Maybe you should give your PC higher Charisma
I haven't thought of that. Would be nice to implement such a system for stats, by the way: higher Strength - more muscular looks, higher Dexterity - swifter motions, higher Constitution - healthier outlook...
Okay, I played a bit some user made modules and online dungeon runs... I don't know what I expected, but this game is nothing like NWN or BG. Dungeon runs resemble WoW dungeons more than anything else: everyone races to clear the dungeon as soon as possible, to pick up some loot and to complete quests. The combat, at least, on low levels, is typical MMO button mashing, zero skill involved. As for the user-made modules, they have a potential to be good, but severe limitations of the current version of the toolset and general grind-focus of the game do not look promising in terms of well made story-based modules in the future. Overall, the game feels like clunkier version of Diablo 2.
To say I am disappointed would be a big underestimation. Oh well, once again I see how wise I was before, never pre-ordering anything. Back to NWN games. 
I'm sorry to hear that the new D&D game is a disappointment, MayCaesar, after you were so hopeful and excited for it. I had a feeling from things I had read that it was going to turn out being like you describe. I'm pretty sure I won't buy it.
Most game developers seem to believe that online MMO-style gaming is where all the money is. Our niche market of people who still love classical D&D roleplaying games with branching dialogue and either turn-based or real-time-with-pause combat seem to have better hope from the various kickstarter and small company projects that are going on, such as Pillars of Eternity and Tides of Numenara (sp?)
I'm not very hopeful that we'll ever get another community-based game like NWN again. The industry and the market seem to have changed too much for any companies to believe that the NWN kind of gameplay and toolset will be profitable, and the ones that do try to provide toolsets usually have the "toolsets" wind up being half-arsed, not very good add-ons, released half-finished with promises of patches that never come.
If not for this forum I never knew that this game will actually be released this month or that it exists. So I have question first and the most important is what D&D rules its has?
3.5, 4, 5?
If its D&D 5 will its have prestige classes, multiclassing, and the most important of all dual wielding meaning having a weapon in each hand even if I play a fighter or a paladin or a barbarian or a bard? And each weapon gives actual damage not just there for show?
Also can I use unlike in D&D 4, two bastard swords in each hand or 2 longswords or 2 greatswords or 2 greataxes or 2 sccimitars at least like in 3.5
If not for this forum I never knew that this game will actually be released this month or that it exists. So I have question first and the most important is what D&D rules its has?
3.5, 4, 5?
If its D&D 5 will its have prestige classes, multiclassing, and the most important of all dual wielding meaning having a weapon in each hand even if I play a fighter or a paladin or a barbarian or a bard? And each weapon gives actual damage not just there for show?
Also can I use unlike in D&D 4, two bastard swords in each hand or 2 longswords or 2 greatswords or 2 greataxes or 2 sccimitars at least like in 3.5
It is "based on" 5th edition. From threads on their forums it sounds like "based on" means "the devs have seen a 5th ed handbook at some point". Things like cooldowns for spells, spells such as Magic Missile 1, Magic Missile 2, Magic Missile 3 and up the skill tree etc. seem to be the primary complaints about "dnd-ness" of the rules. There's no multiclassing apparently. Character advancement is more action rpg style. That doesn't make it automatically a bad game (see my previous comments about my liking Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance), but the devs talked up how they were being faithful to 5th ed, and it doesn't look like they are.
It appears not to be "nwn3" or even "nwn3-lite", but more multiplayer action rpg set in faerun. Since this is the second "headstart access" weekend, there should be plenty of youtube videos and twitch streams of gamplay. I'd imagine you could get specific questions about the game answered via those or a thread on their forums.
I'm not very hopeful that we'll ever get another community-based game like NWN again. The industry and the market seem to have changed too much for any companies to believe that the NWN kind of gameplay and toolset will be profitable, and the ones that do try to provide toolsets usually have the "toolsets" wind up being half-arsed, not very good add-ons, released half-finished with promises of patches that never come.
