Demonicon - Review Roundup

Couchpotato

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Here is the first batch of reviews for the The Dark Eye: Demonicon.

Worldsfactory- 69/100

A decent start for the first game in the Dark Eye series that offers an introduction to a potentially interesting fantasy universe. Unfortunately, sluggish combat, dull characters, and generally poor design choices make it a fairly forgettable experience.
GamingBolt -7/10

A deep and rich storyline coupled by immersive visuals and player choice are where the game shines the most. Although animations aren’t the liveliest of sort it’s not a game breaking bug nor does it pull you from the immersion
StrategyInformer - 6/10

Despite this though, and as much as I hate to say it, Demonicon is a bit of a sub-par release. Maybe hardcore Dark Eye fans will appreciate the lore and its place in the universe, but on its own it’s not a fantastic story, and it’s not a well-designed game either. It’s all functional, but in a fairly lazy kind of way.
HookedGamers - 7/10

With Demonicon being far from flawless, I found myself wondering whether or not I enjoyed Demonicon enough to give it a positive recommendation. Honestly, I did. For every spinning boss, for every limitation in skills and character improvement and for every unblinking pair of eyes I looked at, I enjoyed my time with the game. Despite its issues, The Dark Eye: Demonicon remains a fun adventure that, while lacking polish, is an enjoyable journey through The Dark Eye setting.
Softpedia - 8.5/10

The choices you make can influence the world around. It can shake the entire world of a small community or save the life of a certain individual. This is all you will get because Demonicon, as mentioned earlier, is not about moral choice.

There’s no good or evil in Demonicon and you won’t be rewarded if you take a certain path that might sound closer to good. But the choices you make will tell another story, you can be the savior of a high-profile citizen and nemesis of an entire community at the same time.

I’m certain Dark Eye fans will devour Demonicon in just a few days even though it promises 25 hours of gameplay, if you only follow the main quest.


More information.
 
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If you plan to buy this game, beware. There's no manual save function, just checkpoints. Read my postings in the steam forums.
 
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Game is sounding somewhat awful from all reports. About what I expected, though. Only reason it got any real attention to begin with is that it had a TDE license.
 
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I'm still playing it and finding some enjoyment out of it. Is it perfect no but then no game is. I'll say it again all that matters to me in games is that I'm enjoying it while I play. Other things don't matter to me that much as they do others.:)
 
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Is it perfect no but then no game is.
Especially these days. 2013 is probably the worst year in memory for RPGs, after so many things slipped into 2014. So you gotta play what you gotta play...
 
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A decent start for the first game in the Dark Eye series that offers an introduction to a potentially interesting fantasy universe.

What shit is that ? The reviewer didn't play any TDE games before, I guess ???

Edit : Okay, it is actually more reasonable after the article's introduction :

As somebody who is completely unfamiliar with the Dark Eye universe, Demonicon’s story and setting just feels like another generic fantasy universe with its own set of races, conflicts, and more than its far share of evil demon lords. Perhaps I’ve just seen too many different fantasy universes, but a lot of fantasy universes fail to sufficiently engross me with their complex lore, often unremarkable characters, and generic storylines, especially with fantasy giants like Warcraft or The Lord of the Rings to compete with. But hey, if you’re a fan of The Dark Eye franchise, then you might really enjoy the lore that Demonicon has to offer.

Which shows an problem with the RPG genre as such : Far too many demonic hordes in games nowadays ... The Blizzard approach has been squeezed out to the tiniest bit ...
 
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I really recommend this game to any TDE fanboy out there.
Just ignore the combat (just do it) and some other design flaws, and enjoy the atmosphere of the Dark Lands, which haven't appeared in any TDE video game ever.
For example you happen to enter the golden pyramid of Rhazzazor in Warunk.
With all the lore and legends of TDE in mind, one can really immerse well.
 
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I really recommend this game to any TDE fanboy out there.
Just ignore the combat (just do it) and some other design flaws, and enjoy the atmosphere of the Dark Lands, which haven't appeared in any TDE video game ever.
For example you happen to enter the golden pyramid of Rhazzazor in Warunk.
With all the lore and legends of TDE in mind, one can really immerse well.

It will be really good to have your view of the game after you had some milage with it or once you have finished it. It will be also good to know how long it takes to finish and how good the side quests are.
 
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Sure, I'll give you an opinion in a few days. Don't have much freetime to play though.
 
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apparently, according to someone on Morrandir's steam link, manual saves was advertised as a feature. I really am curious about the design decisions that eventually lead them to exclude manual saves.

The excuse "it takes more work" just doesn't fly imho. Lots of things take more work in games I would think manual saves should be somewhere higher up in the priority list than other things in the game.
 
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Are they patching this up or is it "as is" with no improvements planned? I might buy it if they're actively patching. That's why I supported Blades of Destiny.
 
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I bought the game from GreenMan as part of the get "first templar" game free. So with several days left until Demonicon came out, I have been playing alot of that game.

As a result, it is very clear to me that Demonicon was built with essentially the same engine and most of the same mechanics as First Templar. I actually find myself enjoying templar, but its definitely a bargain game. It is extremely linear with separately defined "levels," somewhat stiff but functional combat, and an interesting progression system.

I have only been playing for a few hours, but Demonicon seems almost the same in a lot of respects. It looks like they took the engine opened up the gameplay a little bit by adding more rpg type interaction within "levels" and changed the progression system to suit the dark eye approach and focus more on rpg non-combat skills, gameplay, and mechanics.

