So why are Atari Fucking around with the D&D licence?

StBishop

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I've not really seen much good come from the licence since they've had it to be honest.

Temple of Elemental Evil was pretty good. But mostly only in combat imo.

Everything else seems lack lustre. There's not much role play in the role playing games they've brought out. There seems to be very little focus on decision making, puzzle solving, customisation etc and more focus on combat and combat alone. What we're getting is either a dungeon crawler or an "actiony" RPG[footnote]Think: Diablo 2, and Torchlight[/footnote] type game rather than a proper RPG[footnote]Think: Baldur's Gate, and Arcanum[/footnote].

Anyone else agree? Disagree?
Have I missed something?
Do you have any idea what they might be doing? etc.

Discuss!

Edited for clarity
 

StBishop

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Yeah, I should probably edit that for clarity.

What I was trying to say is there's not much role play in the role playing games they've brought out. There seems to be very little focus on decision making, puzzle solving, customisation etc and more focus on combat and combat alone.

Think: The difference between Diablo 2 and Torchlight Versus Baldur's Gate and Arcanum.
 

Schnippshly

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Well my favorite RPG is Demon's Souls specifically because of the combat system. My second favorite RPG is Tales of Vesperia because the combat system is real-time and team-based, and the storyline is really good.
I don't see what can be done with D&D as a video game. The whole board game dice-rolling aspect is completely random. It's necessary for a board game, but video games have a lot more control so there's no reason to require it.
D&D plots for actual D&D campaigns are also just excuses for the players to break into someone's trap-filled fortress and steal all their gold and kill them.
 

ms_sunlight

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Didn't you like Mask of the Betrayer? I really liked Mask of the Betrayer. I am such an Obsidian fangirl. The storytelling was top notch.
 

Mr Dizazta

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Just give the DnD license to BioWare. They need something to pimp out once the Mass Effect trilogy is over and we need another BG.
 

Dr_Horrible

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I hated NWN2, but games like the first NWN, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale were awesome! I wish Atari would have bioware making a proper NWN2.
 

Schnippshly

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bussinrounds said:
Guess what ? Not every damn rpg these days needs to be an action game where you only control one character
Hudurrrr no kidding! Settle down there, Autto, I didn't realize it was illegal for me to voice my personal opinion. I always found Baldur's Gate to be incredibly boring. That doesn't mean I thought it was bad or that other people shouldn't play it if they like it.
 

Schnippshly

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Because it's a discussion, obviously. I like action RPGs and I think calling an action RPG improper is insulting, suggesting that full control over one character = not an RPG.
 

Confidingtripod

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lets face it; if 80% of people buying games want first person, realtime, regening health and no plot thats what will be made, I still play baldurs gate and neverwinter nights, everyone I know personally who played them enjoyed them and frankly they are passed, it's like trying to remake a film like Fight Club, it was perfect the first time so the most you can hope to do is re-release it with better quality.

We are not going to get any great RPG's while mindless action rules, remember when RPG's used to actually be about role playing? Now they slap it on everything with dialougue choices, I enjoy other games but those remain with me, defeating the bounty hunters in baldurs gate, no matter the group, gives such a feeeling of satisfaction, or when you decide aribeth's fate in neverwinter nights only to help her redeem herself in the expansions, they were well written and great, just obscure.

Wow, I started this not realising how strongly I felt...
 

Schnippshly

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I owned Neverwinter Nights and the two expansions they made that came out on discs. Honestly I just don't see the appeal in left-clicking on an enemy so that your character starts auto-attacking it. You only get to control one character and if you picked a fighter you're going to be doing a whole lot of watching.
 

Confidingtripod

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Schnippshly said:
I owned Neverwinter Nights and the two expansions they made that came out on discs. Honestly I just don't see the appeal in left-clicking on an enemy so that your character starts auto-attacking it. You only get to control one character and if you picked a fighter you're going to be doing a whole lot of watching.
It was all about the story, I understand the system seems boring, and I'd readily admit that it can be tedious during long-winded battles, but "classic" RPG's were better defined as interactive story's with variable parts. Just for context: At the time I was playing them I read ALOT, they were slow and story driven.

I just feel its on of those things that I've been too long without, the style was my thing.

Also, you want watching? play civilisation, when you can see the entire map and multiple country's are at war, a turn can take hours.
 

Schnippshly

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Well, I personally didn't like the plots in Neverwinter Nights, but I can appreciate that other people like them.
What's important is that you don't have to have a boring combat system to have a good story. Bringing up Tales of Vesperia again, I found that game to be great for a lot of reasons. It had a fighting game-esque combat system that appealed to me, but then I was also amazed by the well-paced story with its interesting cast of characters and their realistic motivations and problems.
I think gameplay should come before storyline in a video game, but I know that storyline is important in an RPG.
 

spartan231490

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Schnippshly said:
Because it's a discussion, obviously. I like action RPGs and I think calling an action RPG improper is insulting, suggesting that full control over one character = not an RPG.
Normally I agree with you. but the unique aspect of dnd is the group focus, if your just going to crank out action RPG's with full control over only one character, then you aren't making full use of a dnd license.
 

Confidingtripod

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Schnippshly said:
Well, I personally didn't like the plots in Neverwinter Nights, but I can appreciate that other people like them.
What's important is that you don't have to have a boring combat system to have a good story. Bringing up Tales of Vesperia again, I found that game to be great for a lot of reasons. It had a fighting game-esque combat system that appealed to me, but then I was also amazed by the well-paced story with its interesting cast of characters and their realistic motivations and problems.
I think gameplay should come before storyline in a video game, but I know that storyline is important in an RPG.
well, we all have our own tastes. I hope you dont think I'm in any way trying to convince you to change your oppinion of these games, I'm simply explaining my own experiance.

The thing for me was the asthetic touches, in neverwinter nights your taught basic controls by two twin brothers, immediatly after the tutorial section you then find one brother with the other dead.

It was simple things like that that made it stand out, another would be your character voice options, too many games have such bland options that are such extreems of one another, older RPG's let you give personality to your character.

I never actually played Tales of Vesperia, from how you talk about it I'd say I would have enjoyed it.
 

genericusername64

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Games take a lot of money to produce, investors want to know that the game will appeal to a large audience. That means making sub-par actiony rpg's instead of High end pc games, (Witcher 2)