PDA

View Full Version : D&D rpg videogames



WolvesbaneIII
2013-05-05, 09:28 PM
Hi. I'm new to this sort of thing and have been reading this webcomic for some time now.

My question is are there any good D&D role playing game video games? Preferably single player style. I don't know anyone that plays D&D in real life so I play a lot of rpgs like Final fantasy and such.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Deathkeeper
2013-05-05, 09:31 PM
Well, I just wrote an essay about BioWare games, so I can happily tell you that Baldur's Gate I and II for 2e exist and NeverWinter Nights I and II for 3.5 do as well.
Although by all accounts NWN1's main quest is awful. I personally skipped straight to the expansions since I got it ten years late in a bundle. And for Deekin.

Kurald Galain
2013-05-05, 09:32 PM
Planescape: Torment.

One of the best and most intriguing RPGs ever written.

JellyPooga
2013-05-05, 10:06 PM
Planescape: Torment.

One of the best and most intriguing RPGs ever written.

This. So much, this.

PS:T is probably one of the most engaging, entertaining and downright epic storylines I have ever had the pleasure of playing in a CRPG. The actual gameplay is decidedly lacklustre, by modern standards, but it all fades into obscurity compared to the lush visual representations of the setting (even if they are a little dated, graphically speaking), the hundreds, if not thousands of lines of dialogue and the slightly cynical, often inane sense of humour!

Without a doubt, even though it's coming on 15 years old now, it's one of my all-time favourite computer games. Ever. Period. Play it. No, seriously. Play it now.

Scow2
2013-05-05, 10:48 PM
All the good D&D games are 2e. Except Icewind Dale II, which is 3.0.

Outside the infinite engine, there's the 3.5-based real-time MMO, Dungeons+Dragons Online, though it takes some significant liberties with the mechanics. And has some obnoxious Pay-to-win features.

Deathkeeper
2013-05-05, 11:18 PM
All the good D&D games are 2e. Except Icewind Dale II, which is 3.0.

I liked NWN 1 and 2. They're not amazing but I wouldn't say they're not at least good.
But yeah, I don't know what I was thinking to forget about Planetscape.

Daer
2013-05-05, 11:25 PM
temple of elemental evil is probably closest to pnp at least as far rules go.
baldurs gate 1&2, planescape:torment are great 2nd edition based ones.
neverwinter nights 1&2 are pretty good with tons of fan made adventures and content to support them.
Then neverwinter online just started, it is mmo but you can solo most of it and best of it is that it has player made adventures! Though rule wise it is very far away dnd and more hack and slash. still tons of fun.

BWR
2013-05-06, 01:25 AM
Planescape: Torment is the best crpg I have ever played.
It truly managed to capture the sense of wonder and awe that the setting is famous for. Terrific characters, storyline and despite the linear quests a feeling that your approach to every situation matters.

Neverwinter Nights II: Mask of the Betrayer is a very good story and reminds me of PS:T in many ways.

Vizzerdrix
2013-05-06, 03:17 AM
Have a SNES? Look up Eye of the Beholder.

Minecraft has a few mods that when combined can give it a D&D feel (One even adds a bunch of D&D critters)

Kurald Galain
2013-05-06, 03:41 AM
Wow, you're right that (almost) all the D&D computer games use the 2E ruleset. There's also Dark Sun Shattered Lands, and Al'Qadim Genies Curse, and the really old Champions of Krynn series. And a bunch more, of course. TSR was really prolific with this and WOTC was apparently not.


Have a SNES? Look up Eye of the Beholder.
It also runs on a PC (and has two sequels). I'm rather fond of EOB, and recommend it if you want a straightforward dungeon crawl with little plot and lots of lever/trapdoor puzzles.

