The original Dungeon Siege embodied the action role-playing genre. A fast-paced, hack-and-slash game, Dungeon Siege let you control a party of adventurers as they cut their way through hordes of monsters in the quest for loot, fame, and the defeat of the evil menace at the end. Now Microsoft and developer Gas Powered Games are working on the sequel, due out in the first part of next year. Dungeon Siege II will update the graphics and technology of the original game, but there will also be a much larger focus on creating a better single-player campaign as well. We caught up with lead designer Kevin Lambert for some details.

Dungeon Siege II has three times as many quests to pursue than the original game.

GameSpot: We've been told on previous occasions that the most common feedback that Dungeon Siege fans sent to the team was about the first game's story and setting, and that the team is really trying to create a story-driven single-player component for Dungeon Siege II. Without spoiling too much, can you tell us about the game's story and how it came about?

Kevin Lambert: Not only did we want to create a more compelling narrative experience for Dungeon Siege II, but we also wanted to make sure that the party characters were interesting and had flavorful personalities that came across during the adventure. To that end, the party characters will often speak and banter between each other depending on who is in your party. Dungeon Siege II takes place about 100 years after the original Dungeon Siege. [It still takes place] on the continent of Aranna, and we wanted to make the story much more epic in scope by having the player travel to many more locations across the continent this time around.

GS: How will the story tie into the single-player gameplay? What effects will the game's primary characters and their actions have on the game? Will we see branching paths that open and close to players depending on their decisions and how they completed certain quests?

KL: The primary quest arc is directly tied to the storyline. The plot will be thrust forward with the completion of each primary quest while the secondary quest arc will add depth to the world that players can feel free to explore or not. Players will occasionally come across some branching quest paths that will be slightly different depending on players' choices. The party characters all have their own personalities, histories, and personal agendas outside of the main adventure. If players pay close attention to what the party members have to say, they may uncover clues on how to embark on each party member's personal journey.

Your party members will now have personalities, and they'll banter with each other when they're not busy stomping monsters.

GS: How will the single-player game be structured? Will it be segmented into specific "chapters," or will the game take place in a single, continuous world? Will the single-player game tie into the multiplayer game in any way (such as carrying over characters, experience, or items), or vice versa?

KL: Even though the story is broken up into three acts, the single-player game takes place in a continuous world where players can return to any location they have visited at any time. Players can also replay any previously completed quest if they'd like a little more experience, more loot, or just for fun. In multiplayer, players can play cooperatively together through the single-player storyline either in "classic mode," as seen in the original Dungeon Siege (with just their main hero), or with each player bringing in multiple party characters. Players will also be able to export their single-player parties (including all characters, experience, and items) into multiplayer games.