Finding the Best ARPG Ever Made: Dungeon Siege

Dungeon Siege is another classic game that everyone seems to remember fondly. Interesting design choices such as letting the player control a squad of characters instead of just one set the game apart from other games in the genre. Thanks to it's dynamic diffrences, and through it's new and odd design choices, could Dungeon Siege possibly be the Best ARPG Ever Made? Yes, but only if you have 8 hands to play with.
Thanks for watching! Another ARPG for the books, another video in the portfolio, and another time I get to hopefully amuse all of you! If you enjoyed, I'd sinseerly appreciate if you Liked, Shared, Commented or Subscribed! And why not get your eight player party to smash that bell?
As always, a special, unbelievably large thank you to the generous and kind supporters on Patreon. Thank you for being there for me! / seergames
And if you want to connect with me, why not join my discord! / discord

[@futurecoplgf]

I always felt Dungeon Siege was absolutely a masterclass in terms of 'road trip' and 'zero to hero' vibes for me: there's just so much addictive momentum and escalation as you go from being a humble farmer plowing through dungeons and coming out a dragon-slaying badass, and the points you made regarding the world design with its lack of load times, hand-crafted dungeons, straightforward pathing with no teleporting and so on really helped me realize why it always stood out for me over every other ARPG, despite them all going for similar vibes. Thanks for the insight as always, Seer!

[@paulwilliams8278]

the zero to hero vibes in Outward reminded me of DS.

[@FulmineNero]

Outstanding comment which describes Dungeon Siege 1 the best.

[@treedoor]

I was 11 when this game came out and I don't think I've ever been more hyped for a video game than with this game. Every month my gaming magazines came I'd search for any article and pictures I could about this game. I'd read and re-read them every day. I spent months saving up allowances, doing chores for neighbors, anything I could to save up the $50 I needed for this game. When it released, I begged my dad to take me to buy it, and we had to go to multiple stores until we finally found a copy at Office Depot. I brought it home, popped it into our Compaq, and played it nonstop for weeks. It was so damn good. I would obsess over getting characters the proper stat allocation to finally wear those pieces with completely unreasonable stat requirements, and that would feel like an incredible achievement on its own. With that said though, this video is 100% factual. There was not one single unfounded criticism of this game. I would love to see a game like Dungeon Siege get made today. It was truly one of a kind.

[@BreadCatMarcus]

Dont fear, Seer is here! Oh dear, i must steer into the clear to watch this with cheer. Perhaps ill grab a beer and get near. But ill make sure not to drive after, or ill hit a deer. 🎉

[@seer6251]

I don't know what I did to get blessed with such great viewers with bars like these 🙏

[@lovestrucktheidiot]

Bars!

[@Jon_Doe]

white rapper skills

[@SpookyLion]

Wow how queer

[@InvadeNormandy]

I see we've went to the same flow college

[@xash143x]

One of my fondest memories is my grandparents telling me, "you fuck should play Dungeon Siege."

[@woodtsunami]

That's amazing

[@hater2764]

A woman! 😳 A real woman, people!!!

[@johnhorne1839]

I can relate. Your grandparents told me the same thing.

[@ChristopherMathieu]

One of the ideas behind the game was NO BACKTRACKING. Things were intended to be tuned such that about the time you've gotten too much loot, you get to a town to offload it all. The multiplayer map has teleports between regions, but the main single-player game was never supposed to go backward.

[@powerofberzerker9487]

The most special thing in this game besides many great features is the atmosphere and ambience. The sound of rain, of the distant sea, of birds chirping. Also, the camera works wonders at revealing something, it's not like arpg from birds view, you can catch more of the horizon.

[@rhysticbuddy61]

My dad and I played dungeon siege 1 and dungeon siege 2 together when I was a kid and it is some of the best memories I have gaming. Every once in a while and go back to play them, they both still hold up and are incredibly enjoyable games! Glad you reviewed them!

[@DungeonsAndDerps]

AYOOOO! Dungeon Siege was my jam back in the day - It had such a cool skill-system. The second one is pretty good too. It's a shame they never made Dungeon Siege 3. Or Sacred 3. Or Diablo 3. Real Shame...those franchises had so much potential.

