Sword Coast Legends - News Update

I think several things factor in those scores. ToEE was a niche product, and sold itself as such, so I think the general public didn't even catch wind of its existence. Hardcore fans of DnD and turn based combat did learn to endure its faults and enjoyed the game (as did I, of course). SCL widely and broadly announced itself to the masses, and failed to deliver, at least initially. So everyone had something to say about SCL, and much of it was negative.

But yeah, let's not cling to that comparison which I made pretty much on a passing flight. The idea I want to transmit is that SCL at this point is an acceptable DnD game and the devs haven't stopped delivering large content patches for free to improve it.

I think it was a decent game at 50% off (which is the price point I went for). I had fun with the single player campaign, even though the DnD 5e rules are very 'light'. I have zero interest in the campaign multiplayer/DM side, so I didn't get my knickers in a knot about that aspect - which is where a lot of flak seems to have come from.

Is the Rage of Demons (?) DLC really free (as I have heard elsewhere)? I don't see how they could afford to do that...

booboo said:

Is the Rage of Demons (?) DLC really free (as I have heard elsewhere)? I don't see how they could afford to do that…

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Yeah, it's free. It was meant to be paid at first, but they decided to make it free after having to push back the initial release date as a compensation.

SirJames said:

and not the Baldurs Gate clone it turned out to be.

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This game doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence as BG…. If anything, its an attempt to clone NWN (a very weak excuse for an attempt) , not BG

Emerwyn said:

At this moment, the game plays very much like good old Neverwinter Nights.

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Maybe it would play like NWN, If it hadn't cooldowns on abilities and shitty spell progression.

Emerwyn said:

It's certainly better than Temple of Elemental Evil,

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Don't get blasphemous now …. This joke of a DnD game cannot hold a candle to ToEE

@emerwyn:

Can you please explain to me how SCL plays like NWN? I quite enjoyed NWN but wasn't the case with SCL when it was first released. I bought it hoping it's just like NWN but more focused on co-op experience so I can play it with hubby.

purpleblob said:

I quite enjoyed NWN but wasn't the case with SCL when it was first released. I bought it hoping it's just like NWN but more focused on co-op experience so I can play it with hubby.

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Are you talking about NWN single-player or multiplayer? I thought the single-player was very mediocre in NWN, and I find SCL more enjoyable.

The IE games destroy them both though.

JDR13 said:

The rule implementation is factual, yes. Whether that makes it a better or more fun game is completely subjective.

I agree with Emerwyn though. I think SCL is a must have for D&D fans. Especially when you consider the alternative. Unfortunately, D&D fans don't have much to choose from right now.

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D&D fans have already said what they think about this game by their reviews and lack of buying. So no, it is not a must buy for D&D fans, it is actually opposite. It is a must avoid for real D&D fans.

Archangel said:

D&D fans have already said what they think about this game by their reviews and lack of buying. So no, it is not a must buy for D&D fans, it is actually opposite. It is a must avoid for real D&D fans.

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Well I'm glad you know what every other D&D fan's opinion is.

How does it compare to NWN2 modules? I just figured I'd wait another year or two, just so that there will be a lot of fan-made content.

The main problem with SCL custom content is that the current modding tools aren't powerful enough to create nice modules.
E. g. modders aren't able to create maps by tiles, instead the maps are generated randomly for the most part.
It's not possible to create branching dialogues with automatic skill checks etc.
There is zero scripting support.
Currently the game in multiplayer is meant to be played with a present human dungeon master who can take care of all these things.

So it can't in any way be compared to the powerful (and more complex) Aurora toolsets of NWN1/2.
Some of the mentioned lacking features are supposed to be included in upcoming patches but I doubt we'll get as much custom content as in NWN. Player base is way to small and keeps shrinking.

Digital Extremes / n-space apparently had the idea for the dungeon creator / modder to be part of the game whereas modding in NWN was more a design/development/scripting job outside of the game. So the modding tools are very simplistic to be easy to understand.

I think this idea backfired as you can only create very shallow modules with tools like this. You can't create more than some dungeon runs. And apparently that's not enough to entertain gamers when you only have a mediocre DnD system.

JDR13 said:

Well I'm glad you know what every other D&D fan's opinion is.

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Maybe you should look in the mirror before accusing others of something. Or in this case reread your own post.

JDR13 said:

Are you talking about NWN single-player or multiplayer? I thought the single-player was very mediocre in NWN, and I find SCL more enjoyable.

