Customer Reviews

The Dark Eye: Drakensang

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

To start, let me say that I love traditional CRPG's. I haven't noticed many CRPG's in recent years, most new RPG's are console RPG's, ported over to the PC. But here is Drakensang, a new pure CRPG, and I am loving every minute of it.

I'm just going to list what I like and dislike about this game.


MUSIC

The music in this game fits the atmosphere, I love it. I remember when Baldurs Gate first came out, the tavern music, the wilderness music, it all fit in that game. It was one of the first games I ever played where the music fit in with the atmosphere in harmony. Here in Drakensang, the music fits. Tavern music sounds like tavern music, and while exploring the city, calm beautiful music surrounds you. Music is suppose to draw you deeper into the story, deeper into it's magic, and here it does just that. Music of the year needs to be awarded here. I would love to get a soundtrack CD for this game, and I have never wanted one before for any other game.


GRAPHICS

I don't like big flashy graphics, in fact, I hate big flashy graphics. Since Fallout 3 is popular, I will use that as an example. In Fallout 3, there are a lot of blood effects that fill the screen, there are also a lot of blur effects, and all they do is obstruct my view. I like nice clean graphics, I don't like or want all that extra flashy stuff. In Drakensang, the graphics are nice and clean. The graphics stand out and are colorful without resorting to using extra flashy graphic effects.

The clothes and the architecture of buildings reminds me of old Europe. If you have ever been to the Renaissance festival, that is what this game feels like. Colorful jesters, big muscles, big bosoms, fanciful outfits with potions, daggers, and scrolls attached. It's almost perfect.


SOUND EFFECTS

Sound effects are abound. Birds chirping, monsters growling, weapons swooshing, companion's comments, it's all there. But of course it is, isn't it? What is there to say about sound effects, but that everything is splendid. And speaking of your companion's comments, the voice acting in the game is done well. The companions you can gather to fight with you will speak and make comments about situations. You are also able to talk to them anytime you want to learn more about them. They all have their personality in their voices, easily recognizable for each.

There is one possible drawback to the voice acting. Every line in the game is not spoken. There is a lot of dialogue in the game, but only the first lines, and sometimes more, are spoken. Therefore, you will have to read many lines without a voice actor reading with you. I don't have a problem with this, I love to read!


STORY

Speaking of the dialogue, the game is full of story. Generally, there are two types of RPG's. One type of RPG has a story for you to follow with a lot of dialogue, and the other type of RPG is just action with little dialogue. In this game, there is LOTS of dialogue and a lot of story for you to follow. You can, of course, skip a lot of the dialogue if you wish, but for those that want it, there's tons of information to find out.

The game is also linear, it draws you along a path. A game like Daggerfall lets you travel the world as you please, here in Drakensang, you can only go in a certain direction. There are, of course, many optional side-quests to perform that don't follow the main quest, but have little stories of their own for you to solve for loot and experience.

I do love the story, it has pulled me in like a good book. I want to keep playing to find out what happens next, and what I will be doing next. Because the game was translated from another language, it might make you wonder if the story turned out good in English, as a lot of games that are translated have ended up poorly written. The good news is that here the story has been kept intact, the English translation was pulled off marvelously.


COMPANIONS

Since you are only able to create one character, you will find many companions to join you in your adventure. The biggest thing with companions in a story-based RPG is "Do they have background stories and are interesting?". To answer that, I have to say "yes!".

Okay, I love the companions available. In Neverwinter Nights 2, I only liked some of the companions, as I do in most games. Sometimes I can't stand them. But here, they somehow managed to create companions that I like having in my party.


CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION

When you create your character, you are offered a wide array of professions. These are the typical affair, such as a warrior, archer, alchemist, different types of mages, and so forth. There are about 20 in total, each with a male and female choice. The only drawback for me when creating a character, was that they only had one look each and they could not be changed. You can not change their hair color, their hair style, their faces, their body type, etc. For example, if you want to be a soldier, he will look a certain way with no option to change his looks. However, each class does look different. A mage might look Mideastern, while the soldier will look European. So even though you can't change your character's looks, each class does look different, and the different looks are so wide in selection, that I was able to overlook not being able to customize the look of my character. I usually prefer to customize my character's looks, but I was happy with this just the same.

