Demo questions.

[human_male]

Hi there. I'm new so first I'd like to say hello to everyone.

I'm playing the demo and so far I like the game. It's quite charming with the parchment and pencil drawings on the inventory and character screens. And the world graphics are nice. And single player RPGs (I'm not interested in MMOs) are so rare that it's a shame to let any slip by. I really hope the game is a success.

Anyway I have a couple of questions if you'll indulge me, and forgive me if any have already been covered.

I almost didn't bother trying the game because looking at the screen shots I didn't think it would run well enough. I haven't upgraded my system since Oblivion came out and I've given up on buying new games. But I was pleased to see it runs fairly smoothly, at least in the beginning. So my first question is can I expect the level of performance to stay consistent throughout the game, or does it get more demanding as you go on? Also I'm concerned v-sync is on, it would help the frame rate with it off, is there a way I can check that?

Is it possible to increase the camera rotation speed? The camera rotates quite slowly, and the Camera Sensitivity slider in the settings doesn't seem to have any effect.

Can you adjust the zoom rate for zooming in and out with the mouse wheel? The increments are too great and I'm either zoomed too far in or too far out.

I'll probably have more questions as I go on. Thanks very much.

Leadtek WinFast PX 7800 GTX TDH (182.08 driver)
Windows XP
Athlon dual core 4600+
2 gigs RAM

[Thoth]

Hi there. I'm new so first I'd like to say hello to everyone.

I'm playing the demo and so far I like the game. It's quite charming with the parchment and pencil drawns on the inventory and character screens. And the world graphics are nice. And single player RPGs (I'm not interested in MMOs) are so rare that it's a shame to let any slip by. I really hope the game is a success.

Anyway I have a couple of questions if you'll indulge me, and forgive me if any have already been covered.

I almost didn't bother trying the game because looking at the screen shots I didn't think it would run well enough. I haven't upgraded my system since Oblivion came out and I've given up on buying new games. But I was pleased to see it runs fairly smoothly, at least in the beginning. So my first question is can I expect the level of performance to stay consistent throughout the game, or does it get more demanding as you go on? Also I'm concerned v-sync is on, it would help the frame rate with it off, is there a way I can check that?

Is it possible to increase the camera rotation speed? The camera rotates quite slowly, and the Camera Sensitivity slider in the settings doesn't seem to have any effect.

Can you adjust the zoom rate for zooming in and out with the mouse wheel? The increments are too great and I'm either zoomed too far in or too far out.

I'll probably have more questions as I go on. Thanks very much.

Leadtek WinFast PX 7800 GTX TDH (182.08 driver)
Windows XP
Athlon dual core 4600+
2 gigs RAM

The game runs pretty consistent for me. No area is really any different performance wise.

I don' think there's an option for v-sync in game, but if you're using an nVidia card (or any type of card for that matter) you should have a control panel of some sort where you can force v-sync off.

I believe there's an article somewhere about tweaking settings of the game, but I can't seem to find it. It was kinda involved though and I don't know if it also applies to the demo. Sorry, I can't find it or maybe I'm just imagining it :(

[Corwin]

G'Day and welcome. Your biggest hassle will be getting a copy of the actual game as it's not planned for release in Aus or NZ. Baa I say. :) Changing mouse sensitivity I find makes a HUGE difference; I have mine at about 4.5. I'd suggest trying to download the game from one of the reputable sites; Shagnak did that and he lives in NZ. The game itself is far better than the demo, but requires no extra resources. If the demo runs well, so will the full game. Enjoy.

[human_male]

G'Day and welcome. Your biggest hassle will be getting a copy of the actual game as it's not planned for release in Aus or NZ. Baa I say. :) Changing mouse sensitivity I find makes a HUGE difference; I have mine at about 4.5. I'd suggest trying to download the game from one of the reputable sites; Shagnak did that and he lives in NZ. The game itself is far better than the demo, but requires no extra resources. If the demo runs well, so will the full game. Enjoy.

Actually a local webstore, Mighty Ape has imported some.

