So Drakensang...

[HobGoblin42]

First Drakensang was rather bland, yeah, but still better than either Dragon Age. It was quite decent for a first time game of a developer.

Drakensang wasn't their first game, the company was founded 1995 and they developed at _least_ 20 games before: http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/radon-labs-gmbh/

 

[hoverdog]

Should it be praised just for being low-key? Writing wise it was nowhere near good.

It was passable. Hardly worse than most cRPG writing.

 

[abnaxus]

First Drakensang was rather bland, yeah, but still better than either Dragon Age. It was quite decent for a first time game of a developer.

Drakensang wasn't their first game, the company was founded 1995 and they developed at _least_ 20 games before: http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/radon-labs-gmbh/

Yes, I should have said "their first RPG".

 

[Sunsetspawn]

Right now I'm at the marsh area and walking is painfully slow so I'm not going to test it at the moment, but I believe that I'm correct.

Download SQLite Browser, open your savegame with it, execute
update _Instance_PC set SneakSpeed=1.5, WalkSpeed=2, RunSpeed=5.5, CurrentSpeed=5.5, MaxVelocity=5.5;
It's essential to keep your sanity.

Annoyed to watch the animations for gathering herbs/skinning animals again and again? Open C:\Games\Drakensang\export\db\static.db4
UPDATE _Template_Talent set TaActions =0 where TaCursor ='GatherHerb' OR TaCursor='SkinAnimal';

Yay! I can has a happy now. Thank you. The hardest part was locating the save games. No, really, what's this My Documents shit? C:\Drakensang\savegames, is that so hard?

First Drakensang was rather bland, yeah, but still better than either Dragon Age. It was quite decent for a first time game of a developer.

I like it. I'm a simpleton, whatever. I should probably be playing Baldur's Gate 2 or the Witcher because I've never played them and they're sitting right here, but I kept hearing whispers that Drakensang was an underrated gem. And whispers are what brought me to Gothic 2, so I'm starting to trust them.

 

[Modron]

Yay! I can has a happy now. Thank you. The hardest part was locating the save games. No, really, what's this My Documents shit? C:\Drakensang\savegames, is that so hard?

This was the result of some microsoft mandate from on high years ago saying that having save games in my documents would make everything easier, not accounting for the fact that the folder is named differently in many different language versions and further decline set in so now we have saves all over the place from appdata, my documents, my games, et cetera instead of the 80's and 90's gold standard of install directory.

I like it. I'm a simpleton, whatever. I should probably be playing Baldur's Gate 2 or the Witcher because I've never played them and they're sitting right here, but I kept hearing whispers that Drakensang was an underrated gem. And whispers are what brought me to Gothic 2, so I'm starting to trust them.

LoL, don't trust the whispers the first Drakensang is an ok game at beast, it is no Gothic 2 by a long shot. Drakensang 2 was a marked improvement over the first one in that it has far less grindy parts and improved cities. Shame Radon Labs went under afterwards as I would have bought a third installment in the series. I would say play through Baldur's Gate 2 first and then go with whatever you feel like afterwards.

 

[Gord]

Writing IS decent. Most of the dialogue is effective and has releveance to the story, it is flavourful when needed and most of it is very light hearted. Many skills get their use throughout the course of the game and while impact is often limited, it is there and often opens up another way to finish certain quests. All three main companions (female/male add aside) had consistent personalities. While none of them broke any ground in terms of story telling, they weren't RIDICULOUSLY OVER CHARACTERIZED either. And THAT is a really big fucking innovashun right here.

Don't forget that for once you didn't have to play psychiatrist with them and instead got pretty normal (in the limit of fantasy tropes) persons.

 

[Commissar Draco]

You faggots make wanna install Drakensang 2 again... any mods worth playing? Even while RoT is rare gem of modern RPGs being perfectly playable as Vanila.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

You faggots make wanna install Drakensang 2 again... any mods worth playing? Not while RoT is rare gem of modern RPGs being perfectly playable as Vanila.

Ninja edit! I was about to play grammar Nazi because I wasn't quite sure what you meant. Well played.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

I would say play through Baldur's Gate 2 first and then go with whatever you feel like afterwards.

I've just gotten the hang of these Dark Eye rules. If I start with Baldur's Gate 2 I'm gonna have to dig up memories of Champions of Krynn to get my D&D on. I never really got terribly familiar with their rules because armor equals dodge derp. And then I gotta make with the tacos too, oy vey.

 

[Modron]

Besides the grindy bits, the only thing that really subtracted from the experience was the wound system. Any damage over your constitution stat caused 1 wound, 3 (or 5 can't remember the specifics) and your character goes down for the fight regardless of hp left thus some of the hardest fights in the game are not the bosses but just medium sized groups of moderately tough enemies who can causes wounds. Due to the real time nature of the combat, you could be at full health get several wounds in a second and go down with little to do about it.

Ninja: do stock up on items that fix wounds you'll go through a ton (at least in RoT).

