The misbegotten waif thread a/k/a The Fray V2

Herobizkit · Jun 7, 2011

Thanks for the reminder. Tonight is cheap seats at the theater; X-Men First Class is now on my to-do list.

xigbar · Jun 7, 2011

I'm trying to think of a good D&D videogame, but I can't. Why can't they make something decent?

Dragonwriter · Jun 7, 2011

xigbar said:
I'm trying to think of a good D&D videogame, but I can't. Why can't they make something decent?

They can, it's that they haven't made a good one for about 3 years.

Baldur's Gate is looked at as one of the finest CRPGs ever made and is based on AD&D rules. Planescape: Torment is in a similar position.

Neverwinter Nights (made by BioWare) and its expansions are also highly regarded. They're 3.0 D&D.
NWN 2 is another good one and its Mask of the Betrayer expansion is awesome. It's the only real 3.5 one I know of...

So it's not that they can't make a decent one, it's that they haven't made a decent one recently.

Rhun · Jun 7, 2011

Dragonwriter said:
Folks rag on Michael Bay, but you've got hand this to the man... He knows his FX stuff and how to deliver it.
(And he's really good at working with the military and showcasing what they can do - some of the Behind the Scenes stuff on the Transformers 1 and 2 DVDs showed that side and I thought it was really cool.)

I'm a fan of Michael Bay, but not of the Transformers movies. I mean, they were okay. Certainly entertaining. But Shia LaBeouf may be one of the worst actors ever. And the story lines were just okay for me. The FX on the other hand kicked ass.

Dragonwriter · Jun 7, 2011

Rhun said:
I'm a fan of Michael Bay, but not of the Transformers movies. I mean, they were okay. Certainly entertaining. But Shia LaBeouf may be one of the worst actors ever. And the story lines were just okay for me. The FX on the other hand kicked ass.

Note how I didn't really credit anything else you mentioned (actors, story).

But a really nice development in the Transformers franchise was the War For Cybertron game. Really, if you haven't played it and are into anything Transformers, it's worth a look (at least a rental). The dev (High Moon) did an awesome job in really capturing the spirit of the franchise and making a great game at the same time. And it expanded the fiction by establishing the events leading up to the Cybtertron exodus.
(It should be fairly cheap by now, too.)

I hope they just leave all the Transformers video game work with High Moon, right now. Thankfully, they're also the developer for the Dark of the Moon game, so we might actually see a good movie tie-in game for once. I think the last one lots of people liked was... Spider-Man 2. :lol:

xigbar · Jun 7, 2011

Dragonwriter said:
They can, it's that they haven't made a good one for about 3 years.

Baldur's Gate is looked at as one of the finest CRPGs ever made and is based on AD&D rules. Planescape: Torment is in a similar position.

Neverwinter Nights (made by BioWare) and its expansions are also highly regarded. They're 3.0 D&D.
NWN 2 is another good one and its Mask of the Betrayer expansion is awesome. It's the only real 3.5 one I know of...

So it's not that they can't make a decent one, it's that they haven't made a decent one recently.

Yes, those are decent. Baldur's Gate is excellent. But it feels to me as if they should make more "excellent" games, although I guess there are differing opinions on excellence. It would be especially nice to make a really intricate 3.5 game. My main problem with D&D based videogames, though, is that I actually prefer having the grid, which most of the video games don't.

Dragonwriter · Jun 7, 2011

"Decent" isn't the word most folks use when describing those games. So either your standards are too high or you are giving understatements.

NWN2 is pretty good at the 3.5 stuff. Naturally, it isn't all-encompassing (though mods can help with that), but it does allow for some build-tinkering. Mask of the Betrayer takes you into Epic levels and is, IMO, far superior to the base game.

If you want grid-based combat, you're stuck with going to a standard tactical turn-based RPG. The vast majority of turn-based games are attempting to make it hybrid with real-time and action.

Or don't look for specifically D&D games. Licensed games often have their hands tied for one reason or another, so looking in another place for a similar experience may be your best bet.

renau1g · Jun 7, 2011

xigbar said:
Yes, those are decent. Baldur's Gate is excellent. But it feels to me as if they should make more "excellent" games, although I guess there are differing opinions on excellence. It would be especially nice to make a really intricate 3.5 game. My main problem with D&D based videogames, though, is that I actually prefer having the grid, which most of the video games don't.

A few non DnD ones are Final Fantasy Tactics, the Heroes of Might and Magic Series, King's Bounty, and the Shining Force series (the latter requires a Sega Genesis emulator plus the rom)

Rhun · Jun 7, 2011

Dragonwriter said:
But a really nice development in the Transformers franchise was the War For Cybertron game. Really, if you haven't played it and are into anything Transformers, it's worth a look (at least a rental). The dev (High Moon) did an awesome job in really capturing the spirit of the franchise and making a great game at the same time. And it expanded the fiction by establishing the events leading up to the Cybtertron exodus.
(It should be fairly cheap by now, too.)

If they have it for the 360, I will check it out.

xigbar · Jun 7, 2011

renau1g said:
A few non DnD ones are Final Fantasy Tactics, the Heroes of Might and Magic Series, King's Bounty, and the Shining Force series (the latter requires a Sega Genesis emulator plus the rom)

I LOVE that FF tactics series, and that would be a great game if that team of Square Enix worked with the guys from 3.5 to make a game.