Dungeon Siege II Previews

A couple of new previews for Gas Powered Games’ Dungeon Siege II hit the web over the 4th of July weekend. The first is at The Armchair Empire:

These aspects while perhaps a little bit silly when explained within the confines of the game’s reality, are well integrated to keep alive the spirit of the action oriented game play. For instance, you can’t simply load up a game when you die. Each gaming session you play is saved when you exit the game. There is even a point in the story where it is made explicitly clear that restarting your PC after dying still won’t help you. However the off-setting positive side to this is that the designers have made it easy to get back to where you were going and to get your equipment back. After you die, you are sent back to a safe area where you start without any of your equipment. You can go directly back to where you were killed by paying someone to teleport you there. How this actually feels when playing the game, and how it will be accepted by gamers remains to be seen, however I do find it intriguing to see a developer make a specific design decision to enforce the reality that they have created within the context of the game’s world.

And the second is at TechSpot:

Pack mules weren’t the most effective party members, especially since they couldn’t attack enemies. Since the pets do take up a slot that could have gone to a regular party member, it is important that they actually do something useful. Luckily, players will now be able to add pets that do damage and can help attack enemies and defend fellow party members. Players will also be able to feed any old or unwanted item (weapon, armor) to the pet to make it stronger. Arguably the best thing about having a pet in the party is that they also level up. They go through several different stages: baby, infant, juvenile, adolescent, adult and mature. The pet will level up faster if the item being fed is more powerful.