Sword Coast Legends - Preview Roundup

Couchpotato

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Here are three new previews for Sword Coast Legends from GDC 2015.

GamesRadar

At GDC 2015, I had the chance to check out an extended demo of the game, complete with a party of four distinct heroes, loot and player customization, undead hordes, and plenty of witty banter. But what really got me jazzed was the game's dungeon master mode. That's right, without needing any sort of special modding know-how, you can whip up a fully customizable adventure for your friends (or strangers online).
GamersNexus

Sword Coast Legends is among the most promising video game releases we've seen for the RPG space in recent years. The game is a true return-to-roots for D&D cRPG fans and, if delivered properly, offers a unique gameplay mechanic that greatly extends longevity of the title.
MMORPG

At first glance, Sword Coast Legends’ minimaps, class skills, dialogue options, and user interface certainly connect the dots for what a spiritual successor to the beloved Bioware and Black Isle games should look like. In our GDC 2015 preview, we first got to look at a small portion of the single-player campaign and a dungeon delve through the sewers beneath Luskan, which showed off the game’s rich use of Forgotten Realms lore and tactical combat.
More information.
 
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That actually sounds interesting. Why haven't I heard of it? Was it announced very recently?
 
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That actually sounds interesting. Why haven't I heard of it? Was it announced very recently?

It was announced a few weeks ago, Couch posted a few time about it.
 
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You'd think they would do a preview for RPGWatch?

Hard to say if that's a good idea. This place has gotten a bit Codexian. If Sword Coast is on the lighter side and doesn't implement all classes, multi/dual/epic etc its likely to get pummeled.
 
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Hard to say if that's a good idea. This place has gotten a bit Codexian. If Sword Coast is on the lighter side and doesn't implement all classes, multi/dual/epic etc its likely to get pummeled.

Come on now, when you make something for public consumption you open yourself up to criticism. If you don't deliver on what your most hardcore fanbase expects of you then backlash is not only inevitable but healthy. If a site starts coddling developers in order not to hurt their sensitivities then it's doing a disservice to its own users.

If something is called Dungeons and Dragons then I expect a faithful rendition of the tabletop, that's only fair.
 
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You'd think they would do a preview for RPGWatch?
I only do interviews but Fluent was interested in doing a preview.^^
Hard to say if that's a good idea. This place has gotten a bit Codexian. If Sword Coast is on the lighter side and doesn't implement all classes, multi/dual/epic etc its likely to get pummeled.
Sad to say I agree with you ToddMcF2002, but don't worry a few members on RPGWatch are looking forward to playing the game. I happen to be one of them.:)
 
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Seems pretty positive, can't wait. It is D&D after all.

I wouldn't worry about criticism here as if Fluent does the preview it's guaranteed to be the best game ever.;)

I also don't beileve that it needs to be a faithful rendition of the tabletop version just because it uses the D&D name.

I mean I would love to see a D&D game with dark souls combat and that wouldn't feel like the tabletop version at all, all the weapons, several manuals of monsters to choose from, the exploration. Man, Im getting excited just thinking about it and sadly it's not even a thing.
 
I actually have some reservations about this game. The lack of classes and races at release is not something I enjoy. At least they will add them later, so that's good. But I'm not going to declare it the best game ever when it's missing some stuff I find crucial for a game like this. :)

I was interested in doing a preview but they haven't contacted me back. So I'm not sure.
 
The lack of classes and races is unfortunate but honestly if it helps them get it out the door sooner I'm fine with it. Also if they add them later it gives me some replay options.

I'll admit though I love the D&D universe so I'll be much more forgiving than most.
 
I love D&D too, for sure, so I'm sure the game will still be fun. When it comes to building a character in D&D, or other RPG worlds, I prefer quantity of choices.

I actually really, really dislike the approach of, "We're only doing 3 classes, but they will be so wonderfully done!". I would much rather, "We're doing 20 classes and they will be all over the place!", if that makes sense. Options. Choices. Quantity.

Still, I think I'm going to enjoy this one. I am focused heavily on the RPG elements, though, and any preview I do is going to put a magnifying glass on the RPG design aspects.
 