[@jprec5174]

Dungeon siege 3 is actually good but it's not dungeon siege

[@CAC.88]

? they did make diablo 3

[@Kibbitz]

@@CAC.88 It's just sarcasm, all 3 games exist and people pretend they don't.

[@CAC.88]

@@Kibbitz ohhh haha I don't know the other games so I was confused. Makes sense tho, diablo 3 was an absolute abomination.

[@louissteyn6871]

​@@Kibbitz command & conquer fans have the same thing going for command & conquer 4

[@Kevbo2040]

It's always so weird when KZbin's garbage algorithim actually suggests a good video by a funny person that I actually end up enjoying. I'm gonna have to watch more of this guy.

[@ivanaznar6495]

mate, your editing skills are getting amazing

[@seer6251]

Thank you very much! My only wish is that I could draw and make my own assets and stuff, but idk maybe we'll get there one day.

[@manfredkandlbinder3752]

@@seer6251 You could try out Stable Diffusion. It's an AI that you can run locally on your system and run via a Browser interface, you can even train it yourself. Since i got me a RTX 4070 Super it runs decently well for me. Might be an option for small scale half-generic assets.

[@opposed2logic]

a new seer video just dropped. quit whatever youre doing people, its viewing time. also comment for the algorithm, have some ENGAGEMENT buddy

[@phforNZ]

I pulled the handbrake out I pulled so hard on it Send help

[@SonofTiamat]

I know Ross Scott loves this game

[@andrekuniscki]

MATE, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I used to play this in Lan houses here in Brazil when I was 8 or 9 years old, and here I'm, in my 20s just remembering every detail of this game but the name. Now I just found it Thanks to you!!! sorry for my English 😅

[@lurchvater2387]

I played hundreds of hours of Dungeon Siege, probably thousands. Since I got it, I never reinstalled it, every new PC got it installed right after all the setup was done, I have dozens of character files, some are 20years old. It's always fun to watch someone play it for the first time. Sadly the Steam and GOG versions miss the Add-On. It makes the game WAY better. And then there are mods... One of my favourite games of all time.

[@frankblazer6377]

there is a mod to get the expansion for 1 and 2

[@lurchvater2387]

@@frankblazer6377 aye, that patch/mod is a real piece of art, also unlocks MP

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

"There's dwarves, elves, women, fictional beings galore" forced me to pause the video to get the laughing out of my system.

[@hater2764]

*Intelligent women That's the fantasy bit

[@Xadethor]

Man, I am so sorry that you didn't manage to get one of those better builds up! I remember when I played this one million years ago that I had a warrior tank with a mana shield on it and I was playing this game on hard without allies after the final boss! I should replay this over Diablo 4 tbh!

[@Fsynergy]

ctrl+a is a really good shortcut for this game, selects all your party to make it easy to manage them. i think seer would like dungeon siege 2 much better because its more of a normal arpg and the party is much easier to control

[@Adiopowered]

2 is better imo

[@powerofberzerker9487]

You can also just hit E for everyone...

[@FalkFlak]

DS2 is very high on the list of the best ARPGs ever made and I mean that. It's not that it only has a great skill system with a lot of builds and a giant game world. It also has actual companions with character, background and personal quests. and after that there is the expansion. There is so much secret and side content other devs could fill a complete game with.

[@louissteyn6871]

The expansion added elemental orbs that shot at enemies giving you experience along with whatever weapon you are using, the sequel made magic more convenient by adding autocast slots in spellbooks where you can dump buffs, heals and summons, the expansion added specific buffs for multiclassing that splits experience between two skills (albeit restricted to meelee + nature magicand ranged + combat magic)

[@TheAzureGhost]

Wasn't the autocasting already a thing in the first Dungeon Siege? (not sure if with dlc or without) I remember playing the first DS on autopilot just loosely directing my party towards the questmarker and have them eliminate anything in their way without me doing much to control.

[@louissteyn6871]

@@TheAzureGhost it wasn't as far as I remember

[@caramelconundrum9280]

Dungeon Siege was my shit when I was a young teen. I would play the multiplayer map solo offline and just travel from beginning to end, snatching NPCs for my army along the way. Amazing times.

