Sword Coast Legends

[valiea987]

Sooo.... New NWN?



And coming out in a month.

Opinions? Any reason to not be super excited for this?

[Wittle Dreamer]

Doesn't look like it'll follow any of the normal dnd rules from what I saw on the taskbar.

[Edge]

Looks more like new Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale than new NWN.

[valiea987]

This one is showing the single player campaign (a trailer for it). From what I can gather, the multiplayer has a DM created dungeons, and the DM is a constant presence as players go through the dungeon so they can change things, etc.

What I am not sure about is if the game is a pure dungeon crawler. If so, then it wont have the same moddability for a persistent world like NWN had. If it is just a dungeon crawler, then it seems like it would just be Gauntlet with a DM throwing stuff at you.

It is going off of 5e rule set... So I am not sure how that effects what we're seeing in the game interface.

[valiea987]

Here's an example of the DM side:

[ClockworkMayhem]

I've actually written two articles concerning this game (well, one mentions it as not being the new NWN - the other's talking about a delayed release).  I think it's great that it's bringing tabletop back to the PC in a fashion similar to Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment, and I like that a DM can run campaigns on it, but it's limited to only 4 players and the DM, and that, I think, is why it can't really be called "The new NWN." If we can't do something on the same scale as we've got here on CD, it just isn't the same.

Still, I do want it to play with friends.

[Edge]

Ok, so it's not looking like BG/IWD like I thought from the original video, where it looked like one player controlling an entire party. (Granted, it could have been but just been the single-player game, similar to how single-player NWN worked with henchmen.) However, it looks like it's less "dedicated multiplayer persistent-world server" and more "co-op LAN-style game" in the vein of a PnP session. Good for a small group of players I suppose, not so good for people wanting something like NWN. [Aaaand ninja'd by CW.]

I really do not like the glowy "DM is here" ball, hope that's a way to turn that off.

Also don't much care for DM Threat meter. Is this a 5E mechanic or something just put into the game by the devs? Either way it seems to highly obstruct the ability to prepare a dungeon or event completely in advance, in favor of keeping the DM constantly adjusting things on the fly. And having to pay Threat (or have a high enough amount on the Threat) to directly possess/control NPCs/monsters is a big No for me.

Some of the on-the-fly adjusting is kind of cool, especially like the ability to auto-buff or -debuff enemies from normal to minions or mini-bosses with a few clicks.

[valiea987]

Aug 28, 2015 13:02:55 GMT -5 ClockworkMayhem said:

I've actually written two articles concerning this game (well, one mentions it as not being the new NWN - the other's talking about a delayed release).  I think it's great that it's bringing tabletop back to the PC in a fashion similar to Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment, and I like that a DM can run campaigns on it, but it's limited to only 4 players and the DM, and that, I think, is why it can't really be called "The new NWN." If we can't do something on the same scale as we've got here on CD, it just isn't the same.

Still, I do want it to play with friends.

Dang! I was hoping that wasn't the case... Forced 4 person + 1 DM...

Maybe someone will mod it to allow more people? Open it up to larger servers?

[ClockworkMayhem]

Well, it's my hope they'll open it up with a toolset and the ability to host servers of the same size as Neverwinter, and I even had some suggestions as to how to do that with the current game market (as seen in the first article, there) but I don't know if they plan to do that, or not.

[Fire Wraith]

Hmm. I would worry also that it's treating the DM as a fifth player, sort of the way Descent (the boardgame) does, where you have the 3-4 PCs, and then the DM who runs the monsters opposing them - and is trying to "win", but is limited in terms of how much he/she can throw at the players.

[valiea987]

From what I have seen, I don't think there's any incentive for the DM to try and "beat" the players. The multiple video showed that there are means to quickly demote and weaken enemies to do quick momentary changes to the difficulty of combat. So it seems like they are making it so the DM can be very inclusive. But of course, you're going to have those Gygaxian DMs who feel their job -is- to beat the player, and I don't think anything can stop that.

[kothoses]

The single player campaign can have a full party controlled by 1 person or a party of 4 co-oping, additionally you can get companions as in BG atleast thats what i have read so far.

The DM modules I am not so sure about.

Its nothing like NWN though no where near as flexible, the only game coming any time soon that looks like getting even close to NWN is Shards Online.

[Garage Trashcan]

-Single-player campaign can be 1 person controlling the party or 4-person Co-op. It is very much the modern-day Baldur's Gate. There will be temporary allies in certain quests, but also companions much like Mass Effect/Dragon Age/BG that follow you throughout the game. Last I heard, there was no permadeath. There'll probably be a hardcore mode or something that adds it.
-DM "light orb" can be turned off.
-Threat meter isn't a 5e mechanic, it's a mechanic specifically implemented for this game to encourage the DM to continue to challenge players, not just make pubstomps or Tomb of Horrors.
-Cooldowns are also something implemented for the game specifically, and aren't really existent in 5e outside of what older editions had. Most of the abilities in-game are also not existent in the PnP 5e.
-If you haven't played 5e yet, do it.
-There will be on-the-fly dungeon crawls for multiplayer that use randomly generated dungeons based on the enemies and tilesets you select. Dungeon crawls can go from anywhere from ~20 minutes to ~2 hours, depending on group speed and how long you wish the dungeon to be (you can select different lengths).
-DMs also have the ability to create full-fledged campaigns in a toolset, much like NWN (something I feel didn't shine as much in NWN. Then again, I never made it past chapter 1 of the campaign). They'll be able to create their own cities, dungeons, lighting, monsters, etc., with a surprising amount of depth.

It's not the new NWN, there will probably never be a new NWN. But it's designed to be a tabletop experience on PC, and could provide that if you can look past the mechanics.

[valiea987]

Sept 29, 2015 19:10:55 GMT -5 Garage Trashcan said:

-DMs also have the ability to create full-fledged campaigns in a toolset, much like NWN (something I feel didn't shine as much in NWN. Then again, I never made it past chapter 1 of the campaign). They'll be able to create their own cities, dungeons, lighting, monsters, etc., with a surprising amount of depth.

This is what I was wondering about... Because if it has this, then the game could very well do what NWN has done. Although I suppose that also depends on if they make the controls open enough, and then if they get enough people who want to design campaign settings and run servers based on it.

Either way, I am looking forward to it for some quick dungeon crawler fun.

[Fire Wraith]

Sept 29, 2015 19:10:55 GMT -5 Garage Trashcan said:

-Threat meter isn't a 5e mechanic, it's a mechanic specifically implemented for this game to encourage the DM to continue to challenge players, not just make pubstomps or Tomb of Horrors.

Well, Vincent is probably out then.