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Highly Addictive

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: September 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is simply the most fun I've ever had with a PSP game. No, it's not perfect D&D, it's missing multi-classing and a few skills and feats. But it's damn close, and you get more character customization than you're going to find in any other PSP game anywhere, guaranteed.

If you've ever played "Temple of Elemental Evil" game for the PC, this looks and plays very similarly. The focus here is a little less on role-playing and more on fighting though (but that's why it's called D&D Tactics).

The game is LONG too. I spent about 92 hours on the campaign and finally finished it. You start at level 1. I don't know what the highest level you can hit, but everyone in my party got up to level 19. Even after you complete the campaign, you can go through it again, and make some different choices about which dungeons to explore, or whether to lean toward good or evil, so there is a fair amount of replay value.

-Graphics are smooth, colorful, and fantastic. Almost every spell has it's own animation. Each character has a unique look, and you can customize their hair and faces to a certain extent.

-Sound is wonderful, and there's a wide range of background music. There's even a sound player option so you can play the music during your pencil & paper games if you want.

-Gameplay would be hard at first if you have no knowledge of D&D, but soon anyone will learn it. There are lots of ingame help available on just about everything.

Game balance may be a bit off, my party was leveling faster than the game was expecting, and I was going through some adventures 2-3 levels higher than I should have. You can mitigate this by switching characters between adventures though.

The manual is a little lacking. It doesn't tell you that hitting the "select" button will zoom the screen in and out. It's a very useful feature that I discovered by accident. I wonder if some of the negative reviews here are by people who never figured that trick out?

My biggest problem with the game is that I'm already dying for a sequel!

D&D Tactics Fails its Save

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: September 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love Dungeons and Dragons, playing it with two different groups twice a week. I also love handheld tactical games, with some of my favorite handheld games of all times being tactics-style. So when this product was announced, I found myself waiting for it with 'bated breath. And waiting. And waiting.

The screenshots and video looked good, the press releases and interviews and previews all seemed to suggest that things were heading in the right direction, a tactics game with great graphics, based around the complex (and carefully thought out) 3.5 edition D&D rules. Each time it was delayed, I dared to hope that it was because they were taking the time to really get it right.

Having now played a good chunk of the game, I think that what was instead happening during the delays was that the development team, overburdened by the complexity of what they had set out to do, was simplifying and reducing, getting rid of stuff that didn't work, dropping features that were too hard to complete, and just generally scaling back the ambitions for the project until its parameters fit within what they had already done, rather than what they had set out to do.

It is a reasonably fun game nonetheless. Controlling a party of six adventurers, representing the base D&D classes, plus a couple extra psionic ones, is relatively fulfilling. It's even a decent tactics game in some ways, with the step by step planning of what your characters will do, and the mutual supporting interactions between them. This fundamental enjoyment is what pushes my overall rating of the game up from 1 to 2 star status.

But there are two important respects in which it falls very short.

First, as a tactics game, the controls are finicky. It's hard to get a good overview of the situation, in part because the 3D rendering is so intensive that the poor PSP's responses are jerky rather than smooth. Lighting is also a problem, with the lighting conditions being based on which character is selected, rather than on what lighting pertains overall. This means that if you have a character without a light source of their own, you sometimes can't see clearly, even if they're standing next to two or three other characters with light sources. Area effect spells are hard to position, because some of them cover so many squares that you can't see the edges of the selected region.

It also lacks any tactical finesse. The scenarios are straightforward, and its really more about using your party's "brute force" capabilities to batter opponents into submission. The computer's AI doesn't take advantage of all the available rules, so the game never really gives you a chance to explore the tactical depth of which those rules are capable.

Finally, the menu based controls are complex and slow. Moving equipment from party member to party member is excrutiating, picking options in combat requires you to navigate a multi-level menu tree, and the interface for leveling up manually is so cumbersome they included an "auto level" ooption. This will provide a hefty barrier to entry to anyone that just wants to pick up the game and play, and would only be forgivable if the complexity was to support the depth of D&Ds complicated ruleset.

Which it doesn't.

