Ross's Game Dungeon: Dungeon Siege

[@SteveReasonable]

Played this at a LAN party once (with only a single copy of the game): eight people started in the same town, and over the course of seventeen consecutive hours, spread out so far apart and got so lost, we never saw one another again. Some people never left the forest. Others found a mountain covered in yetis. Some ended up fighting mechs. My two strongest memories of this day were, 1) several of the melee fighters finding a grenade launcher that leveled up their ranged stat every time they shot it which I, the only ranged character, was too weak to wield, and 2) I had to wear the same hideous teal and pink hat for something like eight hours because nothing better would drop.

[@matthewbreytenbach4483]

That sounds hilarious!

[@understyled]

Wholesome af.

[@Mctwist42]

These are the types of stories grandpas will tell in 40 years.

[@marcforrester7738]

Man I miss games that just handed out free LAN multiplayer clients!

[@ProjectXA3]

Wait, grenade launcher? Mechs? That doesn't sound like this setting? Weird

[@camendiv]

I actually kind of like the idea of a story that's just "Angry farmer gets pushed over the edge". It's more novel now than it likely was then.

[@webfootcosmifan5606]

A lot of action movies have a plot like this, and POSTAL 1

[@gianlucabaccino]

Medieval John Wick lmao

[@camendiv]

@@gianlucabaccino This comment. This comment right here. 🤣

[@gianlucabaccino]

@@camendiv The ogres killed his baby chicken which was a gift from his dead wife

[@getthegoons]

There goes those goblins again, raiding my henhouses. Dale you got my longsword? I think I'm gonna go give that Goblin kid a piece of my mind.

[@moffxanatos6376]

I'm still shocked that the "drink what you need" potion mechanic never became industry standard.

[@notinspectorgadget]

_that's_ what shocks you?

[@moffxanatos6376]

@@notinspectorgadget It was the most clear innovation that was, for some reason, never reproduced, even in games that are survival oriented where you have different foods that restore certain amounts of hunger, you never got any sort of "Leftovers". Especially a problem in a game like Fallout New Vegas, that has several levels of hunger that come with various debuffs, MREs are completely useless since they restore so much hunger, that in order to make them worthwhile you need to wait until you are starving before using them. Especially since the "Survival" skill only increases how much hunger food restores, rather than improving how efficiently you ration it out. Having it so that you eat more than you need to at low survival skill and higher survival makes you less wasteful would be a good use of that mechanic. There is so much potential for such a simple mechanic that yes. it IS shocking that I haven't seen it in any game since.

[@matthewbreytenbach4483]

@@moffxanatos6376 Yeah no, that mechanic is amazing.

[@Selnathorn]

@@moffxanatos6376 It would take effort and resources to create such a mechanic, so usually devs just opt for the easier solution. And sometimes it is just not in the vision of the devs

[@moffxanatos6376]

​@@Selnathorn No excuse, having it programmed where it only subtracts the amount that you need to top yourself off rather than draining all of it isn't going to take much longer, if any longer, to code. The extra asset to represent the item being partly used would only require one extra state at minimum and at most a simple chickenometer. Having it programmed to drain MORE than is needed at low survival won't take any more effort than making high survival skill increase the total amount of health/hunger it can restore. The effort vs outcome is vastly in favour of the game, Since using the healing mechanic is going to be something the player is going to use throughout the ENTIRE experience.

[@Malevolentisonline]

"Also the minigun damage is way too low" That's a shame- wait what

[@Slaggedfire]

The minigun, yaknow. It's always been a staple of fantasy, Melkor was such a big baddy in Middle-Earth because he had the dakka.

[@Nicitel94]

Also flamethrower, grenade launcher and lightning gun.

[@nergalsmom]

@Slaggedfire Underated comment. Next time I re-read the Silmarillion I will envision Morgoth as the 'ardest warboss wot ever bossed.

[@eiszapfenderwutendenwinde3233]

As in practically every modern video game. Minguns are nigh useless trash! Doom 4 was no exception! And lets not talk about Fckthesdards unbalanced Failout titles. After 3 magazines the gun is broken. Or one entire magazine to the face of a naked unarmored super mutant. And he still stands. Ridiculous, the suspense of disbelieve broken by Mach 10. The only games i can remember right now, giving the player a working minigun are Aliens vs. Predator 1&2. It just shreds. And most importantly Fallout 1/2/Tactics. In the good old Fallout games, the moment you saw an enemy with a minigun. Nr. 1 target, flee or reload....

[@Wolf_Larsen]

@@Slaggedfire 'There is no such thing as too much dakka' - J.R.R. Tolkien.

[@WiseIdiot9]

I don't know why but I always come back to THIS particular Game Dungeon. I just love it so much.

[@JayTohab]

WiseIdiot9 ikr

[@Stormvermin-bx1lh]

Same :3

[@lolrus5555]

I think that's because between Dungeon Siege's ambient music, artstyle, and Ross's commentary, it's a very comfy video.

[@jingusjongus9377]

For me it's the Polaris snocross video.

[@VM-hl8ms]

he forgot to mention that this game had secrets.

[@UnitSe7en]

The "No Loading Screen" thing is pretty amazing. After I killed the last boss in the castle, I ran in one session all the way back. Up the hills, along the beach and into the redwoods, over the desert, through the snow, back under the mines and all the way back to my farm in one go. No loading screen. The multiplayer was *fantastic!* This game is one of the greats and it should never be forgotten. (The minigun damage *is* way too low.)

[@playinginthepodcastroom8365]

Though I can't seem to find it now, I remember stumbling upon *a PowerPoint slideshow made by one of the developers* that explained how the "No Loading" thing worked. (I'm not a game programmer so it was kind of above my head, but man, was it fascinating.)

[@solidjb]

Wasn't there a point in the middle where they throw you out of a mountain and you can't go back? I didn't find a way back in a mountain cave

[@thomas35835]

And your companions can actually die. To my shock my first companion died in the first dungeon. Much later in the game I came upon a resurrection scroll and began to wonder if I could still resurrect her. So my party walked back the path all the way to the beginning. And there she was and after resurrection joined the party! I doubt any modern game would allow that.

[@sagivn.s2237]

Cool story but skyrim has ressurection too, but iirc corpses despawn after a while

[@sagivn.s2237]

@@brandon4897 elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Resurrection Not only its there, you can preform ressurection 3 ways, idiot; spells, staves and cheats

[@skullfluffy]

@@sagivn.s2237 Don't call people idiots if you're wrong. This is from the source you posted "The resurrected NPC will not retain normal behavior (e.g. dialogue,) and will follow the summoner around rather than go about their schedule."

[@sagivn.s2237]

@@skullfluffy ok but you can stiil use commands and type "resurrect" literaly restoring the npc to normal, mods add it as a spell but it only kinda counts since vanilla its a cheat

[@skullfluffy]

@@sagivn.s2237 Cheating isn't a game mechanic.

[@mathyson]

The composer for the soundtrack of Dungeon Siege is actually Jeremy Soule, the same person behind the soundtracks for the Elder Scrolls games starting with Morrowind. Pretty cool

[@svartsjokolade]

Had a lovely sense of familiarity playing through those games thanks to Jeremy's music.

