They probably don't want to look bad in the games finished in xxxx year thread :-)

Maybe you're right....0.o

I've played SC and think it's boring. I might go back and give it a try one day but probably not. Realms of Arkania 3 is a buy for me as soon as the contest is over. I hope GOG keeps adding more RPGs to the contest.

I love the battles so far.....sadly though the last few contests have been disappointing as I either own both games(Or the one I want of the two.) or are games from a genre I don't like so much(The flying games.). :\

The combat is technical like FF4 - FF9 and X2.
Wait for the ATB-Gauge to fill up, then choose your command.

Come to think of it, the common denominator of these two contestants might be "Games with a lot of long-drawn-out combats", seeing that someone complained about the waiting in SC's repetitive combat and that the RoA series has one of the slowest combat systems ever, where even taking out a few puny orcs can take forever. ;)

In any case, one could say that with both games you'll spend the great majority of your playing time with turn-based combat (which might be a good thing, if that's what you after - ToEE would have been another worthy contestant).

The problem with waiting in Septerra Core, is that you have to re-fight all the fights if you go through the same area again. If you get lost, like I did in the game when it first came out, or if you get stuck in finding a critical item to advance the story, you must re-fight a whole load of fights, which takes a while with all the pre-combat and after-combat animations you go through and having to wait for the full course of the battle to take place. My characters got so tough from the re-fighting battles, that I ended up literally killing all enemies I faced in one hit. It got boring for me having to wait for the fights to take their course, I gave up trying to finish the game. Some fights also take a long time, there are times when you can only deal 1 damage to certain monsters no matter what you do, so you have to wait a while before you can kill it. Not so bad you might think, but then you consider you have to do it a whole bunch of times.

I like the game, a fun RPG with adventure elements and several optional secret side quests I found while playing, good stuff all around. But all the waiting with the battles I'd have to do... I'm not sure I could ever play it again.

With Shadows Over Riva, I played it when I was like 8(?), and I played all the way through it with no trouble at all, no walk through needed, and I knew nothing of the Dark Eye at the time. Combat was turn-based, and of course you have to wait in turn-based combat, but it was much more fun to me than Septerra Core. And all the stats in the game and the role playing elements I loved, they wanted to create a pen and paper RPG experience on the computer. I never played a pen and paper RPG before, but I must admit, it's gameplay is one I wish more games had, it's a great game.



If you really want the music from the game, you could pick up a copy of it off Ebay or a similar site.

The game CD has all the tracks on it, just pop it in a CD player and you'll be able to play it like a music CD. I have the game CD, and I wouldn't mind putting up all the tracks for people to download, if it was legal of course. I actually have my scanned CD's picture on Mobygames.com for the game ;).

Ah, I mentioned some way back in the thread that I still have the original Soundtrack CD that came with my big box copy of Shadows over Riva from '97, so I'm not looking for the songs for myself, per se - more that I'm curious why only a few are up on the site.

No matter which one wins, I will buy Realms of Arkania 3.

Is it important to have played the first two in this series or not?
Is RoA 3 much improved upon the previous?

Story- and Technicalwise: No.
But you can take your character and party and import them from 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3 so you can play through all 3 Games with your own special crew. Also Part 3 is set in and around one City, Part 1 and 2 have many small citys and a worldmap to travel around.

I just noticed, on its game card, that Septerra Core comes with 85 maps. Holy Freakin' Mack. that is a LOT of maps.

Also, would people who have played this title still recommend it to me if I really enjoy WRPGs, but have never really gotten along with JRPGs?

Thanks :)

Traitors

Well, true to my word, I bought both games here. Installed Realms of Arcania 3 again after many, many years since I last played it....

.... and I'd forgotten quite how much character creation reminded me of pulling my own teeth out with a pair of rusty pliers whilst listening to the greatest hits of Klaus Wunderlich.

I intend to persevere, but.... gah! :P

I can always go back to Drakensang for a more friendly approach to it all, though :)

Dark Souls' combat is technical. Watching a gauge refill over and over and deciding between three attack choices... not so much.