Drakensang

[2much4l1]

Drakensang The Dark Eye is a wonderful rpg in the vein of Dragon Age Origins. It came out about six years ago and seems to have slipped under the radar. Just hoping modders and gamers will give this game a look.

[MagdalenaDwojniak]

There are wonderful mods for TDE and TROT, they are just pretty hidden on European websites, because the USA turned out not very interested in classic roleplaying.

 

The series - "Drakensang: The Dark Eye", "Drakensang: The River of Time" and the latter's expansion, "Phileasson's Secret", is really unique. It started as a German tabletop RPG, the lore is incredible. It is similar to DAO in that it puts emphasis on storytelling, not fighting, but the climate is different. Both are mature RPGs, but in different ways. DAO shows you a grimy world, Drakensang ridicules "epic" RPGs and plays with the literary tropes. There is a lot of joking and the companions are feeling very lively, they're believable.

 

The world of Ethra is one-of-a-kind. There are fully-fleshed cultures. When races are concerned, everyone gets along just fine, elves do not feel superior, but the real power belongs to dwarves. They run mercenary companies, mills, shops and, most importantly, breweries. There is an entire dwarven district in the capital of Kosch County. The whole county is run by a dwarven ruler too. Elves are philosophers and scientists, but there is no rivalry. They often live in secluded wilderness, but it's because time runs at a different pace for them. They're just different and don't like wildlife exploitation. And human mages... An elf and a human can be friends with no problem, it is nothing strange, but the elf will comment on the prolem with human mages: that power is extremely tempting and that they underestimate the powers they tackle.

 

The companions are lovely, each with a different personality. Their banters are so funny. But there is no approval rating, trust comes with time and finishing quests. You can have three persons at the time, the rest levels up in your house simultaneously with you.

 

Spells look beautiful, but they are underpowered. There are three kinds of spellcasters (four in TROT): elves (who have their own buff spells, but when it comes to offensive ones, only tempest-based are available), human mages (with lots of nice fire spells) and the so-called charlatans, who only have some basic spells, most illusion-based. TROT adds a dwarven geode, who's a druid of sorts with absolutely rocking rock-based spells. Fortunately, you can fix spell power with an editor: take an elven spellweaver, edit spell power, add human offensive spells and you get an edge :P. I realised a mage-based party is the most effective (if you alter spell mechanics), because they can cast AND use normal weapons. The only caveat: no metal armour or shields when casting.

 

To sum it up, Drakensang must not be missed. Just remember it will suck you in and never spit back :P! The price is also enticing: in Europe, at least in my country, the full edition of three games - TDE, TROT and the expansion - are around five euro. The abundance of professions and builds gives a lot of replay value. Especially in TROT, where you have four different starting missions based on your race and profession.

 

Cons? You can't play as an orc; camera may tilt around uncomfortably.

[2much4l1]

There are wonderful mods for TDE and TROT, they are just pretty hidden on European websites, because the USA turned out not very interested in classic roleplaying.

 

The series - "Drakensang: The Dark Eye", "Drakensang: The River of Time" and the latter's expansion, "Phileasson's Secret", is really unique. It started as a German tabletop RPG, the lore is incredible. It is similar to DAO in that it puts emphasis on storytelling, not fighting, but the climate is different. Both are mature RPGs, but in different ways. DAO shows you a grimy world, Drakensang ridicules "epic" RPGs and plays with the literary tropes. There is a lot of joking and the companions are feeling very lively, they're believable.

 

The world of Ethra is one-of-a-kind. There are fully-fleshed cultures. When races are concerned, everyone gets along just fine, elves do not feel superior, but the real power belongs to dwarves. They run mercenary companies, mills, shops and, most importantly, breweries. There is an entire dwarven district in the capital of Kosch County. The whole county is run by a dwarven ruler too. Elves are philosophers and scientists, but there is no rivalry. They often live in secluded wilderness, but it's because time runs at a different pace for them. They're just different and don't like wildlife exploitation. And human mages... An elf and a human can be friends with no problem, it is nothing strange, but the elf will comment on the prolem with human mages: that power is extremely tempting and that they underestimate the powers they tackle.

 

The companions are lovely, each with a different personality. Their banters are so funny. But there is no approval rating, trust comes with time and finishing quests. You can have three persons at the time, the rest levels up in your house simultaneously with you.

 

Spells look beautiful, but they are underpowered. There are three kinds of spellcasters (four in TROT): elves (who have their own buff spells, but when it comes to offensive ones, only tempest-based are available), human mages (with lots of nice fire spells) and the so-called charlatans, who only have some basic spells, most illusion-based. TROT adds a dwarven geode, who's a druid of sorts with absolutely rocking rock-based spells. Fortunately, you can fix spell power with an editor: take an elven spellweaver, edit spell power, add human offensive spells and you get an edge :tongue:. I realised a mage-based party is the most effective (if you alter spell mechanics), because they can cast AND use normal weapons. The only caveat: no metal armour or shields when casting.

 

To sum it up, Drakensang must not be missed. Just remember it will suck you in and never spit back :tongue:! The price is also enticing: in Europe, at least in my country, the full edition of three games - TDE, TROT and the expansion - are around five euro. The abundance of professions and builds gives a lot of replay value. Especially in TROT, where you have four different starting missions based on your race and profession.

 

Cons? You can't play as an orc; camera may tilt around uncomfortably.

