Dungeon Siege II Previews

The hands-on previews of Gas Powered Games’ Dungeon Siege II continue, with two more popping up over the weekend. The first is at VGPub:

The gameplay looks to be on par with the original with Diablo-like combat but with party members. In the first Dungeon Siege, you were forced to play as Human, but when you start your game now, you are given the option to choose what race you’d like to be, with each having unique attributes. Humans are the middle ground character and are jack of all trades, while Elves mostly use magic, and the Dryads are nimble, good archers, and the Half-Giants race is geared towards melee combat.

And the second is at GamersInfo:

Party management in DSII is amazingly easy and effective. You have your character, the person you’ve chosen to play, you can lead the party at all times if you wish but this isn’t always wisest. One of the nicer features of the games is when you ID an opponent it gives you some indication as to what type of character they’ll go after. So, being the one in the front isn’t always wisest. Changing formations is done with a mouse click (or shortcut) at which point you take control of your party in the formation chosen and with the leader determined. I spent much of my game with an archer and warrior. Needless to say my warrior would often play guard but there were several occasions when it was better for me to have him in the lead, taking damage, and me backing him up. The ease with which this can occur is refreshing.