I recommend to anyone who hasn´t bought this game, try the demo first. DS2 is significantly different from the dungeon seige we all know and love. There are at least three things in my opinion that are greatly improved. Smarter enemies, a different relationship between skills and abilities, and a more challenging and realistic economy. Smarter enemies: In DS2 monsters are more often than not organized into their own mixed parties. For example, you will often find archer types fighting side-by-side with melee badies, and and there seem to be "mini-bosses" in nearly every large party. Moreover, they often have a solid sense of skirmish tactics as they charge past fighters to overwhelm archers and mages. You would also be wise to pay attention to the unique characteristics of many of your adversaries. Some have their own weaknesses and strengths. For example, don´t use lightning spells on creatures that have a resistance to lightning. Skills and abilities One of my favorite things about Dungeon Seige 2 is the new system of skills and abilities. The type or quality of armour and weapons you can use is no longer dependent on a character´s strength, dexterity and intelligence. Instead, it is the melee, ranged, combat magic and nature magic skills that dictate these limits. How does this change things? Since these abilities improve faster than STR, DEX and INT, a mage can more easily develop enough melee to wear reasonably good armour. And of course, the same is true for other types. It is still helpfull to specialize but this system is less limiting. Gold and item payoff I don´t know how it is late in the campaign but so far I´ve been pleased to find that the game doesn´t just throw money and valuable weapons/equipment at you. If you bust a barrel you might find 3 gold. Or not. You will NOT find a magical weapon that you could sell for 1,000,000. Kill a boss and you might get enough to buy a decent breastplate. In DS2 money has value. Just because you can use an item does not mean you can afford it. I keep visiting the local merchant half hoping he or she has a sale (They never do). However... There are also disapointments. I don´t understand the reasoning behind it but the makers of DS2 have decided to make single player campaigns quite similar to multiplayer mode(without the other players, of course). You can no longer save a game in a particular spot. When you reload your game you will find yourself in a town. If you die, you will be reborn in a town with a fellow who will kindly recover your equipment. It´ll only cost a quarter of your cash but it seems you CAN put a price on immortality. There are also little things that are irritating but not at all important. As an example, I can´t open a spell book unless it´s equipped. Nor can I put a spell in a book that is not equipped. This takes getting used to especially since a spellbook holds less spells. In short, some major things were greatly improved while other things should have been left as they were. Its worth the money but given a choice I´d take Dungeon Siege LOA. Does anyone know if they´ve taken steps to make it harder to edit characters and stuff?