There is also the character sheets. There are a lot of skills for you to raise when you level up. There are social skills, fighting skills, crafting skills, thieving skills, and many more for you to raise. I love having many skills to raise, it gives me more choices when leveling up my character. I wish more games had tons of skills like this to raise.


THE RULE SET

This game uses a rule set from The Dark Eye, it's a lot like Dungeons and Dragons. There are stats and skills, everything based on points and rolls. Like a lot of Dungeons and Dragons video games, you don't need to know the rules to play it and have fun. So you don't have to learn the rules if you don't want to. However, there is the option to let you know all the rolls and behind the scenes numbers, so if you want more information about what is going on, it's there for you.

I honestly don't know a single thing about this rule system, just like I don't know anything about the Dungeons and Dragons rule system. I am able to enjoy this game just the same as I enjoyed Neverwinter Nights.


COMBAT

Combat in the game is real-time with pause. It's a lot like the combat in Neverwinter Nights. There are turns that happen, but it all happens in real-time, giving you the ability to pause, and choose what spells and skills you want to use in combat.

I would prefer pure turn-based combat, but the combat here I am enjoying just as much. You will have to select each of your characters and order them to use their skills. The A.I. does not use their skills on it's own, it needs player intervention. But, the A.I. does attack on it's own, so your companions don't just stand there when attacked, they just don't use their skills on their own.

It feels like turn-based combat, even though it's in real-time, which is probably why I like it so much.


STABILITY

I want to mention how the game runs. A game can run slow for several different reasons. Sometimes, your computer isn't fast enough, sometimes it's a wrong driver, sometimes it's the game engine, sometimes it's something else.

I have a medium range computer. I have a few of the graphic settings turned down, and I am able to play the game perfectly smooth. I experience no choppyness at all. The game has not crashed once after playing for over 20 hours. The game is stable and it plays great!

However, I have noticed one small thing about it that I had trouble with. On rare occasions when casting a spell, the game would pause for a split second, then continue. I never did figure out why it did this. If this was it loading it into memory, or what, but other than this, I have not experienced anything else. Since it doesn't happen much, I just forgot about it.

I'm very happy with it's performance!


INTERFACE

It's a CRPG!

In other words, it has an interface fit for a computer. This is a big deal to me, because when a game gets ported over to the PC from a console, it leaves it's console interface on it. It makes it clunky and hard to use, and even sometimes annoying. I've played my share of PC games with bad interfaces too, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to play an RPG with a good interface that works.

Thanks for giving me an interface that works!


DRM

The game uses Securom for it's copy protection. It does NOT require internet activation of any sort. Securom is only used for a DVD check. So you do need the DVD in your computer to play.


CONCLUSION

I love this game. I'd recommend it to anyone, of course. But if you love CRPG's, you should give it a try. With the low price the game came out with, I don't see how anyone could refuse. I am truly in love with this game.

I even heard they are making a sequel to this game, which means more CRPG goodness. Maybe the CRPG genre isn't dead afterall?

Drakensang is a happy throwback to slightly older 3D PC RPG games like Gothic 2. There's quite a lot of RPG depth in Drakensang that will either please you or make you run away. Basically if you liked Gothic 2 you will likely love this game. There are plenty of differences too of course between those 2 games: in Drakensang you manage a small group rather than just one character. And Drakensang incorporates a semi-real-time, semi-turn-based combat system. You can pause the combat at any time with the space bar, make combat decisions for all of your team, and then unpause. Its a pretty good system and there's some genuine strategy to combat. After about 10 hours of gametime, your team will have learned a bunch of combat skills to choose from.

It doesnt hurt that the graphics are great. I suspect some want hi-end graphics like Crysis and will be disappointed. But the graphics are detailed and quite often imaginatively conceived. The mood lighting is also well done. You can tell a lot of effort was made in designing the look of everything.

So what are some of the negatives?

there arent many. I havent completed the game but the larger story is a little bland. The quests are great, though there's nothing really innovative or new about the kinds of quests you will get versus other PC RPG games. The combat is fun but the combat animations are a little stiff looking. The game wants you to explore so you will spend lots of time walking around. If you want a fast paced action game, this is not the game for you! In general, the game does everything really well, but no one aspect of it really stands out either. That isnt knocking this game though, and I'm enjoying it quite a lot. There's a demo and if you arent sure, you might want to download the demo.

