Best D&D video game?

[Narga_Rocks]

I might make a poll eventually, but I don't want to miss any games if I make one. So, like, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, etc etc. Stuff based on the 2.0 or 3.0 or 3.5 or whatever ruleset. Not games that claim to be D&D but are so very very far from the ruleset that it might as well not have the D&D moniker.

[Shin]

I take it Shadow over Mysteria doesn't count then? Even so, it's still my favourite even though Dallas is so bad at it.

[Narga_Rocks]

I take it Shadow over Mysteria doesn't count then? Even so, it's still my favourite even though Dallas is so bad at it.

quick glance at the wikipedia article on it and I'm betting it doesn't. Unless it rolls d20 for hit/miss and saves v spells and stuff like that, it's not really D&D.

[Scarlet]

I honestly haven't played enough videogames of that type to call one of them "the best", but I've played two that I can tell you are not.

Thing is, I've played Icewind Dale and Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor.

While both of these are technically decent, they just have too many problems to continue being fun until the end.

Icewind Dale's big problem is that it's ball-crushingly hard. It doesn't matter how many party members you have, it doesn't matter how broken your classes and stats are, you'll just get swarmed by ridiculous amounts of overpowered enemies that'll mop the floor with you even if you're magically overleveled. Even if you have wizards (who will pretty much die in one hit) with really strong spells, even if you try to lure just a few enemies over to you at a time, it'll just not be enough.

And that's on Normal mode. It offers even harder difficulties, and while it does offer easier difficulties as well, those give you much less Exp (thus leaving you too weak to deal with future enemies anyway).

Integ ragequit it, if that's saying anything.

Pool of Radiance's problem is that it's just too damn repetitive, as it takes place in a single huge multi-floor dungeon. It'd probably be more fun if you were to visit different locations rather than just the same ol' dungeon all the time.

[Shin]

quick glance at the wikipedia article on it and I'm betting it doesn't. Unless it rolls d20 for hit/miss and saves v spells and stuff like that, it's not really D&D.

It's a shame really, it is quite fun. A bunch of us managed to play it together, Jedi didn't quite appreciate the fact we spammed magic and stole all the kills.

[TheEnd]

Good old Shadow over Mystara and Tower of Doom. (It's very much D&D-based.)

My favorite so far would be Baldur's Gate 2, even though it's so long it dissuades me from attempting a second playthrough.

I really should try Planescape: Torment one of these days.

[cyron]

I would say baldurs gate 1 and 2 or never winter nights 1

[Integrity]

Icewind Dale is amazing except for all those parts where the difficulty just spikes like the point where I just ragequit my LP.

I'm gonna go ahead and say Neverwinter Nights, partly for nostalgia and partly for the radial menu. Also the voices and the creation set.

[BrightBow]

Well, Neverwinter Nights can be tedious and Temple of Elemental Evil is buggy as heck.

With Icewind Dale, I also got bored. It just drags on and on and on.

I didn't got the impression that it's more difficult then Baldur's Gate, though.

My favorite is the original Baldur's Gate. I like it a lot more then Baldur's Gate 2.

With BG2's high levels, there is just so much stuff to take track off. It's such a tedium to keep track of all those spellbooks and artifacts.

Also, does Knights of the old Republic not count? Where is the big difference to Neverwinter Nights?

Edited May 10, 2013 by BrightBow

[Narga_Rocks]

Knights of the old Republic could count. There is a pretty big difference between 3.0 and the Star Wars thing, but it is technically derived from 3.0 and it's still d20. No idea about the game, though, but assuming it follows the Star Wars Roleplaying Game system, you could maybe count it.

[Rehab]

The good thing about Planescape: Torment is that the options that involve avoiding combat and doing lots of talking are great, and are common enough that you can actually play most of the game that way for a change if you so choose, IIRC.

