…before I gave up. I’ll try it again tomorrow with a fresh outlook. But for now…
Two words. Ewwww yuck.
Heh.
Warning will robinson! Idiocy approaching! Anyone with a memory will recall I was so disgusted by my first exposure to the D2 stress test I bailed after about an hour of play to offer up my cd key on the LL. And I’m still playing D2…
But still, ewwww yuck.
My problem with D2 was the horrible resolution and fuzzy tile set in act 1. The expansion fixed the resolution issue (finally). I never did get used to the act 1 tile set (though I love the act 2 tile set). Act 1 still gives me vertigo.
Oh well, back to Dungeon Siege.
Has anyone else played yet?
I find the graphics pretty good, though the drooling reviews mystify me. Compared to say, TR4, they are about a C-. They are almost as good as Unreal. In some ways, better. In other ways, not so good 8-).
The controls are ok so far. Not enough play time to critique yet. In the early areas I can get done what I need to get done without reading the damn manual every two steps, which is a good sign.
Now for the questions (yes, I read the manual. Twice).
Is there a way to really control your character? All I seem to be able to do is click on a “go to” point. The game progresses as “click” step step step stop. “Click” step step step stop. “Click” step step step stop. Very jerky. Very tiring. Very irritating.
And my big question.
WTF am I doing wrong in combat? I made me a lovely red-headed female archer as my first character (what else?). The melee combat goes ok, though I find the auto-attack a bit too auto, if you know what I mean. Then I get my first bow drop. Woot! Time to start the real game. I spot my first monster at range (and there are a butt-load of monsters at the start to practice on), click on it, and, WTF? Ok, I know I was out of range. I had her set for Hold Ground, Attack Freely, and Target Closest. This death-wish bimbo responds by running, not INTO range, but all the way to the monster, past him, turns around, and fires at a range of 2 inches while getting pounded not only by the original target, but by the two others she woke up with her stupid charge. If I wanted my rogue to run past monsters into unknown territory and fire point blank, I would play D1 and do it myself 8-). Now about 1/3 of the time she does this stupid death-wish charge, about 1/3 of the time she almost follows orders and runs more than half way (not just in range, over half way) to the target and stops to fire, and the other 1/3 is REALLY annoying. She runs ¾’s of the way to the original target and starts ploinking at it, totally ignoring the other 4 monsters that have come out of the woodwork due to her stupid charge and are now flaying her alive, despite the “Target Closest” setting.
The only way I can figure it so far, is that this isn’t really a hack and slash. All you can do is control movement from point to point, and set the AI for your character according to certain parameters, and sit back and watch the battle.
So what am I missing? How do you directly take control and fight your battles? How do you do target selection and pick your fighting ground at the same time?
Grrrr.
And I do not like killing dogs. I don’t care if they are supposed to be evil dogs. I don’t like it. I didn’t like it in TR3 (and they took it out of TR4 after all the complaints about killing dogs, eagles, and bears), and I do not like it here. Especially in a fantasy game. Just make another kind of monster up. I play games for FUN damn it all, not so I can sit around wondering how the baby monster is going to feel when not only does it’s daddy never come home, but when the family pet is missing too.
Ah well, I’m sure I’ll like it better tomorrow and all this will just be a senseless rant.
