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MMORPG REVIEW: Dungeons and Dragons Online


Far Dareis Mai

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Alright, so I've taken it upon myself to be ridiculous and try out various and sundry MMO's and let you all know what I think. Why does what I think matter? Beats me, but I've played A LOT of video games in my time, and I've played A LOT of MMO's in my time...and so ya know...I know about...stuff. >.>

 

Anywho, here's the first!

 

Title: Dungeons and Dragons Online

Developer: Turbine, Inc.

Site: http://ddo.com

Cost: Standard accounts are free; though you can upgrade.

Servers: 5 in North America, 2 in Europe, 0 in Oceania. Aussies and the like connect to the North America servers, and have fun with that ping. :P

 

Setting Info: This game uses the Eberron Campaign Setting, and is based mostly on the 3.5 Edition rules set.

Many of the races and classes you know and love are available to free players, with additional classes available to players who pay to play. The game play itself is pretty standard. You can have up to 6 people in your party, you get quests from NPC's and you must complete them to gain exp in order to level up. The dungeon system is interesting, with the options up front to go through the dungeon on "easy" "medium" or "hard" mode, and another "weirdness" is their exp system.

Basically, there are three ranks within each level. With each rank, you gain a new "Talent", and then when you gain all three ranks, you actually achieve the next level.

 

Personal experience: I play this rarely with my husband and friends, because we are all too busy to run an actual campaign, and nobody wants to be the DM. Basically we run through dungeons, beat on things, and sell loot to make money. The age range is extremely varied--with just as many people 35+ as people 15+ playing. The graphics are very reminiscent to the game Oblivion, and so is a lot of the fighting mechanics.

 

All of the dungeons and events are instanced, and there is a built in voice chat, that I have not tried out yet.

 

All in all, it is not nearly so nice as some of the other MMO's I have experienced. I can definitely see why they made it free after the initial release. But if you like D&D, and you want to feel nostalgic and stuff, give it a try, it's not so bad. :P 

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See, if it had been more like NWN to me, I'd have been all over it, because I loved that game. But to me it's more like Morrowind and Oblivion, and I didn't like those games really at all. :P

 

Its nowhere near oblivion/Morrowind though.

Not even in graphics.

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On par graphics wise?

 

That dosn't make sense, theres a huge leap in looks from morrowind to oblivion... it's can't resemble both!

 

Lies! Lies and slander!

 

I've played both, and gameplay in DDO is nothing like gameplay in oblivion.

For one thing, you don't even level the same way!

 

The only thing they have in common is you attack with the left mouse button...

 

Graphically, DDO is between Oblivion and Morrowind.

And unless you got a shitty pc, oblivion should look better. ;)

7969_the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-20060405093901532_normal.jpg

 

width=640 height=480http://www.gameogre.com/ddo.jpg[/img]

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Does any other game use the same levelining system as The Elder Scrolls games?  I think it's kinda cool that you have to train something to get better at it, but I find efficient leveling to be a real pain.  I hate having to run into a corner for an hour just because I'm trying to get +5 on my speed this time.  Of course I have the PC version of Oblivion, so I could always use the console commands and cheat, but that just makes the game pointless imo.

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Does any other game use the same levelining system as The Elder Scrolls games?  I think it's kinda cool that you have to train something to get better at it, but I find efficient leveling to be a real pain.  I hate having to run into a corner for an hour just because I'm trying to get +5 on my speed this time.  Of course I have the PC version of Oblivion, so I could always use the console commands and cheat, but that just makes the game pointless imo.

 

Yes/No, theres some mmorpgs that use a skill-based leveling system, but I can't think of any that directly use a skill-based -level-stat system that elderscrolls uses.

 

Demon's Souls every level = 1 stat.

 

One of the final fantasy games, no levels, all skills. Like, lvl 50 in swords, 25 black magic, ect.

I'm thinking... runescape? Uses a similar leveling system, and probably a few others...

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