Rhynn
2013-05-06, 08:33 AM
The Gold Box games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Box), available as abandonware and playable on DOSBox:

Pool of Radiance (1988)
Curse of the Azure Bonds (1989)
Secret of the Silver Blades (1990)
Pools of Darkness (1991)

Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991)
Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992)

Champions of Krynn (1990)
Death Knights of Krynn (1991)
The Dark Queen of Krynn (1992)

Those are by series (Pools, Savage Frontier, and Krynn) and in order. Except for Pool of Radiance, your PCs transfer between games within a series, keeping their magic items etc. These are easily the best D&D computer games outside of the Baldur's Gate games.


The dungeon-crawlers (DOSBox):
Eye of the Beholder (1990)
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (1991)
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor (1993)


The Dark Sun games, also playable on DOSBox:
Shattered Lands (1993)
Wake of the Ravager (1994)

Again, PCs can transfer from SL to WotR.


The first-person games (DOSBox again):
Menzoberranzan (1994)
Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession (1994)
Ravenloft: Stone Prophet (1995)


Baldur's Gate is a classic, and Baldur's Gate 2 is every bit as awesome. These should work as-is on modern Windows computers. BG is a legend, and for good reason, pretty much setting the standard for years of CRPGs. Icewind Dale (the first one) has no basically story, but if you enjoy BG's combat, try it for more of the same, done well and challengingly (I really had to work my party's capabilities to overcome some of the fights).

Planescape: Torment is, obviously, awesome and legendary.

Neverwinter Nights isn't that good, by itself, IMO, but Neverwinter Nights 2 is pretty great.


Of the above, Neverwinter Nights is 3.0, NWN2 is 3.5. Everything else is AD&D 2E (well, Pool of Radiance may be 1E, but it's pretty much impossible to tell a difference).

There's a lot of other D&D computer games, but a lot of them are trash.

Eye of the Beholder is an absolute must for anyone who's into old CRPGs. The Gold Box games are just ... gold. Awesome experiences. Note, though, that these games are old, and run on old sensibilities; in EotB, you have to draw your own maps, and the Gold Box games can be hard.

Kurald Galain
2013-05-06, 08:44 AM
The dungeon-crawlers (DOSBox):
Eye of the Beholder (1990)
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (1991)
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor (1993)
And also, Dungeon Hack: the same game but with only one character and randomized dungeons. It's not that good but worth mentioning.

EOB3 is something of a contested sequel, as the design team of EOB1/2 left and created Lands Of Lore instead (which is a great spiritual successor but doesn't use D&D rules).
(edit) and you can transfer characters. Which is kind of funny because EOB1 contains several +5 weapons and in EOB2 the best you can find is +3. Also, EOB3 starts you in an area with monsters that require a +2 weapon to be hit, and you don't start with +2 weaponry unless you transfer a party.

And yeah, did I mention Planescape Torment? :smallcool:

Grod_The_Giant
2013-05-06, 09:06 AM
On a different note, I find that most of the Spiderweb (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/) games "feel" kind of like D&D-- the gameplay's not at all related, but the text-based (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/images/geneforge5/GF5AlwanTalk.jpg)narration (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/images/geneforge4/KyshakkText.jpg) feels very RPG-esque. Also, they're fantastic old-school-style RPGs with great grey morality and fascinating worlds.

Rhynn
2013-05-06, 09:16 AM
And also, Dungeon Hack: the same game but with only one character and randomized dungeons. It's not that good but worth mentioning.

There's a reason I didn't mention it! :smallbiggrin: Well, except when I said:


There's a lot of other D&D computer games, but a lot of them are trash.

I also didn't bring up Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft! ... until now.

I just played Dungeon Hack through about a month ago, and it is absolutely mind-numbing crap... I suppose it's sort of "the same game," although you're only playing 1 character instead of 4-6, and it's completely horrible (and replaces interesting puzzle levels with automapping).

And yeah, I forgot the note about transferring between EotBs. I think you can also transfer from Strahd's Possession to Stone Prophet, although I'm not sure (and I don't think there's any story connection at all).

