Dungeon Siege III Preview

If you pay a visit to G4 this evening, you’ll discover that they’ve posted a GamesCom-based preview of Dungeon Siege III that should help drive your excitement level up.

Dungeon Siege 3 begs for comparisons with Diablo 3. Both seem to utilize a relatively large amount of color on screen, especially for dark, dungeon environments. Loot is also a big part of both games. In Dungeon Siege 3, they’ve tried to give loot as much of what they call “pow!” as possible. So, instead of opening a chest and being met with a pop up window showing you its contents, the items fly out of the chest one by one and land at your feet. Likewise, if monsters drop money or items, they’ll appear to be knocked out of them as they die. It’s a really great effect that adds a sense of dynamism to combat and exploration.

To make things simpler, there are no identify scrolls. You automatically know how powerful a weapon is and can even see its sell value before you pick it up, meaning you’ll spend less time wondering whether to pick up that giant axe that takes up half your inventory and more time exploring dungeons and killing monsters.

Combat looks to be complex, yet accessible. The developers at Obsidian wanted to transfer the PC hotkey system to the console. In doing so, they’ve created a dual-stance system. Changing your combat stance from single to double-handed changes what skills are available through your hotkeys. As you kill enemies your skill globes will fill up, allowing you to spend them while using skills. Holding down the skill button will siphon more energy from the skill globes, making the skill much more powerful.