I played through the demo and I agree. But the size of the demo doesn't matter to me, as I have a fast connection. However, what I did find troubling about the gigantic size of Dungeon Siege II demo was that the folks at gas powered games weren't able to exemplify much change from the original. In short, based on the demo, I don't buy their promises.

When DS was released the game was graphically ahead of its time to an extent and was complimented for that. Now with DS II, the situation is vice versa because GPG didn't bother to come up with a new graphics engine. Thus, the game should be criticized or receive a lower score graphically for being below the bar. Graphics have been covered enough though. Moving on.

At 1024x768 resolution the exotic fonts were too small resulting in unreadable text. I couldn't find an option to increase the font size as I could in Neverwinter Nights. I found the game to be hard on my eyes and I don't want to read cheesy dialog with my head a foot away from the monitor. Also, the viewable area was too limited. I would have liked to at least see the top of trees on a regular basis. This triggered a memory of a chronic crick I once had in my neck that prevented me from looking up.

Did Chris Taylor think that having you right click on enemies numerous times (I realize you can hold it down) instead of auto combat would make the combat "much more focused?" A focused awkward click-fest, I see. All they seemed to achieve here was unnecessary awkwardness, which forced more "focus." Nice try but no thanks, Chris. Poor camera angles also contributed to the awkward combat. I quickly switched back to the original DS combat controls. To compensate for enemies attacking my weaker helper, I simply retreated then advanced. Retreat advance, retreat advance. 212...212.

I didn't see vast improvements in the AI either. Sometimes enemies would run into the wall instead of attacking me. Most NPCs just stood around or stuck to what they were doing, *nothing* so there was no apparent improvement there either. And If there were any ambushes, I didn't notice.

Actually there was sort of one ambush I should mention. I thought it would be neat to take cover behind this huge boulder, cause the game was getting repetitive. Well instead of cover I found myself standing there like a dunce as arrow after arrow passed through the solid rock piercing me. Apparently they wanted to trick me into thinking I could take cover behind rocks. It worked.

I found some of the new implementations to be nonsensical, unnecessary or just gap-fillers. For instance, the inability to add more than one character to your party without paying for an extra "slot" was absurd. I skipped that, selected only the archer and went on with the demo. Also, I wasn't really fond of the whole pet thing either. A pet that EATS your extra weapons and stuff? Steel swords sound yummy... Come on now! Surely they could think of a more crafty way to dispose of all the unnecessary weapons that plagued the original. And yes Chris, from what I could see, you added too many unique items.

The newly implemented powers and skill tree wasn't bad. It's too little too late though. Their Multi-class system and mules are about the only unique things this game offers so far but that's old news. The teleportation system was a good idea but not theirs of course. Why must they copy so many other games? Anyway, it's good they drastically reduced the number of barrels that littered the original. They should have done that with items too.

The so-so story coupled with bad voice acting and a seemingly superficial dialog tree system wasn't compelling enough for me. The voice actors emotionlessly act like they're acting. The game has no "fire in the belly" and is typically vacuous. The new save system is abysmal. And I have a feeling the new dialog tree system will be a pointless joke like focused combat was. I sense dialog trees won't add much depth and are fundamentally going to boil down to "Yes" or "No" options. Now I understand what Chris meant by "polished."

That's enough. In conclusion, I'm finished with Diablo II style (clone) RPGs. To me, they're dead. It occurs to me that Dungeon Siege II will be a "gas" (no engine) powered game that will fizzle into oblivion. Instead of waiting for a significant drop in price, I think I'll skip DS II altogether and wait for Oblivion.

Seems like it might be a pretty good game, based on the demo. But it's far from perfect.
Graphically, it's about the same as dg1 plus some effects. Sometimes there's actually too much c--p on the screen at times and you can't see what your characters are doing.
Once in a while that old ai problem of characters in your party getting stuck on an object and getting detached from the party happens -- I would have thought they'd solve that by now.
The new pet choices are cool. you feed them items and they grow in skill.
The demo story is no Star Wars KTOR that's for sure. maybe it plays out well over the long run... Character development in the demo is purely about skill levels, but that may be b/c it's only a demo.
The "spontaneous" dialogue that pops up between NPCs is so rare it startles you. Voice acting in the demo is almost all bad, like their either monotone, reading a script, or over-acting.
Sound is ok by the EAX sound didn't work for the demo though it works for every other game/app I've tried.
Final conclusion, probably best to wait until summer '06 when the price drops to $19.99 -- then it would definitely be worth buying.