I'm not sure I understand about changing mouse sensitivity. I want to change the sensitivity of the mouse wheel so you can zoom in and out in smaller increments. I tried changing the setting in windows control panel but it didn't have any effect in the game. Is that what you meant?

Ta very much.

[Corwin]

You can set the mouse sensitivity IN GAME. Look under options or whatever.

[Gorath]

Mouse sensitivity (somewhere in Drakensang's options menu) should change the smoothness of the mouse motion.
The zoom levels are hardcoded, they cannot be changed.
You can select the character you want to zoom to. The RMB is used for adjusting the vertical camera position.


The performance is constant ca 95% of the time. The full version has better graphics though (high res textures), so it's a little bit slower. Not much though, maybe 3%.

[Dasale]

For me the low res texture didn't show better performance than the high res and I found the low res quite good. So if the high res textures cause a problem I would suggest to try the low res textures, both are possible with the full version.

[human_male]

Thanks very much for the input. I decided to buy the game, and while I await it's arrival I've been pondering the character I'd like to play. I usually go for a rogue/thief type because if I see a locked chest I've just GOT to get into it. But I kinda like the elf warrior. So I was wondering if it's possible to put points into any skill you choose or must you stick to your class? For instance if I'm playing an elf warrior can I give him lock pick?

I admit I didn't spend much time playing around with the skills or talents and things, not having the manual to refer to.

Thanks very much.

[Gorath]

The manual can be downloaded. Link in another thread.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

A right-click on spells etc. gives some information.

You can right-click on almost everything in the game, I think.

[wolfing]

Thanks very much for the input. I decided to buy the game, and while I await it's arrival I've been pondering the character I'd like to play. I usually go for a rogue/thief type because if I see a locked chest I've just GOT to get into it. But I kinda like the elf warrior. So I was wondering if it's possible to put points into any skill you choose or must you stick to your class? For instance if I'm playing an elf warrior can I give him lock pick?

I admit I didn't spend much time playing around with the skills or talents and things, not having the manual to refer to.

Thanks very much.

Remember this is a multi-character game. You don't need your 'character' to be everything, as you will have companions who can do it for you. There are two companions that are natural 'lock-pickers', and you can buy the skill for any other companion or yourself. So, in summary, just play the character archetype you like the best, and whatever he/she can't do, the companions will.
Having said that, I recommend your character to be a caster, as the pure caster companions show up later than the others (and actually, I think there's only 1 pure caster companion), but again, you can be whatever you want, it's just more convenient for the first 25% or so of the game imho.

[Corwin]

I'd agree; it's best to play a caster char like a battlemage for early versatility. 2 of your first three possible NPC companions are rogue type chars while 2 of your first 4 are tanks.

[GothicGothicness]

I tried running the game demo on a computer

AMD Athlon 3700+
2 GB of ram
geforce 7800 GTX

which is acctually well above min. requirements, and most of them is same as or surpass recommended one except for the processor.

But it ran unplayably slow even on the lowest possible graphics setting and low resoultion. It also looked very bad.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

But it ran unplayably slow even on the lowest possible graphics setting and low resoultion. It also looked very bad.

I have read about this behaviour. Some computers just seem to have this, but I don't remember any solution. Please ask in the official forums or at least look around there.

Maybe your graphics card is too slow or so ?

[GothicGothicness]

I do not think so the minimum system requirements is a Geforce 6600 GT which is much slower than a 7800 GTX.......

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Okay, I didn't have the minimum requirements in my memory ... I was rather thinking of the number of shaders available, or the version number of them, so to say.

[Gorath]

The recommended card is a 8800GT.

[GothicGothicness]

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,651209/System-requirements-of-The-Dark-Eye-Drakensang-revealed/News/

Here it says 8600 but maybe this info is wrong.... anyway I guess the recommended ones are more like the minimum ones to make it playable.

[wolfing]

Here it says 8600 but maybe this info is wrong.... anyway I guess the recommended ones are more like the minimum ones to make it playable.

It's not. I've read of people who say the game is perfectly playable with old video cards. I don't remember the settings, but have you tried running it windowed vs. full screen? Try disabling sound in the game's settings just in case the problem is coming from that, etc.

