Originally Posted by Zarna
Originally Posted by GM4Him
See, Larian said the game would be based on D&D 5e.
This phrase threw me off too and I wish they had never said it, because for a lot of us we interpret it as being as close to the original as possible but adding some things. This is not what was done here, and I know I would not have certain expectations of the game if this phrase had never been used.

Most movies/books/whatever that say "based on a true story" mean that the true story is shown as much as possible but blanks may be filled and some events slightly modified depending on the audience. A recipe "based on grandma's cooking" usually means that the old recipe has some tweaks to it but is mostly the same.

Exactly. Dark Alliance is set in D&D, but it is not 5e. No problem with it because no one ever said it would be based on 5e. Neverwinter Online too. Pathfinder says it is based on 3.5e, so guess what, when I play on Core rules setting, I get a game that is truly close to 3.5e. it isn't perfect TT, but close.