D&D Computer Games

[Kae'Yoss]

Presently, an RTS game or two are the only ones I would even considerin playing online...

Personally, I'm not such a big fan of RTS, since they often turn into clickfests where you need to know the hotkeys best to win. I like to play NWN, as well as FPS games.

It's not that I'm even really afraid of losing my life to WoW or something

I know someone who is in therapy because of WoW, another who stopped playing by himself after realising that it destroyed his social life, and several people who I think should choose one of these options (and the fact that they can't shut up about the game makes it only worse).

I thought about playing the game for a while, but decided against it - first because you have to pay a monthly ransom for your characters, later because several people kept talking about the game and I didn't like what I heard. Not at all.

 

[DM-Rocco]

I have it twice, once on CD, and once on DVD, which was on a game magazine DVD. You should have no problem getting that game.

Well, if you still have them and they both work and would be willing to part with one, or know where I can buy the magazine that has it, I would be greatful. Most likely I would have to buy a used version and you never know what you get. You being a fellow ENer, I think I could trust you.

I think you mix things up. Icewind Dale plays a couple of decades before Drizzt's birth, if I remember correctly. But BG had Drizzt, and you could fight him (and with the proper preparation, kill him and take his stuff).

Yes, now that you say that, I think you are correct. I play just about any game D&D comes out with, as far as vidoe games go. Stormreach (or something like that, that's the Eberron one, isn't it?) I think is the only one I have not. Hard to keep them all straight.

All I really remember about icewind dale and Ice Wind Dale II is buying them on a Friday night, playing non stop on Friday night and all of Saturday and bringing them back to the store on Sunday demanding my money back. They had a really nice return policy, plus the game said over 40 hoursof entertianment and obviously if I was returning them that soon, I didn't get it. Yes, I did the whole game and side quests too.

It was computer D&D, so it was fun for what it was, but the thing that really stuck out in my mind is that, specially in the second one, you had to do everything in order and there was no room to do anything other than the main quest, one dungeon after the next.

Was it in Ice Wind Dale or in BG where you had that room with ruins on the floor and if you mis stepped lightning shot all over the place, including the coridoor where it would bounce from one wall to the next, hitting each character standing there at least 20 times? That was a great trap room and if that was part of Ice Wind Dale, then I have to give them credit for that one. However, I think that was BG.

Side Note: to this day I always, even in my 3.5 games, allow the lightning to bounce from wall to wall. Gets my players thinking, and sometimes dead, by there own hands.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well, if you still have them and they both work and would be willing to part with one, or know where I can buy the magazine that has it, I would be greatful. Most likely I would have to buy a used version and you never know what you get. You being a fellow ENer, I think I could trust you.

I don't think they'd help you much, as they're both German. I thought at first that the DVD-version would be multilingual (that's how it was with BG2 and NWN2, among others), but it was just the old CD-version packed onto the DVD (along with the usual trailers and demos and stuff). Still, not that bad for 5 bucks (not counting the money I spent after reading the review of Heroes of Might & Magic V )

Yes, now that you say that, I think you are correct. I play just about any game D&D comes out with, as far as vidoe games go. Stormreach (or something like that, that's the Eberron one, isn't it?) I think is the only one I have not. Hard to keep them all straight.

I only started with BG, largely skipped IWD2, and completely skipped ToEE and PoR2 as well as that RTS game, and of course Stormreach, because it was a MMORPG. I have to say, though: If they hadn't used Eberron for the D&D Online game, I might have given in.

Still, with all the games and books, it's easy to mix things up.

Was it in Ice Wind Dale or in BG where you had that room with ruins on the floor and if you mis stepped lightning shot all over the place, including the coridoor where it would bounce from one wall to the next, hitting each character standing there at least 20 times? That was a great trap room and if that was part of Ice Wind Dale, then I have to give them credit for that one. However, I think that was BG.

I'm not sure, either. My guess would be BG, too.

Side Note: to this day I always, even in my 3.5 games, allow the lightning to bounce from wall to wall. Gets my players thinking, and sometimes dead, by there own hands.

Never liked that stuff: Bouncing lightning, Air-sucking fireballs, and so on. Beyond my dislike of pseudo-physics in games, those things make everything needlessly complicated. So lightning rebounds? Fine, I'm a super-genius wizard, I can calculate the perfect route for that lightning bolt, how it's supposed to bounce off and how to hit my enemy two dozen times without getting as much as my hair standing up straight.

Besides, why would lightning bounce? Is it made of rubber? I thought that stuff didn't conduct?

 

[Nepenthe]

Personally, I'm not such a big fan of RTS, since they often turn into clickfests where you need to know the hotkeys best to win. I like to play NWN, as well as FPS games.

I just play with people as amateurish and slow as myself (that I know from other places), so it's probably a bad example. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was the last FPS I got, and I don't think I've ever even booted multiplayer (I think the mac version at least had differents apps for sp and mp)

I know someone who is in therapy because of WoW, another who stopped playing by himself after realising that it destroyed his social life, and several people who I think should choose one of these options (and the fact that they can't shut up about the game makes it only worse).

I thought about playing the game for a while, but decided against it - first because you have to pay a monthly ransom for your characters, later because several people kept talking about the game and I didn't like what I heard. Not at all.