[Gorath]

8600 is correct. Seems dtp changed the text on the box. Before that a 8800GT was communicated as sufficient for full details. My experience with the slightly slower 9600GT hints that this is right.

[human_male]

I have a similar set up to Gothics (Geforce 7800 GTX), but I have an Athlon 4600. I've just started the game on Med and so far it runs pretty well.

[human_male]

Ok I'm working my way through the book but I'm confused about the different types of points it keeps mentioning. You got your Adventure Points, Experience Points, and Levelling Points. Ok, Experience Points are what you use to raise your talents, just like in any other RPG. But what are Adventure Points? It seems to me they're just Experience Points, so why do we need them? But why does Rhulana start out with 470 Adventure Points and no Experience Points?

And what the heck are Levelling Points? It says a certain amount of Levelling Points are required to buy Talents. How do I know how many I have?

Another thing I'm confused about is the Aggressive and Defensive Stances indicated by the little sword and shield icon on the portrait. Are they something to do with your Special Skills? The book seems vague. It says a character will attack less in a defensive stance and draw less attention. Is that all it means? And is it just relevant to a character that is left to his own devices in combat, as apposed to you controlling them directly?

Thanks very much.

[GothicGothicness]

It might be it is processor hungry, and my setup is just not powerful enough ( and maybe it computes movements for every NPC every frame, but from what I saw they mostly stand about........ ) but I found it strange, if I stand still and look at the ground, I do not think it should cost so much, the ground in low resolution looks like a game from 2000, and there is no other objetcs on screen, so I really found no excuse for it running so poorly, I could have coded it much better myself :P

[wolfing]

Ok I'm working my way through the book but I'm confused about the different types of points it keeps mentioning. You got your Adventure Points, Experience Points, and Levelling Points. Ok, Experience Points are what you use to raise your talents, just like in any other RPG. But what are Adventure Points? It seems to me they're just Experience Points, so why do we need them? But why does Rhulana start out with 470 Adventure Points and no Experience Points?

And what the heck are Levelling Points? It says a certain amount of Levelling Points are required to buy Talents. How do I know how many I have?

Another thing I'm confused about is the Aggressive and Defensive Stances indicated by the little sword and shield icon on the portrait. Are they something to do with your Special Skills? The book seems vague. It says a character will attack less in a defensive stance and draw less attention. Is that all it means? And is it just relevant to a character that is left to his own devices in combat, as apposed to you controlling them directly?

Thanks very much.
Right click on anything you don't understand (in the character screens) and it should explain it all.

[Gorath]

It might be it is processor hungry, and my setup is just not powerful enough ( and maybe it computes movements for every NPC every frame, but from what I saw they mostly stand about........ ) but I found it strange, if I stand still and look at the ground, I do not think it should cost so much, the ground in low resolution looks like a game from 2000, and there is no other objetcs on screen, so I really found no excuse for it running so poorly, I could have coded it much better myself :P
It should run absolutely fine on at least medium on your PC. Something's wrong.

[Gorath]

Ok I'm working my way through the book but I'm confused about the different types of points it keeps mentioning. You got your Adventure Points, Experience Points, and Levelling Points. Ok, Experience Points are what you use to raise your talents, just like in any other RPG. But what are Adventure Points? It seems to me they're just Experience Points, so why do we need them? But why does Rhulana start out with 470 Adventure Points and no Experience Points?
I'm not sure about the English terms, but I would think Adventure Points are the lifetime XP.
XP is the currency for learning things. Thus the available XP will sink when you spend it.

Another thing I'm confused about is the Aggressive and Defensive Stances indicated by the little sword and shield icon on the portrait. Are they something to do with your Special Skills? The book seems vague. It says a character will attack less in a defensive stance and draw less attention. Is that all it means? And is it just relevant to a character that is left to his own devices in combat, as apposed to you controlling them directly?
It tells magicians to stay the fuck away from enemies (defensive) and tanks to approach the enemy (aggressive) to keep him away from the mage.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Normally: Adventure Points = Experience Points

Like in the NLT.

