Valor and Strength - Dungeon Siege
In 2002, Gas Powered Games and Microsoft came together to make Dungeon Siege, a landmark game in the Role Playing Strategy genre of computer games. Gas Powered Games were the developers of the critically acclaimed game, which Microsoft published.
Dungeon Siege I was a pretty simple point and click game, set in the medieval times when magic as well as combat skills were equally necessary to survive. The storyline was simple, engrossing and sure to keep one enraptured.
It followed the journey of one character - male or female - from their humble beginnings as a farmer who finally becomes an important part in the war against evil. The entire game is played through the now famous 'ariel view', so preferred by RPG games.
Players get to decide whether they wish to make the characters they choose as magicians or combat masters. Over the time frame of the game, the player has to choose between various people wanting to join them in their quest, the people themselves having various quests of their own to complete.
Dungeon Siege is one of the few games, wherein magic and combat is equally strong, and not to forget, graphically satisfying. So a combat warrior slashing through hordes of enemy beasts would be as graphically satisfying as a combat mage invoking several special magic spells.
Therefore, one can play the game as a complete mage, or a complete warrior. The first game had the players choose between the following characters - combat masters, archers, nature mages and combat mages.
Dungeon Siege has been immensely successful. Its success mainly lies in its ease of play. It gave the entire gaming world, and gamers all over the world, lessons as to how a medieval RPG game should be actually made.
However, Dungeon Siege had some flaws. For one, the game became increasingly and finally ridiculously simple as the player went deeper and deeper. Also, in the very end, there is a 'what? Is the game over?' kind of feeling. Of course, the game does have a multiplayer mode, but the single player mode is much more addictive than its game play time.
These points were looked after in the sequel to the game, Dungeon Siege II, released in 2005.
Dungeon Siege II is much more better than its original. While Dungeon Siege could be branded as a 'popcorn' fantasy game by more hardcore gamers, Dungeon Siege II will surely find fans in even hardcore gamers. A lush environment, new characters, and a whole new storyline take care of it.
Dungeon Siege has had a sequel, and some expansions. A movie based on the game is in the making. The movie, titled 'In The Name of the King', stars Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds and Kristanna Loken among others.