I've seen what MMORPGs do to people, which is why I am pretty sure I will not end up like that (knowing the signs and all that). I should probably rephrase my earlier statement into "In addition to not being interested in MMORPGs in any form at present, I have also seen what they can do to people and have no desire of tempting the fate". That might be a better way of saying what I meant

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think shooters are meant to be played with other people. Fighting scripted monsters in some gripping story is nice (I'm just playing through Resident Evil 4), but nothing really beats competing against other human players who use all the dirty tricks, will ambush you and all that.

Plus, it is so much more fun to taunt real people after you shot them down or ran them over .

 

[Tal Rasha]

I tip my hat to the people who beat Drizzt in Baldur's Gate 1. It's good to see what determination can accomplish.

DM-Rocco, Icewind Dale I (because that is the only one I have played of the two) might have been more enjoyable if played over a longer period. Personally, I like to take the time to read every book in every library and go through all conversations twice . True, the story in the first Icewind Dale wasn't much, but the artwork was worthy of attention, and the music was positively excellent (Jeremy Soule). Plus, there was a commercial expansion, Heart of Winter, which I don't really recall much about, and this more enjoyable free add-on to the expansion ( ) called Trials of the Luremaster. This free expansion has proven one of the more challenging CRPGs I have played. Every 10 minutes you have to fight a new party of high-level, well prepared, nasty-tempered enemies. If you have the time, disposition and can get your hands on the add-ons, you should try them.

I think I vaguely remember the room with the tiles and the lightning. The tiles themselves were yellow, weren't they? Apart from this clue, I remember the graphics being rather pixelated (i.e., low resolution), and I think it was too pixelated for Baldur's Gate II. I would have to vote for BG1. Please excuse me if I am talking nonsense .

On a side note, I really wish I had a bit more free time and a bit less distaste towards the Star Wars setting. I've really been hearing good things about KotoR and KotoR II.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

KOTR is easily the best RPG I've played since BG II. NWN doesn't even rate in comparison IMO.

 

[Kaodi]

Fie on multi-player D&D computer games that eschew the best possible single-player experience.

Most D&D computer games have a fundamentally different purpose for actual D&D gamers than D&D. If you have a decent D&D group, you do not need a multiplayer D&D CRPG, because you are already enjoying a superior multiplayer experience. You need a D&D CRPG much more if you do not have any kind of D&D group, in person or online. Thus, it stands to reason, especially in light of the overwhelming dominance of single-player persons in almost every genre, that it would be dumb to discount the things that will make for an enjoyable single-player experience. In a market that relies so heavily on sequels, it is even more important to understand who your biggest market is. Would you rather count on 20% of your customers to buy a sequel (or another of your games for that matter), or 80%?

 

[Steel_Wind]

KOTR is easily the best RPG I've played since BG II. NWN doesn't even rate in comparison IMO.

I agree that NWN's OC does not even rate, though HotU (which adopted the KotOR design ethos) at least rates, albeit well behind.

Frankly, I don't think that even BG 1 or BG 2 comes close to the quality of KotOR 1. KotOR is, imo, the finest single player CRPG ever made, bar none.

I'll even be a heretic and suggest that is played better on the XBox than on the PC. (And I am no fan of consoles generally. But it DID play better on the Xbox folks.)

I have great hopes that Mass Effect will come close to KoTOR 1 - but... we'll see.

 

[DM-Rocco]

I tip my hat to the people who beat Drizzt in Baldur's Gate 1. It's good to see what determination can accomplish.

DM-Rocco, Icewind Dale I (because that is the only one I have played of the two) might have been more enjoyable if played over a longer period. Personally, I like to take the time to read every book in every library and go through all conversations twice . True, the story in the first Icewind Dale wasn't much, but the artwork was worthy of attention, and the music was positively excellent (Jeremy Soule). Plus, there was a commercial expansion, Heart of Winter, which I don't really recall much about, and this more enjoyable free add-on to the expansion ( ) called Trials of the Luremaster. This free expansion has proven one of the more challenging CRPGs I have played. Every 10 minutes you have to fight a new party of high-level, well prepared, nasty-tempered enemies. If you have the time, disposition and can get your hands on the add-ons, you should try them.

I think I vaguely remember the room with the tiles and the lightning. The tiles themselves were yellow, weren't they? Apart from this clue, I remember the graphics being rather pixelated (i.e., low resolution), and I think it was too pixelated for Baldur's Gate II. I would have to vote for BG1. Please excuse me if I am talking nonsense .

On a side note, I really wish I had a bit more free time and a bit less distaste towards the Star Wars setting. I've really been hearing good things about KotoR and KotoR II.

I played heart of winter but never heard of the other one. maybe then I would have liked it more.

The room had tiles or ruins on the floor and if you had a good eye, there was a table in the room before that also had ruins carved in it, the same ruins you could choose on the floor, almost like a clock. I really liked that trap. It had to be in BG, nothing that good ever came out of Ice Wind dale.

Hey, if you thought Drizzt was hard, did you ever fight Demogorgon with the two summoned maraliths at the same time. That was just about the hardest first ever. Actually, that battle and the one from the original Pool of Radiance were the hardest. The one from Pool of Radiance was in the bottom of a tower filled with something insane like 10 beholders, 10 drow lords and I think something else too. Since you had level restrictions, mages couldn't get past level 6 and fighters couldn't get past level 8, that was one hell of a fight.