Sword Coast Legends - Review @ OnRPG

Because I can't help myself...I took a look at the steam reviews. Basically getting shredded as a joke in terms of being a DnD game. Yes I am angry that WoC licensed their IP to these clowns and now I have to wait another 5 years for anything resembling a good DnD crpg.

Some choice quotes:

"As a dungeon master, you can't design a dungeon."

"The combat in this game is click on a bad guy and watch your party engage in combat while being bored..."

"Is this game 5th edition? No, not even a little. It is a made up edition that does not remotely resemble 5th edition."

"The UI was clearly meant for consoles and controllers with console maps, a list for an inventory, annoying everything for KB+M players on the pc."

"This is Wizard's OWN IP and they aren't even sticking to it."

"Dm -tools are very limiting. But seeing that Dan Tudge said and i quote: 'But I’ve got twin eight-year-old boys and I want them to be able to create campaigns, that’s my litmus test. If they can do it, then we’ve succeeded.'"

"no Orcs, no Kobolds, no giants, no dragons (it's in the freaking name)"

"Stack terrible graphics and annoying voice acting on top of that...."

"The story is straightforward and unoriginal, dialogue is poor and role-play is non-existent. Remember how you got introduced NPC's and got to know and love them? Well, forget about it."

"P.S. For a game whose very name is based on a world made popular by R.A. Salvatore (Author of the Drizzt books) they don't even have a FREAKING dark elf."

Enjoy the hate fest!

bizorker said:

Enjoy the hate fest!

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That's not hate. That's righteous indignation

"P.S. For a game whose very name is based on a world made popular by R.A. Salvatore (Author of the Drizzt books) they don't even have a FREAKING dark elf."

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That's nonsense, actually you have a whole set of creatures that are dark elves that you can add to a module. I won't deny there are some simple elements to this game. For me, the fact the campaign has branching dialogue and other things that aren't in the module creator yet is a bit annoying. I don't like the cool downs either but lengthening the duration of some cooldowns and in general nerfing a bunch of skills would go a long way because you kinda start out kind of godlike.

I like the game but I admit I'm not a purist. However, I can't see resting in a multiplayer game and taking turns like you are sitting around the table with your buddies ever really working within a computer game. A board game(and that really is what D&D is) would be so much better in person. I have never liked a computer board game. Thats me though and my opinion.

I think the game especially the campaign is a lot of fun. It resembles(in my mind) an isometric Dragon Age more then it does Neverwinter Nights. There is a resting camping spot where you can quiz your NPC mates for God's sake. You can turn off party AI behaviors and following and pause the game to give your strategy to each NPC just like Dragon Age. The party banters are admirable and the atmosphere is very Forgotton Realms.

I am willing to give the developers time to patch and add to the game just like I have waited a year for Divinity to get better.

Sweet drama we are going to get out of this game is the most entertaining part of it.

I like the game but I admit I'm not a purist. However, I can't see resting in a multiplayer game and taking turns like you are sitting around the table with your buddies ever really working within a computer game. A board game(and that really is what D&D is) would be so much better in person. I have never liked a computer board game. Thats me though and my opinion.

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I don't really think it's such a black and white issue.

I'd claim that the minority are "purists" in the way that they'd want a 1:1 mirror of the DnD rules.

I also don't think you or other non-purists would be fine with a completely arbitrary ruleset that had nothing to do with RPGs.

I mean, let's not go there.

But if you look at NWN - that was a real-time implementation and it had resting, and it worked rather well as a multiplayer game. In fact, I'm almost certain most players of both NWN and SCL would agree that NWN is far superior in terms of the DnD implementation.

So, it's not about SCL being bad because it's real-time without resting as such, but because it's anything but DnD.

We can speculate about why they chose to market it as a "good old DnD" experience - and maybe they're not out to profit from it.

I guess that's possible.

But, to me, it smells like overt opportunism and the game is the very definition of mediocre.

Maybe a 6/10 if the story is good - but I can't see it going beyond that. Now, in a vacuum, that's not bad at all - that's pretty good.

But as a spiritual successor to NWN - it's a travesty.

It is just too buggy right now. I am asking for a refund now.

D&D Online - a MMORPG - had resting within dungeons and it worked well. There is 0 excuse for SCL to not have it.
And D&D Online felt like a D&D game.
Compared to Neverwinter - another D&D MMO - that game felt like any other MMO, it was just as bland and unD&D as SCL is.

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised? This game had "shallow" written all over it.

wiretripped said:

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised? This game had "shallow" written all over it.

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Too bad SirJames isn't here to answer that question

It's actually worse than I initially imagined. With regard to the push back from D&D fans, I don't think it would be anywhere near as bad if the home-brewed character system they decided to make from scratch was any good.