MENA Gamer - Where Game Begins

Oh my god its Dungeons and Dragons Online!..again! Hold on while I grab my dice! Wait a minute, you don’t need dice? That’s right its Dungeons and Dragons Online and no dice is necessary.  It’s the free to play upgrade to the award winning original dungeons and dragons Don’t get me wrong I didn’t seriously consider that they would expect me to sit in front of a computer screen and roll some dice while I attempted a saving throw vs dragons breath and then proceed type in my numbers into the gaming console. But I have to ask myself, what is Dungeons and Dragons without throwing dice around with your nerdy friends?

My first impression of Dungeons and Dragons Online is that the game is reminiscent of some of the more famous hack and slash games like Diablo 1 and 2, but has environmental ambience similar to Morrowind or Oblivion. The game is fully 3D rendered and looks pretty darn good. The game also features a narrator who describes situations as you walk into them to give you the impression no doubt that there is a narrator simulating a dungeon master overseeing your progress.

The MMO is free to play but does offer purchasable content and items through the online store. Developers have promised players that they have not created a system that creates a rift between characters who have purchased content and those that have not. Most of the purchasable content is new campaigns (which can be earned through game play as well) and simple potions, like healing potions. Whether this system of income will allow the developers to stay afloat or not is still up in the air, this does follow a similar business model that many other MMO’S seem to be gravitating towards. It really begs the comparison on which model works better (FTP) free to play or monthly subscriptions.

The thing that bugs me the most about this game is it really doesn’t feel like DND. Have you ever played pen and paper DND, or at least some incarnation of it? If you have then you know where most of the excitement comes from. It comes from the creativity of the dungeon master and excitement of roll luck. The dungeon master literally has the sky as the limit as he can make anything imaginable happen at any given moment. Your party could be gleefully moving through the campaign one moment with many successfully die rolls yet demolished the next by a merciless dungeon master who …well maybe he/she has a hot date to attend to and simply needs to end the game at that moment. Of course this is a blunt example of level of control a dungeon master has over the game, but it really emphasizes my point. There’s a certain level creativity that eberron unlimited will always lack. It is also online so there are limitations to the amount of campaigns available. Another major long-time issue with the DND pc gaming universe is that I have never seen a good system of indicating your rolls. It would be really nice if the game had a way of indicating spectacular die rolls, maybe a color code system with a large font that really lets you know …that you let the kobold have it right in the forehead with your axe. After all what appeals to me the most in DND is how it utilizes your imagination to the fullest.

From an MMO perspective it is neither completely original nor unoriginal. But that is the nature of MMORPG’s in the world today. Most MMO companies seem afraid to do something completely original and tend to pick and choose the elements of other MMO’s creating hybrid copies none of which are to interesting and most of which are entertaining just enough to hold ample subscribers. Dungeons and Dragons Online is aiming at classic DND players and introducing them to the expanding world of MMO’s, a similar concept.  DND Online can be an opportunity for traditional players to meet other players who are not available in the local community.  More people are turning to computers to find people with similar interests; DND Online can be a new way to think about DND.

Eberrons Unlimited goes live on August 6th so if you have the chance give it a try, after all it is free to play. Worst that could happen is you’ll miss the sound of dice rolling around and summon up your nerdiest friends for a night of good ol’ fashioned DND campaigning.

Official Website: http://www.ddo.com/