The second problem with the game is that when they started cutting corners, they began hacking off parts of the rules system that were inconvenient to them, or changing things to work around bugs or missing features they'd decided to abandon. Here's what I've noticed so far:

* No multiclassing
* Opponents never use the 5 foot step to avoid attacks of opportunity. They always take a "move" action, even if they're only going 5 feet. Spellcasters never "step back" to cast spells.
* Metamagic feats cause all spells that _could_ be affected to be affected at all times. So, if you take the "Widen Spell" feat, all of your fireballs will have a 40' radius. You can't turn it off, and it still uses a 3rd level slot. (Fireball is pretty unusable in the game anyway, since you can't tell if it's going to hit an obstruction and blow up on top of you, but taking widen spell turns it into a spell that you almost never get to cast.)
* Undead are subject to critical hits.
* They're only using a fraction of the possible creature base. I'm a good chunk of the way in, at 10th level, and I keep encountering the same kinds of creatures again and again. (werewolves, anyone?).
* Burning hands doesn't appear to be castable. (Don't know why, but it never lets me cast it.)
* Magic missles must all be directed against a single target.
* Lightning bolt is a single target spell.
* If the character you designate as your "main" character dies, combat immediately ends with a "FAILURE!". Not very D&D-like.
* No prestige classes. (see no multiclassing, above.)
* Things stack that shouldn't. Bracers of Armor stack with armor bonuses, for example.
* No secret doors. (or at least, if there are, I haven't found them.)
* A character moving through an allies square is never subject to an AOO.
* Even high skill tumblers can't tumble through an opponent's space.
* If you take a full attack action, both attacks end up directed against the same opponent, even if the first hit kills that opponent and there's another opponent in reach.
* No school specialization, so your wizard won't have many spells. I recommend a sorcerer, since there aren't a lot of non-combat spells.
* A cleric with a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other can't cast spells. (It's well established in the rules that the cleric can move the weapon to the shield hand in order to allow this.)
* No paladin mount.
* Power attack has non-adjustable intensity. (i.e. you can't select how much of it you're using.)
* You're not allowed to assist other character's attacks or ACs. This is a fairly minor rule in regular D&D, but since its specifically marketed as a Tactics game, this seems like a strange thing to leave out.
* Monsters never have treasure, it's all in chests scattered about the map.
* If you kill the last monster, you never get to open any chests you hadn't reached yet.
* Turning undead always destroys them, never turns them.
* Bardic Music doesn't follow the rules for same. It clearly gives allies a bonus, but what bonus exactly is clearly not quite in line with the original rules.

I'm sure there's more, but its a hodge-podge of rules changes. Some made in order to accomodate the electronic nature of the game, to be sure, but many made just because the developers either didn't understand, or didn't bother to implement, the original rules' intent.

The sad part is, you can see the bones of a much more expansive (and exciting) game here, but they just failed to deliver. What's left is a reasonably fun set of dungeon crawls with a clunky interface.

Who knows, handhelds keep growing in power, maybe they'll get it right next time.

Great turn-based D&D game - P&P fans only!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: August 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There are few games in the past ten years that have given me satisfying turn-based tactical combat experience. This one has. I currently DM pen and paper D&D and have found this gem to hold up very well against the ruleset. Sure, there is very little in the way of role-play elements, but truth be told, you can't role play on a computer (AI) worth a darn any way (reading page after page of "story dialogue" and choosing from a tree of contrived responses in not what I call roleplaying) , so this gets right down to brass tax; turn based combat.

Character creation is very involved and exciting; the experience point system has been accelerated, so leveling happens often (maybe a little too often, actually, as the lower levels offer excitement that is entirely different from mid and high level characters). Atari has included most major feats and their implementation comes off well. The skill system is fully included, but a bit deceiving. With the lack of RP elements, I haven't seen any use for knowledge skills (or other non-combat skills) and wonder why they were included. Had I known the game was almost strictly combat based, I would have configured my skills differentally for each character before starting.

The in-combat interface works well. Line-of-sight seems to be right on and using cover seems to affect my characters chances of being hit. What this game desparately needs is a status screen that shows a breakdown of your numbers (i.e. if your AC is showing 17, there is no way to tell how you arrived at that number, you have to figure it out yourself). Also the game lacks a numerical breakdown of the damage each character does in combat, or even the potential damage you could do based on your weapon, base attack and feats.