My personal opinion is we won't get another game like this unless the community makes one for free out of our love for it. There is at least one open source implementation of Aurora (called Xoreos), but only a single person seems to be working on it and it is not near complete. I personally lack the technical ability to do something like that.
I'm sorry to hear that the new D&D game is a disappointment, MayCaesar, after you were so hopeful and excited for it. I had a feeling from things I had read that it was going to turn out being like you describe. I'm pretty sure I won't buy it.
Most game developers seem to believe that online MMO-style gaming is where all the money is. Our niche market of people who still love classical D&D roleplaying games with branching dialogue and either turn-based or real-time-with-pause combat seem to have better hope from the various kickstarter and small company projects that are going on, such as Pillars of Eternity and Tides of Numenara (sp?)
I'm not very hopeful that we'll ever get another community-based game like NWN again. The industry and the market seem to have changed too much for any companies to believe that the NWN kind of gameplay and toolset will be profitable, and the ones that do try to provide toolsets usually have the "toolsets" wind up being half-arsed, not very good add-ons, released half-finished with promises of patches that never come.
I still believe a NWN-like game can be popular today with a right approach. Unfortunately, MMO-style games seem to generate much more income than anything else at this point, and even Bioware and CDProjekt, devoted followers of the old story-based approach, made some corrections to their games, making them more like MMOs. So, unless some developer team really acts out of inspiration and not the desire to get as much money as quickly as possible, I think we are out of luck. I put too much hope in SCL because of wishful thinking, and I'll try not to make the same mistake again.
If its D&D 5 will its have prestige classes, multiclassing, and the most important of all dual wielding meaning having a weapon in each hand even if I play a fighter or a paladin or a barbarian or a bard? And each weapon gives actual damage not just there for show?
Also can I use unlike in D&D 4, two bastard swords in each hand or 2 longswords or 2 greatswords or 2 greataxes or 2 sccimitars at least like in 3.5
No prestige classes or multiclassing as of now (multiclassing is unlikely to ever appear as the developers explicitly stated they weren't interested in this). I think you can dual wield weapons as any class, as long as you upgraded the respective proficiencies. There are no bards or barbarians as of now, but they said they intended to add more classes with time. Not sure about the damage, or using 2 large weapons simultaneously.
As an ARPG, does it at least hold up to Diablo 2,3, Path of Exile and the Torchlight 2? So: Is it any fun to play at all, if we accept it as a dungeon crawler?
I'd say it plays somewhat similar to Diablo 2, but, due to the combat being much more slow-paced and the enemies much more beefy, I would say it feels much more clunky and less fluid. Maybe Diablo 1.8 would be a better analogy. For me, it wasn't any fun to play in the slightest, but I have a pretty peculiar taste. On their forums, I see that the majority doesn't find the game fun, but some players do. As a dungeon crawler, it is probably decent, but I've never been interested in dungeon crawlers, so I cannot really comment on this.
If I were you, I would wait for a few months for them to patch up all the common complaints (at least those they intent to patch up), then read reviews and look up videos on Youtube and decide if you want to purchase it. The game is very raw as of now, and, unless they make a serious revamp of the combat system and the toolset functionality, I simply do not see how this game is going to have any major success.
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One thing in what you said is incorrect. Neverwinter the MMO has added three classes since launch, ranger, warlock, and paladin, giving them a total of eight classes.Sure, wait for them to patch it up. That's never going to happen in todays market. Many mmos don't even make it out of beta any more, if public interest is vaning too fast (which i predict will be sword coast legends fate as well; the vaning that is) Then the publisher cancels funding and the servers are shafted in 12 months. There's no money to be gained with mediocrity nowadays.
It would probably be more fertile to wait for new classes in Neverwinter (the MMO)
That also started without a bard and never added more than the 5th class that was promised from the start.
