DS2 Expansion: The Broken World

New Dungeon Siege titles coming from 2K Games

2K Games sent out word that they've managed to get hold of the rights on Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege games with two new titles coming up still this year.

First up is Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World which is an expansion to the original DS2 which brings along an all-new campaign mode, a new playable race, more items to discover and a brand new multi-class character development system.

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Dungeon Siege Moves To 2K Games; PC Expansion And PSP Announced

2K Games has announced that it has picked up the publishing rights to Gas Powered Games' fantasy action-RPG series Dungeon Siege from Microsoft. The publisher will also release an expansion pack to last summer's sequel Dungeon Siege II. The expansion, titled Broken World, will be released this summer. Here is a snip:

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World picks up right where Dungeon Siege II left off with an all-new campaign mode, a new playable race, more items to discover and a brand new multi-class character development system. Dungeon Siege II: Broken World will require the full version of Dungeon Siege II.

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Hey as long as it comese out when planned i'll be happy! Unless they delay it like DS2 for months but, I see the community reawaking so I think DS will return to its former glory days :sun:

Of course it's broken, what with psychos like you hacking and slashing about all the bloody time
Words: Joshua LaTendresse

We have some good news and some bad news for Dungeon Siege fans. First, the good news: the action role-player will be even hackier and slashier, thanks to the Broken World expansion pack due out this summer. But fans may want to get their fill before much-maligned director Uwe Boll gets hold of the franchise and releases two movies based on DS this year. That part was most definitely the bad news.

This expansion will offer players about 10 more hours of dungeon-crawling in a search to set things right (it's all your fault, by the way). In our preview of the expansion we saw action just as frenetic as the original offered, but also tougher. You'll need to be at least level 35 to ride this sequel, which means that you'll likely need to finish Dungeon Siege II. Players can import and export their characters to the expansion and back again after they are done. You'll likely have some extremely potent characters on your hands when ported back for multiplayer festivities.

What else will the expansion offer? Fancy fresh loot and smoking hot new enemies - how does a dragon so massive it fills the entire screen sound? Luckily, your skills will increase as well, with two new sub-classes that can be bolted right on to many existing character classes. The "Fists of Stone" is a monk-like class who specializes in close-quarters combat. For the courageous, kill-them-from-a-distance players, the "Blood Assassin" joins the party; he's a ranger that uses death magic to crush his foes (or, you know, her foes; ours is an equal opportunity dungeon).

For fans of the series, this expansion looks like a treat, and the game makers have already hinted at a reunion of nearly all of the characters from the original two games. Can we just cast evil hell-spawn Uwe Boll as the final boss, so we can off him once and for all? That's probably not in the cards, but we've already RSVP'd for this adventure party, anyhow.

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World First Impressions
We get a first look at the upcoming expansion pack for the action role-playing game Dungeon Siege II.

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World is the expansion to last year's Dungeon Siege II, and while it will continue the epic story begun in that game, much has changed behind the scenes. Basically, the Dungeon Siege franchise has switched from Microsoft to publisher 2K Games. Not to worry, though, because Gas Powered Games remains the developer of the series. We got a first look recently at what 2K Games and Gas Powered have in mind with the expansion.

Broken World pretty much picks up where Dungeon Siege II left off. The world is a broken, shattered wasteland following the cataclysmic events of Dungeon Siege II, and it's up to you to carry on the fight. This means that you'll once again pick up your sword or staff and battle countless enemies in this hack-and-slash role-playing game. Unfortunately, the race of familiars, long the enemy of the elves, have returned, and they have an incredibly nasty habit of tearing their enemies apart and reassembling the pieces in different ways to create a twisted army.

The entire expansion could almost be thought of as a graduate course for Dungeon Siege II players, as you'll encounter a range of difficult opponents to battle. Since you'll start the expansion with a high-level character, you can expect some equally high-level enemies. Some opponents take a page from Halo's Flood and will explode at death, which means they'll try to use that against you. The behaviors and artificial intelligence have also been tweaked, so you'll see enemies that spawn other enemies, and the spawners will stand off and try and let their minions take care of you. The only way to deal with them is to take out the spawners first. Meanwhile, other enemies may lay dead and wait for you to come close or pass them before raising themselves up to strike.

There are some improvements to the class system in the expansion, designed to make multiclassing more effective. Before, you had to split your experience up among your character's various classes, which meant that they couldn't max out their potential. That's been changed, and now you can combine classes to create new class types. There's also a new player race that hasn't been revealed, but which should give you a whole new side to explore.

We saw various intimidating environments, such as a huge underground city to run around in. This was the ancient city of the overmages, which was slowly unearthed by the dwarves, and now you'll have to stomp out the evil growing there. The graphics engine will feature a few enhancements and improvements. For example, now there are lip-synching animations on all the characters. It's a cosmetic change, but it should allow for better cutscenes. Broken World should pack about 10 hours of gameplay in it, but given the nature of Dungeon Siege II, there should be plenty of replayability as well. The expansion is on track to ship sometime this summer.

I think i saw someone else link to that interview at Herenaforge.org earlier today :roll:

While Dungeon Siege II: Broken World is an expansion pack in name, its decently lengthy all-new storyline, new enemies and races, and refined enemy AI appear to push Broken World into the realm of the pseudo-sequel. This is a good thing and should provide more than enough fun this summer for those looking to resolve the plight which they had wrought upon the world at the end of Dungeon Siege II.

Heads are fairly easy to make and replace in DS2 and it would mean not having to redo all the original animations,

maybe they add skin animations and skip any modelling

You mean having something like an animated gif as a facial texture (and flick / skrit commands to play / pause the animations)?