Information Realms of Arkania HD Remake Announced

[evdk]

So Crafty Studios looks like they make primarily casual and browser based games.

So, on the plus side maybe the "comprehensive overhaul of every aspect of gameplay" is press release exaggeration and they actually won't have the resources to screw around with it too much? (because its just a straight port to the browser)

The WHY make it? Name one respectful remake made recently.

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

The WHY make it? Name one respectful remake made recently.

I was being a bit tongue and cheek - you are right, respectful remakes are roughly as common as unicorns. However, if they aren't trying to actually do a "remake" and are instead trying to cravenly bang out a property cheaply, then changes to gameplay might be minimal.

 

[Brother None]

Featuring a complete visual reimagining along with a comprehensive overhaul of every aspect of the gameplay, Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny is set to captivate a 21st century audience of new and old fans alike.

German presser doesn't mention a comprehensive overhaul though.

UIG Entertainment announces the international distribution of "The Dark Eye - Nordlandtrilogie", and dresses the classics in new, contemporary graphics and technology, safeguarding the charm of the original's story, the characters and the uniqueness and game-feel of the DSA ruleset. A handpicked team of experienced German RPG developers and authors are working at this moment on an epic adventure for all fans of DSA Nordlandtrilogie.

Well, I suppose only mentioning preserving the "Spielgefühl des DSA Regelwerks", as in just the "feel" is pretty dubious.

Some typically German levels of clarity of international communication in PR here. Heh. Always the same story.

 

[eric__s]

holy shit

I wonder if it means new content or more uses for skills or new areas or quests or aaaaaaaa. Actually I have no idea what "HD Remake" means, are they reusing the code but upgrading the graphics? Or are they rebuilding the game from the ground up? Who knows, I'm pumped.

Either way, something tells me we won't be seeing Mr. Bowie in the remake.

 

[Infinitron]

Drakensang: Blade of Destiny

 

[Essegi]

If this is truly 1:1 except for graphics and maybe interface

and perhaps third person view, cover system, guns, romances, DLCs and shitton of bugs.

Yeah, then i edited the message because i'm not too optimistic, at least i have no problems with old graphics if i am to play old ones...

 

[Zed]

if you hate german pcgamers embedded piece of shit gallery, here's the full-size screenshot

 

[Shannow]

Well, I missed out on them when they originally came out. And when I tried to play them in 2008 or so I couldn't get into them. Wasn't so much the graphics and having to fiddle with DOSbox, I was more bothered by missing tool-tips, clunky inventory management and sub-optimal overall UI. (Still remember Claw being all butthurt about that.)
I'd love a new version that updated those aspects and perhaps added hexes (and - dare I say it? - automap as an option). So this would be perfect for me and the ~20 others like me...

 

[Mrowak]

if you hate german pcgamers embedded piece of shit gallery, here's the full-size screenshot

It looks surprisingly good.

Although dat grass... and building textures when zoomed... :graphicswhore:

 

[likaq]

if you hate german pcgamers embedded piece of shit gallery, here's the full-size screenshot

I like what I see.

 

[evdk]

Show me the combat screen, then we'll talk.

 

[Infinitron]

German site golem.de has a few infos - they say it will have modern graphics, but stay mostly the same otherwise, mentioning 3D view in cities and top-down (iso?) view in combat.
No mention about overhauled gameplay there, but some rumors that people from Attic (probably including Guido Henkel?) are on the boat.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I hope they make it into the action RPG the original team wanted to but didn't have the technology for.

 

[Gord]

And here I just bought the most recent re-release...
Well, IF (and it's probably a big if) they manage to remake it with updated graphics and UI, but don't touch too much about the game mechanics*, I'm all for it.

*The first part might need to be put up to the level of part two, obviously, but otherwise I'd really enjoy the old-school gameplay on modern tech.
Although it did have a few flaws they might fix along the way - e.g. having to find the plot-critical orc fortress in part one without any hint about it.