Pros:

1. The game's main story is much longer then that of an average $50 game. Also this game is cheaper, so you get a lot more bang for your buck.
2. Interesting advancement system makes it a fun game for those who like to play with numbers in their RPGs.
3. Story is pretty decent and gets better the farther you get in the game.
4. Fairly wide selection of characters that can join you. They aren't mute dolls either, they have some personalities.
5. Very good graphics.

Cons:
1. Advancement system can be a little tough on those new to RPGs.
2. Slow paced game, those looking for an Action RPG won't like this game.
3. Could be more voice acting, as it is only the first sentence of a conversation is voice acted.
4. Other playable characters are spread throughout the game, works with the story, but makes it longer to get the party you want and gives you some characters with experience allready assigned to less useful skills and abilities.
5. Some monsters and their rewards are unbalanced.

Iv'e played all sorts of RPG's and other games. This game is fun and the graphics are great. Good story line. There are some minor glitches even with the update. It is third person only. You can control up to 3 characters including yourself in battle. During the fights, you pause it, assign what kind of hits to give a target for each member of your party, and then sit back and watch them fight. You can do this as many times as it takes to defeat your enemy. The most irritating thing is the waypoints for your quests are lacking at times, so your wandering everywhere trying to find your destination. Sometimes it is well marked, others not at all.

Overall, it is a good game with many hours of exploration and adventure. Great for the price.

Drakensang is an intriguing and beautiful RPG that will consume you with its breathtaking scenery, intense combat, and detailed story. There are many classes/races to choose from. Countless NPC's will come across your path with dozens of side quests to keep your journey fresh and interesting. For the $30 price tag, you are definitely getting your money's worth.

If I had a couple criticisms of the game, they would be lack of interactive environments and inability to customize your character's appearance. Don't get me wrong. The graphics are really beautiful. The level of detail in the forrests and villages is terrific. The trees and grasses sway in the wind. Dynamic lighting effects abound. However, unlike Fallout 3, you can't pick stuff up to use as a weapon. If you bump into a table the cups don't fall over (that sort of thing). I guess I like those little details. This game really centers around interacting with NPC's. By the way, when installing you have the option of including a "texture pack" that adds about 4 gigs of data. If you have a less powerful PC you might forego this pack.

You can choose from several different characters/races, but you can't alter their appearance. For example, you can choose from 3 different dwarves, but that's it. You can't alter their facial features, girth, hair color, yada yada. Again, little details I enjoy.

The interface is really nice and easy to navigate. The map is easy to read and understand. The HUD is pretty minimal but offers all the info you would need at a glance. Music is pleasant but not intrusive. Some dialogue is spoken, but most is read. There really isn't any detail that is bad in this game.

Do you like Baldur's Gate? Planescape? How about Neverwinter Nights? The Witcher?
Drakensang takes many of my favorite features from the abovementioned games and puts them together in a modern looking, and overall fun package. The other reviewers have mentioned much of what I would say about the game, so I won't go through and reiterate what you probably have already read. A couple of my favorite features include the story, which, although you have probably experienced something similar in other games, this one really drew me in.
Characters other than your main character have good personalities, they talk amongst themselves when you are traveling through the cities or the countryside. This, combined with the great deal of dialog you can extract from them really adds to the immersion factor. Forgrimm, the drinking dwarf warrior stands out in my mind, so does Dranor, a ladies man / thief who always seems to be getting in trouble. Unique characters? Probably not. We've all played a game with a drunken dwarf who swings an axe and makes crude comments, but the different NPCs are memorable and enjoyable to play with.
The skill system seems clunky at first, but with time it becomes very useable and clear. While I use some skills more than others (willpower, pickpocket, open locks, disarm traps, animal & Plant lore) I found that all are useful throughout the game. A high perception lets you see further on the minimap, an touch I rather enjoyed.
Since this game was released it has been the only game I've played. I have a good size game collection, and this one catches my interest the most.
I think the game deserves 5 stars, it is excellent CRPG fun. However, if you do not like turn based games, this is probably not for you. The game plays out in real time, but when combat occurs, pausing and queing up actions for your characters becomes a must. There is some reading involved in the game, and the game can become very difficult if you are not willing to read what the other characters are saying. I have no problem with this, but it is good to know before purchasing.
All in all, a solid game. I look forward to many more hours of play.