[@brandy1999]

I really appreciate the fact your videos arent one of those nostalgia-bait ones, where every old game is presented as if it was some sort of flawless miracle of the universe, and you actually mention all its flaws without pulling any punches.

[@xAutoTx]

I've been playing Dungeon Siege since I was a kid and never once have I had an exception error. If anyone else has had similar issues, please dispute me, but I'd think that's specific to whatever patch you used and running on modern systems. Great review as always, Seer.

[@Agreel]

I've been playing DS1 since 2002 and it's been popping from time to time. I don't remember if I've seen it on Win 98, but it's definitely been a thing on Win XP. I also remember a few instances, where the map didn't load properly for me and I couldn't progress further, forcing me to either restart a game or import the main character to multiplayer.

[@vonshroom2068]

The only error i always have is one part of the ice dungeon not rendering without patching it. Its always fun to realise 15+hours in that i forgot to patch it and having to replay it because ofcourse the map rendering bug stays in your save file. Mind you i play from the discs still so its kinda on me for not patching it after installing it.

[@ssj2_snake]

Sounds to me like Seer was... *removes sunglasses* the exception

[@branwenwashere]

Legends of Aranna was one of my favs when I was young

[@ComradeArthur]

When DS came out I played 7 or 8 complete games in a row. How to avoid damage? DON'T GO CHARGING INTO MOBS OF ENEMIES! You put your tanks in front of your ranged units and let them come to you. That doesn't work ALL the time but it works enough so you can auto-fight a lot of mobs and then put on your thinking cap for the tougher challenges. Also, BOUNCING GRENADES IS INSANELY FUN. Stand at the edge of a cliff, spend 30 minutes throwing grenades into the cavern beneath you. Watch the grenades bounce and bounce as you try to hit a critter waaaay on the other side of the screen. It's a sport! You make healers gain levels by using them primarily as ranged attackers and using heals as needed. If you want to build a GOOD mage you have them do mostly melee combat for a long time. Perhaps the first 1/3rd of the game. This buffs their strength so they can wear good armor. Then start casting puny damage spells to level up their INT. Yes, there's a lot of kiting when you do that. I enjoy kiting. You don't need to make a balanced party or play with 8 characters. First time I played the game I took one fighter--healer all the way. The easiest game I played with was 8 archers. It wasn't long before everything died long before they got close enough to melee. (except bosses) (one archer had a side job of support magic and healing) When I was able to equip all 8 with crossbows that fired at the same speed there was a satisfying CHUNK when all 8 fired at the same instant, usually at the same target - insta-killing it.

[@SimonALa]

I heard General Patton's men referred to him as "l33t" on more than one occasion.

[@djacroama]

One thing I love about your video's is the random poetic outbreaks you have

[@tari8228]

Been waiting for this one for a long time now, I loved dungeon siege back in the day. Great video seer :)

[@dylanherron3963]

Oh man, I'm very glad that the last few years, the game I thought as a kid "was a hidden gem and nobody played" is actually a huge classic among so many people. For seemingly coming out of nowhere, this game did so many things right! Even the oddly "slow" pacing was enjoyable!

[@bigggmoustache8868]

I literally just remembered I was in a guild for this game 25 years ago and we played with a guild mod called "Lloyds Mod". Jesus Christ I haven't remembered that since high school.

[@wagz781]

Yo this game was my jam growing up. The wierd mix of ARPG, CRPG, and RTS just itched all the right spots. They actually give you some different pack animals in the DLC as well.

[@ancientcall7737]

I love dungeon siege. I played the multi-player map alone though and I think the experience there is vastly different. One character makes the handling of the group way easier... But the game has such great music and a great scenery. The portal hub of the multi-player map was so epic too... When you ascended down from the sky into the region you wanted to visit. Love it

[@dennisdavidov782]

Nice to see a review of this classic game. BtW, have you tried the Legends of Aranna expansion ? It isn't sold anymore due to rights issues but can be modded back in (it's the same for Broken World for the sequel).

[@Ringmaster50187]

Nice dude! I remember when you were talking about these. I think I might have already said this but I think Silverfall is worth a review.

