Dragonshard - underrated d&d gem?
fighter_mage_thief
Member Posts: 262
It's a pretty interesting game that combines RTS and RPG.
You get heroes with special abilities that can equip up to two of eight artifacts (some overlap, but many are unique to each hero). There is a rogue hero, for example, who has stealth and who can eventually throw freezing daggers. There is a cleric hero who has an AoE knockdown attack, and who can use an AoE heal.
You have an inventory, so can use items such as a ring of fireballs (like the wand of fireballs), one time use scrolls of spells such as melf's acid arrow, magic immunity, animate dead, and finger of death.
There are captain units that can be upgraded via experience gained from killing monsters, enemy units, or finding scrolls of exp. Rank 1 represents a character of around lvl 5-7, whereas rank 5 is somewhere between lvl 20 and 30.
There is an overworld and underworld. In the overworld, a rank 5 captain can attract 4 followers, so a team of 5 rank 5 captains can consist of 25 units. Only captains and heroes can go into the underworld, so it is sort of like C&C on the surface, but BG in the underworld.
It takes place in the Eberron campaign setting, which I hadn't known much about before, so it was an interesting setting to find a bit out about. I.e. warforged, artificers, shadow elves as opposed to Drow, lizardmen.
Not a bad game for $5.00. It's a lot like Warcraft III, but with some different features, and the familiarity of d&d. It also reminds me a bit of the d&d arcade games (tower of doom and shadow over mystara) because of all the consumable items (boots of haste/speed, potions, scrolls, etc.)
I don't think there is an advanced map editor or toolset like for WC III or NWN though, which is unfortunate, since some interesting rpg maps could have been made.
You get heroes with special abilities that can equip up to two of eight artifacts (some overlap, but many are unique to each hero). There is a rogue hero, for example, who has stealth and who can eventually throw freezing daggers. There is a cleric hero who has an AoE knockdown attack, and who can use an AoE heal.
You have an inventory, so can use items such as a ring of fireballs (like the wand of fireballs), one time use scrolls of spells such as melf's acid arrow, magic immunity, animate dead, and finger of death.
There are captain units that can be upgraded via experience gained from killing monsters, enemy units, or finding scrolls of exp. Rank 1 represents a character of around lvl 5-7, whereas rank 5 is somewhere between lvl 20 and 30.
There is an overworld and underworld. In the overworld, a rank 5 captain can attract 4 followers, so a team of 5 rank 5 captains can consist of 25 units. Only captains and heroes can go into the underworld, so it is sort of like C&C on the surface, but BG in the underworld.
It takes place in the Eberron campaign setting, which I hadn't known much about before, so it was an interesting setting to find a bit out about. I.e. warforged, artificers, shadow elves as opposed to Drow, lizardmen.
Not a bad game for $5.00. It's a lot like Warcraft III, but with some different features, and the familiarity of d&d. It also reminds me a bit of the d&d arcade games (tower of doom and shadow over mystara) because of all the consumable items (boots of haste/speed, potions, scrolls, etc.)
I don't think there is an advanced map editor or toolset like for WC III or NWN though, which is unfortunate, since some interesting rpg maps could have been made.
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The two main reasons are:
1. I don't like RTS games
2. I don't like eberron
Looking at it as a game and ignoring the lore bias, this game deserved more attention.
I want to move more towards low-magic fantasy rather than magic-saturated fantasy, which most RPG's now are.
Before, I thought warforged and the dragonkin/dragonborn were sort of silly or gimmicky, but they have grown on me with some nice cartoon-like animations and some lovable characters (Bastion and Redfang lol) from the game.
The warforged are so hideous imo in DDO, but they look great in this game.
Also, I'm not a fan of RTS much either, but with the combination of RPG elements, and the fact that you can't take followers into the underground, it feels like a dungeon crawler in a lot of parts, and even a team vs team edition of Baldur's Gate in the underground. The campaign, for example, has quests and special encounters in dungeons where you're up against a frost giant, a necromancer, a beholder, an umber hulk, a marilith, vampires, and mindflayers...in these circumstances, it feels a lot like Baldur's Gate or IWD for me, as opposed to Command & Conquer.
