Dungeon Siege 3 Interview
Written by Charles Husemann on 12/16/2010 for
PC
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Dungeon Siege 3
Dungeon Siege III represents a huge change in direction for the series. The first being that the game is being developed by Obsidian Software and not series creator Gas Powered Games. The next is that the series is finally going to be making its way to the consoles. We were curious about what else Obsidian had in store about the game and were lucky enough to get some questions answered.
Could you introduce yourself and talk about your role on the project?
Sure! My name is David Hoffman and I’m the Executive Producer on the title from Square Enix.
To you, what are the key features/attributes of the Dungeon Siege series? How are you taking those elements and putting an Obsidian Games touch on them?
The Dungeon Siege franchise has a long standing love affair with PC gamers and Dungeon Siege 3 will be no exception by delivering a full, flushed out action RPG of the highest quality on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Can you give us some details on the story behind the game and who/what we’ll be saving/slaying? Who is the main protagonist going to and what is their story in the game going to be?
The Guardians that have long protected the land of Ehb are spiritually connected to the land. In Dungeon Siege III, Ehb is dying, and the Guardians are also on the brink of extinction. The player’s primary goals are to restore respect for the Guardians, as well as save the land and all those who dwell within it.
Why did you feel the need to bring the PC franchise to the console?
We’re not sure why this type of game hasn’t had a huge presence on consoles. The genre is quite fun and we wanted to share the dungeon-crawling experience with the console users as well as the traditional PC gaming fans.
Speaking of the move to the consoles, can you talk about the control scheme you’ve setup for the game (i.e. what functions you’ve mapped to the buttons)? Have you had to make other concessions for the console such as simplified inventory or skill trees? Other than a broader audience, what advantages are there for taking the game to the console?
As we are still pre-alpha, it’s a bit premature to discuss the final layout of the controls. I can tell you that the game is constantly being improved to ensure the highest quality user interface experience that we can achieve. Shoot high or don’t shoot at all!
Are there structured player classes in the game? Previous versions of the game were classless and you built up the skills that you used the most, are you changing that system at all? Why did you make the changes you made?
We aren’t discussing player classes in detail just yet. So far, we’ve shown two—the Guardian and the Archon--–and I will confidently tell you that those two complement each other extremely well. We are planning unique playable classes that offer many opportunities to play style hybrids.
Will Dungeon Siege III support drop in/drop out multiplayer? What is the maximum size of the party? How does the game scale difficulty when people drop in and out of the game (tougher AI, more monsters, more hit points, or something better?)
DUNGEON SIEGE III will be fully co-op multiplayer from start to finish.We’re very excited about the drop-in/drop-out functionality. One of the strengths of the game is the ability to take control of a party member seamlessly, without any interruption of gameplay, and return control to the AI in a very friction-less manner.
Safe to say that there will be post-launch DLC for the game or not? Are there certain milestones you have to hit to work on DLC or do you have some that is already in development?
DLC is an important element of the DUNGEON SIEGE III product. We have designed the engine to accept DLC, however, we aren’t discussing specifics at this time.
Anything we missed that you think is important?
We hope you enjoy the game and that you look forward to exploring the world of Ehb in Dungeon Siege 3. Thanks in advance for your support on this title!
We'd like to thank David for taking the time to answer our questions as well as Brandon and Matt for coordinating the interview.
Could you introduce yourself and talk about your role on the project?
Sure! My name is David Hoffman and I’m the Executive Producer on the title from Square Enix.
To you, what are the key features/attributes of the Dungeon Siege series? How are you taking those elements and putting an Obsidian Games touch on them?
The Dungeon Siege franchise has a long standing love affair with PC gamers and Dungeon Siege 3 will be no exception by delivering a full, flushed out action RPG of the highest quality on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
Can you give us some details on the story behind the game and who/what we’ll be saving/slaying? Who is the main protagonist going to and what is their story in the game going to be?
The Guardians that have long protected the land of Ehb are spiritually connected to the land. In Dungeon Siege III, Ehb is dying, and the Guardians are also on the brink of extinction. The player’s primary goals are to restore respect for the Guardians, as well as save the land and all those who dwell within it.
Why did you feel the need to bring the PC franchise to the console?
We’re not sure why this type of game hasn’t had a huge presence on consoles. The genre is quite fun and we wanted to share the dungeon-crawling experience with the console users as well as the traditional PC gaming fans.
Speaking of the move to the consoles, can you talk about the control scheme you’ve setup for the game (i.e. what functions you’ve mapped to the buttons)? Have you had to make other concessions for the console such as simplified inventory or skill trees? Other than a broader audience, what advantages are there for taking the game to the console?
As we are still pre-alpha, it’s a bit premature to discuss the final layout of the controls. I can tell you that the game is constantly being improved to ensure the highest quality user interface experience that we can achieve. Shoot high or don’t shoot at all!
Are there structured player classes in the game? Previous versions of the game were classless and you built up the skills that you used the most, are you changing that system at all? Why did you make the changes you made?
We aren’t discussing player classes in detail just yet. So far, we’ve shown two—the Guardian and the Archon--–and I will confidently tell you that those two complement each other extremely well. We are planning unique playable classes that offer many opportunities to play style hybrids.
Will Dungeon Siege III support drop in/drop out multiplayer? What is the maximum size of the party? How does the game scale difficulty when people drop in and out of the game (tougher AI, more monsters, more hit points, or something better?)
DUNGEON SIEGE III will be fully co-op multiplayer from start to finish.We’re very excited about the drop-in/drop-out functionality. One of the strengths of the game is the ability to take control of a party member seamlessly, without any interruption of gameplay, and return control to the AI in a very friction-less manner.
Safe to say that there will be post-launch DLC for the game or not? Are there certain milestones you have to hit to work on DLC or do you have some that is already in development?
DLC is an important element of the DUNGEON SIEGE III product. We have designed the engine to accept DLC, however, we aren’t discussing specifics at this time.
Anything we missed that you think is important?
We hope you enjoy the game and that you look forward to exploring the world of Ehb in Dungeon Siege 3. Thanks in advance for your support on this title!
We'd like to thank David for taking the time to answer our questions as well as Brandon and Matt for coordinating the interview.
About Author
Hi, my name is Charles Husemann and I've been gaming for longer than I care to admit. For me it's always been about competing and a burning off stress. It started off simply enough with Choplifter and Lode Runner on the Apple //e, then it was the curse of Tank and Yars Revenge on the 2600. The addiction subsided somewhat until I went to college where dramatic decreases in my GPA could be traced to the release of X:Com and Doom. I was a Microsoft Xbox MVP from 2009 to 2014. I currently own stock in Microsoft, AMD, and nVidia.