I hope Atari comes out with a patch that brings the background numbers out so the player can see them. A real character sheet would be such a welcome addition (the interface for viewing each character's stats is terrible). As far as I can tell at this point, there is no numeric data that shows what spell(s) each character is currently affected by (just a generic symbol over his head). Without these fixes, this game will have a hard time finding a group to identify with as it won't satify the hardcore players enough and will likely confuse and frustrate the casual player.

All-in-all, though, I have been glued to this game before going to bed every night. Each weapons and suit of armor has been rendered (although there is no close-up vanity view of your character). All items, feats, skills, etc. have a detailed description available at any time. If you plan on picking this up - do youself a HUGE favor, if you don't already own it, pick up the Players Handbook to go along with this title because you WILL reference it! I look forward to the the next title in this series (fingers crossed) - I bet it will be spot on!

If it wasn't D&D...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: August 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

...this game would get a much lower review.

The developers did a decent job of taking the D&D rules and putting them on the PSP. A few things are missing, but that's understandable.

This issue comes in with the difficulty. D&D rules say encounters should be scaled so you can get through 4 of them before resting. The game doesn't do that. I find myself having to rest every battle or 2. Also, monsters do not always match the available equipment to fight them. (There are a lot of early monsters with damage reduction, but there is no way to get the weapons needed to overcome DR.)

User interface can be a pain. You always have to move the camera so you can see where you are going and move your characters. (It would be nice if walls and such were semi-transparent, but that may be too much to ask.)

Entire 3.5 Core Rules D&D Psionics Too!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: October 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

ok 1st off I am a dungeons and dragons former nerd. so my review might be seeming to be in favor of all the options in this game (which I am) but they may not be for everyone.
this game has all the D&D favs such as the Beholder, Illithids, Dragons of course, Undead and so much more. also the (up to 4 player) multiplayer wireless adhoc option is pure genious.
just dont think this is one of your standard level up/ loot grinders. it has these options and so many choices for everything from eye color all the way to feats and Psionics!
Overall this game is done well and executed in the truest dungeons and dragons experience out there.
Fans of the baldurs Gate series might want to rent this first since it's turn based combat and huge menus may slow down this game too much for the hardcore action RPG'er.
Beautiful Grphics on the monsters and Loads of Equipment and Loot. enough here to keep everyone including me busy for many many hours.

Graphics: Crisp 5.0

Sound: clear but repeatitive. 4.0

Overall: with multi-player modes and all the loot options then toss in the Entire 3.5 core rules set and you get the D&D experience that most Hardcore Fans Have Been Seeking the whole time. Give it a try! 5.0!

buy this 5 star title by clicking the link below.
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics

Mediocrity

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Let's get right to the thing most people interested in buying a D&D game are going to be worried about: how faithfully does it interpret the rules of the game?

The answer is, quite frankly, poorly. First and foremost, the ability to multiclass seems to be completely absent, which in and of itself almost completely disenfranchises this game from D&D 3.5 and its ease-of-multiclassing, build-your-own hero design. Further, there don't seem to be any prestige classes either, which while far more understandable (and acceptable) than a lack of multiclassing serves to even further distance the game from what people who play P&P D&D naturally expect.

Throw in changes to feats and base classes (what the heck were they trying to do with the Ranger?), ambiguous or missing class abilities (do Clerics even get Domain-related special abilities?), and a generally thin selection of all of the above to begin with, and you end up with a game that completely removes the character-building and development strategy aspect from D&D, which quite frankly is about the only thing truly 'tactical' about 3.5 to begin with...

This would be understandable if the changes were merely made to make the game more 'playable' in its given format, but that doesn't seem to be the case. For example, the Perform Skill in this game only has any utility to a Bard character, and you can't multiclass from other classes to a Bard, but non-Bards are still allowed to pick it. If you were trying to 'streamline' the game for hand-held play, things like that would be what you would want to 'fix'...

