The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna
Keith Nallawalla

Dungeon Siege came out in 2002 and was a fairly popular RPG written by Chris Taylor. Its story line and game play weren't too different from other games of the genre, but it is still pretty good.

The latest version is called Legends of Aranna. The story line is that you have discovered that your parents had many brave adventures on the continent of Aranna. You go to this island and find out about many races of creatures who are fighting one another. Read more details at the official Web site http://www.dungeonsiege.com.

Scenario

In this game, as in a lot of games now, you can customise your character. Mine is a Caucasian male with a brown mullet and a purple shirt and pants. You can have a party of up to 8 characters as you journey around the game. You meet new people that can come and leave from your party; you can include pack animals to carry your party's items and the expansion includes an animal that will fight back when attacked.

As you and your party fight the enemies you accumulate experience based on whatever type of weapon you are using. When you get more experience with the weapon you use with that character, you can use stronger weapons with them. As with most RPG games, you can find them along the way or buy at a shop.
 
You spend most of your time in this game just clicking in the direction that you want your party to go, clicking on items you want to pick up, and deciding which character gets to carry what item.

My Dislikes

  • Linear level design, so you couldn't explore too much.
  • The AI is too good and only needs you to refill health and the mana potion, or break pots to get items.
  • Enemies don't usually attack unless you are really close to them.
  • It's a bit sad when you have to kick out members of your party to make room for new people.
What I Like
  • You can control multiple characters.
  • New things in the expansion include backpacks and pack animals that can attack. New spells, a whole new game really, you get the original version with it. You can also distribute health and mana more easily.
  • I had never played the original Dungeon Siege game, but the expansion to it is really good. From what I've seen here, it makes the thought of playing the original a bit more challenging, but I will play it one day, I'm sure.
  • The graphics are quite realistic and the music is not bad.
  • You can download a free Bonus Pack for this game from ZDNet and you get to defend the village from a race of mutated great cats.
I'd rate this about 3/5. The RRP is $55 but you will find it for $49 at games outlets.
 



Figure 1. My inventory.



Figure 2. My party has a small skirmish.

Reprinted from the October 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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