Drova: Forsaken Kin - 2D action RPG inspired by Gothic series

[ArchAngel]

Most of the best gear is accessible from the start of the game. I had the best weapon in the game while still in Act 1, as well as armor that outperformed any you can get from either faction at any point in the story by over 100%.

I found a bunch of those (purple weapons) in Primal Forest which you cannot access until Chapter 2 or so. Then I think in Chapter 3 I could buy even better ones in Nemeton.

 

[thesecret1]

Most of the best gear is accessible from the start of the game. I had the best weapon in the game while still in Act 1, as well as armor that outperformed any you can get from either faction at any point in the story by over 100%.

I found a bunch of those (purple weapons) in Primal Forest which you cannot access until Chapter 2 or so. Then I think in Chapter 3 I could buy even better ones in Nemeton.

You can complete all of Primal forest in chapter 1, and entirely skip chapter 2. And even those weapons are pathetic compared to the stuff you can find in ancient ruins from the get go (legendary-tier weapons) or weapons bought from the ruin raiders.

 

[jackofshadows]

Yeah, both the progression and gear systems didn't impress me at all. On the other hand, the fact exploration is majorly rewarded is good.

I don't really care about faction stuff and just go to explore further and further.

 

[ArchAngel]

Most of the best gear is accessible from the start of the game. I had the best weapon in the game while still in Act 1, as well as armor that outperformed any you can get from either faction at any point in the story by over 100%.

I found a bunch of those (purple weapons) in Primal Forest which you cannot access until Chapter 2 or so. Then I think in Chapter 3 I could buy even better ones in Nemeton.

You can complete all of Primal forest in chapter 1, and entirely skip chapter 2. And even those weapons are pathetic compared to the stuff you can find in ancient ruins from the get go (legendary-tier weapons) or weapons bought from the ruin raiders.

Ruins are guarded by high level enemies and you do not know where they are. Ruin Raiders are accesable once you do Missing quest which is again not easy until you get some of the better weapons you get access in Chapter 2 and 3

 

[toro]

Most of the best gear is accessible from the start of the game. I had the best weapon in the game while still in Act 1, as well as armor that outperformed any you can get from either faction at any point in the story by over 100%.

I found a bunch of those (purple weapons) in Primal Forest which you cannot access until Chapter 2 or so. Then I think in Chapter 3 I could buy even better ones in Nemeton.

You can complete all of Primal forest in chapter 1, and entirely skip chapter 2. And even those weapons are pathetic compared to the stuff you can find in ancient ruins from the get go (legendary-tier weapons) or weapons bought from the ruin raiders.

Ruins are guarded by high level enemies and you do not know where they are. Ruin Raiders are accesable once you do Missing quest which is again not easy until you get some of the better weapons you get access in Chapter 2 and 3

Not really. I just managed to find all key parts for the Ruin Raiders quest at lvl 13 in chapter I. You just need to kill some Harpies

Spoiler

Once you complete the key then you have access to legendary items in Ede's shop.

 

[toro]

I know that Gothic did the same thing but it really pisses me off that you cannot finish the game without joining a faction.

Spoiler

[copied from steam]
So to get the good ending you need to do all of the Ruin Raider's quest.

1. Collect 7 bygone shards -> get dull gem key

2. Activate all 7 god shrines -> You can get map from ruin raiders

(side note - you can't get access to the final shrine until chapter 4, west of Remnant camp the road is blocked and doesn't clear until later in the story)

3. 7 shrines glowing = glowing gem key. Head to Drivanus's shrine and get his helmet.

 

[thesecret1]

Most of the best gear is accessible from the start of the game. I had the best weapon in the game while still in Act 1, as well as armor that outperformed any you can get from either faction at any point in the story by over 100%.

I found a bunch of those (purple weapons) in Primal Forest which you cannot access until Chapter 2 or so. Then I think in Chapter 3 I could buy even better ones in Nemeton.

You can complete all of Primal forest in chapter 1, and entirely skip chapter 2. And even those weapons are pathetic compared to the stuff you can find in ancient ruins from the get go (legendary-tier weapons) or weapons bought from the ruin raiders.

Ruins are guarded by high level enemies and you do not know where they are. Ruin Raiders are accesable once you do Missing quest which is again not easy until you get some of the better weapons you get access in Chapter 2 and 3

You find ruins by exploring (duh) and they are only guarded by some harpies. You can kill those easily with just a couple bombs. Missing quest is piss easy, there's literally not a single difficult enemy blocking your progress there, so I'm not sure what you're on about.

