RPGWatch - Drakensang Retro Review
- Thread starter Couchpotato
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Beautifully written, as always. 
Drakensang is truly a solid RPG. There's no mistaking it for anything else. And I agree...for me, the lore is where Aventuria truly shines. It's deep, it's rich, and it sets your imagination wandering.
Any fan of "true" RPG's absolutely needs this one in their library.
Drakensang is truly a solid RPG. There's no mistaking it for anything else. And I agree...for me, the lore is where Aventuria truly shines. It's deep, it's rich, and it sets your imagination wandering.
Any fan of "true" RPG's absolutely needs this one in their library.
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Thank you, Aubrielle.
It's true, it's a wonderful world to explore and I look forward to continuing my adventure in it.
It's true, it's a wonderful world to explore and I look forward to continuing my adventure in it.
Kordanor
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Just the disclamer as always to everyone reading and having the idea checking it out: Don't confuse it with Drakensang Online, which is something completely different. 
The review was well written and somewhat "inspirational" and "motivational".
I guess that is your style and probably a style in general to do reviews.
On the very opposite of that spectrum are my (german) reviews which are mostly mechanical.
So naturally what I was missing in your review is any criticism. Stuff that does not work well.
The review was well written and somewhat "inspirational" and "motivational".
I guess that is your style and probably a style in general to do reviews.
On the very opposite of that spectrum are my (german) reviews which are mostly mechanical.
So naturally what I was missing in your review is any criticism. Stuff that does not work well.
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I realized this after I submitted the review, and did not get around to changing it.
Before anyone else comments about this, I do apologize. Perhaps I will add a section talking about criticisms I have of the game, or share some quick thoughts in this thread in future posts.
For example, there is a lot of combat in dungeons and at times could feel a little grindy. Take killing amoebas, for example, who take a lot of hits to kill and don't really deal too much damage themselves, making for a more tedious battle.
Some of the translation is a bit lacking at points, but it doesn't take away too much from the game. Just a little weird English at times that English gamers may notice.
What else? I'll think on it and get back to you.
Edit - I added a few little paragraphs to the end with these criticisms.
Kordanor
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Nice.
Well, the other things which came to my mind were:
-The Combat can get extremely chaotical due to the aggro system (A attacks B, B attacks C, C attacks D, now D moves and the combat becomes an woken up ant hive)
-It had a very slow start with boring quests
-Walking times were too long (literally walking, slowly from one end of the city, just be sent back, nothing happening while walking, just a pure time sucker) which was due to slow walking and missing fast travel options which they added in the Sequel.
Also it might be interesting how much of the stuff (if at all) is voiced over in english. I think in the german version it only had few bits and pieces, while in River of Time they voiced everything.
Well, the other things which came to my mind were:
-The Combat can get extremely chaotical due to the aggro system (A attacks B, B attacks C, C attacks D, now D moves and the combat becomes an woken up ant hive)
-It had a very slow start with boring quests
-Walking times were too long (literally walking, slowly from one end of the city, just be sent back, nothing happening while walking, just a pure time sucker) which was due to slow walking and missing fast travel options which they added in the Sequel.
Also it might be interesting how much of the stuff (if at all) is voiced over in english. I think in the german version it only had few bits and pieces, while in River of Time they voiced everything.
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Just the disclamer as always to everyone reading and having the idea checking it out: Don't confuse it with Drakensang Online, which is something completely different.
Yeah. Drakensang Online is a nice little Diablo-like ARPG that I found surprisingly fun. But yeah. It seems like cheating to call it Drakensang, because it's not The Dark Eye/Das Schwarze Auge at all. Didn't it start as TDE but get its major names and places changed because of licensing or something?
Kordanor
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Nope, it just about monetizing the name.
Radon Labs (the guys who made Drakensang and Drakensang RoT) were bankrupt and sold to Bigpoint, which is a huge "browsergame company". But with buying Radon Labs they did not purchase any TDE license as this is hold by an entirely different company. What they got though is the name "Drakensang". So they used it to make a game which had nothing to do with the previous RPG at all to get some additional attention.
Btw: Two other TDE Games are Chains of Satinav and Memoria, two point and click adventures from Daedalic. Only played Chains of Satinav yet. Not a great but a good game compared to other daedalic adventures. Riddles were partially not very logical.
Radon Labs (the guys who made Drakensang and Drakensang RoT) were bankrupt and sold to Bigpoint, which is a huge "browsergame company". But with buying Radon Labs they did not purchase any TDE license as this is hold by an entirely different company. What they got though is the name "Drakensang". So they used it to make a game which had nothing to do with the previous RPG at all to get some additional attention.
Btw: Two other TDE Games are Chains of Satinav and Memoria, two point and click adventures from Daedalic. Only played Chains of Satinav yet. Not a great but a good game compared to other daedalic adventures. Riddles were partially not very logical.
