D&D 5E So Why Can't 5E Get a Video Game?

[Istbor]

I would like a game that ISN'T an action RPG. But that will never happen. Not just with D&D, but it seems the entire RPG industry is focusing on action RPGs for video games, especially consoles. I would love a turn based 5e D&D video game. Every once in a while there is a rare game like Divinity, but with how the action economy works in D&D, it would almost have to be turn based in order to get that D&D feel. And yet, it seems like most D&D video games insist on being an action RPG which means they have to completely change how the rules and action economies work. And all that does is make the game feel like a different game, and not D&D. Why they don't get that is beyond me. Seems pretty obvious.

I could go for some D&D 5e Tactics. That style has proven to work well. I agree that it would be an interesting take, and if the story is there, make for a good game.

 

[Azurewraith]

We DO have a D&D video game. Sword Coast Legends that came out in late 2015.
To have a new video game now, a new company has to get the rights to the game, which is tricky since Digital Extremes might still have them. Failing that they need to negotiate with WotC, which takes time.
Then they need to make the video game, which also takes *gasp* time. Years.


I didn't back it. Because of the LAST Pathfinder KS video game. Which was Pathfinder Online and god awful.

Will this one be better or be akin to SCL? We don't know and will find out in a year!


Pillars of Eternity required $1,100,00 to get off the ground in a bare bones fashion. But that was a company that made video games, had made several successful video games, had the staff and infrastructure, and likely had put some work into the game already.

WotC is a collectable card publishing company that dabbles in books, not a video game company. I'd trust them as much to make a video game as I'd trust them to make dog food or kites. Why would I expect them to make a video game?

The problem is that video games are super expensive and D&D and RPGs are niche.
Look at the Pathfinder game you mention: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker
They asked for half a million dollars. And they already have a lot of the game architecture done (it's in Alpha) and done by people with a history in gaming. So it's a safe bet. But they only managed to just fund a few days ago, and there's less than 2 weeks left. It's trending towards $851,711 according to Kicktraq:
http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/
That puts it below Pathfinder Online, that cleared a million:
http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1675907842/pathfinder-online-a-fantasy-sandbox-mmo/
(That had a dubious surge in funds at the end that suggest someone internally decided to pay the difference.)

Neither are CLOSE to what Pillars of Eternity made.

Funny thing, Obsidian Entertainment was making a Pathfinder game. They got the licence to Pathfinder in 2014. Why don't we have a Pathfinder game by Obsidian. Because the Pillar's Kickstarter did well and then the game reviewed well and sold really, really well. So Obsidian decided they were better off with Pillars 2.

So why don't we have a D&D game? Because it's cheaper and potentially more profitable for game companies to make their own games. Because a successful game doesn't require a licensed name to succeed, AND video game fans have learned to be super wary of licensed properties, which are typically of dubious quality. Because D&D is too small to attract a number of people to qualify as a successful game.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Wizards don't make games so your looking at licensing the creation out and that will be expensive so anyone with the skill to do a D&D game justice can just make there own game that is for all intents and purpose D&D with a few copyright dodges here and there. Factor in sword coast legends which is still pretty new(can't comment on the game never played it and every "review" I have read was on here so pretty biased) so Wotc wont want to detract from that. There is also the point of the rumour that Hasbro are just milking dnd for all its worth putting as little in as possible and that a movie just made more sense to them.

 

[Azurewraith]

I’ve been quite enjoying Neverwinter on the PS4. For a free game, it’s pretty amazing. The only thing I don’t like is that I’m still not at the level that I can check out the seasonal content. One day…

And yes, I would agree that Neverwinter models and runs 4e far more smoothly than I ever could.

I know it’s pretty unlikely, but I’d love to see another Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.

Neverwinter was great for a while but it's end game is just a big cash grab. You could run aa dungeon 100times and not see a single bit of loot add on all the time gating of things and me and most of my group of friends just put it down.