 

[whocares]

Beat it in about 30 hours. Did the pig heaven ending. A great game. It would probably be better to explore this world in 3d. But then there would be a chance we'd get Piranha Bytes-tier controls, so this is preferrable to that for sure.

The woke level here is mild. You get body types instead of sex, and half the soldiers are women, but other than that there's no preachy faggotry of any kind from what I've seen.

Completely agree with most of the criticisms here about the railroading in the third act and factions not being fleshed out enough/attractive enough to join, but you still have to join one. Just let me join the forest hippies you assholes, and don't force me to betray them without a second thought.

I also had an issue with the pacing where it's paradoxically too fast paced and slow paced at the same time. Basically, you're encouraged to explore and get lost in the woods. You get your ass kicked by whatever, and start coming up with plans how to cheese enemies without even knowing where you're going or what you'll find there. This is very fun. But as you do, you go from a useless scrub to someone OP without even intending to do so, and clear out most of the map from enemies. In my game when I reached the main city and joined them, I jumped from chapter 1 to 3, skipping 2 entirely. But even that is not enough progress, because if you keep doing the main quest and reach chapter 4 you unlock a whole new angle of character building, including more traversal options. But by that point you've explored most of the map, killed most of the monsters and don't remember where you've seen spots you couldn't access before. The fun of the game is in getting lost and exploring, but at the same time you're encouraged to rush chapter 4 to unlock the full suite of abilities. It's basicaly like playing a metroidvania but you unlock double jump 3/4 through the game.

I also thought it weird how the map is structured. You have 2 factions, but instead of going left from the starting village to get to one and right to get to another, the path right is blocked off initially. So you're forced to go to one faction first and when you reach them and realize they're all unwashed tards, the other faction is on the other end of the map now and it would take forever to get to them. And even so, I'd wager most people joined Nemeton on their first playthrough. And this further delays you doing the story missions and encourages to explore more of the world before you have access to all your skills.

But all of this is honestly whatever and refreshing - to consider a game's minor shortcomings when it's mostly competent and just falls short in some areas, and isn't pants on head retarded to a level that defies explanation, like most games are these days.

Also, completely shocked - it's made in Unity, has a large open map, plenty of static interactable objects, loot that stays on the ground forever, and isn't a slow wonky stuttering piece of shit. I never knew such a thing was possible.

 

[thesecret1]

But then there would be a chance we'd get Piranha Bytes-tier controls

The controls of Gothics were perfectly fine you philistines.

 

[whocares]

But then there would be a chance we'd get Piranha Bytes-tier controls

The controls of Gothics were perfectly fine you philistines.

No they were not. They were an abomination unto this world. Not only that, Risen controls were also ass. And ELEX controls were ass as well. And the most impressive part - they were all equally unplyably ass, but all in their own unique ways.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Gothics controls were intuitive, so good that anyone who's not physically and/or mentally challenged can sit back, relax and literally play one handed using only keyboard. That is an objectively good control scheme

 

[whocares]

It's a great shame Rusty ran off to his own bootleg Codex, because lord knows I don't have the patience to keep arguing about something that should be self-evident to anyone who has functional hands 20 years later.

 

[Konjad]

Gothics controls were intuitive, so good that anyone who's not physically and/or mentally challenged can sit back, relax and literally play one handed using only keyboard. That is an objectively good control scheme

One-handed? No, but they are my favoride TPP controls up to this day. No other game came close. Of course, it does require 5 minutes of learning and had no pop-ups, so most of the 'dex gets filtered.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Gothics controls were intuitive, so good that anyone who's not physically and/or mentally challenged can sit back, relax and literally play one handed using only keyboard. That is an objectively good control scheme

One-handed? No, but they are my favoride TPP controls up to this day. No other game came close. Of course, it does require 5 minutes of learning and had no pop-ups, so most of the 'dex gets filtered.

You can 100% play one-handed, everything I did was with one-hand on the keyboard (used my other on the mouse to control camera but I could've played without)

 

[Konjad]

Gothics controls were intuitive, so good that anyone who's not physically and/or mentally challenged can sit back, relax and literally play one handed using only keyboard. That is an objectively good control scheme

One-handed? No, but they are my favoride TPP controls up to this day. No other game came close. Of course, it does require 5 minutes of learning and had no pop-ups, so most of the 'dex gets filtered.

You can 100% play one-handed, everything I did was with one-hand on the keyboard (used my other on the mouse to control camera but I could've played without)

Touching mouse while playing Gothic is just disgusting. Be ashamed.

 

[Jinn]

The controls of Gothics were perfectly fine you philistines.

