Daggerdale Reviews are in!

[Asketes]

[Memnir]

And now for something completely different...
A mostly positive review.


Still am not overly interested in the game - but it's nice to see it's not universally reviled. I mostly care because it's a D&D game, and I hate to see the D&D name sullied by poor video games.

[Seikojin]

The game type (gameplay) is not too new. A similar game came out for the xbox years ago Dungeons and Dragons Heroes.

I was very anxious to try it out considering it is running with 4e's rules (like others, I felt 4e would be perfect for video games).

We downloaded the demo, played it, bought it, and played all night on the full version (xbox live). It is a lot of fun.

Pros:
Speedy, get-in-the-action gameplay.
Persistant (so far) world.

Cons:
Environment can block view (common in these types of games unfortunately).
Targetting is rough for ranged combat (unless I am missing a target selection button).

Overall:
For 15$, it is a good buy. A great party-like game. I wish there was more customization, but considering that other games of the same type have the same lack of customization, it is not hindering to enjoying the game. Some of the tricks you can do to keep alive are useful. I didn't like the cheaping out on cutscenes and voiceovers, but that too is a hallmark (or guttermark for the lows) for these kind of action games. Hearing it only goes to level 10 depresses me a bit, but, this game also is part 1 of 3. So I am sure by part 3 we hit 20.

As far as 4e, I haven't played pnp 4e because I am down the monsters manual to run the game. I think 4e is just as good as 3.5 (I know, hate all you want) with the right gm behind the screen. I have always been there for my players to help them achieve their goals in character design, and 4e allows as much customization as 3.5. If not more. But that is from my creationist standpoint for pnp. So for me, daggerdale does a good job of bringing it in. As much as I would like stat placement and race/class combos, I am not saying it is a deal breaker for me that I cannot.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

Well, gameplay doesn't look too horrible.
But the character models are hideous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF8H4TWRVIE
Warning, some strong language and British people playing it.

[moops]

This is what I had to say about it:

"Meh, I like it so far. . .I've had a few hours of fun and have not played co op yet. Its an Arcade game so I wasn't expecting much, and to be honest so far this is better than many arcade games that Ive tried. Sure its no DDO or NVM, and its dumbed down, but, it's the cost of one lunch or dinner, not $50 or $60."

[QuantumFX]

Sad thing is I always felt the 4E ruleset loaned itself greatly to MMOs/Video games. How do you mess THAT up?

4th edition is even more dependent on turn based combat than 3/3.5. Any time programmers have tried to change these mechanics the results have been less than stellar.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

4th edition is even more dependent on turn based combat than 3/3.5. Any time programmers have tried to change these mechanics the results have been less than stellar.

Give At-wills a 6 or 10s cooldown, Encounters a 3 or 5m cooldown, and Dailies a 30m or 1 h cooldown, or don't let them reset until you get back to town or rest or whatever.
I'd think it could work that way.
But maybe not.

[Maxelcat]

Wait Wait Wait!!!!

THEY HAVE CLOAKS!!!

has to be good if they have cloaks?

[Savras]

Man, I was looking forward to this. I'll still try it out regardless. Somehow 2D D&D games like BG2 seem to be nicer than their 3D counterparts...

Let's hope that Neverwinter won't disappoint!

[whitehawk74]

There is still Torchlight 2 to fall back on.
The first one was a major success. I bought it, I played it, and then I replayed it a bunch of times.

[t0r012]

Yeah I didn't have high hoPes to start with. I'll wait for it to hit the bargain bin like I do with almost all my games.

What really ticked me off was getting an email from atari about it. When they left their affiliation with ddo they should have lost the right to contact me.

[Anarkius]

Wait Wait Wait!!!!

THEY HAVE CLOAKS!!!

has to be good if they have cloaks?

lol

[Myriam]

Here's another more positive review from a couple of people I actually trust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GYP3...&feature=feedu

[Anarkius]

Ugggh...ok so I finally went out 'shopping' for Daggerdale. Luckily found it at my 2nd stop (GameStop - local mall; even though it wasn't listed as being in stock ).