While this may be due somewhat to the lack of documentation with respect to gamepad usage (took me quite along while to a) figure out and b) get somewhat comfortable with layout), but it almost seems as if combat is stiffer and more arbitrary here than in first templar.

While I love the dark eye progression system, there take on it here seems somewhat simplified. Underneath, it is also very similar to the one in First templar (which I arguably like more at least in terms of progression options). If you take out the non-combat skill aspect, the ability trees are very limited in comparison.

I still expect to enjoy the game and am not upset for purchasing it, I was just surprised at how much it seems to be an iterative translation of their earlier game.

BTW I would recommend gamepad as it makes combat less stilted but just plan on taking some time to get acclimated.
 
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Are they patching this up or is it "as is" with no improvements planned?
That's currenrly unclear afaik. Haven't seen a devs comment. Perhaps this weekend they're celebrating their release party (which is well deserved regardless of the games quality ;) ).
But I really expect a comment in the next few days.

Btw. here is the source including the comment about both checkpoints and manual saves being included. According to the author, the comment was given on October 8th, so just 2.5 weeks before release.

Edit: Ok, I just found a German board where Kalypso seems to be active. It's not the official board and so the Kalypso identity is not completely verified, but there's a comment from Friday evening (CET) saying that "there won't be any changes done to the save system, sorry.".

That's real crap.
 
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The excuse "it takes more work" just doesn't fly imho. Lots of things take more work in games I would think manual saves should be somewhere higher up in the priority list than other things in the game.

Exactly. Allowing you to save your progress at will is something that is just a fundamental part of a story-based RPG. It shouldn't be compromised on, PERIOD.

I'm really tired of paying for games and just assuming the devs. understand this, only to find out AFTER release that only checkpoints exist. Shadrun Returns first ... now this. Am I seriously going to have to worry about Wasteland? Project Eternity, Witcher 3, Dragon Age 3?

I really think we should now be asking UP FRONT ... "Will this game allow you to save when you want to?"

I know I'm done assuming now. I'm going to find out before purchase.
 
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I really think we should now be asking UP FRONT … "Will this game allow you to save when you want to?"

I know I'm done assuming now. I'm going to find out before purchase.

But we (someone) asked. Morrandir provided a link few posts above, this was also previously a news on RPGWatch. Which makes this awkward - did Saving Content misunderstood?
 
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When you update your stats, is that saved immediately - or will that only get saved when you (eventually) hit a checkpoint save?

I'm quite enjoying the game (besides the save debacle), but I really don't think it was worth the price I paid for it.

EDIT: the answer is no, AP spent etc are not recorded unless you hit a save point.
 
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As a result, it is very clear to me that Demonicon was built with essentially the same engine and most of the same mechanics as First Templar.
Didn't play 1st templar (and won't).
The engine is the same as it's in Dark. So there is no excuse for excluding manual savegames.

But since many didn't play Dark, the engine feels like improved one from Spiders' games, the recent one was Mars:War Logs.

Back to the problem if someone didn't catch it. Assume you don't have UPS. And power surge happens and your PC restarts, and you have to replay the bloody dungeon all over again.
 
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Back to the problem if someone didn't catch it. Assume you don't have UPS. And power surge happens and your PC restarts, and you have to replay the bloody dungeon all over again.

Where do you live joxer? I can't recall having a power surge during the last year or so. I have lost connection on a few occasions but a power surge?
 
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I bought the game from GreenMan as part of the get "first templar" game free. So with several days left until Demonicon came out, I have been playing alot of that game.

As a result, it is very clear to me that Demonicon was built with essentially the same engine and most of the same mechanics as First Templar. I actually find myself enjoying templar, but its definitely a bargain game. It is extremely linear with separately defined "levels," somewhat stiff but functional combat, and an interesting progression system.

I have only been playing for a few hours, but Demonicon seems almost the same in a lot of respects. It looks like they took the engine opened up the gameplay a little bit by adding more rpg type interaction within "levels" and changed the progression system to suit the dark eye approach and focus more on rpg non-combat skills, gameplay, and mechanics.

While this may be due somewhat to the lack of documentation with respect to gamepad usage (took me quite along while to a) figure out and b) get somewhat comfortable with layout), but it almost seems as if combat is stiffer and more arbitrary here than in first templar.

While I love the dark eye progression system, there take on it here seems somewhat simplified. Underneath, it is also very similar to the one in First templar (which I arguably like more at least in terms of progression options). If you take out the non-combat skill aspect, the ability trees are very limited in comparison.

I still expect to enjoy the game and am not upset for purchasing it, I was just surprised at how much it seems to be an iterative translation of their earlier game.

BTW I would recommend gamepad as it makes combat less stilted but just plan on taking some time to get acclimated.

If combat is like the first Templar I would consider that a plus. I though combat was well done in the first Templar, you couldn't just rush in to battle and hack away or you would die. You had to time attacks, block, dodge and counter attack to be successful.

Unfortunately the rest of the game was pretty shallow and the story and ending were just bad IMO. The combat was good enough to carry me through to the end though so if combat is the same in demonicon that would be good enough for me.

Incidentally i found the keyboard and mouse controls in the first Templar to be quite good and easy to use so if combat is the same in demonicon I see no need for a controller unless that's your input device of choice.
 
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