Drakensang - The Dark Eye - English Translation of Interview with Jan Lechner

Corwin

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An English translation of an excellent interview with Jan Lechner, Project Manager of Drakensang-The Dark Eye is now available. Here's an interesting piece:
04. Is the pool of characters which is able to join your fellowship always the same, or will it change from game to game? Will you be able to solo the game?

JL: You can invite a variety of different characters to your party. Not only can the player choose between many different characters when the game is played multiple times, but he can also modify the party’s character combination throughout the entire game. The player will be able to invite and discharge members of the fellowship at any time. Every character has their own conditions for joining the party, though. For example, an experienced warrior might not be in the mood to help an inexperienced hero.


You’ll be able to solo the game. That won’t be an easy challenge at all, but basically it will be possible. The game won’t force the player to form a party; it’s only an option that the player will be able to dismiss.
You'll find it all here.

More information.
 
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Not very encouraging reading. The fact that they talk about there being no micro management and "soloing" makes me think we are just going to be getting another cookie cutter rpg.
 
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I'm sorry to read that they're taking a leaf out of Oblivion's model when it comes to the journal:

03. Is there going to be a journal, and how is it going to be structured?

JL: Yes, there will be a journal that will keep track of the player’s advances. Important pieces of information will be stored to be read again at any point of time.
The structure will depend on the type of quests the player has accepted: to avoid confusion, main quests will be distinguishable from side quests. They will both be linked with the world map to make orientation as simple as possible. For example, if the player chooses a section in the journal, the game will highlight the corresponding region on the map.
 
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"the corresponding region of the map" could also mean a somewhat vague information. As long as you don´t have an arrow thats leading your way...
But perhaps I´m biased, it´s been ten years now since the last Darke Eye-game was released here in germany and I really hope that this one will be as good as the older titles.
 
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Nope, can't be ... might be a good Baldur's Gate-Clone, but won't come even close to the Northland-Triology... I might still buy it, because Baldur's Gate was a good Game and maybe, if they clone it right.. but Drakensang will never ever be as great as the Northland-Triology - these times are gone and will never come back - because you can't sell enough when you create difficult Games nowadays.
 
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Not very encouraging reading. The fact that they talk about there being no micro management and "soloing" makes me think we are just going to be getting another cookie cutter rpg.
The answers follows discussion in the official german forum. There have been discussions, if they had to eat and drink, care for their weapons, buying shoes because they become used and so on. Many pen & paper gamers hoped to get the same options like in p&p and that won't be. So it will surely be at least as intensive as BG or NWN, but nothing more.
I'm sorry to read that they're taking a leaf out of Oblivion's model when it comes to the journal:
It surely will not be the same thing like Oblivion. As I understand it's not an open world like TES, it's more modulebased like NWN. The map is only meant to be a reminder, nothing more.
"the corresponding region of the map" could also mean a somewhat vague information. As long as you don´t have an arrow thats leading your way...
I don't think so.
Nope, can't be ... might be a good Baldur's Gate-Clone, but won't come even close to the Northland-Triology... I might still buy it, because Baldur's Gate was a good Game and maybe, if they clone it right.. but Drakensang will never ever be as great as the Northland-Triology - these times are gone and will never come back - because you can't sell enough when you create difficult Games nowadays.
Drakensang doesn't want to be a true successor to the old Realms of Arcadia games. It's meant to be something own. Developing an RPG costs a lot of money and Radon Labs needs international sales, too, because without D&D brand it's difficult to get this money back. Anaconda isn't a global player as EA or THQ, so they must be at least as attractive to reach as much persons as possible. I read a lot of things about DraSa and I saw videos of their presentation on FanPro's RatCon (biggest Con for The Dark Eye P&P in Germany). I'm sure, they will do their best to create a good TDA game and to conservate the TDE flair. They actually got the original TDE writers to write the story design (about 1000 pages!). But I don't think they can do more than "just" a BG clone with some TDE specialities. I would give them a chance. And that's because I'm making our fansites http://www.drakensang.info (englisch) and http://www.dsa-game.de (german).

If someone has the same opinion, I'm looking for some support. just send me a PM.
 
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I´m happy there is not much micromanagement. I don´t see the fun in feeding my party members once a day.
 
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Well, I will be supporting this game simply because I believe if we don't support the small developers, then we'll continue to get the rubbish we've come to expect from the large money ruled companies we all love to criticise.
 
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When this game was announced I pooped my pants with joy, then the more I found out, the more I got my bladder under control. Now this game cnstipates me.

I'll get it for the reasons Corwin stated, but I'll always be angry at how long it took them to get to the truth of why they made the game RT instead of TB, and also how they describe their combat.

I'm sure this game is far more up my ally than 99% of the games being developed. I understand the reasons behind wanting to have a game that sells to more than 8 people, I just always hoped a real RoA 4 would come out one day. Oh well, at least its a real rpg.
 
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Yeah, I know, we have to compromise because hardly anyone makes TB games anymore cause 'everyone' want fast real time action like in shooters. My opinion: if you want that, go buy a shooter and leave my traditional TB RPG's alone!! But heck, I'm only one customer!! :)
 
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Only consolation about this game is that it's not console-pc port. Glad it's made in Europe, not in US.
 
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