 

[Zed]

German site golem.de has a few infos - they say it will have modern graphics, but stay mostly the same otherwise, mentioning 3D view in cities and top-down (iso?) view in combat.
No mention about overhauled gameplay there, but some rumors that people from Attic (probably including Guido Henkel?) are on the boat.

According to Guido's twitter, he's not involved.
https://twitter.com/GuidoHenkel/status/295923128104792064

 

[Mrowak]

And here I just bought the most recent re-release...
Well, IF (and it's probably a big if) they manage to remake it with updated graphics and UI, but don't touch too much about the game mechanics*, I'm all for it.

It's not that the mechanics in RoA worked exceptionally well...

 

[Gord]

German site golem.de has a few infos - they say it will have modern graphics, but stay mostly the same otherwise, mentioning 3D view in cities and top-down (iso?) view in combat.
No mention about overhauled gameplay there, but some rumors that people from Attic (probably including Guido Henkel?) are on the boat.

According to Guido's twitter, he's not involved.
https://twitter.com/GuidoHenkel/status/295923128104792064

Ah, too bad, wishful thinking, I guess.

 

[Gord]

It's not that the mechanics in RoA worked exceptionally well...

Well, you could cheese your way through the game, exploit the hell out of it and the somewhat clunky dice-roll based character creation and leveling system sure isn't to everyones taste.
On the other hand, it's somehow part of the experience.

But the important point is, that they tried to stay close to the experience RoA provided as a PnP game, don't do too much hand-holding and give the player quite a lot of freedom in how he approaches the tasks.

 

[Dexter]

But why would these people want a remake? The game runs just fine.

Probably on the basis on it looking like shite and people not wanting to play that:

Although I gotta say that they should offer something better than that still, at the moment it looks a bit like a less stylized Gothic 2 from back in 2002:

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061181742&postcount=8

van Ertlov who works on the project comments via Facebook on the GameStar news:
That the complexity and the ruleset itself stays the same, but that they are thinking about changing the random factor which the old Game System had (like D&D there were several iterations of the DSA Rule System and the old one used to work with lots of dice rolls, while the new one found in Drakensang has a fixed amount of points needed for a skill increase).
However he also states that for now this is speculation and not set in stone yet.

The german press statement says that besides of the graphics there are writers and developers are working on it (which might mean that additional content is added or that existing content is changed with their help)

The english statement says "a complete overhaul of every aspect" which doesn't really contradict that. Though both statements aren't precise in what they are actually doing. And the only things which "stay" absolutely the same are the Charme and Complexity which is quite abstract.

About the Release Date: The German statement says that there was a contract made for the whole trilogy. And that "it will start" in Q2 2013.
The English statement does not contradict that but only makes statements about the first part of the trilogy which will be released in Q2 2013 (with the last part only visible in the summary of the statement but not in the statement itself).
The News on GameStar.de also reads that the first part of the Trilogy will be released Q2 2013.

 

[Jaesun]

I'm not sure what to think. This could be (in theory) really fucking good, or an epic disaster (like Baldur's Gate EE).

I'll just stand in the corner over here and fap very very cautiously.

 

[Kem0sabe]

So browser game dev takes a try at "enhancing" a classic and much revered RPG... what can go wrong?

 

[SCO]

the source is probably lost. Without that, the notion of keeping gameplay systems intact is laughable

It's amazing how gaming companies don't give a shit about the source of their games

 

[thesheeep]

So browser game dev takes a try at "enhancing" a classic and much revered RPG... what can go wrong?

Well, if there were no people amongst them who loved the old DSA games, I doubt they would have tried with that project to begin with.
I wouldn't actually doubt the dev's noble intentions... just their skillset, and there is still a publisher involved, so.. we'll see.

 

[Excidium]

I'm not sure what to think. This could be (in theory) really fucking good, or an epic disaster (like Baldur's Gate EE).

Exactly.

Would be better if it was a new game. I don't see the point of remakes unless it's something REALLY old...