No offense but if someone asked me what RPG's are supposed to be like, DS1 wouldn't even make the top 50 of examples I'd give... It was a very linear, combat-heavy action RPG with a very light stat system that did most of your character development for you. I'm not saying that makes it a bad game, but it was what it was, so let's not pretend otherwise. I haven't played DS3 yet but it seemed pretty obvious to me from the start that it was gonna be a game along the lines of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance titles and I don't think they ever promised anything more complex than that?...

Also, IMO the "pre-wow gamers" comment was unnecessary and, in reference to DS1, well, just plain strange... DS1 was more like WoW than most of the RPG's that have been released since WoW, and I can easily think of a number of titles released in recent years that provide a much deeper/more engaging RPG experience than any of the DS games ever did -- Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1 and 2... And so on.

(Before I start what follows is pure opinion)

You raise a good point there Lorfean, when I think about DS1&2 as RPG's nothing realy stands out as ground-braking stuff infact if you look at the sale bulletpoints on the back of the box(yes I still have it) its things like no loading screens between areas, fully 3d camera movment and the pack mule (of course).

You could say DS1&2 has more in common with WoW that DS3 (if only WoW had a pack mule) and DS3 is more like 'old-school' rpgs with isometric camera, dialoge options, stab & grab loot formula and companions with personality.

I know that its grasping with comparing DS1&2 to WoW but I think alot of people look back a DS1&2 (myself included) with rose tinted glasses. On the plus side it had an awesome soundtrack and a seperate campaign for multiplayer (like 2 games for the price of 1)

Dungeon Siege 1 was an ok game, but as RPG's go, it's nowhere near the top spot on my list as well.
That the extreme linearity has been surpassed by DS3 suprised me, as I couldn't imagine how they could make DS even more lineair, but they achieved it.
IMO, in the action RPG genre DS1 is overshadowed by many games like Diablo 2, Divine Divinity and Sacred.

Except if you love an on-rails action RPG, then DS3 is for you! :P

It must be a nostalgia thing yeah, and I can respect that, so I'll just say DS1 and 2 are not my type of games. DS3 might be, but only as a quick and fun co-op dungeon romp to play with my girlfriend, same as the BG: Dark Alliance games were back in the day. And for that reason I'd probably get it for XBOX 360, too -- it seems like a fun sofa game.

I feel like I need to clarify my reaction to the OP's "pre-wow gamers" comment though -- he seemed to think that DS1 was a good example of the greatness of the RPG genre pre-WoW (whatever "pre-WoW" means... as I said, a number of great RPG's were released post-WoW) and that is just ludicrous to me. Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights, sure, those were games the likes of which we probably won't see again... A case can even be made for the influence of the Diablo franchise on the action RPG genre but DS1 really didn't bring anything new to the table. If anything it simplified elements from the Diablo games. Again, this does not make it a bad game, but it is what it is.

The wife loves it here... we have a great time going though the game.... its the perfect buddy co-op, smoother and more fun than DA imo.

Dungeon Siege 1 is among the worst games I've ever played. It's funny to see it described as "what RPGs are supposed to be like" because at the time it was considered really dumb compared to its contemporaries. It basically played itself.

I can't render a personal in-depth opinion. I couldn't bare playing it for more than a couple of hours.

QFT

DS1 is nothing else but a Hack & Slash game. It has never been sold as an rpg game. If you want to contemplate a tree skill or expect a rpg experience, then you got the wrong game.

To me, DS1 is a brilliant game with a very good expansion pack. Better by far than the mediocre Diablo 2.

What do you mean ?

I'm gonna have to completely disagree with you on that. Diablo II, especially after its expansion was released, was anything but mediocre. If you had said "graphically mediocre" I might have agreed with you, but the gameplay, level of polish and utter addictiveness of that game (especially in co-op multiplayer) is unparalleled and I can't think of any Hack & Slash Action CRPG released since that has even gotten close to it. Seriously, DS1 doesn't hold a candle to D2. I think he means that, between the auto-attack, the automatic skill increase when you use weapon or magic type X, and the fact that your companions require little to no guidance in or out of combat, there was very little player input needed to play the game and most battles just kinda played out in front of you. This is a common complaint that was brought up in a lot of reviews as well, and I agree with it.

lol We'll never agree on that, but that's ok. It does not matter. :)


This is not a valid excuse : there are options to disable auto-attack. DS1 gives you choices to play the game in different manners. You don't have to play like an idiot if you don't want to.


I personally never play games with AI. They usually behave like nuisance and get in your way.

This discussion makes me want to play the game again, and this time I'll try to use companions (meh), but I'm pretty sure that you can manage them just fine with the auto-attack settings.

Edit : I have just tried with companions, and you can set your party's attack mode as you desire. So, no, the game doesn't "play by itself" if you don't want to.

I couldn't care less about what reviews say. :)