Dungeon Siege III Preview

Player Affinity treads familiar ground with their preview of Dungeon Siege III, thought it never hurts to get another writer’s perspective on what Obsidian has in store for us next month.

Dungeon Siege is generally not a plot-driven series, with more focus on the wholesale mass monster mashing through a myriad of caves and other cavernous areas. However, it seems that Obsidian (of Fallout: New Vegas fame) may have more plot than we bargained for. Obsidian Entertainment is a developer that earned recognition as a quality sequel generator (Neverwinter Nights 2, KOTOR 2) with special emphasis on deeper plots and character development.

Obsidian has so far released a short demo that introduces two characters that embody a melee type and ranged type fighter, respectively. A new tactic that has been implemented into gameplay is the use of stances; modes that are different for each character, but usually alternate between styles and movesets. So, for example, Lucas Montbarron is an upstanding knight that can alternate between a sword and shield for tanking duties, but can switch to a devastating two handed weapon to deal out damage. Anjali is a human mage that utilizes a staff, effective in close range encounters, but can switch stances to morph into a fire spirit, capable of throwing fireballs at range.