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Yeah, Chains of Satinav was a nice point-and-click that brings the nostalgia on pretty thick.
Herokon Online was - correct me if I'm wrong, Kordanor - an officially licensed TDE game? But it was browser-based, and apparently the site is down now. I looked for it and it just...*poof*...vanished...
Herokon Online was - correct me if I'm wrong, Kordanor - an officially licensed TDE game? But it was browser-based, and apparently the site is down now. I looked for it and it just...*poof*...vanished...
Against amoebas ("Amöben" in German language), fire helps very much !
Very nicely written, imho.
Personally, I would have added how vast the TDE lore is - but 0,1 % of it is actually translate into English … I won't forgive that Ulisses.
Yes, official. And it was meant to present the whole of Aventuria one day.
Very nicely written, imho.
Personally, I would have added how vast the TDE lore is - but 0,1 % of it is actually translate into English … I won't forgive that Ulisses.
Yes, official. And it was meant to present the whole of Aventuria one day.
Kordanor
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And apparently the Developer "Silver Style Studios" is also bankrupt and stopped hosting the servers.
Edit: Its actually quite a shame. I didnt like the game enough but the assets look really nice. I think they could be a great basis for an Indie developer intending to build an RPG.
Edit: Its actually quite a shame. I didnt like the game enough but the assets look really nice. I think they could be a great basis for an Indie developer intending to build an RPG.
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How does this compare to the River of Time? Wasn't that the sequel? I haven't played either but after this review might pick it up. I thought I had read the second one was considered an improvement over the first.
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Very nicely written, imho.
Thank you.
It's a shame that there aren't more TDE games as well as more Drakensang games. Blackguards seems interesting, but I'd love another epic and vast RPG to be made in this world.
The Blade of Destiny remake, while not perfect, was a great intro for me to the TDE world. I really enjoyed the negative personality traits that were introduced in that game as well as the overall rule system.
Maybe an isometric RPG in Aventuria should be Kickstarted.
Kordanor
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The second brought you into an interesting story much faster.
In addition they added little features like fast travel to avoid longer running times.
They also avoided wall of texts and worked more with voice overs. However I can only speak for the German Version here, as I don't know of dense the voice overs are in english for both of the games.
In addition they added little features like fast travel to avoid longer running times.
They also avoided wall of texts and worked more with voice overs. However I can only speak for the German Version here, as I don't know of dense the voice overs are in english for both of the games.
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Ah, yes, I did think the beginning of the game is a bit slow. I'm sure it would put many gamers off because you're sort of dropped in a fantasy world and it's very slow-paced without much interesting happening. Stick with it, though, and it gets much better.
*Should have mentioned this in my review! Gah. It's hard being a writer sometimes, especially one as absent-minded as I can be at times. :lol:
*Should have mentioned this in my review! Gah. It's hard being a writer sometimes, especially one as absent-minded as I can be at times. :lol:
Kordanor
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Regarding the Remake: It's now available on steam again and they are already working on a patch will bring several little changes.
I don't think a Aventuria Kickstarter game has much of a perspective. The license holder will probably not give it away without having a solid foundation anymore (well...there is already this mess called Skilltree Saga , so maybe I am wrong there) in addition it's mainly known in Germany. And while Germany has a very strong PC-Market, Germans are not of much help at Kickstarter as most only pay with a German Direct Debit system which is not supported via Kickstarter yet.
However Kickstarter is also coming to Germany at May 12th allowing German Companies to officially launch their projects as well and it will allow German Contributors to pay up to 250€ via Direct Debit. But until people get used to it, it will also probably take a while as the big Kickstarter Boom is already past.
Guido Henkel, one of the Heads behind Realms of Arkania tried his luck two times on kickstarter, both times with a clear failure in finding enough contributors. That's probably not the best sign.
I don't think a Aventuria Kickstarter game has much of a perspective. The license holder will probably not give it away without having a solid foundation anymore (well...there is already this mess called Skilltree Saga , so maybe I am wrong there) in addition it's mainly known in Germany. And while Germany has a very strong PC-Market, Germans are not of much help at Kickstarter as most only pay with a German Direct Debit system which is not supported via Kickstarter yet.
However Kickstarter is also coming to Germany at May 12th allowing German Companies to officially launch their projects as well and it will allow German Contributors to pay up to 250€ via Direct Debit. But until people get used to it, it will also probably take a while as the big Kickstarter Boom is already past.
Guido Henkel, one of the Heads behind Realms of Arkania tried his luck two times on kickstarter, both times with a clear failure in finding enough contributors. That's probably not the best sign.
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Mr. Henkel should try his luck again when Germans are able to contribute with the Direct Debit system.
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They did a good job in Drakensang with trying to make skills useful most of the time, but despite this, it's a very heavily combat centric game, which is a shame.
Mr. Henkel should try his luck again when Germans are able to contribute with the Direct Debit system.
And also NOT RIGHT AT CHRISTMAS.
