Dungeon Siege II (2005)

I liked Dungeon Siege 2. It is a big, open world game with many new features, mechanics, characters and story elements. However, I think the game has changed so much from the original in terms of overall feeling, atmosphere and story, that I consider it a standalone title. This is certainly not a bad thing in any way however.

In Dungeon Siege II, you start as a mercenary in the army of Valdis, a Dark Wizard that acquired the magical Sword of Zaramoth. You fight your way to a temple that you need to conquer but are knocked unconscious. You wake in a Dryad village. The Dryads are suspicious of you and you soon learn that Valdis is the bad guy and is destroying the entire kingdom. You earn the trust of the Dryads by helping them out and make a change of heart, dedicating yourself to fight Valdis.

You learn that the only way to defeat Valdis (and his badass insta kill sword), is by assembling all the pieces of the Shield of Azunai. You gather the pieces through your adventures and take the fight to Valdis. He shatters his sword on your shield, losing his edge. You defeat him and save the kingdom. Classic.

In the original game, you progress through one large, static, road, through different environments and dungeons. It was executed perfectly in my opinion for the time, but in the end, it was just one lengthy path towards the end goal, without room to explore. This has been improved in Dungeon Siege 2, with the addition of checkpoints to teleport between areas, different sub areas you can explore and optional quests and caves. Another noticeable difference is the Diablo II style mechanic in which enemies respawn after each session of the game, removing the hard cap of a fixed number of enemies and experience.

The progression system remains intact from the first game. Instead of gaining levels and improve certain stats, you start with a “blank slate” and gain experience through the weapon or spell that you frequently use. If you focus on melee combat for example, you level this skill, and with it, your strength so you can equip heavier armor for example. This also means that you can theoretically become a multi class master of all trades, but this is not recommended because your overall damage and effectiveness will suffer over it.

The graphics in Dungeon Siege II look amazing for the time and the stiff animations from the first game are gone. They are replaced by fluent RPG combat that feels a lot more natural. Effects from spells look great and I can only praise the overall look of the game.

In terms of sound, a lot has been improved here too. For one, there is the improved voice acting, making the game feel much more “alive”. Effects from melee, ranged, and spell hits all sound great and the sound monsters make in this game are greatly improved from the first game.

Dungeon Siege II controls a lot better too. The movement, attack and responsiveness of the first game let a lot to be desired, but here, it all feels fluent and natural.

Lastly, some new features have been added to the game, like the Hero Powers, which the player can use for some extra edge over a fight, like invincibility for example. You can still recruit NPC’s for your party, like the first game, but in addition, you can now also recruit pets that grow stronger when you feed it items. So awesome. The balance and difference between Combat Magic and Nature Magic is also greatly improved. In the first game, you could achieve exactly the same with both schools, the only difference being that one focused on Ice Magic and the other on Fire Magic. In Dungeon Siege II, Combat Magic is pure destruction and death, while Nature Magic is summoning and healing.

Overall, I liked Dungeon Siege II a lot, However, although it still follows the events from the first game, it felt a little disconnected and more “stand alone”. Nevertheless, the improvements and fresh new presentation were enough for me to surely recommend this game.