Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance reviews are out

[payn]

Now you're getting it. It doesn't have to be good its popular!

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Steam Search

store.steampowered.com

This is the power of the Forgotten Realms, its getting the worst reviews I've seen in along time, yet ITS STILL IN THE TOP TEN BEST SELLERS, like I'm a huge FR fan, yet even I'm like wtf no way, its getting reviews in the 4/10 range.

New releases typically get to the top of the Steam releases page, especially if they get an ad push (and I've gotten a few video ads for this game).

If it's still there in a week, that would be more impressive.

 

[Dausuul]

The question becomes whose going to be left holding the bag? Its not going to be Tuque studios' CEO whose already made his money selling it in the first place.

Maybe they can get Larian Studios to buy Tuque Studios, Larian then dumps DA and puts these folks to work doing the tedious stuff on BG3. Larian Studios loves buying other smaller studios and putting them to work on BG3, this would be just another notch on Swen's sword.

I have no doubt at all that Wizards is going to be left holding the bag--at least if by "the bag" you mean "the costs of DA's failure." They might sell Tuque, but with this stinker on their hands and no track record of past success to mitigate it, they won't be able to get much. Certainly no buyer is going to shell out the kind of money that would make Wizards whole for what they spent on the game.

My guess would be they don't even try. The studio gets quietly dismantled, and the staff are either let go or parceled out to other divisions within Wizards/Hasbro.

I just hope they learn from the whole thing. As the CEO said to the young executive whose mistakes had cost the company a lot of money, "We have just spent several million dollars educating you." Be a shame for that to go to waste.

 

[GreyLord]

Is it even D&D? I had to look up the name, and I didn't see any indication that it's D&D.

(Also, NWN2 was awful! )

Solasta is based on the SRD for 5e. It's probably the best rendition of a D&D ruleset for a long time. I enjoy it and think it's great, but there as always, there are obviously different opinions.

There are some things I'd like to be better (it does not have the full range of class choices for example, even the ones in the SRD. The same goes for races), but it is open on the rolls and math and stays pretty faithful to the SRD from what I have seen playing it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

While I would like to answer "because it's the right thing to do," we all know that doesn't always motivate people. If nothing else, the Cost of Poor Quality will eventually catch up to them. There are hard expenses and measurable losses associated with releasing garbage, and they eventually come due. Now, whether anyone cares past the short-term profits at Tuque, we'll see.

Why would they bother with more then bug fixes when its still selling in the current top ten. Nevergood continues to be a money making public disgrace that gets by on lockbox addicts, the FR brand, and great cut scenes alone, so why would DA worry when it can run on the FR brand and Drizzt fans alone apparently.

 

[Aldarc]

Steam Search

store.steampowered.com

This is the power of the Forgotten Realms, its getting the worst reviews I've seen in along time, yet ITS STILL IN THE TOP TEN BEST SELLERS, like I'm a huge FR fan, yet even I'm like wtf no way, its getting reviews in the 4/10 range.

...then the Steam Summer Sale began.

 

[Dausuul]

...then the Steam Summer Sale began.

Yup, it's already plunged to #42. Not exactly a ringing endorsement by Steam users.

 

[Umbran]

I have no doubt at all that Wizards is going to be left holding the bag--at least if by "the bag" you mean "the costs of DA's failure." They might sell Tuque, but with this stinker on their hands and no track record of past success to mitigate it

Tuque was responsible for Livelock, which got in the 70s from Metacritic.

Certainly no buyer is going to shell out the kind of money that would make Wizards whole for what they spent on the game.

We don't know what WotC spent on the game itself. It started development in 2017, at which point is was probably Tuque paying WotC, not the other way around. WotC bought the studio in 2019. So a chunk of the cost of the game was water under the bridge at that point.

My guess would be they don't even try. The studio gets quietly dismantled, and the staff are either let go or parceled out to other divisions within Wizards/Hasbro.

Possible. Remarkably short-sighted. No game in the world comes with a guarantee of success, so a risk of failure shoudl have been included in the whole plan. "We picked up in the middle of one game, it didn't shoot the moon, so we will abandon the whole thing," is not great marshalling of resources. Mistakes are the best time to learn and improve.

 

[Dausuul]

Tuque was responsible for Livelock, which got in the 70s from Metacritic.

One game that scores in the 70s is not the kind of "track record of success" that mitigates a train wreck.

Possible. Remarkably short-sighted. No game in the world comes with a guarantee of success, so a risk of failure shoudl have been included in the whole plan. "We picked up in the middle of one game, it didn't shoot the moon, so we will abandon the whole thing," is not great marshalling of resources. Mistakes are the best time to learn and improve.

We're not talking about a game that "didn't shoot the moon." We're talking about a game that thoroughly and comprehensively shot its own feet. DA is getting slammed across the board: Bad gameplay, bad graphics, repetitive design, uninteresting story, and enough bugs to rival this year's cicada crop. What's even left?

When your product has mixed success, with strong points but also serious flaws, that is a time to reflect, improve, and try again. When your product is a complete fiasco in every way, that is a time to consider cutting your losses.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I mean, I did question the purchase, and they still don't seem to have an AAA number of people at Tuque (looked like dozens, not the 100-200 or more you need for AAA, last I saw)

I'm pretty sure Tuque are over a hundred employees by now. They really scoped up right before the pandemic.

My guess would be they don't even try. The studio gets quietly dismantled, and the staff are either let go or parceled out to other divisions within Wizards/Hasbro.

Also, a lot of people question the purchase, but I think it was probably a good purchase. There's a ton of really good people at Tuque. There's people I wanted to hire that made their way there. But going from twenty employees to over a hundred over two years, while handling a large IP and doing all that during the pandemic is not a good recipe.

I'm confident that Tuque will bounce from this.