Drakensang could have been a great game, the graphics are great, the people look fine, but the combat system is not something to write home about. Based of a German table-top game the combat system after spending an hour or so figuring out what it even means is complicated and clumsy. Not to mention that the game is very difficult at the start until you get a full party and even then you end up all huddled around the enemy attempting to do any damage to it. The game has no character customization, you pick a race, a class, and a gender with set features. Expert mode customization allows you to change around some of your sub-stats such as plant lore, animal lore, seduction, and is a nice touch but in the end you get so many experience points to customize them anyway it's a little pointless. Another thing this game has against it is running. Lots and lots and lots of running. Even in the starting area your running around everywhere, get interrupted between traveling zones, have to walk a marathon to get to your next destination. Overall I would rate this game a little below average. I managed to get about halfway through, before I put it down and said enough. Maybe the game is amazing at the end, but not game is worth torture to get to it. With poor customization,difficult game play, complicated system, clunky combat animations, with only a slightly interesting cliche story and good graphics to back it up, I rate this game a 2 out of 5.

I have been playing this for two days now and I am certain I will make another character. The leveling system is great, you can fully customize your character to be able to be what you want to be.

There are classes however you can still pay to learn any skill you want. So if you want to be a mage and be able to take a few hits, I would start out as the mage then learn the sword style skills.

You gain experience then at any time you want to improve a skill you can, however each level has a certain max rating you can have a skill at.

The controls are a little different and in some tight areas it can get annoying but on the main towns and areas its nothing to worry about. I use WSAD to move my characters around however.

The graphics aren't jaw dropping but they aren't bad either. When you install there is an option to install the high resolution graphics. It uses 4GB of more space but I would recommend it, unless of course you just don't have the system to handle it, you can turn off the high res textures in the options as well. Still looks great with it turned off.

Story line is fairly good so far. I am only at the second town.

SPOILER!!

You're friend you are having to meet gets murdered in the second town and so you have to figure out who did it.... still haven't passed it but I have been working pretty much since I got to that town. So I haven't worked on it too much.

END SPOILER!!

This game isn't like never winter nights for difficulty. I haven't had any issues as a mage with my summoned pet (even 3 wolfs vs me and my pet), however I do not have pick lock which is VERY important in the beginning area as there are 8 or 9 chests I was not able to open, and you can not go back to the beginning town after you leave.



Overall I would highly recommend it and I will actually be picking another copy up for my brother so he can enjoy it as well!

From the completion of the installation,i knew i was about to embark on to something special. It's been quite sometime since (someone/anyone) has had the courtesy to remember that there are still a number of that us who still enjoy(single player) computer role-playing games. Sure, we've had our share of action games which had the "Role-Playing" label branded on to them over the past 9 yrs, but most of us who enjoy the genre know that it was more or less game companies cashing in on the classics of the mid to late 90's, some good ,while others failing miserably.

From out of no where comes "The Dark Eye", a game which from what i have read on the net has somewhat of a history and large following in Germany and other parts in Europe.

The game itself has a very different feel to it that takes a little time
to get used to , but that to me seems to also be it's charm.

Graphics are nicely done and the sound fits the game ,not a grand musical score, i just wish there was more of it to fill in some of the small gaps during some of the games scripted events.

The game is very linear as there are invisible walls that are in place to
prevent you from openly exploring the maps, but if you research the game
(as i did) you'll find out that this is exactly what the creator's intended to create;nothing more and nothing less, so in that aspect it's not presenting itself to be the next "Elder Scrolls" or the extremely over-rated"Fallout 3". It is what it is and if you're a gamer who can except that,then you've already took the first step to enjoying this title.

But every game as much as you may like it has it's flaws - it's been the natural order of thing's since the creation of computer games.

