D&D Computer Games

[Vraister]

The wealth of quality community modules for NWN1 made it the breakthrough game for the RPG mod scene. I am surprised that you did not enjoy it, to be honest. My expectation is that you did not give it as much of a chance as perhaps you should have.

There was and I think still is a good mod scene for the Baldurs Gate games.

Vraister

 

[Steel_Wind]

You mean like in Baldur's Gate? If so I really need to play this game. The control of only one character was a big disappointment for me in the first Neverwinter Nights.

Yes, as in BG2.

 

[Steel_Wind]

There was and I think still is a good mod scene for the Baldurs Gate games.

Vraister

I must respectfully disagree, insofar as the word "good" is used; if you mean "good sized".

There are a handful of modders working on BG mods- and were never that many, even at the height of Team BG 6 to 7 years ago.

The kinds of things that a huge community like NWN1's, with thousands of inidividual modders were capable of things which are many orders of magnitude greater in scope and complexity - and created adventures and 3d content of commercial quality (which was and continues to be sold commercially as well). Birds of a very different feather.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

QFT again

Could the kneejerk bashing of games people clearly have never played stop?

WoW is a modified turn-based game -- actions can only be performed every 1.5 seconds, other than movement and is rich in lore. Those quaking over the thought of a button-mashing game future should be embracing it, not parroting an uninformed terror of it.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The few CRPGs they've release have been either too multiplayer focussed for my taste (NWN series)

Too multiplayer focussed? How can a D&D game be too multiplayer focussed?

In fact, I thought NWN2 wasn't nearly multiplayer focussed enough. The Official Campaign should be fully enjoyable with more than one human player.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but all the Monster hits for D&D have historically been single player PC CRPGs (ala Baldur's Gate, Eye of the Beholder and Gold Box series). I'm sure if someone could produce a decent game in the vein of those titles it would be pretty popular.

I'd have thought that the NWN series is quite popular.

Many of the videogames, all of the movies...these have not been considered very high-quality works of goodness, here.

Speak for yourself.

I know I liked the second movie, and while it's true that several games were crap (Pool of Radiance, ruins of third edition being the worst of the bunch), the NWN series are still among my all-time favourite PC games, and/or non-P&P roleplaying games.

You mean like in Baldur's Gate? If so I really need to play this game. The control of only one character was a big disappointment for me in the first Neverwinter Nights.

That's what I liked about it. NWN for me is the game that comes closer to capturing the spirit of D&D into a computer game than any other. Not necessarily the rules - let Temple of Elemental Evil keep that title and be happy with it - but how you play the game.

D&D isn't meant to be played as a round-based strategy game where you pit your units against enemies. You're meant to play one character, and play him as a character, and let other human beings play the other characters.

That having been said, they do give you greater control over the other party members in NWN2: You can't just send them across the screen like in Command & Conquer, but you can switch from your primary character to any of the other (not human-controlled) characters to give instructions, and if I recall correctly, you can select them all and set them on the same enemy.

Personally, I preferred to set their general behaviour and let them act how they like while I go kill some enemy or enemies.

 

[Asmor]

D&D isn't meant to be played as a round-based strategy game where you pit your units against enemies.

We must be reading different PHBs...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

We must be reading different PHBs...

The big difference is that in D&D you're mean to have one character. Even if combat gets quite strategic, you'll still only plan the strategy of your single character (and maybe advice others on theirs). You don't have half a dozen "characters" that are being reduced to fighting units.

But in BG, you'd have exactly that: Not a single character, but half a dozen. The controls feel a lot like C&C, you frame all your units and click on the enemy.

And that's why I love NWN: You have your one character, the others are other real people's characters.


I wouldn't mind a proper DDM game, really, but I don't want NWN to be that game.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Wizards almost needs to keep some creative control, IMO. The people in the company are D&D players, are D&D fans, and I'd like to think that they know a quality flick or game when the see it, and they also know what a stinker looks like.

QFT

 

[Nepenthe]

I got a call about a month ago from someone looking to option the movie rights to the Torment storyline

Good news. Of course optioning rights is still pretty far from even pitching a movie, but still.

Wow - that's awesome! The cynic in me wonders if it wouldn't end up as a Uwe Boll or Michael Bay film with Brad Pitt as the Nameless One and Paris Hilton as Fall-From-Grace... but it's good to hear there's still some interest in THE classic CRPG.

Hey, I object to grouping Bay with Boll: While Michael Bay might not qualify as an Artiste, in his movies at least basic standards of professionalism are maintained (and I like the Rock, so I'm biased).

As for the games... I'm a massive baldur's gate 2 fan. In fact, it's a requirement for any computer I own, that it must have bg2 installed and in working condition (on my current macbook that means Parallels and the more stable Windows version; And I own several copies of both mac os and windows versions of it). While I have the other infinity engine games, none of them ever really grabbed me as much as BG2 did (BG1 isn't nearly as good, but having played it does increase the enjoyment of the second one immensely). That said, I never managed to get Torment work on my old computer. I should probably see how it reacts to Parallels...

I still dream of Wizards' publishing a comprehensive Baldur's Gate/Bhaalspawn sourcebook instead of just tiny bits and pieces

 

[Kae'Yoss]

QFT

So what went wrong with the D&D movie, and who was shot for it?