Rhynn
2013-05-06, 09:20 AM
On a different note, I find that most of the Spiderweb (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/) games "feel" kind of like D&D-- the gameplay's not at all related, but the text-based (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/images/geneforge5/GF5AlwanTalk.jpg)narration (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/images/geneforge4/KyshakkText.jpg) feels very RPG-esque. Also, they're fantastic old-school-style RPGs with great grey morality and fascinating worlds.

Spiderweb games are awesome (I've been playing them since before Exile 2 came out, and have Avernum 1 through 6 on this computer right now...), but if we're going to bring up games by feel / style, I am obligated to bring up Wizardry 1-7 (maybe 8, since you can transfer your PCs from 6 to 7 to 8; 6 and 7 are the best ones, the earlier ones are really "rough"). I'm currently playing Wizardry 6, and it is pure awesome. I've got a stack of graph paper for mapping, and I put them in Dungeonographer once they're done...

Also, Might & Magic (starting from 1, it remains very playable). Again, DOSBox is your friend.

Basically all old CRPGs are based on D&D - old Final Fantasy games have monsters straight out of D&D (mind flayers, etc.), and the influences are very obvious in Might & Magic and Wizardry.

Ravens_cry
2013-05-06, 09:28 AM
They aren't much of an RPG, though more than many games of their type, but the Capcom video games Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Tower_of_Doom) and Shadow over Mystara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Shadow_over_Mystara) are said to be quite good.

endoperez
2013-05-06, 12:36 PM
Hi. I'm new to this sort of thing and have been reading this webcomic for some time now.

My question is are there any good D&D role playing game video games? Preferably single player style. I don't know anyone that plays D&D in real life so I play a lot of rpgs like Final fantasy and such.

Thanks for any suggestions.


There are several different sorts of D&D video games. Some games take the combat system or the fantasy dungeon delving aspect of the games, and use those to create a fantasy action adventure game. Think Diablo, except older, since most of these are from the early 1990s. Some go even further and are pure action games, discarding the RPG mechanics and only using the fantasy world. The only ones I can name is a dragon flight simulator (Dragon Strike, late 1980s) and side-scrolling beat-em-up arcade games (this will be re-released as Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara this June).

Other games try to simulate the social aspects by giving you a party of NPCs that have been given personalities, backstories, side quests, and things to say either to the player or to each other. Baldur's Gate is the most well known one. Baldur's Gate and the sequel combine into one huge campaign, but that can be rather heavy; Icewind Dale games use the same engine but create a more lightweight story, still with party banter but with more focus on the actual fighting. Think Dragon Age: Origins - Baldur's Gate was a direct inspiration for the creators.

Then there's Planescape: Torment. It tries to simulate the storytelling aspect of really being transferred into a weird and wonderful world. The gameplay is rather bad, but the text is excellent. Planescape: Torment is like playing through a book, and I don't know what game it could be compared to.

sleepyphoenixx
2013-05-06, 01:31 PM
Neverwinter Nights can keep you occupied for months.
The original campaign was boring, Shadows of Undrentide was ok, Hordes of the Underdark driftet too much into hack & slay territory for my tastes.
The true gems are found in the user modules on nwvault. There's dozens of first rate campaigns from low level to epic and everything in between.

If you're going to try it i recommend skipping the OC and starting with either SoU or looking into the nwvault Hall of Fame.

Janus
2013-05-06, 01:46 PM
I actually liked NWN1's main campaign, but it's also the first Bioware game I played all the way through. I hadn't seen a lot of the stuff that's in it.

And what, no Daggerdale love? :smallbiggrin:
In blue because that seems to be the trend to make sarcasm obvious.

tbok1992
2013-05-06, 02:18 PM
Anybody else wish there were a D&D JRPG-styled game? Like, of the humorous tongue-in-cheek kind ala Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden or the Mario RPGs? I mean, Kobolds pretty much are D&D's equivalent to Dragon Quest's slime!

endoperez
2013-05-06, 03:13 PM
Anybody else wish there were a D&D JRPG-styled game? Like, of the humorous tongue-in-cheek kind ala Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden or the Mario RPGs? I mean, Kobolds pretty much are D&D's equivalent to Dragon Quest's slime!

