Developed by Germany's Radon Labs and published in 2008, "Drakensang - The Dark Eye" is a single player fantasy role-playing game based on the The Dark Eye pen and paper RPG. Like most computer fantasy RPG's you choose and create your character from the standard roster of warriors, rogues and spellcasters. Once your character has been created you enter the story receiving a letter from an old friend and scholar named Ardo who is living in the city of Ferdok. Before you can answer Ardo's request for summons he's brutally murdered and it's up to you to find out how and why. Thus begins the game's quest across the world of Aventuria. Here are my thoughts on Drakensang - The Dark Eye;
Pros
+ Gorgeous graphics, character models, weapons, armour, spell effects and environments. Weapons and armour are incredibly detailed, lighting effects are amazing and added environmental effects (fireflies, dandelion seeds, birds, spiders etc.) really go the extra mile.
+ Challenging combat often requires plenty of strategy.
+ Character's level with you even if they're not in your party. Makes for easy swapping in and out of your party.
+ Player inherits a huge house with near unlimited storage for items and supplies. There's also a garden in the back that grows plants/fungi for harvesting and crafting. Nice!
+ Your house had a map of the realm on the wall that allowed you to quick travel almost instantly (barring random encounters) to unlocked areas.
+ Save anywhere, anytime.
+ An interesting and healthy amount of character classes to choose from.
+ Ability when looting to distribute items from mob/chest to multiple characters without having to switch to the actual character.
+ Superb original soundtrack composed by Dynamedion's own Tilman Sillescu, Markus Schmidt, Pierre Langer.
+ Areas of Murolosh (Dwarven city), Depths of Gruldur and Fire Falls were fantastically laid out and extremely well done.
+ Character/enemies actually physically block/parry during combat.
+ Traps were varied, deadly and well implemented.
+ Point and click movement can be really helpful for those long treks or confusing area layouts.
+ Spells have + - options to maximize spell usage or minimize Astral Energy (Mana) usage.
Cons <Contains SPOILERS> - Note: Some of these Cons may not bother some.
- Only 4 characters allowed in your party at a time, not including summoned creatures. With plenty of other interesting characters to choose from this is very restrictive.
- Tradeskills/Crafting is largely pointless until approximately three fourths of the way through the game.
- Spells are too few, often race restricted, rather lackluster and often with long casting times. They would also many times create a 1 second lag spike in casting.
- Most areas you explore are locked once you finish your main quest line there. There were a few quests I was not high enough level to complete in areas and ended up never being able to complete them after I was locked out.
- Some buggy boss fights where select characters were unable to attack the mob. A very big issue when you only have 4 characters in your party!
- Unable to customize your character's physical features or looks upon creation. I've found this to be somewhat common in German RPG's for some reason.
- Quests can be locked out if you proceed through certain parts of other quests rendering them unsolvable. This results in less experience points for your party.
- Some mobs would consistently and immediately target your spellcasters/healers. My Charlatan and Spellweaver were both instant targets every fight. There was one area in the game where my Spellweaver was instantly incapacitated by poisoness spiders every fight and every time she regained consciousness. So irritating.
- A lot of the character clothing had a hideous European Renaissance look.
- Enemy corpses often disappear too quickly along with the loot before you can get harvest/loot them.
- Some severe difficulty gaps in quests. The Plague of Rats quest was a perfect example of this. I received this quest at level 4 or 5 and was unable to defeat the boss at the end until post L10. Very frustrating.
- Harvesting plants/animals takes up too much time. Looting mobs is pretty much the same. Mass loot/harvest option would have been a real time saver. Takes 30 seconds to kill 6 spiders and 2+ minutes to harvest everything.
- Way too much back-tracking.
- Nearly every male character in the game is whiny and annoying. Forgrimm the dwarf being the exception.
- Characters move painfully slow to the point where it's incredibly aggravating.
- Quest journal can be confusing at times and could use a bit more streamlining, especially your active quests. You spend a lot of time wandering around trying to figure out where things are because the quest details are often too vague.
- Some very stereotypical fantasy characters. The drunk dwarven warrior with a Scottish accent, the bumbling, aged, white-bearded, pointy-hat wearing wizard, the smarmy, thin-mustached thief etc..
- Mediocre and repetitive voice acting. Most of the dwarves had the same voice actor as did many of the merchants.
- Very minimal amount of spoken dialogue. Normally the first paragraph was voice acted and then rest was simply readable text.
- Overabundance of NPC dialogue to read and wade through.
- Game rules are confusing if you're not familiar with the pen and paper Drakensang RPG. I'm a 25 year veteran of pen and paper Dungeons & Dragons and I still found a lot of the ruleset troublesome to comprehend.
- Environments while rather open are still very linear in movement (much like Guild Wars). Any small hills or ledges you have to go around as your characters can't jump and you can only follow the allowed pathing.
- Random encounters through the same area always used the same mobs and environments. The rewards for fighting the random encounters were never worth it. One time the only thing I found (other than some money and a few junk weapons) was a mousetrap. Not kidding.
- Quick travel in the game was very limited.
