DUNGEON SEIGE
Greetings and salutations, reverent readers! Are you ready for the latest, the greatest, and most recent Odd Review EVER? ...I sure hope so, cuz here it is! Now! Live! Comin' at ya! In 3-D! (It was written in 2-D, then converted into 3-D so as to ride on the coattails of trendiness!) And this is everybody's buddy Oddcube, welcoming one and all who have come to see what this particular idiot has to say!
And now: an obligatory word to the unwary who unwittingly but wistfully wandered into my weird little world...
So here's how it is: my name is Oddcube (Hi! How ya doin'?). I talk about stuff! What kind of stuff? Why, pretty much whatever I feel like talking about! Books, movies, TV shows, games, whatever! I try to talk about weird stuff you may have missed, or old stuff you may have forgotten about. I try to tell you a little something about it, and whether or not I liked it and think its worth your time checking out. That's right; I do it so that you don't have to! Is that cool of me, or what? Then I write up my half-baked opinions into an article just like this one, and assign some goofball rating to it so that I can call it a review, and then it gets posted on the internet courtesy of the fine folks over at Abandoned Towers Magazine! Get it? Good! Cuz it's time to move on!
This time I'm gonna talk about a computer game called Dungeon Siege. Dungeon Siege is a role-playing game that was designed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft Games in 2002.
Believe it or not, I really haven't played too many computer games. I have played several on the Nintendo and Super NES, but not on the computer. So when I first got Dungeon Siege, I was pretty impressed with how you could customize the look of your character. You only get to design one character, so that was less overwhelming than some other games where you start with a whole group right away.
Next, I thought the graphics were really detailed. Compared to more recent stuff, it's just not so bad.
You start off as a farmer somewhere in the Kingdom of Ehb, on the continent of Aranna. Your farm is under attack by these monster-guys called the Krug, and a dying friend tells you to get to town and warn the guards. So you fight your way to town, which brings up another cool point. In most RPGs you have to pick if your guy is a warrior or a wizard or whatever. But in Dungeon Siege you develop your skill level in archery, melee fighting, or casting spells (from two different kinds of magic). So, you can specialize in one skill and gain high levels as an archer, or a warrior, or a wizard of combat magic, or a mage with nature magic, OR you can develop ALL four skills and have a well-balanced character! To me, this was a really cool concept!
Once you get to town, of course you learn that the situation is worse than you thought, and you continue onward to the castle where some evil creatures called the Seck have broken out of their prison beneath the castle and sorta taken over, which is why all the bad monsters are suddenly running amok throughout the kingdom. At various points along the way, you can meet other characters who offer to join your group (this often requires giving them money). Once they join your group, you can control them just like you control the guy you started the game with. Plus, you can decide what formation the members of your group march in, and set their basic reactions to nearby monsters (always attack, always retreat, etc). You can also single out one guy and move them without moving everyone else, so as not to get attacked by monsters.
This may have been typical stuff for computer games, but it was new to me and I thought it was plenty cool. I started off trying to really pay attention to the storyline, for vital clues on where to go and stuff. But once I figured out it was a linear game and you could only stray so far off the path, I kinda stopped. Unfortunately, I never finished the game, either, as I had discovered World of Warcraft and began to play it instead.
Plus, there was another version of the game (on the same CD), where you could connect your computer with another computer either through a LAN line or the net, and play in another part of the gameworld with other players. I never had any other players to play with, but that didn't stop me from running around that gameworld alone.
However, somebody must've played through it and thought it was pretty cool, because the game has spawned all sorts of expansion packs and sequels! 2003 saw the release of Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna. In 2005, Dungeon Siege II was released. 2006 was a banner year, seeing the release of the expansion pack Dungeon Siege II: Broken World AND Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony, which was released for the Sony Playstation Portable. And apparently they just released Dungeon Siege 3 in Europe and North America, and will be released in Japan later this month!
To be thorough I suppose I should also mention that there was a movie called "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale". It came out in 2008, was directed by Uwe Boll, and starred a bunch of people and Burt Reynolds and Claire Forlani and the guy who played Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo movie. I have only this to say about the movie: of all the movies I've seen in my life, that was one of them!
Dungeon Siege was pretty cool, but I got distracted by World of Warcraft. But now that I'm bored with WoW, I've rediscovered Dungeon Siege in one of the closets here at my Sanctum Sanctorum. It seems to me I got through the mountains but never got all the way through the swamps. So I'll have to start playing it again. Cuz it is a worthwhile game.
Except, of course, I can't just SAY that. To appear like a real review I have to assign a rating. But I'm too wishy-washy, so I'll have to use my ever-incredible D&D percentage dice to randomly determine the rating for me! Percentage dice are simply two ten-sided dice. One die represents the ones place, and the other die represents the tens place, and together they randomly determine a number between zero-one (I'd rather crawl through twenty miles of sewer pipe than have to live through that) to double-zero, which actually stands for one hundred (the greatest thing EVER, like doubled!).
So I'll just toss the trusty ol' percentage dice like that...
Greetings and salutations, reverent readers! Are you ready for the latest, the greatest, and most recent Odd Review EVER? ...I sure hope so, cuz here it is! Now! Live! Comin' at ya! In 3-D! (It was written in 2-D, then converted into 3-D so as to ride on the coattails of trendiness!) And this is everybody's buddy Oddcube, welcoming one and all who have come to see what this particular idiot has to say!
And now: an obligatory word to the unwary who unwittingly but wistfully wandered into my weird little world...
