I had a pretty awesome birthday when I turned 15. I was close to getting out of 9th grade, my parents made me an awesome dinner, said parents also got me a ice cream cake from Ben & Jerry’s (get an ice cream cake from them when you have the chance), and my dad got me a game that I still play now from time to time. An RPG, no less. This game continues to fuel my geekness, and still manages to inspire awe within me. Despite some shortcomings, this game is a top favorite among the RPGs that I’ve played. So let’s dive into Dungeon Siege 1, a PC classic.
Story
This is perhaps one of the weaker points of Dungeon Siege, at least in my opinion. It’s clear that there’s a greater evil in the world, yet most of the time you’re basically going from town to town, killing things, and picking up snipbits of information along the way. You know that there’s something going on behind the scenes, yet you aren’t told exactly how certain events occurred.
As for the story itself, take a look at the except below from wikipedia:
“In the Kingdom of Ehb, a humble farmer's life is turned upside down when a small band of savage creatures, the Krug, as they are known, attack the farming community. They must be stopped and the player's character is tasked with seeking help from the neighboring town of Stonebridge. Along the way, the player may meet others willing to help them in their quest. The player soon discovers, however, that their story does not end upon reaching Stonebridge. It is revealed that all the Kingdom of Ehb is suffering because of evil creatures.
The farmer turned hero has to journey through the Kingdom in hopes of reaching the Castle Ehb in order to stop the Seck, a race of mysterious, spiteful humanoid monsters, who awakened from their imprisonment beneath the Castle. The hero has to face armies of wild creatures, Krugs, a colony of spiders, horde of undead, Goblins and their futuristic technology, Droogs, and even an ancient dragon, Scorch. The player's final objective is to enter the Seck lair under the Castle and defeat Gom, their leader.”
Setting
Even today, the scope of Dungeon Siege is relatively large. There are numerous types of environments within the game, and each of them gives off the “grand adventure” vibe. You journey through icy mountains & caves, valleys, swamps, deserts, deep forests, tombs, cliffs of various kinds, villages, a goblin factory (partial spoiler) and volcanoes. With the Legends of Aranna mission pack, misty jungles and coastlines were added, giving the world even more environmental depth. I loved each of these places, as they all seemed grand in some way. Despite the age of this game, the environments within Dungeon Siege still feel like living things, especially when you see some of the natural fauna wandering around.
Things take a turn when it comes to the races that live within the Dungeon Siege world, at least in this game. The two primary races that inhabit the game are Humans & Dwarves, both of which acknowledge the same ruler and work together in harmony. As a player wanders through the game, he or she will also encounter the small but savage Krug, the technologically advanced goblins (go figure!), and the mysterious but autonomous Droog. Half-Giants & Utraeans are added in with the mission pack to give a little more variety. That’s not a lot of races, but for the purpose of this game, it works.
As for the monsters that you’ll slay within Dungeon Siege, let me say that you have a Las Vegas sized buffet of monsters for you to eviscerate. Although some models are reused and slightly modified, there’s so many beasts within the game, there won’t be much time for you to notice it until you kill it.
Characters
Yet another weakness within Dungeon Siege. There really aren’t any characters, major or secondary, that stay within the player’s mind. Even the characters that eventually join your party, don’t have any depth or personality to them, save for when they speak to you when you first encounter them, or boot them out of your party. It’s really tragic, considering the size and scope of the environment.
Gameplay
This is the bread & butter of the game. Below is the complete list of what goes on within Dungeon Siege:
1) Find & kill monsters
2) Find, wear and/or sell loot
3) Find people that’ll give you quests, and complete said quests
Although this never really changes over the course of the game, the loot you do find and the monsters you kill do change. The difficulty also ramps up over time, making the challenge of saving the kingdom of Ehb more of a...challenge.
I should note that while you can’t avoid the main quests, you can avoid (if you want) the side quests. Many of them give you some decent loot, but a couple of the other side quests don’t exactly reward you for the time you spent on them. In the end, it’s your choice.
Graphics & Sound
This is an interesting part of this review. I should say that the graphics of Dungeon Siege haven’t aged well over the decade since it’s release. During it’s heyday the game looked great, but now it looks very crude. The models look somewhat blocky and jagged, and everything in general seems lackluster. As for the environments, they still feel believable despite their age. If you were wondering what my favorite areas to go through were, it was the forests. They seemed tranquil, despite the combat that took place within them.
The sounds within Dungeon Siege are a different matter. To me, they seemed to age relatively well over the decade, save for a few of the magical sound effects, but that’s just me. When you hear your weapon, whether it’s a sword or a mace, make contact with a target, the impact sounds believable. When an arrow hits an enemy, you know that they felt it, and that they heard it. Even the various spells used
Overall & Rating
In the end, Dungeon Siege is a nice game. Granted, the story and characters don’t completely stand out, and the graphics aren’t the best looking at this point in time, the sheer variety of environments, coupled with the still gorgeous landscapes, impressive gallery of monsters, decent sound effects, and the basic yet enjoyable gameplay makes for a fun time. Dungeon Siege gets a 7 out of 10.
See you next week, when I’ll continue this Dungeon Siege goodness. Until then, stay Otaku!
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