But instead we get 'fixes' that show a questionable, at best, sense of what the original rules were intended to do, and little to no concept of game balance. The Psionic Weapon feat, for example, adds +2d6 damage to all melee attacks. ALL melee attacks. All the time! You don't have to spend Power Points or anything, you just get +2d6 damage on every swing (vs. +2 damage for Fighter's Weapon Specialization). How in the world could that have slipped by someone?

Then there are the changes they seem to have made to try to be 'sticklers' to the rules, making the naggling little details that no one who plays P&P bothers with--at least, nowhere near to this anal-retentive degree--into massive issues the player must deal with. Encumberance is not only enforced, it's going to ream you on every single level in the game unless you've got a team stocked with Barbarians. You're going to be constantly groaning over being told you can't do something with your hands full. (A Cleric needs a feat to cast spells while wielding a mace and shield? Since when?) You're going to wonder why some things just don't seem to work right (Tumble nerf?). The strict adherance to the Light and Vision and Surprise Round rules is going to give you endless headaches, especially if you try to use a Rogue or Ranger...

If you push past the thousand and one little annoyances, which extend further into a poor interface, weak story, and mediocre graphics, there's a half-decent game buried underneath. However, that's all it is: half-decent. Don't go into this expecting more, and don't bother at all if you're a rules purist or lacking patience.

It's D&D

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: August 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Well, I am definately enjoying this game, the controls are not too bad, just it is quite a pain to trade items between your characters, you can't control (as far as I can figure out...)if you want to give a bow to your ranger that your bard has, it seems like you have to give it to your cleric Then to your barbarian, then to your rogue...then maybe your ranger? If someone figures this out I would be happy to hear it.

Gameplay is enjoyable, be sure you save often. I've had to replay battles just because I accidentally loaded instead of saved.

Well overall, there is a whole lot to this game, I've barely scratched the surface, I'm sure

Clunky Interface but still alot of Fun

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was very excited when I heard a D&D game was coming to the PSP. The good points are the ruleset 3.5. Follows the rules of D&D perfectly. The bad point is the clunky menu system and trading weapons. My characters are mostly encumbered all the time, and I can't figure out how to move items along, and what item is better than the next.

All in all a fun game for the D&D fans, but if you aren't into the rules, pick up Untold Legends - brotherhood of the blade.

What a waste of 40 bucks.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 17
Date: August 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Just to give folks a background, I have played D&D since the mid 80's. When I heard a D&D game was coming out for the PSP I got really excited, disappointed, excited, disappointed and excited again as the release date kept getting pushed back. As the company pushed the release date back they kept removing cool features like possible expansion packs you could download or multi player with characters you create.

I became a bit more hesitant but decided to pick this game up. I knew it was going to have a tactics feel to it, but they still billed it as an RPG. I can't believe how wrong that is. There is no world to explore, just a bunch of menu type areas that lead from one battlefield to another. The "cut scenes" look and read like they were typed up by 12 year olds, no offense meant to 12 year olds out there, but it's the closest thing to what this game offers... Also character movement in this game sucks too. There were many times I tried to move my character around the attack range of mobs and it just wont let you. It has some kind of wierd auto path arrow that seems to have a life of its own when you pick where you want your characters to go.

The graphics are sub par to other RPG's I have played on the PSP. The menu system is probably the worst in this game, clunky and time consuming. When they say there is 40 or so hours of game play for this game they may have been correct. 10 hours of play and 30 hours of using the menu system.

The rules for 3.5 D&D are followed fairly well but that can't cover up the smell of poo this game leaves behind.

I guess if you love overly clunky interfaces and pure strategy games this may be for you. If you love a great RPG with true character development and a story line you should really look for something else.

Best PSP game so far, if you like D&D 3e.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The game is great, though it is extremely difficult to understand and play correctly because it is so rules heavy, and this limits the enjoyment for people who have no experience with the table top version of the game. The rules are implemented quite nicely. OTOH, if you know the rules prior to playing this you'll find it way too easy.
It does lack important aspects of the game, such as random encounters and a possible "automatic" threat releveling for missions. Maybe in d&d tactics II.
Some things though make little sense. During missions you are permitted to rest and heal completely while standing outside the Boss' door!!!

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