Hmmm i played the first one on my Xbox/PS2, but could never find the followup game.

The game plays a lot more like a simplified Gauntlet game with D&D theme, you get feats per level and you can get 'spells/abilities', no turn based combat instead it's more twin-stick shooty. Also Magic Missile won't always hit your enemies, you tend to hit walls and rocks half the time.

Not sure, perhaps the best part is some of the familiar voice actors doing their lines, although the cutscenes were pretty bad.

I also remember a trick to replay against a boss (though you may have to play 2 players to get this to work; save before the boss, fight and save after, then reload the previous save and 'import' the previous characters), so fighting the adamantium golem over and over until my inventory was full of +5 swords, and at near max level.

It was a console Diablo basically, and with early 2000s story production values which were pretty bad compared to today's. That said I remember having a good time with it playing with my best friend on his PS2.

If it does come to PC though I'd guess a lot of people will buy it for the name and be very annoyed by it.

Probably the last time I'll post in this thread on the new release Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance...

... but...

... since I've now played quite a lot of the game since release -- all of it solo -- I wanted to add my current thoughts...

1. There are some mediocre textures, but overall the graphics are good.

2. The art direction / design is GREAT! There are some vistas that I'll remember long after I've put the game to sleep.

3. Map design and exploration are both GREAT! It seems clear to me Tuque took notes from God of War map / level design.

4. Combat is firmly AA -- with all of the jank and imprecision that implies. But, as you level up and gain more skills / moves, it improves. Is this a great system? No, but it does an ok job.

5. Enemy AI. Boss AI is ok (although it's possible ATM to "cheese" some battles) -- and does get challenging on higher levels -- but regular enemy AI is pretty brain dead; quite often general minions are completely oblivious. Now, with the imprecision of combat, this is probably needed ATM to make combat doable... but it is strange to walk right up to some enemies and they don't aggro at all. With that said...

... on higher levels -- once they aggro -- it's easy to get swarmed.

6. Solo play. It's possible... and exploration is fun IMO... but the game is weighted heavily toward co-op play. If you can deal with arena after arena of horde management (and a lot of dodging and running), you can have some fun with this game... at least I have.

7. Story. Was there one? Yes, there's a story, but it has no real personal relation to any of the characters except in the most general sense. Even though the production quality of the cut-scene animations is high, I tended to skip most of them for my initial playthrough. The story just feels -- by the way it's told -- inconsequential. If you play games for story, forget this title... unless you're a big D&D fan and love the Icewind Dale / Drizzt lore.

Overall, I'm enjoying the game warts-and-all... but I would hesitate to encourage others to buy it and play it ATM. The game is an unpolished -- some would say "broken" -- AA hack-n-slash that -- although having a strong foundation -- falls short in many respects. IMO this game suffers from being pushed out-the-door too soon over being made by people who had no clue how to maker a game. Will Tuque patch the game and bring it to a "good" state? Hopefully...

I saw this review for the game earlier today. It looks like absolute trash. A poster child for how much AI has deteriorated in AAA games in the past 20 years.

I very much hope it will not come to GOG. There is no way this should be able to get past GOG's 'quality filter' (if that is still a thing)

This game is dieing quickly. And being an online coop game mainly that means it wont worth buying.

When "It's fun with friends" is the main advertising point for a video game, you know it's a shit game. Literally anything is fun with friends, including throwing rocks.

exactly

and game has features like random drop loots , lvl ups , nearly no story , and repayable levels with difficulty change
so it is not like a normal coop game where you go thru the story/maps with your buddies

this game designed to need you to go with random players to develop your champ , and it has horrible match making
you cant chose the map or difficulty when wanting to join a team , only the team leader can , and most of them are afking in the gather camp if you join

some play it solo for whatever reason, makes no sense to chose this game over other solo focused games
and probably they use the archer, as the AI is so good it doesn't attack players if you're shooting from a distance :D

Well, having actually played it (solo)...

It's not nearly as bad as many would lead you to believe...

... and some criticisms seem to have come from a lack of playing / understanding the game (I don't think many played this game more than an hour or two prior to uploading reviews).

Does that mean it's great? No, but...

