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Famous for their hit RTS game Total Annihilation, Chris Taylor’s Gas Powered Games’ forges have produced the latest action-based RPG to hit the shelves; Dungeon Siege. Promising many hours of gameplay in a continuous world (i.e. no “zones” to load), lots of eye candy, and ease of modification for those who are so inclined, DS appears to be poised to become one of the top games to come out this year, at least on paper. Does it deliver on its promises, or is it merely (as some people describe it) a Diablo clone?

The background story is typical fantasy fare: Three hundred years have passed since the fall of the Empire of the Stars. Survivors of an evil holocaust that had plagued the Empire’s lands founded the country that your character currently lives in, the Kingdom of Ehb. These survivors, the 10th Legion, were left to preserve the Empire in some form or another in the heavily fortified province of Ehb. Eventually settling down and becoming a kingdom in their own right, the ancient evil that plagued the old empire was soon forgotten as they grew complacent with peace. Now, it seems like the new threat that is emerging that might not be so new after all… And the most unlikely hero, a farmer (namely you), will rise up to the challenge to save the Kingdom of Ehb.

Creating your own character in Dungeon Siege is a pretty simple affair. Unlike many other RPG games, there is no stat tinkering or class selection before your character is placed in the world. Everyone starts out with the same stats, and has the exotic occupation title of “Farmer.” About the only thing that you can customize at this point is your character’s clothing. Stat and skill progression is handled somewhat differently than most RPGs, too. First of all, there are only three character stats in Dungeon Siege: Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Secondly, there are only four skills that your character has in the game: Melee, Ranged, Nature Magic, and Combat Magic. The more you use a certain weapon type or magic type (melee or ranged weapons, nature or combat magic), the more you gain proficiency in the skill for that type. Your stats increase alongside your skill types as well; naturally your strength will quickly increase with more melee usage, and your intelligence will increase with more spell usage (albeit not as quickly as strength). This does makes sense from a gameplay point of view, however. It can be argued that this system more accurately reflects how you play your character, rather than being a slave to the abstract numbers that represent statistics in other games.