Steam - Realms of Arkania Trilogy

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Well this came as a surprise today it seems Steam is now selling all three classic Realms of Arkania games. Here are the details.

Now Available on Steam - Realms of Arkania Classic Games

Realms of Arkania 1 - Blade of Destiny Classic, Realms of Arkania 2 - Star Trail Classic, and Realms of Arkania 3 - Shadows over Riva Classic are Now Available on Steam!

The Realms of Arkania games (Blade of Destiny, Star Trail and Shadows of Riva) deliver a prime example of the classical European fantasy universe. Based on Germany's most popular pen & paper role playing game, it was also the first German computer RPG series to get widely recognized outside of its home country. To this day it holds a stable hardcore fan base that loves the games for their comprehensive adaption of the pen & paper ruleset and the believable medieval fantasy setting.
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More information.
 
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Just something I wanted to add here as I saw quite a few comments about it in the forums:

The German Version of DSA1 is coming in a week or so according to a developer. I guess the german versions of DSA2/3 are coming either.

Also DSA1 seems to be the Disc Version. So no fancy CD quality music.
 
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Kordanor said:
Just something I wanted to add here as I saw quite a few comments about it in the forums:

The German Version of DSA1 is coming in a week or so according to a developer. I guess the german versions of DSA2/3 are coming either.
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What's the difference just the language, or does the German version contain more features? Just curious.^^
 
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Ah, no, just used "version" instead of "localization" as this would have implied that the game was translated into German when German is in fact the original language. ^^
 
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Kordanor said:
Ah, no, just used "version" instead of "localization" as this would have impled that the game was translated into German when German is in fact the original language. ^^
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Well I'm not German so as I said I was just curious. Thanks tor responding. Actually I never played the original games yet. My first time was playing the HD remake.

I know it's terrible tragedy and I must rectify that right away.:)
 
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They were available from GoG a few years ago. I think I got them all for about $5
 
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I remember getting the first two from GoG for free, had to complete some survey on Good Old Games. I haven't got around to playing them yet, but I did play some of the third one when it was first released, never got around to finishing it though.
 
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Absolutely. But it strongly depends on how much you can endure these really old graphics. ^^
 
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Huh, curious. I'd still recommend getting these from GOG - no DRM and goodies like clue books bundled in.

NyxVampiria said:
Afraid I never played these games in my more sane days. Worth checking out?
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Yes, definitely! However, as these games are c. 20 years old, you do need a good tolerance for, not only old graphics, but archaic UIs and somewhat abrupt & clunky gameplay. Also, a generous helping of patience won't go amiss as you need to get over a steep learning curve and endure quite a haphazard way of following the plot (speaking of the first two games, haven't played the third). But regardless of all that, I do heartily recommend these games. Just be prepared for an old chool experience.

Please, play in Advanced mode and create your whole party from the ground up with the "advanced" character creation. The depth (some might say needless depth, given that there are skills that do absolutely nothing, etc.) of the character creation is one the major features of the games and should be experienced to the fullest.

Remember to read the manual! Seriously. Also, it wouldn't hurt to grab a FAQ which explains the spells as, if memory serves, the spells aren't really explained at all in the English manual and given that most of the spells are named, er, "creatively" (to put it politely), you won't know what does what without a FAQ. The clue books which come with the GOG versions are good too. I found the town maps in them (for the first two games) very helpful as I got quickly bored of stumbling blindly from door to door to find the necessary vendors and NPCs, etc. Just don't spoil yourself with the clue books, like peeking at the dungeon maps before you've cleared them.
 
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I've never bought retro classics from sites like GoG or Steam. Does it have a speed utility like MoSlo built in?
 
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Lurking Grue said:
Huh, curious. I'd still recommend getting these from GOG - no DRM and goodies like clue books bundled in.


Yes, definitely! However, as these games are c. 20 years old, you do need a good tolerance for, not only old graphics, but archaic UIs and somewhat abrupt & clunky gameplay. Also, a generous helping of patience won't go amiss as you need to get over a steep learning curve and endure quite a haphazard way of following the plot (speaking of the first two games, haven't played the third). But regardless of all that, I do heartily recommend these games. Just be prepared for an old chool experience.

Please, play in Advanced mode and create your whole party from the ground up with the "advanced" character creation. The depth (some might say needless depth, given that there are skills that do absolutely nothing, etc.) of the character creation is one the major features of the games and should be experienced to the fullest.

Remember to read the manual! Seriously. Also, it wouldn't hurt to grab a FAQ which explains the spells as, if memory serves, the spells aren't really explained at all in the English manual and given that most of the spells are named, er, "creatively" (to put it politely), you won't know what does what without a FAQ. The clue books which come with the GOG versions are good too. I found the town maps in them (for the first two games) very helpful as I got quickly bored of stumbling blindly from door to door to find the necessary vendors and NPCs, etc. Just don't spoil yourself with the clue books, like peeking at the dungeon maps before you've cleared them.
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Yep, I second that, and with that I mean almost all of Grue's points. For the first Game you will probably need a clue book to fully enjoy it. Otherwise it's lots of "trying out all houses in a city" for example. At least it was in the version I played, don't know if they changed much in the SirTech Release. Also some of the interface and gameplay decisions in the first one can seem rather weird.
If you want to decide to get into the game it might be best to play the Second game for a couple of hours to make your decision, and then start over with the first one. The second one is much clearer and the goals "smoother". The first game is almost a sandbox where you only need to visit like 30% of all the dungeons to complete it, but finding them can be extremely hard.

@EvilManagedCare
They are coming with a pre-configured DosBox. I never had problems with them on GoG, all games worked fine over there with the correct speed.
That is not the case with the new Release of Wasteland 1 which I only have on steam. That one is much too fast and interpretes a key hit as two hits.
So...I guess there isn't a general answer for all games.
 
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Kordanor said:
Just something I wanted to add here as I saw quite a few comments about it in the forums:

The German Version of DSA1 is coming in a week or so according to a developer. I guess the german versions of DSA2/3 are coming either.

Also DSA1 seems to be the Disc Version. So no fancy CD quality music.
Click to expand...

There was a CD version of DSA1 with CD quality music on it? I played the disk version(English version)but never knew there was a CD version with CD quality music. If it still exists and is purchasable somewhere, it's a game I'd like to add to my collection.
 
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Yes there was. But I can't say for sure if there is an English version with this music.
From what I know there was the German Disk Version first (92).
Then (93) Sirtech released an adjusted version for the english market (afaik there are even some minor gameplay adjustments) and that is the version you can buy here I guess. After that (94) the German Version was Re-Released as CD Version where the music was re-done.

Link to the music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOliRH7gS8w&list=PL06BE3E6C441A0E9E&index=1
 
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