I played a lot of Warcraft III not for the RTS, but for the custom maps made by fans. Some of these maps are totally co-op, and have a leveling/item system combined with save codes, and with the map editor and some knowledge & skill, it's possible to actually re-create games or make new ones, while using the graphics of WC III. I loved playing in the Final Fantasy IV world in multiplayer ^^ The same applies to NWN. The custom servers are where these games can really shine.
IMO, the biggest obstacle of Dragonshard is a poorly designed user interface. There just aren't enough options to customize the gameplay, which takes A LOT away from it. What I mean is like group commands, object selection & interaction, unit grouping (can't seem to make multiple groups involving unit overlap), health bar options, text size readjustment (I can barely read a lot of things on screen for ex), key mapping, etc.
I'll even say more... If you say D'nD and think RTS something is very wrong with your head.
The term real time strategy almost seems a bit illogical.
Why create a strategy game which relies a lot on physical skill rather than strategy? It makes no sense.
It's not illogical at all. It's just a game with it's own set of rules.
But im reminded of Blood & Magic...What a great game that was!
Since there are usually few or no game pauses, you're forced to make decisions quickly, and so as you become more experienced with the game, you will make more effective decisions, like in most games with any learning curve.
For example, it doesn't take any physical skill to click on your base to train units or build new structures or upgrade, but some players forget to do this or are uncomfortable with it even though they have amassed a lot of resources, and this loses them the game.
The same goes for creating expansions to collect more resources. A lot of players don't do this, and even if they were winning from having slightly better physical skill, they suddenly realize that they're running out of resources and have no way to win.
Also, each unit usually has unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, so merely having good physical skill is usually not enough, since your opponent can gain game-winning advantages by exploiting your weaknesses (and vice versa).
Also, a large part of the game is about mental awareness, i.e. how much of what's going on that you can take in and process. I'll admit that I'm not the best at this, and find games like these logistical nightmares due to not having a game pause to be able to stop and think. I also tend to look at battles with extreme tunnel vision, and forget about other things going on. I must also admit, I usually try to steer clear of games or builds where I'm required to do a lot of button smashing. For example, if I have the option of doing x amount of damage in 1 click or 2+ clicks, I will intentionally choose the single click. Thanks for this, I never heard of the game before. Looks very fun ^^ I think I know what you mean on some level. Do you consider Baldur's Gate low-magic fantasy, and in what way? I suppose with the Eberron setting, you have the dragonshards, meaning everyone and their dog can cast a little magic I'm guessing. Also, maybe I'm missing your meaning, but I was always looking for a 'low magic' server in NWN to play on, because in some, it was way too easy to get +7 and +12 items, whereas in BG, a +3 item is as good as it gets, and +5 in BG 2, and +6 in ToB.
I have played Spellforce though, which is also an RPG-RTS mix, and I enjoyed that quite a bit. Has anyone here played both of those games? Is Dragonshard similar to Spellforce in terms of gameplay? Is it worse? Is it better?
I've lost a considerable amount of respect for GOG for inferring this is a "good" game by having it on their site.
Personally, I like many parts of the distinct Eberron setting. While clearly not as great as the legendary Planescape, Spelljammer and Dark Sun settings, it has its unique charm. Especially when using psionics.
The differences between the heroes.
In WCIII, each hero has 4 abilities (3 trainable at level 1, 1 ultimate trainable at level 6). The max hero level is 10, and stat gains are automatic per level. Each hero has a six slot inventory, which can be used to hold weapons, armor, spell scrolls, potions, etc.
In Dragonshard, heroes don't level, and start with above average stats and damage. By contrast to WC III, it's the units in DS that you level up, and they gain new abilities and become far more powerful. Also, there is an inventory that can be used universally. In other words, so long as you have a unit that is not stunned, you can use an item from the inventory. Further, there is a status screen in between missions that is used to enhance and customize your heroes, many of which are unique to each character.
In SpellForce, the heroes seem to have a full inventory, as in helmet, body armor, weapon, shield, and so on, in addition to abilities. But I don't know much more yet.
As for the Umbragen, you're right, they do have some major advantages. Their beholder unit is ridiculously strong lol.
I also agree with what was said above, it was a shame that the Umbragen didn't have a campaign. Also, there could have been more maps for each race, and it wouldn't have hurt. Oh well.