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It's impossible not to compare Dragonheir: Silent Gods to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate 3. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons offers a rich world for storytelling and has been host to a thousand tales since its inception in the '70s, but the cold hard truth is that Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the most mainstream adaptations the game has known, storming ahead of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tears of the Kingdom to be the highest-rated game of the year, and is responsible for people around the globe falling in love with Dungeons & Dragons as a concept. Dragonheir: Silent Gods cannot compete with that, and never set out to. In sಞome ways, it is the victim of unfortunate timing. But on the other hand, maybe it is striking while the iron is hot. Having played it myself at Gamescom, the jury is still out.
With the rise of Critical Role, its appearances in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Stranger Things, and a recent blockbuster movie, Dungeons & Dragons is more popular now than it ever has been. A group of us at TheGamer play every few weeks, and the majority are newcomers. I know that to outsiders it feels like an insurmountable world with impossible to understand dice rolls and mechanics that seem to demand a complex understanding of several manuals' worth of rules. In practice, it's not quite so obtuse, but that's an early hurdle for many.
Baldur's Gate 3, more than any other popular adaptation, has lowered this drawbridge. I'm noticing with my own group that they understand roll checks more now, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:they hꦬave more confidence in the mechanics, and are more familiar with the d20 and its supporting cadre of dice. This breaks down a barrier that might have pushed people away from Dragonheir: Silent Gods, as the game is heavily reliant on d20 rolls for everything. However, managing the game can still feel intense, and I think the game is rolling the dice itself in the hopes of finding an audience. It's a little too complicated for a mobile screen and too simplistic for hardcore fans on PC.
Combat in Dungeons & Dragons is slow, sometime꧑s annoyingly so. Dragonheir: Silent Gods makes things more active, but only a little. Each character has an individual timer which recharges their special attacks (or other abilities like healing), for which you must roll a d20. However, they're constantly attacking in a much smaller way, chipping away at enemies almost in tower defence fashion. It's supposed to streamline the action but makes it more convoluted, not to mention frustrating. It's one thing to fail a dice roll and wait for your turn again. It's another to fail and then see the opponent marching forward at will to a goal you can't block them from, with no rolls themselves.
There's also a huge amount of characters in the game, which is obviously a selling point. More characters is a frequent demand from most games, with players wanting fresh stories, new options, and the chance to find a playstyle perfect for them. But playing with a fair few of them unlocked, it again felt overwhelming. The d20 framing and fantasy setting makes obvious links to Dungeons & Dragons, where you craft a single character and level them up via adventures. In Dragonheir: Silent Gods, you get a massive cast and then grind resources to level them up whenever you feel like it.
I hit a similar problem in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Genshin Impact where I liked my chosen few characters, so no matter how many options I got, I stuck with my favourites, and then the levels were too unbalanced to change. The range of combat options were promising in Dragonheir: Silent Gods, but the overall gameplay loop seemed built for you to try and try again repeatedly, rather than to gradually grow in strenꦯgth.
I loved the animations and the individual characters, each flowing with a gothic and malevolent charm, but the gameplay loop itself offered some issues. It will capture some interest thanks to its clever use of a d20 mixed with a cooldown timer, and may attract more tactically minded players looking for a fantasy coat of paint, but it keeps too far a distance from Dungeons & Dragons to land in the sweet spot for me. There could be magic in Dragonheir: Silent Gods, but its spells don't work with my class.
