2 modern RPGs based on Dungeons and Dragons, only 1 can be considered the best adaptation of the formula

[Solid SOAP]

DRAGON QUEST XII

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM

Two RPGs hailing from two separate continents, only one can be crowned the king of... adapting the Dungeons and Dragons formula into an interactive visual format.

Which, in your opinion, pulls it off best?

A quick Wikipedia search for D&D describes the experience as such:

A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as the game's referee and storyteller, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur, and playing the role of the inhabitants of the game world. The characters form a party and they interact with the setting's inhabitants and each other. Together they solve dilemmas, engage in battles, explore, and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process, the characters earn experience points (XP) in order to rise in levels, and become increasingly powerful over a series of separate gaming sessions.

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So, in order to be a proper adaptation of D&D in an interactive medium, the game should probably feature the following components:

• An adventurous story
• Meaningful interactions with characters including party members
• Exploration resulting in battles, treasure hunting, and world-building
• Character building through gaining experience points

Okay, so which game pulls off these features best?

On paper, my gut wants to say Skyrim. It provides an authentic feeling fantasy setting for the game, allows for you to build your own character's story in any way you see fit, and features a girth of caves, castles, plains, and more to explore at your own will to help tell your own story. The game even provides you with non-combat oriented stats, such as speech and sneaking, which allow you greater flexibility to role-play your character as you see fit.

However, the game does not, in fact, have any party management. You can hire people to fight alongside you and there are quests which involve you teaming up with others, but that's the closest it gets to emulating that aspect of the D&D formula.

Perhaps an argument can be made that Dragon Quest XII is the superior adaptation of following a D&D story, while Skyrim adapts the experience of being the DM, in a way?

What do you guys think? I am undecided on the matter, and must seek upon ERA to form an opinion.

 

[Raigor]

Neither of them.

There's one and it's called Baldur's Gate II.

 

[Deleted member 44122]

the newest dragon quest is 11, not 12 ;P

 

[Redcrayon]

Why wouldn't stuff like Pillars of Eternity, Divinity 2 etc be valid? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love DQ and Elder Scrolls (and the former is probably my favourite JRPG in the last 20 years), but they are two of the most accessible and popular JRPGs/WRPGs respectively, not necessarily the most fitting for the criteria here.

 

[Sesha]

Dragon's Dogma was originally conceived as a sequel to Capcom's D&D games. And we have Baldur's Gate, a direct adaptation.

 

[.exe]

Weird juxtaposition! Skyrim may not have a party, but it emulates the dynamic storytelling and a dynamic world that I associate with tabletop RPGs better than DQ11, in which the world has a lot of character but it is all monodimensional and only reacts to the player at predefined moments, like a set. As a result, the feeling of being on an adventure and being an agent in the world is far stronger in Skyrim in the moment to moment play. In addition to that, you're able to mold your character more than what DQ (or any JRPG really) allows you to do, and the world is actually reactive to your character choices unlike in DQ.

 

[TheGhost]

Wouldn't it be neverwinter because it's an actual dungeons and dragons game?

 

[Ojli]

Of the two listed (assuming DQXI), Skyrim is the better D&D "adaptation". DQXI is a better game though

 

[tusharngf]

dragon quest for me

 

[Einherjer]

Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Sorry but those games just don't cut it and i do love both.

 

[Krauser Kat]

Temple of elemental fire is best 3.0/3.5 adaptation ever

 

[Xiaomi]

That's such a weird way to describe either of those games. Like asking which of Gran Turismo or Forza is a better adaptation of Speed Racer.

 

[hidys]

Based on the choices given it's probably Skyrim but there are actual games out there that seek to replicate D&D a lot more.

Baldur's Gate 3 is on steam right now.

 

[WestEgg]

Dragon Quest is much closer to a traditional DND campaign, with having a full party with specialized roles, turn based combat, episodic adventures that gradually tie into a larger narrative complete with plot coupons, and overall more high fantasy feel to it.

 

[Kill3r7]

Neither of them.

There's one and it's called Baldur's Gate II.

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.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Neither of these are remotely like DnD. What the hell.

I guess Skyrim, but people are gonna choose DQ11 because it's a far superior game

 

[texhnolyze]

D&D... Dragon Quest and Skyrim?

???

I you're really ignorant of modern day CRPGs or just don't care about indies in general, you should at least aware of the existence of Dragon Age Origins, right? It's the closest one to D&D.

 

[Weebos]

Skyrim is the closer of the two, but it's also not close to D&D at all.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Divinity: Original Sin 2 looks exactly how I'd expect D&D blended with modern video game conventions to look like, so that's my answer.

 

[svacina]

Divinity: Original Sin 2 looks exactly how I'd expect D&D blended with modern video game conventions to look like, so that's my answer.

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Boy, do I have a game for you then.

 

[Turbocharge]

The answer is Baldur's Gate 2 - though BG3 is looking like a fairly good adaptation of D&D rules so far as well.

 

[cvbas]

Neither. And it's XI not XII lol.

 

[Anno]

Seems like a strange choice of options? But between those Skyrim for sure. This is a weird thread.

 

[JuniperAndSage]

D&D... Dragon Quest and Skyrim?

???

I you're really ignorant of modern day CRPGs or just don't care about indies in general, you should at least aware of the existence of Dragon Age Origins, right? It's the closest one to D&D.

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Nah. D&D doesn't do the epic quest, hero's journey, save the world type stories that dominate the CRPG scene. It produces picaresque stories. I think the closest I can think of is the latest Yakuza game.

 

[Deleted member 2317]

It's funny, because Divinity OS2 is closer than either of those choices by oh, country miles 😂

 

[Keasar]

The DM in Skyrim must have been a bit high cause the storytelling is quite jank.