So now it's the same again: Few classes, no multi classing, no prestige classes. No propper toolset, no propper dm mode, grindy gameplay, an action focused, small user base and mediocre gameplay. And somehow the money they make with that will let them develop patches to fix all that.... Yeah, lol
I don't know if I agree with those people who say that the game has beta quality: I haven't encountered any bugs or problems, other than horrendous lag (up to 2 minutes!) on servers with present DM - but that is not so much a problem of the game, rather of their servers. I just see the core of the game as poor. Without massive revamp of multiple systems, this game will just gain a reputation of "Diablo, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Online hybrid that takes the worst from each" probably.
If a game like this was released, say, in late 90-s, it would probably be a hit. But today there are too many games doing things better than SCL. Its toolset is nowhere near Neverwinter Nights 1/2, combat is not nearly as fluid as in Diablo series and is not nearly as tactical as in Infinity Engine games or Dragon Age: Origins, grind system is much more shallow and repetitive than that in every MMO I've played (and I've always hated MMOs), story aspect is basically non-existent, compared to that in Bioware, Obsidian or CDProjekt games... I fail to see a single element which this game does better than some other, much more popular and refined, game. If there is going to be some selling point of this game, I'd be interested to hear about it.
If a game like this was released, say, in late 90-s, it would probably be a hit. But today there are too many games doing things better than SCL. Its toolset is nowhere near Neverwinter Nights 1/2, combat is not nearly as fluid as in Diablo series and is not nearly as tactical as in Infinity Engine games or Dragon Age: Origins, grind system is much more shallow and repetitive than that in every MMO I've played (and I've always hated MMOs), story aspect is basically non-existent, compared to that in Bioware, Obsidian or CDProjekt games... I fail to see a single element which this game does better than some other, much more popular and refined, game.
Why would it have been a hit if it had been released at the same time as some of those other games you say it doesn't live up to, like Diablo and the Infinity Engine games? You mean graphically?
Why would it have been a hit if it had been released at the same time as some of those other games you say it doesn't live up to, like Diablo and the Infinity Engine games? You mean graphically?
I mean because of the limited number of games have similar features to those in SCL at that time. It is purely my guess, of course.
Sure, wait for them to patch it up. That's never going to happen in todays market. Many mmos don't even make it out of beta any more, if public interest is vaning too fast (which i predict will be sword coast legends fate as well; the vaning that is) Then the publisher cancels funding and the servers are shafted in 12 months. There's no money to be gained with mediocrity nowadays.
It would probably be more fertile to wait for new classes in Neverwinter (the MMO)
That also started without a bard and never added more than the 5th class that was promised from the start.
So now it's the same again: Few classes, no multi classing, no prestige classes. No propper toolset, no propper dm mode, grindy gameplay, an action focused, small user base and mediocre gameplay. And somehow the money they make with that will let them develop patches to fix all that.... Yeah, lol
Maybe the single player part can salvage the game, who knows. The preview i read sounded ok-ish. Seems like they are aiming for an icewind dale direction.
A few Segments read sketchy though. Apparently the presentation was of an early level of the campaign, and during a conversation (ingame) the developers mentioned, that later in the game there will be more branching dialog trees, and reactive comments from agreeing or disagreeing party members. The journalist asked for an example which was not given...
Also the game is still under a review embargo, which is never a good sign days before release, no matter what any PR speak may tell you.
Their problem is that they do not allow multiclassing and do not have barbarians and bards. What do D&D video game devs have against these 2 classes even Neverwinter forgot about them.
this game would have never been a slam dunk. simply put, it's a shallow game created with accessibility in mind. it oozes mediocrity and offers nothing substantial to keep players interested. even in its community there's almost none hype left, just a faint glimmer of hope that there is some brighter future ahead. however that will be accomplished is everyone's own guess.
dunno what others saw in those trailers months ago, but imo it was really obvious that the developers heavily draw upon artistic freedom when they talked about 5ed rules. i would even go so far to call their whole sales campaign a wilful fraud to increase pre-orders.
