AVID D&D fan and AVID AC fan!!!

Tyrgris

I have played D&D ever since Gary Gygax gave us AD&D. Played and still own the original Goldbox series which included titles like Pool of radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, Pools of Darkness and etc. Then the old Eye of Beholder series. Darksun series to playing the original Neverwinter Nights Online at AOL back in the early 90's (http://www.bladekeep.com/nwn/ )  Up to Baldur's gate series, POR:RoMD, Temples of Elemental Evil and of course Neverwinter Nights. Plus I strongly look forward to NwN2 when it hits the shelves later this year (http://www.atari.com/nwn2/)  ...

Now as for Turbine products. outside of previous MMO like original NWNO, the UO, The Realm, M59 and even a touch of EQ. I unlike others fell inlove with AC. I spent over thousands of hours running around in the world of Dereth from Nov 1st 1999 to about July 2002. I beta tested AC2 and even purchased it since I was such a turbine supporter. I tried EQ for a couple of weeks. But all I did was miss my Dereth.

What Turbine did to AC2, eventhough I didn't really care for the game, was BAD. Closing down their world was the wrong way to go for their small company. If anything, they could have released the server code so their could have been fan based servers. But, no they beheaded the small group of fans right in public domain for all MMO fans to see.

Now, after Turbines sacrifice of their own franchise and leaving their original AC fans with no bridge to cross or even a AC world that could one day be overhauled. Turbine just decided to sever their own franchise in the hopes that a long time name(s) of the fantasy genre will escalate them from a small company to a corporation to compete with the big guys.

What did they do??? They took the D&D name for granted and rushed out a game (once again) in hopes that it will stir up the whole MMO community to come running to defend the title "by name".

They used the most annoying voice for DMing that was also used in AC2 for narration. SOmehow I get the feeling it is the vioce of Jeffrey Anderson. Probably demanding that his voice be used since he is pres. If not, I don't know who in the hell thought that voice REALLY fit into gaming environments anyway. THAT same voice is also used in LOTRO. It is the WORST narative voice I have ever heard. I truly find it very annoying to even hear.

Now as for the game itself...Well the graphic quality is good. I can have the settings up at a nice setting and it runs fine. The colors they used where great and bring the citiy to life with all the right colors and tones, earth tones as I might add. The background music fits well with the D&D setting and added nice ambient as well as the sfx complements it to.

However, Turbines first tumor starts here. First off I think they tried to focus too much trying to copy PnP. If anything, Simultronics should have got a hold of it and changed a TON of things. If planning to make a rendition of PnP it shouldn't be a animated movement game it should stay tue not only to turn-based, but also true to player(s), immediate environment and Dungeon Master decision making. Once you cross that threshold, the whole gaming forte changes. It is truly no longer a style necessary for session/campaign play.

"When you open up an environment to us in a 3d scape you need to open up the world to us go where we can escape."

Secondly as for being a sub par MMO, it should atleast cater to an open environment. Single player games usually base their environment in a linear path so the player doesn't lose track of his/her advancement in story.

Typically in a MMO or even MP you don't really have a story that is linear or focused on one player. If you do this sort of environment in a MMO or MP setting. Not only does it feel like being herded, but also containment with no freedom of character exploration. On top of that, you have an addition problem. In most MMO's there isn't a constant flooding of players at all levels. So in many reasons unsupported by DDO you will be unable to make progress if you are a new character. Unless like now, Turbine unleases a 7 day free trial to get a flood of new blood to keep a path of players coming in.

Not only did Turbine create the idea of having a free trial to get a mass of players in at one time. But also to create a flood of people to come in so the ones that just bought the game in the last couple of weeks will have others to group with so they can make progress.

I think Turbine is starting to realize that what they did with regards to a linear world and the so called "friends don't let friends quest alone" theme is a bad idea.

Now, eventhough the art work is very good and the sounds (ambient and music) are nicely done. However some of the underground worlds look sort of cheesy. The map editor they use is either outdated or the guys using the tools are outdated with their abilities. Some of the landscaping and underground maps look no better than pre 2002 quality. Look at the ground in caves, look at the ground even outdoors in the city. You can see a lot of different levels of ground like if they can't go from one texture to another without making a rise in the texture "like a steping stone" as so to speak. It is juts plan outright "CHEESY". Infact I am shocked to see such absence of quality when you look at the models and some building quality. It just doesn't measure up. Now as for the water, shees. I won't even go there. Even Morrowind had better water along with many MMO's I am sure a lot of you can even think of. LOL, WoW even has better water and it's world doesn't use earth tone for colors. Hmm, I wonder what that would look like.

Now as for combat, well I could go into this in so much detail most of you would stop reading before I got half way done, due to the length of it alone. But I will just say the only thing they did good with it was the ability to use twitch combat, like AC was. Outside of that it stinks and the variable of of di rolls for the hit amd miss is a shame to the D&D Franchise.

I could write a review on how badly implemented this game was built and it would probably take up over 10 pages of a computer gaming magazine.

