Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms

I stepped through the door to enter into yet another uneventful evening at work, the local Wilmington GameStop, to be greeted by the February issue of Game Informer. What I saw therein was amazing.

Atari has contracted Stormfront Studios, the crafters of LotR: TTT who were unexpectedly, and unreasonably "put out" by EA, to create a game in the lauded (or hated) D&D liscense called Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms.

The developers have actually gotten together with R.A. Salvator, the authority on Faerun and all things Forgotten Realms, as well as the creater of the world's most famous Drow, Dritzt Do'Urden, in order to make this game as acurate as possible.

Wizards of the Coast has been working closely with the project, providing much needed information concerning character types and game do's and don'ts.

The way this game looks is amazing. The still frames are wonderful, but the TRAILER looks that much better.

I liked D&D Heros for the XBOX, but this PS2 exclusive outing is shaping up to be the best D&D video game ever.

Oh, and here's a GameSpy write up on it.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

I liked D&D Heros for the XBOX, but this PS2 exclusive outing is shaping up to be the best D&D video game ever.

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Uhh... you're kidding right? You have to be, because I know you've heard of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Some shitty Two Towers clone can't match up to those.

I realize, CV, that, you know, you like every game, but cmon.

Oh, and by the way, Stormfront also made winners like Bloodwake and Pool of Radiance.

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Originally Posted by diffusionx

Uhh... you're kidding right? You have to be, because I know you've heard of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Some shitty Two Towers clone can't match up to those.

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So, I'm being over entusiastic. Big deal. Planescape: Torment is, hands down, the best D&D game ever, and as far as I'm concerned, it will continue to be for the rest of time.

Maybe I should have qualified my statement by saying the best console D&D game. God knows all of the PC games, straight back to the Golden Label, are some of the best games ever, let alone best D&D games.

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I realize, CV, that, you know, you like every game, but cmon.

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HAH! Ain't that the truth.

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Oh, and by the way, Stormfront also made winners like Bloodwake and Pool of Radiance.

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And a few Maddens and Tiger Woods.

But they also made LotR: TTT and Neverwinter Nights.

Yea... the shitty ones.

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Originally Posted by diffusionx

Yea... the shitty ones.

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Dude, don't think I was citing the Maddens and Tiger Woods to their credit. Those games suck. I was agreeing with you that they suck, and that they are a blemish on the face of gaming's landscape.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

I liked D&D Heros for the XBOX, but this PS2 exclusive outing is shaping up to be the best D&D video game ever.

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:yuck: No four player then I assume.

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Originally Posted by MonsterMash

:yuck: No four player then I assume.

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from the article there are only 3 players in the game, an elvin theif, a human wizard, and a human paladin. it looks nice, but eonly having selectable humans and elves takes it down a notch in my book, gimmie a dwarf or gnome, or a friggin kobold, not the most worn cliche race in fantasy history,and the race i am in real life, boring. the screens do look nice, but no box version=no me

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Originally Posted by frostwolf ex

from the article there are only 3 players in the game, an elvin theif, a human wizard, and a human paladin. it looks nice, but eonly having selectable humans and elves takes it down a notch in my book, gimmie a dwarf or gnome, or a friggin kobold, not the most worn cliche race in fantasy history,and the race i am in real life, boring. the screens do look nice, but no box version=no me

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It is a single play adventure. There are three characters, but you do not select one before starting, as you have control over all of them at all times. GI commented on how smart the AI actually is, too.

And I hear you about the Gnomes and Dwarves. Best D&D races ever.

Maybe there will be an XBOX version, but as it stands, the PS2 has first dibs.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

Planescape: Torment is, hands down, the best D&D game ever, and as far as I'm concerned, it will continue to be for the rest of time.

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Get off the pipe; Gold Box

I have no idea what the Hell you just said.

