Drakensang The more I play the more disappointed I get

Ok, but AI that makes for 'clever' enemies, is actually good AI, isn't it?

Ok, ok, before I get thrown with rotten tomatoes, I agree that it is quite infuriating!

Turjan said:

The annoying point is that you have no means whatsoever to prevent this. The tanks cannot block the monsters from surrounding the mage or rogue.

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During mother rat fight I don't think I ever get 3 wild rats on a same character when I win the fight. There are ways to lower this but that's tough to control.

Don't let weaker characters attack, move them back, attack coming rats from far with the fighters, I suspect that summons attacks are translated in some way by more smart monsters as attack from the summon caster, so don't prepare summon and use it with care. Anticipate a lot, start react when first monster is seen and don't wait the auto pause.

RivianWitch said:

Hm, so I think what you are saying, is that the movement seems to be too random, especially from the enemies side?

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No, in the sample I tried explain the point was that I didn't want go too close to monsters far from the fight. Then attack the monster "M" and expected my character attack and stay on same side but instead it goes on the other side of "M" to attack it, then enough close to N monsters to attract them.

That's just a sample, during some fights, anyway N monsters will come, like the black rats. But not eostuff for example.

vanedor said:

Turn based can be great... but when I walk in the dark forest and get attacked by wolves/boars/bears/bandits every two minutes, I'm pretty glad it's real time. That game would have to be totally modified to make turn based interesting.

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Yes, TB game need to lower a lot the number of fights. Fights can last longer and will (and then detract some type of players) but certainly not have too many.

Anyway Drakensang abuse of little repetitive fights, as did The Witcher in fact and as didn't Gothic 2 NOTR. Still for me despite the apparency the Deep under Ferdok dungeon is quite good.

Monsters seems repetitive and are visually but in fact aren't so much. The dungeon is organized to have a well build rising tension and difficulty.

The fights are different, there are some themes and some traps, like the first massive assault, few attack from behind, black rat packs using different strategy against you, and so on. Some fights get few repetition but that's always a nice trick to repeat a little a same fight because it let the player learn manage better and better this fight.

It's five levels each are small levels with some subtle difference to make them feel a bit different. There are in fact 4 sort of rats and the final boss. The final battle is excellent. Ok I did the dungeon in three times but then didn't find it repetitive.

But well I agree it is missing few secrets and some more monster diversity. This design despite good made the very common error to put focus too much on a theme of a dungeon at the price of more diversity.

Damian Mahadevan said:

I see. Maybe one of these days i will give the witcher another go.

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I finally decided to give The Witcher another chance starting a few days ago. I didn't like it at all when I played the demo of the original release last year, I'm not exactly sure why, it just didn't grab me.

Let me just say that I finally understand what all the fuss is about. The Witcher truly is a great game, maybe even "classic", although I still have a long way to go before I can give my final opinion. If you're truly a fan of RPGs, and you don't play The Witcher, then you are cheating yourself out of a great experience.

JDR13 said:

I finally decided to give The Witcher another chance starting a few days ago. I didn't like it at all when I played the demo of the original release last year, I'm not exactly sure why, it just didn't grab me.

Let me just say that I finally understand what all the fuss is about. The Witcher truly is a great game, maybe even "classic", although I still have a long way to go before I can give my final opinion. If you're truly a fan of RPGs, and you don't play The Witcher, then you are cheating yourself out of a great experience.

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I didn't really like it. Guess it's the fact it's an action/RPG. I didn't see myself fighting any differently or using different strategies down the road. Maybe the whole single-character twitch RPG genre is not for me (although I did enjoy Oblivion a lot, maybe because I could play as a pure mage there, unlike games like Gothic or the Witcher). Very different from Drakensang, there's no twitch involved and it's a party of characters, just my type of games.

Curunír said:

That lead me to the opinion that Drakensang requires significantly less but harder battles to be a real enjoyment for tactical players.

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This has also been mentioned several times in the official forums (among other things).

Turjan said:

Up to now, my biggest complaint about the combat system is that the AI always gangs up on your weakest character first and does so by running through your melee fighters. Through! Those are the moments where I could kick the game.

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There are several scripts within the game, I read, one of the worst is to attack every magic user first, which can be seen the the Ferdok Brewery cellars.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

There are several scripts within the game, I read, one of the worst is to attack every magic user first, which can be seen the the Ferdok Brewery cellars.

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Yeah, I've been having a problem with the enemies charging past my fighter in order to attack Gladys who I try to keep in the back. Pretty frustrating seeing enemies run straight through your characters. I guess the good ol' strategy of choke points doesn't work in this game...

Alrik Fassbauer said:

This has also been mentioned several times in the official forums (among other things).

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I know, especially as I am probably the person who mentioned it most repeatedly.

Thoth said:

I guess the good ol' strategy of choke points doesn't work in this game...

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Indeed. It's quite the opposite, actually, because your characters are harder to move to places where you want them at choke points.

I don't thing DSang is a bad game, but it sort of bores me. I hate the magic gates and crates that can't be unlocked one minute and then "presto" a quest gives me access. Interesting skills such as alchemy and animal lore are pointless because all the end products are prevalent. The game is very linear, hub and spoke progression very much like NWN OC.

I'm still playing it, but it barely registers on my interest meter. I does make me want an ale though

Curunír said:

I know, especially as I am probably the person who mentioned it most repeatedly.

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Very likely , but I haven't been in the forums for weeks now (just dropping in every now and then, on irregular basis).

ToddMcF2002 said:

I'm still playing it, but it barely registers on my interest meter. I does make me want an ale though

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Was anyone else surprised at hw much the game focuses on the Ferdok beer? "By the Gods, I get it, it's good beer!"

It's kind of an insider's joke, I guess, because the beer of Ferdok is one of the very, very best within Aventuria !

For promotional reasons dtp even let stein mugs be printed with the ferdok beer logo !

Plus, all know that dwarves LOVE beer ...

Grandor Dragon said:

Was anyone else surprised at hw much the game focuses on the Ferdok beer? "By the Gods, I get it, it's good beer!"

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It's probably the only remarkable thing the city of Ferdok possesses. What else should they talk about ?

I wish they'd have more then one type of beer for role-playings sake. I saw the Special Dark... but that's it so far. I'd be bored out of my mind in a city with only one type of beer...

There's also a dwarven beer, perhaps Ducal street bar or it's in Avenstrue.

Well, the Kosh is very patriotic. Of course they only drink the finest beer !

But apart from that the Kosh area is also known for the finest brweries in general.

Only that the Ferdok brewery is the greatest.

Thoth said:

I wish they'd have more then one type of beer for role-playings sake. I saw the Special Dark... but that's it so far. I'd be bored out of my mind in a city with only one type of beer...

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LOL why's that? Where I'm from there's only one type of beer (Pielsen). I don't remember being bored! (In fact, now that I live in the US, with so many beers... I still usually just drink the same type)