This comment was edited on Aug 8, 17:31.

So there's no path this time, to be stuck on

well, it is a lot less linear than the original. maybe not as open as BG, but defintely an improvement. it is because you get tons of subquests, and you are free to do them in whatever order you wish.

about there is where it really opens up and you get an idea of just how huge the gameworld is, and just how much freedom you have in regards to the path you take.

So there's no path this time, to be stuck on?



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GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 10 W/Mo

I have to apologize for the way I feel... http://www.nin.com

I'm downloading the demo over the weekend, see what it's about. I'm utterly bored anyways.

i think you'll be pleasantly surprised. just be sure and play at least through the opening sequence until you get to the point where you have your collar removed. about there is where it really opens up and you get an idea of just how huge the gameworld is, and just how much freedom you have in regards to the path you take.

and the graphics really aren't too shabby! a bit outdated, but some of the textures are superb. and spend a few minutes checking out the foliage in the forest areas... methinks you'll enjoy the demo (which i have put almost 5 hours into and i'm still no where near done with it!)

I do have to agree with the gripe about the no lip synching though... it looks silly. Reminds me of Daikatana when I see the characters talking while nodding their heads around. I think that this is currently my biggest issue with the game, it ruins the immersion of the game.

Guild wars is guilty of the exact same thing and it looks completely retarded. Devs who don't spend time even MOVING character's lips are really just damn lazy.

I wasn't bashing the game really, just the god awful graphics. I'm downloading the demo over the weekend, see what it's about. I'm utterly bored anyways.

Creston

The graphics are best viewed when zoomed out. If you zoom in then you can see issues. But who plays zoomed in. The spec reqt's are 1Ghz CPU, 256 mb RAM, ATI 7000, so maybe too many people are comparing the graphics to UT2007. Their is a heck of alot content in this demo. I'm playing through now as a combat mage. P.S. SupCom is coming!!!

I think I might reinstall Nox.


Anyone know if it works under XP?

-----
I actually get paid for this..

Glad to see more people are chimming in that the game is pretty good. I'm going to play some more tonight to get my final thoughts on it, but I don't expect to be dissapointed.

I'm really dumbfounded that people find the graphics bad in this game. Sure that screen shot that got dissected by Creston earlier in the thread looked terrible but I haven't seen a single scene that is that bad in the demo. The colors are rich, the scenes are detailled (loads of folliage, lots of stuff moving, many guys on screen at once etc) and the game runs smooth as hell. Sure the character models aren't as detailled as an FPS (the engine is more of an RTS engine then an FPS engine) but the details are in the environments...

I do have to agree with the gripe about the no lip synching though... it looks silly. Reminds me of Daikatana when I see the characters talking while nodding their heads around. I think that this is currently my biggest issue with the game, it ruins the immersion of the game.

My continued two cents.

well, i was a bit nervous after reading so many bad comments about this demo, but after spending a few hours playing i can say that it is much better than i had hoped. i love the fact that all the dialogue is spoken, the graphics aren't nearly as bad as people have said they are, the audio is as superb as in the original, the gameplay is slightly more complex (thankfully), there are a lot more options, quests, NPCs, and places to explore... it's like the original on steriods, and even more highly polished.

if the full game maintains this level of gameplay and story telling, then kudos to all at GPG for a sequel that outshines the original!

Great demo, very polished, almost a full game in itself.
Plenty of replayibility, different characters, different parties, pets, items, etc.
Very Impressed, considering I wasn't a huge fan of DS1!

If you have broadband, it's worth starting a download and letting it run in the background a while.

I'm glad GPG released it so big, I wanted the full PCGamer demo but didn't want to buy the September DVD mag to get it. Instead of waiting weeks for the demo, I just had to wait a couple hours.

Well, I tried downloading the demo, but (according to the .torrent log) my isp died at about 6:00am this morning and only came back on a few minutes ago (which is why I'm posting to Blues!)

And Ultima 7 was so good that even with the shitfest that was Ultima 8 and 9, if they made an Ultima 10 I would still be interested, especially if they brought in some top talent (but not Lord British, who clearly lost his mind somewhere during the development of UO and, alas, has not returned to reality since).

