Realms of Arkania

[KeighnMcDeath]

But they don't want to wear pants..

 

[0sacred]

-I noticed a lot of spell failures all of a sudden... does armor on an ice elf penalize spellcasting?

metal armor, yes. Leather armor, no.

 

[Desiderius]

Many spells were simply not implemented. The mechanics behind those that are may be the best ever devised.

 

[Nikanuur]

Excellent music, actually.

Shadows over Riva is good, but I'll second that it's not as good as Star Trail. I haven't played the first part though, Blades of Destiny.

I'd say, don't bother. Only if you don't have anything else to play, or something like that. Star Trail is the way to go.

Don't get me wrong, I grew up with these games and I've liked them, but BoD was somewhat of a drag even for its time. They went overboard with all that need to bump into every 30 same-looking doors in every town to further your story or to find out where the trainers lived. At that time, it was a thing, though. Might and Magic's had it, BoD had it, ISHAR had it... but viewed through today's standards, it's a rather obnoxious and, dare I say, lazy implementation. So, we didn't know better, and we stout-heartedly pushed through to experience more of those other features—for its time almost insanely complex RPG with really complex character options and great combat. What more could we've wanted?

Not that Star Trail was much different in that door thing. But in general, it was more fleshed out, had more features, and had more interesting locations to visit. The towns looked less alike, too. All along, a much better experience than BoD.

PS: I know it's just another opinion, but I don't agree that Shadows over Riva is the weak(est). My arguments are, that it's got the best graphics, it's much more compact and thus it's easier to understand where to go next (albeit not necessarily what to do), there is none of the same-looking stuff anymore, it's got "true dungeons"—stuff that BoD and Star Trail don't exactly offer much, and then some. Then again I myself wouldn't pit one against another. Both do well, just in different regards.

 

[DavidBVal]

Your mage already has a wand, you go to an inn and do a ritual to level it up. I think it costs time and spell points. Once it's levelled up, you're golden for the rest of the game

OK that worked but... what does the wand actually do? Is it a weapon or allows me to somehow cast free spells?

One thing I noticed is I no longer need to cast light spell, no idea if it's related.

 

[moleman]

Your mage already has a wand, you go to an inn and do a ritual to level it up. I think it costs time and spell points. Once it's levelled up, you're golden for the rest of the game

OK that worked but... what does the wand actually do? Is it a weapon or allows me to somehow cast free spells?

One thing I noticed is I no longer need to cast light spell, no idea if it's related.

As you already have found out the wand is a free light source in dungeons and can be used as rope in some situations. If you upgrade the wand to level 4 your mage will use less astral enrergy (2 points I believe) when casting spells.

 

[DavidBVal]

Ouch, just noticed I've been losing XP with each save...

 

[moleman]

Ouch, just noticed I've been losing XP with each save...

Only saving in temples does not cost xp. They removed that in the sequels thankfully.

 

[jaekl]

Ouch, just noticed I've been losing XP with each save...

Don't worry about that, I saved after every battle

 

[:Flash:]

BTW, I don't know which version you are playing, but GOG has an abridged manual from a budget re-release. You can get the full English manual here: https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=arkania
It's still missing information from the German manual, but better than the GOG version.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I do like the music of the first game perhaps the best. Maybe I should listen to Riva & Trail again. I never managed to pick up the cd version. In fact, the first two games I had were bootlegs from a rental shop for games. They say no copying "wink wink." Because everyone copied and they even had a copy/printer in the entryway which was always busy. Their games were heavily used. I bought Ultima VII from them and a few other games forgotten now. The u7 was on 5.25" disks, same as the Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday. That was the other game. I had forgotten U7 could even be put on such a disk.

 

[DavidBVal]

Managed to reach level 2, got two map pieces. Life is good!

So far I'm having a blast. If only this game had hotkeys like Gold Box did... also, top-down combat view would be better. It's frustrating dealing with non-visible tiles, and all sprites are very similar. But I understand the marketing appeal of "3D graphics" in 1992.

 

[jaekl]

Managed to reach level 2, got two map pieces. Life is good!

So far I'm having a blast. If only this game had hotkeys like Gold Box did... also, top-down combat view would be better. It's frustrating dealing with non-visible tiles, and all sprites are very similar. But I understand the marketing appeal of "3D graphics" in 1992.

Be sure to buy a few vials of poison, any kind will do, don't worry about the effect descriptions. If you have a character who can use poison, of course. Poison rules in this game.

Blind and fear are the best spells iirc

There are magic weapons that look no different from mundane ones so be careful what you toss out

Keep 2 weapons on everyone just in case

Call me if you're having any UNICORN-related problems, I've got the scoop.

