Dungeon siege 2 (PC)

[eastyy]

Had this game for about a week.I think its far far better game than before he is why i think its better

Story and characters are improved.Your team characters interact with each with comments.While not up to baldurs gate 2 quality its not bad.Story is better to though thought its nowhere near up to the best rpgs out there.

More sub quests more exploration.Think in the first act there is around 10 or 12 sub quests.Some are multi part to you have to come back to finish them of later.Quite a large game area plenty of places and hidden stuff to explore.

Item collecting feels good takes quite a bit..... well actually nearly all of diablo 2.With rare /unique/exceptional items.And even set items.

Also borrows the skill tree from diablo 2 though its more for improving things like weapon speed/weapon speciality and how good you are with certain magic such as nature.You do get skill moves such as the straigh shot with the archer which sends out a arrow that goes through everything in its path (enormously satisfying)

You can get creatures who you can feed with items they gradually evolve and soon become useful

Graphics seem improved to with far better enviorments

Saw the review for this game on gamecentral this morning where it says it plays the game itself.It is nowhere near as bad as the original.With skill moves and the ability to pause the game so you can select different spells or weapons its no worse than diablo 2 infact its a bit easier on the fingers you only click once to attack

Only complaint so far is that quite a few times i realise one of my party has been left behind not sure why it does that

[Bassman]

I liked the original so bought this when it came up for ?15 pre-played (I assume). I have been playing the game most of the weekend. Plays happily on my PC (2.66 GHz with Geforce MX4??. A little slowdown occasionally.

I like the game overall but there are some things I am not too keen on...

You always restart at the town. I soon figured that when you die it is better to revert to a save than just respawn because you leave your items with your body (though there is a mage who can retrieve your bodies for a price). Restarting there can be a problem as most of the time you have to cover ground you already covered if you died some distance from a Telelporter. At least to "pop back" to town by summoning a Teleported, to allow you to go there to sell items to make more room lets you return to the point you came from.

Having to pay to increase the size of your party is a pain. I am at four currently and want a fifth but need to become a veteran first (whatever that is).

My main character is now a Level 11 Shaman (Combat Magic Level 10, Nature Magic Level 6 and Melee Level 4). My second character mostly uses Ranged Combat though has a little Nature Magic. My third recruit looked to be a melee type but has actually gone on to use mostly Combat Magic. My fourth character came from the town. I really want a fifth so I can get a Pack Mule or maybe a Scorpion!

I think that boredom may be setting in at the moment. I would like to up the Melee level on the main character so may go through some of the earlier levels to improve on that.

[eastyy]

You can get scrolls that resurrect you allies where ever they die.I think anyone can use the resurrect scroll to.Four people to your party i think is the limit.Until you completed the game and replay on the harder difficulty (same as diablos nightmare and hell modes).

At the moment my characters are around the level 30-40.One character who is for melee one for ranged another for nature magic and another who is a melee/combat magic cross

I found a few set items several almost complete sets main character has a 5 out of 8 set items.Enhances him quite a bit

[Bassman]

I was talking about losing the whole party (seems to happen too often). I try to keep an eye on the gauges but it is so easy to get a hit that depletes a gauge that is over half full to lose the last character.

I only have two items from one set so far. I am only up to Chapter 5 Act 1. How far advanced are you. I think all my characters are Level 10 or 11.

I had to get my main character to level 6 Nature Magic to open a room at the Elven Shrine.

[eastyy]

Half way through act 3.To be honest i never had problems.I think through the entire game only one character at a time has died about 4 times.Have not lost all members of my party.

But then again i spent a fair amount of time exploring killing enemies and trying to find the best items.And doing as many sub quests as possible before continuing the main game.

Oh i should point out a lot of the subquests cannot be done there and then some quests from act 1 can only be finished after act 2 or during act 3

[Bassman]

I know it took a while to complete some of the sidequests. I must have missed a fair few of them by the sound of things.

The way I try to avoid losing all my party is to "activate" the enemy and then go away from them in the hope they attack singly or at least in small numbers.

At least if you do go over the same ground again there are a few enemies around, though not as many as the first time through.

[eastyy]

Keep an eye out for hidden switches.They open up new areas or lead to treasure (there marked as blue on the mini map)

Later on came across a hidden room which had a hidden switch and more hidden rooms with more switchs.Can sometimes lead to good things.I find with large groups of enemies the special attacks are essential like with archers attack that goes through all the enemies (now deals around 1000+ to each enemy but even early on it was powerful ) My combat mage special fireball attack that goes in a line and deals damage to any enemies close by.With a large group these attacks can decimate them.

[Bassman]

I really ought to take more notice of that mini-map. I think I will go through all the areas I have visited so far in case I missed any. Hopefully a good way to strengthen my Combat Mage by doing some melee against some weaker enemies. At least when I get back to my current position the mage ought to be somewhat stronger and less vulnerable to mobs!

[eastyy]

Well i have my main character upfront he is almost a tank now.I use the archer back to chip away at enemies.My warrior/combat mage i use melee for few strong enemies And as a mage when against lots of enemies.And i have my nature mage away casting healing spells and support spells when needed.

In act 1 there were a few areas and quests i missed the person who lives above the inn the woman who is looking for a item to remind her of her daughter.

When i found enemies were geting harder i just went back to exploring building up items and exp.

[Bassman]

The Level 14 monster at the Dryad Exile Colony was the worst I found so far. At least you get some decent items and gold from the "boss monsters".

I'll put the other members of the party into wait mode and give my lead character some melee practice on the early areas (and also look for areas I missed).

[eastyy]

Having played through most of the game one thing i cannot recommend enough is try to get a good defence against fire.Some bosses later can kill you in seconds unless you have a good fire defence.

[Bassman]

I'll have to upgrade the relevant Nature Magic then as I think one of those can improve your guard against fire.

[eastyy]

My warrior/mage started out as a warrior and around end of act 1 i decided to make him a mage.After that i gave him items to make him the best mage possible.Unfortunetly i noticed then you really sacrifice defense for a mage..Now i have him with heavy armour.And a complete jewel set which improves his mage abilitys.Almost the best of both worlds.

Really need a decent item to improve the defence of my nature magic user she can take very little damage.But at least she stays back from battles.

[Bassman]

Mine started out as a mage so has a high intelligence. Gradually gaining some decent armour. Fortunately my ranged combat character has some decent armour to start with. My Nature one (recruted last is not that strong though I am finidng the odd item to improve her.

[eastyy]

I have come across several places where you can only have access if you have a certain character in your party.

For example have you come across the mushroom circles?