Now Playing: Dungeon Siege 2

After growing rather tired of the original Dungeon Siege towards its end, I was hesitant to immediately leap into its sequel. Would it just be more of the same? Would it also grow repetitive and tedious? Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, Dungeon Siege 2 is a marked improvement over its predecessor in just about every area.

But to start, let’s get a few things out of the way first that I believe the original did better: 1) Music. Dungeon Siege had a great soundtrack, and whilst DS2s is still pretty good, it doesn’t quite match up to the original. 2) I missed the party formation and tactics options, and I don’t feel DS2 requires as much strategic approach to certain combat situations as in DS1. 3) Not being able to save where I choose. The game kicks you back to the nearest town when you start playing again. Not a major issue with the teleporters in place though.

My biggest issue with DS1 really was the issue of padding, of artificially dragging out the experience. There are a few areas in DS2 that feel similarly tedious to slog through (especially the final level), but on the whole, it’s no longer a problem, which is all the more impressive given that DS2 is larger and longer than the original.

This time around you play as a mercenary in service to a bad guy named Valdis. You know he’s bad because he wears all black armour and carries a massive sword. Shockingly, working for him isn’t the best idea ever and you soon find yourself locked in a cage and held by the resistance forces opposing him. Thus begins your journey across the land to reassemble an ancient artefact and defeat Valdis. Once again, the gameplay basically boils down to: click everything until its dead.

The UI is new, and a little ugly, but you soon get used to it. Classes are once again based around ranged, melee and magic (combat & nature), but there is more scope to specialise thanks to class specific skill trees, as well as different weapon types such as duel wield for melee classes. As you level up you can spend points in the skill tree to improve abilities or even unlock new super special attacks. As a result, combat is more ‘hands-on’ than in the original as you time and target special abilities, and there’s more room to tailor your characters to a certain style.

There’s a good variety of locations to fight through, which all feel much more tightly and purposefully designed than in DS1. They never drag on for too long, and you’ll find plenty of rewarding side areas to explore. The quest system has been totally overhauled, with 3 main acts of primary quests, as well as dozens of secondary ones. These involve a little backtracking here and there, but with the new teleportation system, you’ll never be too far from where you need to go.

The game journal has been improved with a ton of lore and information updated as you explore. And unlike DS1, the main quest actually keeps you invested in the experience and your progression. This is aided by an expanded level of decent voice acting for NPCs throughout the world, as well as your own companions.

Companions in DS2 actually feel more like people than just collections of stats to add to your team. Some of them have their own unique quests to be completed. They also chip in at certain situations with their own views on things. It gives them a little personality which the original was sorely lacking. Pack mules return to carry your stuff, but there are now several new pet types too, all of which will level with you by ‘feeding’ them gear.

Enemy variety is decent again as you progress. The environments are nice and detailed, certainly a lot better than a lot of the flat, empty levels of the original. The world feels more alive and real. There are a few CG cut-scenes here and there to advance the story. There’s also more feedback to the player during combat and a vastly improved local and world map system.

Overall, DS2 is a much more polished and refined title than its predecessor. It’s packed with not only more content, but higher quality content. It addresses and fixes the major failings of the original with only a few missteps of its own. Graphically, it still holds up well today. It’s certainly easier than the original, but DS1 was more frustrating than truly challenging. It’s an improvement in just about every area. Recommended.

8/10