Started installation about 6:10pm EST and STILL going....gotta love the Steam client (and yes I am already a Steam member thanks to FalloutNV). I am really finding this buy the PCDVD and still having to download the game BS...disturbing at best. Even though the reviews have been horrid for the most part, it still carries a D&D title so I have to try it out, I owe it to Gary (yeah, right). My curiosity is getting to me again what can I say. Besides, if nothing else it will be a nice fill in for DDO downtime...


If it ever friggin' installs!!!!!

I'll be sure to give an actual valid opinion within the next week or so, after installation. And yes I am using a cable internet connection.

EDIT So I finally got this monstrosity installed and played for about 2 hours last night...

1. Over an hour to install a game that I bought the PCDVD for - this just really bugs me. FalloutNV wasn't even that bad and it was a much better (graphics and gameplay) game.

2. The controls - OH, THE HORROR!!! Awkward at best. Granted I was using the keyboard and mouse, didn't bother with plugging in and setting up my controller.

3. Graphics are meh! I think my Super Nintendo / PS1 consoles had better looking games. And my gosh, can we block the view any more with clutter when trying to swing the camera around to pick up stuff, open chests or kill goblins?

4. Cut Scenes (cinematics); now I only saw the opening one and the super short 'cave in' (not to spoil anything), but this is definately a LOW BUDGET game.

5. Voice acting. The dwarves are nothing but grunts (think a poor attempt at impersonating Tim Allen on 'Home Improvement'). the repeated 'Unhh?' and 'Unggghh...' are rediculous especially while having to read paragraphs of text to follow the story.

Overall, for $15 I think the money would have been better spent on Turbine Points but I had to give it a shot. Yeah, I'll probably play it through (just because I bought it) but after that, It's probably headin for the recycle bin.

Windows: would you like to permanently delete this file?
Me: Ummm, well, YES!

[sephiroth1084]

Tried this POS for about 15 minutes two nights ago while at a friend's house (he really does buy every piece of **** that floats through his transom). Very boring and incredibly poorly designed. I think it cost something like $5 on XBOX Live, and that felt like he'd spent too much. A 4.5 out of 10 was someone being overly generous due to nostalgia for D&D in general, I suspect.

[sephiroth1084]

Oh, and idiotically, while playing together on a single console, only the first player can advance through dialogue, which is painful to have to listen to or read for even a few seconds.

[porq]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF8H4TWRVIE

I watched most of this and the OP's video. I can't come away with anything positive to say about it, other than it's probably great fodder for those on-the-fly game nights with friends. Pick up and play sort of deal.

Looks like a Gauntlet Legends knockoff to me.

[sephiroth1084]

I watched most of this and the OP's video. I can't come away with anything positive to say about it, other than it's probably great fodder for those on-the-fly game nights with friends. Pick up and play sort of deal.

Looks like a Gauntlet Legends knockoff to me.

I'd rather play Turtles In Time.

[twix]

15 dollars for a new game.... you kinda get what you payed for....if i got 3to 4 hours of entertainment i would feel i got my moneys worth...try going out to a bar for 3 or 4 hours or seeing a movie and that 15 dollars all of sudden doesnt seem too bad..

P.S this is the same excuse i tell my wife when turbine takes money out of my account...lol

[DoctorWhofan]

A friend and I both picked this game up last night, and were playing it for about five hours.

Here's the pros:
It's a budget game. $15 US.
Action RPG, loot driven co-op gameplay. It's basically Gauntlet with the words "Dungeons and Dragons" on the cover.

Cons:
Little to no character customization.
The NPC dwarves that you have to put up with constantly are uglier than DDO's half-elves.

Honestly, we're having a lot of fun with it. We didn't expect it to have a meaningful story, or a good interpretation of D&D rules. I picked it up expecting it to be cheap, and like Gauntlet. That's exactly what it is.

Games like this are great for co-op play with friends.

I love the Dwarves' "voices" Talk about flashback to all those Peanuts specials.

WHy is a halfling the mage and the elf a rogue?

My hubby and I kept saying "Red Wizard needs food badly"

Not impressive, but my hubby'staking the 360 on deployment starting next week, so that will keep him occupied, next replaying Halo (all of them) and assassin's creed (all of them).

My opinion? I still own Dark Alliance 1 & 2. That was fun. This was not.