Siege Engines: A Dungeon Siege Retrospective

Retrospectives would be a cool feature to do more going forward. Just sayin'.

Dungeon Siege 2 is one of my favourite games of all time. At some point it was my all-time favourite game. I love it. I have sunk like 300 hours in it.

Already better produced than anything Uwe Boll has been connected with.

Ha, fucking 'Horatio Sans'. I love these games but this is a fun look at them anyway.

@Nomin: Any excuse for Vinny and Ryan to make a near hour long video is a good enough excuse for me!

That Dungeon Siege 1 one was painful, with Vinny at the controls....
 
"Where do I go?" as he wanders around the cleared area and ignores the large amounts of black unexplored area on the map

Would love to see this become a more regular feature.

An hour of Dungeon Siege? I'm intrigued!

I pre-ordered DSIII for the previous two games, and was... not impressed the games at all, at least the way they were handled on Steam. DS1 has no expansions, no multiplayer, and apparently even the ending video was removed. The combat in DS1 was awful too, in the sense of 'hitting something with a bad weapon is necessary as you slowly level up from hitting enemies, because actually killing things means you get no weapon experience'. That left enough of a bad taste in my mouth to not try DS2 because it seemed to be the same situation (no multiplayer, no expansions, bad gameplay design). Then DS3 came out, and... yeah.

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

These things are pretty awesome.

@Buzzkill said:

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

Jeese, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? I happened to enjoy the original 2 DS games, and I am having a fine time with DS3. Just because you do not like a franchise does not mean a whole website has to cater to your...selfish desires.

The first few hours of Dungeon Siege are really fun. As it progresses you realize how utterly boring the gameplay becomes.

damn vinny's got a lot of games on steam....

@Buzzkill said:

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

So what you're saying is they shouldn't pander to things you don't like?

Wow, long ass Steam games list...

The first Dungeon Siege is a classic - fond memories of my donkey - the series went downhill from there.

Wow, long ass Steam games list...

I remember the original blowing my mind the first time I played it.  
I've never beaten it (didn't have the time back in the day) but damn I remember it looking and playing so good. 
 
Also... love the aggro train he gets goin' on his way to the crypt.

@Buzzkill said:

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

Just because you subscribed you think they should ignore what you dislike.

No.

@Tesla said:

Retrospectives would be a cool feature to do more going forward. Just sayin'.

very cool indeed.

So glad I didn't bite on that Steam offer.  Ugh...

I don't understand the haters... any time I can get a retro quick look I am happy, especially when Vinny is involved.

My main complaint with the video is that I wish Vinny had played a little further in before they started recording (believe me, I know how busy Vinny is, just sayin). That opening bit before you get to Stonebridge is by far the worst part of the game. Once you start to get a full party and start to specialize each dude, it's a LOT more fun. DS1 had plenty of flaws in its time, and it doesn't hold up terribly well, but it was a unique experience that I will always remember. Strategizing 8 dudes in combat, and equipping them all, was hella fun. Also, the goblin part got real steampunky, before every game was doing that, and it was a lot of fun (plus you could equip all your dudes with guns).

Never played DSII, but I would definitely buy it as a stand-alone to give it a shot.

Dungeon Siege 3 looks like shit, a dumb hack and slash that bears no resemblance to the earlier games.

Vinny + Ryan could make me watch pretty much anything.

Although really it's Vinny + anyone

Actually, just Vinny would be enough.

Even though I hated the first Dungeon Siege, Vinny fumbling around with the controls and camera is quite annoying. I sometimes don't know why they decide to QL these games and don't tell much about them. 

I am playing DS 3 now, man I really miss DS 1 and its expansion, never got around to playing DS 2 maybe i will after DS 3, its a lot different but I am still enjoying it.

@Buzzkill: If you don't like a quick look or something else on the site, then don't watch it. Doesn't matter if you are a subscriber or not.

@Chabbs0 said:

@Buzzkill said:

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

Just because you subscribed you think they should ignore what you dislike.

No.

But you don't get it, man! HE just subscribed!

I wasn't expecting this to be a video feature, cool beans.

Hey, I really enjoyed this, and I'd really like to see more retrospectives from GB.

It would be nice to have a mix of games the guys are new to and games they remember well, I think both perspectives are interesting.

In regard to DS3 I think it's a shame that it strays so far from the series it belongs to for the fans but I think it's an honest to goodness fun game that sadly hamstring's it's self with multiplayer.

I was young when I first played Dungeon Siege. I bought it with my allowance heh. Didn't get many games at the time so I played the hell out of it. It's cool to see it here again. I haven't followed the series but I might pick up DS3 after it gets a price drop.

@RTSlord: check out previous bombcasts. If there is a weekend steam sale, Vinny usually buys like fifty games on steam.

Jeff Bridges cameo

Dungeon Siege 2 + expansion is the best dungeon crawler on the PC. It's better than Diablo 2 and Titan Quest.

Dungeon Siege 2 + expansion is the best dungeon crawler on the PC. It's better than Diablo 2 and Titan Quest.

Guess I'm finished watching this quicklook since it just stopped loading halfway through the vid. Gogo month old video issues!!!! Can we get some guys above "top men" on this? Maybe "tip-top men"?

@Buzzkill said:

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

Wow, it does not get more self entitled than this.

Vinny is like Puff Daddy: Can't stop, won't stop

Strap it on.

@Buzzkill said:

Please please don't do this. I just subscribed and now you're going to pander to a bigger POS than DNF? /sigh

Dungeon Siege has always been second rate at everything and started its life as a Diablo clone and never evolved beyond that. For everything that was poor about DNF, at least it was an original IP.

Wow, it does not get more self entitled than this.

Thanks Ryan for immediately picking up on the horribleness of the inventory UI. So weird that Obsidian though that was good. Then again, they're Obsidian.

@Buzzkill: cool story, bro.

I remember having a lot of fun with Dungeon Siege 1 when it came out. The height of the levels blew my mind.

I played through the original Dungeon Siege 3 times, played about 20% of DS2 and quit because it was such a huge departure from DS1 quality and design wise. From what I've seen of DS3, I likely won't even bother with the demo for it at this point.

@hanktherapper said:

The first few hours of Dungeon Siege are really fun. As it progresses you realize how utterly boring the gameplay becomes.

I've gotten Half way through both DS1 and DS2 I don't hate them, they have their fun but My GOD your right, after ...7-10 hours your just burnt out as shit.

I really loved the first few hours of DS 1 as well, especially travelling across snowy mountains with my party and awesome donkey thing that carried stuff. Then suddenly it got boring and DS 2 had no appeal and DS 3 is not very appealing either.

Makes a compelling case for Diablo's fixed camera perspective. Blizzard, we need Diablo 3.