Come on now, when you make something for public consumption you open yourself up to criticism. If you don't deliver on what your most hardcore fanbase expects of you then backlash is not only inevitable but healthy. If a site starts coddling developers in order not to hurt their sensitivities then it's doing a disservice to its own users.

If something is called Dungeons and Dragons then I expect a faithful rendition of the tabletop, that's only fair.

My response was from their perspective. If the game has a simplistic implementation they would be better off sticking with the mainstream sites and avoid going under the knife with Codex or Rpgwatch.
 
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Looks great. I don't care if they streamline it some... I don't need every class imaginable, I feel like so much of that stuff was tacked on to the original D&D to sell books and stuff. Give me the basics, and do it right.
 
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I don't think the Watch and Codex crow are people who just want to go crazy with a character planning tool. It's not like every game with only 6 classes gets insta-bashed here.
 
D&D is tough to work with because of all the class complexity. You are right in general and personally if the game has depth overall I'm happy. But when it comes to D&D the D&D fanatics tend to demand "full ruleset" implementation. I don't know if you were around when POR2 came out with a Sorcerer but no Wizard class. It was as if the world had ended. It was the apocalypse.
 
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"Dungeon Masters guide players through unique customizable adventures."

I doubt, but hope, this means a toolset. No PvP option?
 
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D&D is tough to work with because of all the class complexity. You are right in general and personally if the game has depth overall I'm happy. But when it comes to D&D the D&D fanatics tend to demand "full ruleset" implementation. I don't know if you were around when POR2 came out with a Sorcerer but no Wizard class. It was as if the world had ended. It was the apocalypse.
If the intent of your post was to show how a game could still be good without at least the basics being done well, such that the fanatics don't scream to high heaven about it, then maybe PoR2 is not the game to be using as your example. :) No wizard, a limited number of monsters, a ridiculously sparse number of monster animations, slower-than-frozen-molasses combat, and not even selectable feats at level up, which was supposed to be the main feature of 3rd edition.... That was as poor a DnD game as any that bore the name.

Frankly, I think the fanatics were RIGHT to call the developers out on "omissions" that crucial to the game system. PoR2 was a game that was universally panned, if you recall, and with good reason.

I'm just hoping that the SCL team learned something from that little bit of gaming history.
 
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D&D is tough to work with because of all the class complexity. You are right in general and personally if the game has depth overall I'm happy. But when it comes to D&D the D&D fanatics tend to demand "full ruleset" implementation. I don't know if you were around when POR2 came out with a Sorcerer but no Wizard class. It was as if the world had ended. It was the apocalypse.

The thing is, D&D is awesome because of all these options and complexity. When you omit it it is no longer D&D that people like, it is something else.

If you went to watch a Batman movie and whole movie Batman used a taxi and only wore a home made shirt with his sign and had no gadgets and his opponent was a random guy just calling him self Joker but not actually acting like one, would that be a Batman movie and would it have things you expect and want to watch from a Batman movie?
 
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If the intent of your post was to show how a game could still be good without at least the basics being done well, such that the fanatics don't scream to high heaven about it, then maybe PoR2 is not the game to be using as your example. :) No wizard, a limited number of monsters, a ridiculously sparse number of monster animations, slower-than-frozen-molasses combat, and not even selectable feats at level up, which was supposed to be the main feature of 3rd edition…. That was as poor a DnD game as any that bore the name.

Frankly, I think the fanatics were RIGHT to call the developers out on "omissions" that crucial to the game system. PoR2 was a game that was universally panned, if you recall, and with good reason.

I'm just hoping that the SCL team learned something from that little bit of gaming history.

PoR wasn't a bad game because it lacked classes. It was a bad game because of the huge number of similar encounters with the same orcs and undead as well as seeing the same tile sets for hours on end.
 
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Don't forget that Knights of the Chalice only had three classes and while that kinda ruined the replay value the first play-through was great fun and I still consider it one of the best D&D games in recent years. (even if it was just OGL and not real D&D L)

6 classes in SCL should be awesome for a 4 character (+2 NPC!) game. :)
 
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