Gnomophobia has infiltrated parts of the gaming industry. The lack of tolerance and understanding sickens me...
Yeah, I could totally understand if they were phobic about undead overlords seeking to conquer the world, but cute little mortal gnomes? That's just mean!
According to the Races of Faerûn by Reynolds, Forbeck, Jacobs and Boyd, gnomes, in general, are a reclusive people who'd rather stay out of others' affairs. Though some races interpret this as cowardice, it's more the case that gnomes simply have nothing at stake in the conflicts between most other races and after centuries of being ignored or stomped on, are not particularly eager to fight someone else's fight. In fact, generally speaking, gnomes are a very courageous and good-hearted race, who frequently use their neutrality as a way to negotiate disputes. Of all the races in Faerûn it's fair to say that gnomes have the fewest enemies, although they have very few friends as well.
It looks like n-Space are not gnomes' friends yet. n-Space. n(on-gnome)-Space
They didn't say it but I'm sure other playable races will be available at some point as well. I recall someone saying that they want each race to feel unique, so maybe they are still adjusting the racial traits for half-orcs and gnomes.
There are others they could include, like aasimar, genasi, dragonborn or tieflings.
Not to mention that SCL is still missing well over 2/3rds of 5th Edition standard character classes. Druids, Invokers, Sorcerers, Avengers, Warlocks, Spellblades, Bards, Barbarians, Monks, Psions and Warlords are at the top of my list. I really hope there's some kind of skill progression so I can fe. make my rogue into an assassin.
Edit: Ooops, no... Those are 4th Edition classes. Well... Anyway.
I must admit I don't really get this game is it just an mp thing which u can play alone. Or is the single player actually a proper single player
I admit that I have the same concern. If there isn't a dedicated single person campaign (and not something that is merely tacked on), I for one will not be putting my money down.
Am I the only one that was bothered by that video? A DM can set up and play within 5 minutes? I am guessing that they don't have a lot of control then. In PnP, a DM would have to sketch out the entire adventure and it could take hours and that without having to select tile sets and monsters. Then there is the "DM Threat" it sounds like you have limited ability to select/add/change the monsters unless you have enough "Threat"?
Not saying no, just saying that I have more concerns than I did before the video. Is it just me?
"In the demo I saw, the developers showed off some of the tools at their disposal when working with a single dungeon, including traps and ambushes.
The ambush in question involved a lone, totally-innocent-looking Drow standing on a bridge, just waiting to get beaten up for juicy loot and experience points. When the players approached the Drow, however, that triggered the ambush, which automatically spawned a whole mess of giant spiders on both sides of the bridge. The dungeon master set all this up in real time, moments before the players entered the room. He also went ahead and locked the door leading further into the dungeon, just to be a jerk.
While dungeon masters are omniscient, their powers aren't limitless. Just as a mage requires mana, the dungeon master relies on 'threat'. You start out with a lot of it, but nearly everything the DM does requires some, from spawning enemies to setting traps. A good dungeon master will earn more threat by providing a suitable challenge for players, one that pushes them to the edge without resulting in a string of party wipes.
As a matter of fact, if a dungeon master does decide to go all "rocks fall, everyone dies" on the players, that dungeon master actually starts to lose treat. And once the threat is all gone, the dungeon master's reign of terror (and rocks) is over. The developers emphasized that designing the role of the dungeon master is a balancing act. On the one hand, they want the DM to be lethal and encourage adversarial play, but on the other they don't want the DM to just create a string of impossible challenges (which they could easily do if left unchecked).
Naturally, as the players explore and kill monsters, they are rewarded with sweet, sweet loot. And so is the dungeon master. This loot takes the form of new tricks to play on the players. In the demo I saw, the GM stumbled across a special amulet that let him summon a zombie hoard on command - which was a type of monster he didn't otherwise have access to.
Although not much could be discussed at the meeting, Sword Coast Legends will feature a "campaign mode" that allows DMs to author, map, plan, and execute a custom D&D campaign in-game. We don't have any details beyond this at the moment, but it's a critical item of note. As in the video interview above, we were told that campaigns can extend effectively forever, as in the tabletop game.
In our demo, we were told that the adventure creator will be very accessible and easy to use, giving you the ability to create encounters in minutes. You can create adventures and put them out there for others to play, or DM in real-time, and there will be a rating system so that you can find a DM that matches your playstyle. There definitely seems to be a lot of potential here for your weekly gaming group that just doesn’t seem to be able to get it together to create a fresh new adventure experience every time, as well as an opportunity to find like-minded players on the internets. Furthermore, Sword Coast Legends will support full-fledged campaigns, which the devs will be discussing in the near future.
@bengoshi I can kind of see where they're going with the DM threat thing, trying to make the DM play the "DM game". But I hope that for custom campaigns with a trusted DM this feature can be unlocked to allow complete control.
If it doesn't have a toolset (not just spawning monsters) to create your own modules, cities and worlds, it's not even close to a NwN successor.
It seems pretty conservative to me and more similar to Fable Legends (even the last part of the name is similar) than NwN.
