritated me time after time with the inept design choices, and insane counter intuitive control scheme for PC (guess we'll see what the patch changes) then when I found out how relatively short the game is, it was a no brainer for me to just walk away from it.
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Lots of new games, yeah, but deep down inside - we know these flashy new games just can't measure up - don't we
I still haven't played some fairly recent games that by most accounts are pretty good. Dragon Knight Saga, and Two Worlds II come to mind.
Dragon Knight Saga is at least very good, whereas Two World II is barely average.
Definitely not the same level of quality.
Most accounts must´ve had a bad day or something
.
DoctorNarrative
Patroling Written Words
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Lots of new games, yeah, but deep down inside - we know these flashy new games just can't measure up - don't we
Games today are much like games 10-20 years ago… some are good, some are bad, some are just bland. Sometimes you buy bland games because you love the genre and you love to consume.
Despite loving the classics I don't agree we suffer a dearth of quality today. The experiences are certainly different, but the quality level isn't really. Remember that when looking back to the 90's and such we focus on the classics, not the crappy games no one cares to remember. 20 years from now I will look back on Fallout: New Vegas, Risen, Mass Effect 2 and others with fond memories and likely forget all the crap that comes out today. People in 2030 will be talking about how much better games in 2010 were as well I would assume.
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Dragon Knight Saga is at least very good, whereas Two World II is barely average.
Definitely not the same level of quality.
Most accounts must´ve had a bad day or something
Two Worlds II has been somewhat of an anomaly regarding the opinions I've heard about it. You're not the first person to tell me it's only average, but I've also seen quite a few people rave about it. I wish there was a playable demo I could try.
I'm only about 6 hrs in on Two Worlds II and I'm really enjoying it, in most regards more so than the first, though I did enjoy the completely open world before. IMO is not even in the same category of DS3, has more of a traditional RPG feel to it than an ARPG which is where I place DS3.
A much more satisfying experience vs my time playing the DS3 demo (which sorry was not impressed), thus far...
But to each their own
If it looks interesting to you I'd suggest giving it a try…
Regards
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This thread makes we want to play DS 2 again. I never completed it (got distracted by other shinies), but enjoyed what I saw of it. Thought I might be able to get a budget priced version to add to my Steam account, rather than hunt around for the install disc. Turns out Steam will let me have DS 2 for $55, but I can buy DS 3 for $49.
It's all three DS games for $55 actually. Steam doesn't sell DS2 by itself.
D
DArtagnan
Guest
I don't think there's any way to measure quality on an objective scale - as we've already been through.
My point is, basically, that my experience with modern games is - generally - VERY different than my experience is with classic games. Modern games just don't measure up. There are exceptions, obviously.
Whether that's about me or the games, or whatever combination, is almost impossible to say.
All I know is that the vast majority of games today can't measure up to the quality of the past.
But, one should keep in mind that the quality of the past isn't some kind of infinite spring of perfection. We often had to wait months and months between the quality.
I think it should be said, though, that from ~1990 - 1996 - there was an abundance of games that represent the peak of game design, from my point of view.
A peak that hasn't really been approach since then. Games have been released that may be just as good, but rarely because of any improvement in game design. More improvements in production values and polish.
I guess what I'm saying is that I miss the times of innovation within my favorite genres. I'm not talking about Braid/Portal or games like that. I'm talking about RPGs, turn-based tactical, grand strategy, and others.
I have a hard time seeing ANY genuine improvement in game design. I've seen a zillion enhancements in visuals, interfaces, or "streamlining for the masses".
That doesn't mean there aren't any superb games being made.
Gothic can easily be argued to innovate over games like Ultima 7 - for instance, but I think that's more about the visual approach than the core design. In many ways, the core design is inferior. But it's different enough to represent evolution on some scale.