Dungeon Siege 3: Review

Seven years after the previous Dungeon Siege 2, its sequel is out.
Dungeon Siege 3 immediately presents itself as a misleading title, a hack'n 'slash action that hides within it a small but important dose of RPG always sipped at clashes full of magic, barrel and full-screen special effects.

Among the real novelties of the game, there is also the possibility of tackle the entire campaign in co-op mode that, said as it must be said, it will be a boon for those people who do not want to do hours and hours of quests accompanied by companions guided by artificial intelligence.

Among the bad things instead, if you are a fan of the series you will know it well and surely you will have a moment of sadness, I point out that the dear donkey on duty has unfortunately abandoned us... evidently, when the software house (the title is programmed by Obsidian and no longer by Gas Powered Games), they did not confirm his contract. Let's begin.

WE ARE THE LEGIONARIES
The storyline behind Dungeon Siege 3 is slightly convoluted and tells the story of the X Legion, a group of peacemakers who defend the kingdom of Ehb with the sword. The Legion, however, had been unjustly blamed for the murder of the previous King of Ehb and therefore is attacked by a very powerful woman named Jayne Kassynder: the latter almost completely destroys the Legion..

The "almost" obviously refers to the heroes that we will play during the game and who have miraculously escaped the fury of Kassynder.

The real purpose of Dungeon Siege 3 will therefore be to erase the infamy of the Legion in having killed the King of the kingdom and to do this, it will be necessary to reform the Legion and to enlist as many people as possible to the cause.

In addition to the main plot, as we continue during the game, we will become aware of secondary facts which, however, could greatly influence the main plot although the real twists are always driven by the skilled pen of the Obsidian writers who they have created an eventful story with truly incredible craftsmanship.

Listening to the deeds of some hero who survived the battle or even talking with a poor wounded traveler is truly incredible given the maturity of the texts that Dungeon Siege 3 is equipped with: never banal or put there just to surround the main story.

BETTER ALONE OR IN THE COMPANY?
I immediately make a painful clarification to the singleplayer in question: after a few hours of play, boredom tends to take over.

But be careful, I'm not talking about boredom linked to history but I'm talking about boredom linked to having companions guided by the artificial intelligence of the title - Dungeon Siege 3 becomes a tad repetitive from the point of view of the attack patterns both with the enemies that populate the land of Ehb and with the end-level Bosses who always prove to have good or bad the same tactics of development (they take them , try to defend themselves with a special attack, resort to magic to call for help and eventually perish).

In the game it takes very little to get used to the commands and the constant struggle that accompanies the player, already after the first two hours and the advancement of five or six levels, you can try your hand at special attacks and see the good power of teammates at work in massacring the creatures that, for better or worse, we are now used to seeing in any self-respecting fantasy.

Among the really beautiful things, however, I must point out that the rise of the character's powers and his equipment, always remain quite in line with the enemies that tend to face ...we will never have a class really superior to the big bad monster or the end-of-level Boss: this determines a very important factor of the game, namely its difficulty.

Dungeon Siege 3 is not an easy game but not too complex, on a normal level and after four or five hours of play, you will meet people who, if faced in trouble, will make you fall like flies.. The real ugliness at the difficulty level lies mainly in the possibility of reviving wounded comrades by pressing a button for a few seconds ...this choice I must say that made me turn up my nose slightly but that is in line with the co-op factor of the title.

Closing this part, I point out that to start with the main campaign of the game, we will have to choose one of the four playable characters - the remaining ones become the companions of sqaudra guided by the computer.

We will have Lucas Montbarron (Warrior), the beautiful Anjali (a sort of Warrior Magician called Archon), Reinhart (the real Wizard) and finally Katarina (Witch and Amazon).

On the characters I can say that they all seem quite balanced to me although Reinhart (my choice for the game), is a tad weak in close combat while Anjali, seems to be very strong even in her first levels.

In the actual fight, all characters are equipped with two distinct attacks, the ability to offend opponents with special shots but also to parry attacks with the press of a button.

But here I have to admit a painful thing, the commands will not always be up to the situation and something that will make pcists turn up their noses, strangely there is NO menu to change the commands.

This leads me to think that the game was first designed for consoles and then converted for our platform.

Another sore point regarding the party instead, know that you will not be able to personally command the other characters but to act on them only to change weapons and clothing and assign special points.

It goes without saying that the artificial intelligence of the comrades is really good from the point of view of attacks and defense indeed, calm down, because I believe that in Dungeon Siege 3 there are the best companions led by an artificial intelligence that fortunately does not tend to commit suicide every 3 minutes during the clashes but that indeed manages to fold back or protect you when needed.

The life factor is very, very important, forget about automatic regeneration (open sky): life does not regenerate but you will have to acquire green spheres (if they leave them) from the bodies of killed enemies or rely on some healing spell.

Concluding the part of the gameplay, I point out that by leveling up, special points are unlocked that must be invested in the skills or abilities of each character.

Nothing so difficult indeed, just a simple reading of the power and with a click you can improve it.

The management of equipment and inventory is also very easy: with the first you choose the most performing equipment and replace it for each of the heroes, with the second we can discard (sell) or transform directly into gold, the things that we do not serve: Yes, you read that correctly, useless things immediately turn into gold pieces… not bad.

FANTASY MODESTO
The beauty of the fantasy genre, I will always say, is seeing what they have come up with in modeling a non-existent kingdom.

The land of Ehb I must admit that it is not the best in terms of fantasy but rather that we find ourselves in the hands of settings not too different from the classic fantasy: enchanted forests, ancestral swamps, cold and dark dungeons inhabited by giant spiders and so on.

From a technical point of view, however, you can't really complain - just as the heaviness of the graphics engine is almost illusory: everything to the maximum the game runs which is a beauty and also has loading times that just touch the second and a half of waiting.

All the characters are well modeled though they don't push very hard with regards to details or textures. Even the faces are not too convincing but they can still be looked at.

Also nice are the special side effects and even more the general lighting - there are animated dungeons of green or purple light that will give you the creeps. Among the ugliness, however, I find the management of the camera quite useless, both as regards the distant isometric and the possibility of approaching the character slightly: both views leave no room for the panorama and indeed heavily obscure the entry into the field of the opponents that will be seen arriving only at the last moment.

The audio part is quite evocative with thrilling music, melancholic or perfectly in line with the situation on the screen.

Good audio effects dedicated to various spells or fights.

The game is translated into español but only as regards the menus and dialogues, the voices in the films remain in English.

DUNGEON VICTORIES 3
From the point of view of pure fun, the new work of the Obsidian house, gets into gear right away but tends to repeat his formula after a few hours of play and I must say that this factor is a little bad for this genre of games which instead should go up a level slightly to always leave you speechless.

However, it must be said that the title offers a wide variety of clashes, enemies, Bosses and scenarios to be seen. Unfortunately, the exploration was not conceived as open and even here many people might turn up their noses as the game is more oriented towards hack'n'slash mechanics than pure RPG.

It must be said that a good artificial intelligence of the companions, a very mature story and dialogues and a modest graphic component, make Dungeon Siege 3 a game recommended for those who may have let slip some fantasy too many.

Final grade: 7,4 / 10