Review The Dragon Knight Saga Does Fairly Well

[Crooked Bee]

There are (or at least were) torrents for the German version of FoV, but probably not for the English one.

 

[made]

It`s kinda nice to see that even Skyway says "ok game", go Larian.

It's especially funny seeing him rage at apples every chance he gets while apparently oranges are a-ok.

Yah, really strange.

My bad. Didn't realize that TW has to adhere to some ludicrous standards that don't apply to other arpgs.

 

[MetalCraze]

No actually TW has to adhere to normal standards for action games. Like having your character hit when player presses the button, not playing stupid QTE mini-game that has no variety at all.

In DKS I have to dodge arrows and swords too. Oh and it even has a proper "evasion" dice roll (provided you have at least one point in that skill) when getting hit which determines whether hit happened or not. Not like in TW where it's the primitive 'lawl you failed to press teh buttan in time you got hit'.

Finally DKS has some combos too. They are quite simple and few. But at least there is some variety.

 

[Selenti]

If you find DKS easy, put the difficulty up to the maximum level, this will more than make up for better gear and easier tuning.

DKS is better in every way, no reason to avoid it unless you hate upping the difficulty level for some reason but still want challenge.

The only "hard" part in the original Divinity 2, anyway, was the dragon sequences with overlapping anti-dragon barriers, and that wasn't genuine difficulty so much as just tedium you had to slog through.

 

[Misterhamper]

Finally DKS has some combos too. They are quite simple and few. But at least there is some variety.

Combos? What kinda combos? I never experienced any.

 

[A user named cat]

I found out something quite bizarre in regards to performance, might be helpful to a few pirates. Since I only have the reloaded version right now, using the hotfix is out of the question to help with the choppy stuff since there's no crack for it.

So I found out in order for the game to run much smoother, you have to open a bunch of shit in the background (windows media player, browsers, etc.) prior to starting the game. Weird fix but it works.

 

[Lesifoere]

I found out something quite bizarre in regards to performance, might be helpful to a few pirates. Since I only have the reloaded version right now, using the hotfix is out of the question to help with the choppy stuff since there's no crack for it.

So I found out in order for the game to run much smoother, you have to open a bunch of shit in the background (windows media player, browsers, etc.) prior to starting the game. Weird fix but it works.

Sounds incredibly bizarre. Not experiencing choppiness right now, though. Using an ATI card for what that's worth.

The only "hard" part in the original Divinity 2, anyway, was the dragon sequences with overlapping anti-dragon barriers, and that wasn't genuine difficulty so much as just tedium you had to slog through.

Yep. It wasn't "omg too hard I can't deeeeal" but more "fuck this shit, I can't take anymore of this dumbfuckery."

 

[Twinkle]

So I found out in order for the game to run much smoother, you have to open a bunch of shit in the background (windows media player, browsers, etc.) prior to starting the game. Weird fix but it works.

Try changing its priority then.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

I found out something quite bizarre in regards to performance, might be helpful to a few pirates. Since I only have the reloaded version right now, using the hotfix is out of the question to help with the choppy stuff since there's no crack for it.

So I found out in order for the game to run much smoother, you have to open a bunch of shit in the background (windows media player, browsers, etc.) prior to starting the game. Weird fix but it works.

Sounds incredibly bizarre. Not experiencing choppiness right now, though.

I just wanna be able to turn off the fucking forced VSynch!

Which, in DKS, actually gives you half your refresh rate - so 60hz = 30FPS (max), no matter what your machine is capable of.

Using an ATI card for what that's worth.

Not much?

Apart from that though, I must say I'm having pretty good time with the game now that I maxed out the difficulty slider. Just hit level 10 somwhere in the middle of Broken Valley and am having a blast.

 

[Twinkle]

Have you tried this hotfix? http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=424718

Apparently it allows you to disable stupid engine framerate cap through config edits.

 

[MetalCraze]

Yeah the game becomes quite a bitch on hard. Except still doable but requires you to constantly move and dodge stuff. One of the good things that modern action games lack. If only there were more spells.

Also there is a thing I actually like about flying fortresses. It's the amount of mobs. When your fireball puts down 4-5 of them at once and the combat is still far from over it tends to be pretty fun. I jumped from lvl26 to lvl 32-33 there in like an hour or two.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Have you tried this hotfix? http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=424718

Apparently it allows you to disable stupid engine framerate cap through config edits.

Yeah.... ehem, my copy of DKS isn't exactly legit.

I bought ED when it first came out, but never got around to playing it (apart from the tutorial) - my first impression of the game wasn't great, so I torrented DKS.

