PSP - Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony

Format
PSP
Publisher
2K Games
Developer
Supervillain
Country of origin
US
Genre
RPG

Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony

By David Rasmussen
10th Dec 06

To date if you wanted to play the Dungeon Siege franchise you had to sink x amount of dollars into your PC in order to keep it powered up enough to play the latest PC games, including, yes, Dungeon Siege 2 and it’s “epilogue” game Broken World. Now, however, PSP fans get a taste of the franchise with Dungeon Siege : Throne of Agony, and if you are willing to forgive some of the game’s shortcomings you’ll find a suitable game to play while you look for Valkryie Profile : Lenneth (or the next game as good as Valkryie Profile if you’ve already played this one).

Not so much an original game as a companion game to Dungeon Siege 2 : Broken World, the game picks up where Dungeon Siege 2 leaves off as the world is laid to waste in the second Cataclysm. Seems, however, that this hasn’t been the first time the world has been laid to waste and it happens everytime one Age ends and another begins. Starting off as one of three choosable characters (sorry, this game does not feature a character generator which you’ll see why shortly) you wander the Broken Lands in search of a dark evil that threatens the shattered world. And search it you will as you’ll find the world of Dungeon Siege to be a freeform world (complete with an easy to navigate worldmap that is kind enough to map every location in large words that float over each location making all sites easy to locate) you can explore end to end at your own pace. No monsters live on the world map, so no random encounters, but you’ll find that you can use your weapons on the world map even if there is no enemies on it.
Also sure, while you won’t be able to do much without engaging the game’s story driven missions, you’ll find freedom in this game even if all you want to do is just build up levels on your character or wander about and explore at will (looking for hidden crossover tablets or whatever). It’s all here for you.

Because of the all driving all consuming story you find that only three pre-set characters are available, and while each has their own story and NPC reacts to them differently there is (ultimately) a fixed gameplay content and you’ll find that basically it’s the same game regardless of who you play (or what level you play on though once you beat Normal you can unlock Elite for players of higher levels, Level 50 or over (Level 55 would be better, though I ended Normal mode with Level 58) being recommended by myself for Elite mode). Using the tride and true Champions of Norrath game mechanics, which works 9 out of 10 times and even makes Neopets on the PSP fun to play, you’ll be able to quickly jump into this one and play it right out of the jewel case if you’ve played Champions or Untold Legend or some other similar game.

Of course, though, being a Champions of Norrath style game you’ll get Champion of Norrath style mechanics. Let’s check off the checklist of Norrath-isms shall we?
- Is the game entirely in a top down format like Untold Legends and the like?
Yes, but this game has vastly improved graphics and camera angling over Untold Legends, to the point that everything looks way better and more polished as well as the fact that the camera angles often give you a better view of your environment which can only be a good thing.

- Do you spend a lot of time in the game running about killing things, gathering “resources” and buying and selling stuff to improve your character?
Yes, though you can’t expect to do this the same way you did in Untold Legends, which is good and bad at the same time. You’ll find this game has a rather odd monster generator in that it is constantly working while your on the field, magically making more and more enemies appear on the field to the point that you’ll NEVER be able to purge any level of enemies 100%. This means you’ll have to pay attention to your list of objectives because if you tried to complete your area clearing missions by trying to 100% clear a level of monsters then you’ll be doing that forever. Trust me, the game will decide when you’ve killed “enough”, and then credit you for it even if the monster regenerator is so flawed that it will even regenerate sub-bosses over and over again (once you clear a subboss out don’t go back to where it was because it will be resurrected after awhile).

Anyway you don’t need to backtrack in this game as long as you stock scrolls that teleport you back to town, so running into powerful creatures you’ve just fought your way through again won’t be a problem.

- Leveling up your character and dishing out stats and ability points?
Yes. Leveling up is easy to grasp so I won’t go into it.
Abilities are different, however, so let’s go into that. This time out they are not on a “tree” though, instead they’re listed on a ladder which unlocks rung for rung the higher your character stats are. Though only the Passive skills are the most useful as I played through the entire game in Normal mode with only a light dabbling here and there on the abilities (but with the way you can graft several skills onto your buttons by holding down the R button and tapping (blank) button to trigger added skills you don’t need to reshuffle your chosen skills so often as you would in, say, Untold Legends).

