Dungeons & Dragons Tactics Hands-on Preview

IGN’s D&D Vault has posted some initial impressions of Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, after spending some firsthand time with a pre-release build they recently received.

After race and class, you’re given the chance to choose alignment and deity. I’ve heard tell that this will make a big difference in how the campaign plays out in front of you, but so far, the goblins I’ve been beating up don’t seem to care if I’m Neutral Good or Lawful Evil. When I’m starting out in these games, I like the alignment (except in the cases where the alignment is limited by the class selection) to reflect me (Neutral Good) so that if the game is particular to my character’s alignment, it’s going to be more immersive my first time around. Later on, when I’m either replaying the campaign or working through some adventures with some other characters, I can try some different paths and see how that works out.

Next, you’re allowed to pick from a selection of skills. These skills are pretty general, and while they’ll have some impact on your character’s advancement and interaction with the world, these aren’t world-changing decisions here. For example: The choice between putting a point of skill into Tumbling or Spellcraft (which isn’t casting spells, it’s just recognizing them) for your level 1 character isn’t going to make too much of a difference when it comes down to the final boss encounter ((I can see that he’s casting some sort of spell at the darkness, but I can’t tell which one it is. Perhaps if I tumbled over there to get a better vantage point.)).