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Too bad, it looks like a cool game.
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johnnygoging: is it really so bad? I'm quite interested to know your thoughts on why it's bad. I was thinking about getting it. I was expecting a solid ARPG with D&D Forgotten Realms trappings. I understand it's not really faithful to D&D mechanically and for me personally that comes off as a good thing for a videogame.

as for why it's getting removed, maybe WotC has something else coming down the pipe and this thing was largely just bad press. I think it failed at the thing they were trying to do, which was bring in a new wave of D&D fans by appealing to a more casual player. maybe didn't do that but still pissed off the veterans.

D&D isn't like Warhammer. Warhammer is just a ton of lore and culture and who cares how it plays. D&D is a mix where it's less about the lore and culture and more about a mechanical system of game design determining how it should be played; one that is dating rapidly and, imo, has presented major friction to adapting to more modern mediums and forms.
Basically, it's a game that comes off as lazy and half-assed in everything it tries to do.

It's linear and story-based, but the story is really bad and the characterization is worse.
You control a group, but apparently the devs couldn't decide whether they wanted to do something like Dungeon Siege or something more tactical like Icewind Dale. As a result, the combat is ridiculously shallow, with every character only having a few abilities to choose from and little enemy diversity.
It's supposed to use 4th Ed D&D rules, but it doesn't implement anything except combat, there is no dialogue skills, stealth or crafting or anything like that.

There are probably worse RPGs out there, but I hated it, especially since I prefer playing mages in RPGs, and magic is horribly implemented in Legends, with only very few spells to choose from.
I heard it will be re-released by Beamdog as an Enchanted Edition . :p
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Painted_Doll: I heard it will be re-released by Beamdog as an Enchanted Edition . :p
Made my day ;)
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Thiev: For all the hate, I got over 30h of enjoyment out of it and never regretted it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I can top that with 75h (incl. the free DLC campaign), though it's probably not something to be proud of. XD

I thought it was alright. Not all that good, but better than what many people said about it. At least I had more fun playing it than playing NWN's main campaign.
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Thiev: For all the hate, I got over 30h of enjoyment out of it and never regretted it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Leroux: I can top that with 75h (incl. the free DLC campaign), though it's probably not something to be proud of. XD
Think I'll buy it then. The DLC is Rage of Demons, right? And it's an extra single player campaign? No other DLCs?

Quick question though, could anyone tell me more about the extra items from Deluxe edition? Tome of knowledge (giving players a boost to their attributes and abilities) and order of the Burning Cloak Armor and Weapons? Do you start with these items or do they appear in the game? Are they at all worth it? I don't mind the extra 2 bucks but I have an aversion to pay for what's close to being a microtransaction to boost your stats.
I remember playing it illegally a couple of years ago, but I never clicked with it. I think I gave up on it after a couple of hours. So I'm not sure I'd spend money on it.
Is this a multiplayer only game? I was actually gonna grab it until I saw this:

"Sword Coast Legends account required to play. "

Pass.
It looks alright to me, not too keen on the multiplayer aspect, but I love the Forgotten Realms universe. I'll buy it, hopefully I won't come to regret it, it's not overly expensive anyway. Shame what happened to the developers, I would have loved to see a more refined sequel or further improvements to the existing game.
Every time a game is no longer sold in stores, it is a bad thing, even if the game is mediocre.
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Qwertyman: Is this a multiplayer only game? I was actually gonna grab it until I saw this:

"Sword Coast Legends account required to play. "

Pass.
It's not multiplayer only, but it handles all aspects of the game as if it was, even single player saves. Not sure if you have to be online to play it, but yeah, it's a perfectly good reason to give the game a pass.


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Leroux: I can top that with 75h (incl. the free DLC campaign), though it's probably not something to be proud of. XD
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ZFR: Think I'll buy it then. The DLC is Rage of Demons, right? And it's an extra single player campaign? No other DLCs?
Yes, it's an extra single player campaign, but much shorter and not as good. A new story, a few new locations, a few new quests, a few new puzzles, new boss battle(s?), but the story is not quite concluded. The party just does their part in something greater than them and then supposedly Drizzt Do'Urden takes over or something. Since I've never read any R.A. Salvatore books, it's possible that the back story is a known one from the novels, dunno.

