durus
27-02-2006, 01:24 PM
Graphics
The Graphics are pretty with water effects being nifty. There are a lot of customization options on character creation and each armour type has a few different looks so two different people wearing +1 Chainmail won't necessarily look the same. All of the races look just like you would expect (Think Lord of the Rings). There was a lack of effects for my cloak, boots, gloves and belt, but I'm on the 1.5 gig head start client and I don't know if the retail client which will be out on th 3rd will be better.
Sound & Music
The music is quite good in the game, with combat music kicking in when combat starts and appropriate tension building music when enemies are near by. Ambient sound is also good with dripping noises in the sewers and backround chatter and music in the tavern. The DM voice overs are GREAT and the game supports voice chat which I use with my group. This really adds to to feel of Pen and Paper D&D as it's really like your friends are right there with you.
Controls
When I started playing the game I was trying to use the controls like WoW. But I actually found I got confused and wound up activating abilities by accident. Since combat is so active in this game you need your mouse look and WASD movement key configuration. This essentially means you'll be activating your abilities from the 1-0 keys and switching your shortcut bars with ctrl-1 to ctrl-0. Once you make the mental adjustment it actually works quite well and combat becomes intiutive again. The only issue I have really had so far is the use of the shift key for blocking and shift WASD to tumble in the appropriate direction. This is due to my inability to release shift and seems more like a game acclimatization issue than a control issue.
Replayability
After you complete any quest you open up 2 harder difficulty options to try and complete the quest on. Quests themselves contain many secret areas that you could miss/break on your first time through so it is quite often worthwhile to repeat a quest. How do you break a secret area? Many abilities come into play in the dungeons and there's levers and switches everywhere. A few times someone in the group has hit a lever and sealed of access to a second lever which you needed to hit first. If you take your time and think about it it's usually obvious which one to hit first, but if you're from the Diablo/WoW/Doom mentality it takes a while to break the habit and start thinking.
Multiplay/Co-Op
Dungeons and Dragons Online has set out to try and recreate the feel of the Pen and Paper experience in the online arena and it succeeded. The Pen and Paper Experience for reference is: Sitting down with a group of friends and having a drink and an adventure that is not about you, but about the group.
After you hit about level 2 don't expect to solo anything unless you plan on repeating the quests quite a few times. The treasure and XP reward is the same wether you solo or group, so get yourself in a group, it will be easier, you'll get more xp as you won't die and will get the bonus objectives and last but not least you can go to new areas with a reasonable chance of success.
Ultimately this is another MMO whos life will be determined by the community. What I've seen of the community so far looked pretty mature and reasonable. I replayed a few quests with an alt and a random group and due to the lack of coordination some things I achieved with my friends just weren't possible, however new things were still found and I did still have fun.
I joined DDO with 3 friends with the intent that we'd play together one or 2 preset nights a week. We just played all weekend and it was GREAT. If you have a group of friends who are interested in MMOs, I recommend this game over ANY other MMO. The complexity and completeness just really make all the difference. If you are looking for your next MMO fix, this may or may not be for you. Lots of thinking and tactics involved in this MMO and with a random group of people you may struggle to get the most out of the game. I do recommend trying it anyway though.
[edit]Cleaned up, clarrified and skipped breakfast. DOH!
The Graphics are pretty with water effects being nifty. There are a lot of customization options on character creation and each armour type has a few different looks so two different people wearing +1 Chainmail won't necessarily look the same. All of the races look just like you would expect (Think Lord of the Rings). There was a lack of effects for my cloak, boots, gloves and belt, but I'm on the 1.5 gig head start client and I don't know if the retail client which will be out on th 3rd will be better.
Sound & Music
The music is quite good in the game, with combat music kicking in when combat starts and appropriate tension building music when enemies are near by. Ambient sound is also good with dripping noises in the sewers and backround chatter and music in the tavern. The DM voice overs are GREAT and the game supports voice chat which I use with my group. This really adds to to feel of Pen and Paper D&D as it's really like your friends are right there with you.
Controls
When I started playing the game I was trying to use the controls like WoW. But I actually found I got confused and wound up activating abilities by accident. Since combat is so active in this game you need your mouse look and WASD movement key configuration. This essentially means you'll be activating your abilities from the 1-0 keys and switching your shortcut bars with ctrl-1 to ctrl-0. Once you make the mental adjustment it actually works quite well and combat becomes intiutive again. The only issue I have really had so far is the use of the shift key for blocking and shift WASD to tumble in the appropriate direction. This is due to my inability to release shift and seems more like a game acclimatization issue than a control issue.
Replayability
After you complete any quest you open up 2 harder difficulty options to try and complete the quest on. Quests themselves contain many secret areas that you could miss/break on your first time through so it is quite often worthwhile to repeat a quest. How do you break a secret area? Many abilities come into play in the dungeons and there's levers and switches everywhere. A few times someone in the group has hit a lever and sealed of access to a second lever which you needed to hit first. If you take your time and think about it it's usually obvious which one to hit first, but if you're from the Diablo/WoW/Doom mentality it takes a while to break the habit and start thinking.
Multiplay/Co-Op
Dungeons and Dragons Online has set out to try and recreate the feel of the Pen and Paper experience in the online arena and it succeeded. The Pen and Paper Experience for reference is: Sitting down with a group of friends and having a drink and an adventure that is not about you, but about the group.
After you hit about level 2 don't expect to solo anything unless you plan on repeating the quests quite a few times. The treasure and XP reward is the same wether you solo or group, so get yourself in a group, it will be easier, you'll get more xp as you won't die and will get the bonus objectives and last but not least you can go to new areas with a reasonable chance of success.
Ultimately this is another MMO whos life will be determined by the community. What I've seen of the community so far looked pretty mature and reasonable. I replayed a few quests with an alt and a random group and due to the lack of coordination some things I achieved with my friends just weren't possible, however new things were still found and I did still have fun.
I joined DDO with 3 friends with the intent that we'd play together one or 2 preset nights a week. We just played all weekend and it was GREAT. If you have a group of friends who are interested in MMOs, I recommend this game over ANY other MMO. The complexity and completeness just really make all the difference. If you are looking for your next MMO fix, this may or may not be for you. Lots of thinking and tactics involved in this MMO and with a random group of people you may struggle to get the most out of the game. I do recommend trying it anyway though.
[edit]Cleaned up, clarrified and skipped breakfast. DOH!