Good Old Games - Realms of Arkania 3 Now Available

skavenhorde

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Good Old Games adds Realms of Arkania 3: Shadows over Riva to their catalogue completing the Realms of Arkania Trilogy.
Announcement:
Realms of Arknia: Shadows over Riva is a classic RPG game based on a popular German pen-and-paper RPG system The Dark Eye. Once again you take control over a party of heroes to fight evil Orcs and save the people of Aventurien. The third part of the series features an extensive 3D scrolling world which made RPG fans all over the world really excited when the game was released in 1996. To create your band of heroes you can use the detailed statistics system or you can export your party from the prequels! There's no time to waste as the game offers weeks of classic RPG gameplay.
An overview of the game:
Something sinister is happening in the seaside town of Riva. Brave and honoured warriors refuse to fight the horde of Orcs attacking the city. An evil force preys on their minds and souls. Can your small band of heroes defeat it in time?

The object of the game is to unmask the men behind the scenes, to unriddle secrets and to never fall for the enticements and allures of Evil. Only those who see through truth and lies will survive this adventure.
More information.
 
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Cool, will have to bear that in mind, I remember enjoying it a lot when I played it. Not that I'm likely to have any spare gaming slots for at least 6 months or so but it's good to have some fallback options.
 
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I liked 3 as well. It was the only one I passed.

I can't recall if there was any overland map travel in that game, but even without it it's one of my favorites. I gotta get around to playing it again when there aren't a million rpgs being released :)
 
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I liked 3 as well. It was the only one I passed.

I can't recall if there was any overland map travel in that game, but even without it it's one of my favorites. I gotta get around to playing it again when there aren't a million rpgs being released :)

I don't think so . . . it was city based IIRC. I have memories of being shrunk down to go naked and unarmed into a hornets nest at one point, and a vague recollection of visiting an underwater city with a special spell to be able to breathe, either of which were significantly cooler than the generic fantasy locations.
 
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Cool - I got them last year in CD form, and still haven't played, now I have them digitally as well ...
 
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I don't think so . . . it was city based IIRC. I have memories of being shrunk down to go naked and unarmed into a hornets nest at one point.

That was the ending. I can't tell you how mad I was that I had to leave all that great gear behind. The beginning of that hornets nest was the hardest. After you found a few decent weapons it got easier.
 
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That was the ending. I can't tell you how mad I was that I had to leave all that great gear behind. The beginning of that hornets nest was the hardest. After you found a few decent weapons it got easier.

Nice to have something shake it up near the end like that, makes a change from having the challenge just be a stupidly tough series of monsters.
 
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You have a point :) I definitely remember that ending. I don't think I'll ever forget the anxiety of trying to find some decent weapons after I was shrunk and cursing the gods when I ran into another enemy.
 
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That was the ending. I can't tell you how mad I was that I had to leave all that great gear behind.

That event spawned the infamous "HELDENIMPORT" toipic even then at the old Attic Forums ... It continueed into the Larian forums, and has become kind of an insider joke there. ;)

The term "Heldenimport" means the import of a hero = character of the RPG into a sequel - like it was possible with all three NLT / Realms Of arcania games.

Initially, the topic about the "Heldenimport" was just speculation whether there might or will be a sequel to Riva one day, and whether and how a hero might be imported into that sequel, and how much of that gear will be lost or retained.

Sadly, there never was such a sequel.

The "insider joke" part of it within the German-speaking fan-base at Larian Forums (who are all so to say exiles from the no more existing Attic forums) consists of the image of the "Heldenimport" discussion becoming too long and far too complicated to be bearable by any human mind. ;)
In the end, it's just like "Oh ! he has outspoken THE word !!! Everyone flee !!!!!"
Because an insanely complicated discussion would follow. ;)

It's a little bit like Buad's TEA, which is an insider joke in itself. ;)
 
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Truly one of the greatest hardcore CRPG series. Diseases, poisons, starvation, succumbing to the elements...obstacles galore!
No supersets of amazing armor, no +1 +2 +3 this and that thrown haphazardly across the game world (you find something magical and it REALLY feels special), obscure yet common-sense puzzles, combat that makes you think almost every battle through from beginning to end. I could go on and on.
Though the graphics are dated -even by the standards of the time in which it was released- and the interface and controls were typically cumbersome, this series was truly a masterwork.
A shame we'll never see anything at this level again. Just not enough of us true dorks left to appreciate it, I suppose!
 
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Yes, considering all this, DRakensang was a great disappointment for all those who had expected an "NLT 2.0" or an "ROA 2.2", so to say.

That the devs had always said that they wanted kind of an "Baldur's Gate" should have been a hint, which I saw, but which other fans overlooked.

Still they managed to do a good game with Drakensang, and they improved Drakensang 2 by listening to "the community" imho quite a lot (as far as I can tell).

If they keep the license, their games might become better and better in the course of the time.
 
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At least there wasn't a ton of magic in the game. That is what most appealed to me with the Realms of Arkania games. It had that Tolkein style where magic was rare and powerful.

Just like what Micheal said. There were no 'Mighty Warhammers of Awesomeness' or 'Swords of the Apocolypse +1000".;)
 
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Fans even complained that there were - considering Aventuria as a world - even far too many magical items in Drakensang !
 
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