Decline Sword Coast Legends Pre-Release Thread

[Telengard]

Is this even new for DnD? Zombie is just a template you put over people. Beholders can be zombies, Kobolds can be zombies, whatever. Whats the issue

It's not new, but D&D doesn't happen in a vortex. Zombies are now banal due to overuse. But more importantly:

Zombie = dumb, tough, slow thing
Ogre = dumb, tough, slow thing

So, declaring a Zombie Ogre to be something special enough for a press release is like saying this Apple Apple salad is really great!

 

[Grubba]

So the actual in-game footage of the ogre zombie doesn't even show it using the axe....just...farting at the PCs?

 

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[Infinitron]

Short delay: http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/115953-sword-coast-legends-delayed.html

SWORD COAST LEGENDS™ RELEASE DATE MOVED TO SEPTEMBER 29 FOR PC, MAC & LINUX; PLAYSTATION®4 AND XBOX® ONE REMAIN ON SCHEDULE FOR LATE 2015

Sword Coast Legends First DLC "Rage of Demons" Now Free with All Pre-Orders; "Head Start" Access Planned for Pre-Launch

GAMESCOM -- COLOGNE, GERMANY -- August 5, 2015 -- Independent developers, n-Space and Digital Extremes, announced that their upcoming Sword Coast Legends™, a party-based RPG set in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Forgotten Realms universe from Wizards of the Coast, will now release on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux on September 29. The PlayStation®4 and Xbox® One versions of Sword Coast Legends are still slated to appear in late 2015.

"We're extremely excited to show everyone what we've been up to with Sword Coast Legends, but it looks like our dungeon bosses need a few more hit points ... Larethar needs even more of a Scottish accent ... and the game itself could use a touch 'more cowbell,'" said Dan Tudge, President of n-Space and Director for Sword Coast Legends. "All kidding aside, our fans deserve nothing less than whatever it takes on our part to deliver the compelling roleplaying dynamic of Dungeons & Dragons tabletop to the world of cooperative multiplayer video games. If that means the game needs a few additional weeks of balancing, tuning and general polish -- so be it."

"While it's hard to wait a few more weeks for Sword Coast Legends to drop, I'm happy the n-Space team is dedicated to crafting a quality D&D experience. All pre-orders getting the Rage of Demons DLC for free is exciting news," said Nathan Stewart, Brand Director of Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. "And for D&D fans, the Rage of Demons DLC gives them another exciting way to face the demon lords in the Underdark."

Media attending this week's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany can see and experience Sword Coast Legends first hand by visiting the G.A.M.E. Booth in Business Center Hall 2.1, Booth #C30. Later this month, Sword Coast Legends will also make its first playable debut at PAX Prime in Seattle, August 28-31, at the Wizards of the Coast Rage of Demons Booth #1642.

The studios also announced that all current and future Sword Coast Legends pre-orders will receive the very first DLC, "Rage of Demons," free. Sword Coast Legends is currently available for pre-order from Steam and the PlayStation Store for $34.99. In addition to the free DLC, Digital Deluxe and Collector's Editions, which include a tome of knowledge, cloth map of the Sword Coast, the official soundtrack, numerous in-game bonuses, starter items and DM abilities, as well as a statue of the powerful demon Belaphoss (Collector's Edition) are also available for pre-order for $59.99 and $239.99, respectively, from www.swordcoast.com Details regarding the upcoming "Rage of Demons" DLC expansion for Sword Coast Legends will be announced at a later date.

The latest Sword Coast Legends screenshots, the newly released main theme composed by Inon Zur, an updated look at the collector's edition statue and more, can be found here: https://digitalextremesltd.box.com/s/rzclocvh2uso3hfij2yuhtedlcgf13ok

To learn more about Sword Coast Legends and to pre-order a copy and participate in the Community today, please visit the official website at: www.SwordCoast.com

 

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Sword Coast Legends on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/v/10008524?t=3h25m20s

 

[ArchAngel]

Holy Shit! I just went to read their forums a bit and found out that the campaign editor does not support branching dialogue?! Holy shit!

