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Sword Coast Legends is doing some very interesting stuff

Damn, just read about the delay on RPS. That's a damn shame to hear about the lag in online multiplayer, especially because what I read about it earlier described the online stuff as being the real meat of the game. In a situation like that, as disappointing as it is, I think they probably made the right decision. Especially with the whole backlash of "No more broken games" stuff that seems to be out in full force recently.
 
Man reading their forums and the steam forums for impressions of the early version and this sounds like a 5 alarm dumpster fire.

I don't think a 1 month delay is anywhere near enough from the sounds of things.
 
Vamphuntr said:
Anyone else playing the Head Start? I'm not impressed. It runs poorly and it's quite buggy considering it comes out in about 10 days. It also plays more like an action RPG than something like the infinity engine games or Dragon Age. You literally spam abilities as they are all on specific cooldown. You also learn spells from skill trees instead of scrolls like in D&D. It feels more like a mediocre version of Dark Alliance disguised as a DA or BG successor. Only the module/dm things are available for the head start and the lag is quite bad in multi with corpse warping around and making it impossible to collect loot.


If it is in that state when it launches I will refund it through steam.
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I know it would kill the project, but I'd rather they delay it some more to remove the cooldown timer spam and spell learning trees.
 
Walpurgis said:
Going by the screenshots, it looks like you can have more than 5 abilities - up to 12 from the looks of it.
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That's just one of the hotkey bars. By holding Ctrl, you got another set of 12. By holding Shift, you got another 12. By holding Ctrl+Shift, you got another 12 for a grand total of 48 hotkeys.

The problem was their ability selection was awful, so those keys quickly filled with all manner of spells and abilities.

NWN2 fixed the issue by implementing a nice quick-cast menu for spells, but then junked the old hotkey system for a fucking terribly implemented MMO-style rolodex, making the problem worse. I never forgave Obsidian for that.
 
Sinatar said:
Man reading their forums and the steam forums for impressions of the early version and this sounds like a 5 alarm dumpster fire.

I don't think a 1 month delay is anywhere near enough from the sounds of things.
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This is not sounding at all like the early reviews I read. Now I'm quite worried, because from what I'm reading on Steam it sounds like this game is falling into the same traps that a lot of the D&D based games fall into. At first I thought NWN 3, but from that now sounds like it could be far from the truth. Ugh, very disappointing news. I hope it's not true.
 
Stimpack said:
This is not sounding at all like the early reviews I read. Now I'm quite worried, because from what I'm reading on Steam it sounds like this game is falling into the same traps that a lot of the D&D based games fall into. At first I thought NWN 3, but from that now sounds like it could be far from the truth. Ugh, very disappointing news. I hope it's not true.
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NWN3 will never happen. No developer is going to build a toolset that feature-rich on a budget. It nearly destroyed NWN2.
 
Krackatoa said:
NWN3 will never happen. No developer is going to build a toolset that feature-rich on a budget. It nearly destroyed NWN2.
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Definitely not arguing against that. These games just don't have the audience required to build the kind of systems that we really want. It's a shame, too, because the money is certainly out there but people are more interested in MOBAs, Minecraft, and shooters. Maybe one day. Even way back when I always knew that gaming would end up tacking on RPG elements into every genre, because it was interesting and added depth to the gameplay. User-created content has certainly seen a big boom with stuff like the Steam Workship, Minecraft, continuing support for stuff like TES. The market could one day see the value in the sort of virtual tabletop-ish space, stranger things have happened. Wouldn't hold my breath on it, though, of course.
 
I spent some time with the DM mode this past weekend. 'Meh' is a good description. It's really lacking in customization and basically feels half complete.
 
Everything sounds cool but I am concerned that the combat being "moba-like" means that it'll actually be pretty zergy and boring. Also, DM mode being lackluster doesn't sound great either.
 
duppolo said:
why no hype for this? why more discussion for dragon age or something of that kind then for this?
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Because there's a sub section of gaf that still thinks Bioware makes good games

Granted I am not hype for another D&D game that takes place in the SAME GOD DAMN setting as most D&D games. I'll definitely wait and see.
 
duppolo said:
why no hype for this? why more discussion for dragon age or something of that kind then for this?
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The same reason why the most important topic on Fallout 4 is visuals... That said, Sword Coast Legends doesn't look appealing at all. Honestly, with the exception of some potential for the DM mode, I don't understand why anyone was excited about this one. The videos were fairly evident.
 
