I must have been asleep that last few months but...

Drakensang…Another one of those Baulders Gate / Never Winter Nights games. So I found out that Dragon Age: Origins will be delayed until November of this year. That sucks seeing as I had pre-ordered through Amazon.com at the beginning of Feb and was eagerly counting the days until mid March when the game would ship. So a little funny thing that Amazon.com does is sends you electronic messages about products that you may be interested in as a result of what you purchased in the past. I usually delete those emails except for one that said enjoy Drakensang if you like Dragon Age: Origins. I was like wtf and clicked on the link. Being that I’m in suck ass Iraq it took quite a while for the link to open and when it did….

Well, I’m not much for game reviews. I downloaded the 500mb demo (which took me exactly 24 hours over here) and played through the demo. The game was finished last August and is of German make. It’s rule set is some German table top RPG that is as popular and old as our D&D here. The makers made The Realms of Arkana series games back in the day (which I loved) as well as a few others.

The game is awesome! And that’s about as good as my game reviews get. You control up to four adventurers through an awesome looking world. Combat is strategic with a pause function to issue commands. There are lots of skills and diversity when it comes to character development. I was never a fan of this character can never wield this type of weapon type system. This game goes by skills, any character can do anything but of course they will suck at it if they are untrained. You could potentially try to raise levels in all skills but “A master of all is a master of none” better to plan out your four man party based on what skills you want on what characters. You can pick up two extra characters that you can’t control but will fight and do other things according to what ever plot/story you pursue. Magic items are at a premium meaning this game does not flood you with a buttload of magic crap. I think some of you best items are crafted with good items being crafted personalized ‘”Named” items that are better than the normal item. Did I mention some nice skills? Well, I only played the demo but I played it through will all three starting classes and what they had to offer I liked.

Google Drakensang to get a more detailed review from someone whom can write like Ernest Hemmingway if you really want the gist of this game. The demo was only a glimpse.

ps. I think Drakensang means dragon something in German….help me out.


James

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Musnicki

Dragon Song?

The demo was really good. People bitched that you couldn't jump in the reviews I read but that was lawl material for me. It's a lot like if WoW and Neverwinter Nights 2 fucked and had a baby.

If you like the top down rpgs like NWN and stuff, I think this is a 30 dollar game. I'd have to look again. It felt a bit clunky at first but honestly it wasn't a serious issue. Controls are familiar if you are a RPG fan and you will be delighted with very well done character sheets, inventory screens and a plethora of numbers and saving throws dancing about in ordered arangment.

And oh my god the avalable classes. Wow. Haven't seen this many in a long time. You could only play as one flavor of dwarf, a caster and wood elf in the demo but there are like fiftyelevel avalable. If they are carbon copies I do not know but you can be a motherfucking Pirate.

Combat is like NWN. Game pauses at the start so you can react and give commands. The game was pretty easy to be honest to start out but I have read it does get a bit more challenging in the end. Typical melee shine early and casters bloom late. That's ok with me tho. It also seemed to have a lot of quests, even if they were run around and slay and bring me back item X common fodder. They were pretty well written for being a translated game.
and are shown on your minimap where to go.

I'll end up getting it. It wont be GOTY, but it will be one of those rare gems that actually is worth checking out that wont be very well known.

Damnit no co-op multiplayer like in Baldurs Gate or NWN I am sad. I'll probably end up getting it anyway.

Oh yeah I forgot about being able to pick Pirate as a class.....how could I forget that! I think classes start out with different skill sets and they just call them that class but if you dump enough points and levels into something your "fighter" could end the game as an elementalist although not as good as a true elementalist that started out as one.

As for not being able to play multiplayer, I never liked Neverwinter nights with multiple people. They would just go all over the place and activate and kill everything, no one stayed together as a group. I will play it for what it is, a single player epic RPG.

Google it and read some reviews from English speaking Germans (or German speaking English dudes). The environment is great, if you are a fan of the Gothic type environment and games then you may like this too (that’s German made also). You’ll hear characters having conversations as you approach which is kinda cool.

I hear that the main story line is a bit linear and that is a draw back…. I beg to differ on that. You do make choices in the game that will affect the future story line and how NPC’s treat you. After all, I am playing that game to follow some kind of story line. Not like some games where you can get lost in the extra side quests that branch off for ever and forget what or why the hell you were even in said town.

I pre-ordered and am counting down the days until it gets out here to my little base in Iraq…..that and the $700 worth of gas ass magic the gathering cards that I ordered online while I was bored. Damn internet is down most of the time here so I need something to do when not fighting bad guys in real life.

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Musnicki

Good distraction for 30 bucks. Wait a few months and it'll be even cheaper.