Realms of Arkania - HD Remake Announced!

This needs to work, the world needs another fresh crack at this done well and true.

That said, if they can't eclipse the over the top work of the original Voice Actors/Staff Members Trying it, they need to just include the classic audio—-I need to hear my female caster's FULMIN~! else it just isn't right.

Hopefully they will overhaul just the music & graphics. Please oh please leave the combat turn based and isometric. This is my absolute favorite CRPG series so I'm excited to see more.

I loved the original games. I tried playing the first awhile back and it definitely needs some updating of some of the parts to at least the level of part 2 or 3. I hope they add the good things they learned as the series progressed instead of a straight 1 to 1 conversion.

Originally Posted by Gokyabgu
Some time ago in 2012 I was playing Shadow of Riva. Although the game was awesome, 320*200 resolution were tiring to the eyes. I remember saying how it would be nice to see the game in high resolution, because artworks were really awesome. It seems my prayers were answered. Now I want Betrayal at Krondor HD and Wizards&Warriors HD remakes, also brand new M&M and Wizardry games would be nice. Please God, hear me.

Empireforge is working on a game with roots in Wizardry, already mentioned here on:

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19039

I have been hassling him about doing a kickstarter, so please go to that thread and tell him what you think about that and what you want to see in the game. Looks like he is a serious Wiz fan and has some cool ideas.

Wizards & Warriors was cool, but I remember it was released with lots of bugs and didn't do that well.

Awesome news! I have the trilogy in GoG and keep thinking on playing them, but never do. Now I have a reason… to wait for the new release!
I hope they make them for Android tablets too without having to pay twice.

Originally Posted by Igor
Still I am not sure if they best make the first part and not just start with the second?

It pretty much depends on what you want from an RPG. The first part had tons of dungeons and towns/ a bigger map than the other both parts, it was much more "sandboxy".

The second game limited it quite a bit. Only a couple of cities left, but more detailed.

The third part however (from which I think it was the weakest though it was still good) had an almost completely linear design like RPGs are mostly done nowadays.

Originally Posted by EvilManagedCare
Hopefully they will overhaul just the music & graphics. Please oh please leave the combat turn based and isometric. This is my absolute favorite CRPG series so I'm excited to see more.

I don't know which version you played and what music it had.
The first two parts were initially released on 3,5" discs and then later re-released as a CD Version during the time when they used to burn high quality audio tracks directly on the CD.
So the new versions already had improved music. And I guess I'd rather keep these ones.

If you want to check out a playlist with the CD Quality music of the old games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOliR…eature=mh_lolz

I wouldn't want to play a straight remake with much better graphics. I would need an upgrade to several aspects of the game in order for me to be interested. That said, I wouldn't want it dumbed down or homogenized.

I enjoyed Blade of Destiny the most as it had a the most content and lots of optional dungeons.

Tweaking some of the purely random aspects sounds good, how about a system where if you fail 3 times then the next time you try you are guaranteed to get the skill up once. I remember times where I failed to level up a skill across multiple level gains, that was no fun at all.

That's welcome news! I have only played shadows over Riva of the original series, and would be very interested in a remake especially of the first two games, if they stay close to the originals. I have no problems with some tweaking, but they should of course strive to maintain the core gameplay and difficulty.

Originally Posted by Gokyabgu
Now I want Betrayal at Krondor HD and Wizards&Warriors HD remakes, also brand new M&M and Wizardry games would be nice. Please God, hear me.

+1 to an HD version of Betrayal at Krondor. I've been calling for that for years.

What unexpected news, but good ones at that. Not just good, but excellent news! Here's hoping they don't botch the job.

Give me a HD upgrade of all Gold Box games and System Shock!

Now I'm getting greedy!!!!

Can't.
Get.
Quick.
Enough!
wantitnowwantitnowwantitNOW!

Originally Posted by Gorath
Don't expect too much. The budget will certainly be shoestring.

Yes it would be interesting to know how well the project is funded. I don't imagine it will be too expensive to make though - it's not the kind of games that's selling itself on cut scenes, trailers etc. If they stick to the basics it might not cost that much to do.

@Kordanor:

I played the CD version of all three on the RoA trilogy. I loved the music too, but the straight Midi would probably not go over well these days unfortunately.

Originally Posted by EvilManagedCare
@Kordanor:

I played the CD version of all three on the RoA trilogy. I loved the music too, but the straight Midi would probably not go over well these days unfortunately.

Yep, but that's what I meant. The CD versions had no Midi sound, at least not the German ones. Never played the english version.

Excellent point Carn, there is a lot of potential market in the classic era games, and newer players introduced to them via optimization and some graphics upgrades only makes that market much bigger.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Yep, but that's what I meant. The CD versions had no Midi sound, at least not the German ones. Never played the english version.

And it may not have been actual Midi. Regardless the music would sound very outdated and out of place with the upgraded graphics. Maybe they would keep the same score and just modernize the instrumentation or sound or whatever.

I only know the Shadows over Riva soundtrack (CD) which was imho pretty decent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53WO2xYaxNw
I wouldn't be turned off by that soundtrack even today. Of course if they can redo it in higher quality, nothing wrong with that either.

Originally Posted by GhanBuriGhan
I only know the Shadows over Riva soundtrack (CD) which was imho pretty decent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53WO2xYaxNw
I wouldn't be turned off by that soundtrack even today. Of course if they can redo it in higher quality, nothing wrong with that either.

Oh I wouldn't have a problem with the original music with no "modernization" either. It helps with the nostalgia. But if they want to appeal to a wider audience and not just the old farts like me (and you know this will be the case) that played these great games way back when, I'm sure they'll do something with the sound & music. My favorite music was the tune that repeated during character generation in Star Trail. It was a silly little thing but I have such fond memories of hearing it as I painstakingly created character after character.

I am concerned the complete overhaul in the press release means either real time or RTwP combat or elimination of the skills or something.