WotC Expect "seven or eight" Dungeons & Dragons games in the near future

[Zardnaar]

I'll pre-order Breath of the Wild 2, most everything else can wait on reviews.

Well they've never really made a bad Zelda game at least Nintendo 1st party.

Any new Zelda game is a safe bet.

 

[Garthanos]

I am quite excited about the idea of playing a planeswalker to be honest

 

[Parmandur]

I am quite excited about the idea of playing a planeswalker to be honest

True, and the trailer for that game is slick. Didn't tell us anything about gameplay, though, whereas the Dark Alliance trailer basically only success at giving some idea of the gameplay style.

 

[Mercule]

The are so many factors that could make this work or fail, IMO. The most obvious is the actual quality of development, including the engine. The D&D system is turn-based. If you're playing a party, I don't see how you can really get away from that. For a single-character game, though, I could see some sort of Fallout/ESO/etc. type of of FPS view where actual time is used for things, but the long-rest/daily mechanic could be cheesed -- I know I never hesitated to rest in Fallout. I could also see an action RPG working, though I'd be more interested in something that played more like Spiderman or Shadow of Mordor than Diablo.

If the system deviates too far, though, you're left with the IP only. Frankly, I don't care about the lore around the Realms, which is the most likely option. But I'd be interested in something in Greyhawk, Dark Sun, or Ravenloft and all over something in Eberron.

With seven or eight games coming out, though, it'd be awesome to see some variety. Give me an action RPG set in Greyhawk or Dark Sun with some cut scenes, but mostly about kicking butt. Do a stealth-heavy, story-heavy, atmospheric game set in Ravenloft. Do a lore heavy, single-player Fallout/Elder Scrolls style game in Eberron. And, make on open world MMO from the Realms, with an option to expand to Planescape and milk the whole multi-verse worth of IP if it does well.

Or, just double down on the Realms and :blech:.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I wish there was some chance of a DDO relaunch with new graphics and a 5e based ruleset, but the same basic style of gameplay.

Barring that, I don’t want a new MMO really, unless it does something truly new and interesting.

I’d love something similar to Dragon Age, but with more environmental interactions like climbing on and jumping over things, breaking stuff, etc.

What I don’t want is for a studio to bend over backwards making the game conform to the 5e ruleset to the detriment of the actual quality of the game.

 

[Horwath]

I wish there was some chance of a DDO relaunch with new graphics and a 5e based ruleset, but the same basic style of gameplay.

Barring that, I don’t want a new MMO really, unless it does something truly new and interesting.

I’d love something similar to Dragon Age, but with more environmental interactions like climbing on and jumping over things, breaking stuff, etc.

What I don’t want is for a studio to bend over backwards making the game conform to the 5e ruleset to the detriment of the actual quality of the game.

This, as computer game, it does not need to be caged in turn based system.
Weapon speed, casting speed, interaction speed can all be factors in balance.
Like DragonAge or PillarsOfEternity have. And not like Neverwinter Nights 2, where if you miss an order by half a sec you lose 5,5 seconds of fighting.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Let us all recall the D&D movies.

 

[Zardnaar]

Let us all recall the D&D movies.

What movies?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I really hope so. Warhammer licensing model has thrown the franchise in so many hands, we were given games that became truly highly acclaimed and selling. The Dawn of War series, Vermintide, Blood Bowl, Total War: Warhammer, etc. They even give the license for old-school niche games like Apocalypse.

You seem to only focus on the many mobile CCG cash grabs but there have been incredible choice of good games using their rules.

This is definitely true, but there are two key difference with Warhammer, which don't translate directly to D&D.

1) Warhammer games are actual strategy/tactics games, and thus translating them into computer games is generally pretty straightforward. Sometimes a near-direct translation can even work out, as with Blood Bowl. Even less-direct ones benefit a great deal from a depth of source material that is highly suitable for the subject - the Dawn of War games, for example, are RTS (in three different forms) rather than the exact same kind of wargame as 40K, but they can draw on these vast numbers of units and factions and concepts that are already there to fuel building a good strategy game. Total War: Warhammer is similar in this. The lore inspires the game and approach and the fact that the lore was designed for a strategy game makes it work really well.

2) Most Warhammer games are based on dead or semi-dead GW properties. This means GW allows more freedom, and GW is also happy to allow this because it doesn't compete directly with them - we have yet to see any evidence WotC are likewise happy to allow this. If they are, that'd be helpful. But so far we've seen the opposite - a relentless focus on what is regarded as the "current" setting. Vermintide and Total War for example weren't given the go-ahead until GW decided to burn down Warhammer Fantasy, and 40K-related games seem to have a much harder time not being terrible.

The problem D&D has is that it isn't "a bunch of different but connected strategy/tactics games", but rather a single tabletop RPG, which has a bunch of settings, most of which are very long out-of-print. It's also been borrowed from even more heavily than Warhammer, over the years, so has a lot less to offer in terms of unique or just plain exciting ideas.

That means it is significantly harder to make good D&D games, especially if they aren't RPGs. And if they are RPGs, it's tough because WotC seems to always want them to be current-edition and current-settings.

As someone pointed out, too, most of the game companies who are actually good at making fantasy CRPGs, ARPGs, or fantasy action games have their own IPs they're already using, too, so there's little obvious benefit to them in using D&D.

I will say D&D is a much, much bigger brand, now, in 2019, than it was in say 2009, or even 1999, but the things associated with that brand don't necessarily translate easily to a wide variety of games. I think the "Warhammer approach", i.e. the shotgun approach, is a decent one, but they need to ensure some good companies take a shot. The DoW series was from Relic, who were already skilled RTS designers. The TW:W series is by Creative Assembly, who are brilliant strategy game designers. They have Larian, but they need to get other good CRPG designers on board, I would say.

 

[Waterbizkit]

I'd totally get that!

Well, and a killer Grognard Business Card.

Look at the subtle off-white coloring. That tasteful thickness. Oh my goodness, Lowkey13 even has a grognard watermark on his business cards.

Sorry. I had to.

With regards to the greater topic: I haven't found a D&D video game I've truly enjoyed since Neverwinter Nights. That makes the list only because online you could potentially find a server that got so close to feeling like an actual roleplaying game it was glorious.

The video game industry these days has me cynical enough as it is without having to focus on particular brands or IPs, so for me only time will tell if anything coming down the road for D&D video gaming will be worth my time or money.