Also, i thought I had written a review that I could link to, but apparently I never bothered to transform my notes into a readable text. :/
Post edited December 12, 2017 by Leroux
In a related story, "Twelve pound ball of bacon grease pulled from Gabe Newell."
Post edited December 12, 2017 by tinyE
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ZFR:
Here are my inedited notes that I made while playing, in case that helps you decide, no guarantees though (it's been a while, and some things I wrote down I don't quite understand myself anymore):

+ great soundtrack by Inon Zur
+ yes, it treads well-known paths, but in a very competent way
+ humour, characters and voice-actors (bit stereotypical but well done)
+ great character creation screens, you have quite a few interesting options but you get short and helpful explanations for everything, and you can freely switch between the tabs, e.g. change your class retroactively, AFTER you've already fine-tuned your appearance, without losing any changes.
+ camera controls are a bit unusual at first because completely opposite to games like NWN, but they work fine once you get the hang of it
+ 3D areas are nice to look at, almost like in the games with isometric perspective, and the view is generally much better than in NWN2
+ puzzles are easy but nice and satisfying

+ you can directly travel to most areas you've been to, including caves and crypts, without having to pass through the outdoor area again ...
- ... but once you're there, you need to find a world map transition to travel back, and that can require passing through several or larger areas

+ one inventory for all party members ...
- ... but how much all of you can carry is determined only by the strength of your main character, making the game less convenient for casters in this regard

+ /- fallen party members can easily be revived, if another character can get to them without interference, or even after the combat; if the combat ends while they're incapacitated, they don't get XP for it though
+/- contrary to my usual preference for Normal, I chose Hard mode, and then I played the game more tactically in real time with frequent pausing and party AI off; it was occasionally challenging but not that difficult, and after you've really understood how the game works, most fights were no problem. I was confused at first by unfavorable reviews comparing the game to Diablo, but I guess if you play with party AI on, and possibly in Normal or Easy, too, you can just waltz through most encounters.
+/- party members don't do a lot of damage, opponents often have very high hps; among the best spells is Hunter's Target, who gives combat advantage and increases damage against a target by 50%, thereby speeding things up a little
+/- has an option to move loot into a junk category and then sell it with one press of a button, but since you'd need to right click on each item and select "Junk", that actually takes more steps than just selling the junk directly

- long loading times
- in the location where the party stash is (so the most likely place for inventory management), you don't have access to your companions' inventory
- as far as I could tell, you can't customize the party AI behaviour, just turn it off (party members won't do anything on their own) or on (party members will follow active character and use spells and skills)
- party members are auto-attacking once you give them a target, which is generally fine, but can get in your way; for example if you have one character cast a Sleep spell on a target and you don't give them something else to do immediately after, they will keep concentrating on that target and engage it with their default attack, thereby waking it up again; sometimes it also happened that when they killed someone, they chose a new target of their own accord, even if AI was turned off - no idea why (it wasn't Cleave)
- account required, what happens when accounts get shut down?
- manual saving possible, but only in a single slot, character and savegames are probably stored online; autosave, can be turned off
- if you save and quit, then load your savegame the next time, the monsters who had been under your control (animate dead/create thrall) are gone
- 4 companions but player can only have 3 in the party at the same time; at least of the initial companions (Jarhild) the one left behind doesn't gain experience and will soon be several levels lower than the rest; the companions that aren't in the party can still comment on events; so there's no good reason to change your party composition mid-game, you'll most likely stick with the companions you meet in the beginning
- there's a mission where an NPC accompanies the party and fights alongside it; he's quite squishy so that his health gets reduced quickly by attackers, but then never goes below 1 hp, so the party can abuse him as meat shield; would have been better to make him part of the party, or make him much tougher but able to pass out (wouldn't have been such a big deal anyway, seeing that you can always revive fallen members as long as at least one character is still standing)
- when the duration of a conjure animal or animate dead spell is over and the creature vanishes, it does so with a horrifying cry of agony and/or an exploding sound that always makes you jump and think someone has attacked your party members or they ran into a trap aor something - much ado about nothing, these sounds are quite exaggerated and counterintuitive
Post edited December 12, 2017 by Leroux
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Leroux: It's not multiplayer only, but it handles all aspects of the game as if it was, even single player saves. Not sure if you have to be online to play it, but yeah, it's a perfectly good reason to give the game a pass.
Appreciate the response. Yeah it's just a thing for me, I refuse to buy single player games that require internet connections or special accounts to function. For multiplayer only games, I get it, but not for games with substantial single player componenents.

'Shame too, cause I definitely would have grabbed it before it gets removed.
Post edited December 12, 2017 by Qwertyman
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Leroux: Here are my inedited notes that I made while playing, in case that helps you decide, no guarantees though (it's been a while, and some things I wrote down I don't quite understand myself anymore):
Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

For the sale price I'll give it a go. I've spent 5$ on worse things. Looks like a decent game.

Do you have any info on the deluxe items? I'm not interested in the DM extras, but what exactly do the Burning Cloak items give you?