[@AlchemistofFlame]

Great video! Can't wait for Dungeon Siege 2! You should try Shadowflare, it's a pretty obscure ARPG.

[@Jiggerjaw]

Love that list of imaginary creatures took my by surprise. The imaginary creature that is my wife literally just levels all 8 characters as strength-based melee fighters, and the game is so well balanced that that strategy doesn't suck big ol' balls.

[@Danne1040]

Man this game is so sick my friend and I would play it on his pc. We didn’t speak English so we didn’t really know what any stat did so just went on vibes strength for warriors int for mage. But the worst part was we didn’t know how to revive dead party members so we would just start a new save when our party went full skeleton crew.

[@HWFchamp]

Probably my favorite gaming channel right now. You're entertaining as hell.

[@FableKid7_7]

I like your editing style, it's unique and fresh compared to the many other youtube reviewers. Your a great example for people to follow if they want to get into KZbin, but don't because they feel like their ideas have already been done.

[@andylastname566]

One of my favorite games of my childhood...Wish it would make an amazing resurgence.

[@felipesiedschlagyopan4185]

I played the demo from Dungeon Siege with my brother when we were little, the memories were deep in my head. Now I am playing Baldur's Gate 3 and it remembered me of this gem, I feel like I am a child again.

[@personaslates]

I also refuse to active windows but i found a clever work around. What you do is set your secondary monitor as your primary monitor, and play games on your main monitor. Then the stupid windows activation watermark wont be on the monitor you are playing on. Also Balls.

[@zinixas1]

Thank you for blessing our lives with your videos

[@Agreel]

5:26 It works in the same exact way as in Diablo 1. Singleplayer uses regular savepoints and nothing is respawning. In multiplayer, everything is respawning upon starting a new session and there's a bunch of checkpoints, which requires a specific level (for example, if you want to start the game in Stonebridge, you need a lv3+ character). Also, you need to play on multiplayer if you want to play the NG+ modes. Luckily, you can easily import any character from SP, so after you defeat the final boss, you can go straight into NG+. Oh, and a funfact: multiplayer has a separate, more massive map, which also contains a "chicken level", I wonder where they drew the inspiration from. :) 10:45 Basically be mobile. Since your party is insanely fast when compared to the enemies, you can easily retreat instead of standing in the middle of the group of monsters, heal if necessary, and then continue the fight with better positioning. It's especially useful when fighting Gresh. Remember those spikes he creates at the start of the battle, so you wouldn't escape? Yeah, you can still move between those, lure out all his summons and then easily defeat him in 8v1. 12:55 Yeah, in DS1 specializing in one area is the way to go. Even in DS2, there's a character in the tutorial, which tells you not to spread your stats too much, and the game is WAY more friendly towards hybrids. The DS2 expansion even adds classes, which function as multiclasses, Fist of Stone (melee + nature magic) and Blood Assassin (ranged + combat magic). 13:05 You can easily import your character with all the necessary items and play on multiplayer on NG+. It's even required to make some use out of Fury's Eye, since the secret level is present on the multiplayer exclusive map. 15:01 They get even better is DS2. Not only the increase in inventory space is even bigger, but also they are actually fairly decent at combat. Also, there are no major navigation issues like in DS1, you don't need to struggle putting the mule on an elevator anymore.

[@newtonbomb]

I have a fever dream memory of playing a Dungeon Siege demo multiple times, not knowing wtf was going on every single time.

[@branenchristian]

Seer, the F***ing legend!

[@aslag94]

Wild, I just started playing Dungeon Siege for the first time a few days ago. Using fan patches to add the expansion does improve the base game a little bit, you get some better hotkeys and supposedly the set items from the expansion campaign get backported in the vanilla one. Doesn't change that I've literally hit a wall in the goblin gundam fuckfest cause I dont have enough melee tanks 💀

[@anthonybottigliero8336]

From what I remember, the reason to have the mule was because you could send it back to town to sell your unused stuff.

[@Agreel]

You're thinking about Torchlight. In DS, it just has bigger inventory than the regular characters.