Just goes to show, you should never judge a game either by reviews or first impressions/tutorials. Not to mention youtube vids, previews etc, etc.... hey skyway?

 

[DraQ]

What's amusing is that I had more fun fighting in Witcher than in ED.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really good game and I'll definitely buy the expansion (DKS, as FoV is apparently unavailable in boxed form), but the combat is rather weak, especially for a H'n'S.

What was cool is that some battles were quite hard and pitted you against powerful enemies while underleveled even if you exhausted available XP sources. Some would call it a balancing failure, but since the level gap was never large enough to make victory physically impossible, I won't complain, but rather enjoy the elevated challenge.

As for flying fortresses, how the fuck were they hard? They were a bit tedious, as they essentially replicated some particularly fucked up 8bit vertical scrollers that tried to saturate you with ground based turrets, except in 3D environment with free movement, but hard?

 

[DraQ]

Did you play melee or a mage? I played a mage. It wasn't hard, but it was kind of retarded all around. CIRCLE AROUND REALLY FAST, PAUSE TO SPAM MAGIC MISSLE, RUN AROUND SOME MORE. Yay. Fun.

A bit of a hybrid. I probably nerfed myself there somewhat, but given the importance of level it worked out well.

Still, apart from challenge when, for example I got raped by Laiken or raped by by dragonelves at the beginning of Sentinel Island, where I had to figure out some cheese tactics to merely survive, the combat was rather boring.

The battle where you had to protect Zandalor from distractions was quite an ordeal. The only battle where I essentially played in RTWP, pausing every 0.5-0.25s to issue commands.

 

[Lesifoere]

Yeah, the combat's not really that fun. I experimented a few times with different builds, but no matter what it never resolved into happy-fun-times for me.

EDIT: fuck it, now that I'm attempting to replay I finally remember how desperately tedious much of the game is, even pre-dragon combat. One last chance--starting FoV. If not, well fuck it, one more playthrough of Chaos Rising has got to be more fun than this.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Yeah, the combat's not really that fun. I experimented a few times with different builds, but no matter what it never resolved into happy-fun-times for me.

EDIT: fuck it, now that I'm attempting to replay I finally remember how desperately tedious much of the game is, even pre-dragon combat. One last chance--starting FoV. If not, well fuck it, one more playthrough of Chaos Rising has got to be more fun than this.

Uh oh, the tables are turning...

Yeah, I have to admit the game reminds me of a single player MMO at times (albeit a good one). Still, the world design, atmosphere, character development and some interesting quests somewhat make up for it.

Actually, it is an ARPG after all and now that I think of it, it's very similar to DD in that regard, only in 3rd person 3D - so it's stayed fairly true to it's roots.

EDIT: How's Chaos Rising Lesi? It's another I have on my 'must get around to' list. I heard it's much more like a squad based ARPG (rather than RTS) now, which sounds p.cool to me.

 

[DalekFlay]

Have you tried this hotfix? http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=424718

Apparently it allows you to disable stupid engine framerate cap through config edits.

Yeah.... ehem, my copy of DKS isn't exactly legit.

I bought ED when it first came out, but never got around to playing it (apart from the tutorial) - my first impression of the game wasn't great, so I torrented DKS.

Just goes to show, you should never judge a game either by reviews or first impressions/tutorials. Not to mention youtube vids, previews etc, etc.... hey skyway?

So when you said you didn't want to play FoV instead because you already got DKS and you didn't want to pay "again" you were... lying? How shameful.

They put a lot of work into FoV and it's a pretty good expansion. You should pay the $20 for that at least.

 

[Roguey]

Oh and it even has a proper "evasion" dice roll (provided you have at least one point in that skill) when getting hit which determines whether hit happened or not. Not like in TW where it's the primitive 'lawl you failed to press teh buttan in time you got hit'.

What? The Witcher had that. Dexterity would increase your dodging and parrying chances, strength increased parrying a bit as well. Drinking a Blizzard would increase both by 50%. Did you even look at the character sheet?

 

[DraQ]

Oh and it even has a proper "evasion" dice roll (provided you have at least one point in that skill) when getting hit which determines whether hit happened or not. Not like in TW where it's the primitive 'lawl you failed to press teh buttan in time you got hit'.

What? The Witcher had that. Dexterity would increase your dodging and parrying chances, strength increased parrying a bit as well. Drinking a Blizzard would increase both by 50%. Did you even look at the character sheet?

Skyways gonna skyway.


@AlaCarcuss:

If you like it and feel it's a step in the right direction from current state of affairs, buy it.

