What is with these crappy Video Games?

[Grabuto138]

Yeah, there hasn't been a decent DnD based video game in a while. It seems the people approving games are assuming that "games for morons" sell and anything that requires some thought will bomb; so few RPGs are made, but a lot of modern military FPSes that I cannot tell apart are pushed forward, like "Call of Battlefield 6: Modern Company Evolved".

I don't know. I am more inclined to think that the big game developers prefer to develop their own intellectual property so they can tap into all the extra revenue streams. Dragonage, for example.

 

[interwyrm]

NWN1 was pretty bad. The storyline was just horrid. The expansions were good, and NWN2 was pretty good as well.

The isometric D&D games were the best though - Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, and Planescape. ToEE was pretty good too after installing patches and fixes.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Yeah, there hasn't been a decent DnD based video game in a while. It seems the people approving games are assuming that "games for morons" sell and anything that requires some thought will bomb; so few RPGs are made, but a lot of modern military FPSes that I cannot tell apart are pushed forward, like "Call of Battlefield 6: Modern Company Evolved".

The real reason is that developing a good RPG takes YEARS. Getting a return on your investment is too slow for the attention span of the money men.

After all, they can put that same money into a sequel to an FPS that amounts to a slight polygon increase and a couple of maps and rake in their returns in a matter of months, not years.

 

[ourchair]

I would play a squad-based tactical RPG (a la Final Fantasy Tactics or X-COM: Enemy Unknown) version of 4th Edition.

Hell, it could have 'comparably' crude graphics to be played on a handheld console like a Nintendo DS and I would still play it. It would cost less and not need to sell like pancakes.

Seems like the best way to get the 4th Edition rules to work on a videogaming paradigm, complete with immediate interrupts, opportunity actions, action points and other 'unsimulationist' mechanics.

 

[wlmartin]

NWN1 was pretty bad. The storyline was just horrid. The expansions were good, and NWN2 was pretty good as well.

The isometric D&D games were the best though - Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, and Planescape. ToEE was pretty good too after installing patches and fixes.

NWN1 was a great storyline.

I suppose it is a personal thing perhaps. NWN 2 had appawling controls. I had to keep adjusting the Camera to even move around, awful controls - simply dire!

3D can hurt D&D a little but only if the perspectives and cameras are well done. In 3D you want to be able to see the walls, it increases immersion but it needs to be fluid so that when you are moving the Camera it doesnt feel like an extra action, it is something you can do almost subconciously

 

[DracoSuave]

I would play a squad-based tactical RPG (a la Final Fantasy Tactics or X-COM: Enemy Unknown) version of 4th Edition.

Hell, it could have 'comparably' crude graphics to be played on a handheld console like a Nintendo DS and I would still play it. It would cost less and not need to sell like pancakes.

Seems like the best way to get the 4th Edition rules to work on a videogaming paradigm, complete with immediate interrupts, opportunity actions, action points and other 'unsimulationist' mechanics.

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do NOT ask them to do this.

 

[Urlithani]

I think a good low budget game that they should try is a similar engine to Temple of Elemental Evil, which (to put it in basic terms) is a hybrid of real time exploration and turn based strategy. Patched Temple of Elemental Evil was a lot of fun and kept to the spirit of the PnP game as close as you could without detracting from the single player video game experience.

 

[wlmartin]

I think a good low budget game that they should try is a similar engine to Temple of Elemental Evil, which (to put it in basic terms) is a hybrid of real time exploration and turn based strategy. Patched Temple of Elemental Evil was a lot of fun and kept to the spirit of the PnP game as close as you could without detracting from the single player video game experience.

Whilst I played many non-turn based RPGs, there was always something special about the ability to act on a turn-by-turn basis that made it feel like Tabletop action. Some people consider that type of gaming cheating since you have more time to consider your moves and it doesn't feel fluid and "real" but I can always remember playing Baldurs Gate and there being a START_TURN setting whenever you see a monster... it was always useful!

 

[Locien]

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do NOT ask them to do this.

Considering all the strategy computer RPGs (Final Fantasy tactics, nearly the entire Nippon ichi game catalog) that are good this suggests that the license is being given to developers who are inept and stupid.

 

[Argyle King]

I think, in general, there's a lack of good rpg video games right now. I was pretty disappointed by Dragon Age 2. Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is the next thing I'm looking forward to, and that's not until the end of the year. I still find the original Fallout PC games to be good, but I imagine most people would consider them clunky by today's standards.


As for D&D games, I don't think I've really got into one since the NES was the console I had hooked up to my tv.