- No dual-wielding of weapons.
- AI control of characters can be rather poor. Unless you direct the actions of each character specifically they'll often charge off away from the group and straight into the middle of multiple enemies.
Despite a long list of Cons, Drakensang - The Dark Eye was a fun but often frustrating fantasy RPG. It started off extremely slow (which I feel generates many of the lower ratings) but picks up about halfway through and ends with some very satisfying gameplay. I chose a Burglar for my character, which felt useful in the beginning but quickly began to feel weak compared to the other party members you recruit. Also, you pick up similar NPC's very early on in the game which rendered my character's abilities redundant. If I did a second playthrough I would choose more of a melee/magic hybrid or archer class. The game took me 70+ hours to complete and I finished with my party at L17 missing the completion of a small handful of quests (mainly due to the game mechanics of locking me out of the area). Drakensang is a game I'm very glad I stuck with and learned the nuances of play because in the end it was well worth it. Would I go back and play it again? Probably not. However, I've already purchased Drakensang - River of Time (a prequel) and am really looking forward to it now that I have a stronger understanding of the world of Aventuria and Drakensang's gameplay. Drakensang - The Dark Eye is game that's rewarding but only if you have the patience to overlook its flaws.
Product description
Product Description
Make friends – because your enemies will be numerous indeed! In a world where darkness lurks, evil forces are at work in the city of Ferdok. Summoned by a letter from an old friend you suddenly find yourself bound to investigate a series of strange ritual murders. But getting to the bottom of this only means scratching on the surface of a much bigger, even more sinister plan... Only if you gather trusty companions will you have a chance against a huge conspiracy threatening to change the world of Aventuria forever! Behind closed doors sinister figures are pursuing their dark schemes, spreading fear and terror among city’s population. As the adventurers begin to investigate the series of murders they are constantly confronted with new questions and mysteries. What is the connection between the murders and the proclamation and what role does a mysterious arch-magician play in the story? Aventuria is waiting for you to uncover the ancient mysteries!
Amazon.com
Welcome to the dark ages. The Dark Eye: Drakensang is the first PC adaptation of Germany's most popular and long-standing pen and paper RPG franchise in 10 years. In the last twenty years a thriving The Dark Eye community of millions has grown, as its fantasy universe of Aventuria has been expanded in books, board games and computer games. And now with an incredible attention to detail, the world of Aventuria comes to live on the PC in Drakensang in state-of-the-art 3D graphics that bring to life the epic vistas and stunning variety of this one-of-a-kind fantasy world.
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In Aventuria, the legendary continent of heroes, adventure and mysteries, something is on the move. It is an event which role players have been eagerly awaiting ever since the Nordland Trilogy. The story centers around Ferdok, an important trading city on the Great River. The feared female lancers of Ferdok and Ferdok's famous beer have given the city a reputation throughout the continent and the humans here live in harmony with the dwarves. But despite the cheerful and peaceful atmosphere, the peace is now being shaken by a mysterious series of murders. Sinister figures are pursuing their dark schemes, while the fear among the population grows with every new murder. And while the adventures are still pondering whether the crimes are connected to the proclamation made by the Church of Hesinde on the tenth anniversary of the Dragonquest, they themselves are dragged into the mysterious events by a very particular murder. Character Creation
The Dark Eye: Drakensang provides a choice of 10 archetypes for creating characters. These are pre-generated gaming figures that already have a background story and for which all basic properties, talents and abilities are predefined. This is particularly helpful to newcomers, who are not familiar with Dark Eye rules, giving them an easy entry into the game. Within these, areas of specialization (e.g. warrior magician - specialization: charlatan) open up a huge range of possibilities for choosing a personal gaming character and then entering the great adventure. In addition, there is an expert mode available to experienced players. In this area of character generation, all properties of your hero can be altered individually and adjusted even more precisely to fit your personal gaming style. Key Game Features:
- Rich story penned by the authors of the original franchise books and adventures and based in Germany`s #1 pen & paper RPG system The Dark Eye.
- Huge, detailed medieval 3D world with authentic looks of historic European architecture.
- Versatile, round-based combat system that brings tactics back to combat.
- Talent-based dialogue system.
- Quest in groups of up to four adventurers.
- More than 40 spells, with over 30 talents and almost 40 special abilities allow a large range of possibilities for character creation.
- Individual party skill development.
- Numerous and varied enemies and monsters from the DSA universe, such as linnorms, ogres, undead mules, giant amoeba and many more.
- Rule-compliant implementation of the DSA license in the tradition of the Nordland Trilogy.
System Requirements:
| Recommended Specifications: | ||
| OS: | Windows Vista/Window XP with SP2 | |
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 with 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ | |
| RAM: | 2.5MB RAM for Vista, 2MB RAM for XP | |
| Video: | NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or ATI Radeon X 1900 with 512 MB RAM | |
| Sound: | DirectX 9.0c compatible | |
| DVD-ROM: | 4x DVD-ROM drive or faster | |
| Hard Drive Space: | 6GB of Free Space | |
| Other: | Internet connection required for online play | |
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