All willpower to even pirate this game just went away! This goes into same bin as DAI, "not worth pirating"

 

[vonAchdorf]

Did they show single tile editing of the dungeons? I had a quick glance at the live show and saw them placing single objects but not tiles.

 

[ArchAngel]

Did they show single tile editing of the dungeons? I had a quick glance at the live show and saw them placing single objects but not tiles.

That is also not available, all dungeons are random generated. You can keep clicking generate until you get a layout you like :D
Then you can add props into it.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Holy Shit! I just went to read their forums a bit and found out that the campaign editor does not support branching dialogue?! Holy shit!

All willpower to even pirate this game just went away! This goes into same bin as DAI, "not worth pirating"

Lol, it's just an action game then, with less C&C than Shadow over Mystara.

Which btw looks 1000% better:

 

[ArchAngel]

They said the singleplayer campaign will have some branching dialogue but their campaign/DM tools will not have any.
Well live DM can always talk to players and it can look like a normal conversations but outside of that it will be terrible.

 

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[Neanderthal]

When did Mind Flayers get so fucking huge, thought they were about man sized?

Never did take them for being a high Wis species, they seemed more classically foolish in some ways despite their intelligence, like Zerthimon said: They knew flesh and knew how to turn it against its nature, but knew not themselves.

That voice actor's trying way too hard.

 

[Crooked Bee]

A summary of the recent livestream by sstacks: http://shaneplays.com/sword-coast-legends-813-live-stream-summary-juicy-new-details/

WHAT I SAW / NOTICED

Sword Coast Legends reps: Ash Sevilla (Community Manager) and Tim Schwalk (Design Director)

Ash and Tim set up the “Lair of the Watcher” and then let players from QA challenge the dungeon. There’s also some pre-dungeon quest building shown.

First time “Lost Mines” is being shown outside of to the press.

Not pressed for time so this is an extended version of what press have seen to date (this was the demo at Gamescom in Germany).

You can build / modify environments both inside and outside.

Quickly converted pre-built NPC to a vendor.

Interior environments can have multiple floors.

“widest selection of rugs in RPG history”

German keyboards have more keys and some keys are swapped.

Dynamically change weather conditions and time of day.

Dynamically change dungeon lighting and atmosphere (also fog of war).

The DM die (spinning red d20) is not meant to limit the DM in a scene. It’s optional and simply there if you want to use its features.

Behold, there’s a beholder!

And an ogre named Biff.

“Absolutely ridiculous” (per Ash) how many weapons there are available in the game.

Loot placement is randomized (Ash states for “game balance reasons”, they don’t want DMs stacking the loot in dungeons or a similar statement). This sounds fishy to me… with the high amount of customization in other areas of the tools why would they suddenly limit where DMs can place loot? Statements like this along with the fact you can’t place actual dungeon tiles but those are randomized really feel like they are saving some no brainer, desired features to sell in a future expansion.

DMs have “threat potions” (potions they can drink to increase their threat). Threat is a pool of points they can spend to make things more challenging.

Beholder model looks good. Individually moving eye stalks, etc. Beholder can be proned, at which point party can wail on it.

Ash confirms there is friendly fire depending on difficulty level. At medium difficulty there is a certain amount of friendly fire. At the press event lots of press were accidentally fireballing party members.

Player death. Sword Coast Legends used D&D 5E rules for stabilization and party members can help stabilize each other. There are also revive potions that are rare. But basically it sounds like if a character dies, they are dead and there is no respawn.

Ash and Tim will talk about what happens on full party wipe at a later date.

Players rate DMs on challenge, story and fun on exiting a dungeon. DMs don’t see this screen.

Ash brought a portable corn dog back from Germany called a Bifi. Evidently he smuggled it like Han Solo.