... the critical dog-piling is ridiculous. It's a AA $40 title that came out too soon (like many others recently) and needs some work.

Is there fun to be had? Yes, if you know generally what you're in for. I enjoy difficult games... and in solo play on the higher difficulties, this is a very difficult experience (riding the borderline of difficult vs cheap). Also, the maps are great for exploration... another thing I love; I finding chests in strange "hidden" locations and shortcuts to previous areas.

I didn't pay full price for the game -- and still I was fully ready to return it should I hate it -- but I didn't and have actually enjoyed it.

Well, I have just been playing this. To note I only played the first couple of levels with drizzt solo.
What can I say, well the biggest thing that I found was the controller. It is really bad. If you attack you commit to moving in that and only that direction. Anyone who has played a 3rd person hack em up knows that is a bad idea. It ruins the whole experience, and whoever decided on that should be let go immediately.
Graphically the game is ok, if a bit cartoonish.
Story wise, there is no story at all. A brief intro video tells you about the books.
Combat, you have to use lock on, not your own skill. Due to the controller if you don’t you will just sail in a line past everything. There appear to be skills like summoning panther, but the whole thing is far too complicated. Play the original games, simple but fun.
Campaign, there isnt one. It’s choose a map, clear all beast. Repeat. Didn’t get any sense of grandeur, or aim.
Loot/items. There is a fair bit and the maps are good and make you want to explore. No idea how to use items or equip things.
So it’s the dnd game I have actually added to my perm removed list. It’s a couple of fundamental things which ruin it, the controls and the story.

Oh, on a side note, when did lock on become mandatory, it’s like you can’t play an action game now without lock on. Highly annoying for those of us who like to direct our own attackers. And also on the subject, when did back buttons become attack and defend?

3rd person action games without lock-on are grossly reduced in playability. But it should be player-directed lock-on (quick key to goggle). But despite that the controls you describe sound horrible.

I don’t know, never been a fan of lock on. Tends to mean you just have to mash a button and not think about direction. Dodging for instance, maybe I don’t want to dodge left or right but forward or back. Also, then there is ranged combat which obviously is much easier with m+k, and lock on just removes the need to aim. I don’t really like any form of “helping” the p,Ayer though. I refuse to use VATS in F3/4/NV, if you can’t hit a leg with your controller then use a k+m!
Sorry, end rant. Yes the controls are bad in game, and a bit confusing as well though those who frequently play Xbox or ps will likely be right at home, I don’t like button attack for instance. Didn’t have it installed for long enough to try k+m control.

Not to be contrarian...

... but I played through not once using lock-on (and am now playing through on "ascendant"). While you can over-shoot if you play a purely button-mashing style, it's doable sans lock-on. Also...

... didn't have any problem calling Guenhwyvar or using moves / skills. Were you playing with gamepad or mouse and keyboard?

Block and parry were not well implemented at all. The combat system -- in practice -- just isn't tight enough for them to be useful... and hitboxes are all over the place.

I have some screenshots that are stunning, but... have to find a way of getting them off the PS4.

Anyway, I'm not arguing you should like the game or even that it's particularly good. I'm enjoying it... but I play a lot of janky games (and I did almost quite the first time through vs the Beholder).

As with anything else, there is no point arguing, some will think it’s the best thing ever. Every time I tried to attack drizzt moved only in one direction forward regardless of an enemy and would not stop. Surely a professional swordsman wouldn’t do that. Using a game pad, I didn’t get to try with m+k. I never graphics were not good. Story and controller, two big issues. Not going to get into again (after the cyberpunk arguments), that’s my opinion.

I'm not arguing it's the best game ever... I'm not even arguing it's good... (I'm surprised you are relating my appraisal to "... some think it's the best thing ever..."

... but...

... I did find that some of your ascertains didn't rung true with my playthrough. All I was saying is some of the issues you said were mandatory, aren't. That's all.

Sorry, not ascertaining you are. It’s just every conversation I get into now on the forums draws in those who believe that XYZ is the best thing ever, so it just becomes pointless discussing anything. Hence why I just post my opinion and leave at that. Same with everything in life now, every has massed ranks on both sides of every point and it’s just depressing.