 

[Lesifoere]

Yeah, the combat's not really that fun. I experimented a few times with different builds, but no matter what it never resolved into happy-fun-times for me.

EDIT: fuck it, now that I'm attempting to replay I finally remember how desperately tedious much of the game is, even pre-dragon combat. One last chance--starting FoV. If not, well fuck it, one more playthrough of Chaos Rising has got to be more fun than this.

Uh oh, the tables are turning...

Yeah, I have to admit the game reminds me of a single player MMO at times (albeit a good one). Still, the world design, atmosphere, character development and some interesting quests somewhat make up for it.

Actually, it is an ARPG after all and now that I think of it, it's very similar to DD in that regard, only in 3rd person 3D - so it's stayed fairly true to it's roots.

Yeah, but since it's in 3D and about as polished as a turd, you can get stuck on rocks or on a shelf that you had the temerity to jump on in order to grab a key or open a chest (I jumped around like a maniac on said shelf for a while before smashing, heh, several barrels to get free), and unlike in MMOs there's no /unstuck command. The fact that you can only interact with an object by standing directly in front of it and facing it very precisely is fucking terrible. My first playthrough was more acceptable because it was all fairly quaint, but I don't bloody well want to do it all over again. Ego Draconis has no replay value. You replay it, you remember all the shitty, shitty, shitty parts and whimper inwardly at the prospect of having to go through all of it again. You face the terrible bloom outdoor, and the execrable textures and lighting indoor. You confront the dire combat system and almost wish you were dealing with Bethesduh's VATS instead. And then you want to uninstall and laugh at Larian for whining about being treated badly by the American gaming press. You deserve it, fucktard.

EDIT: How's Chaos Rising Lesi? It's another I have on my 'must get around to' list. I heard it's much more like a squad based ARPG (rather than RTS) now, which sounds p.cool to me.

It's superb. Don't expect super-duper-deep strategies or anything, but it's pure undiluted squad-based semi-tactical fun. The writing's not even bad! Squad leaders really grew on me, and in CR particularly there're some very atmospheric missions. Bonus--you can affect the plot, somewhat, in the CR campaign. Vanilla campaign is a bit ehhhh and repetitive, but I still recommend it. Way more entertaining than most of the RPGs that came out this year, and the chaos meter does give it some replay incentive.

SHOW ME WHAT PASSES FOR FURY AMONG YOUR MISBEGOTTEN KIND.

 

[Murk]

Heh, decided to buy the digital DKS version off the main site. Filled it out, entered c/c number and it told me I should be getting an eMail.

Err... been 30 minutes and no eMail. Wtf bro, wtf. Well, it hasn't charged my card yet, but still, wtf.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Have you tried this hotfix? http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=424718

Apparently it allows you to disable stupid engine framerate cap through config edits.

Yeah.... ehem, my copy of DKS isn't exactly legit.

I bought ED when it first came out, but never got around to playing it (apart from the tutorial) - my first impression of the game wasn't great, so I torrented DKS.

Just goes to show, you should never judge a game either by reviews or first impressions/tutorials. Not to mention youtube vids, previews etc, etc.... hey skyway?

So when you said you didn't want to play FoV instead because you already got DKS and you didn't want to pay "again" you were... lying? How shameful.

They put a lot of work into FoV and it's a pretty good expansion. You should pay the $20 for that at least.

No, I meant I didn't want to buy DKS (or FoV) at this time, after buying ED and not playing due to bad first impressions. So I took the 'extended demo' route.

I will buy FoV when the time comes (I'm still fairly early into the ED part of DKS) - my only concern now will be savegame compatibility?

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Yeah, the combat's not really that fun. I experimented a few times with different builds, but no matter what it never resolved into happy-fun-times for me.

EDIT: fuck it, now that I'm attempting to replay I finally remember how desperately tedious much of the game is, even pre-dragon combat. One last chance--starting FoV. If not, well fuck it, one more playthrough of Chaos Rising has got to be more fun than this.

Uh oh, the tables are turning...

Yeah, I have to admit the game reminds me of a single player MMO at times (albeit a good one). Still, the world design, atmosphere, character development and some interesting quests somewhat make up for it.

Actually, it is an ARPG after all and now that I think of it, it's very similar to DD in that regard, only in 3rd person 3D - so it's stayed fairly true to it's roots.