The only game that surpassed NwN to it's freedom to create worlds, is NwN 2.
We'll see. Personally, I would only trust Obsidian to make any NwN spiritual successor, especially with their new Pathfinder deal.
To remind you, this is what NwN1/2 brought to the table.
-You can play the campaigns with friends and/or a DM. (Similar to SCL) -You have a toolset to make modules. -You can make a Persistent World with the toolset and then host it for dozens of people. Like a mini-MMO. -You can mod almost every aspect of the game and make new classes, spells, creatures etc. -The DM had absolute control to make anything they wanted on the spot.
The DM's power in the NwN games is absolute. They can possess and spawn anything they want, whenever they want. In Sword Coast Legends it seems like a privileged player that unlocks stuff here and there like the players.
It really looks to me like a Dungeon Keeper/Fable Legends type of power, for the DMs.
TL;DR: To answer OP's title question in my opinion as someone who played both NwN games to death: No, not even close.
@Archaos You're quick to judge. Let's wait for the release version first?
Based on what I saw and what is revealed, I am simply not impressed. It can be a great game with a great story and gameplay but I wouldn't call it a NwN successor yet.
@Archaos I think someone mentioned that there is going to be 2 different modes for DM'ing. The quick jump-in-and-play kind of DM'ing as well as a toolset for creating your own modules and adventures. They are just advertising the fast version more since it's kinda new and exciting and it would attract more to the casual player. Which is the vast majority of gamers. Not a 100% sure on this but it's the impression I got.
Amazon is known to give bogus dates sometimes... I remember preordering a book once that had three changes in its release date after I had already bought it
Amazon is known to give bogus dates sometimes... I remember preordering a book once that had three changes in its release date after I had already bought it
The opposite actually happened to me. When I pre-ordered Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance, the book ended arriving at my house 3 days before the release date on Amazon..
Turned out in the end that the release date was actually the month before, it was just wrong on Amazon. Cost me almost 30€ but that's normal for a hardcover the size of a Bible..
December 31...sounds like a placeholder for when they actually figure out the release date. I bought several games on Amazon that had a December 31 'release date', but after some time, the date was changed to the actual release date. In other words, it's likely closer to being released than that, they just don't have an actual date yet.
I am more on @Archaos - side when it comes to what I've seen and read thus far (mainly in this thread). However, i won't condemn the game even if the DM client isn't as robust as it could be. That isn't the end all and be all of the game for me.
I do think that where the DM is a known quantity there should at least be the option to turn off the 'Threat' restriction. Let the DM play out the game with absolute power, where you know that they are going to treat you fairly. That's the way PnP always was.
Oh man, this looks like the perfect thing for my friends from overseas and me to play some D&D with each other. (I am not a big fan of Videochats >.> )
Amazon is known to give bogus dates sometimes... I remember preordering a book once that had three changes in its release date after I had already bought it
I am not sure that Amazon is 100% to blame on this. I rather suspect that when they are notified of a new release, they are given a proposed release date. They don't just pull something out of their @$$ and say that is the release date. Now as to if it gets UPDATED should that preliminary date get updated, that may be a different story entirely. And of course there is always the possibility of data entry error. Just saying, with creative media, release dates are hardly ever hard and fast until they are actually released.
The video shows some good and some bad signs for this project.
3 characters in the shown combats seemed to use special attacks, choose targets and basically play themselves with no player's input. But I guess the player can change any time:)
In the same time I like how the party members talk with each other.
Looks very nice I think. Seems like Luskan is in the game
@bengoshi Isn't it a good thing the game as decent party AI? That's what many people complain about with BG. I'm sure you can turn it off and do everything manually.
@bengoshi Isn't it a good thing the game as decent party AI? That's what many people complain about with BG. I'm sure you can turn it off and do everything manually.
That's always assuming that the AI is good. What we saw looked good though so there's hope. But yes, I agree that I'd prefer to do everything myself. Maybe that's a leftover from both BG and NWN2, but I do like more control over my party than merely letting the computer do it all.
Pretty cool video. Makes me more excited for it to come out.
Comments
It looks like n-Space are not gnomes' friends yet. n-Space. n(on-gnome)-Space
There are others they could include, like aasimar, genasi, dragonborn or tieflings.
Not to mention that SCL is still missing well over 2/3rds of 5th Edition standard character classes. Druids, Invokers, Sorcerers, Avengers, Warlocks, Spellblades, Bards, Barbarians, Monks, Psions and Warlords are at the top of my list. I really hope there's some kind of skill progression so I can fe. make my rogue into an assassin.
Edit: Ooops, no... Those are 4th Edition classes. Well... Anyway.
I must admit I don't really get this game is it just an mp thing which u can play alone. Or is the single player actually a proper single player
... but half-orcs ? Is this to prevent an intellectual overdose ?
Xanos Messarmos disapproves of this comment.
Feel the burning stare of his familiar!!
No major news here, though.
Not saying no, just saying that I have more concerns than I did before the video. Is it just me?
Also, 3 previews have been written.