I can only assume that this is kind of an translation mistake.

[GothicGothicness]

It should run absolutely fine on at least medium on your PC. Something's wrong.

I solved it by turning off "environmental effects" in the options menu somehow it was enabled even if my setting was on low!

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Turn off shadows, maybe ?

[human_male]

I'm not sure about the English terms, but I would think Adventure Points are the lifetime XP.
XP is the currency for learning things. Thus the available XP will sink when you spend it.


It tells magicians to stay the fuck away from enemies (defensive) and tanks to approach the enemy (aggressive) to keep him away from the mage.

Ah I see, so Adventure Points are sort of a lifetime tally of experience points. I don't see why they're necessary though. But anyway.

And that explains the other thing as well, thanks.

Another thing I've noticed is that I can equip weapons that I don't have the skill for. For instance my elven fighter didn't have the swords talent but he could still use one. Nor the Shield Fighting special ability but he could still use a shield. Why's that?

[human_male]

I solved it by turning off "environmental effects" in the options menu somehow it was enabled even if my setting was on low!

That's good. I forgot to mention I'd turned off shadows and environmental effects on my game.

[wolfing]

Ah I see, so Adventure Points are sort of a lifetime tally of experience points. I don't see why they're necessary though. But anyway.

And that explains the other thing as well, thanks.

Another thing I've noticed is that I can equip weapons that I don't have the skill for. For instance my elven fighter didn't have the swords talent but he could still use one. Nor the Shield Fighting special ability but he could still use a shield. Why's that?

Weapon skills are different, everybody has them, just that most are at '0' (doesn't mean you can't use a weapon you have at 0 skill, you just don't have any 'bonus', which means you'll miss a lot)

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Weapon skills are different, everybody has them, just that most are at '0' (doesn't mean you can't use a weapon you have at 0 skill, you just don't have any 'bonus', which means you'll miss a lot)

In the P&P rules, characters have only the set of skills which they get at character generation. This is a bit different in the game here, though.

Having a skill at 0 points means that it must be "activated" prior to use, if I understood this correctly. This means that the skill is there, but there hasn't been any experience with it. Even after "learning" the skill, if I understood this correctly.

This should be in the P&P rules, however.

[human_male]

Thanks very much. I have one or two more questions if you'll continue to indulge me.

How do you raise your Base Values, for instance Ranged Combat? Mine and all my parties are 0 (even the Ranger and Archer class have 0). You can add points to Vitality and Astral Energy but none of the others. So is it possible to raise them? If you wanted to specialise with a bow I would think it's important to raise Ranged Combat.

How exactly does armour encumbrance work? There's nothing in the manual but if you look at the special skill for armour use it says something like heavy armour affects dexterity. But if you wear a chain shirt with an encumbrance of 4 it doesn't effect any of your attributes. The only thing I can find is on the description of Base Values (Attack, Parry ect) it sometimes says something like - 1/2 Effective Encumbrance. And for Ranged Combat it's - Effective Encumbrance. So presumably wearing that chain shirt with 4 encumbrance would subtract 4 to your chance to hit (or something like that). Is that what it means? It sounds like quite a large penalty. Does it make that much difference in combat?

How do you use traps?

Is there any point to sneaking? Do you get an attack bonus for a sneak attack? If not under what circumstances would you use it? There doesn't seem to be a party command order to stay put, so you can use your character with a high sneak skill to sneak ahead, so I don't see the point of it (unless you gave the entire party high sneak).

Thanks very much once again.

[wolfing]

Thanks very much. I have one or two more questions if you'll continue to indulge me.

How do you raise your Base Values, for instance Ranged Combat? Mine and all my parties are 0 (even the Ranger and Archer class have 0). You can add points to Vitality and Astral Energy but none of the others. So is it possible to raise them? If you wanted to specialise with a bow I would think it's important to raise Ranged Combat.