The bad thing is that choosing to instead opt for the combat blows, especially/at least at the start

[Jedi]

I don't believe Knights of the Old Republic, follows the star wars role playing game exactly. It takes quite a few liberties and differences but then again it's been awhile since I've played either. If it counts then Dragon Age Origins would probably count in some open source way haha.

[Narga_Rocks]

I don't believe Knights of the Old Republic, follows the star wars role playing game exactly. It takes quite a few liberties and differences but then again it's been awhile since I've played either. If it counts then Dragon Age Origins would probably count in some open source way haha.

Personally since it's not 2.0/3.0/3.5/etc, KotOR shouldn't count anyway. But at least it is indirectly based on 3.0. Does DAO have anything at all in common with 3.5 or 4.0? I've never played 4.0, so maybe it does, but I thought DAO was completely seperate from D&D and had no PnP d20 roots.

I guess we can just go back to the simple "does KotOR use d20s for hitting and saves and skills or not" and since DAO definitely fails that test I know it doesn't count.

[cyron]

so after playing the free open beta for neverwinter i think it is the best

[algae]

I guess we can just go back to the simple "does KotOR use d20s for hitting and saves and skills or not"

I admit that my experience with D&D 3.0/3.5 is limited, but KotOR similar enough that you might as well count it. A lot of the changes seem to be either for flavor or simplicity.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Alg

[eclipse]

The closest I can think of is Incursion, a game that very few people know about. . .and the developer isn't interested in working on further right now!

Through that game, I learned that I am a terrible spellcaster.

[Catt]

Icewind Dale's big problem is that it's ball-crushingly hard. It doesn't matter how many party members you have, it doesn't matter how broken your classes and stats are, you'll just get swarmed by ridiculous amounts of overpowered enemies that'll mop the floor with you even if you're magically overleveled. Even if you have wizards (who will pretty much die in one hit) with really strong spells, even if you try to lure just a few enemies over to you at a time, it'll just not be enough.

And that's on Normal mode. It offers even harder difficulties, and while it does offer easier difficulties as well, those give you much less Exp (thus leaving you too weak to deal with future enemies anyway).

Integ ragequit it, if that's saying anything.

The funny thing is, the harder difficulties are easier because you get more EXP, allowing you to level up faster and even cap your levels roughly by the time you get to the end of the expansions.

I played it on the hardest difficulty (discounting the Heart of Winter mode that gives all enemies x3 hitpoints or something) and had very little trouble compared to normal mode. Just shoot the heck out of everything before it gets to you.

As for the best, its between Baldur's Gate I and II for me. II has more features but I have more nostalgia for the original.

[Scarlet]

The funny thing is, the harder difficulties are easier because you get more EXP, allowing you to level up faster and even cap your levels roughly by the time you get to the end of the expansions.

Wait, you do actually get more Exp for the harder difficulties? Even in the vanilla game? I thought you didn't, but admittedly I didn't try for very long, haha.

[Catt]

I think you get it even for vanilla. Like I said I played it with the difficulty slider at maximum and things overall were easier. I seem to remember Icewind Dale II had harder difficulty without exp bonuses, which combined with the nerfing of ranged weapons made it even harder. I never finished that one.

[Yula]

The Original Baldur's Gate.

[Guy Starwind]

I've only played Baldur's Gate and the two Dark Alliance games.

[OotG]

Yeah, I know, first post and resurrecting an old thread...

I registered because of this thread.

There's a very different view of Dungeons & Dragons now than "traditional D&D".

Best game is Pool of Radiance (original, not the HORRIBLE title of the same name from 10 years ago) we're talking about Gold Box.

Other greats were the other two in that series and Order of the Griffon. They were all VERY true to the system and spirit of D&D/AD&D.

All these games you guys mention (while fun), are MUCH less like D&D than those above.

Of course, I've played RPG's and video games since the early 80's, so I do have a longer time of opinion formation than some, but I notice a really interesting trend here...

D&D was always a group 'sport', BTW.