- Missions varied?
Not really. They run the gambut of seek and destroy though there are a few different missions, but the seek part is still prevelant. You should be able to find 50 missions total in this game, with diligant searching being able to find all 50 missions with hard work. One thing though is a few missions (in regard to locating of things like dying trees or enemy catapults) you’ll have to pay attention as the game will NOT map these vital mission objectives on your map, meaning you’ll have to physically search these levels to spot them on your own (and then handle them on your own as the game will not tell you your supposed to water this withered tree or destroy that catapult).

- Story interesting?
It’s good enough, and the gameplay is fun even if it is something you’ve been through before. Think of this as the God of War of RPGs. It’s not too long, it’s hack/slash, and it’s the same game over and over… but since it’s a good game to begin with playing this more than once shouldn’t be too bad. It’s not Valkryie Profile, yes, but it is going to be one of those games that will keep you playing your PSP for hours on end while your out holiday shopping (or winding down from holiday shopping).

- Interactivity with Broken World?
Yes, though unfortunately it doesn’t imply linking your PSP to PC though the PSP does have the ability to link to the PC. Instead you’ll be given code(s) (I don’t know if there’s more than one code) which you can bring to Broken World, or from Broken World, in exchange for special items. This isn’t much interactivity, yes, but it is something. It would be better if you could link your PSP to the PC and port original characters from the PC version to play in Throne of Agony, but I guess some interactivity is better than nothing.

As for the two newest skills? They’re available here from what I can see of it.
Play the Dark Elf female and you’ll have access to Blood Assassin, though I can’t tell if it has the same impact that it does on the PC despite the fact I’ve been playing Blood Assassin skill for awhile now.
As for Stone Fist? I haven’t seen that yet though one of the other two characters probably has the ability to unlock this ability though, yes, I haven’t played either yet to find out.

Oh, and there’s also Followers but you can only call one at a time, and once you find your favorite you’ll tend to stick to said favorite as much as possible. Also the seeming lack of any ability to upgrade your Follower’s gear is a minus to the game (I tried and tried but couldn’t swap my Followers’ gear out for better equipment).

As for interactivity between Throne of Agony games (PSP to PSP) I can’t say, I have yet to find another player who has this game to link up with.

- Flaws?
Yes. Actually there are a few, and these are the flaws you’ll need to regard before picking this up.
1-The game will last about… hmm… maybe 20 or so hours. It’s not forever but it is abit of life, and the game has more than enough challenge to keep you interested even if you will eventually beat the game.

2-After all your work and effort you’ll find the game’s ending… sucks. I haven’t seen a bad ending like this since… since… I can’t remember since when.

3-I didn’t catch any flagging of my data at the end of the game. Guess I can’t port my info from this game to a future Dungeon Siege game for the PSP… gosh, that sucks too.

Overall? That’ll be in the breakdown.

Dungeon Siege Breakdown
What’s Hot?
While it’s no Valkryie Profile the game is solid, fun, and a definite time passer that’ll keep you going for awhile yet as you plunk through it hour after hour. Better than Untold Legends, a good game for long term gamers over choices like Astonisha Story, and something to feed your Dungeon Siege habit while your away from your PC, Throne of Agony should be one of the games you keep in your PSP carrying case for road trips here and there and everywhere. Must have.

What’s Not?
Yes, if you can ignore the games flaws here and there you’ll find that this is a good game. Worthy of attention and playing. Now if I can get a taste of multiplayer (I am sure this game has multiplayer even if it doesn’t seem to have online capacity).

Moments to Remember?
The gameplay mostly, the story doesn’t carry any depth of humor or wit to really be memorable.

What to Ignore?
The fact that they seemingly omitted the one thing that would have really made this game shine, online capacity to team up or against other players. It’s a hassle to try and find other PSP owners with this game, so having the ability to link online and find them there would have been better. But no need to gripe over things that aren’t happening, might as well enjoy this as it is.

Also the story ending sucks. I can’t believe how bad the ending sucks, and the last “boss battle” is so anti-climatic! How awful!

Overall?
Embrace it’s successes, forgive it’s failings, and you’ll find a nice solid game that should be one of your games for long roadtrips. It’s no Valkryie Profile but it’s fun nevertheless, something for you Dungeon Siege players for the road or those, like me, who has always wanted to play Dungeon Siege but couldn’t until now. Try it, you might like it.

-- David Rasmussen 10th Dec 06

PSP Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony Images