If it is a simple fancy grindfest set in faerun (as a backdrop...) with class building that has no technical advantage/ disadvantage in the end because people must progress -the spoiled idiot who cant play a video game anymore.... then i will not bother to even watch a lets play. What i didnt liked about dungeon siege (which is great anyway) was the difficulty. It was to easy to bash through the enemys and i still remember the cool spider dungeon where this scary 8 legged end boss just idled there frozen waiting for me to finish him off. Which was a damn bug!
Anyway I´m a bit confused now if this is a good ARPG or not so anyone here recommend it as just that or not ?
Oh and i dont care how ugly the character faces look btw. I can live with ugly faces when the gameplay and level design is great 
What do you consider great level design?
Where the dungeon layout has a strategical aspect to it when you enter a combat. Something like darnise keep from BG2 was great level design. How they placed the trolls was awesome and difficult to combat. Interesting in a strategic pov
Because i noticed in many rush-through dungeons in ARPGs it´s just a fancy looking dungeon, cave whatever with enemys that dont make any sense why they are there or how they are placed. They just are and wait 1000 years for someone to come by to be attacked lol.
they seem to have some element of divinity original sin: the preview i read mentioned lighting up some explosive gas to get a head start against some undead (no need to ask me for links unless you are able to read german).
at this point we should all just wait for the reviews, which will hit soon.
OK, after initial emotional frustration, I looked at the forums more calmly, and I believe there is still some (albeit dim) hope that this game will grow into something. The developers basically confirmed that branching dialogues, tile-by-tile area creation and some basic scripting are going to be implemented (and, given that the initial reaction to the game was negative, I'm pretty sure they will try to implement it by release date). The combat is very shallow, so I don't think there is anything that will change here, but at least there is some chance that we will get a more or less decent toolset to create story-based modules with.
Regardless, I will wait until Christmas or so before trying the game again. Hopefully by that time they have addressed all the major concerns.
but at least there is some chance that we will get a more or less decent toolset to create story-based modules with
who really needs such a meager toolset? nwn1/2 is way more powerful, and i am not talking about hair's breadth. even if there will be a toolset offering more customization, scl still has no skills, no feats, no pipeline for custom content, there's no dm mode as powerful as those we use.
who really needs such a meager toolset? nwn1/2 is way more powerful, and i am not talking about hair's breadth. even if there will be a toolset offering more customization, scl still has no skills, no feats, no pipeline for custom content, there's no dm mode as powerful as those we use.
Well, for me personally SCL toolset could be potentially attractive for two reasons:
1) The community is much larger, which means that the modules I make will be played by many people, while in NWN1/2 I am still yet to decide to start making my full scale module, since I am not sure anyone will play it.
2) It takes much less time to create something in such a simple toolset than in NWN1 and, especially, NWN2.
That said, they really need to introduce, at least, such essential functions as branching dialogues, basic scripting, custom companions, better area creation (even tile-by-tile wouldn't be enough for me, given how much I can customize outdoor areas in NWN2), ability to use custom assets (at the very least, custom music) and MUCH more complex character editor, before I decide to switch to it. I have some hope that it will happen, but there is also a chance that they will give up on it and just keep making working on an ugly cross-breed of World of Warcraft, Diablo and Baldur's Gate - in this case I am out. Probably won't even bother running through the official campaign, since it doesn't seem to be promising in terms of anything, that is miles better in some other game I've played.
2) It takes much less time to create something in such a simple toolset than in NWN1 and, especially, NWN2.
Given that currently SCL area creation amounts to selecting an area prefab and adding minor customisation, I don't see any major difference between creating your area in SCL or in either NWN game, if you use an area prefab for the latter two.
Well, although since there are so many more prefabs available for the latter than for SCL, perhaps you would have a slightly longer time of it, but if you intentionally limit yourself to, say, redressing the areas provided in the NWN2 official campaigns, I think it would be directly comparable. Prefabs are plentiful, convenient, and there are many well-designed ones.
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