Chuck Osborn did the review of it.
They did mention the multiplayer as a sort of second-to-last sentence: “Even the game’s co-op mode, which allows for up to four peple to play through a series of ho-hum challenges over LAN or thorugh the Internet via GPGNet, isn’t enough to recommend it.”
So it’s clearly not literally nonexistant, but how does the plot compare to GPG’s other action-RPGs? Was it more like DS1 (step 1: kill foozle. step 2: enjoy the endgame animation) or DS2’s, which was at least a half-assed attempt at making a story? What ass percentage of effort are we looking at here?
Not enough to have anyone mistake it for a Bioware game. On the plus side: You do get to retrieve keys from
MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!!!
some dead dudes on the ground named Harms and Bauman.
So like, used 38% of an ass then?
I assume Steve and Bill Harms are the producers… not up on Mobygames yet.
Well, I haven’t worked out the exact percentile yet. Steve and Bill are listed as writers in the credits.
Also, I think the idea behind “eschwing a common mechanic” is to come up with something that is more interesting/fun. It doesn’t sound like Space Siege is doing this. Having several weapons and cyberparts to incrementally upgrade would be fun, especially if upgrade parts didn’t rain from the skies like skittles. That’s particularly true if you can sort of plot the path the upgrades take, favoring certain atributes/powers over others. Too bad.
Question.
How long have you played?
If you are most of the way through, about how long would it take to finish roughly?
It’s my personal wish for Diablo 3 to feature custom UIs and mods for the people who know how to make them. World of Warcraft is as good as it is because of all that. I personally love the “smart inventory” mod, whatever it’s called. It basically allows you to right click an inventory slot and it’ll show you an expanded selection of all the equipment in your bags that you can use within that slot. Beats the hell out of rifling through your trash!
Blizzard should take a cue from mods like those and have these things implemented into the game from the get go. Barring that, allow people to make those mods and use em.
On a related note, as I’m getting back into WOW these days I find myself using this one quest tracking mod that actually plots out the destinations and waypoints for me on my automap, updated in real time with what I need to do. It damn well cut down the grinding and travel time by 75%.
A boxed copy? How 20th century. ok, well I’ll keep a look out.
I thought the Dungeon Siege games were already pretty mediocre, so I can’t say I’m surprised.
They always seemed more of a really cool tech demo for a potential Diablo clone than a fleshed out cool game.
I loved the first Dungeon Siege. The second one, not so much.
Why is an inventory-and-loot system “bullshit”?
For me, Diablo 2 is still the pinnacle of hack-and-slash customization. There was the combination of the stats allocation system (make a strength based sorceress, or an energy based druid, etc.) with the skill strees (specialize in just the few skills you want), which was great. But most of all, there was the loot system. Thats what added so much depth and character customization.
To complete the point, the reason loot is the staple way to deck out and customize your character is just how satisfying it is to collect items, outfit a character, look for particular missing pieces (“I really need a new helm… the shako that drops off Mephisto is a really good upgrade, or maybe I can get a couple of rune drops off countess to trade for the IK helm…”), and finally the random element. A slot machine crossed with a pinata is how people have described it…
While I mostly agree- a good loot system can make it, in my opinion, so that its just about as interesting to find new items as it is to collect new skills. For one, items can add skills not available otherwise (Enigma giving a whirlwind barbarian access to teleport, for example). Also, items can change the way you use skills completely (stacking fast cast rating makes chain lightning so much more viable and fun to use, and also a lot easier to teleport around…etc.)
Well, I finished it last night and it is not very long at all. I didn’t time it, but given that I did it in 3 not-overly long play sessions…I dunno…10 hours? 12 at most.
Your review up soon, Jeff? Now that Steve started posting here I feel bad for starting off the major game thread with quotes from a punky review. Would be nice to have some other data points to counterbalance.
Deciding between your Flaming Longsword of Awesome +5 or your Frost Hammer of Pwnage +6 is fun - and more importantly is actually an important part of tactics in a good game. Sorting through piles of useless junk in the hopes of finding a semi-valuable rock you can pawn is only fun for obsessive-compulsive vampires or South Koreans.
Put more simply: loot is cool; trash collection is not. More generally: making interesting choices is fun; busywork is not.
Anyway, simple question about SS: how’s the coop? For me, that’s the question which determines whether I pick it up shortly after release or it’s bargain-bin fodder.
So obsessive-compulsive isn’t enough? One must also be a vampire? I learn something new every day!
Even people with OCD have better things to do with their time. Whereas OCD vampires - well, they gotta pass their eternal unlife somehow.
It all makes so much sense. I don’t know how I could’ve missed this.
Darn, this is sad news, indeed. I was really looking forward to Space Siege, and was hoping it would provide me with enough entertainment until Spore, or the rest of the AAA titles come out this fall.
I’m definitely not giving up on Space Siege yet. I’ll be particularly interested to read Mr. Green’s review.