[@toaste6465]

hi mugi

[@Corristo89]

The guy is a master at creating incredibly atmospheric music. I could listen to his soundtrack for TES IV Oblivion for hours and not lose interest. But the fact that the music is so disconnected from the gameplay really shows how little the actual developers and the composer worked together. The same happens in Oblivion when the music suddenly switches from a serene, mellow tone to a holy-shit-demons-are-attacking intensity... when a mudcrab is after you. You'd thing Mehrunes Dagon is charging right at you, but it's just a little imp.

[@jackgillespie4594]

Well this post didn't age well

[@bobobsen]

@@jackgillespie4594 sure it did

[@Rycluse]

"This is no longer a scrappy hero and his sidekick. This is a POSSE" This line echoes in my head to this day

[@DoveAlexa]

8 members = octoposse

[@knivesron]

My posse's big and it keeps getting bigger, that's cause .........

[@parokki]

@@knivesron The dwarf is a great digger?

[@knivesron]

@@parokki im suré the dwarf is. But that wasn't what I was getting at. If you know you know. It's lyrics from a certain song

[@SimonClarkstone]

There is a fascinating article around the Web called "The continuous world of Dungeon Siege" about the difficulty of making a game with such detailed scenery, and no map changes when you can clear everything old out of memory and load the new stuff in, and the ruthless throw-away-distant-information policies and how that works with split parties. They mention the potion sipping technology too.

[@Mr.Pallanza]

10:03 - "...A Nature Mage??" *_"...Well, NOT ANY MORE YOU'RE NOT. HERE'S YOUR MACE AND SHIELD, YOU CAN SWING IT LIKE THE REST OF US"_* Imagine having learned decades of magical spells, only to be chucked a mace and shield by a mad farmer driving back the forces of evil. 11/10 Will reinstall and play the game again just by this review.

[@SimonClarkstone]

There used to be an essay around called "The Continuous World of Dungeon Siege", which gave some technical details of how the world worked. In essence, the world is made of numerous small sections with their own coordinate systems, which are linked with instructions on hew to transform from one coordinate system to another, and all coordinates are relative to such a section. There was a lot of work to dynamically drop unimportant data but keep important data, and cope with bits of world disappearing at any time in game scripts. The world is almost unmappable as it would wind back through itself it you tried to flatten it all out. Also direction-indicators to tell you which direction other players are in proved very difficult to create.

[@Mekose]

Dang, you came back 5 years later and wrote the same comment again.

[@pangoprime8674]

@@Mekose lol! Perhaps a time traveling doppelgänger ?

[@RoscoeWasHere]

Yeah, if you go into the world creator, you can piece together your own custom world, with triggers, everything. My best playthrough, right before beating the game, I tried to backtrack as far as I could to see if I could make it back to the start of the game.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

The audio is still available on GDC and the slides can be found in PDF format. Sadly, unless somebody can dig up the full presentation, the demos are gone. What I found interesting about the PDF is the mentioning of "Drakan". That was a mighty impressive game for its time. I'd love to see a talk on that one.

[@kekula69]

wow

[@nicrobe9443]

"Hammer of Stabbing." That blows my mind in many layers.

[@adamkatt]

lol

[@Erfierazgzb0ss4u]

Do you... Understannnnndu!?

[@Tucher97]

well it could have spikes on teh hammers thus stabbing

[@yocapo32]

I do believe those are called "morning stars".

[@Tucher97]

@@yocapo32 no a morning star is a ball with spikes, a hammer with spikes is a chunk of metal with spikes on the end

[@strangeonexd4776]

Only Ross could take a heroes journey story and turn it into a farmer and his friends going postal.

[@bitterleafcastle1552]

But "going postal" is also a heros journey...

[@RokkitGrrl]

I remember seeing that game on display in store, thinking, "I'm never going to get a computer that can play something like this."

I had a similar reaction with Oblivion when it was released. Two years later: oh man, without mods the graphics are absolute garbage :D

[@Spityourbloodnotmine]

I bought Dungeon Siege BEFORE I had a PC. XD I installed it first at a friend's house and only a year later I got my PC.

[@mgs85]

I remember playing it on a friends PC when I was 14 or so, actually his older brothers enthusiast PC because his couldn’t run it, and thinking to myself that I’ll never have a PC that could run this game well. I remember even his brothers PC struggled at times. Dungeon Siege was such a leap forward in games back then.

[@maylabrown4584]

I'm an "adult" in 2021 and I still think that with Fallout: New Vegas lol

[@unematrix]

@@maylabrown4584 that's interesting, because NV graphics were terrible even at release, iirc

[@DispleasedEskimo]

Wait so your character drinks a variable amount of potion depending on how health he or she needs to recover, and the rest stays in the vial for later? That's so GREAT! I can't remember ever having played a game which did that before! I probably need to play more games - particularly old ones - but still, that's awesome.

[@Lejinad69]

I dont think any game does that.And its such a great concept too

[@GentleIceZ]

Yup, and if for whatever reason you have a bunch of vials that aren't full, you can stack them on each other to use up less space. It's been a long time, but I think you can even refill bigger potions with smaller potions

[@rkhale02]

Well, Gun has a flask which is used as a health potion which you only drink a bit at a time.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

DispleasedEskimo The ONLY "game" that I've seen that does that is Nali Chronicles, a UT99 Oldskool mod fanmade campaign.

[@peregrine5327]

I think Path of Exile works like that. Or similarly. Been a while since I played though so I might be mistaken.

[@kieranlindsay5218]

Watching this in 2020, took me back to simpler days, where I would play this game all day through the school holidays. One of the best ever!

[@SheaM_DVE]

Well now that everyone is stuck inside you can go back to this!

[@dawienel1142]

@@SheaM_DVE Exactly what I'm doing now. playing a modded version of dungeon siege 2 (Dungeon Siege Legendary) where you can play all of the DS 1 maps plus way more, honestly DS1 was the best in the franchise and DS2 is very bug ridden, but with mods DS2 is able to feel a lot more like DS1 for the most part, I have a love hate relationship with this game, but this will go down as one of the best games I've ever played.

[@Qubek33]

@@dawienel1142 ccvf fff c cffvvf fbcbvvjvv c c jvs9cvvbncvcsvvkccss sbkcc9accks sv nssbcbacvvs9acd cdc d ad gd v9ccc d dccci

[@coleandhisvideos]

I know this is four years ago but a good indie game called Kenshi lets you have up to 30 guys and lets you tear apart everything in sight given they have good stats and gear. Plus its EXTREMELY mod friendly letting you have up to 300 guys

[@dylanpelo]

To add to that, it's another game you can lose the 'main character' and still keep playing.

[@b0gster]

Kenshi's great, but as far removed from Dungeon Siege as possible

[@ghostoflazlo]

Why do you all always talk about Kenshi like it's the most hidden game ever and only 5 people know of its existence?

[@alexanderrahl7034]

​@Theghostoflazlo it was obscure at one point. And then Sseth made a video about it, and it kicked off on KZbin lol

[@SupaShang]

"Get off my lawn" simulator 2002.

[@TheWoodenshark]

When you just keep endlessly running into things that could violate your lawn and it kinda escalates into an epic journey of beating the shit out of everything beginning with budget orcs and local fauna and ending with some ancient evil. And then you can walk back home the same way you came and enjoy the carpet of bodies you left in your wake.