D&D was well known there in the 1980s, right? Slayers, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and all that. Fighter, (white) Cleric, (black) Magic-user, Thief.

LeoLionxxx
2013-05-06, 05:41 PM
You might enjoy Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO).

It's an MMO that started out based off of 3.5e. You get your charecter sheet,
all the classic spells, and even get to see a D20 roll when you make a meele attack.


It's advertised as F2P and does a good job of it, allowing you to buy all the content with in-game points that you can earn by playing the quests (You can also buy them with RL money of course).

A lot of the content is also soloable with the right class, but it does have a pretty good community (The forums are broken though ATM).

I'v been playing on the Orien Server for a few years and loved it. I'v heard it hailed as the best combat system out there, and the storylines aren't too bad either. Check it out:

https://www.ddo.com/en

P.S. One of the adventure chains is narrated by Gary Gygax. Just though I would throw that fact in there.

Cealocanth
2013-05-06, 05:49 PM
You might enjoy Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO). It's an MMO that started out based off of 3.5e.
It's advertised as F2P and does a good job of it, allowing you to buy all the content with in-game points that you can earn by playing the quests (You can also buy them with RL money of course).
A lot of the content is also soloable with the right class, but it does have a pretty good community (The forums are broken though ATM).

Check it out, i'v been playing on the Orien Server for a few years and loved it.

https://www.ddo.com/en

P.S. One of the adventure chains is narrated by Gary Gygax. Just though I would throw that fact in there.

Honestly, I didn't very much enjoy DDO. It seems like every decent quest, race, and play area costs real money to access, and as a free player I found that after the first 6 levels or so there was nothing but an endless grind interrupted by quests and areas I couldn't enter. That and they seem to have taken the story and RP that comes with many MMOs and thrown it out the window in favor of grinding and slow level progression.

Just saying it's not everyone's cup of tea, OP.

VeliciaL
2013-05-06, 05:53 PM
I just thought I'd mention, while NWN1's main questline is fairly lackluster, there are a LOT of really good third party modules available for it. It's worth picking up for that alone, especially since it's reasonably cheap off of Good Old Games.

Thrawn4
2013-05-06, 05:56 PM
I chime in with the rest that says Planescape: Torment
Just because it has the best story I ever had in any game, book or movie. Just don't forget to focus on your mental stats or you might miss some parts.
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/planescape_torment

Baldur's Gate has more difficult combats, is much longer (from level 1 to epic), and offers more options for character differentiation. It offers more "classical D&D", if that's what you are interested.
(PS:T is still better though as its setting is so unique^^)

BWR
2013-05-07, 03:29 AM
Um, the first Baldur's Gate capped at level 7/8. 9/10 if you had the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion.

sleepyphoenixx
2013-05-07, 04:05 AM
Um, the first Baldur's Gate capped at level 7/8. 9/10 if you had the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion.

If you're going to bother with BG you might as well play through the whole series.

TheBajaBojo
2013-05-07, 04:10 AM
Knights of the Old Republic is Star Wars, but still a D&D based game...
Both 1 and 2 are good, although in different ways IMO.

Also, Dragonshards is marketed as D&D. Then again, it's half rts so I don't know if it fits...

Person_Man
2013-05-07, 12:19 PM
Temple of Elemental Evil is noteworthy in that it's probably the only turn based game based on the 3.5 rules. You're horribly limited to a subset of Core and levels 1-10. But if you're looking to just play D&D as the D&D rules describe the game (and not a real time simulation derived from the game) it's your best bet.

Amnestic
2013-05-07, 01:14 PM
I just started on the Neverwinter MMO open beta and it's...okay. Appears to be based mostly off of 4e rules (which fits for an MMO, I think). I think I ended up at level 7 or 8 (I believe there's 40 levels?) so far so still very early on, but combat has been basically a snooze fest.