Character's seem to get stuck in corners (or on the background scenery) during play and this can become a little frustrating while battling several enemies on screen which results in the camera zooming in way too
close blocking your view and causing you have to zoom out quickly so that
you can get your bearing again. It's a flaw that can be somewhat tolerated due to the fact that the game can be paused-not just during battle(as I'm sure most of you have already read about), but also to re-orientate yourself when your field of view decides it wants to show off it's tap dancing shoes.
None of this can be compared to the stress that plagued the camera in the
the 1st release of "Neverwinter Night's 2" or "Gothic 3", so for that you
breath a small *sigh* of relief, it's not quite that nail biting.

Note: I still to this day enjoy both (NWN2 and Gothic 3) after being patched , well not so much Gothic 3 though (no disrespect to Gothic fans)
i just can never fully finish it without wanting to scream at times , but
i do still have it installed on a second PC-the(Gothic Universe)version, and I'm sure i will gather up the patience to finish the game some day...........anyway, back to the review.

Good storyline in an all too familiar setting - i myself never get tired of the "Medieval-Fantasy" theme just as long as there is something there that will draw me in from the start,it just never gets "old" to me due to the fact that there are literally millions of tales to be penned- in a "professional" manner of course and not just as an after thought that
usually takes a back seat to the graphics engine.

Fans of (single-player) "Computer role-playing games" rejoice and enjoy. There are very few companies who are willing or even care about this genre (or your loyalty)to the genre and it's refreshing to see one who does.
Minor bugs aside, i recommend this title with (5 stars) for what it is and what it (doesn't) claim to be. <Enjoy>
There is a demo you can download on just about every game site on the net.

I see all these great reviews about this game, but very few people mention the #1, so-huge-I-can't-possibly-review-the-game-without-mentioning-it camera problem?

This game is a whole lot of fun. The character development system is (at least for me) totally new, and it works to give you a more well-rounded character, allowing you to spend experience as soon as you get it if you need to. The story is pretty interesting, and the game is by no means easy. To me, this game is very similar to Neverwinter Nights, and if you liked that, you'll surely find Drakensang to be a good game for you.

However, there are some quirks to the game system that tend to make this one of the most difficult to play games I've ever met. It's not that the game is really hard in that battles are difficult, or quests are too obscure, it's just feels like developers often went to great lengths to ensure that their game packed in lots of annoying quirks. Looting animals is a great example - you loot them the first time, then you get something, let's say a rat tail. Then if you have a character with sufficient skill, you will be able to search more, and you'll get leather strips or something. So in essence, you have to search every dead animal twice just to get all the stuff out of it. There are a few other things like this that are unnecessarily annoying, and they are frequent enough to be a bother.

Another problem that I've noticed with this game is that it is incredibly linear. There is no problem with linear RPGs, but in at least half of the conversations in the game, you get only one dialog option, particularly in the beginning of the game. It would be nice to be able to voice something other than the get-through-the-game-as-a-polite-gentleman option. This is also a problem with character creation; granted, there are a good 15 or so classes to choose from, but all the characters of one type look exactly the same, so you can't do any customization. In addition, some of the characters simply will not get you through the harder difficulty levels of this game, the archer for instance. One would assume that Archery is a great skill to have if you're actually adventuring through this game, but in practice, you start every difficult battle about 5 paces from your enemy, and by the time you've strung your bow, the bad guys are already bashing your head in with a club. And it's not like it's just this way with a few fights, it's a constant problem that never seems to stop. In the end, you can build an archer character and beat the game, but your archer will start to act and feel much more like a warrior than a true archer.

Then there is the #1 problem with the game - the camera. Because this is a game with an over-the-shoulder camera system, it automatically presents a big problem if one of your party members is fighting, and another is up a flight of stairs or around a corner. When this happens, you are only allowed to target on things you can see, or if you're lucky, that the camera can see around a bend. If you are on the bottom of a staircase and your party is fighting on the second floor, there is little way for your characters on the first floor to pilot themselves around the staircase and up to the fight without manually controlling them the whole way. And then what do you do with your spellcasters who need attention? Even in non-fighting situations, it can be a bother when you can't position the camera correctly while exploring the world map, and you end up looking down upon your main character, where you can see maybe twenty feet around them. Of course, you can spend time adjusting the camera, but after a while, it just takes a lot of time to fiddle with it, and sometimes, it just isn't worth it.

Like I said, Drakensang is a mostly quality game, and hard-core RPG fans will love it, but it's major flaws are too much for it to overcome.