[@courier665]

@@TheWoodenshark It went from "Get off my lawn" to "Get out of my neighborhood" to "Get out of my forest" to "Get out of my country" to "Get out of my reality" Don't mess with farmers.

[@stachan24]

*1002

[@evilspoons]

Dungeon Siege made for some epic LAN parties and yelling about loot back when I was ~16. Friends carried their rigs over and piled computers everywhere in the basement.

[@Dustin_Bins]

Erik Tomlinson haha, good times.....

[@BastivanDero]

yeah Can remember it also with my brother and a cousin. Those good old Saturday with starcraft, warcraft and alien vs predator. A friend always picked the girl-marine who can be heard across the whole map.... miss this times

[@speedstorm4923]

I think I played a lot more mp then single player

[@tomtom34b]

I remember a LAN party that lasted from friday afternoon to sunday noon uninterupted, except for some pizza and energy drinks. We had to pack up totally exhausted...

[@Zyrodil]

Yeah fucking Dungeon Siege LAN parties, those were the days.

[@rixille]

The books in the game help explain some backstory and npc's help give light on the situation. You are supposed to learn that the main villain corrupted all the wildlife in Ehb and made a deal with the Krug to make them overwhelm the 10th legion so he could usurp the throne and take over the land. The villain (Gom) is exacting revenge because he was stopped during a war with the 10th legion years prior. Yeah it's a pretty generic and simple story; but there is a plot. Some books will even tell you the purpose of some of the places ingame, like that large dungeon with those mucosa spiders on your way to Glitterdelve mines, and even how those spiders first appeared there.

[@cyb3rhell162]

ooomumkkyut bbnn yy ununmujnnnhunynny

[@daefaron]

I explained the plot to a friend as "a simple task (warn nearby town) escalated a lot"

[@matthewbreytenbach4483]

@@daefaron Yep! That's the gist of it.🤔

[@Elesh_Gyorn]

I believe that if you have this game on steam the books are non readable. I remember reading books on the CD-Rom version and was surprised that that was missing.

[@Rehteal]

Even watching this years later, it KILLS ME that Ross didn't know about mirror mode and rampage mode in DS2. Your fighters would ABSOLUTELY attack the first thing they saw if he just put them in rampage mode.

[@Soldner41]

How do i put them in Rampage mode? Cant find the Option for it. :(

[@Rehteal]

@@Soldner41 R key Also there's a toggle button on the bottom panel. If it's two white profiles, that's mirror. If it's crossed weapons, that's rampage.

[@Soldner41]

@@Rehteal Thank you very much. Time to replay DS 2 i guess. X)

[@matthewbreytenbach4483]

For those passing through... In DS2 you have to hold down the attack button on an enemy for your currently selected character to fight them by default. The setting for clicking once and having your character continue fighting on their own is tucked away in the in game options tab. A good strategy is to take the time to get every character to level 1 in nature magic, that way they'll have access to the basic healing spell (put it in an auto-cast slot in each character's spellbook) Summon Teleporter, and Transmute. This way you'll save on potions. And because spells grow in power as your magic skill rises, your healing output will gradually increase.

[@Rehteal]

@@matthewbreytenbach4483 Another neat trick if you're going with a reduced party count is having someone dual class melee tank and nature mage. When your healer can just soak damage while tossing out the occasional nourish and/or rain, then go back to tanking, it makes life much easier. Last time I played I did a 2-character party with me and Taar. Turns out having a nature mage tank and a sniper combat mage is kinda broken. Gravity stone followed by (can't remember the name of the power that lets you fire a single bolt that pierces targets) is a fast way to delete every room.

[@salokin3087]

Hope i'm not alone when i say I FUCKING LOVE GAME DUNGEON!

[@epsonBaptism]

No,you got 251 people eho agree with you at the moment

[@ReflKnight]

+Salokin Sekwah best series on youtube !

[@michaelsellers4788]

+Salokin Sekwah Not the only one, I played the fuck out of this game when I was younger. Even got it off of steam for the nostalgia.

[@carsonbailey7090]

You know you're not alone, you literally just saw a thirty minute review for it.

[@crikk23]

+Salokin Sekwah DS1 has to be in my top 3 games eve...and then it started to go down hill fast with 2 an 3 :( ive been looking seens DS2 for a game like DS1...hell if i can ever get my ass into gear id totally love to learn to program just to try and make something like DS1 game.

[@Eastercube]

The game's forest colors are just incredible. I don't know how to describe it, it just feels nostalgic. And dreamlike.

[@milospanic12]

If the game came out today the mule would be a 15 dollar DLC.

[@MisanthropicMarxist]

And that's just for the mule as a pet. If you want to upgrade it to an actual pack mule, or else into a party member by teaching it the ways of mule-jitsu, you'll have to cough up another $5

[@cookieface80]

Or in a Bethesda game a mod, then stolen and sold as dlc and/or a paid mod.

[@erikalvner]

Why not put some mule armour on it?

[@jannadark8100]

yeah. I just bought a DS collection (1-3 with official addons) for less than 2 USD on steam sale. Unbelievable, it's more than 100 hours of gameplay for such a low value.

[@erikalvner]

Janna Dark Torrent the game! I bought it on Steam too, but the game isn't as the original. I have it on CD, but no CD drive lol. Had to torrent it to get the multiplayer and the actual ending. It's butchered in the steam version. One of my favourite games though

[@kevindavis5966]

When this game came out, I wrote and distributed mods that allowed you to play as the main bosses (Gom, the dragon, and a couple of others). Good times...

[@IronBuck52]

PLS GIVE DOWNLOAD

[@kevindavis5966]

Buck K Sorry, those are long gone multiple hard drives ago. You might be able to find them online somewhere, but I could not. On the more common mod upload sites they aren't there, and surprisingly no one ripped them off and uploaded them as theirs. There are some that allow you to play as other minor characters and races, but no boss mods.

[@ajkarmela3635]

Make them again?

[@salottin]

You didn't say please

[@thomascameron2612]

What a terrible loss. D:

[@Skip-Towne]

This is my favourite episode of game dungeon, keep coming back to watch it again. I love how enthusiastic Ross is. I even caved and bought the game.

[@LGR]

Dang, I've only ever played the sequels and spinoffs, didn't know how much the first one got right from the word go! Also, I'm curious if you've ever played the sci-fi spinoff, Space Siege? Also very generic in setting and story, but becoming a pure evil cyborg and slowly stripping away your humanity is great.

[@Accursed_Farms]

+Lazy Game Reviews Yeah, I have, I thought it was very boiler plate, though the cybernetic aspect was interesting. I may mention it in the eventual followup episode.

[@Mehrunes86]

Hello LGR, no wondering, seing you here, have you ever made a video on DS, love your videos👍😀

[@NinjaSushi2]

Space Siege you say!?!?

[@liamer88]

@@NinjaSushi2 It's pretty much Throne of Agony in space, you're really not missing much

[@aka-47k]

@@Accursed_Farms i have a similar game, spellforce, you controll many characters there too...and an army!

[@deekay336]

"and the minigun damage is way too low" I fucking lold. Wasn't expecting to see that

[@thebadger4040]

I scrolled down just to see if someone commented on this.

