Ever since the preview in PC Gamer, I've been looking forward to this game. I really enjoyed
Dungeon Siege. I quite liked the hack and slash gameplay, the looting, the visuals, and the excellent party AI. However I felt the game wasn't without its faults. Even when compared to an RPG light game like
Diablo, the storyline in
Dungeon Siege was bone thin, and there was a distinct lack of atmosphere. While the game offered plenty of NPCs, the dialog was virtually non existent.
Despite those issues, I liked
Dungeon Siege for its positives. I also appreciated the innovations in the introduction of the pack mule, and the experience based leveling up system.
When
Dungeon Siege 2 came around, I was pretty disappointed though. The visuals that once had been cutting edge, suddenly felt merely adequate. The gameplay, while still good, lacked much in the way of further innovation. And in terms of the storyline and dialog, the game was still lacking. Unlike Diablo, it didn't have the atmosphere to fall back on. The whole thing felt more like
Dungeon Siege 1.5 than 2.0
Upon reading the first previews for Space Siege, I was pretty excited. I found the premise very interesting, and was pleased to note that the game would concentrate on a storyline. To me, a great RPG consists of two halves. The first half consists of the action and the roleplaying mechanics, while the second consists of the storyline and NPC interaction.
Considering how the first
Dungeon Siege got the action elements right, I felt a new
Siege intellectual property from Chris Taylor would have tremendous potential, provided improvements in areas of past shortcomings. With Taylor's technical expertise, I felt that a fully fleshed out narrative would result in an instant classic.
Now recently I read his interview on Gerstspot...err...Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/spacesiege/news.html?sid=6184380&tag=topslot;title;1It seems to be shaping up fairly nicely, but there was one thing that bothered me:
Gas Powered Games is at the Consumer Electronics Show to showcase its latest action role-playing game, one that will strip out a lot of the complex role-playing gameplay that pervaded its spiritual predecessor, Dungeon Siege. To that effect, Space Siege is more of an action game with light RPG elements to it, but one that promises quite a bit of replayability.
It bothers me because the role-playing elements in DS weren't all that complex to begin with. In fact they were very streamlined, with skill points not distributed by the players, but rather earned through frequency of skill use.
So my question is, what "complex" elements are being "stripped out"?
Also how can an isometric action RPG entertain you, unless it involves a robust and involving skill system? In an isometric RPG, there isn't much twitch based skill required from players. The most gamers do is click on targets, and hit the respective hotkeys at appropriate moments.
More often than not, (especially when a party isn't involved) you spend your time tweaking the mechanics that level up your character, and then simply watch as he/she wreaks havoc. The input in the action is minimal, and the enjoyment actually comes from the looting, and the skill and stat manipulation. So that's why I am a little bothered by the "stripping out", because without the role-playing mechanics, you aren't left with much.
From what I understand, there isn't a party to control in this game. You basically have your hero, and can be accompanied by bots that are similar to familiars in Neverwinter, or the summoned creatures in Diablo. To me, that's a negative. I think talkative companions enforce an RPG's story telling.
In the end, I am still looking forward to this game, but I do have some concerns. The game is listed to come out in the next six months, so we shall know soon enough.