Yeah, what she said. Thank you for the response MagdalenaDwojniak! My sentiments exactly! I was stunned when I first started playing and still can not believe that as an avid rpg gamer it took six years for me to find Drakensang: TDE. Still haven't finished the game, but felt the need to say something, somewhere.

 

Such a shame that the developers of this, charm your pants off game, have gone under. Maybe they can get together again and do a Kick Starter thing.

 

In any event, the deep character development and endless theory crafting will keep me busy for a very very long time. Third restart, trying to turn my rogue into a tank. Viable? :D

[MagdalenaDwojniak]

Hi, 2much4l1, it's great to meet a fellow fan! I was and will always be surprised that Drakensang is so unknown outside Europe. Or even just Central Europe with Germany as the country of origin. In my humble opinion, it's a classic. One should play it just for Forgrimm, Rhulana and Nasreddin alone. It's a shame the developer went bankrupt. I wish they had released an editor for the fans first...

 

As for your question regarding tanking rogues, my first PC was a pickpocket. It is viable, just keep a spellcaster in your party all the time to use the buff spells. There are magical weapons which inflict wounds automatically, it is the way to go, because every wound means lots of penalties. May I ask whether you're replaying TDE or TROT? Because TROT also has the geode, you could make him/her a rogue, but with the additional flavour of rock-related spells. They deal lots of damage.

 

Actually, I wish TROT was first story-wise, I just let Ardo pester the ship's crew all the time and went with Cano, Forgrimm and - in my case - Fayris (because my metamagicienne - on the first run - and then a modded elven spellweaver - wanted a female friend too :tongue:). It just felt strange to tag along with a person I knew to be dead... Creepy. But the mechanics were improved; I just missed the amount of companions and the availability of all spells. In TROT, unless you choose a metamage, you can't learn to summon undead, which rock (especially if you do not upgrade the spell above the last tier where the skeleton warrior with the two-handed waraxe is unlocked; the undead spellcaster would go crazy and try to use the rapier instead of spells). You have to use the editor - and it only works for the PC, not for companions. Besides, dropping Jaakon felt bad too. And my biggest crime? Letting him die in just his underwear (because I stripped him of all items before he went to meet his inevitable demise) was bad of me :devil:.

 

Which games have you played? I don't understand why people say Drakensang is too complex and difficult. The rules are all listed in-game. They also include a PDF version of the manual. Heck, I even found the basic rules for the tabletop on the DVD somehow (not sure why, but it's appreciated). That's the only book for the original still available (I mean, Amazon does offer second-hand copies of two or three adventure modules, but they're of low quality because of the age, just in German and too expensive for the quality they offer not).

 

The main drawback, apart from the tilting camera, is the fact most materials are in German. In my case, with English, Polish and Spanish, it is very difficult. My friend speaks German and got enamored in the series after I gave her TROT, but she is not RPG-savvy enough to properly translate all the terms into English so that I could perhaps make a Polish translation too. It blocks more people from enjoying the games.

 

I found a post trying to explain that riddle if you want to read it...

 

 

The thing was I had to actually go find the game as the “normal” places I expected to find it didn’t have the game after its NA release. Drakensang won awards and was hugely popular in Europe, but all one needs do is look at the reviews from NA to see why it wasn’t as popular in NA.

Everyone in NA seemed to whine about how the game was not intuitive, how the game didn’t lead the player around by the hand and show them what to do, that character development was too complex, that the game wasn’t finished because they couldn’t complete quests, and whaa, whaa, whaa - etc. It seems most NA game players want simple, easy games where they are led around and shown everything instead of actually having to figure things out for themselves or (heaven forbid!) actually have to do some thinking and reading when playing an actual RPG that requires some knowledge to play. Of course, it was all the games fault because it was too hard – not the players fault for being too lazy to figure it out.

 

It sort of makes one wonder as all the Drakensang series had great graphics, interesting game play, never lagged or stuttered and never crashed, quests didn’t glitch and NPC AI and conversations are very reasonable. And as you point out they had great music, a nice medieval “atmosphere”, there was lots of humour and a great story line – but NA players didn’t like it much; but then a piece of crap like Skyrim gets awards and rave reviews and people think it’s the greatest game ever made. Just weird.

 

The graphics in the series are lovely with a distinctive artistic style like "This is fantasy; we mirror reality, unwind!" (but this is said by a person head-over-heels in Thief, who can discard graphics for a good story). I actually enjoy the world being not too sandbox, because in Gothic, I'd always get lost and bored before I got anywhere (or get killed; or a mixture of the above factors; my adventure with Gothis was an epic fail, so I tend to avoid games advertised as sandbox ones - finite locations to which you travel are better for me). In Drakensang, the locations are big enough to offer many details and hints (think of the cities... Ferdok. Nadoret, Murolosh... They're so unique - each with its own style; even Tallon), but are not too big, so that you can assess the map and find enough landmarks to guide you through.

Edited April 17, 2015 by MagdalenaDwojniak

[2much4l1]

Hello MagdalenaDwojniak! Yes, an ambitious well crafted classic! For a game that's six years old it's such a breath of fresh air! Such a delight to meet new companions!

 

Every intention of playing TROT after I finish TDE. I keep restarting after the undead area because I keep learning and realizing new things about combat and character growth. Right mouse click is your friend. After trying a Pirate, Soldier and Rogue I will finish the game as a female Elven Fighter! So I guess I really haven't gotten very far, but enjoying every minute.

 

Hmm, just noticed there's an encumbrance modifier... Heh heh, so many factors affect so many things and they in turn affect other things. I love it :D