Not only was this game a shame in the eyes of fans of the D&D franchise, but a slap in the face to all High Fantasy gamers out there. In the end result, it will only be another black eye for Turbine and one lesson I have learned to know not to waste my money on another produce that Turbine produces. Yes, I am getting to the fact that I plan on not buying LOTRO unless I can get a trial of the game so I know I won't have another title sitting on my computer desk shelf to collect dust and only serve as a reminder that just because it carries the name of your favorite title doesn't mean it is your favorite title.

I have a bad feeling that by this time next year, both Dungeons & Dragons and Lords of the Rings will only be a title in ruins of its name and all hope will be lost that they will ever live up to their pre Turbine views. Turbine will go down in flames taking the name of D&D and Middle Earth with them.

Tolkien Enterprises should pull LOTRO from Turbine before they ruin the great works of Tolkien. Maybe they should get Simutronics to do Middle Earth Online.

As for D&D, well luckily the D&D franchise is based off of too many titles to get ruined from turbine. I am just very greatful that Obsidian is working on NwN2 so we all have something to go to when we watch the ashes of Ebberon crash the the preverbal ground. WotC or Atari should reconcider and tell Bioware to stop working on what they are doing as per  MMO and have them and Obsidian create the ultimate D&DO and of course in the Forgotten Realms, DragonLance or even Greyhawk would be nice

DDO is dead, it is just a matter of time before Turbine pulls the plug. I am sure it won't be too much time after NwN2 comes out.

Xenduli

You know I read all that and agree that Turbine did ruin DDO. I do feel that the game was made more "consoley" and more like Dark Alliance than previous games. But then again those other games were a success. DDO did take a ridiculously short time to make, a little over 2 years I believe. That's because it's based on AC engine. But yes most are predicting NWN2 to usurp DDO.

Bukgrim

I’ve played DDO since beta and totally agree with everything
you say.  The graphics are very smooth
and the best feature of the game.  There
was a large insurgence of players when the game first started, during that time
it was easy to find a group and try out different quest. Things has changes
since then and the amount of time spent LFG is growing, especially for lower
levels.

I started playing during the beta period and just canceled
my last week.  Time to start looking for
a new game.

Matin61

I guess I will never 'get' the design of DDO.  How can you be given a gift like D&D and then totally miss the mark?  I think about all the innovative work that could have gone on with something like D&D to work with and wonder why someone couldn't have come up with a better game than DDO.

You know what I would have done?  I would have enlisted my hard core audience to design dungeons and different outdoor areas.  I would have build a tool set that allowed others to build mods, that could be test run, and then voted on my the community.  I would have then sent them through an official review and incorporated them in the game.

I would have started with a large out door area.  Some missions out of a frontier town and into the countryside.  Some would be encounters with orc tribes.  Some would be lairs with fierce creatures ready to rip your face off.  Some would send you down into the bowels of the earth to confront evil.

Instead, they managed to give us forced grouping and the most boring set of dungeons I've ever seen created.  I've seen grade schoolers design more interesting dungeons.  Maybe I ask too much of a company given a gift like D&D.

Jamkull

well, i had a feeling it wouldn't last long for some (most?), i've been in the same boat as yourself, i'm an older gamer that has played D&D since the mid 80s and all the gold box games and my first MMO was AC1.  Which i played april of 2000 until may of 2004 on the morningthaw server, and i went back to check out the new expansion.  It is still a good game just doesn't hold me like it once did, albeit it is still the best IMO out of anything to date.

I beta tested DDO as well, and from that i knew it didn't have enough content to really hold anyone long.  My prediction is if they can make it until they come out with at least 1 expansion that adds in the full progression to level 20 and possibly into the epic levels with mucho grande content adds then it might be viable then. But that is a shallow might...  The interface is the one thing that annoyed me the most.  Its clucky at best just like AC1 is and AC2 was.  They need to fire their UI team and find some decent people to do that better.  The voice thing didn't bother me much... but to each is their own.

The one aspect about DDO that is the great is that is shows that Turbine still has what it takes to make a good dungeon crawl.  Puzzles and traps all the way, or FTW some might say   Their ability to create tons of unique items through the use of a loot generator is also present.  The fast and furious combat is their but it sucks its only catered to group play for the most part.  I know i soloed well in DDO during the beta up until level 2 rank 2.  But after that, it just seemed to impossible solo.

But my faith in turbine has just about all dried up in their ability to really create a great game again.  At least after seeing Bioware is now hiring for their MMO studio in Austin, looks like we might end up with some nice games that have a good Fantasy element.  Maybe a D&D title might be in the pipeline from them.  *crosses fingers and hopes* lol  But more than likely it will be based on their original title i'd imagine, Dragon Age.   And i can only hope that Bethesda desides to move their Elder Scrolls series to the MMO arena.  Then we will see some quality products come out. 

But i fully agree about simultronics, if they did it, it would have been much better.  They seem to have a good developement plan when it comes to the MMO community.  DMs and the whole 9 would have been present, with a whole world that would be constantly increasing in size and content.

I still can't understand why Turbine made DDO only based in Stormreach so much, give you a severe case of clostrophobia and i'm not clostrophobic.  Eh oh well... Maybe one day these game companies will pull their head out of their butt when they see tried and true companies running the show like Blizzard, Bioware and with hopes Bethesda   hm.. they all begin with a "B" eh.. nevermind