Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale Previews

We haven’t heard a whole lot about Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale since its announcement back in December, but now we at least have a couple of hands-on previews to pore through.

Wired kicks off the coverage:

Combat is streamlined and fun, with an interface that resembles the console version of Dragon Age: Origins. You can assign attacks to buttons on your controller, and use the left trigger button to open up a second set of options. As you level up, you’ll be able to choose among new class-specific skills and spells for optimal hacking and slashing.

Characters develop much as you might expect in a Dungeons & Dragons game. You’ll get to distribute points among the usual stats like Charisma and Intelligence, buy new weapons and armor from various merchants, and compete with your buddies to see who can maim things faster.

And Co-Optimus follows suit:

Customization doesn’t just stop at your items though – because the game is based on the D&D 4th Edition rule set, players can utilize the “feats” system. By spending points in player feats, you can add passive abilities to your character like bonus damage with two handed weapons, resistance to elemental types, and even speed upgrades. These abilities go along with your standard offensive abilities as well which can be unlocked and upgraded for various levels of power. Notice I said “based on” the D&D 4th Edition – somethings required the developers to bend the rules – like allowing wizards to cast spells more than once per day.

Finally the customization puzzle is completed by allowing total customization of the player controls. While, by default, the face buttons on the controller are mapped to things like attack, block, and ranged attack – players can remap those default buttons to spells and abilities. Pressing the left trigger also lets players access four additional slots for up to 8 different attacks that are quickly accessible. Because of this, the combat in the game is extremely fluid and fast paced – allowing you to combo together your abilities. While playing the warrior character I was able to unleashed a two or three hit combo quickly followed by a spinning attack move to dispatch enemies that had surrounded me. Its very satisfying.