Dungeon Siege Preview

First, it was stated that Dungeon siege would have a skill-based class system, allowing the player to gain certain skills with items he uses. The three main skills are: fighter, magic, and archer skills. The player will have a choice of recruiting new characters during the game, which will also possess upgradeable skills. People who prefer Diablo style single-player mode can play with one character only, in which case the game will be much more difficult and less amusing, of course. Or, on the other hand, if you aim specifically at enhancing the skills of one character, quests will also keep simple so you can concentrate on more pleasurable things like venturing into deep dungeons, slowly advancing your character, and chopping ugly monsters.

So far we know that there are about eighty types of monsters, and there's no telling how many there will be when the development comes to an end this summer. Some interestingly convincing AI points have been revealed, like the fact that the monsters can sometimes take the weapon of a dead party member and go hide somewhere with it, so then you have to hunt down that monster and re-possess that great weapon. Since I mentioned the AI in the game, there's also the idea of giving the mule (the poor over-burdened animal, which is supposed to carry your items) an order to head back to town with a party member. If I understood this correctly, the party member is going to leave automatically and find his own way through the environment.

More details have been revealed in these few months. For instance, recognition of opponents is gonna be similar to Diablo. It will be enough for you to pass with the cursor over a monster and a simple readout will appear on the status bar, displaying the monster's name, damage, and how many of this breed you eliminated so far. Of course, the standard way of knowing how much damage you've done will be the blood that's going to spill out once you hack'n'slash it.

After this, a few more points were presented concerning the level editor. Next to the player creating his own storyline (thank the Lord for that) you will even have the possibility of creating new spells and other special effects (It seems that Chris is pretty with increasing the replay value in this way). Also, you will have the option to swap pre-defined texture sets and change entire environment from a desert to a snow covered set, which will make outdoor/indoor movement very quick and practically effortless. Speaking of movement, an effort was put into making a small map, which will be visible during the game and will show you your surroundings.

As for the graphic engine, besides the fact that it allows a virtually endless environment to be created, it also provides a 360-degree zoomable camera. More realistic details had not been left out, like smoking chimneys, changeable weather conditions, and other environmental details (bridges hanging over infinitely deep chasms and so on). Another interesting thing that was mentioned concerns the so-called vertex animation system. This system produces smooth and lifelike character motion, which is supposed to work perfectly with game's basic engine. Also, the ability to explore regions 'from the highest mountain to the deepest dungeon' is very praise-worthy, especially in a continuous environment. The main system requirements may be something like a p2-333 with a TNT card or equivalent. Since there's still a lot of coding to be done, this configuration is likely to change.

Practically infinite terrains will make Dungeon Siege one of the most alluring action FRPG's on the market. Nevertheless, plenty of work still awaits the boys down at Gas Powered Games. Knowing their reputation, we can estimate that they'll make one hell of game.

Well, the best of luck to them. They still have a lot of time, I just hope that the great effort they're putting into this project produces equally great results.