Posted on: November 5, 2017

grundke_s

Games: 3 Reviews: 3

For fans

I was thrilled when these games came out. Being a fan of the pen-and-paper-world the games are based on, I looked forward to their release for month and must've repeatedly played and finished all of the three games in the series. For me, these games are great. But I always considered myself one of the few people who enjoyed playing them and not really expected a lot of others enjoying them as well. That's why I never quite understood why they dared to release these games for any other market than the german one. Back then, this software was aimed at a thriving community of the corresponding pen-and-paper-system. Nobody minded that they implemented heaps of useless stats and talents and spells. On the contrary: People probably wouldn't have received the games well otherwise. They would have been considered a watered-down version of the original gaming-system, which was all about a shitload of stats that rarely mattered once you started playing. As a consequence, for people unfamiliar with the roleplaying-world of the Dark Eye, the computer-games must've been terrible to play. I am surprised that the series did rather well internationally nonetheless. Keep in mind that the system had never been translated into another language on a large scale and that it relied heavily on language, despite all it's maths and tables and stats. That was years before Fantasy Productions took over and started messing with the gameworld in a way that scared off a lot of the german fans. Storywise, these games had quite a bit to offer, as well: They give an adequate impression of the northern part of the gaming-world and I would have loved to see other parts of Aventuria come to life on the computer as well. They eventually did, but only much later: The Drakensang series, is, as far as I am concerned, an even better adaption. It's less hardcore but still very true to the orginal gaming world - and therefore highly recommended.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: August 4, 2017

Tyrsword

Verified owner

Games: 632 Reviews: 1

Dated graphics, but marvelous adventure

Realms of Arkania is one of the outstanding party adventures that came out in the nineties. The game has a pretty cool storyline, that enfolds through the whole series. Since it's a game out of a pen&paper background there is a large world, that was developed throughout the years with the help of the community. The graphics of the first two parts of the series have been quite dated already on release. The system is not very accesible to beginners, but if you can put up with these two shortcomings you get one of the most detailed rpgs ever. You can play it very much your way. There are even people who played the whole games through with just one partymember. But how you want to develop your crew is totally up to you. If you'd like to you could even make a living out of trading, or as a band of musicians or whatever. One thing I really would like to recommend though is one communitypatch since there still is a bug with the resilience to magica in the first part. A couple of human enemies are ridiculously resilient, almost immune to crowd controlling magic. This makes it a very bad choice to take a druid, elve or magician with your party, that specialices on this kind of magic. However, there is a communitypatch which can be found on the web. Thanks to gog for providing us with this gem. Thanks to the community for polishing it. p.s. Please excuse my English, I'm not a native speaker.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: August 21, 2013

Takuan017

Verified owner

Games: 9 Reviews: 1

Great!

Both titles worked so far on my Win8 and even cluebooks included? Like most RPG's in the early days that game isnt ment to be played through in one attempt. Its not balanced to death and here you CAN make wrong decisions. At my first attempt my party starved in the wilderness and a cold killed them all? Took me a while to find the right items and skills to avoid this. If you dont like that kind of stuff, better dont touch it. Me likes alot! A rewarding story and true challenge.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: November 16, 2010

Gabby2

Verified owner

Games: 366 Reviews: 14

Too much simulation did not lead me to pleasure...

First, a few words : I like RPG since I played the Exile games by Spiderweb, I liked WIz 7 when it came out. I loved daggerfall. I like ugly graphisms and tons of numbers in a huge world. Yeah. Now what about Arkania ? - the character creation include a lot of numbers. A clever system of "negative attributes" you have to deal with, and 50+ skills. Before getting your dream party, be prepared to "reroll" a lot. The whole process is a part of the pleasure in this kind of old rpg, it's so rewarding to start a game after reading carefully the manual (not much IG informations about the effects of skills, and very difficult to know what each spell do from the name only). Really consider if you like that before buying this game. - the city maps are classical : tile by tile, a map will tell you where are the shops, inns and temples. - the world map... hum... Cities spread on the map, linked by roads. Travelling from A to B suppose to meet scripted events (km 9 from A : "a firecamp has been recently abandonned. Will you 1. install your own camp here for the night 2. send your best scout to investigate the camp and search for the former campers 3. just keep travelling". Km 20 : "the trail divide by two. One way seems to make a detour over a hill, losing time and efforts, but on the other one it seems you would be very vulnerable to an ambush". Etc, etc. ANd some random events of course. It's rather cool, even if long travels become tedious (If you go from A to C, and B is on the way, you'll have to cross the city map of B. You can't just stay on the world map during long journeys). - Resting. Ok. So you travel in the wild. Your chars will get tired, ask for a break. Set your camp, decide that your priest/alchemist will go fetch some healing herbs, your ranger will hunt or search for water. Choose your watchmen, when each one goes guard during the night . Get attacked anyway, fight while trying to wake up. ... You will go throu this process a lot of time. A lot. And again. And there is no way to automate this. Resting will become a job. A great backpacking sim it is. - the fight system : tile by tile, action points according to agility, charge of equipement... Not much to say, the system is not very smooth but it's ok. You'll need the printed manual (or a printed faq) here too because it's hard to know what each spell do before using it. At least until you get used to the system. - the dongeons : well... hard to say. You can play a long time without going into the dongeons. The freedom of the world map has a downside : it's hard to find what you're expected to do for the main quest. You can stay far from the trail for a long time. Hard to know if a dongeon is of your level before entering (and dying, probably). I had fun creating my characters, I had fun exploring the wilderness... Until I got really bored by the repetitive and unrewarding process. Then I had forgotten about my quest, but nothing could get me on the trail. I found a dongeon, and died inside (a lot). So I kept looking for an easier dongeon, and couln't find any. So I kept grinding and exploring, but... well... I had no quest to complete, no npc to talk to (just random clues after paying for my round at the local pub are not what I call social interactions). I think the pleasure you will get from this game will vary, depending how long you can stand the backpacking sim which is the price of freedom in this game. The char creation was the best part for me, imagining all the fun I But the feeling of adventure, epic fights and is very thin and left me disapointed...

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: October 2, 2009

tomcio_bombadill

Games: 4 Reviews: 3

Hard but rewarding game

I like RPG games made by germans. They have characteristic 'touch' and germans know how to make good RPG.Realms of Arkania series is best one, next to Gothic. Lot of your's party management, nice, for release time, graphic. Interface and moving around could be done better but it's not so large disadvantage. Games are very playable with 'another hour' syndrome :]. Best buy!

Is this helpful to you?

Discover CD PROJEKT RED games

Highlights

Featured

Close, but not an exact hit

Realms of Arkania 1+2

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Delete this review?

Report this review

Additional Details (required):

Report this review