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Drakensang: The River of Time |OT| Swords, Sorcery, and a Boat
- Thread starter Ceebs
- Start date
ElectricThunder
Member
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11874 I think the only mod pack in existence thus far, though nobody is 100% just yet on it working on the DD copies versus that Euro boxed English release some months back. It just had a nice update though, and the stuff it has been chipping at in general seems like reasonable and good ideas.
Dick Laurent
Member
ah, this mod seems very nice. thanks for the link.
Oh man...Thank god for quick saves cause I just had a few of those fights where you can only roll 1's while the enemies roll nothing but 20's. Half my team is dead before I realize what happened. Really liking the elf dungeon. Solid mix of quest lines, enemy types, and puzzles here. It's damn long too.
In regards to story...
The OP mentions that this game has ties to the first. I've had the first sitting on my shelf for months unplayed because I'd read that the story sucked. Are the links to the first game pervasive enough to merit playing the first game before attacking the second?
The OP mentions that this game has ties to the first. I've had the first sitting on my shelf for months unplayed because I'd read that the story sucked. Are the links to the first game pervasive enough to merit playing the first game before attacking the second?
Sir Garbageman
Member
Game seems right up my alley, I'm digging the art style.
Unfortunately my giant STEAM backlog is preventing me from buying anything brand new right now. I'll probably pick it up down the road though.
Unfortunately my giant STEAM backlog is preventing me from buying anything brand new right now. I'll probably pick it up down the road though.
Confidence Man
Member
Been playing for a little while now, and a big issue I'm having is there being very little flexibility with respect to your party. You're basically stuck with a thief, two fighters, and either a ranger or mage, and for a good chunk you only have one fighter. From what I'm reading that's all you'll get for the entirety of the game, as this is game tells their story (the three you meet in the beginning). So choosing to play a burglar, my party now consists of two thief-types, one fighter, and a ranger, and a lot of the fights are becoming hard as hell (in the elven area). The mage is no longer available and the other fighter is unavailable as yet.
The solution there is to spec the party characters to fill in the gaps. For instance If you did not have a mage, the elf girl can fill that role nicely if you pump the points into spells and get some equipment to raise the mage related attributes.Confidence Man said:
By the way, the 3rd boss of the game has a WoW hard mode style mechanic where you can disable abilities to make the fight easier but sacrifice loot for each you turn off. I tried it at full strength and got my ass beaten very badly.
I have put a bit over 15 hours into the game at this point and I absolutely love it. Just finished up some side quests and they were absolutely brutal in terms of challenge. Starting to amass some attribute enhancing gear and recipes for some nice crafted armor I have been trying to gather the stuff to make. The main story is the weakest link thus far, but it seems like it may be picking up steam now. For anyone that is not very far, I suggest you have someone to disable traps at all times. I have been one shot by a few I did not notice on a few occasions.
And some more screens:
And some more screens:
Finished up the game and reinstalled the original for a bit so I have a few thoughts on both.
Compared to the original, River of Time is is a noticeable improvement in a few areas. The biggest change is just from the inclusion of fast travel markers around the zones. They keep you from running across the city for menial tasks. In the original the main city is large enough so that it is kinda annoying to get to the other side to turn in quests or purchase supplies. The fast travel points while providing some convience are not as easy to abuse as fast travel when it is used like the Bethesda games. You have actually get to the one of the fast travel spots to use it.
The game looks much better as you would expect from a sequel, but as far as presentation goes the biggest change is almost all of the conversations are voiced whereas the original would have maybe a line of dialog for a lengthy conversation. The UI for character sheet and inventory is cleaned up a good bit and it is just much more pleasing to the eye.
As far as the story goes, this is really not the strong suit of either game as it's typical fantasy stuff. The original is a much more expansive game, while ROT simply has a few areas you will visit multiple times. ROT mixes up the game a bit more in the early levels, so you do fight more than just endless swarms of rats for the first few hours. Sadly you have far fewer options for companion characters, with only 5 possible characters to join (and a maximum of 4 per playthrough). You get a full party rather quickly, but the final party member does not join until a bit over halfway through the game. This leaves you with less flexibility in building your party members skills since you do not have someone to dump all the crafting skills on.
