Some interviews for those who are interested.
Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Interviews
VentureBeat
Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Interviews
VentureBeat
GamesIndustryIn the PlayStation 2 days, two of the best co-op action-RPGs on the console were the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games. Hattem says that Dark Alliance is a spiritual successor to those games, though it changes the story and setting.
You play as either Drizzt, Bruenor, Catti-brie, or Wulfgar. Each has iconic weapons in Salvatore’s novels:
“The way that Salvatore reveals those weapons in the books are some of the best bits of those books, at least for me: when Bruenor’s crafting Aegis-Fang, when Drizzt acquires Icingdeath and Twinkle as well later on,” Hattem said. “We’re definitely going to showcase them.”
- Drizzt wields the scimitars Icingdeath and Twinkle
- Bruenor’s notched axe
- Catti-brie’s magic bow Taulmaril
- Wulfgar’s mighty warhammer that Bruenor crafted for him, Aegis-fang
Given the impossibility of truly replicating a tabletop RPG in a video game, Cocks says the options of limited when it comes to a feasible approach. "We want each game to have a point of view, and to really keep on just a couple of things and do it really, really well," he tells us. "What you don't want to do is have every game in the franchise try to do the same thing, and try to do everything all at once."
Cocks compares Wizards' licensing approach to how a good dungeon master runs the game; it's all about facilitating.
"We really don't limit people," he says. "The D&D team's job is to say 'yes' when people want to play something… The best dungeon masters tend to want to figure out how to say 'yes', and have the players do what they want to do… We want to open it up, open up the narrative possibilities, the character development, open up the level of problem solving and combat opportunities and thrills that players can be able to experience.