Drakensang:RoT Drakensang or this: which to start with?

Raggie

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I recently bought the Drakensang Saga collection, which includes the original drakensang and River of Time + add-on. I wasn't originally going to buy the original Drakensang because of middling reviews. Now that I have the whole set, I thought I'd start with River of Time (which people seem to agree is the better game) and then, if I like it, try out how I like the original Drakensang.

Here's my question: do I have any special reason to start with the original Drakensang instead? Is it easier to start with, or is there a relevant story connection?
 
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It's actually much more logical to start with the prequel, The River of Time. In Drakensang, you'll learn what happens to characters you meet earlier in the TRoT. Drakensang, therefore, has mild spoilers.
 
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Yes, start with River of Time. It's a great game. Just don't be shocked that the Dakensangs are nice, friendly and colourful. ;) Drakensang was good too, but TRoT fixed ca. the 10 most often requested things the community wanted. Everything is at least a bit better, and especially the endless walking is nearly gone.

The controls are identical. If one of the manuals is missing you can simply use the other one. Right-click on everything for tool tips and often more detailed explanations than in the manual.

You have to understand that The Dark Eye is a complex RPG system. You have to give it time to open up. Things may feel limited in the beginning, but there is enough substance to add new spells and skills for 30-50 hours.
 
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I agree with everything Gorath has said.

I'd add only, that you can actually do at least some social interaction there ! ;)
 
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Just another quick hint: If you should decide to play RoT plus expansion first then make sure to install them both. Then launch the game only from the 'Phileasson's Secret' shortcut afterwards to get the most out of the game(s).
There is absolutely no reason to play the vanilla game and the expansion in order. Just install both and play the full gold version by launching from the PS shortcut.
 
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Allright, thanks for the input! Thanks for the hints too, those will come in handy. This is my first introduction to the Dark Eye universe so I'll probably take a look at some guides before creating a character. I hate it when I'm 20 hours in when I realize my character buil is not valid...
 
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I'm going to go against the grain here and suggest you play the original Drakensang first, because it will make the River of Time experience all the more enjoyable. Plus it was made first, so it just makes logical sense from that perspective. I don't get all these types who like to eat the main course before the entree!

Whilst story wise it might make more sense to play River of Time as a prequel, ultimately its story is the longer and more fulfilling one and I'd argue that your overall impressions of the series will be greater by leaving it until later. Think of it as the reward for you endeavour!

One other criteria is to gauge what has attracted you to the series in the first place. If you've come from a Baldur's Gate background for instance, you may prefer the greater and wider party configurations that are possible in the first Drakensang game.

But if you're keen to have a deeper, tighter and longer experience but with less companions - by all means, play River of Time and Phileasson's Secret first.
It's up to you. :) Have fun regardless of what you choose and experiment.
 
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Allright, thanks for the input! Thanks for the hints too, those will come in handy. This is my first introduction to the Dark Eye universe so I'll probably take a look at some guides before creating a character. I hate it when I'm 20 hours in when I realize my character buil is not valid…

Don't worry. That can't happen due to the way that the character development system is designed. You acquire adventure points (AP) all of the time (for defeating enemies, completing quests and so on) and you can put these points into upgrading your skills at any time as you go along, i.e. you can very easily make adjustments on the fly whenever needed. You won't need to wait for a level-up or any other opportunity. You will quickly amass hundreds of AP without even noticing it. There's no way to really gimp a build as long as you use the most basic common sense.

The only non-obvious skill I can think of that you should keep maxed on all characters regardless of class is "Willpower" in the physical abilities category. This skill helps in avoiding wounds in combat which is really important because characters get knocked out after contracting four wounds or more.
Other than that you just use common sense and focus on the character's core abilities and revisit the trainers sometimes to see if they have some new skills to teach. That's all.
There isn't really a way to screw up big time so just have fun and play the game :) .
 
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I hate it when I'm 20 hours in when I realize my character buil is not valid…

There are no "builds" ... You can do everything you want.
 
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Thanks again for the tips. Since you seem to know this game well, I'll just go ahead and ask: are there useless skills I should just ignore while distributing points?
 
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Well, the most common approach is to make every party member a specialist of some sorts, and to give everyone a good base.

Etiquette is one of the least needed talents there. It's good to give there a few points, but not too many.

One thing you should do relatively lots of points into is what is I think called "will power" there. The more points there are, the less likely wounds will appear.

Some points should go into the healing skills, too.

And don't forget to buy the special combat skills from the trainers !

It is also important to put a few points into the base stats, too. Because they do influence all of the other talents, because the talents are based on that.

Very, very, very important ! : Do a right-click on every item that interests you ! This way you get good and full descriptions of everything needed !

There are already a few "hints" threads, so you could take a look into them, too.

Drakensang 2 has the positive point that each profession (there really aren't "classes" there, at least not in the same sense like in (A)D&D has its own "origin" (like in Dragon Age : Origins). They are adressed according to their professions in diologs etc. but otherwise their "origins" don't really influence the game that much. They allow special approaches towards some quests, though.

For TDE/Aventuria background lore look into this thread : http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6927
You should look into this thread then, too : http://forum.dtp-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=14843
 
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Thanks Alrik, I guess I'm all set then. It's pretty impressive if they've managed to make all the skills useful in some way, as I've understood the series has plenty of skills and stats. Too many RPGs give you the "option" to develop your own character, even though the game is balanced for only a certain type of character.
 
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Yes, I like it as well - and that's why I like TDE-based games (the upcoming "Demonicon" game might be an exception to this, and "Satinav's Chains" is a pure Adventure game).
 
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I agree with everybody else. I'd play River of Time with the expansion installed. That one got my vote for 'Game of the Year' in the RPGWatch fan poll.
 
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Play ROT with or without the expansion, doesn't really matter. This game is superb, easily the best pure RPG released in english last year, but the expansion is pretty meh as far as i've heard (can't really try it out, because i have an english boxed version of ROT, and the expansion is not compatible with that. Once you've beaten ROT, proceed to Drakensang: The Dark Eye only, if you really really liked ROT. It's not a bad game, but it's weaker than ROT in nearly every imaginable way.

I'd also strongly recommend the original DSA games from the nineties. They are infinitley better RPG-s than Radon labs stuff, although the graphics have obviously aged a bit.
 
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Besides, there is currently a real DSA/TDE MMO in the works. It has the weird name of "Herokon".
 
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River of Time was better but in my case, that made me unable to go back to the first game. I find FO1 awkward after FO2, I get frustrated in M&M6 that you can't move in turn based pause-mode while you can in 7 and 8, I couldn't play Exile 1 and 2 at all cuz I started with 3. If you're anything like this, you'll wanna play the first one first. Then you can experience the same progression the developers did and the things that 1 is missing won't aggravate you, instead RoT will be even more awesome.

Of course, if you're PRESSED FOR TIME !!! and can only play one then play RoT. But really, you're an RPG player. You can't be that pressed for time.
 
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