Yeah, but since it's in 3D and about as polished as a turd, you can get stuck on rocks or on a shelf that you had the temerity to jump on in order to grab a key or open a chest (I jumped around like a maniac on said shelf for a while before smashing, heh, several barrels to get free), and unlike in MMOs there's no /unstuck command. The fact that you can only interact with an object by standing directly in front of it and facing it very precisely is fucking terrible. My first playthrough was more acceptable because it was all fairly quaint, but I don't bloody well want to do it all over again. Ego Draconis has no replay value. You replay it, you remember all the shitty, shitty, shitty parts and whimper inwardly at the prospect of having to go through all of it again. You face the terrible bloom outdoor, and the execrable textures and lighting indoor. You confront the dire combat system and almost wish you were dealing with Bethesduh's VATS instead. And then you want to uninstall and laugh at Larian for whining about being treated badly by the American gaming press. You deserve it, fucktard.

Aww now come on, I think you're being a bit harsh.

Combat's not that bad and can be kinda fun depending on your build. There's lots of attention to detail and lots of little things to discover - like the stone thingy quest item that, when you 'use', teleports you to a dungeon with the ghost and a stack of mosters to kill (and some nice loot). I almost missed it completely and was about to hand it in when I noticed you could 'use' it. That's just one example of many I've found so far. In general I think some of the quests are quite well designed.

Another small thing I had fun with was the rabbit the gypsy tells you about - I was in the middle of a fierce battle with a heap of bandits a level or two above me when it made it's appearence - trying to keep it in sight while getting bum-rushed by mobs (which the fucking rabbit kept running right through the middle of), was hella fun. (I didn't realise at the time, it would just wait for you to deal with them lol).

I'll admit, I'm a bit of a loot whore and an umashamed min-maxer, so the game's definately ticking those boxes for me. It also looks fine to me (if you want to complain about bloom, wait till you see Two Wolds 2).

As far as getting stuck in the environment goes, hasn't happend to me yet but I distinctly remember it hapening to me a few times in Gothic 2 which I replayed recently. At least you found a way out by smashing boxes and not having to load a previous save.

Anyway, I've just about finished with Broken Valley at lvl 12, so maybe it get's worse father into it?

EDIT: How's Chaos Rising Lesi? It's another I have on my 'must get around to' list. I heard it's much more like a squad based ARPG (rather than RTS) now, which sounds p.cool to me.

It's superb. Don't expect super-duper-deep strategies or anything, but it's pure undiluted squad-based semi-tactical fun. The writing's not even bad! Squad leaders really grew on me, and in CR particularly there're some very atmospheric missions. Bonus--you can affect the plot, somewhat, in the CR campaign. Vanilla campaign is a bit ehhhh and repetitive, but I still recommend it. Way more entertaining than most of the RPGs that came out this year, and the chaos meter does give it some replay incentive.

Cool, it just moved to the top of my list

 

[Lesifoere]

Aww now come on, I think you're being a bit harsh.

Combat's not that bad and can be kinda fun depending on your build. There's lots of attention to detail and lots of little things to discover - like the stone thingy quest item that, when you 'use', teleports you to a dungeon with the ghost and a stack of mosters to kill (and some nice loot). I almost missed it completely and was about to hand it in when I noticed you could 'use' it. That's just one example of many I've found so far. In general I think some of the quests are quite well designed.

Another small thing I had fun with was the rabbit the gypsy tells you about - I was in the middle of a fierce battle with a heap of bandits a level or two above me when it made it's appearence - trying to keep it in sight while getting bum-rushed by mobs (which the fucking rabbit kept running right through the middle of), was hella fun. (I didn't realise at the time, it would just wait for you to deal with them lol).

I appreciate all the weird little things like the rabbit (in retrospect: lolwut, and yeah I also frantically followed it while aggroing a train of mobs), the dungeons, the bright orange levers sticking out of random patches of grass (why, why orange? Why do they look so pasted on?). I do appreciate that. But it's only fun the first time around, and as someone attempting to replay because she lost the savegame, it's a knife-scraping-glass experience. Set the teeth on edge.

Anyway, I've just about finished with Broken Valley at lvl 12, so maybe it get's worse father into it?

Oh, no. Broken Valley is the best part of the game. It's all downhill from here. Enjoy the dragon combat!

 

[DalekFlay]

I will buy FoV when the time comes (I'm still fairly early into the ED part of DKS) - my only concern now will be savegame compatibility?

Saves are fine with FoV... DKS is the one where saves are exclusive to it. That said there is a patch releasing any day now that turns ED + FoV into DKS for those who want that and DKS saves will be compatible with that.

So... if you are playing DKS but want to use those saves on ED + FoV you will need to apply the patch that turns those two into DKS.

And then shoot acronym man in the fucking face.