Dungeon Siege III Preview

The official PlayStation Blog is next in line with a preview of Obsidian’s Dungeon Siege III, and as you might have guessed, the article puts much more emphasis on the PS3-specific control scheme.

Crucially, developer Obsidian Entertainment has put much work into making Dungeon Siege III play nice with the DualShock 3 controller without diluting the combat and inventory depth that genre fans have long adored. On the PS3, Dungeon Siege III’s interface is a robust approximation of the PC hotkey system, enabling you to swap between two battle stances instantaneously with a tap of L1. Each stance has unique strengths and weaknesses as well as an arsenal of special abilities that can radically alter your attack strategy. The lithe warrior Anjali, for example, can swap from her spear-fighting stance to a ghostly spell-casting form to pummel enemies from afar with fireballs and flesh-melting fire walls. Each of the game’s four characters will ultimately acquire nine different abilities, and at times you’ll need to swap stances rapidly to chain together combos in order crush the toughest monster hordes and harvest their sweet, sweet loot with maximum efficiency.

Speaking of loot, you’ll find thousands of randomized magical items, enchanted swords, blessed boots, and mystic helms on your fallen foes, as well as uber-rare Relic items that bestow outrageously powerful benefits. A welcome touch lies in the streamlined inventory management screen, which is accessible but not watered down in the name of draconian oversimplification. In another nod to accessibility, you won’t be fumbling for red and blue potions when you need to recover health and magic energy defeated enemies drop healing and mana orbs and every character comes equipped with an innate healing ability. Another nice addition: Tapping Up on the d-pad will lead you to your next active quest, keeping you progressing through the game rather than staring at a mini-map. What’s more, the game’s developers claim you’ll almost never encounter a load screen while progressing through the game.