Dungeons & Dragons Online Hands On at IGN

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Yet another Dungeons & Dragons Online hands on has been spawned by IGN. This one focuses on all-around dungeoning and questing. Combat is summarised very shortly, so you might consider reading IGN's hands on in connection with TenTonHammer's, as the latter is heavily focused on that particular aspect of this game. Here'a snip:

While the event offered another great look at the city of Stormreach, many of the large houses associated with the different races, and various dungeons, the emphasis was definitely on the gameplay style. Developer Turbine, famous for the Asheron's Call series, have taken a lot of time to make sure that Stormreach really feels like a D&D game. Therefore, most quests will begin with a trip to the tavern, in the case of this demo, The Leaky Dinghy. Players will find all sorts of quests inside as well as news about the world. Any parties looking for a good time only need to enter its doors.

Once on a quest and in a dungeon, the pace of the gameplay ramps up pretty quickly. Combat works much like you would imagine. Click to attack and watch the hit points go down. Each character has a set of skills and spells as well depending on level and class. The big difference to combat is in how these skills actually work. Unlike most MMOs, D&D Online will make players really consider their options before using their spells and skills as each one of them has a number of charges associated with it, just like they do in the pen and paper game. Only resting at a rest shrine (which can be found in each quest area) will give you back those charges. The point of restricting how many times a skill can be used is to promote strategy and teamwork. Should player use their skills like crazy at the beginning of a dungeon, they may find themselves in deep trouble towards the end.

All those hands-ons are starting to make even me mildly interested, who have hardly been a Stormreach fan so far. How about you?

Read the rest at IGN.