The IE games destroy them both though.

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I have never played NWN as multiplayer. Was hoping SCL could provide HotU like experience plus you can play with others

And yes, IE games are far more superior, no competition

purpleblob said:

@emerwyn:

Can you please explain to me how SCL plays like NWN? I quite enjoyed NWN but wasn't the case with SCL when it was first released. I bought it hoping it's just like NWN but more focused on co-op experience so I can play it with hubby.

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As I said in another post, barring the fact that spell selection is mediocre and cooldown-based (rather than having a spell pool to pick across your spell levels), the single player mode is as enjoyable as NWN if not more. Obviously this is a subjective opinion, and the multiplayer isn't comparable starting by the fact that SCL can't handle PW's, which was where the gold really was in NWN, and why still a lot of people keep playing that game 14 years after its release.

But if I stick strictly to the single player campaign, I think SCL's is decent and probably better than NWN's one. I truly think it's quite fun to fight a lot of different kinds of iconic DnD creatures with the really well designed models that you get access to in SCL.

Emerwyn said:

Yeah, it's free. It was meant to be paid at first, but they decided to make it free after having to push back the initial release date as a compensation.

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That is pretty cool of the devs to be fair. I know a lot of folk here don't like the devs, but they seem to be doing a decent post release job. I've only had a quick look at SCL, kinda liked what I saw but haven't really spent much time with it yet (I've been a little put off by the reports of Fedex quests, and then Fallout 4 got in the way). I will give it a proper go when this expansion comes out though and I suspect I'll have a good enough time with it.

Archangel said:

Maybe you should look in the mirror before accusing others of something. Or in this case reread your own post.

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You mean where I said I think it's a must-buy for D&D fans? I made it quite clear that's because there aren't any other D&D games to choose from currently. The choice is SCL or nothing. I'm pretty confident most will choose to get SCL. That doesn't mean everyone will think highly of it.

purpleblob said:

I have never played NWN as multiplayer. Was hoping SCL could provide HotU like experience plus you can play with others

And yes, IE games are far more superior, no competition

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I'm surprised you didn't like SCL a little more. I don't like NWN 1 much because there's no party. To me, D&D is all about having a party of adventurers. Questing with a single character and a henchman just doesn't feel very D&D.

I've not put much into SCL yet, needs more time in the oven I think. There is some further hope that the community will improve things, reading the mods forum and it seems there's quite of bit of flexibility built into the game config files. I very much doubt it'll reach the levels of user content we have for NWN1 & 2.

@JDR13 - Get Old Mans Bear OHS mod and you can create your own party in any module in NWN1 (including the official stuff)... Too bad you can't get the finite control of BG or NWN2.

@purpleblob - NWN1 multiplayer is quite fun. There's still persistent worlds out there. I used to play on World of Greyhawk a bit and it's still around I believe. Not being able to save/reload adds to the suspense. WoG doesn't use any HAKs from memory, you'd just need to track down the current IP. Being in the US it used to be pretty dead during Sydney prime time though. I think LAN play is also pretty simple, I've read about many people and their significant others playing modules together over the years. NWN is simple enough that you can install on a second PC and then copy over the top of it with your own install to get everything looking the same on both machines.

I'm not sure what it was about SCL but it did rub me in a wrong way. It was very fast paced without enough feedback (I honestly didn't know what my character was doing most of the time) and yet there seem to be a lag when I issue a command.

I agree with you JDR, on D&D and party based adventure. I disliked henchmen system a lot in NWN1, but that being said I really enjoyed HotU - loved the plane travel (Cania) and epic feel of story/combat.

I will have another go at SCL this weekend

@kaos: I might give NWN1 multiplayer a try, but I wanted to play something new. Also, hubby would need another CD key to multiplayer with me >.> haha

purpleblob said:

I have never played NWN as multiplayer.

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Playing on a PW in 2003, 2004 was golden.... Dungeon Master = live GM

JDR13 said:

You mean where I said I think it's a must-buy for D&D fans? I made it quite clear that's because there aren't any other D&D games to choose from currently.

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So if its the only DnD RPG atm , its somehow a must buy ? If its trash, its trash. That's blind fanboyism....

luj1 said:

So if its the only DnD RPG atm , its somehow a must buy ? If its trash, its trash. That's blind fanboyism….

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It's a must buy for anyone wanting a new D&D crpg to play. I'm not saying it's an exceptional D&D game.

Is it just me or is the stupidity spreading around here lately?