"In the demo I saw, the developers showed off some of the tools at their disposal when working with a single dungeon, including traps and ambushes.
The ambush in question involved a lone, totally-innocent-looking Drow standing on a bridge, just waiting to get beaten up for juicy loot and experience points. When the players approached the Drow, however, that triggered the ambush, which automatically spawned a whole mess of giant spiders on both sides of the bridge. The dungeon master set all this up in real time, moments before the players entered the room. He also went ahead and locked the door leading further into the dungeon, just to be a jerk.
While dungeon masters are omniscient, their powers aren't limitless. Just as a mage requires mana, the dungeon master relies on 'threat'. You start out with a lot of it, but nearly everything the DM does requires some, from spawning enemies to setting traps. A good dungeon master will earn more threat by providing a suitable challenge for players, one that pushes them to the edge without resulting in a string of party wipes.
As a matter of fact, if a dungeon master does decide to go all "rocks fall, everyone dies" on the players, that dungeon master actually starts to lose treat. And once the threat is all gone, the dungeon master's reign of terror (and rocks) is over. The developers emphasized that designing the role of the dungeon master is a balancing act. On the one hand, they want the DM to be lethal and encourage adversarial play, but on the other they don't want the DM to just create a string of impossible challenges (which they could easily do if left unchecked).
Naturally, as the players explore and kill monsters, they are rewarded with sweet, sweet loot. And so is the dungeon master. This loot takes the form of new tricks to play on the players. In the demo I saw, the GM stumbled across a special amulet that let him summon a zombie hoard on command - which was a type of monster he didn't otherwise have access to.
http://www.gamesradar.com/sword-coast-legends-dungeon-master/
Although not much could be discussed at the meeting, Sword Coast Legends will feature a "campaign mode" that allows DMs to author, map, plan, and execute a custom D&D campaign in-game. We don't have any details beyond this at the moment, but it's a critical item of note. As in the video interview above, we were told that campaigns can extend effectively forever, as in the tabletop game.
http://www.gamersnexus.net/news/1841-sword-coast-legends-dm-mode-detailed-preview
In our demo, we were told that the adventure creator will be very accessible and easy to use, giving you the ability to create encounters in minutes. You can create adventures and put them out there for others to play, or DM in real-time, and there will be a rating system so that you can find a DM that matches your playstyle. There definitely seems to be a lot of potential here for your weekly gaming group that just doesn’t seem to be able to get it together to create a fresh new adventure experience every time, as well as an opportunity to find like-minded players on the internets. Furthermore, Sword Coast Legends will support full-fledged campaigns, which the devs will be discussing in the near future.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1238/feature/9462/Sword-Coast-Legends-GDC-2015-Preview-We-Are-Excited.html
It seems pretty conservative to me and more similar to Fable Legends (even the last part of the name is similar) than NwN.
The only game that surpassed NwN to it's freedom to create worlds, is NwN 2.
We'll see. Personally, I would only trust Obsidian to make any NwN spiritual successor, especially with their new Pathfinder deal.
To remind you, this is what NwN1/2 brought to the table.
-You can play the campaigns with friends and/or a DM. (Similar to SCL)
-You have a toolset to make modules.
-You can make a Persistent World with the toolset and then host it for dozens of people. Like a mini-MMO.
-You can mod almost every aspect of the game and make new classes, spells, creatures etc.
-The DM had absolute control to make anything they wanted on the spot.
The DM's power in the NwN games is absolute. They can possess and spawn anything they want, whenever they want.
In Sword Coast Legends it seems like a privileged player that unlocks stuff here and there like the players.
It really looks to me like a Dungeon Keeper/Fable Legends type of power, for the DMs.
TL;DR: To answer OP's title question in my opinion as someone who played both NwN games to death: No, not even close.
It can be a great game with a great story and gameplay but I wouldn't call it a NwN successor yet.
http://www.amazon.com/n-Space-Sword-Coast-Legends-Download/dp/B00TZAFQKU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426075446&sr=8-2&keywords=Sword+Coast
Turned out in the end that the release date was actually the month before, it was just wrong on Amazon. Cost me almost 30€ but that's normal for a hardcover the size of a Bible..
I do think that where the DM is a known quantity there should at least be the option to turn off the 'Threat' restriction. Let the DM play out the game with absolute power, where you know that they are going to treat you fairly. That's the way PnP always was.
This is actually our first chance to see the Sword Coast Legends player campaign in action.
The video shows some good and some bad signs for this project.
3 characters in the shown combats seemed to use special attacks, choose targets and basically play themselves with no player's input. But I guess the player can change any time:)
In the same time I like how the party members talk with each other.
@bengoshi Isn't it a good thing the game as decent party AI? That's what many people complain about with BG. I'm sure you can turn it off and do everything manually.
But unlike Warcraft, this game is not developed by the the money-robbing greedy bastards that Blizzard is.
@FinneousPJ They also mentioned that Luskan is the gateway to the Spine of the World and Icewind Dale. That sounds very promising to me.
Pretty cool video. Makes me more excited for it to come out.