[@Draakdarkmaster6]

there's also a tesla style lightning gun, a flamethrower, a grenade launcher, and a chicken gun

[@EarFarce4]

+Roy Garithos ...did you say chicken gun?

[@Draakdarkmaster6]

oh yeah, it shoots chickens and is the strongest of all the guns, it is also in the secret chicken level

[@EarFarce4]

:O

[@-Keith-]

Nothing beats early 2000's video gaming. In so many ways these old games are years ahead of modern releases.

[@Lucifronz]

When I started hearing "DLC" as a term, I underestimated the complaints about it. I was like "extra content? why are we complaining about that? I LOVE expansions like the content added in Neverwinter Nights or the original Sims". As I got older, I learned why people felt that way and I understood completely. I think the Sims are a good example of how it can be done *right* and how it can be done *wrong.* The first game had lots of cool content added and was more or less affordable with packages and bundles. The second game had more problems with it, but was overall still great and came with a Complete Collection you could buy just like the first. ...the third, you have to pirate to get it all without breaking your bank and most of it isn't worth bothering over to begin with. _We WILL NOT be discussing 4 and its scummy practices._ Needless to say, it got worse.

[@bachiak1]

Any recommandations of game like these in this era ?

[@Dracomut]

Nah, that’s just the nostalgia talking

[@RPGCrash]

@@Dracomut dont think it is. in 2002 there were releases like dungeon siege, metroid prime, eternal darkness, morrowind, neverwinter nights, jedi knight 2, mario sunshine, etc. in 2023 there was some great titles like baldurs gate 3 and tears of the kingdom, but that quality is few and far between and i reckon the games of 2023 that fail to compete against stuff like zelda and baldurs gate, also fail to compete against a lot of titles in 2002. the quality output was much larger back in 2002 vs now. more original ideas, too.

[@McStebb]

oh man... That Microsoft games intro. nostalgia bomb right away

[@LikaLaruku]

When I fired this game after 10 years, I realized I'd remembered every goddamn sound in this game like an old friend. I missed being able to smash or blow up every barrel & crate in a game.

[@slendy9600]

Mr. Stebb i know it from age of empires 1. it freaked me out as a kid first time i saw it cause it was loud and i didnt see it coming

[@Zelousmarineinspace]

Mr. Stebb The Nostalgia of Evil

[@Chud_Bud_Supreme]

Ah, perfect way to unwind after a tough night of work

[@salokin3087]

Absolutely!

[@salokin3087]

Btw, glad to know you watch Teh2dgamer

[@Chud_Bud_Supreme]

+Salokin Sekwah Yeah, I watch them occasionally for some of the obscure games. They're alright. I want to try to make videos like what Ross makes though. Really in-depth with some comedy.

[@salokin3087]

Son of Tiamat (formerly known as tiakpark) Oh, that's something i would love to watch!

[@Chud_Bud_Supreme]

Salokin Sekwah Thanks, I just don't know when I'd be able to do it. I'd need to get the equipment and learn how to use it. Might take a while.

[@OnikMod]

Hello everyone, it is 11.27.2023. I have just installed Legends of Arrana and played it for 4 hours strainght. Just want to leave a shoutout to Todd Howard and Starfield. Legends of Arrana from 2002-2003 has no loading when you enter caves, buildings etc. Talking about performance on a modern hardware, this is kinda awesome that I was able to simply install it and run on windows 11.

[@343GuiltySparkO4]

"Also, the minigun damage is way too low." Wait. Wait. You can't just sandbag that. Where'd the miniguns come from?

[@OninRuns]

+ONI Spartan Locke Goblins. There's goblins with mechs, they drop miniguns, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, and tesla guns.

[@Siopear]

+Onin My jaw dropped as a kid when I saw them the first time. It was a big surprise to see guns in a fantasy game.

[@TeaDoogun]

+ONI Spartan Locke As for the low damage output; back in medieval times, soldiers used wooden bullets as metal ones took too long to craft in bulk. It wasn't until Caxton invented the printing press that metal bullets were able to be cheaply mass produced.

[@Shushkin]

+TeaDoogun You're wrong, they used splinters.

[@letsvoiceundertale7050]

+Fatty8Claws Those are wooden bullets.

[@Beany2007FTW]

You just made 40 mins of content about a game genre I care absolutely nothing for (hack and slashers) fly by because it was entertaining as all hell. I don't know how you do it, but keep doing it.

[@weird_money]

+Beany2007FTW It' because of Ross's beautiful voice.

[@Maitschka]

+Beany2007FTW just saw your comment and thought wtf that wasnt 40 mins then took a look at the video timer... god dammit xD

[@Beany2007FTW]

It's unnerving, in some ways. Should Ross ever get in a position of real power....well, we're all his little bitches then, aren't we?

[@RelativelyBest]

1:30 - So this guy is basically medieval Gordon Freeman. "God, the fun just doesn't end today, does it? Well, that's not a problem. I can cope. I'm going to kill _everyone."_

[@RelativelyBest]

@Timothy Dexter It was a reference to Freeman's Mind, by the same guy who made this video. (Also, Doom predates Half Life by five years, so anyway I'm not sure what my age has to do with it.)

[@DutchBlackMantha]

And then he did.

[@Dreznin]

Chrono Trigger - the main character dies as a plot device and while you get a quest item to go revive him, you never actually have to - you can leave him dead and beat the game with characters you pick up along the way.

[@planescaped]

It's actually optional. I always played the game as Magus for awhile and progressed the story a ways before getting around to it. :P

[@FireheadLazzo]

I must have beaten the game a dozen times and I don't think I've ever left Chrono dead. What was I scared of?

[@mitchellwilliam95]

You've failed to properly comprehend the point that Ross made... In DS1, you can disband the main character immediately after unlocking another party member, and it doesn't hinder the storyline whatsoever. In Chrono Trigger, you're compelled to wait until the 26th dungeon(out of 37) before the game forcibly ejects Chrono from your party to further the plot. There's literally no comparison to be had...

[@LovablePWNER]

Holy shit I really REALLY wanna play Dungeon Siege now

[@nat_of]

Same

[@LovablePWNER]

***** well well well

[@Web720]

+LovablePWNER Steam sale coming up! I got the complete collection on a steam sale for like 10-15$

[@LovablePWNER]

Tenzing Khedup well well well-er

[@Mannetasi]

+Adrian Shepard Sadly the Steam Version of Dungeon Siege 1 and 2 doesnt have the expansion packs(because of copyright issues from what iv heard), its still kinda worth buying though.

[@samuelschwager]

At the time Dungeon Siege was pretty ground breaking, seamless transitions between indoors and outdoors etc.. I remember spending many happy hours with it :)

[@SaintDane]

The story of dungeon siege is actually a little interesting, albeit ambiguous and generic. Basically a large krug invasion is reaches your farm, so you go on a long journey, from town to town warning everyone of the krugs coming.

[@daefaron]

"A simple task of warning town ended up being late cause detour, then escalated. A lot." Was how i described it to a friend

[@Komnen0s]

I don't know if this specific trope has a name, but I love games where you get to recruit a bunch of party members to fight alongside you like what Ross was talking about. Something about assembling a "posse" of colorful, varied people with their own distinct personalities really appeals to me (I think that's why I also love movies like _Kelly's Heroes_ and _The Dirty Dozen,_ incidentally). That's why I always mod _Fallout: New Vegas_ so that there's no companion limit. It's just so much fun to roam the wasteland with your gang of 8+ hardened warriors (and more if you have mods that add additional companions) laying the smackdown on any bandits or legionnaires who would dare to cross your path.