Rabbit Lord said:
I spent some time with the DM mode this past weekend. 'Meh' is a good description. It's really lacking in customization and basically feels half complete.
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Thats what killed my interest in it

vocab said:
Because there's a sub section of gaf that still thinks Bioware makes good games

Granted I am not hype for another D&D game that takes place in the SAME GOD DAMN setting as most D&D games. I'll definitely wait and see.
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Forgotten Realms is, by far, their most popular and successful setting. Its also the focus of their latest cross-media campaign. It would be weirder if it wasnt set there. Though clearly if there was any justice it would be set on Athas.
 
I've played the first zone of the story campaign and it's pretty decent. You have a main quest and some side quests along the way. Several choices are thrown already into you. There are some cutscenes here and there as well. Oh, and around the end of the first chapter there's quite a shocking (but kinda expected) scene. I think the story campaign will be at least decent enough.
 
Unicorn said:
Head Start edition is being played by some of my friends? Anyone else playing that? How is it?!
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It's okay actually. A bit like NWN 2 (without MOTB). The skill system can be a bit simple for my taste and there are still a lot of bugs and performance improvements to be done.
 
SP campaign impressions here.

1. Dungeon crawls are fun.
2. Trap detection actually works.
3. The laughs. (see below)
4. Abilities are just about right, requiring some managing and planning but not micromanaging trash mobs.
5. Smooth performance - Some have had issues, I haven't had any.
6. The story.
7. The quests are at least average or better.
8. Voice work is decent. (correction) very good.
9. Companion comments.
10. Companion AI (and ability to turn it off)
11. The sound effects. (except when the summoned creature disappears/'dies"-- poor thing)
12. Graphics are fitting and nicely done, also fit the mood of the game.
13. Combat is fun and not a chore, but not so easy to let it run on auto-pilot.
14. 360 degree view -- newer games in this genre don't always have this.
15. The loot descriptions.
16. Hunting/exploring to meet some objectives.
17. Being Waylaid!
18. Music is very nice - subdued but fitting and top notch.
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From an 'older gamer'.
 
Abilities are all on cool-downs. I'm guessing they went with that because fixed casting amounts would have made the dynamic DM enemy dropping harder to balance.
 
LurkerPrime said:
Reading that link... there's no resting system? How do they heal and replenish spells?

That's a death knell to the sort of gameplay I desire.
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Brad Grenz said:
Abilities are all on cool-downs. I'm guessing they went with that because fixed casting amounts would have made the dynamic DM enemy dropping harder to balance.
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I wonder if this will have a cities skylines or Bethesda modding future where updates and expansions will allow it to be tailored like a DnD 3.5 campaign, ie in the vein of crafting a "house rules" experience.

This is the closest I've seen to a digital analog to a pen and paper experience.
 
Last I heard this was a mess. DM's couldn't assign loot, the AI was borderline unusable (casting heals when people are on full health, for example) and there were no stat caps so once you get a full set of gear you could stomp the harder modes without care.
 
Arulan said:
I recommend reading the RPG Codex interview. Skim down to the section about Sword Coast Legends.
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You forgot the part where the beholder is behind a $60+ pre-order :T
cad0831357975679d10acfa50178b07d.png
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Would probably grab this up if it supported turn based combat, or at least pausing and setting actions like the better Black Isle games.

Someday a company will just take one of the DnD rule systems and make it a functional simulation of table top where you can play online and local with a group. Sell existing modules as add-ons and allow sharing of custom made modules. At least that is my dream...
 
m@cross said:
Would probably grab this up if it supported turn based combat, or at least pausing and setting actions like the better Black Isle games.

Someday a company will just take one of the DnD rule systems and make it a functional simulation of table top where you can play online and local with a group. Sell existing modules as add-ons and allow sharing of custom made modules. At least that is my dream...
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It has pausing to issue orders, unless you mean something else.
 
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