Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna – PC – Preview 2

Early last year, Microsoft
Studios released Dungeon Siege unto the world. The game is a really fun RPG hack
and slash game (think Diablo) that was a blast to play, thanks to the intriguing
storyline, graphics, and gameplay. Now it is nearly two years later, and the
expansion pack Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna is about to be released unto the
world. How is the game shaping up so far? Read on to find out!

While this game takes place in the same world and timeline, unlike most
expansions packs, Legends of Aranna takes place in a different part of the world
and has its own story that is completely separate from Dungeon Siege. The game
begins in the small town of Arhok, where players find out that the main
character is a descendent of a long line of heroes. As players progress though
the game, they find out the reasons for the strange turn of events that has been
happening.

Throughout the course of the game players will learn of an ancient race called
the Utraean’s who are responsible for most of the magic that resides in the land
of Aranna. As time passed the Ultraean’s ignored many dangers; and two races
that they helped create eventually overtook them: the Zaurask and Hassat. It
will be up to players to find out what really happened so long ago, and how they
fit into the grand scheme of things!

One thing I found very interesting about this game is everyone starts off at
level 1, even though I have a game save from Dungeon Siege still on my PC. When
I first started playing I thought this was not fair, what about all the rare
items and stats that I received playing though on the first game, but when I sat
and thought about it, this move really made a lot of sense. Since some players
really max out their characters, the expansion would have been a breeze. Having
everyone start off at level 1 allows the developers to slowly ramp up the
difficulty, and make the game last longer for everyone playing.

The developers created the best thing for this type of game: it is an auto
arrange function for all of the items you collect. One thing that I despise
about games like this is when you find a really neat item, you will have to go
into your inventory and arrange it so you can carry it. What is worse at times
you do all of this arranging, and you find out it can’t fit at all. With this
auto arrange function, all players need to do is pick up the item, and the game
will rearrange everything in your inventory so that the item you pick up could
fit.

Being an expansion pack, the game is built off the graphics engine that the
previous game had, with minor improvements. Even though this is still a beta
version, the game looks really good! Players will transverse though spooky
cemeteries, daunting forests, and many other environments that really fit this
games creepy atmosphere.

The multiplayer for the game is really progressing well. It is always nice to
see some co-op play either on the Internet or on a LAN. Another advantage to
playing multiplayer is that you can trade rare items with other players.

The AI for the game is pretty challenging at this point, but it never gets to
the point where you feel like there is no chance for winning. I think that this
is a good idea, because just blasting though a game never gives anyone a sense
of accomplishment when they beat the game. Also the AI for your party members is
a whole lot smarter than in the original game. Nothing can be worse than playing
through a game like this with AI party members and they are constantly dying or
in need of health/mana potions constantly. This time around the AI takes better
care of its members to the point where players don’t have to always keep a
constant eye on them, instead of the enemy.

It is a good thing that the previous game was gorgeous and this expansion pack
shows that the graphics have stood the test of time over this past year! Even
though this beta is not fully optimized yet, it still runs smooth as silk on my
computer system with no slow down at all, which bodes really well when the
Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna is released.