A Land Far Away

While surfing around, I stumbled across this:

https://swordcoast.com/

A Forgotten Realms game that features a toolset to build, A DM client, and cross platform support for Apple and Linux. It also offers some console variants for PS4 and Xbox One (but those will be stand alone…won’t interface with the PC world). Unfortunately the game’s website is terrible and offers few additional details. They are slated for release in Q3 2015, but given where they are with the details on the website, I have to doubt that they are that close. The did demo at E3, and some reviewer have gotten to see it in action. Here’s one I found to be interesting:

http://www.examiner.com/article/e3-2015 ... ns-dragons

In reading some of the articles from the game developers, they are D&D gamers, which is why the toolset has gotten so much love from them. Here’s what a game like this could potentially offer ALFA:

Updated graphics and game engine – NWN2 is 10 years old. It was beautiful for its time, but it now looks very dated. The models have collision problems, the pathfinding is horrible, and the AI is very basic. The net code is buggy and we are constantly dealing with rubber-banding and crashes. Of course there is no guarantee that this new game will offer significant upgrades in those, but it is definitely worth a look.

Players! – This is a new game, and will move a lot of copies. Once all those gamers blow through the single player content (probably in mere days), these folks will be looking for other content online. If ALFA stands up a new server quickly enough and is able to offer enough content to keep players, it could mean a huge influx of players, builders, and DM’s to ALFA. It could also be a hook to bring old ALFAns back.

Apple & Linux – people running those platforms don’t get a lot of choices for gaming, but they are very dedicated to their platforms of choice. This may mean they will be more likely to stick with a game and gravitate to a persistent world project like ALFA.

Thoughts?

It looks neat.

My understanding, however, is that its 4 players plus DM max which isnt conducive to a 24/7, persisent world environment. That said, it could still be a useful tool to attract more bodies.

Also:

http://www.alandfaraway.info/phpBB3/vie ... =3&t=51368

Yeah, this had come up before-- the platform as advertised doesn't really work as a PW, and their monetization model seems unlikely to be particularly welcoming of schemes like ours (that is, about five people making stuff and then distributing it to 45-90 people, depending on the world's current activity).

I'll still look into it when it's released, of course, though please keep expectations tempered. The overwhelming majority of brave new hopes for the next NWN2 turn out to be bunk, and the most plausible from my perspective continues to be that there's a Paizo/Obsidian partnership for which they've hired a crew of developers capable of making a new game engine.

Mmm, pai.

Duck, there are a couple games people are tracking right now. Sword Coast Legends is one of them, and Shards Online is another. There is not likely to be a direct replacement for NWN2 in the future.

SCL will offer DM client plus toolsetting, with the limitation being only 4 players with the DM. It remains to be seen if any sort of PW style play will become available. There has been a lot of clamoring for it since the game was first announced, but nothing so far. I am planning to build and DM on SCL whenever it comes out. Haven't pre-ordered yet though because of the things Zelknolf brought up.

By the way, you can get an idea for the campaign creation potential from the gameplay videos that just came out.





I think when the game launches, things will be randomly generated exterior and interior maps. However, not all details are out yet, and they may add in further customization with later content updates. Release date is Sept 8 on PC/Mac.

This game is like dangling a pork chop in front of a hungry dog and then yanking it back saying, "Oops, not for you NWN builders!"

Though it does occur to me, since it seems utterly SO much like our toolset and dm client, maybe someone could jerryrig it to host a server sized module.

The graphics are just so great!

The main difference is there is no PW opportunity. You can likely make much more content than NWN2 (like in NWN1). The key difference is it is limited to 1 DM and 4 PCs. There are lots of other limitations but that is the primary difference.

If we're getting into the core interactional difference, I would also note that there's that 'threat' system, which restricts what the DM can do (including possessing NPCs)-- and there's also no chat interface.

This game is going to be fully released soon. Currently starting an early play weekend.

If you pre-order, you get the first DLC for free.

https://swordcoast.com/preorder

not sure when I can play, but downloading

I'm in your module now, n00b. Come back to the game and DM me already. I have my raging dwarf maid ready to go.

Also, send me a friend request on steam, ID is: HEEGZ

How is it?

My machine can barely run it, on lowest settings. It is fun though, but much much different than NWN. To me it is worth the $35.