Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance reviews are out

Istbor · Jun 21, 2021

Xeviat said:
I found the advertising campaign obnoxious, and the fact that they made drizzt a Rogue instead of a ranger so that he could be a sneaky melee striker made me feel like the devs didn't get things. It's going to take stellar reviews to get me to buy it at this point.

What? Rangers aren't sneaky melee peeps? I must have been playing a different D&D this whole time.

TheAlkaizer · Jun 21, 2021

Undrave said:
Isn't that always the way?

It's very common. But some publishers or owners are very permissive. For example, I've heard many things about Microsoft really not getting in the developers way and trusting them to make good games. Electronic Arts were apparently super chill with Star Wars Rogue Squadrons (also developed in Montreal) even though they have the reputation of usually not being chill.

Mercador · Jun 21, 2021

TheAlkaizer said:
Living in Montreal and working in the video game industry, I know a few people that worked on the game. I can't be a hundred percent sure of how true it is, but the gossip that I've heard is that interference from Wizards of the Coast was heavy and common and that the game had some major changes several times during the life of the project.

Maybe. But the Tuque game CEO is also full of bs, saying that his company can create AAA games. Come on man, deliver than we can compare.

Building a AAA videogame studio from scratch | Tuque

Building a AAA videogame studio from scratch

www.tuquegames.com

Urriak Uruk · Jun 21, 2021

Consensus seems to be... no consensus. Decidedly mixed reviews.

Nixlord · Jun 21, 2021

TheAlkaizer said:
Living in Montreal and working in the video game industry, I know a few people that worked on the game. I can't be a hundred percent sure of how true it is, but the gossip that I've heard is that interference from Wizards of the Coast was heavy and common and that the game had some major changes several times during the life of the project.

That makes a lot of sense, especially after watching the review below (backed with actual evidence). It looks like they spent too much time on the changes and ran out of time catching all the bugs.

Valetudo · Jun 21, 2021

They should have just made dark alliance 3 with an online co-op. Instead they made a buggy mess that will satisfy very few.

humble minion · Jun 21, 2021

TheAlkaizer said:
Living in Montreal and working in the video game industry, I know a few people that worked on the game. I can't be a hundred percent sure of how true it is, but the gossip that I've heard is that interference from Wizards of the Coast was heavy and common and that the game had some major changes several times during the life of the project.

I suppose the WotC side of the story would be that they had to continually rein in the design/development team to make sure that they respected the characters and setting, and made a D&D game that was in some way reminiscent of D&D. Which one is the truth is probably dependent on your point of view.

Ixal · Jun 21, 2021

humble minion said:
I suppose the WotC side of the story would be that they had to continually rein in the design/development team to make sure that they respected the characters and setting, and made a D&D game that was in some way reminiscent of D&D. Which one is the truth is probably dependent on your point of view.

Which would sound strange as Larian seems to have a free hand in BG3. Of course we do not know what happens behind the scenes.

humble minion · Jun 22, 2021

Ixal said:
Which would sound strange as Larian seems to have a free hand in BG3. Of course we do not know what happens behind the scenes.

I thought Mike Mearls was basically the WotC on-site rep at Larian for quite a while, unless I'm remembering wrong? I thought he did that sort of 'canon enforcement' type thing.

Mercador · Jun 22, 2021

Ok, I'm probably biaised here but the WotC ingerence seems an easy excuse to way out. At the first post about this game, I knew it wouldn't be great, guys like this CEO, I met a dozen like him when I was covering the industry. I feel sad for the team that put efforts into this but at the same time, we knew from the start that it won't probably turn good. WotC isn't great when giving away its IP, BG3 probably one of the few exceptions there.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance reviews are out

Istbor

Dances with Gnolls

TheAlkaizer

Game Designer

Mercador

Adventurer

Building a AAA videogame studio from scratch | Tuque

Urriak Uruk

Gaming is fun, and fun is for everyone

Nixlord

DM's Guild Author

Valetudo

Adventurer

humble minion

Legend

Ixal

Hero

humble minion

Legend

Mercador

Adventurer

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