Dungeon Siege III Review (PC)

Reviewed on PC, also available on PS3 and Xbox 360

I have to admit, when I finished Dungeon Siege III I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Now, don’t get me wrong, Dungeon Siege III is not a terrible game; however, it certainly is a terrible RPG.

Being a huge fan of Action RPGs, I was rather excited to hear about Dungeon Siege III. Many years have passed since a truly great Action RPG has been released, and I had hoped that this would be the game to fill the void.

For those familiar with the Dungeon Siege universe, much has changed in the lands of Ehb. The Legion, once dominant, is now all but destroyed, and Ehb is under the control of a tyrannical leader suffering from one hell of a god complex. As one of the few descendants of the Legion it is your task to resurrect your once formidable band and hopefully bring justice to the land.

At the outset of your adventure you are given the choice of four characters. They range from your traditional sword wielding melee character, through to more interesting choices, such as a divine fiery being or a steampunk mage. Unlike previous Dungeon Siege titles only one additional party member may be active at any time.

The first thing that struck me upon entering Ehb was the horrible PC controls. Thankfully, this shortcoming is being addressed, but sadly I have had to review the game in its release state – the state which many loyal Dungeon Siege fans will have played it in. Hearing that the game is best played with a controller, I plugged mine in, and it made a world of difference, which only served to highlight the PC’s native control setup inadequacies.

Once I learnt the ropes and the combat turned up the heat, I found myself rather enjoying the game. Combat is absolutely the best part about Dungeon Siege III. Taking its queue from action games such as God of War, you will need quick reflexes, dodging incoming attacks and timing your counterblows accordingly. To further streamline the process, potions have been removed, and instead enemies drop healing orbs.

Now onto the game’s biggest shortcoming: the loot, which, to be honest, is rather pointless. I found myself soon ignoring loot attributes and just equipping the most expensive items. It worked wonderfully in terms of getting me through the game, but it took away from the RPG experience.

Action RPGs should primarily be about the loot, unless they are doing something bold and new. Developer Obsidian, seems to be unaware of this. Subsequently opening chests, killing monsters and visiting vendors felt like a chore, lacking the excitement one usually gets from finding a fancy new item.

The next offenders are the skills and abilities. Sure, the Dungeon Siege brand has never been about complexity, but this time around it is just plain boring. You have six combat abilities and three passive abilities. Most of the time you are just pumping points into generic, “Increase Ability X damage by 5%” type skills. Like the looting, it became a chore very quickly.

I guess it is lucky that Dungeon Siege III is a short game, spanning roughly 14 hours. Perhaps the game would have been more enticing to play again if there was a New Game+ option. In other Action RPGs, such as Diablo, Titan Quest and Sacred, once you have completed a difficulty you go on to unlock harder difficulties. These are filled with harder challenges, and more importantly, better loot. This is just another department in which Dungeon Siege III falls short. Once you are done, you are done. Obsidian obviously missed the “What makes an Action RPG an Action RPG” memo.

The cherry on top of an already growing list of problems is the shoddy co-op implementation.

Firstly, your view of the game is bound to the host player’s screen. Do you wish to go back to that chest or piece of loot others missed? Well, sorry. You are forced to keep within a certain distance (a screen) of each other, which makes the whole thing feel extremely restricted.

The second hurdle is that there is little to no incentive to play with others because all loot and experience is kept in the host’s game. When you leave, you leave with NOTHING.

To lighten the mood I will finish off on a slightly positive note. Technically speaking, Dungeon Siege III gets the job done. Visually I was not left wanting and the music felt just right. The scenery was a pleasure to smash and maim my way through.

In Closing

Dungeon Siege III is not a total train wreck by any stretch of the imagination. The combat is fairly enjoyable and requires good reflexes. However, Dungeon Siege III fails where it matters most, and that is in being a good RPG.

The loot is pointless and the skills are bland. Anyone looking for a good Action RPG should steer well clear. Rather stick to the old classics.