Drakensang: River of Time at GG for $18

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LeninGHOLA

Vladimir Hayt
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
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I picked this up on Friday and I'm quite impressed. If you liked Drakensang: The Dark Eye, this is an improvement in almost every way. I would say this game was intended as direct competition to Dragon Age: Origins really. It's probably even much closer to being a spiritual successor to the BG series than DA was. Realtime with pause combat, so arpg'ers may not enjoy it.

Sadly, the developer is financially screwed; likely due to poor marketing. The game itself is solid and polished. Minor graphical glitches sometimes, but I've seen no actual bugs in the 14 hours I've spent playing.

I would give a score of 8.5, which may turn into a 9 once I get further along.

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-DSROT/drakensang-the-river-of-time
 
Played the EU version awhile ago. Not a bad game - I'd say it's worth the $18 for a nice and open RPG. There were even some mod tools and save game editors available out there.
 
I bought it last Sunday night, although I haven't started it yet - it's also selling at Impulse and at D2D. It's kind of sad that a series as good as this one is, has totally gone under the radar, especially in the light of the price.

Gamers always say, just make a great game, and sell it for a low price, and we'll buy it. Here's an in-depth RPG, with shockingly good production values, selling for $18. RPGs don't get much better than this, and the price is ridiculous.
 
I have to say if I was into RPGs like this I'd buy it, the production value looks great. After reading about it, I'll probably just buy it any way to try it out for a few days.
 
I'm more of an ARPG'er (though I loved BG2, NWN, and NWN2), but I do feel bad when someone does a good job and loses to marketing. I think I'll get this anyways. I'm playing the Dragon Knight Saga (remastered Dvinity 2 + FOV) and it's really fun. Dragon Knight Saga is hugely underrated. They are a Belgian. The remastered version is 20x more stable than anything with Bethseda on it.

These European devs are hugely underrated.


Anyways, does this feel like NWN?
 
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Parmenides said:
Anyways, does this feel like NWN?
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Yup, quite a bit like it. I like it more than NWN so far. It's very much the same type of game as BGI-II, NWN, NWN2. It has its own ruleset which is quite different than 3-3.5 AD&D, so RTFM. You can play this game without having played the first, as this one is a prequel. It's also just a better game in almost every way- from story, depth, gameplay to loot, puzzles and combat encounters.

Keep in mind, though : dice rolls!
 
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LeninGHOLA said:
Yup, quite a bit like it. I like it more than NWN so far. It's very much the same type of game as BGI-II, NWN, NWN2. It has its own ruleset which is quite different than 3-3.5 AD&D, so RTFM. You can play this game without having played the first, as this one is a prequel. It's also just a better game in almost every way- from story, depth, gameplay to loot, puzzles and combat encounters.

Keep in mind, though : dice rolls!
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Heh, I know. And I hate dice rolling. But that hasn't stopped me from loving NWN2 and all previous major DnD RPGs. I guess I become numb to any combat system after a while if the other parts of a game excel. Even lame systems can feel fun after while if I get sucked into the game.

WabeWalker said:
It's an old school RPG, and was everything that Dragon Age wasn't.
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That's cool. I like old school except dice rolling. I really thought dragon age was awesome on the first playthrough, but on the 2nd run I felt like I had to make myself play.
 
WjrTG.jpg


http://leninghola.imgur.com/river_of_time#wTAaL

I got a little screenshot happy, album included.
 
You can pause the game, yes? Like in Baldur's Gate?

The strategy of each encounter made the game for me.
 
Yes you can pause it.

I've been playing both This and Two worlds 2.

This game reminds me a lot of older crpgs (which is good). A nice kind of throwback feel with newer technology behind it.
 
The game is also available on Impulse.

I have an Impulse account already so I think I will go with it, if I decide to get it.
 
Looks like fun. A classic rpg with dice rolling but presented in a modern way?? Sign me up.
 
Bought. Also bought Two Worlds II. And Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga.

For all that, I´m skipping Arcadia, which i wanted to buy originally. I think i did well.

Thanks OP!
 
The character building can get pretty deep once you figure out all of the stats and how they affect basically everything. Also, the way the quests arcs open up new quest arcs makes for a varied and interesting system. There haven't been many FedEx quests so far, much of the content outcome is determined by skillchecks or fighting.
 
