What is with these crappy Video Games?

[Peraion Graufalke]

POR was probably the first 3rd (or was it 3.5) game ... I think it came before Temple of Elemental Evil and I remember because it was hard to get used to all the Feats and stuff.

Pool of Radiance used the AD&D 1e rules (e.g. weight measured in gold pieces). It was my first CRPG, and it was awesome.

One of the Icewind Dale games was the first one to use at least some 3e rules, IIRC.

 

[wlmartin]

Pool of Radiance used the AD&D 1e rules (e.g. weight measured in gold pieces). It was my first CRPG, and it was awesome.

One of the Icewind Dale games was the first one to use at least some 3e rules, IIRC.

For IWD 1, I didn't think it was, specifically because I remember the biggest difference between BG and IWD was that the level cap was increased but overall it was the same engine (and based on AD&D)

Icewind Dale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia corroborates this by saying

...it takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition ruleset.

For IWD 2, you are correct.

Icewind Dale II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia corroborates this by saying

It uses a real-time adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Third Edition ruleset.

 

[Ryujin]

Pool of Radiance used the AD&D 1e rules (e.g. weight measured in gold pieces). It was my first CRPG, and it was awesome.

Yeah, turn-by-turn and only had to choose the spells, for spellcasters. No skills or feats.

 

[wlmartin]

Pool of Radiance used the AD&D 1e rules (e.g. weight measured in gold pieces). It was my first CRPG, and it was awesome.

.

There were 2 releases of POR
1 was released in 1988 and was apparently the first D&D computer game... wow! Since AD&D 2nd didn't come out until 1989, it must have used AD&D 1e rules.
1 was released more recently in 2001 (called POR : Ruins of Myth Drannor) and this was the one I was referring to when saying it was 3rd edition. Wikipedia says that although it is based on the original AD&D 2e adventure game, it is a 3rd edition ruleset.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

Yeah, I referred to 1988's Pool of Radiance and wasn't aware that Ruins of Myth Drannor also used that name.

I was thinking of the Heart of Winter expansion to Icewind Dale where some 3e rules were introduced.

 

[Grabuto138]

Indeed!

I just don't get the mentality of it all. If you want to make a game that uses D20 mechanics and is similar to D&D (even if you have to buy the rights to use those mechanics and rebadge them) then do it... The second you put D&D on a title, it needs to appeal to D&Ders.

Just because people that have an XBOX play D&D doesnt mean that people who play D&D have an XBOX. If a D&D player is given the choice of playing a D&D game that is pap or a non-D&D game (like Oblivion for example) that plays well, they won't go to the D&D brand just for the sake of it.

I think Hasbro is trying to market D&D in its own way like it belongs to them. They really don't understand that the brand, it's core concepts, its history belong to the fans - Sure, we don't make a million £££ every time a crappy D&D title gets released and if we did we might have a different view on things but whoever is behind these backwards D&D titles needs to appreciate that there is a real demand for a decent D&D in-depth RPG game and until you make one these crappy beat-em-up versions just aint gonna cut it.

/rant

But when was this ever the case? I am old enough to remember playing Pool of Radiance and Hillsfar on the commodore 64. They were more like tabletop D&D than Frogger or Leisuresuit Larry but they were hardly in-depth RPGs. I thought Torment captures the Planescape vibe pretty well and Balder's Gate was a good game but not an intense roleplaying experience.

 

[Madaxemat]

I would be fine if it wasn't even 4e. I would play a 3rd or 3.5 game.

I recently dug out Baldur's Gate and BG II.
I gave up on it a bit too quickly because the resolution has to be very low for it to work and it just looked wrong... I may dig it back out and change my mind again... Don't know yet.

It doesn't have to be fancy graphics for me, just something that works ...

Unfortunately all the money to be had nowadays (due to Piracy and the proliferation of online games) is in the MMO. Even good ol' Bob Salvatore is spearheading an MMO in the near future.

The money isn't in the £35 you get paid for selling a single game but the £60 a year you get from subscriptions!

Offtopic

Hi,

Do not dispair new computers can run BG1 &2 really well with nice resolutions. I played on a widescreen at 1400*900. Follow these instructions from Gog.com. These instruction work on non gog purchased copies you just have to have them fully patched up.

I'm not terribly good at modding myself but if I can get these working I'm sure most people can.

Matt,

 

[JiffyPopTart]

The best 3.5 game I have played so far has been Incursion. Sure its not actually a D&D branded game, and sure the graphics are ASCII characters, but the gameplay is really fun.

Incursion: The Official Homepage

DS

 

[Locien]

Yeah, there hasn't been a decent DnD based video game in a while. It seems the people approving games are assuming that "games for morons" sell and anything that requires some thought will bomb; so few RPGs are made, but a lot of modern military FPSes that I cannot tell apart are pushed forward, like "Call of Battlefield 6: Modern Company Evolved".

 

[Spatula]

If you missed the Temple of Elemental Evil game (patched version only!), then you missed a real gem. It was basically a gold-box-style D&D game using the 3e rules and with good (at the time) graphics.