Overall, the game has some shortcomings, but it's a great way to kill 30+ hours if you enjoy your RPGs stat heavy and combat tactical. I would say anyone who enjoys the Infinity Engine games or Neverwinter Nights to give it a try. It's only 20 bucks, and it's a much better RPG than Dragon Age (unless you just have to be bone your party members)
Another positive is I think I now fully understand a majority of the formulas and mechanics the game uses. XD
Compared to the original, River of Time is is a noticeable improvement in a few areas. The biggest change is just from the inclusion of fast travel markers around the zones. They keep you from running across the city for menial tasks. In the original the main city is large enough so that it is kinda annoying to get to the other side to turn in quests or purchase supplies. The fast travel points while providing some convience are not as easy to abuse as fast travel when it is used like the Bethesda games. You have actually get to the one of the fast travel spots to use it.
The game looks much better as you would expect from a sequel, but as far as presentation goes the biggest change is almost all of the conversations are voiced whereas the original would have maybe a line of dialog for a lengthy conversation. The UI for character sheet and inventory is cleaned up a good bit and it is just much more pleasing to the eye.
As far as the story goes, this is really not the strong suit of either game as it's typical fantasy stuff. The original is a much more expansive game, while ROT simply has a few areas you will visit multiple times. ROT mixes up the game a bit more in the early levels, so you do fight more than just endless swarms of rats for the first few hours. Sadly you have far fewer options for companion characters, with only 5 possible characters to join (and a maximum of 4 per playthrough). You get a full party rather quickly, but the final party member does not join until a bit over halfway through the game. This leaves you with less flexibility in building your party members skills since you do not have someone to dump all the crafting skills on.
Overall, the game has some shortcomings, but it's a great way to kill 30+ hours if you enjoy your RPGs stat heavy and combat tactical. I would say anyone who enjoys the Infinity Engine games or Neverwinter Nights to give it a try. It's only 20 bucks, and it's a much better RPG than Dragon Age (unless you just have to be bone your party members)
Another positive is I think I now fully understand a majority of the formulas and mechanics the game uses. XD
Confidence Man
Member
Ceebs said:
I managed to just barely squeak by that boss. I had to turn it down to easy and use all but one of the runes. At least I can ditch my second thief for another fighter now.
I have zero clue how to actually beat that thing using none of the runes. You need a ton of DPS to get past it's increased defense. My mage was sucked dry of AE as soon as the fight started so I never even stood a chance. Maybe if you did all the Hunting Reserve stuff you could get a few more levels, but you would probably need Cano built into more of a straight fighter or Ranger rather than rogue.Confidence Man said:
Some of the later boss fights are better than that one in terms of mechanics you have to deal with.
fizzelopeguss
Banned
More like a traditional RPG tale, more contained and less over the top (saving the world) than the other game. I really enjoyed it.
Finished it last night
regarding last battle(s)
Overall a nice game, and I will buy it once Steam lets me (does'nt appear in my region yet)
regarding last battle(s)
such a huge dissapointment. Granted they where _long_ but I reached them at level 10, thinking I had at least 3-4 char levels yet before reaching the end (max level is 16), so at medium difficulty I think my chars was a bit weak. Never could afford to buy special moves for fighters either except endurance III & IV, and defence II.
The ending to me appeared tacked on and not very well designed
The 3 end bosses was just lame, giving someone many hps doesn't make them that insanse difficult.
The ending to me appeared tacked on and not very well designed
The 3 end bosses was just lame, giving someone many hps doesn't make them that insanse difficult.
Overall a nice game, and I will buy it once Steam lets me (does'nt appear in my region yet)
At this point I expect almost every game I play to fizzle out at the end if they are longer than 4 hours. That said it's not a terrible ending plot wise if a bit rushed.Raggy said:
The fight with the chick went on for a few too many rounds of clones, and the last guy was much easier than her.
Sportbilly
Member
Anyone know if this can be bought in the UK? It's not on Steam here, and both Impulse and Gamersgate say it's not available.
Sportbilly
Member
If I can ever actually buy the bastard thing, I'll let you know. What is the problem with these publishers?
Primate Ryan
Neo Member
While I liked Drakensang 1 (it's unfortunately one of those games that become interesting after a serious initial investment of your time), I prefer the second instalment. If not for the ending, which came a chapter or maybe two too early, I've hardly any major complaints.
