The last vignette from Dungeon Siege 3 focuses on one of the earliest revealed characters, Anjali, the Archon. She's a staff-wielding sorceress that can take on a fire elemental form. I had the chance to play through an early level with her and Lucas Montbarron at an Obsidian event a few months ago. The two characters complimented each other nicely. Lucas's strong attacks benefited from Anjali's ranged assault in co-op play.
Speaking of co-op, we have more information on just exactly how the co-op will work. As I've stated before, the impression I got from Obsidian is that co-op only benefits the host player. Judging from things I've read around the internets, there still seems to be some confusion as to what's going on. IGN had a recent interview with Nathan Davis, Associate Producer of Dungeon Siege 3. They used some reader-created questions, and got some interesting answers.
Q: When playing the game on local Co-op, I have heard that the second player's character isn't saved, so all the loot that player has collected will not be saved for when he/she returns to the game to continue. Is this true? – slayer90k
A: All of the loot that the character has collected and all of the levels that they have gained are saved on the host game. All of that information is persistent and stays. Whether you jump in and jump out, it'll be there. You have impacted the story of that game and the story of that character.
Okay. Local co-op only benefits the host. Which isn't too much of a problem, since people who play on the same couch can usually coordinate their game time. How about online co-op?
Q: Will ALL players be able to save their progress and level up while playing in online co-op? Or will only one player be able to save their progress (the host) while playing in co-op?
This is a critical question for me. – elgranpimp
A: The save games [for everyone] work through the host player.
There you have it. Co-op will only benefit the host player. A host has a stable of four characters. These are the host player's characters. You can play as one of the host's characters, but when you leave, they're still the host's characters. If you rejoin the host, those characters will still be there. If the host has continued playing without you, the characters will have leveled up -without you. Joining players take nothing back to their own game.
Obsidian hasn't come out and said this directly, but this is exactly what I've concluded through my interviews and time with the game. Casual co-op? You betcha, but hardcore dungeon crawlers won't be pleased. I'm sure we'll review this game, and if the co-op works any differently we'll be sure to let you know. You can read the full interview over at IGN.com.
Dungeon Siege 3 releases on June 21 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It supports 2 player local and 4 player online co-op.