Just picked this up and all i can say is bad ass. I played it non stop for the last 2 days i made 5 guys till i made one that didn't suck. I love the combat nice and hard and if you don't pause your going die:) The amount of character building is crazy and the quest are nice one of them was find this gang and all you got was the wanted poster whit hints where to find them no map marker it was nice to have to explore to find them. To any one who likes the old DnD games give this a try its a dam good game and worth the money. i already put at least 10-15h in to it and not even out of first town
 
thax said:
Just picked this up and all i can say is bad ass. I played it non stop for the last 2 days i made 5 guys till i made one that didn't suck. I love the combat nice and hard and if you don't pause your going die:) The amount of character building is crazy and the quest are nice one of them was find this gang and all you got was the wanted poster whit hints where to find them no map marker it was nice to have to explore to find them. To any one who likes the old DnD games give this a try its a dam good game and worth the money. i already put at least 10-15h in to it and not even out of first town
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So what mistakes do you feel you made in building the 5 characters that sucked - and what did you learn?

I have to come clean: with the original game, my character sucked, but 50 hours in it was too late to go back. When I start this, I believe I'm going to go all out on a melee build.
 
ScYcS said:
Bought. Also bought Two Worlds II. And Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga.

For all that, I´m skipping Arcadia, which i wanted to buy originally. I think i did well.

Thanks OP!
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As much of an admirer of the original Drakensang as I am, and as much as I'm looking forward to playing the sequel, I would have to say that Two Worlds Two is the real gem of the titles you've named - especially if you play as a spellcaster.

Conjuring up ten undead warriors, and standing in the middle of them as you hurtle fire balls at the enemy, is an awesome spectacle. Each of the islands feels unique and distinct - the big island, in particular, near the end of the game, has this huge graveyard level that's one of the most atmospheric levels I saw in 2010.

It's only a matter of time before I start playing Two Worlds Two again.

And by the way, in our thread here at this forum, some people claimed to have finished Two Worlds Two in 12 hours. Just... wtf? I don't see how that's possible. 40 hours in and I was still going strong.
 
River of Time has many class archetypes, especially compared to the last game. For example, my character is a Thorwallian Pirate. Kind of an axe and buckler medium armor fighter. Among others, Courage is a stat needed for in-the-fray melee types, obviously STR and CON are too. If you lack Dexterity, your swings will be slow. You need to learn how the base attributes really affect the character build. Things like Cleverness can be quite handy for some classes. There are a variety of racial and class benefits and negatives as well.

Keep in mind, as you level, you need to be saving points to bump your main attributes as well as learning new skills, abilities, bumping up your hpmana etc. It's a fun balance.
 
I will post a screen shot of my character page of that character tonight for stat comparisons. So far, I'm a much more powerful fighter than my original Soldier in the first game.

The manual is somewhat helpful in telling you which stats affect which skills and abilities, but trial and error may be needed.
 
WabeWalker said:
So what mistakes do you feel you made in building the 5 characters that sucked - and what did you learn?

I have to come clean: with the original game, my character sucked, but 50 hours in it was too late to go back. When I start this, I believe I'm going to go all out on a melee build.
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I made mages but i could never beat the boss at the end of town one my spells did to little damage to him and he killed me in 3 hits on all the guys i made. So i made a elf fighter that is bad ass has a spell that makes him invincible for 60 secs then when it wears off he takes all the damage so for 1 mim he is a bad ass tank that does goodish damage
 
Remember to add party members to your group when entering a new area, before you leave the boat. Just talk to them and ask them to join. That is, if you don't get them killed...
 
I haven't played the game, but it was possible to solo Baldur's Gate 1 & 2...

So I dunno about the no... Everything is possible.
 
krogen said:
I haven't played the game, but it was possible to solo Baldur's Gate 1 & 2...

So I dunno about the no... Everything is possible.
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Oh my god. Okay, I take it back then. If you went solo all the way through Shadows of Amn, on the normal setting, then I tip my hat to you.

Seriously?

For me, some of the battles were touch and go, even with a full party that was properly leveled. I'm skeptical.
 
It can be done with BG/BGII. In Drakensang, you would need very high Willpower to start out. Broken bones will end your combat very quickly if you can't resist Wounds.
 
I am enjoying RoT as we speak. I liked the first one too so I loved picking it up for under 20 bucks. Pity the dev is kaput, or we might see the expansion they made for RoT. Phileassons Secret or whatever it is called.
 
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