fantasy

I very much enjoyed this game. The graphics are great, the gameplay is fairly linear--a drawback for some, but I *like* linear--and the story and dungeons here are both inventive and challenging. I have tried Icewind Dale (tedious and aggravating) and Neverwinter Nights (complicated and, once again, aggravating) for the Mac, but Dungeon Siege is better than either of those games, in my opinion.

I don't want to give up half my life just trying to figure out how to play a game and then spend the other half resolving arcane puzzles that you have to get a clue book to help you with. Geeze. Unless you're a professional gamer (or college student [yeah, I still remember those days!]), who's got time for that? Just a bit of hack and slash adventure is all I crave, with an assortment of challenges (not all of them battle oriented) with a few good digital companions at your side (I found Kroduk, Gloern, and Merik to be particularly helpful). What more could you ask for?

Dungeon Siege is good fun for someone who doesn't want to waste a lot of time trying to figure out character stats and complex rules of engagement. Moreover, while there are a couple of minor side battles here (and one major one that which I missed my first time through), I still found the game entertaining and replayable. I like the idea of fully realized companions that join up with your team along the way (if you want them to and/or can afford to hire them). These are not just mindless drones but as controllable and accessible as the primary character that you create at the beginning of the game. I also like the way characters' abilities are enhanced based on the way you choose to play them; if you have a character use a bow, for example, then they gradually increase in that particular skill.

The music is great, the various levels are seamlessly woven together, and the "gore level" is adjustable, as is the game difficulty level. All in all, this game was just what I was looking for: fun, "winnable", and not irritatingly complex.

I highly recommend Dungeon Siege for Mac owners who enjoy this sort of thing. I haven't had this much fun with a Mac game since the Wizardry, Bard's Tale, and Might and Magic series of long ago. And, yes, I know how old that makes me!

This is a very solid RPG game and I would reccomend it to anyone (such as myslelf) who is frustrated with the lack of quality games on the mac. However, if you've been reading a lot of stellar reviews of this game, then don't believe the hype. First of all, DS does have a lot of great things going on, technology wise it's one of the best RPGs i've ever seen. The graphics and effect are awesome, the character animation is good, and even though the game is relatively complex it ran very smoothly on my humble system (g4 imac 700mhz) - which is a testimony to the programmers at macsoft who obviously have a little bit of know-how compiling code for PPC. Perhaps the best thing about the game is it's spirit of inovation, most of the current computer RPG conventions have been turned on their head (although the game borrows heavily, or should i say HEAVILY, from Diablo II) and this means that the game play is streamlined and effecient with more time spent on exploring and battling than managing stats/spells and equipment. Two of the stand out achievments of this game are the inclusion of a packmule (a donkey that follows your party around to carry your loot) and the fact that there are no predetermined character classes (characters simply excel at what they do most so for example if you want to train an archer, just give that character some quality bow time and his/her stats will be on the rise in no time). Okay, well as for the faults, there are way too many to list, but 3 of the main downsides are: 1. a very ackward point and click interface that is hard to control and responds erratically, sometimes it's impossible to know where you are going, or to get where you want to go without clicking all over the place, especailly in some of the tighter areas where characters are often hidden by walls or disappear completely because they are standing on a flight of stairs slightly above you (you can still get shot by characters you can't see!, or even click on to alert your guys to fight back) The worst part about moving around is that the game will only allow you to move onto certain areas and the rest of the time the cursor turns into this ENORMOUS red NO (cirlce with line) icon, for instance if you click on a tree instead of just walking to the tree and standing next to it you get flashed with this hideous icon which looks like something from a construction site, not a fantasy game. This especially sucks in the heat of battle when you are trying to organize your characters but they just stand ther while you click wildly around looking for some ground that the game will let you stand on. 2. complete lack of a coherent or compelling story (you develop no attachment to any of the characters, it could even be said that the characters have no character) and 3. lack of details within the design of the game, overall it feels like the product of a huge team of people who really didn't communicate with each other to create a wholistic vision, the look and feel of the game changes erratically throughout your adventure, some characters speak audibly, others you have to read though bubbles in silence (not that there is anything wrong with that, think of the orignal Zelda, I just think it shuould be consisnent and the lack of voice acting in some parts make the game feel unfinished) some of the enemy's look cool and menacing while others are silly, rainbow colored, and impossible to take serioulsy, the quest system is completely redundant (the game guides you along very narrow path to completion (your chances of getting lost are about the same as the original Donkey Kong), i stopped reading my "quest journal" after the first 20 minutes and never skipped a beat. I could go on and on with all of the tiny detail that irk me, but the end result is that these little annoyances kept me from becoming immersed in the game. I spent most of my time playing thinking "oh that would be so cool if..." and then basically feelig let down. So if you are looking for the next Diablo II, i wouldn't waste your time with DS, i mean come on could MicroSoft ever be as cool as Blizzard? And I mention MicroSoft cos I really do think that the blandness of the game must have something to do with the fact that it was generated by this huge bland corporation. But if you are the kind of person who is wooed by fancy graphics and don't really get off on fantastic gameplay or interesting plot twist, or you are just bored to tears with all of your shareware puzzle games that you downloaded from Ambrosia and never paid for, the perhaps Dungeon Siege can scratch that itch until you get Frozen Throne or WOWC comes out.

I bought this game a few weeks ago even though the game is a little out of date. The story line is pretty good even though it is simple to complete. I Like RPGs which have a deep story line, take some skill to complete but the characters, items and skills are easy to get the hang of. The obvious answer? Diablo 2..but i already owned that and people admit it there arent any up to date rpgs with the things i said above...heck macs have a shortage of RPGs even availible. I bought NWNs and i thought it was okay but it was too complicated and i didn't like how if took 5 seconds to roll and hit an enemy. So i looked for other RPGs to buy and DS seemed like a good choice, it quenched my RPG thirst for about 3 weeks but then i beat it and the game wasnt really one u could beat again and have fun. On this i disagree with the other reviewists is the issue of graphics, D2 i thought had better graphics but was released earlier that this game was....If u have Mac and u like RPGs i would buy this game...but other RPGs to consider(if u have no problem buying out of date games) are D2 Baulders Gate 2 and Icewind dale...overall this was a fun game but i think is DS2 is going to be realeased for mac it will be much better.