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

should have invested in concentration, duh

Plus, without the wounds there wouldn't be any challenge at all. You didn't manage to actually die from HP loss, did you?

 

[abnaxus]

In River of Time enemy special skills will always inflict a wound regardless of concentration (like harpy claw attack and crab pincer attack), it was different in the first game though.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Concentration still applies to most attacks though, but it's less useful than in the first game, because as you said, there are attacks that ignore it. Still a must-have skill regardless.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

should have invested in concentration, duh

Plus, without the wounds there wouldn't be any challenge at all. You didn't manage to actually die from HP loss, did you?

The wounds are a great mechanic. They make enemies threatening and they also give you a reason to spread your damage dealers as opposed to focusing on one enemy; a wounded enemy is a less capable enemy. But what the fuck do I know, I just lost my first fight in the witch forest. God damned Sun God Knights!!! I did beat their ass on the second try, though...

And this leads me to a question about weapon length.

What are the bonuses and penalties regarding weapon length? I've always wondered about this as the instructions are pretty vague, and also that halberd wielding motherfucker straight ganked my main nigga. Even some weapons in the same class are different lengths, and when the stats that I understand are very close (like 0/0 1d6+6, 1.0 meters and 0/-1 1d6+6, 1.2 meters) I need to know what that extra length is giving me.

ALSO, I was considering learning a second melee weapon as right now I smash with axes and maces, and I'd like something that can at least do Stormblade (for the parry bypass), if not Mortal Blow (or whatever the third tear +2 wound skill is called). Spears seem nice for their -3 effective encumbrance, and I wear heavy armor so that works in my favor, but the absence of a shield gives me pause Now if the length bonus is significant it might make my choice of spears a no-brainer, and after that mouth-raping I received from the Sun Knight I tend to think that range advantage is nice. FWIW, the second time I double teamed him while his goons shot bolts at me. His lack of a second parry made all the difference.

Anyone know what I'm talking about or am I just farting into the wind?

 

[Gord]

As far as I know weapn length is not factored in during combat, but I might be mistaken.
At least a quick search didn't turn up anything that pointed towards it being effective in any way.

 

[abnaxus]

Losing the shield using two-handed weapons is not a problem once you pick up the Wall of Blades skill that gives 4 extra parries.

You'll even get a NPC later who comes equipped with a monster zweihander and he wrecks everything together with Forgrimm.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

As far as I know weapn length is not factored in during combat, but I might be mistaken.
At least a quick search didn't turn up anything that pointed towards it being effective in any way.

From the instructions:

For ranged weapons, this specifies the range of the projectiles. But close combat​

weapons also have a range value. Staves, for example, have a longer range than​

swords. Your opponent will suffer from combat penalties if he has a shorter weapon​

than you. Don’t worry, Drakensang calculates all of this for you. For the sake of​

simplicity, daggers and swords are considered to have the same range.​

That knight with the halberd opened a can of rape-ass on my main guy in a one on one, and my main guy is a Dwarf Mercenary, so he either got very lucky or the range is a decent factor.

 

[Gord]

Interesting, I indeed wasn't aware of that.

 

[abnaxus]

That might explain why the Elf with the spear is so OP too. Though you get him rather late.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

Interesting, I indeed wasn't aware of that.

It's so underplayed that you might not notice, but I have the OCD you see. I noticed that weapons has a length, but unlike BG, that length wasn't coming in to play tactically. So I figure that it must create some kind of bonus or penalty, and indeed, I found mention of it in the strucions. Afterwards I did a shit-ton of google fu and...
nothin, well, except for a few people asking the same question.

That might explain why the Elf with the spear is so OP too. Though you get him rather late.

Spears might be the longest melee weapons, and the pikes may be the longest of the spears. I'm not sure because I haven't been using them...

yet

Anyhow, there's nothing stopping me from putting some points in spear and seeing how that works out. I'll try and pay extra-special attention to the window to see if it makes mention of penalties or bonuses.

 

[Gord]

I noticed that weapons has a length, but unlike BG, that length wasn't coming in to play tactically. So I figure that it must create some kind of bonus or penalty, and indeed, I found mention of it in the strucions. Afterwards I did a shit-ton of google fu and...
nothin, well, except for a few people asking the same question.

Exactly. The few posts I found sounded like it's probably not doing much, but nothing really informative.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

I noticed that weapons has a length, but unlike BG, that length wasn't coming in to play tactically. So I figure that it must create some kind of bonus or penalty, and indeed, I found mention of it in the strucions. Afterwards I did a shit-ton of google fu and...
nothin, well, except for a few people asking the same question.

Exactly. The few posts I found sounded like it's probably not doing much.

The anal-raping I took says otherwise. Still haven't tested it though

 

[fantadomat]

It got released on GoG with 75% discount.
https://af.gog.com/game/drakensang?as=1649904300

 

[barghwata]

Is it any good?

 

[overly excitable young man]

If you want an even more retarded version of NWN 2. Yeah.