[@anthonybottigliero8336]

@@Agreel Ah... I believe you're right. I never really liked this game, I always felt it was more of a screen saver. In a way it was similar to these "Idle" games that are out now, except it needs more interaction than them. But if it moved from place to place by itself, it would totally be an Idle game. I likewise had the same leveling dilemma as Seer, but I realized some of the classes were worthless. It seemed the only two useful classes were the warrior and mage. The archer didn't do much damage, and the cleric didn't do anything one of the very plentiful potions couldn't accomplish. I did want to level the skills to create "well rounded" characters, but the story and gameplay were boring, so I eventually stopped caring, then stopped playing. Years later I spoke with someone else who played the game and loved it. They said multiplayer was where it was at. It was a bit different than the campaign, you only controlled one character, and you had to pick a character class. It also had different quests, so ostensibly wasn't as boring as the campaign.

[@fudgeman884]

My favorite thing about the buffs was always that you can stack the durations, so you would just slam the cast key until you had 1 hour of buffs and then ride into the sunset.

[@Bacjuszx]

Man, to this day I remember the swamps. The fucking HUGE swamps where I was lost for damn hours as a kid. Man I love this game

[@Agreel]

True, in my 1st playthough, I didn't even realise at first you could actually go through the swamps, instead of using all those bridges. xD Also, clearing out the monsters near the chapel was very challenging for me back then.

[@RogerBaxely]

Fury's Eye is actually needed in the multiplayer. Dungeon Siege's multiplayer has an entirely different map with it's own quest line. You get the eye in multiplayer by exporting your Singleplayer character with the item.

[@NotKevinBrand]

God damn its always a pleasure when you post a video.

[@viccky9694]

Dungeon Siege hm "I haven't heard that name in a long time." thank you for the nostalgia

[@ethanwasme4307]

I remember trying to online before gamespy died, it was a whole different world map but I couldn't find anything anyone interesting. Really love it when a new dungeon siege review gets posted lol

[@Mrjoehammer]

Seer, this video made my year! Thank you good sir!

[@heliogaude374]

Great video as always, looking for the next one

[@Hravokh]

watching Seer , i have to stay clear from the wrinkle that my brain..makes crinkle. but i have no fear because thanks to Seer i can not only smell but hear the colors of a dungeon sieged

[@dawatchng]

3:20 That edit with all the characters showing off is one of the sickest things I've ever seen

[@c_kling]

My favorite dungeon siege memory is that you can wander into areas where enemies are way too high for you and me and my college roommates spent hours killing one skeleton for basically no xp. But we did kill it.

[@JamesEG439]

One of my favorite series on KZbin. Great work.

[@Actionpacked444]

Seer has inspired me to try making videos. I just hope hes ready to take responsibility if they turn out terrible

[@NiftyOSRS]

Oh yeah new seer vid, lets go!

[@wOOryParadox]

Thanks i found this channel great games with a great guy theres a lot of videos i need to watch now

[@franceseguren1313]

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. This was my first video of yours & man, did I enjoy it. I've played DS & definitely have grumbled about every one of the things you mentioned. You just gained a new follower good sir. Well done! LOL

[@seer6251]

I'm truly glad you enjoyed! Thanks for hanging out, and I hope I can amuse you moving forward! 💪

[@Incog-e1z]

Very excited to see ore content from you. I could listen to you read a phone book.

[@lucassalarollimartin8135]

Great video, keep up the good work and you will go far

[@TheJols]

Great video Seer. +80 to width -15 to length. Don't look too deep into that I have no idea what that means.

[@IronSofa]

Healing Wind is a must-have spell if you want to effectively use healing magic in Dungeon Siege. Healing hands is okay early when your party is small, but dog water later on when the party gets to 5+. Healing Wind though gives a solid AoE heal to your whole party. Stack it with a nature magic orb and your Nature Magic lad can reasonably keep up.

[@maxmorgan1218]

It's always a good day when Seer uploads!

[@DummyFace123]

I don't know if I even played the singleplayer I went straight into MP, thats what made it so addicting for me.

[@Kaktanternak]

Another banger game. It's clunky af, but it has it's charm and unique vibe. Love the series man, each video you made is a banger too!

[@SenatorStink]

I love this seeries. Please play every single ARPG ever made.

