Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna Preview

As far as RPG hack-and-slashers go, Dungeon Siege is still pretty much the 800-lb gorilla of the genre. We finally pinned down the lads at Microsoft to grant us an audience with Mad Doc Software CEO Dr. Ian Lane Davis, DDS (not - Six), who was in the mood to share the scoop on the expansion pack, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna. Reading through the Q&A offers a better insight into innovations that are expected to arrive with the expansion pack. We got the lowdown on the storyline, NPC's, the variety of enemies, and other improvements. Witness the flow of information, and tremble.

Action Trip: How far are you guys away from completing the expansion pack?

This fine fellow here reminds of an Ent I once knew.

I've designed it myself, but there's only one flaw...

Ian Davis: As of 30 minutes ago, we completed our Beta build of Legends of Aranna. This leaves just a few months of testing and polish. The game should be on store shelves in mid November.

AT: We understand you and your team took extra care in developing the storyline this time around. Tell us more about the story and how it relates to the gameplay in Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna.

ID: We did a few things to enhance the characters, the storytelling, and the story itself.

First, we introduced a few recurring NPC's so that the player would have more continuity in both the good guys and the bad guys. We also gave the party members unique voices that acknowledge movement and attack orders in order to give them more personality.

Next, we created a layered story with two main storylines. On the top level, you need to defeat the Shadowjumper, an ancient evil that is seeking revenge against all humans, and in particular against the Utraeans, an ancient race of human mages who once ruled all the lands of Aranna. But you are also trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to your parents, who preceded you in a long line of heroes and who disappeared twenty years before fighting another great evil.

With the two major storylines we create an exciting RPG adventure, but also personalize it. Along the way you'll find NPC's and letters and journals that tell the story of your parents and the ancient empire of the Utraeans. You'll also find pieces of the equipment your parents brought with them on their final quest along with explanations of how they lost each piece.

AT: This is probably a weird question, but does Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna tie into Dungeon Siege 2 in any way?

ID: The original Dungeon Siege, Dungeon Siege 2, and Legends of Aranna all share the same world and its history. Each adventure explains more of the rich backstory and each one fills in part of the timeline of the world, but each one is also a stand-alone adventure with a unique hero and story.

AT: Next to the Zaurask and the Hassat, what other enemies will players run into throughout the game?

ID: There are over a hundred new foes to fight in Legends of Aranna. Some of my favorites are the Lost Queen, the Rune Casters, and the Krakbone. The Lost Queen is a boss monster who was once an Utraean "enemy of the state" who was tortured and magically merged with spiders and Mucosa. She was to be used as a weapon, but when the Utraean Empire fell, she remained imprisoned for hundreds of years, and has just been set free by the Shadowjumper. The Rune Casters are mages who summon Rune Guardians to fight against you; it makes for an interesting tactical decision about whether to handle the Rune Guardian standing right in front of you or to go for the Rune Caster who keeps summoning more Guardians. And the Great Krakbone is a gigantic water creature whose tentacles can come springing out of the water from well beyond normal bow range, so approach with care!

AT: In terms of visuals, have you guys made any improvements?

Look out! There's an Eskimo behind you. HA! I'm not falling for that one!

That's what I call a neatly packed inventory.

ID: The Dungeon Siege engine was made in a very expandable way, and we've taken the accumulated knowledge of the GPG team and been able to pump up the environments and the effects to create a really beautiful new world with lots of new terrain, new objects, new & dazzling spells, and new creatures.

AT: Can you reveal more details about the new multiplayer?

ID: The best thing about it is the ability to save your quest state. That makes it much easier to complete the whole adventure.

AT: Altogether, how many hours of gameplay will the expansion pack offer?

ID: The main single player Legends of Aranna adventure is between 15 and 20 hours of play time, depending on how many side areas you explore. But you can also play through the whole world in MP. Additionally, Legends of Aranna comes bundled with the original Dungeon Siege and you can play the original game, or you can even play the original adventure using the new expansion executable, thereby gaining the new features and new spells and equipment. Old hands and newcomers to the Dungeon Siege world will both get LOTS of game to play.

AT: Are you happy with the enhancements you made so far? Is there anything else you'd like to change at this point that might improve the gameplay even further?

ID: We're pretty pleased with the enhancements we've made in Legends of Aranna. We feel that we added a lot of features (including a fair amount of UI mods) that help expose more of the depth of Dungeon Siege more easily to the players. It's a big world with lots of spells, monsters, and things to do, and we've focused on making it as accessible as possible.

AT: Feel free add more details about the game if you wish.

ID: I'd really like to point out how great it has been to work with Chris Taylor and the GPG team. The Dungeon Siege engine and toolset is about the best we've ever seen. It was easy to jump in and create new content from day one, and the code is extremely well organized. This is probably why the DS mod community is growing so big, and we look forward to continuing to work with the tools and engine in the future.