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

Darkest Dungeon isn't exactly a game in a genre where character writing is very important (dungeon crawler with some roguelike influences), but its lineup of classes has this sort of feel to me. While individual "heroes" are generic, the classes have this diverse variety of designs, dialogue and backstories that help to make these characters feel memorable despite being in a genre that normally leaves everything about your characters up to imagination (not that there's an issue with using your imagination of course, DD still encourages it even). In just one team, you can have a King Baldwin IV expy who's characterized as a warrior poet, a barbarian who was exiled from her tribe, a noble woman who decided to become a tomb raider with a dark sense of humor, and a stoic bounty hunter with a long list of names for him to take revenge on. And that's just four classes I picked mostly at random! Might be why I'm drawn so much to mods that add new classes: They help make an already colorful and motley cast even more so! Why not have that same King Baldwin dude team up with a big beefy gladiator who fights eldritch abominations with his bare hands and has a short temper, a gay undead(?) ninja from Japan and a big titty monster hunter who may or may not be a Belmont descendant?

[@locomotivebreath9364]

Have you tried Kenshi already? You’ll love Kenshi

[@MinscFromBaldursGate92]

It's called Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits.

[@j.trades9691]

I'm quite late, but you sound like you'd very much like the Jagged Alliance games.

[@usererrer7493]

Man, you nailed it. This is also my all-time favorite. And you are right: it’s mind-boggling no-one has really tried to re-create this experience. The dolts who bought the license didn’t even try to make their sequels anything like DungeonSiege. They just used (and ruined) the franchise name and kept discarding all the best parts of the original. It also amazes me that, TWENTY YEARS LATER, in other games, we still have to sit through zone loads when DS had a streaming world in 2002 where you could have a battle straddling right over a zone boundary without a hitch. Did computers get crappier over time or what? Why wasn't this standard by, like, 2005?

[@citricdemon]

Ds2 was wonderful cease your heresy

[@Krystofer-Robin]

There is a mod called Dungeon Siege Legendary which ports all of DS1 into DS2. You can play the original campaigns with the mechanics of the second game, if you desire. It's not half bad.

[@tenjenk]

oh man i need to try this. I loved the game so much

[@aventurasthor]

Yep, i'm the creator of the mod

[@handsomebrick]

Wouldn't it be better the other way?

[@khoroshoorange]

Im the creator of asbetos. ASK me anything

[@Emperor-of-the-Tuna-Fish]

@@khoroshoorange what is asbestos?

[@ChaoticMonki]

Hey Ross, I know it's not exactly the same thing, but if you're in the market for a game where you control a big group of ass kickers in a dungeon crawling environment still, 'Super Dungeon Run' on Steam might be up your alley for a night or two of mayhem. Great video though man! Loved the Dungeon Siege series, but the third was such a damn shame.

[@claymorebengston]

+Cryaotic Sup Cry.

[@MythlyInari]

+Cryaotic I can vouch for this, it's got BIGGER parties than Dungeon Siege. That should satisfy the group of chaos in 'ya, Ross!

[@claymorebengston]

+Patrick Williams hey hey hey. A senpai can NOT notice another senpai.

[@tengkuadam1399]

+Cryaotic OMG CRY! I didn't know YOU liked Ross too!

[@Hollanderizer]

+Cryaotic Three months after this comment was made, it is safe to say this game is unofficial abandonware. The developer has fled the scene with everyone's money and the game, as far as I know isn't going to be finished any time soon. Huh, makes me kind of sad knowing games made very recently are already almost considered abandonware simply because the devs just stopped giving a shit.

[@K_E_Robin]

I watch this video at least once per year. I always think that Dungeon Siege is some of the most interesting and inspiring action rpgs ever made. Not for the story, but in gameplay and mechanics as you said Ross. I wish there were much, much more Oregon Trail-Style RPG/RTS:s out there!

[@catacombboy]

It's never too late or too early for the only gaming channel worth caring about. Keep up the golden work, Ross. Love your content.

[@pliskin101]

Damn, this game was my childhood. The most fun game i had as a 6-7 year old, this and Metal Slug.

[@DoubtX]

Dungeon siege to this day is one of my favorite games, and I was so pleased to hear all of my favorite points lauded in this review. No hack n slash game since has captured the same vibe that Dungeon Siege managed. No town portal, no level select, no loading screens. The world is entirely continuous and you have to walk across the whole thing. It's amazing. I've installed mods to try and extend the inventory of characters, or which add town portals, and they ruin the journey of the game. In Dungeon Siege you just keep moving forward, you don't teleport back to town 20 times to sell loot, and if you get more loot than you can carry, your only option is to start dropping junk, because the next town might be an hour away.

[@NicoUnken]

Ross genuinely got me to buy the game with this video. AND the tip with the shadows helped me too! Brilliant. I love it when i find entertainment that expands my knowledge of older games.

[@TacDyne]

I'm only a few minutes into this and must say it is the best review I've seen. Yes, this game could have no story and it wouldn't change a thing. You don't play DS for the story. You play it for the scenery and great music. :) I've played it through a few times and put in tons of hours on multi player. I wish it had come with modding tools back then. I used 3 mules due to the infrequency of stores. 2 mages, one combat, one nature for mass healing. An archer or two and/or a melee or two depending on what my character was using.

[@Snypor]

I've been looking for this game for many years now, but forgot the name. Thanks for jogging my memory.

[@Slupping]

This game is 97 cents on Steam right now.

[@tokiwartooth4404]

Holy cow that's actually a realistic consumer price for a worthless digital game copy. I normally advise against supporting digital, but for 99 cents that's very reasonable.

[@proteus2103]

@@tokiwartooth4404 I hate to repeat this same post, but its like 90 something cents on sale as of today as well.

[@tokiwartooth4404]

@@proteus2103 But can you buy a disc? And play without Steam at all? Just wondering. Considering this game's age I imagine it has a generous lore game manual also.

[@HoHhoch]

@@tokiwartooth4404 Just so you know, a digital copy of a game is not worthless. At all. The only difference between disk and digital is that all the information instead of being stored on a disk, is stored directly in your hard drive. Data is still physical. Developers put way too much work into their software for you to consider it worthless simply because you don't have a disk. If you want to hold the game so badly pick up your hard drive.

[@tokiwartooth4404]

@@HoHhoch Digital game copies are free to play bro. All of them. Even console exclusive games are free to play on PC. It more's of a matter of DRM as well. You don't own shit if you have to sign in somewhere to play this ten year old game. Steam expects you to pay them so they can profit from selling your data. Now if Steam was 100% free for everything, then sure that's a decent deal. ISOs sites don't even require an account! Nitroblog is my go to. Games are usually overpriced bro. I work harder in one day than a game dev does in one week. My role in the workplace is far more beneficial to the real world and basic needs. Not just optional entertainment. Game devs, and specifically publishers are extremely overpaid. Just like Hollywood. Which I also seek for free to stream sites like FMovies which is lovely. Now about that thicc gaming manual? Does this game have one? Similar to Warcraft 3 game manual? They are just nice to have and browse through sometimes. Instead of mobile MtX games, I like to read. I don't know who the publisher is for this game. But before you go sticking up for them maybe you should investigate their annual income and compare it to yours. Times are tough. I barely afford basic expenses. Go to movies = too pricey. Smartphone = Don't own one. Don't want one anyways :) console or mobile gaming = Nope. MtX scams Maybe if I picked up a second job and worked 40+ a week then I could afford these things. But I would be at work all the time at which point I might as well be dead.