Again, right click on whatever you don't know (that includes those values). If you right click on the ranged combat base value it will tell you how it's calculated (and what stats you would need to increase if you want to increase it)

How exactly does armour encumbrance work? There's nothing in the manual but if you look at the special skill for armour use it says something like heavy armour affects dexterity. But if you wear a chain shirt with an encumbrance of 4 it doesn't effect any of your attributes. The only thing I can find is on the description of Base Values (Attack, Parry ect) it sometimes says something like - 1/2 Effective Encumbrance. And for Ranged Combat it's - Effective Encumbrance. So presumably wearing that chain shirt with 4 encumbrance would subtract 4 to your chance to hit (or something like that). Is that what it means? It sounds like quite a large penalty. Does it make that much difference in combat?

For details on that, check another thread on this forum (unless someone has the link available?). There is a link to an article that explains everything with details and examples. In general, you don't want the effective encumbrance to be too high, as it will reduce your attack.

How do you use traps?

I never really used them, the time and hassle to look for them and set them and try to have the enemy go over it was not worth it, in the same time I usually had the enemy dying from standard combat. But basically, if I remember correctly, just put it in the quick bar and then just click it there and click on the ground where you want it.

Is there any point to sneaking? Do you get an attack bonus for a sneak attack? If not under what circumstances would you use it? There doesn't seem to be a party command order to stay put, so you can use your character with a high sneak skill to sneak ahead, so I don't see the point of it (unless you gave the entire party high sneak).

Thanks very much once again.

No point to sneaking except in a few quest related areas. Your sneaking 'value' is that of the lowest party member basically, so unless you increase their sneaking, the enemy will still see you. There's no in-combat use for sneaking that I know of.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

There's no in-combat use for sneaking that I know of.

Yes, but DRASA isn't about combat. It's combat-heavy (especially in later parts), but it ain't no Action-RPG.

What I mean is my constant rant about games being so much combat-oriented that people actually do nothing to solve quests than combat. It's like training the people that in almost ALL games you'll need combat in order to proceed. (That's why I hated the solution of the "beard"-mini-quest: Again: Combat.)

I think that all of these games in the course of time just hammered this into the skulls of the gamers: "You'll need battle in order to finish the game." Nothing but.

Me, I was having quite a hard time in DRASA, because I put qite a *lot* of points into non-combat skills and feats.

You might shake your head, because I was building my characters social-oriented and so to say "anti-combat", but that's just the way I do it.

Because I turn myself away from the doctrine of combat as the foremost surviving tool in C-RPGs. I only wish developers would turn away from this, too.

But they won't, because things like social skills and diplomacy are considered uncool and as weak. Anyone who uses them shows severe signs of weakness, to put it extremely. Gangsta's Paradise is so much cool because of the guns. And the battle.

So, to come back to the quote again, I put quite some points into sneaking - because I was not combat-oriented. I just don't kill the guardians in the blood mountains' castle ruins, I just try to let my characters sneak past them, if possible.

I just don't want my characters to leave an oh-so-cool trail of blood behind them.

[human_male]

Ah I see. For those base combat values like ranged combat you actually need to have a weapon equipped. Ha ha, silly me.

I think I've got a grip on the machanics of the game now, and I have just a couple of game questions (spoiler warning).

Are there any exotic swords like katanas or elven swords? I play an elven fighter and I like swords but the "European" swords like long swords and broad swords don't suite me. If there are when do they become available?

I've been in Ferdoc for a while now and it's beautiful. I enjoy just wandering around taking in the wonderful medieval architecture. But I'm getting a bit antsy and want to get out and see the world and do some adventuring. I've just completed the quest to solve the first three murders, and have been given the house. How much longer until I can leave the city?

Thanks very much again everyone.

[Corwin]

If you've talked to enough people, you should already have the next major quest outside the city. Have you visited the new temple?

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Are there any exotic swords like katanas or elven swords? I play an elven fighter and I like swords but the "European" swords like long swords and broad swords don't suite me. If there are when do they become available?

A few. The Tuzak Sword/Blade, for example. In Ferdok, near to the ships, there's a hopkeeper selling very rare and special things, like Thorwalian clothes, and I think even one or two pieces of people from the Gjalskerlands (which is even further in the north of Aventuria than Thorwal).

The Stoerrebrandt shops also have some special items.