 

[Jester David]

I think you hit the nail on the head here. Wizards don't make games so your looking at licensing the creation out and that will be expensive so anyone with the skill to do a D&D game justice can just make there own game that is for all intents and purpose D&D with a few copyright dodges here and there. Factor in sword coast legends which is still pretty new(can't comment on the game never played it and every "review" I have read was on here so pretty biased) so Wotc wont want to detract from that. There is also the point of the rumour that Hasbro are just milking dnd for all its worth putting as little in as possible and that a movie just made more sense to them.

(Did my own review here: http://www.5mwd.com/archives/3120
Biased as well, but I try to judge the game as a game. And it's not good.)

 

[Sacrosanct]

(Did my own review here: http://www.5mwd.com/archives/3120
Biased as well, but I try to judge the game as a game. And it's not good.)

The only review I've ever done on this site was about SCL. And I was not impressed at all. My title of my review was, "Most Buggy Game Since Daggerfall". And when they finally got around to fixing all of those errors, the game itself was very underwhelming, and didn't represent 5e at all. Most of the 5e core classes were missing, and as I mentioned above, because how they designed it, classes had powers and spells that don't work anything like they do in 5e TTRPG, which is a huge pet peeve of mine.

 

[Horwath]

IMHO, they shouldn't make any D&D game with ANY edition rules.

D&D is tabletop game and it needs some reality bashing to make it "fair" and enjoyable for every player no matter what choice of spells/armor/weapons.

RPG game can built in weapon speed/armor speed/spell cooldowns with such great finesse that limiting RPG's to D&D rules is just a shackle on a development team.

D&D can provide setting lore/fluff, class general direction and theme but nothing else.

D&D is great tabletop rule setting but bad PC game rule setting.

 

[Seramus]

Wizards could just give permission for someone to do a game with their IP and charge them nothing. The game developer gets to use a familiar IP, Wizards gets free advertising, and Wizards can cash in somewhat on merchandising.

Like the Spider-Man Deal.

Another game like Baldurs Gate would do way more for positive publicity. And Planescape proves you don't need a good combat engine, as long as you are telling a badass story.

 

[payn]

My guess is Hasbro will probably try and make the film a success and then shop the game to somebody to make the game an emulation of the film, which is popular these days.

I know it’s pretty unlikely, but I’d love to see another Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.

I would like this quite a bit too actually. I'd love if they updated it and had the multiplayer capability that Champions of Norrath had.

 

[Quickleaf]

Well there has been another successful Pathfinder KS that has funded, 500k+ and counting for Pathfinder: Kingmaker a SP game based off the AP where you go forth and settle the Stolen Lands. Looks like its Baldurs Gate/ Pillars of Eternity type isometric graphics.

I started a thread a long time ago about how to get a successful D&D game off the ground. Since WoTC won't drop 40-200 million+ on a AA+ title I would like a Pillars of Eternity type game to be down and would be willing to settle for a modern 2D 16 bit game a'la Phantasy Star III/IV, Shining Force or a modern "16 bit" Stardew Valley type graphics as long as the story/game was fun.

Nice graphics do not guarantee a great game (SCL, Mass Effect IV).

Patience. Have you read about Divinity Original Sin 2's GM Mode? I think that's a really promising avenue and something may be happening behind-the-scenes.

So, it turns out Larian Studios paid a visit to WotC...

[video=youtube;sj9cPK2_qKU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj9cPK2_qKU[/video]

And then Matt Mercer ran Lost Mine of Phandelver using the game's GM Mode...

[video=youtube;SNxDMZhiGtU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNxDMZhiGtU[/video]

 

[Leatherhead]

I don't believe so. I think 4e would have been much harder to implement than it appears at first glance, due to its heavy use of reactions. (Do you query every creature with an appropriate reaction every time the trigger occurs? Seems like that would get old real fast.) Ironic, given the regular comparisons of 4e to a video game.

Here is a fun fact for you:
Mario (yes, the world-famous Italian plummer who messes with mushrooms) has not one, but two entire video game RPG series that heavily feature reaction mechanics. In one of them, it's the main gimmick, where you have the option to pull off multiple reaction commands for every single attack launched by you or the enemy.

So no, reaction based mechanics would not be problem to implement in a modern video game RPG. It's actually quite the opposite, because reaction commands are one of the primary gimmicks used to "spice up" the "boring" turn based RPG combat system.