With only five classes (Guardian Fighter, Weapon Master Fighter, Trickster Rogue, Devoted Cleric and Controller Wizard - essentially tank, DPS, DPS, healer, controller) so far, it's pretty damn limited in that regard. They're meant to be adding more later but it's not much to speak of and if it's open beta we have to assume release is forthcoming.

As an MMORPG goes, I'd say it's got potential but needs a lot of work and refinement if it hopes to compete with other games like it (including competing against DDO).

As a D&D game goes, I think it does a decent job of bringing Neverwinter the city to life (better than either NWN1 or 2 in my opinion) but 4e fans may not like it for the small changes it makes (daily powers aren't even close to 'daily' :p) and fans of other editions may not like it for just how 'MMO' it feels.

I enjoyed my time with it mostly thus far, though I was playing it with my girlfriend which helped. I get the feeling that if it doesn't flop at launch its F2P status may have people coming back for more every now and again.

Also the keybindings can often feel weird and the UI (especially the chat UI) can be EXTREMELY unintuitive. It took me a good 5 levels to notice where the buff I got from casting Magic Missiles showed up - it was hidden away in a corner and so small as to be barely noticeable, though I think it's customisable.

Edit: Realised I haven't touched on the microtransaction functions for the game. That's because I haven't looked at them :smalltongue: All I've seen so far is that you have to pay for additional character slots (default of 2) and you can choose to pay for unique mounts (eg. giant spider) if you so desire, though normal mounts are available. A potential problem is that the microtransaction mounts seem to be available from the start of play, while normal mounts cost a large amount of in-game currency.

VeliciaL
2013-05-07, 01:56 PM
I'm actually fine with Neverwinter's power system. It feels fairly logical to me: at-wills map to your mouse keys, encounters are on timers, dailies require a special energy mechanic to use.

It's really not the fourth edition ruleset. It takes some ques from it, but goes rather completely in its own direction. That said, it's a fun game and I've been enjoying it the past couple days.

My main gripe is the class selection. I'm sure they'll add more as time goes on, but it feels like they said "lets do the boring ones first" when choosing which classes to implement. I'm also not a fan with splitting each spec into its own class.

It's a decent game overall though, and could be worth looking into if you want to scratch a D&D itch and are tired of DDO.

tbok1992
2013-05-07, 02:05 PM
D&D was well known there in the 1980s, right? Slayers, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and all that. Fighter, (white) Cleric, (black) Magic-user, Thief.

Yeah, but I wish there was a directly licensed version.

WolvesbaneIII
2013-05-07, 09:53 PM
Thanks Guys!

Yael
2013-05-08, 01:37 AM
If you like the saga, I would recommend Star Wars - Knigths of the Old Republic and Star Wars - Knigths of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords.

Those are pretty good games (Bioware as well), Jade Empire is also cool.

BWR
2013-05-08, 03:02 AM
Those are great games, but not D&D videogames.

TheBajaBojo
2013-05-09, 01:13 PM
no, I'm pretty sure that about half of them are actually marketed/advertised as D&D...

WolvesbaneIII
2013-05-09, 07:22 PM
The first Final Fantasy for the psp has I think D&D monsters I think.

Kraken and mindflayer etc.

I liked that you could pick a party to customize your team.

Larkas
2013-05-10, 11:04 AM
The first Final Fantasy for the psp has I think D&D monsters I think.

Kraken and mindflayer etc.

I liked that you could pick a party to customize your team.

FYI, it's a remake of the original Final Fantasy! It lost many of its older incarnation's D&D cues. The original game had vancian casting, for example, while the remake runs on MP. Not saying that this is a bad change, though. Spells are still equipped, and they are still divided in spell levels.

EDIT: Something that is worth looking for is the Dungeons & Dragons Anthology: The Master Collection (http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Classic-Anthology-Pc/dp/B005JQ064A). This Amazon offering is much more expensive than when I got mine, but it is still worth every penny!