Drakensang english demo (win a copy!)

[Eightball]

So who did folks side with in the Dark Forest/Blood Mountains?

Spoiler for Hiden:

I went with the witches, although I apparently got dinged for shedding blood when getting the cooking pot back, not sure how I could have sneaked in.

Spoiler for Hiden:

You can do it if you wait until the one wandering guy gets far enough away...then run in, snag the cooking pot, and run away.  Kind of a pain, though.

Also, I went witches; I saved before the decision to see what happens, and yes, you miss out on a very good melee trainer, as well as a good vendor.  But I also wasn't going with the inquisition.

Supposedly, however, if you go witches and manage to get through that entire map without killing 1 ray of light...you will have access to the trainer and vendor after finishing the main map quest.  I can't confirm that...as I basically hacked my way through that map.

[Fez]

Well, I've been progressing through the area below Ferdok, and this game is defnitely tough.  Maybe I'm a bit low level for the area, especially the final encounter.   My group is essentially level 4.

Without revealing any spoilers, are the later areas a bit more diverse?  I have to say I got a bit tired fighting the same things over and over again in this area.

[Eightball]

Well, I've been progressing through the area below Ferdok, and this game is defnitely tough.  Maybe I'm a bit low level for the area, especially the final encounter.   My group is essentially level 4.

Without revealing any spoilers, are the later areas a bit more diverse?  I have to say I got a bit tired fighting the same things over and over again in this area.

Yes.  And you're also underleveled for that particular zone...

[Fez]

Well, I've been progressing through the area below Ferdok, and this game is defnitely tough.  Maybe I'm a bit low level for the area, especially the final encounter.   My group is essentially level 4.

Without revealing any spoilers, are the later areas a bit more diverse?  I have to say I got a bit tired fighting the same things over and over again in this area.

Yes.  And you're also underleveled for that particular zone...

Thanks for the info!  Well, I guess I should feel proud that I made it all the way down to the final encounter before biting the dust.  Guess I'll come back for the final confrontation later after taking care of some other quests.

[Eightball]

Well, I've been progressing through the area below Ferdok, and this game is defnitely tough.  Maybe I'm a bit low level for the area, especially the final encounter.   My group is essentially level 4.

Without revealing any spoilers, are the later areas a bit more diverse?  I have to say I got a bit tired fighting the same things over and over again in this area.

Yes.  And you're also underleveled for that particular zone...

Thanks for the info!  Well, I guess I should feel proud that I made it all the way down to the final encounter before biting the dust.  Guess I'll come back for the final confrontation later after taking care of some other quests.

No problem.  What makes it do-able to come back is that you can use the dwarf teleporters to easily get in and out of that dungeon.  If it helps, I did that quest at level 8.  It's by far the most boring dungeon crawl in the game...hey look, a rat.  Hey look, another rat.  Oh...here come 50 rats.  Bleh.

[Greg Wak]

Yay! No more plinking! My ranger bowman felt kinda weak even with double shot. Bu now I have an improved bow, war arrows and I kicked strength up a notch. Very nice damage dealing now. The game is a bit harder than if I had played my usual melee tank guy, but I am enjoying doing something different. And Fez, it seems to me so far that each area has a different monster/enemy set.

[Fez]

Yay! No more plinking! My ranger bowman felt kinda weak even with double shot. Bu now I have an improved bow, war arrows and I kicked strength up a notch. Very nice damage dealing now. The game is a bit harder than if I had played my usual melee tank guy, but I am enjoying doing something different. And Fez, it seems to me so far that each area has a different monster/enemy set.

That's good to hear as well.  My main is a healing mage who uses a bow (and a staff in bad situations).  My strategy is to use a combination of bow and offensive/defensive magic and to hang back in the battle and let the melee folks do their jobs. It's a toss up between Dranor and Gladys (who are shown in the manual and you meet early  on, so no spoilers here) as to who I want to leave out of the party in the current group. However, besides a better ranged ability, it doesn't seem like Dranor offers a whole lot that Gladys can't do or be easily trained to do.  And I've kind of given up on sneaking too -- far too slow, and I haven't seen a situation where I really need it yet.

Overall, I have to say I really like the Drakensang RPG system.  Seems a bit more comlex than D&D, but perhaps a bit more entertaining in a computer game, minus the lag time to do simple chores.