Instead of Planescape in your quoted sentence insert "the D&D Gold Box games" If you still have no idea what that means then you're really missing out when it comes to PC D&D On a similar note, ToEE is fantastic, story is extremely thin but the turn based combat is brilliantly translated from the Gold Box to 2.5D and most important, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Stormfront didn't exactly "make" The Two Towers...they co-developed it with a colossal EA art/programming/production team. For an example of a game made by Stormfront, seek out The Legend of Alon' D'ar. Or better yet, don't.

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Originally Posted by Bar81

Instead of Planescape in your quoted sentence insert "the D&D Gold Box games" If you still have no idea what that means then you're really missing out when it comes to PC D&D On a similar note, ToEE is fantastic, story is extremely thin but the turn based combat is brilliantly translated from the Gold Box to 2.5D and most important, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

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Yes, I know the Gold Box games. However, I misrepresented them by calling them "Gold Label" games in my post. Sorry. :sweat:

And even having played the Gold Box games, I still think Planescape is the best to date.

Uh-oh. Tupac's not gonna want to hear that.

Tupac can suck my nut sack.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

Tupac can suck my nut sack.

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No he can't. He's fucking dead. What a tragedy.

:lol:

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Originally Posted by Bar81

Get off the pipe; Gold Box

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I hate Dungeons and Dragons. It sucks. I hate the Gold Box games.

But I love Planescape: Torment. Go figure.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

I hate Dungeons and Dragons. It sucks. I hate the Gold Box games.

But I love Planescape: Torment. Go figure.

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It's because you're not gay.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

Dude, don't think I was citing the Maddens and Tiger Woods to their credit. Those games suck.

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Madden > Tiger Woods > Ty the Tasmanian Tiger > Alter Echo

If nothing else, this game gets a page in video game history as being the first American-developed game that features a well-designed, of-age female heroine who doesn't look like a stripper that would be happy to accept small change, let alone bills.

I've been playing D&D since I was 8, and I think Shadows of Mystara is the best D&D game ever. The CRPGs don't, can't, compare to playing the modules themselves with real people.

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Originally Posted by Stone

The CRPGs don't, can't, compare to playing the modules themselves with real people.

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You are correct. I've been playing D&D for nearly that long myself (save for this dry spell right now, but I'm working on finding a group), and nothing beats actually playing the game, pens and paper in hand, yukking it up with a room full of friends.

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Originally Posted by Bar81

Get off the pipe; Gold Box

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Have you actually played Torment yet or are you still talking out of your ass? And I notice ToEE went from a POS to fantastic.

Yes, I acquired a copy of Planescape and I like it - it's definitely a good game but it doesn't compare to the Gold Box games imo esp. Curse of the Azure Bonds and Champions of Krynn which imo are the two best in terms of storyline. Admittedly, I have yet to finish it but I don't think anything Planescape does is going to make it unseat the Gold Box series with its brilliant tactical fighting. In all fairness, I'll STFU about it until I finish it :D

Yeah, my opinion on ToEE has changed rather drastically the further I got into it. However, the problem I have with the game remains - there is no story. It's just hey there's evil in the temple - have fun! However, once you get into the temple and start fighting all the great battles the game becomes A LOT of fun; it's just the first 1/3 of the game when you're running errands and fighting spiders/giant frogs/brigands that sucks and it certainly doesn't help that we have to start out as Level 1 characters and it's miss, miss, miss, miss, etc Once my characters finally got up to fourth level the game and the gameplay picked up significantly. Just fyi, I didn't really get into the game until after the official patch, the Co8 patch, and the NPC non-looting patch had been released and outside of a few times where the game froze for about 30sec to load I've had zero technical or combat complaints although there still are many things that are broken (second patch incoming very soon) they don't in any way hinder enjoyment of the game. I just love the breadth of the system including great stuff like being able to craft magical arms and armor :)

The actual pen and paper ToEE is a blast. One of my most favorite modules.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

The actual pen and paper ToEE is a blast. One of my most favorite modules.

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:nod: Awesome adventure. It was stolen from me a few years back though, and the "Return" doesn't meausre up, IMO.