[@seer6251]

I will

[@obake6290]

I finally bought these games somewhat recently on a big Steam sale. Still haven't played them, but owning is a step in the right direction.

[@prettyshortshorts]

oh DS2 also has plenty secret areas, also one you get by getting an item set out a loot goblin and using a specific chant oh and the mule is probably one of the most broken things, in DS2 at least. You feed it items to lvl it up and it does eventually get its own active ability

[@Rang89]

In my last many playthroughs, I've never gone beyond 5 party members. Even played it with 4 and 2. My solo attempts always fizzled out as I got bored with how tedious it was lol.

[@corexmaily]

Your writing and delivery is so fucking good, I dont think theres even anyone to compare you to. Genuinely

[@goransekulic3671]

I really want a modern version of both of these. Such wonderful games.

[@NachoPlays50]

just don't stop seer, never stop

[@JunkSock]

I remember getting two copies of this game on my tenth birthday, both from different friends. Beautiful game

[@tropicalfruit4110]

I forgot I had played this game 25 years ago. Thanks seeer

[@jeremylackey6587]

I still have the combat music in my head to this day

[@vanraz]

I remember fondly this game. My first online experience as a kid. Everyone ran around with .txt modified mega god chars and they all had modified and custom broken skills and spells + items. Pvp fests in town were a blast. There is also a secret chicken god temple hidden in the game with a mega chicken final boss.

[@robertrijkers4923]

with xp being limited to the amount of non respawnable mobs the fun in this game is completing it with one character making it OP as possible while surviving to get to that stage.

[@holidayinn4293]

No mobs ever respwawn as far as I remember. The only exploit I do remember is some glacial cave area and one mob was a summoner. As long as you didn't kill her you could farm her summons forever. Which did award experience and drop gold and items.

[@Mark-sd4hv]

I remember there being a console command to bring enemies back.

[@Rhythmier]

Your channel never fail to impress

[@QanarIsDelirious]

Dungeon siege 2 made a great change with auto cast slots for heals debuffs and curses

[@Share87]

2 healers is a huge step up one healing hands and one healing winds :)

[@StardustSpeedman]

Thanks for your great and amusing reviews! People say Everspace 2 is an ARPG too. Would you review that, please?

[@poppers7317]

It's basically an Idle/Automation game where the decisions are made before the combat starts. I like it. When I was a teenager I found that dull but now I'm old and lazy and I can appreciate the gameplay.

[@temnbl1]

Love your videos!

[@99splashing77]

I want to be a blitzball when I grow up

[@wintertorrent]

Yess, I've been waiting for this one, lets goo

[@QQWoLPHie]

ive been playing diablo 2 since i was 12 and still pay visits for a season or to pvp. its my favorite game ever. I subbed as a mutual arpg fan :D currently crushing last epoch!

[@happyreaper11]

This game and Nox hit my nostalgia buttons so hard they broke. Thank you for this series of triggered gaming memories!

[@AlqantDBlank]

You should make a video on Rum & Gun.

[@bluesrock1986]

definitely was one of my favorite games back in the day

[@CC_Seig]

Seems like alot of fun ngl. I will probably give it a try if I can get it running :D Thanks for the video Seer! =)

[@iszotic]

I just finished this game, what a coincidence, I had 5 melee characters, 2 nature mages and a 1 combat mage, I dealt with the issue of supporting characters not gaining XP by assigning to the slot 3 (first spell) a spell with damage and to the slot 4 (second spell) a spell with healing for the 3 mages. So I just switched between 3 a 4 with the keyboard, 3 for attack when everybody is healthy and then 4 to cure a weak characters.

[@YDwelve]

3:25 - i cant believe you actually know about the xander can apes!

[@VieneLea]

The fact that you can drink some of the health potions to cure all the wounds you have and leave the rest is so logical and yet so cursed...

[@Notwilliamr]

If I remember right, there might be a tp spell you can get only in the starting town. I missed it, so I also got the road trip experience which I think makes the game special

[@Caspicum]

you said things about dungeon siege, but all i heard was pokemon puzzle league music. nice

[@AKmumu]

Hoping for a Last Epoch revisit for the official launch in a few days !