[@tdo0msday]

Wow what a thorough review.

[@john17760]

I must have watched this video like 50+ times. I recently got DS on Steam, just got to stonebridge and I'm freaking in love with everything so far. I love the premise of being just some disgruntled farmer that goes ham on the countryside, very cathartic.

[@Gravengrav]

You are amazing. Fun and informative! 37 minutes never passed so fast. Just wanted to say that.

[@TheOverreactiveOcelo]

I've spent a LOT of time playing this game when i was very young, i think since i was 8, and holy shit is it nostalgic to see this video now. Thank you for posting it!

[@Shwonkz]

This game is nothing much today, but in 2002, this was amazingly immersive. This was one of my first beloved games from my childhood. I still have the disc!

[@hondragrid]

On the topic of respawning enemies: Yes, I hate this also. Killing off enemies in a single player game should feel rewarding. When they don't respawn it gives you sense of accomplishment. Diablo one for example. I loved looking at the carnage of all the bodies littering the floor. I liked how in certain caves in Elder Scrolls Morrowind once you clear them out they stay finished. In that game when you killed a NPC, even if was a bandit in a remote location, they stayed dead forever.

[@Marcelelias11]

I prefer respawning the way later Elder Scrolls games do it, where it takes in-game days for it to happen. It makes the world feel alive, since just because you cleared out a bandit cave, it doesn't mean it's going to STAY that way forever. On the other hand, it does suck if you just killed someone and they get right back up or reappear. Unless the game story/design HEAVILY makes up for it, it's bad design in my book (and even then it might not make it satisfying).

[@maylabrown4584]

@@Marcelelias11 It'd be cool if in later Elder Scrolls Games they randomize what respawns, like if I killed 3 orcs, 2 nords and 1 redguard then I don't want to see that next time I go back. I want to see like 3 dark elves, 1 breton and 2 wood elves.

[@LucasRCD]

That DOES happen in Dungeon Siege II and its expansion in a few areas, both optional and mandatory. Enemies will stay dead sometimes after certain events. Enemies won't respawn all the time either, and they usually only respawn if you save and quit the game rather than walking back from where you came from. It was kinda necessary to implement respawning enemies due to the overhaul of the level up system, as it's no longer just individually leveling a stat up one point at a time and THAT counting as a level up; the introduction of traditional experience points makes it kinda necessary for respawning enemies to exist so it doesn't become clunky in terms of balancing. It also allows for more experimentation with skills as you can more easily re-spec without it crippling your growth unlike in the first game.

[@nerocole6734]

When you played parts of the soundtrack I thought to myself, "This sounds like discount Jeremy Soule." One trip to wikipedia later and I was like, "Holy shit! It is Jeremy Soule! The man responsible for the Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, and Kotor soundtracks made this!?" The sad part is the music is great but just does not connect to parts of the game itself. Plus this was made before Morrowind so there is that as well lol.

[@ZigfridSev]

I just love Game Dungeon, always great vid to rewatch. Especially when you get air alarm outside. Ross's voice is so nice and comforting.

[@Nickersons-Theme]

This game was so sick, I remember playing it years ago, and loved it

[@AlexIvanov]

Damn this video is already 5 years old and it's one of my favourite episodes, I didn't even notice how many years have passed and how many times I watched it :c

[@davidsteinhour5562]

I love the intersection of technology and storytelling. Like the nuanced continuous feel that no loading screens provides this game. Has someone who games almost never, but plays tabletop RPGs with friends often, this is the kind of detail I watch your videos for.

[@g.b.1224]

Oh I remember when western rpg allowed you to have 6+ members parties. That was the best. Now it's just one and maybe two. That sucks

[@Gat720Dua]

+Bullet Bill For Kingdom Hearts it's just three. Even when you meet a new character or summon something your gonna have to sacrifice someone.

[@wiggumesquilax9480]

+Bullet Bill Pillars of Eternity.

[@Gat720Dua]

Wiggum Esquilax I think that is also turn base or at least gameplay wise is not exactly what Ross was talking about.

[@rlrnilecroc]

But I can't stand having to sleep just to reuse magic. Always bothered me about D&D.

[@oddjars]

+Gat the Man it's not turn based. it's real time.

[@LabMatt]

19:15 I think not reviving Crono counts as kicking him out of the group.

[@slyguythreeonetwonine3172]

Oh man that Microsoft Intro brings back tons of memories. Close Combat being the biggest one that comes to mind at the moment. Damn I loved those original 1-5 games. 2 was always the best.

[@MemoxWasHere]

7:12 I've never heard wiser words in my life

[@giga-chicken]

"And the AI got dumbed down so your units can no longer take initiative" You didn't pay attention in the game's tutorial, there are two AI modes one of which allows initiative and one of which doesn't.

[@iceman42dave18]

It's hard to believe I played this game 20 years ago. Even harder to believe it's taken me years to find this video. I've watched all the Freeman's Mind videos, and most of the Game Dungeon videos, somewhat skipping (or only watching part of) only those games that didn't appeal to me. But I loved this game, so how did I miss this video all this time?

[@nocomment3294]

A german games journalist called the game an interactive screensaver, since gameplay is straight forward, really streamlined and the atmosphere is really laidback. Also nice colorfull areas, not the grim and faded color palate many Hack and Slash game went for. Find DS 2 even better, story is forgettable but gameplay options vastly increased. you can grow your own battlepet by feeding it stuff at some point you can get some metallic wolv or something that needs armor or weapons as food.

[@alexxcold]

Gamestar, hab ich Recht?

[@TheMTSilver]

Sounds like the opinions of games journalists even back then could be safely discarded and nothing of value would be lost.

[@notinspectorgadget]

Did they frame that as a negative or a positive?

[@Woodsie_Lord]

@@TheMTSilver "nothing of value would be lost" just as the gameplay in this "game" and yes people that are not smooth brained cavemen still call it an interactive screensaver.

[@Accursed_Farms]

Hey, I wanted to add that the latest monthly videochat is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmq1nWxuhdyNqZI The next one will be on Jan 3rd, haven't figure out what time yet.

[@FMIO]

+Accursed Farms Ross, you might benefit from building a PC with older parts for when you want to review older games with limited support, or try running Hyper-V and use old machines running virtually. Although I'm not sure how that would be to record from, but its just a suggestion.

[@Soulcatcher30]

Ross played this too? Damm it was my childhood game.

[@Crowborn]

Ross they made a movie about this game! can't recall the name now and it honestly isnt that good , but i remember the krugs attacking the farm, google and you would find

[@Soulcatcher30]

MrClam Yeah, Uwe Bool made it...

[@fiver1niner]

+Accursed Farms Hey Ross, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 involve a lot of squad based combat like Dungeon Siege, but it would probably only be fast if you played a Fighter party (like Dungeon Siege). However, unlike it, both games have very strong stories. It's also simply a straight-up DnD game.

