Review: Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale

‘Lo thar, noble adventurer. If it be treasure and fame ye be seeking on your journeys, I advise ye look for another dungeon to explore. Only the iron-willed dare venture into this one for ‘tis crawling with bugs, glitches, and other unspeakable dangers! ‘Tis known that this dungeon can attract many dungeon crawling enthusiasts with its glamorous screen shots and interesting lore, but ‘tis all a ruse to lure them to their dooms. If thou really wishest enter, hear first my tale. ‘Tis a story of one adventurer who entered these very dungeons and managed to escape to warn everyone who comes across’t.

I've recently been bitten by the adventure bug. Between my time playing various shoot'em ups and League of Legends, I've had a hankering to get down and dirty in some dungeons. I could have just re-subscribed to some random MMO, but I didn't want to have to depend on others in my journeys. So when Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale was released on Steam for only $14.99, I thought my prayers were answered. I've always been a big D&D nerd, although I've only played one true round of D&D. Most of my experience has come from different MMO games – Dungeons and Dragons Online being the one MMO that really stayed trued to the D&D rulebooks. Now, however, I had a chance to play solo through lore-filled dungeons. All I can say is that most adventurers who entered these dungeons were let down. Big time.

The game begins great for the most part. For the low price, I wasn't expecting much from the character creation or class selection. I knew that I was going to fill one of the main roles. The game presents four classes – Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, and Priest. Being new to the game, I went with what seemed easiest, so I choose the Fighter. Like most role playing games, players will drop points into their stats and skills. I've always been a fan of customization and seeing what skills are available. In Daggerdale, there are not many skills to choose from, but that was understandable in the beginning as I did not expect a full length game. I chose my abilities and descended into the depths of the dwarves.

(A great look for a game but sadly a critical failure in the terms of actually working.)

The game is a hack and slash or ability-mashing dungeon crawl. Choosing a class and skills will determine how the game is played. Fighters, of course, will be up front dealing out damage with swords or heavy maces, while wizards will nuke down their foes with powerful spells. There will be plenty of items to pick up and experience to gain along the way. After a certain number of dead enemies and completed quests, players will level up and further their skills and attributes. For the most part, each character will end up the same as there isn't too much customization to create different subclasses. A fighter may choose to go sword and board while another may specialize in large weapon tactics, but in the end, that's about the extent to how differently the class branches out.

The plot of the story centers around the threat that the land of Dale will be conquered if Rezlus, a servent of Zhentarim, manages to amass an army through the Tower of Void. A goddess known as Lorin Aria calls on just four adventurers from the Dalelands to put an end to Rezlus's plan. In the very first fight against the goblins, an earth elemental breaks loose, killing all of the goblins and forces the four adventurers into a portal which takes them to the dwarven caves. It is there that they must aid the dwarves and find a way back to the tower in order to stop Rezlus.

(Too bad I may never know how this story truely unfolds.)

So, at least we have an interesting story to play through. Players who have the same interests as me can easily build upon this story and will enjoy seeing what lies ahead. Sadly, the game does not offer very much in the area of actual story telling. Most everything in Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is captioned. The main quest seems trail off the path a lot due to set backs and unimaginative side quests which keep players from progressing in the game. During the beginning, these quests seem to relate somewhat, but later in the game, it feels as if the hero will never get to stop Rezlus because he is too busy finding nails for a barrel lid.

The biggest problem that will cull most of the player population is that Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale is highly unplayable, and those who manage to try and stick with it may become increasingly frustrated in their travels as the bugs and glitches seem to pile up through every chapter of the game.

The Glitches:

Every game has their share of glitches. Veteran players have been down that road and have seen many of them in their times. D&D: Daggerdale has many of its own. The problem lies with just how annoying these glitches become as players progress. The most annoying glitch is that enemies will randomly disappear in the midst of a battle. At first, I thought that this was a skill that the enemies possess. Perhaps it was rogue-like and managed to hide in the shadows. That is not the case. When an enemy vanishes, it is gone for good. Some may not find this to be as annoying as I did, simply because they don't wish to have to deal with mobs of goblins. For others, however, it leaves a bad taste in their mouth as they feel they are getting ripped on game play.

Another glitch is enemies becoming invulnerable when tucked into a corner. Players who take up the fighter class will end up hacking and slashing at most of their foes. With each swing, there is a slight knockback included. If, by chance, players push their enemy against a wall or into a corner, they will no longer be able to deal damage to that  enemy. Instead, they must back up and risk the chance of the enemy disappearing.

The game uses a third person view and sometimes the camera does not like to follow along. This is mostly prominent during large battles. If a player is in the middle of a swarm of enemies, it is pretty difficult to focus one enemy down . This is due to the camera flipping from each side, redirecting the player's attacks to another group of enemies. It becomes even more frustrating when players use up a skill and it completely misses an entire hoard because of a faulty camera.

(These are my true colors. Frightening no?)

The silliest glitch is also one of the biggest letdowns. If the playing audience is anything like me, they like variety in the way weapons and armor look. At first I was quite satisfied with how my character was depicted in his transformation from cloth armor to leather armor. I was of course totally stoked when I picked up a set of chain mail. The feeling was short lasting after wearing it and my character turning completely purple. It wasn't that the armor was a purple color, it was that the texture refused to load and instead my character model was transformed into a purple looking mannequin with no facial features. I spent two levels looking like this because I needed the AC bonus from the armor. After those two levels, the bugs began to attack.

The Bugs:

In my opinion, bugs are ten times worst then glitches because they can render a game completely unplayable. While glitches may go away after a period of time, a bug bite may force players to restart the game from the beginning, losing all of their hard work. No one wants to go through that, so when a bug is found it is quickly reported in hopes that a patch comes out to fix the game. While D&D: Daggerdale was just released on Steam, the game has been out since May. I would think that the creators of Daggerdale would have already gotten word of these bugs and released some sort of fix for them. Alas, there have been no updates from Bedlam Games.

The first bug that I ran into was the inability to save in the middle of objectives. If I had taken a three part quest and used the save feature after completing the first quest, I would still have to go back and redo the entire first part of the quest upon my return. Now, this is nothing I haven't seen before. There are a lot of games, such as the GTA series, where you cannot save in the middle of a mission. The biggest different is that the game at least informs me that I cannot save at this time. Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale simply allows players to use the option and surprises them when they return.

(The bugs of Daggerdale have stretched further than the American boarders!)

Other bugs and glitches that I have heard about but not experienced were entire levels being untextured and nonfunctional player stances. In one case, a player had died during co-op play and could not respawn. Instead, the game only allowed the player to move his corpse around freely. It's things like this that bring a game to its knees. With the way things are today, the internet, YouTube, and other ways to capture these glitches and bugs, people would think developers would be on the ball at addressing these issues. Sadly, at Bedlam Games, this is not the case. Even for the low price of $14.99, Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale goes down as a game that only the hardened should play, as you're guaranteed to run into some form of glitch or bug.

MSRP: $14.99

CASRP: $4.99

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