Ok, so Realms of Arkania…

Whoa lots of replies thanks for all the advices, I'll give it a try when I have some extra time indeed: it sounds like a challenging game, which is what I'm looking for at the moment.

Last time I tried I managed to get half-through the character creation. Its a game of itself really and as a minmaxer I cant just skip it.

RoA is my favorite CRPG series. Be prepared to take your time creating characters, and to reiterate: be careful choosing your spells in the case of Star Trail. The difference between that RoA & Drakensang is significant such that besides the gameworld the similarities end there.

Just play RoA with an open mind because in many ways it did not age well. Still I love it.

Ok, I'll try to do that Evil I guess I'll spent a lot of time just picking spells (in Wiz 8 I did the same).

Off-Topic: Zakhal, please, could you change your avatar? Really, I have to see that face every day, I don't want to see him even here…

I prefer Shadows over Riva, though that might be because the other two are a bit too old for my taste. Basically, if something is older than the Shadows over Riva/MM6 era, I have a hard time playing it.

If you want to use TRANSVERSALIS at one point (TDE fans usually write the spells in capital letters) one day, it's best if you point some points into it right from the beginning - because this is the imho far most difficult spell to master. And by "putting some points into it" I mean throughout the whole trilogy …

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Personally, Iliked the second most.

The first game, by the way has a time limit … Although a very broad one …

The time limit doesnt do anything. The enemy will wait for you…

No it does. At least in my case. I once managed to get over it. Text screen : "The Orks have overrun Thorwalia" or something like that.

Edit : Found it (it's in German language) :
http://nlt-hilfe.crystals-dsa-foren.de/page.php?62

The time limit is then, according to this page : 2 years and 10 days (in-game-time, of course !)

Ok, I got that wrong

Maybe you just never encountered it.

I didn't care for that time limit either and there was no way to stall it (as far as I know).

I had the same negative reaction when I first played Fallout and they had that freaking timer in your pipboy. I hated that thing UNTIL I found out I could find different methods to get water to the vault. That was pure genius and my love of Fallout was cemented from then on.

Maybe they nerfed it in the international versions of BoD but the time limit and the irrevocable game over screen that Alrik linked to above was very real in the German version of the game. It was quite frustrating if you encountered it without knowing that there was a hard time limit. I'm speaking from personal experience as I once found out about the time limit the hard way .

It could also be a bug. The above linked site tells of the translated versions of the game seemingly having a number of bugs, too. Perhaps even a bit more than the original versions.

I have the trilogy and ROA time limit is still in there. I had a similiar experience as Moriander which is why I haven't touched the first one in a long long time. The second and third are much better anyways. Especially the second one.

I think this is one of those games I'd like to play but only with significant guidance at the beginning. Character creation just isn't my thing, least of all the kind where you reroll endlessly. (Though honestly I'm not sure if that's how this game does it.) Mainly because I'm so picky I'll spend far too long on character creation and with a backlog of games getting close to four digits I haven't the time to waste.

Originally Posted by Ball_Breaker
Ok, I'll try to do that Evil I guess I'll spent a lot of time just picking spells (in Wiz 8 I did the same).

Off-Topic: Zakhal, please, could you change your avatar? Really, I have to see that face every day, I don't want to see him even here…

Are you saying that you dont love me? I just won the vote of confidence! Im beautiful, Im sexy!

The RoA series is the best crpg series of all time. Star Trail is the best crpg ever made. The reason the games did not become hugely popular is simply because they cater to a mature and intelligent crowd.

Originally Posted by Andhaira
The RoA series is the best crpg series of all time. Star Trail is the best crpg ever made. The reason the games did not become hugely popular is simply because they cater to a mature and intelligent crowd.

Star Trail actually won PC Gamer's "RPG of the Year" award in 1994 so it wasn't exactly unpopular either. More intelligence out there than some might think .
The series only went downhill because of the idiotic decision by Topware to turn RoA 3: Shadows over Riva into a budget game that -as a new game- was released as a CD jewel case only version instead of a boxed release. It had "I'm cheap and don't buy me" written all over it from the start.
What a retarded move given the prior success of the franchise… but Topware's strategy back then was to become a key player by moving volume instead of quality products. A strategy that failed epically since the original Topware went out of business in 2001.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
The series only went downhill because of the idiotic decision by Topware to turn RoA 3: Shadows over Riva into a budget game that -as a new game- was released as a CD jewel case only version instead of a boxed release. It had "I'm cheap and don't buy me" written all over it from the start.

Yes. I it irritated me then, too.

Man this really brings back memory's. One of the great things about the games was that you could import you party into future games, along with all items. I loved the extra edge my magic waterskin which I found in star trail gave me in riva, especially since I don't think there were any magic waterskins in riva alone.