D&D 4E Bioware working on 4e Forgotten Realms MMO

[Hairfoot]

I don't really mean in an MMO type of game. I mean an actual P&P tabletop resolution system which lets the combat play out as you would normally in a session, then take a break and watch the party do its thing in realtime.

 

[hong]

I don't really mean in an MMO type of game. I mean an actual P&P tabletop resolution system which lets the combat play out as you would normally in a session, then take a break and watch the party do its thing in realtime.

You mean, an action replay feature?

 

[Hairfoot]

You mean, an action replay feature?

Precisely. Except a replay of only the action, not of PCs standing around while players look up rules, or dashing into the fray then cancelling because the DM reminded them that the figure with a club actually has a polearm.

 

[Festivus]

I've always viewed NWN as much more right about DnD then wrong about it. YMMV, of course. With a really good DM, however, you can get damn close to true pen and paper play, if that's what you want.

I dream of the day I can have TOEE's interface and NWN1's DM client and toolset. That would be all I would need for the rest of my days. Turn based combat in multi-player, where you have a certain amount of time to react or you are delaying, and customization to the degree NWN1 had. I could play NWN modules until I retire and never repeat a module I bet.

 

[Acid_crash]

I wish someone would do a good shadowrun mmo. That setting would be great to run around in.

 

[Banshee16]

I don't know a single adult fantasy fan that hasn't read the HP books, so citing an "older" crowd as a reason why it wouldn't be HP doesn't jive with my experiences. Also, how much is $860M as far as licenses go? Where does it rate in relationship to licenses like Star Wars or LotR? I'd highly doubt someone would shell out equivalent cash for Forgotten Realms, or any D&D property, as they would for either of those two -- which both garnered about a billion dollars a film in worldwide ticket sales.

I haven't...

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Yeah, NWN was extremely unsatisfying. D&D--particularly 3rd Edition D&D--just doesn't work as a real-time game. I don't really understand why this point is so difficult, but: if D&D is a turn-based game, then the videogame adaptation of D&D should be a turn-based game. They should simply take D&D's rules, as is, and implement them. The result would be nothing more or less than D&D; only faster, and with attractive battle animations and spell effects.

A lot of people (myself included) felt that D&D does work as a real-time game. Many of us thought NWN, Baldur's Gate, and Baldur's Gate 2 were pretty good ventures. Wasn't Baldur's Gate the most popular D&D CRPG of all time?

Banshee

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What's the last turn-based strategy game to be released? I think it was the Freedom Force sequel that sank without making a ripple.

 

[The Merciful]

A lot of people (myself included) felt that D&D does work as a real-time game. Many of us thought NWN, Baldur's Gate, and Baldur's Gate 2 were pretty good ventures. Wasn't Baldur's Gate the most popular D&D CRPG of all time?

Well, both Baldur's Gates had autopause features, and even NWN games have manual pausing. They were still compromises, and for example I found it almost useless to cast fireballs in combat, because the enemies would have moved from the area of effect when the cast was done, or worse, my own meleers would have moved into that area.

As far rules mplementation and combat goes, The Temple of Elemental Evil computer game is the best hands down. Too bad it had other shortcomings.

 

[PeterWeller]

This is also true.



One of the reasons for the NGE change to make Jedi freely available was because a good number of canceled subscriptions cited the lack of Jedi availability as a problem, especially in light of the fact that hologrinding was the only tried-and-true method of attaining it, and hologrinding wasn't fun. So, in order for the average Star Wars fan to get to the most recognizable icon of the setting, he had to level characters he had no intention of playing. Making a player waste tons of time on character he doesn't want to play just to unlock the ability to play that character (and lose it permanently, unlike others) is game design idiocy.

Most of the negatives you pointed out were taken care of before the NGE. The NGE's purpose was to make the game a class based WoW clone in space instead of a potentially great successor to the principles of UO in space. Jedi rarity and difficulty of play were not the bad things; they balanced the overpowered abilities and made Jedi as special as they should have been. The problem was their half-assed implementation. Again, this is because the game was released totally incomplete and a year too soon.