WTH, "Daggerdale D&D game for PC" out in may?!

[Silverblade The Ench]

Twin Agate Dragons, of The Piazza forums, found this very interesting item!
sorry if repost, can't see it enywhere else

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Daggerdale-Pc/dp/B002I0JLEQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1298517773&sr=8-3]Amazon.com: Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale: Video Games[/ame]

 

[Dannager]

It was announced a few months ago.

Here's the Wikipedia article.

 

[Dungeoneer]

Twin Agate Dragons, of The Piazza forums, found this very interesting item!
sorry if repost, can't see it enywhere else

Amazon.com: Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale: Video Games

Yeah, it was announced a while back. But other then a trailer packed with heavily armed skeletons, there wasn't much information to go on, other then that it would be a downloadable game rather than a AAA title a-la Neverwinter Nights.

HOWEVER, my spies have unearthed a Eurogamer interview that reveals more - MUCH MORE.

Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

 

[Dungeoneer]

Some key excerpts from the interview:

Eurogamer: Daggerdale's big idea is co-op dungeon crawling. Can you talk me through what my experience will be when I log on?
Zandro Chan: We have a very straightforward lobby system. Once players get in you can play the game in a number of ways. It has got a very robust single-player, and in addition you can play the game as intended, bringing friends together in a multiplayer environment. In Daggerdale you're able to play co-operatively online with up to four players, and you can also play couch co-op on a single box with two players.

Eurogamer: What happens when we level our characters up - what are our choices?
Zandro Chan: When you level a character you gain attribute points you can spend on any ability scores you may have. In addition to that, there are feats that you get to grow your character out. On top of that, there are also unique powers that each character gets that are unlocked as you gain level as well. So there's a lot of character development and customisation in the system.
Eurogamer: How faithful is that to 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons?
Zandro Chan: Everything we have system-wise in Daggerdale is based off of 4th Edition rules. We work extremely closely with Wizards of the Coast to streamline their system to make it work for an action RPG. A lot of their systems are actually in there, but because it is an action title as well as an RPG we truncated a number of different rules. And we worked with them to get that working properly.

Eurogamer: What classes and races can we choose when we start?
Zandro Chan: What's in the game now are four selectable characters: the human fighter, the elven rogue, the halfling wizard and the dwarven cleric.
Eurogamer: And does the dwarf have a Scottish accent?
Zandro Chan: Ha ha. The dwarf is unique because he has a Chinese accent.
Eurogamer: Wow!
Zandro Chan: Ha ha, he doesn't. Those are the playable characters. You can choose to have multiple fighters, you can choose multiple wizards.
Eurogamer: Can we customise them a lot?
Zandro Chan: We streamlined the characters by marrying the class and the race together. But once you've picked your character it's entirely up to you how you want to develop that character through feats, additional armour, weapons, powers... There are three levels of powers.

Supposedly drops in late Spring.

 

[Alukane]

Nice article, thank you Dungeoneer! I hope "elven rogue and halfling wizard" to be a typo, and mostly I hope it wouldn't be only fighting, looting and customization...

 

[Dannager]

Nice article, thank you Dungeoneer! I hope "elven rogue and halfling wizard" to be a typo, and mostly I hope it wouldn't be only fighting, looting and customization...

Er...it's a dungeon hack-and-slash game. You're not going to see Mass Effect-level character interaction and development. And no, I don't think those are typos.

 

[Kzach]

I get the feeling that this isn't anything new or innovative in terms of game design and play. It seems like it's at a much lower tier of development than, say, Dragon Age 2. They seem to be banking on it being co-operative and a bastardised version of 4e rather than making it a kick-ass game. That just screams fail to me.

 

[The Human Target]

Sounds like a new version of the Baldur's gate Dark Alliance series.

Sound fun to me!

 

[VGmaster9]

I hope this game has great length and enemy variety. It would be nice to include other races/classes, like Eladrin cleric, Gnome ranger, Tiefling warlock, and Dragonborn swordmage.

Btw, is it possible to mix 3.5 and 4e rules with a game like this?

 

[Dannager]

I get the feeling that this isn't anything new or innovative in terms of game design and play. It seems like it's at a much lower tier of development than, say, Dragon Age 2. They seem to be banking on it being co-operative and a bastardised version of 4e rather than making it a kick-ass game. That just screams fail to me.

Given that it's a digital-distribution title with a sub-$20 price tag, I don't think anyone is really expecting to get Dragon Age 2 out of this. It's supposed to be a fun little hack-and-slash that you can blow through in a day or two with some friends. It is not serious RPG action, but that's not what it's being billed as. The Neverwinter Nights title currently in development and scheduled for release later this year (assuming that doesn't get pushed back) will probably be closer to what you're looking for.

Just because it's not a major release title, though, doesn't mean it won't be kick-ass.

Oh, and just because someone will inevitably decry the declining state of D&D video games from serious to casual if I don't, a couple reminders on your history.