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Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Review | MMORPG.com
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Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Review | MMORPG.com
For fans of the Forgotten Realms series, the chance to go hands on with Drizzt and his pals is an enticing proposition. However, how does the latest Co-op Dungeons & Dragons adventure game hold up?
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Sad to see yet another bargain bin game released.
Kinda off topic, but man gaming over the last few years has started to feel like the video game crash all over again. Live service games, early access, kickstarter.. so many games are just shoved out unfinished, broken, lacking content, etc., and most of them are full of microtransactions or tons of overpriced DLC. And there's so much tat everywhere due to free engines. Been so difficult to get enthusiastic about anything, and when I do, I'm always letdown.
The first night we played it took 20 minutes for 1 friend and I to actually manage to get to group together. Then after we ran the first mission, we disconnected (still happens every time). A third friend has never been able to join us. Every time he connects to our game he instantly gets kicked out. It even happens by himself if he switches to Friends or Invite mode (instead of offline).
Every time we join we end up getting double feedback from being in Discord and the in game chat. Despite the fact that we have it turned OFF in the menu, we have to go in every time, toggle it ON, and then back OFF.
Just killing some time until Crowfall launches in 2 weeks but I don't think we will make it. Good thing this was free through Gamepass.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
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This ain't it Chief.
If they fix whatever is wrong i might check it out later on sale. As it is now i rather go back and play the OG DA/DA2.
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The combat was lack luster in the game, especially for anyone that didn't want to use a controller. That is my number one pet peeve in gaming if it is on a computer I better be able to play it on KB and mouse with breaking my fingers to do it. If I wanted to play with a controller I would buy it on one of the consoles.
The way it made you replay entire areas if you died didn't do it any favors either. Sometimes the camera would hide an enemy off screen that randomly would kill me because I lost track of it and the auto lock wouldn't undo so I could find them. Just bad design systems all around in the game.
Hard pass on Dark Alliance.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
Did anyone really expect anything from this one?
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
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I think the point he is trying to make is that D&D is a ruleset, and that the Forgotten Realms are a campaign setting. The FR is a D&D original setting, as are Greyhawk, Dark Sun, etc. You could use the FR setting in any other ruleset. As for Dark Alliance, he is right that the game is not based on the D&D ruleset like some other games are, and only uses Dungeons and Dragons as far as the Forgotten Realms campaign setting is originally published under that trademark. Sorta how RA Salvatore doesn't really adhere to the D&D ruleset in his novels.
I think he ultimately was trying to say that Dark Alliance isn't really a D&D game, and while someone in PR wants to use the trademark to get a bunch of idiots to buy the game solely on the name, we as players should know better than to fall for the advertising.
I may be the only person to think this, but the combat has actually grown on me. While I agree that the combo system isn't fluid and you don't seamlessly move from one attack to the next, I personally don't mind the animation lock. I have always disliked the immersion breaking nature of being able to cancel an attack mid-swing, and that lack of magically being able to break the laws of physics and reset your character to avoid an incoming attack is why I like the Dark Alliance combat. It slows things down and fits the style of combat Salvatore uses in his books.
You have to slow down, use strategy, and stop spamming buttons in big fights. I've learned that taking out archers and casters is top priority, just like a D&D battle. I've also stopped spamming attacks and started relying on blocks, parries, and dashes to avoid damage. And it's all getting better as I unlock more moves for the characters.
The characters are another thing I like. All four have a different play style, and as long as you aren't exploiting the horrible AI by using Catti-Brie's bow to pick them off outside of their reaction range, each character brings something different to the table. I still don't like that we are stuck with the preset characters, but at least they all have their own skills and abilities.
As for the difficulty levels, I've come to accept that it's more of an implementation issue than a scaling issue. Even though you are given the option to up the difficulty right from the get go, with adventure scores that have nothing to do with your chance of success, the extra difficulty levels work for well geared groups. I would like it if the first two challenge levels worked more like a normal and hard mode, I think of the other levels as trying to play Nightmare mode in Diablo 3 with a brand new character.
In the end, I think the original reviewers take on the game is on target. I don't see Dark Alliance as a game that can be fixed since many of the issues aren't just bugs and performance problems but design decisions that are baked into the game. Personally, though, I like some of those decisions, and I wouldn't bet that I am still playing the game in a couple of weeks, I will be playing through the story. And at the price of free on Gamepass, I will consider that enough.
Thing is, DnD is multiple rulesets. Is it the Basic ruleset? Expert? Advanced? 2.0? 3.0? 3.5? Whatever that mess was they released after 3.5? Does it include Unearthed Arcana and other non-essential sourcebooks?
So, even arguing that it's a ruleset and thus shouldn't apply to a game in a Dungeons and Dragons setting is both pedantic, and vulnerable to further pedantry. I feel like I've lost a bit of my soul just participating in this go-round.
PS: The game is terrible, don't buy it. Even if you have an XBox sub, you should really consider if you want to waste the time and resources to download it. My money is that the answer is "no" for anybody that lacks 3 friends that are desperate for something to do.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.