[@bocconom]

This just came across my screen and I have got to say this is absolutely one of the best commentaries about a game I have ever had the pleasure to hear. I love Dungeon Siege and DS II. Personally I went with a fighter, archer, nature mage, and combat mage plus two pack mules. A whole lot of fun. new subscriber.

[@KingLich451]

welcome, you just uncovered a great pile of treasure :D dig in!

[@bocconom]

@@KingLich451 Anything you would specifically recommend?

[@KingLich451]

@@bocconom i'd start from his first game dungeon, Tyrian. But you can try Deus Ex, it's one of my favorites and it's a pretty hefty one. Make sure you also watch Freeman's mind and Civil Protection, too.

[@ccshredder9506]

I'm still playing this game. And thankfully, on a 10 year old rig ;)

[@KedViper]

"I'd make my whole crew dwarves if I could." That needs to be shirt. I can just imagine the confused look on people's faces as they try to figure out whether they should be offended or _just_ confused. It would be popular with gangs of little people who are prejudice against tall ones too so that would be pretty funny to see as well.

[@Gromic2k]

Pro tip: leave one char as nature mage and give him a healing spell...

[@UnholySoil667]

Thanks, i keep this in mind when steam offer it for a cheap er price!

[@Fion355]

@@UnholySoil667 Dont expect great resulsts though....The healing is kinda low, and it takes looong to get good healing spells (...is there even another one? Never used them mutch...)

[@joelmilten]

@@Fion355 There is one. I think it's called healing wind. It is way more effective than the stats show it to be. The whole party is healed for something like half their life per cast. I only keep healing as my secondary 'in case of emergency ' though. If you want your nature mage to level up at a regular pace, you need to have them mostly use attack spells.

[@shakaama]

@@joelmilten all mages should only summon, their summon attack creatures wreck stuff, at the level of a maxed out fighter. that means more xp than most in the party. it become ridiculous to cast later on, drains you of all mana, or even worse, if you're not pure nature or pure combat.

[@erlendnygard1506]

@@UnholySoil667 dont buy the steam version the multiplayer is disabled/cut out

[@BADC0FFEE]

that problem with the shadows is not related to your operating system at all, it's related to the gpu drivers and their support for older directx versions \ legacy API.

[@BloodWraith777]

Just beat Dungeon Siege myself, and I gotta say, it's a neat game. My party was 5 melee fighters, 1 archer, 1 nature mage, 1 combat mage, and that generally worked well for me, can't imagine going through the game without at least 1 mage, especially for the multi heal spells. I did have to knock the difficulty down to easy about halfway through the goblin dungeon, those AoE flamethrower enemies just happened to cross my bullshit threshold. The GoG release plays relatively fine out of the box (Although I recommend you patch/mod it), minus limited resolution options and 4:3 ratio, and about a dozen crashes by the end of the game, weirdly enough it didn't crash until the first 8 or so hours in. Guess it gets ever so slightly less stable the further you go, guess that's the price you pay for no load screens in a game this old. Also the GoG/Steam releases are missing expansions for DS 1 and 2, and it spits you back to the main menu upon killing the final boss of DS1, instead of giving you the ending cinematic (which isn't anything special, bit of lore, but still...)

[@ForemostCrab7]

"this game let you have not just 2 fighters, not just 3, 8! 8 FiGHTERS!" Kenshi: Hold my beer.

[@The_Aninimouse]

I came down here to see if anyone had mentioned Kenshi yet. Seems like you're only a day ahead of me here on this 4 year old video.

[@ForemostCrab7]

@@The_Aninimouse Kenshi has been out for nearly 2 years now, honestly surprised no one else had made that comment yet.

[@MangasColoradas941]

i always felt like Kenshi was influenced by Dungeon Seige but i don't know if there's concrete proof of there being inspiration

[@Gebunator]

Had to scroll down to see if anyone mentioned Kenshi. Man, those beatdowns are sick once you get enough crew and enough toughness so they don't pass out from a mere thought of an injury..

[@MrLubcho13]

ross deserves more than he is getting

[@Xe4ro]

I loved DS 1 & 2. Great mix of Diablo and Baldurs Gate kinda gameplay

[@blazingsword1294]

diablo II blade and sword (best feature is combos which i miss) dungeon siege Fable The Lost Chapters Eternium dragonage origin Spellforce Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem Divine Divinity torchlight II Titan Quest Anniversary Hazen : The Dark Whispers Shadows Heretic Kingdoms Victor Vran - Overkill Edition Van Helsing silver gog game darkstone Warlords Battle Cry II Heores of Annhiliated Empires

[@Ashalmawia]

you're like Minsc: "Magic is impressive... but now, Minsc leads! SWORDS FOR EVERYONE!"

[@Amonny]

Except that Minsc wasn't a very good fighter ^^

[@rhyzvanic3660]

Hey Ross, if you wanna have a supped up badass roving gang of beat downs, have you heard of a game called Mount and Blade: Warband? It's a rather old indie game that's a medieval sandbox where you can do pretty much anything. I started a play through where I was hired as a tax accountant by a lord, then I stole the tax money to upstart my trading empire, and got *mad* bank after a few in-game months. When I got filthy rich, I then used to fuel up my weak caravan guards into an army in their own right, and I started making the rounds across the map until I saw a town which was particularly weak with guards, then took it by storm and became a sovereign ruler of a new upstart warlord nation, and dubbed one of my named companions into a lord and granted him land which he now owns, making a new entity on the map who fights for me and me only. Oh, and I did end up paying that lord back of the stolen tax money after the fact, but he kind of hates me so I stopped talking to him. Now I literally have so much money from village tithes and taxes that I have no idea how to spend it fast enough to get guards, mercenaries and conscripts to protect my singular town and villages from an entire angry Kingdom. I tried taking one of their castles but the kings army pretty much immediately put a stop to that shit. My personal army of 80 foot soldiers with a few armoured units mixed in vs 260 mounted knights, veteran archers and armoured sergeants is a bit of a curve stomp. And the best part of the game, is the combat is super awesome. It's almost like a fighting game with RPG elements in it. Plus you can fight right beside your army if you're brave, stupid or well equipped enough and kick as much ass as anyone! I think my favorite weapons are the Bastard Sword, MorningStar, and of course, a nice solid throwing spear. Anyways, that would be my suggestion for a game dungeon. Have fun! (P.S. Rhodoks 4 lyfes!)