So here's how it is: my name is Oddcube (Hi! How ya doin'?). I talk about stuff! What kind of stuff? Why, pretty much whatever I feel like talking about! Books, movies, TV shows, games, whatever! I try to talk about weird stuff you may have missed, or old stuff you may have forgotten about. I try to tell you a little something about it, and whether or not I liked it and think its worth your time checking out. That's right; I do it so that you don't have to! Is that cool of me, or what? Then I write up my half-baked opinions into an article just like this one, and assign some goofball rating to it so that I can call it a review, and then it gets posted on the internet courtesy of the fine folks over at Abandoned Towers Magazine! Get it? Good! Cuz it's time to move on!
This time I'm gonna talk about a computer game called Dungeon Siege. Dungeon Siege is a role-playing game that was designed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft Games in 2002.
Believe it or not, I really haven't played too many computer games. I have played several on the Nintendo and Super NES, but not on the computer. So when I first got Dungeon Siege, I was pretty impressed with how you could customize the look of your character. You only get to design one character, so that was less overwhelming than some other games where you start with a whole group right away.
Next, I thought the graphics were really detailed. Compared to more recent stuff, it's just not so bad.
You start off as a farmer somewhere in the Kingdom of Ehb, on the continent of Aranna. Your farm is under attack by these monster-guys called the Krug, and a dying friend tells you to get to town and warn the guards. So you fight your way to town, which brings up another cool point. In most RPGs you have to pick if your guy is a warrior or a wizard or whatever. But in Dungeon Siege you develop your skill level in archery, melee fighting, or casting spells (from two different kinds of magic). So, you can specialize in one skill and gain high levels as an archer, or a warrior, or a wizard of combat magic, or a mage with nature magic, OR you can develop ALL four skills and have a well-balanced character! To me, this was a really cool concept!
Once you get to town, of course you learn that the situation is worse than you thought, and you continue onward to the castle where some evil creatures called the Seck have broken out of their prison beneath the castle and sorta taken over, which is why all the bad monsters are suddenly running amok throughout the kingdom. At various points along the way, you can meet other characters who offer to join your group (this often requires giving them money). Once they join your group, you can control them just like you control the guy you started the game with. Plus, you can decide what formation the members of your group march in, and set their basic reactions to nearby monsters (always attack, always retreat, etc). You can also single out one guy and move them without moving everyone else, so as not to get attacked by monsters.
This may have been typical stuff for computer games, but it was new to me and I thought it was plenty cool. I started off trying to really pay attention to the storyline, for vital clues on where to go and stuff. But once I figured out it was a linear game and you could only stray so far off the path, I kinda stopped. Unfortunately, I never finished the game, either, as I had discovered World of Warcraft and began to play it instead.
Plus, there was another version of the game (on the same CD), where you could connect your computer with another computer either through a LAN line or the net, and play in another part of the gameworld with other players. I never had any other players to play with, but that didn't stop me from running around that gameworld alone.
However, somebody must've played through it and thought it was pretty cool, because the game has spawned all sorts of expansion packs and sequels! 2003 saw the release of Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna. In 2005, Dungeon Siege II was released. 2006 was a banner year, seeing the release of the expansion pack Dungeon Siege II: Broken World AND Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony, which was released for the Sony Playstation Portable. And apparently they just released Dungeon Siege 3 in Europe and North America, and will be released in Japan later this month!
To be thorough I suppose I should also mention that there was a movie called "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale". It came out in 2008, was directed by Uwe Boll, and starred a bunch of people and Burt Reynolds and Claire Forlani and the guy who played Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo movie. I have only this to say about the movie: of all the movies I've seen in my life, that was one of them!
Dungeon Siege was pretty cool, but I got distracted by World of Warcraft. But now that I'm bored with WoW, I've rediscovered Dungeon Siege in one of the closets here at my Sanctum Sanctorum. It seems to me I got through the mountains but never got all the way through the swamps. So I'll have to start playing it again. Cuz it is a worthwhile game.
Except, of course, I can't just SAY that. To appear like a real review I have to assign a rating. But I'm too wishy-washy, so I'll have to use my ever-incredible D&D percentage dice to randomly determine the rating for me! Percentage dice are simply two ten-sided dice. One die represents the ones place, and the other die represents the tens place, and together they randomly determine a number between zero-one (I'd rather crawl through twenty miles of sewer pipe than have to live through that) to double-zero, which actually stands for one hundred (the greatest thing EVER, like doubled!).
So I'll just toss the trusty ol' percentage dice like that...
...and roll a 70! Oh yeah, I'd better hastily add that I've never played any of the expansions or sequels, so this only applies to the original game.
But I can live with a score of 70, but you don't have to! You could try the game yourself and form your very own opinions! You know, I can't remember if I found mine in a Wal-Mart or in an Office Depot. But I'm sure you can still find a copy out there somewhere. If nowhere else, there's got to be one on Amazon or EBay!
So there you have it, fanatical fans! Another fix of the freaky and fun! And don't forget to remember to not forget to come back next month to find out what I talk about in my very next Odd Review! So be there and be square!
-----Your Buddy, Oddcube
Buy books. Mention this post when ordering any book from a Cyberwizard Productions imprint, and receive 10% off your next order.
But I can live with a score of 70, but you don't have to! You could try the game yourself and form your very own opinions! You know, I can't remember if I found mine in a Wal-Mart or in an Office Depot. But I'm sure you can still find a copy out there somewhere. If nowhere else, there's got to be one on Amazon or EBay!
So there you have it, fanatical fans! Another fix of the freaky and fun! And don't forget to remember to not forget to come back next month to find out what I talk about in my very next Odd Review! So be there and be square!
-----Your Buddy, Oddcube
Buy books. Mention this post when ordering any book from a Cyberwizard Productions imprint, and receive 10% off your next order.
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