The underlying systems are pretty much still the same, but they are different enough from other party-based RPGs to make them interesting. There is no overreliance on magic, for example. I also like the combat animations, which show you precisely what happens. From hitting to parrying, and blocking and dodging: it's clear what happens each turn. As for conversations, your background (race, gender) now plays a role.
Your group of characters is way more interesting this time. You are an outsider (and not just a point of gravitation that attracts all the eccentric people in the land) that ends up joining a small a group. The conversations between the characters are genuinely funny and the journey feels more like a roadtrip than an epic quest to save the world. The first one already had its funny moments, but that was nothing compared to the lightheartedness of the prequel.
There is also more diversity in the enemies and you aren't fighting rats, wolves and bears for 30 hours before other types turn up. In fact, the encounters with animals are mostly relegated to optional areas/quests (
. What I noticed concerning the combat is that this game seems to be easier than its predecessor. The original had no difficulty options (I believe), but this game's hard mode is not more difficult than the original and might even be easier.
Most of the sidequests are also quite interesting. There are optional areas to explore, there are optional bosses (which yield trophies to adorn you boat with), and the SQs don't merely focus on combat, but also include puzzles and conversations, so there is enough variation to keep you from getting bored.
I also like that it is now possible to fast travel to predetermined points, as you did an awful lot of useless walking in the original as its locations were fairly big. This is still the case, but now you'll be able to zoom around once you've discovered certain points. Another useful addition is the ability to add notes to the map. Too few games get this right and it's a pet peeve of mine, so I welcomed its inclusion with open arms.
I do miss the original's perfect pathfinding though. It's still here, but you can't let them walk as far any more. It was a sight to behold to put your characters on the top of a mountain in the first Drakensang and click somewhere on the ground in the forest underneath you, and see them all walk to that specific location without getting stuck or taking a detour. It's almost miraculous, considering how aweful the pathfinding is in almost every other party-based RPG.
All in all, I rate this game higher than Two Worlds 2 and Divinity 2 + expansion (and a slew of other RPGs, but these games were released around the same time). It's hard to imagine that fans of party-based RPGs won't like this game.
The underlying systems are pretty much still the same, but they are different enough from other party-based RPGs to make them interesting. There is no overreliance on magic, for example. I also like the combat animations, which show you precisely what happens. From hitting to parrying, and blocking and dodging: it's clear what happens each turn. As for conversations, your background (race, gender) now plays a role.
Your group of characters is way more interesting this time. You are an outsider (and not just a point of gravitation that attracts all the eccentric people in the land) that ends up joining a small a group. The conversations between the characters are genuinely funny and the journey feels more like a roadtrip than an epic quest to save the world. The first one already had its funny moments, but that was nothing compared to the lightheartedness of the prequel.
There is also more diversity in the enemies and you aren't fighting rats, wolves and bears for 30 hours before other types turn up. In fact, the encounters with animals are mostly relegated to optional areas/quests (
there is a difficult sidequest involving rats again
Most of the sidequests are also quite interesting. There are optional areas to explore, there are optional bosses (which yield trophies to adorn you boat with), and the SQs don't merely focus on combat, but also include puzzles and conversations, so there is enough variation to keep you from getting bored.
I also like that it is now possible to fast travel to predetermined points, as you did an awful lot of useless walking in the original as its locations were fairly big. This is still the case, but now you'll be able to zoom around once you've discovered certain points. Another useful addition is the ability to add notes to the map. Too few games get this right and it's a pet peeve of mine, so I welcomed its inclusion with open arms.
I do miss the original's perfect pathfinding though. It's still here, but you can't let them walk as far any more. It was a sight to behold to put your characters on the top of a mountain in the first Drakensang and click somewhere on the ground in the forest underneath you, and see them all walk to that specific location without getting stuck or taking a detour. It's almost miraculous, considering how aweful the pathfinding is in almost every other party-based RPG.
All in all, I rate this game higher than Two Worlds 2 and Divinity 2 + expansion (and a slew of other RPGs, but these games were released around the same time). It's hard to imagine that fans of party-based RPGs won't like this game.
Hari Seldon
Member
This game is 25% off on impulse this weekend, or $15. I just picked it up. Voice acting is terrible haha, kind of cute.
LocoMrPollock
Banned
Hari Seldon said:
I picked it up as well. The voice acting is pretty bad, but it gets better or I just got used to it.