ANSWERS GIVEN BY TEAM DURING Q&A FOLLOWING LIVE STREAM

Still no tile by tile [dungeon building] AT LAUNCH.

Yes, Level cap is 20.

Turning off threat when playing has been requested as often as turning off the wisp.

Ambient lighting/fog is set for the full dungeon. But can be changed at any time.

YES, all PC preorders get Head Start access. Details soon.

Collector’s Edition getting more? YES! Details incoming soon (initially collector’s edition got Head Start and not other versions).

6 character classes – fighter, wizard, rogue, cleric, paladin, ranger.

Collector’s Edition Upgrade? We get this one a lot. We should have more info soon. Currently, the beholder and lost mines are only with digital deluxe and above.

DM can’t currently customize colors of placed objects.

No, you can’t load your own images.

NPC alignment can be changed on the fly, yes.

Steam accounts are required to play the game.

Non-role played branching dialog is another highly requested feature that we are discussing.

No plans for persistent worlds.

Details on Rage of Demons DLC will be revealed at PAX.

Quest rewards can’t currently be customized, but the DM can choose the type of reward.

DM has access to the entire world map and can put cities/dungeon/locations anywhere they would like.

Type of Reward – Weapon, Armor, Gold, etc.

Yes, quests can absolutely be exploration based.

Yes DMs can transition players to other zones.

 

[ArchAngel]

Actually the Stabilize does not work like D&D 5e. Seems anyone can run up to downed ally and raise them from "death" in few seconds. I watched the battles on stream and it was hilarious how they kept getting characters up from death during combat, sometimes same ones more than once.

This game is just a bad action RPG with crappy campaign tools based around simple dungeon romps for 4 player parties.

 

[Roguey]

Loot placement is randomized

Haha "You want handplaced loot in your campaign? Fuck you."

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Heh. I knew this wasn't going to be a cup of tea from the outset, but I didn't anticipate it being quite so proud of its shovel ware status. I genuinely don't know why anyone, regardless of their taste in games, would buy this after reading that list of "features".

 

[Morblot]

I guess it being (labeled as) D&D and being set in Faerûn has something to do with it. Gods know I wouldn't care one bit if it wasn't; as it is, I'm considering getting this piece of crap when it's being sold for like 5€ during some inevitable Steam sale.

 

[ArchAngel]

Heh. I knew this wasn't going to be a cup of tea from the outset, but I didn't anticipate it being quite so proud of its shovel ware status. I genuinely don't know why anyone, regardless of their taste in games, would buy this after reading that list of "features".

Most of the around 300 people in the stream seemed excited. I am sure it will also appeal to other team MP game fags out there.

 

[Trodat]

Persistent worlds = dedicated servers?

 

[sstacks]

A summary of the recent livestream by sstacks: http://shaneplays.com/sword-coast-legends-813-live-stream-summary-juicy-new-details/

Thanks for posting

 

[pippin]

While 6 character classes is indeed quite lazy, most of the other fluff are just variations of those six (more or less). However, these kind of games are called *role playing games* for a reason.
This is almost Warhammer adaptation territory.

 

[sstacks]

A summary of the recent livestream by sstacks: http://shaneplays.com/sword-coast-legends-813-live-stream-summary-juicy-new-details/

As a follow up on the random loot note, I still feel they are holding off for a future expansion but did get this comment on my blog that offers a different perspective:

"I’m guessing you can’t choose the loot for one very good reason…

Since players can take their characters and play them in other campaigns and such…… they want to avoid someone god modding out their characters by running them through their own dungeons so they can get the best of the best of the best loot on their characters and then take them into other campaigns."

 

[getter77]

Sigh, maybe 6e will mark the advent of the D&D heads actually getting serious about their initial efforts for cRPGs to kick things off proper. I mean, so much of this isn't what anybody has clamored for, and it isn't like they haven't been absolutely inundated with feedback since their site went live to where they could feasibly claim misreading the audience.