Dungeon Siege III – A Polished and Bug-Free Obsidian RPG!?
Yep, that’s what I said. Now, before you go on yelling and screaming saying I haven’t yet finished the full game or that I’m a well known Obsidian fanboy, hear me out.
Over the past few months I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with Dungeon Siege III on several occasions. Not once did it freeze, crash or glitch out. Not once were there animation issues, not once were there any texture issues, not once did I go “ooooooh they’re gonna have to fix that for retail.”
Obsidian Entertainment has a well earned reputation for making well written and engaging role playing games that sadly suffer from an abundance of bugs, and a lack of polish in comparison to other games in the genre they know so well. Their last two efforts, Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas, were both praised for their role playing elements and storytelling, but nearly universally panned for their buggyness and overall lack of polish.
That Ain't Right...
So, why should you think Dungeon Siege III will be any different? What makes you think it’s not just going going to be another flawed Obsidian game that “could have” been a classic.
Well, for starters, they’ve got their own engine now. Obsidian’s new Onyx Engine is capable of both stunning visuals and smooth gameplay. It makes it easy to build worlds and create deep and branching quest narratives in both isometric and full 3d environments. Quite frankly, it’s perfect for RPGs.
Behold some HD gameplay totally not recorded by me (I’d never die that much or skip dialogue!)
You should take note of the smooth animations, detailed textures, lovely shadows, dynamic lighting and impressive water and fire effects first off, as well as the great detail put into making the inventory and ability menus as streamlined and easy to use as possible. Did I mention there’s also practically no loading screens? Yeah, that’s a pretty nice feature too.
Don’t believe me? The Dungeon Siege III demo is available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 right now. Go play it yourself, then come back and tell me I’m wrong. Tell me this is going to be another unpolished and buggy “could-have” been great RPG from Obsidian, I’ll be waiting here to tell you I told you so.
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