I'd say neither.
Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate 2, Divinity: Original Sin feels a lot more closer to D&D.

 

[mclem]

Nah. D&D doesn't do the epic quest, hero's journey, save the world type stories that dominate the CRPG scene. It produces picaresque stories. I think the closest I can think of is the latest Yakuza game.

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Actually, that's really not a bad shout for getting the right sort of scope.

I've often thought that there's scope out there for an episodic CRPG, where each episode expands the world with new content, but unlike many other episodic games, the individual episodes aren't discrete from each other; each one piles new places and environments on top of the existing world.

 

[Strings]

While Dragon Quest XII doesn't exist yet, I'm confident enough to say it'll be better than whatever other poll option you can throw up.

 

[Dr. Dr. Dogtooth]

Dragon Quest is inspired by Wizardry and Ultima, Yuuji Horii never said, that he had any connection to classic Pen n' Paper RPGs.

 

[Hrodulf]

Voted Dragon Quest just because the game is actually good, as opposed to Skyrim's mediocrity despite the immense praise and popularity of it (even here).

 

[fiendcode]

Etrian Odyssey Nexus

 

[CommodoreKong]

So the thing about Dungeons and Dragons is yes it has a lot of rules for combat and various actions you perform but the real major component is the actual role playing. You're inhabiting a character in another world. Players can potentially think of so many creative ways to solve problems.

The best western RPGs try to emulate this the best way they can by giving you a lot of different solutions to quests since its impossible to let the player do anything. JRPGs don't generally do this, the story and quests typically play out one way and one way only.

 

[EQLibriM]

this is some bait and switch

so imma vote for divinity original sin 2

 

[JuniperAndSage]

Actually, that's really not a bad shout for getting the right sort of scope.

I've often thought that there's scope out there for an episodic CRPG, where each episode expands the world with new content, but unlike many other episodic games, the individual episodes aren't discrete from each other; each one piles new places and environments on top of the existing world.

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I would love an episodic game like that, but it's hard to imagine any studios releasing a game in that way. I agree though, that's probably the best way to actually emulate the feel of D&D.

 

[Deleted member 56266]

very VERY confusing poll choices, and not because Dragon Quest XII isn't out yet.

my vote goes to Dragone Dogma.

 

[slothrop]

Dragon Quest 11 (not 12) was pretty boring. I quit halfway through. Seemed like a fun light kids cartoon story, which of course is a fine thing to be, but just not to me.

Weird game comparison anyway. The real answer is Divinity Original Sin 2

 

[FreezerGeezer]

I did not think it'd be either of those games listed when I read the title haha

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

Why would somebody go so far out of their way to prove they have never played any edition of Dungeons & Dragons ever? I don't mean to sound gate-keepy, but nothing about either of those games reminds me of D&D outside of the fact that both have dungeons and dragons in them.

For my money it's DoS2, probably about to get toppled by BGIII (I'm waiting for the full release), mainly because I like turn based stuff.

 

[Taruranto]

Those are not the games I expected to find.

 

[Anno]

Why would somebody go so far out of their way to prove they have never played any edition of Dungeons & Dragons ever? I don't mean to sound gate-keepy, but nothing about either of those games reminds me of D&D outside of the fact that both have dungeons and dragons in them.

For my money it's DoS2, probably about to get toppled by BGIII (I'm waiting for the full release), mainly because I like turn based stuff.

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I think the charitable answer is that D&D can be a lot of different things to different people and so can probably map onto a bunch of different experiences. If someone just wants to get some campaign books and have their DM run them step-by-step as written it could potentially play out like a more traditional jRPG. I don't know how often that happens really, though, and I think the "spirit" of D&D is much more in the unstructured storylines and chaos causes by imaginative players, and wRPGs tend to try to emulate that more.

 

[Sawyer]

Where can I get the sneak peek of DQXII?

 

[The 8-Bit Raider]

This seems like one of those questions my wife would get asked on Buzzfeed or some other site that does not specialize in video or tabletop games

 

[Teiresias]

These are not the game choices I expected from reading the thread title. The OP obviously needs to expand their gaming catalog.

 

[Xater]

Neither?

Where are the CRPGS?

 

[AtmaPhoenix]

I was expecting to come in here and see Pathfinder vs. Baldur's Gate, not....whatever this is.

 

[FantaSoda]

Of those two, Skyrim is closer to the spirit of D&D in that it allows for emergent roleplaying. Whereas DQ is just a story you are watching without much agency on how it plays out (if any).

As many others have said there are much better examples of actual adaptations of D&D. One of my favorites that hasn't been mentioned here is the Shadowrun Returns series.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Gonna say DQ XI but only cuz i never played skyrim

 

[Timeaisis]

This is the weirdest thread.

The correct answer is Baldur's Gate II.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Thought this was going to be a Baldurs Gate 3 vs Solasta Crown of the Magister thread. Both games in early access explicitly using D&D 5E rules.

 

[CONCHOBAR]

Neither. I adore both of those games--seriously, they're a couple of my favorite games--but I don't connect them to D&D at all, and that's coming from a longtime Dungeon Master.

Thought this was going to be a Baldurs Gate 3 vs Solasta Crown of the Magister thread. Both games in early access explicitly using D&D 5E rules.

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I know Solasta is explicitly using the OGL SRD rules and content, but I thought Baldur's Gate was using their own rules rules inspired by 5th Edition? There are certainly some liberties, such as attacking with mage hand (at least in the early demos, I don't know if that's changed). The D&D license they're using has more to do with the use of characters, races, setting, and monsters.