[Sarkus]

I finally picked this up and am still in the same area covered by the demo.  One thing I do wish they had implemented is some sort of more frequent auto-save feature.  After playing other RPG's where they autosave all over, it's easy to forget to do that here and lose 45 minutes of game time.  I did that in the demo and once again today.   

[Fez]

I finally picked this up and am still in the same area covered by the demo.  One thing I do wish they had implemented is some sort of more frequent auto-save feature.  After playing other RPG's where they autosave all over, it's easy to forget to do that here and lose 45 minutes of game time.  I did that in the demo and once again today.   

You can use F5 to do a quick save, and I've found that to be very useful.

[Sarkus]

You can use F5 to do a quick save, and I've found that to be very useful.

Yeah, I know that.  I'm just not in the habit of having to constantly save on my own since I got used to Fallout 3, where the game autosaves everytime you load into a new area, which is fairly often.

I'm now into the town proper.  Some of the names are pretty funny - Barla Borkensmith.     Bunny the barmaid.   

[CeeKay]

so, has anyone finished the game yet?  any comments on the length so far?

I got sidetracked by an umpteenth playing of Jade Empire so I'm still in the town near the swamp area but I should be able to get back to it this weekend.

[Fez]

so, has anyone finished the game yet?  any comments on the length so far?

I got sidetracked by an umpteenth playing of Jade Empire so I'm still in the town near the swamp area but I should be able to get back to it this weekend.

That's where I am at the moment.  So far it's keeping me interested, even though I still need to go back and finish Fallout 3, Fable 2, and Mass Effect! 

[Greg Wak]

I think the game is pretty big. I'm in my 4th area after the Ferdok and I think the story is still just getting started.

[Fez]

Well, I'm still chugging through it, and enjoying it much more after the quests started to branch out from Ferdok.  I just solved Ardo's murder, and I'm on my way to Tallon. Where does that put me percentage-wise through the game?  Anyone know?

[Sarkus]

Well, I'm still chugging through it, and enjoying it much more after the quests started to branch out from Ferdok.  I just solved Ardo's murder, and I'm on my way to Tallon. Where does that put me percentage-wise through the game?  Anyone know?

You're further then I am, then.  I have no idea how long the game is.  It's kind of weird in the internet age not to know that kind of thing!   

[Greg Wak]

I'm sure I could prowl around some message boards and find out how long the game is but I don't want to. I just want to follow the story until it ends. Been playing since it first came out and I think I still have a few areas to unlock. Still enjoying it.

[Eightball]

Well, I'm still chugging through it, and enjoying it much more after the quests started to branch out from Ferdok.  I just solved Ardo's murder, and I'm on my way to Tallon. Where does that put me percentage-wise through the game?  Anyone know?

I'd probably say about 50% of the way through.  Tallon is pretty big...and then you have some areas after that.

[Farscry]

Just for informational purposes in planning any sort of character builds, roughly what level do characters reach by the last 25% of the game's content?

[Sarkus]

Well, I'm still chugging through it, and enjoying it much more after the quests started to branch out from Ferdok.  I just solved Ardo's murder, and I'm on my way to Tallon. Where does that put me percentage-wise through the game?  Anyone know?

I'd probably say about 50% of the way through.  Tallon is pretty big...and then you have some areas after that.

Wow.  That's about where I am as well.  I'm certainly getting my $30 out of this game.   

[Sarkus]

Well, that's the first time I've ever herded pigs in an RPG.   

Suck on that, JRPG fans!   

[Shkspr]

Well, that's the first time I've ever herded pigs in an RPG.  

Suck on that, JRPG fans!  

Feh.  Logged 35 hours in Rune Factory Frontier this week.  I'm milking cows, bitches.

[CeeKay]

Well, that's the first time I've ever herded pigs in an RPG.   

Suck on that, JRPG fans!   

scruffy pig herder.....

[ANZAC]

Having a bit of trouble with the leveling up process, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.

I understand most of the leveling process except for example. You have say "aimed shot", and you want to advance to "rain of arrows" how do you do it?

 The game screen suggests you need 100 points for this, but I can't
see how this works. Gain a hundred points click on rain of arrows and nothing happens except a number of items are highlighted. 

What am I missing?

[Eightball]

Having a bit of trouble with the leveling up process, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.

I understand most of the leveling process except for example. You have say "aimed shot", and you want to advance to "rain of arrows" how do you do it?

 The game screen suggests you need 100 points for this, but I can't
see how this works. Gain a hundred points click on rain of arrows and nothing happens except a number of items are highlighted. 

What am I missing?