So, anyway, I'll continue the download tommorrow and hope for the best. I didn't really like DS1 (too much like Diablo without the demons) but there are zero other demos to play right now.

On WoW - Sixis - 60 Paladin of Azure Brigade
On GW - Six Ix - Warrior/Monk of Blue Conclave

This may be too late for anyone to read, but then, why would I care? : )

I've played many hours of DS2 since yesterday, and I'm enjoying the experience. As for the 1.4GB download, it's still huge, but I can see why it's big (though perhaps not that big). For one, all of the NPC dialogue is spoken. A nice thing for some, another reason to bitch about it (poor 'acting') for others. Another reason is that the content is massive for a demo. I keep expecting it to end, but it keeps going on.

They've added a lot of variety to the game, including skill trees (which incidentally, aren't as appealing as they should be), powers (which are unlocked by certain skills) that are real tide-turners (and lots of fun), ambushes were changed (more interesting - no suddenly shaking bushes), buff shrines, skill specific treasure vaults, teleporters (that seemingly take you to any other teleporter you've tagged - no more having to find the right stone/gate/ect).

The graphics look good to me, though trees and such get in the way more than add to the environment, but it at least looks alive. Only recent game I can think to compare it to (zoomed out with lots of 'small' stuff) is Guild Wars, and I think it looks better than GW.

The game is far from perfect however. For one, changing weapons/spells seems to be a much bigger pain in the ass than before, though I need to check the control assignment options, or the manual to see if they removed that functionality (since number keys are assigned to powers now instead of weapon/spell setups). It's also kind of a pain to target stuff (though it does seem to give leeway - targetting the closest mob if you miss selecting it). The combat system is interesting, but the companion seems to stand around doing nothing too often, and your party dying means having to get back to that location (if you don't ant to lose gold) without all the cool shit (weapons/spells) that would make it easier to get back to your grave, thereby increasing the possibility of chain deaths.

Anyways, there's my mini review. I'll play more of the HUGE (I mean content) demo and will most likely buy the game in a few weeks (though I hate having to go through the same story shit I already went through).

-Alamar

Sorry but Ultima died with Ultima 7. And I did forget about it
And for some reason I really don't think as Ultima as a RPG. I think of it as an EPIC QUEST. Not sure how to explain it, but it's certainly not a bad thing.


Heathen.

Which other roleplaying game EVER enforced a set of moral standards, and actually punished you for not adhering to them?
Ultima 7, the whole series, black isle, forge of virtue, serpent isle and ehhh... the expansion for that, forget what it's called, remain the finest rpgs ever made. In my opinion.

It's once fucking EA got involved that shit rapidly went downhill. Ultima 8 wasn't really all THAT great (although I enjoyed the different spell systems), and Ed diCastillo still deserves to burn in fucking hell for the way he raped Ultima 9.

Creston

Sorry -- name one "show-stopping" bug in BF2?

You mean besides the one that drops you to the desktop? I'd say that's pretty "show-stopping"...



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GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 10 W/Mo

I have to apologize for the way I feel... http://www.nin.com
This comment was edited on Aug 4, 10:04.

Unlike many others I liked it, there are lots of new features. If you only played the first part of the demo, then you didn't see much of it.

However I'm still looking forward to seeing the MultiPlayer, which is the only reason why I liked the first one so much. I didn't like the singleplayer at all, main reason is that I don't like to mess around with multiple character inventories half of the time. But weekends in multiplayer with friends was just amazing and a totally different experience from the "linear" singleplayer adventure.


This comment was edited on Aug 4, 07:50.

Dang, graphics were terrible. Dialogs were bad too. The cutscenes were a waste and unneeded. Also, DirectX files were there. Oh well.

The day I give up a Snickers bar is the day someone pries a gun from Charleston Hestons dead hands. Or a cookies and cream Hersey bar... mmmmmmm hersey.

The Half Elf wrote:

snickers

Where?! GIVE ME YOUR CANDY!!

After watching the original videos of the game that were released and we were told by Chris Taylor himself, that they were all rendered real time by the engine, and then playing the demo, I keep scratching my head.
It's like watching the Matrix for the first time, then the 2nd and 3rd movie. I'm waiting to be impressed, and it just never happens. Anyone else feel this way?