Dungeon Siege II Pre-E3 2005 Preview

GameSpot has kicked up their latest impressions of Dungeon Siege II, after catching a pre-E3 2005 demo of the action RPG sequel. A snip:
One of the nice things about watching the Gas Powered Games representatives play the game was that they could show off some high-level characters, which is something we didn't get a chance to see or experience with the beta. Not surprisingly, the level 33 and higher characters are capable of dishing out tremendous amounts of damage, as well as casting some pretty nifty combat spells. As we watched, a party of four took on swarms of fierce-looking monsters, and a flurry of sword and spell strikes inflicted hundreds of points of damage. The interface looks a little complicated at first, but it's designed to give you a fair amount of control over your team, even when the action onscreen borders on the verge of chaotic. For example, you can place spells in a character's autocast menu, which means he or she will cast them when appropriate. Drop a decay armor spell in there and if the character encounters an armored opponent, he or she will automatically cast the debuff spell at that enemy to weaken it.