 

[DavidBVal]

Status update: reached level 3, got 4 map pieces.

The game remains pretty fun, with all the special encounters and events during travel between locations. I wish there was more unique stuff in towns though, every town, shop and inn really feels the same.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

But dat town music.

 

[RPK]

some nice music to listen to while relaxing

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Status update: reached level 3, got 4 map pieces.

The game remains pretty fun, with all the special encounters and events during travel between locations. I wish there was more unique stuff in towns though, every town, shop and inn really feels the same.

Play the HD version

 

[DavidBVal]

something is definitely wrong, since the ending is not triggering.

-got 7/9 map pieces, I am told that's enough
-got to the ruins and recovered the sword grimring
-equipped it on my leader
-travelled from phexcaer to hermit's lake

from what I read, halfway through it I should meet an orc army and challenge them in battle. But nothing happens. I found the griffin, the unicorm, and reached the hermit's house. Then tried a couple times to go back and forward. Sometimes I found orc encounters, easy battles, but no army.

 

[Radiane]

You may lack the war plans which tell you of the arriving of the orc army and its date. It's in that dungeon south of Phexcaer, down the long road through the mountains.

 

[DavidBVal]

You may lack the war plans which tell you of the arriving of the orc army and its date. It's in that dungeon south of Phexcaer, down the long road through the mountains.

I was thinking the same. Went from phexcaer to skelellen, up and down, twice, losing lots of stuff in the swamp, finding again the sword ruins, a temple and even a rinoceros, but no orc plans.

 

[DavidBVal]

hmm maybe I need a rumor about orcs in phexcaer first?

 

[Radiane]

So you did find the dungeon? Afair you can find that place anytime, no need for any triggers or anything of the like. If you travel south from Phexcaer, the dungeon should be relatively close to the city, maybe like 2 days away. The dungeon should be consisting of only one floor, and the plans are in the southern central area, behind some difficult to open door. I just read some wiki and it says in order to open that door you need to face west some tiles before the door in order to see the lever for it and you should also leave one char there that holds the lever down. I know that I got confused at that place quite a lot and due to the older and a little bug-ridden nature of its gameplay and therefore it's not always 100% clear how to advance. I think I just teleported my party inside the door, best to just try out a few things there.

 

[DavidBVal]

So you did find the dungeon? Afair you can find that place anytime, no need for any triggers or anything of the like. If you travel south from Phexcaer, the dungeon should be relatively close to the city, maybe like 2 days away. The dungeon should be consisting of only one floor, and the plans are in the southern central area, behind some difficult to open door. I just read some wiki and it says in order to open that door you need to face west some tiles before the door in order to see the lever for it and you should also leave one char there that holds the lever down. I know that I got confused at that place quite a lot and due to the older and a little bug-ridden nature of its gameplay and therefore it's not always 100% clear how to advance. I think I just teleported my party inside the door, best to just try out a few things there.

nope, I never found that dungeon. You mean on the road to Skellelen through swamps and mountains, right? on that route I found the large 4-level dungeon with the sword in it, but never a small dungeon with plans. Just tried again, and nothing. Listened to every rumor in Phexcaer.

 

[Radiane]

The dungeon with the sword from Hyggelik can be spawned at at least two different locations I think, depending on where your party may be on the world map. But that your party didn't stumble across that other dungeon is pretty weird I think, as the other dungeons are at set places. Maybe some differences in the english version of the game?

 

[jaekl]

So you did find the dungeon? Afair you can find that place anytime, no need for any triggers or anything of the like. If you travel south from Phexcaer, the dungeon should be relatively close to the city, maybe like 2 days away. The dungeon should be consisting of only one floor, and the plans are in the southern central area, behind some difficult to open door. I just read some wiki and it says in order to open that door you need to face west some tiles before the door in order to see the lever for it and you should also leave one char there that holds the lever down. I know that I got confused at that place quite a lot and due to the older and a little bug-ridden nature of its gameplay and therefore it's not always 100% clear how to advance. I think I just teleported my party inside the door, best to just try out a few things there.

nope, I never found that dungeon. You mean on the road to Skellelen through swamps and mountains, right? on that route I found the large 4-level dungeon with the sword in it, but never a small dungeon with plans. Just tried again, and nothing. Listened to every rumor in Phexcaer.

According to my hint book, the sword should have been on the purple route and the orc cave on the red route. I've seen some posts claiming that it took more than one travel through the red route so there could be a skill check or something, or it may depend on which direction you're travelling?