[@aquilliusranger2137]

I'm afraid Ross won't see this in the KZbin comment due to the KZbin update that jacked up his gear wrench :P, but he did tried before so I can't complain...best try and format this story of yours to his forum so hopefully everyone (himself included) can see it. Honestly, you should start getting Perisno on the workshop for M&B Warband as well...but lately, the Dev of the plug-in is kinda having ALOT of problems, so I seriously doubt they can recover after how messed up it is now...I kinda lost faith after that since that plug-in IS. SO. GOOD...the combat is FANTASTIC, the music is PHENOMENAL...but the way it is designed acts like a new-gen Dark Soul except with an army...you cannot go 5 seconds in this game without running into cultist worshipping eagles, edgy lancer jackasses, the enemies goes ON AND ON...THEY NEVER STOP...as Ross said on the show before, "It's just a never ending nuisance!" ...But not all hope is lost, if you start off on the Redwood Nation (or just go straigth to the province if you start off somewhere, but I seriously doubt that even you can survive the journey due to how many of those former savages wandering around), you can get some badass Elven archers and knights that can knock these bastard stone-cold dead (with a certain degree of being alive so you torment their filthy anti-self preservation) and take them as prisoners...the only way you can make an economy is by selling slavers, and those prisoners you've taken worth a thousand more than the taxes that the lord gave you...it is kinda couterintuitive to everything my morality promises me though, but oh well, my mace won't clean the blood off itself. And last but not least, the technical difficulty...it's not that the enemies can be hard...but sometimes crashing right in the middle of the battle doesn't inspire confidence or sanity either...the plug-in also takes TOO LONG to load into when you jack-rabbit it...oh, and did I mention the plug-in also KILLS OFF your saves after the dev updates it? Yeah, me too. Anyway, hope you've read this...otherwise, I might just format this too since it's book-worthy tbh.

[@budakbaongsiah]

Vlad1m4ra Perhaps he'll review Bannerlord, when it's out.

[@johnx140]

THE SEQUEL TO MaB WB IS HERE BOIS! BANNERLORD NOW!

[@danielm2142]

This game kinda' reminds me of a Diablo clone I used to play as a kid called Throne of Darkness, It had mainly similar mechanics, but you're limited to four characters at a time out of a total of seven (summoning and disbanding them on the fly), fairly competent AI (although it's disabled on the character the player is currently controlling), a fully fledged formation editor and a detailed levelling, magic (all classes can cast magic, in most of my playthroughs, my Swordsman had better spells than my wizard) and enchantment system. But it also happens to suffer from some of the shortcomings you mention in this video, the main one being teleportation an the ability to access the blacksmith and priest from anywhere in the world, and other things like tedious revive and heal times (I wish you could just pay gold to instantly revive, but then again, it only really takes five minutes to revive the whole party, so it isn't really that big of a deal). Okay that's enough nostalgic rambling for now.

[@blokmotion]

I used to play this game with my dad in multiplayer. I also used to just watch him play single player. This video brought back so many comfy memories.

[@ishmaelnemo8227]

On a whim during the last Steam sale I remembered Ross's video and decided to get the Dungeon Siege bundle for like three bucks. Dungeon Siege ran fine in fullscreen, but trying to play it windowed royally fucked everything. Only the menu would run windowed, then when I switched back to fullscreen there was constant flickering and cursor errors. Nobody else online was having the exact same issues that I had. Custom launch settings changed nothing, reinstalling did nothing, it was like I scratched my imaginary Dungeon Siege disc. After a couple days of giving up trying to fix it, I came back to this video to see what I was missing out on and what initially drew me in, and lo and behold after Ross mentioned it, I changed the shadows to simple and everything was fixed.

[@metalslimehunt]

Why do I get the distinct feeling that the next game is going to be a Christmas game like Die Hard is a Christmas film?

[@TerenceChiII]

This is by far my favorite Game Dungeon Episode!

[@elgatochurro]

i always feel inspired to make a variant of these games you enjoy, ty for that Ross

[@Zyrodil]

As a guy who replayed Dungeon Siege 2 several times both Solo and with friends at LAN-parties, it's a great game - in my opinion and I'm glad to hear your opinion on Dungeon Siege 3. There's just one problem with the second game, you level up by dealing damage. That might not sound like a problem, but if you played multiplayer and have one fast attacking player character, the rest of you will soon realize that he's growing to become the chosen one. (Also, don't play Death Mage, almost every enemy in the game has resistance to Death and Evil kinds of magics). Anywho, Dungeon Siege 3 was an incredible disappointment, as a guy who paid attention to the lore of Dungeon Siege 2, Dungeon Siege 3 straight up discarded everything, ancient races from the second game were suddenly alive again as if nothing had happened. There was also no character customization and if you played it Multiplayer, you were forced to share a screen - as if you were playing GTA San Andreas on the PS2 back in the day (even if you played on PC).

[@robertsullivan4706]

Good work Ross. You consistently make enjoyable videos. Thank you.

[@AshTheObscure]

I realize I'm kinda late to the party with this comment, but you should always let your nature mages keep at least one spell, so they can heal later on. Gives them something to spend their mana on and cuts down on the amount of potions you use. By all means turn them into ass kickers with a big ass mace or something. But healers are useful even if they are only healers for a secondary spec, decked out in armor and bashing a dude's head in instead of some twat with a stick and a bath robe.

[@kc-ue2kj]

Spot on right there. You can't really opt for healing potions all the time tbh. I don't know how Ross does it, but I tried to play the game once with just relying on potions to heal but I always ran short of supply. I found it imperative to have healers just in case. Also, in the Hard difficulty potion drops become less frequent. The Aranna expansion sort of fixed some of the discrepancies in the original, one them being the addition of equipment exclusive to non stregth-type classes. It was opposed to the original where only the ones with the most Strength can get the best weapons and armor. The mages and archers can have their own great equipment in the Expansion. They don't have be a twats walking in around with a stick and a bath robe anymore hehe.

[@Cinkodacs]

So a healer who starts bashing people's head in? Cleric or Paladin? :)

[@Merjia]

Love how you just casually dropped the minigun in there.

[@rovedaaudiovisual]

This is from my childhood, I hold it dear to my heart s2

[@SekruTheGreat]

21:45 Is that Painkiller music I hear? Man I would love to hear Ross talk about that game...

[@K4RN4GE911]

+SekruTheGreat All you need to know about that game is that there is a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning. It could only be more awesome if it had tits and was on fire.

[@rentalblue5712]

+SekruTheGreat +K4RN4GE911 No. All you need to know about Painkiller is that it has a gun that shoots stakes. That PIN FOES TO THE WALLS. And IGNITE IN FLIGHT.

[@mrtannzr]

+K4RN4GE911 someone watches zero punctuation

[@leonhodges6299]

+mrtannzr xcvddsgvc

[@playinginthepodcastroom8365]

19:19-19:47 After RE-playing this game--and RE-watching this video--for the Nth time, I learned that the *game's title* is referenced by Novataya (Droog elder) at the end of Chapter VI: "Journey fast, Kingdom Child. The Seck *Dungeon Siege* may soon be under way." It is also *the title of the final Chapter* (IX). All these years I had completely overlooked both of those references. 🔍⚔🤷‍♂😅

[@alocerislost2482]

I come from 6 years in the future to say the game is less than $1 right now on steam (until 1/5/2021) and less than $5 for the first three games. Thanks for this one man, I was ignorant of it and I imagine I'll get more than $1 worth of entertainment.

[@BlackBerserkgasme]

"...Oh and the minigun dmg is way too low" Me: *Violently Chokes on food* THERE IS A MINIGUN?!

[@DrStephenStrange]

Thank you! I really loved this video and your style in making it. DS I,II and III are on sale at GOG now in a bundle. I think I will go buy them!

[@Bunge16]

Having played this game myself when I was younger, it made me so happy to see Ross cover it. I had the same thought about gnomes working my computer, too.

[@crash-testproductions9341]

I'm actually quite happy. I've still got my physical copy from many years ago and this video made me want to play it again.