Blackadder said:
Unrelatedly to your post, RoT is more retard-friendly, which annoyed me, as it took me quite a while to get into the Drakensang system and eventually appreciate it.
So you enjoyed the first iteration then? What were the good points that you found in it?
I probably can't put my finger on specific points, but let's see...
First of all I really liked the atmosphere and the story. It has a fairytale flavour, with a hue of Greyhawk PnP campaign and vague hints of grand epic. Nothing too innovative or original, but "classic" doesn't have to mean "boring" or "cliche", and Drakensang feels like an old classic.
The pacing is nice, not too hasty, not too slow: I quite liked how sidequests were integrated into the main questline, or kinda (whereas in many games they just feel as optional and useless). Cities, towns, villages felt pretty lively, too.
I liked the RPG system behind the game, I liked the use of social skills (seduce, fast talk, human nature), I like how, for most of the game, the focus was not too heavy on combat. Also, I like how the focus was not on ultimate items of doom, but more on encounter approach and strategy/micromanagement.
The game engine does a wonderful job too, and system requirements aren't too hefty: the area design was superb, the variety of the locations good.
I liked how dwarves in the game speak with a Scottish accent, an actual heavy Scottish accent, not the stereotypical Scottish/drunken/pirate/sailor accent (see Bioware).
The one big flaw of the game is the finale, rushed and a really anticlimactic (the last fight and the final cutscene: the latter especially was really shit).
Altogether, a really enjoyable experience, once one got past the prologue area and tried to cope with the unfamiliar RPG system.