Anyway, the game is actually really good and a huge improvement over the first one. I had no trouble getting into it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who felt burned by Dragon Age 2.
I would recommend paying the extra $5 and getting it on Steam, though, cause Impulse is pretty shittastic.
Just picked this up on a whim. Only got past the initial area but it's neat, combat seems cool. Voice acting is terribad, but it has its charm. Artwork is fantastic, visuals are good, bright and colorful. Runs very well at max on my modest machine, thankfully. It looks a tad bit blurry, but that's not a deal breaker. My only real complaint is with the walk speed, it could be a little bit faster.
Will mess around more later. About how long is the game, roughly?
Will mess around more later. About how long is the game, roughly?
I expect no answer since this thread is basically inactive, but hey.
Primate Ryan
Neo Member
GuiltybyAssociation said:
As always it depends on whether you rush through the story or do every quest you can find. It's much shorter than the first one and I think I needed around 40 hours to complete it on hard with practically all side quests done.
And yeah, this game deserves more attention. It's a really good party-based RPG and I preferred it over games like Divinity 2 and Two Worlds 2 which were released around the same time. Besides it being a pc exclusive, I think the underwhelming first third of the first game also soured people on the series, resulting in this short OT for the second game.
What is also important to realise is that you don't need to have played the first one to enjoy the story or characters in this game. It's a prequel and as such it's no direct continuation of the story. Sure, there are familiar characters and references and new players will miss these, but that's all. I guess you could compare it to the Dragon Age 1 and 2 situation in that sense (but not when it comes to quality. Drakensang 2 actually improves upon the first installment).
Primate Ryan
Neo Member
GuiltybyAssociation said:
Yeah, there is still quite some content, but it is tighter than the first one. Especially travel times have been reduced significantly as you can fast travel to preset waypoints. I don't want to know how much time I wasted running around to finish quests in the first one.
I still feel that River of Time could have done with an extra chapter or two as the ending felt a bit rushed and
introduced a new character that would have made for a good extra NPC to have around and spice things up
Oh, to return to my previous point about the attention it's getting: this game costs around 15 euro on Impulse. There is no reason whatsoever not to buy this game. Well, I could come up with some reasons, but none of them make much sense to me (hatred of digital content or an irrational love for Steam to the extent that you aren't interested in any other services, even if they offer unique content). Instead of complaining about Dragon Age 2's direction and lack of polish you could be playing a good RPG for a fraction of the price.
Leatherface
Member
René_EM said:
I've been eyeing the game for awhile and your post just so happens to be the one that pushed me into buying this game. Thanks for the quick to the point impressions. Time to jump onto Steam to make my final purchase for the holiday sale. I'm really looking forward to playing this.
Oh nice plug time! The game is only 10 bucks on Steam atm and is easily in my top 5 of the year so far. If you like Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, or Dragon Age give this a shot.
If you have only played Dragon Age and are scared of the D&D in the other similar games this is also a good option. It's a semi-complicated system, but it makes way more sense than video game D&D for someone coming in clueless.
The story is pretty good, but it does have a very rushed ending. It's not a save the world game either as the main quest has you tracking down some stolen goods.
If you have only played Dragon Age and are scared of the D&D in the other similar games this is also a good option. It's a semi-complicated system, but it makes way more sense than video game D&D for someone coming in clueless.
The story is pretty good, but it does have a very rushed ending. It's not a save the world game either as the main quest has you tracking down some stolen goods.
Sinatar said:
We have actually been bought by BigPoint and the team is currently working on Drakensang Online, a browser based, Diablo like spin off.
http://www.drakensangonline.com/?lang=us
Leatherface
Member
Gustav said:
That looks pretty nice!
*signs up*
Just got this today and after 3 hours it seems to be a fine game. At first it's actually pretty scary with all the rules, classes and mechanics but I'm getting the hang of things just fine as the game progresses. The way leveling/buying new talents/skills works is still a bit shady but I haven't got too much exp to play around with so it'll probably become clearer later on.
The story has its cliches during intro but still gets the job done at least so far and the game looks good. Too bad my dwarf's running animation with sheated weapons looks like shit. Really shit, not "Oh he's so dwarf" shit.
The story has its cliches during intro but still gets the job done at least so far and the game looks good. Too bad my dwarf's running animation with sheated weapons looks like shit. Really shit, not "Oh he's so dwarf" shit.
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