Not only that, they were fun and rewarding to learn and master too. Gothic tapped into a classic way of gaming with its control scheme, where learning how to control the game became an immersive part of the experience along with the deeper systems. That's the key feeling you get from a game like Gothic once you get going and have a handle on everything at play: rewarding. Patience and understanding are rewarded in Gothic 1 and 2, which is the main reason why your average ADHD gamer dismisses it as "clunky" and gives up after 1-2 hours. They'll never know the joy of using their learning points to level up their two-handed ability and discovering that it makes your attacks more fluid as a result.

When it comes to Drova's progression, I still find it weighty and satisfying. But I honestly think Prowess - the combined total of your stats - as a requirement for using weapons was a mistake though. They should have been tied directly to specific stats, IE strength for heavy weapons, dexterity for light and ranged weapons, and focus for magic/there probably should have been a magic based weapon either ranged or melee. It would have made stat progression choices more meaningful and created more replayability.

 

[Marat]

Speaking of magic I really like the look of the spells, for some reason they are very satisfying - makes me wish for a game centered on druidic magic and celtic-like mythos. And the design of the druids is cool, they really look like magical powers are coursing through them, barely contained. Dunno what it is, but something about them in this game appeals to me.

 

[ArchAngel]

I finally got some magic and finally got the fire circle around you spell, it is good. Also tried Thunderstorm scroll to kill two big worm things, that spell seems powerful.

 

[jackofshadows]

You find ruins by exploring (duh) and they are only guarded by some harpies. You can kill those easily with just a couple bombs.

Have you played recently? I'm level 11 at the moment and still struggling with them, cluster bombs take something like 20% of harpy's hp at best.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

You find ruins by exploring (duh) and they are only guarded by some harpies. You can kill those easily with just a couple bombs.

Have you played recently? I'm level 11 at the moment and still struggling with them, cluster bombs take something like 20% of harpy's hp at best.

Harpies are most dangerous with their ranged attacks.

If there's only 1, you can beat them at pretty low level by forcing them into their very telegraphed melee/charge attack. It's doable but much more tricky when there is more than 1 and your armour isn't good enough to stop you from dying after 2-4 hits of ranged attack.

You can also just run through, loot quickly, and run away.

 

[jackofshadows]

Harpies are most dangerous with their ranged attacks.

If there's only 1, you can beat them at pretty low level by forcing them into their very telegraphed melee/charge attack. It's doable but much more tricky when there is more than 1 and your armour isn't good enough to stop you from dying after 2-4 hits of ranged attack.

You can also just run through, loot quickly, and run away.

I wrote that above and just killed my first harpy but she was alone so yeah, it was like you've described.

Run through obviously when there's more than 1 yeah by now.

Also: wtf is "+stance damage"? Is it flat bonus to basic attacks? Not sure yet.

 

[thesecret1]

You find ruins by exploring (duh) and they are only guarded by some harpies. You can kill those easily with just a couple bombs.

Have you played recently? I'm level 11 at the moment and still struggling with them, cluster bombs take something like 20% of harpy's hp at best.

About two weeks back. I took out a couple harpies with bombs (I just spammed them), but killed the most in melee after pumping STR high enough.

Alternatively, if you want to cheese it, you can to nothwest of Remnant camp and find several bandits there. They're too powerful for you to tackle, but you can lure them into the remnant camp where they'll get massacred by the guards. Strong weapons (high prowess requirements tho) and a really good armor is hidden there

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

For some reason luring the bandits didn't work for me so I just destroyed them with dozens of traps, that armour carried me until I built the Bygone armour set

 

[toro]

Harpies are most dangerous with their ranged attacks.

If there's only 1, you can beat them at pretty low level by forcing them into their very telegraphed melee/charge attack. It's doable but much more tricky when there is more than 1 and your armour isn't good enough to stop you from dying after 2-4 hits of ranged attack.

You can also just run through, loot quickly, and run away.

I wrote that above and just killed my first harpy but she was alone so yeah, it was like you've described.

Run through obviously when there's more than 1 yeah by now.

Also: wtf is "+stance damage"? Is it flat bonus to basic attacks? Not sure yet.

Each monster has a yellow bar under their health bar. Think poise damage in Dark Souls.

 

[toro]

For some reason luring the bandits didn't work for me so I just destroyed them with dozens of traps, that armour carried me until I built the Bygone armour set

Great minds something something ...

It's worth the price.

Spoiler

This is basically end game gear

Bonus: I finally found Prospecting 5

The game is not perfect but the exploration part is top notch.

I think this game is on par with Risen 1 therefore better than ELEX.