My Sword Coast Legends First Impressions

I grabbed the head start for the upcoming D&D videogame from n-Space last night (the actual release is this coming week) and played it for an hour or so. Overall, I enjoyed it. My system isn't quite up to it, being 7 years old now, so the experience was a bit jerky, but I coped. I really need to upgrade! So, first impression: this is Neverwinter Nights. It looks like NWN in terms of interface and general view (that familiar 3D isometric view). It sounds like NWN. It feels like NWN. The gameplay and plotting feels like NWN. While playing the single player campaign, I could totally believe I was playing NWN.

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I've only tried the single player campaign stuff so far.

Character creation is D&D-ish, but adapted for the format. That's fine by me. I'd have preferred a more direct conversion of the tabletop rules, but it's not a problem. It's quick - choose race, class, background, allocate ability scores, pick some feat/skill type things. It takes a couple of minutes, plus however long you want to spend customizing appearance and voice. The feats/skills are where it really differs from the tabletop game -- it's a branching tree of abilities you purchase with skill points. I had 3 points to spend, and went for Charge I, Charge II, and Charge III for my fighter character.

The biggest issue I had was that it took me ages to realise you could move the viewpoint via WASD. My guys kept moving to the edge of the screen and I couldn't see any further. Once I realised that, it was easy.

So the game - I woke up in a tavern bedroom in a dream sequence. The tavern was on fire. Brief conversation with some allies who said to meet them downstairs. Wandered around upstairs a bit, found some clothes/armor/weapon, went downstairs. Solves a super-easy problem to open a secret basement entrance, went down there, fought some bad knights, met a demon, fade to black.

Then the game started properly. I was guarding a caravan. Wandered round doing the usual talking to everyone and picking up the expected quests - get some mushrooms for one woman, find this guy's brother, get a bit of backstory from this guy, etc. I always struggle with game dialogues which try to give you info about the plot or region, because it's not usually very interesting.

One mild curiosity was the sheer amount of loot just lying around in crates and bags around the caravan camp. Nobody seemed to mind me helping myself, so I grabbed a pile of potions and other stuff. Plus some better armor, weapon, helm, boots, etc.

That's as far as I got. It was late! Overall, if you like the NWN single player stuff, you'll like this, though it is only a brief first impression. I haven't tried the DM stuff, though I hear a rumour those tools are "robust".

 

[Zaran]

It's a bit ironic. It seems like so much focus was put into the multiplayer aspect of this game but I would rather an excellent single player experience. When I can get a group of my friends together we play real d&d. when I can't I want to play by myself. If the game doesn't feel like D&D, then it won't scratch that itch for me. Id like to be able to remake my characters that I can't play for real. It bothers me that people put the name on a game and expect us to say "that's good enough for me". It needs to be a CRPG and not just an actioner which is what I hear it is more like. The Tome Show said was more like Diablo than Balder's Gate but with less to do. I wish they had just made it turn-based.

 

[Zalbar The Mad]

The Tome Show said was more like Diablo than Balder's Gate but with less to do. I wish they had just made it turn-based.

You can, in effect, make it turn based with the pause system.

 

[Jiggawatts]

Baldur's Gate was a very faithful rendition of 2E. Neverwinter Nights was a very faithful rendition of 3E. It boggles the mind why this game wasn't made to be a very faithful rendition of 5E.

 

[Jeff Strix]

Nice! Can't wait^^ Few days more. In what FR year is the game set? Is it post Sundering?

 

[Zaruthustran]

Pausing ≠ turn-based.

Turn-based, by definition, means that everyone is taking turns. Not moving at once. It's "I go, then you go, then he goes, then that goes." When the person's whose turn it is is moving, no one else is moving.

It's not "we all go at once, but you can stop everyone at any time." Which is what happens when you pause a real-time game.

Big, big difference.

I agree with Jigawatts. I really wish we had a D&D game that replicated D&D. Turns, like in D&D. Armor Class, like in D&D. Classes, which functioned like D&D classes. Instead, SCL's mechanics are generic action/RPG. It's Pillars of Eternity set in the Forgotten Realms. Actually no; Pillars of Eternity had systems for preparing and casting spells, and you had to rest after you expended a certain number of your prepared spells. 5E spellcasting, in other words. That game is more D&D than SCL.

It's still a good game if you're into that style of gameplay, and are really into the Forgotten Realms. From what I've been able to tell, it delivers on the Realms fan service.

Me, I don't have any particular affinity for the Realms. And I couldn't get over the mechanical differences from 5E. This game "isn't for me", as they say.

 

[Ricochet]

Baldur's Gate was a very faithful rendition of 2E. Neverwinter Nights was a very faithful rendition of 3E. It boggles the mind why this game wasn't made to be a very faithful rendition of 5E.

One reason is because a video game like this takes 3-5 years to make, and they didn't have the completed ruleset to build the game with. Baldur's Gate came years after the 2e rules had been released. If WotC had done a 100% in-house design rather than a playtest, their software developers could have been better prepared I think, but that is how the cards fell.

 

[Corpsetaker]

One reason is because a video game like this takes 3-5 years to make, and they didn't have the completed ruleset to build the game with. Baldur's Gate came years after the 2e rules had been released. If WotC had done a 100% in-house design rather than a playtest, their software developers could have been better prepared I think, but that is how the cards fell.

Then they should have waited.

 

[Agamon]

One reason is because a video game like this takes 3-5 years to make, and they didn't have the completed ruleset to build the game with. Baldur's Gate came years after the 2e rules had been released. If WotC had done a 100% in-house design rather than a playtest, their software developers could have been better prepared I think, but that is how the cards fell.

Or they could have just spent more time on it. NWN came out 2 years after 3e launched, for example. I might be more interested in this game if more time would been invested in it. Luckily, Fallout 4 is right around the corner....

 

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

I just hope that folks that don't play this and think it's anything like 5e. Vorpal Magic Missiles, non concentration mechanic, no wizard sub-classes, no skills short of stealth, open locks and search, and the list of abominations goes on and on. I'm convinced they didn't have anything more than the table of contents of the Player's Handbook for reference. 5e is so much better, it would make a great action game really.

 

[Dargrimm]

I honestly believe that this game began its life as an independent action RPG and later, in the middle of development, it was somehow decided that it was going to be a D&D game. Even Mike Mearls didn't know of the game until GDC 2014. So all the developers did was to disguise their custom rules as D&D (and they did a poor job of it).

I just wish they stopped selling it as a D&D game (even in the ad in Dragon+ they're writing "D&D 5E ruleset") and acknowledge that it is just an action RPG set in the Realms instead of a D&D game. (That won't happen thou, they're not going to admit they mislead us).