For those abilities, you need to buy them from a trainer.

[ANZAC]

Thanx 8ball.

 Now I feel like a duh?

[Redfive]

This game seems cool, I just wish I could get it to run without crashing

[Zinfan]

This game seems cool, I just wish I could get it to run without crashing

I have the same problems, sometimes it causes my system to do a memory dump and restart.  Error message flashes up about an IRQ number being less than.... (I don't have time to read the rest).  There are times I've played for a few hours without a crash but yesterday I got maybe 10 minutes in before it dumped.

[Fez]

Thanx 8ball.

 Now I feel like a duh?

Yep, to clarify, you need to pay for the training and need to have the amount of required experience available to get the ability.  Some of the higher level skills you won't have an option of getting until later in the game.

[Greg Wak]

Anybody win the trial? I thought the way they did that was pretty cool. And how you got out of it if you lost.

[Redfive]

This game seems cool, I just wish I could get it to run without crashing

I have the same problems, sometimes it causes my system to do a memory dump and restart.  Error message flashes up about an IRQ number being less than.... (I don't have time to read the rest).  There are times I've played for a few hours without a crash but yesterday I got maybe 10 minutes in before it dumped.

Meh.  I use F5 for quicksave to save my games and I've been doing it often so as not to lose too much progress.  This time it crashed on me while I was saving so my save file is corrupt and the last auto save was an hour or two earlier in the game.

I have too many games and too little time for this.  Bummer too because this game looks to be very cool.

[Sarkus]

I'm surprised that anyone is having crashes.  The stability and polish of the game is one of the things that I've been impressed by.  Not a single hiccup and I'm over half way (I think) through it. 

[Eightball]

Anybody win the trial? I thought the way they did that was pretty cool. And how you got out of it if you lost.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Are you talking the one in the dwarf town?  Because yeah, I did win that.  Collect enough evidence, state your case well enough, and it's a slam dunk.

[Destructor]

This game seems cool, I just wish I could get it to run without crashing

I have the same problems, sometimes it causes my system to do a memory dump and restart.  Error message flashes up about an IRQ number being less than.... (I don't have time to read the rest).  There are times I've played for a few hours without a crash but yesterday I got maybe 10 minutes in before it dumped.

The IRQ number notice is an old WinXP error that basically means you're having conflicts with either the graphic card or a non-motherboard based soundcard. I don't remember which. You don't happen to own a Creative soundcard, do you?

[CeeKay]

I'm surprised that anyone is having crashes.  The stability and polish of the game is one of the things that I've been impressed by.  Not a single hiccup and I'm over half way (I think) through it. 

+1.  for me it's been remarkably smooth for an European RPG.

[Greg Wak]

Anybody win the trial? I thought the way they did that was pretty cool. And how you got out of it if you lost.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Are you talking the one in the dwarf town?  Because yeah, I did win that.  Collect enough evidence, state your case well enough, and it's a slam dunk.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yup that's the one. it said I had collected enough evidence but I could probably get more. I figured I had enough. Maybe I gave some of the wrong answers in wrong places. If you lose you get a nice cut scene of the mountback being led off and she is slumped over and really looks dejected. Then as soon as you get outside, a dwarf tells you of a secret way into the prision. As you break her out you encounter Alissa's minion who you kill. He has evidence that gets you out of the whole thing. I thought it was a good way to get you back on track into the main quest.

[Eightball]

Anybody win the trial? I thought the way they did that was pretty cool. And how you got out of it if you lost.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Are you talking the one in the dwarf town?  Because yeah, I did win that.  Collect enough evidence, state your case well enough, and it's a slam dunk.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yup that's the one. it said I had collected enough evidence but I could probably get more. I figured I had enough. Maybe I gave some of the wrong answers in wrong places. If you lose you get a nice cut scene of the mountback being led off and she is slumped over and really looks dejected. Then as soon as you get outside, a dwarf tells you of a secret way into the prision. As you break her out you encounter Alissa's minion who you kill. He has evidence that gets you out of the whole thing. I thought it was a good way to get you back on track into the main quest.

That's pretty neat.  Kind of shows how the developers thought out ramifications for quest success/failure.  You see this in other quests.

[Greg Wak]

Anyone else having pathfinding issues in the deep caves? My party hangs to far back and encounters with enemys can then be a problem. I can get around it by manualy moving everyone up as we go along but it's a minor pain.

[Zinfan]

This game seems cool, I just wish I could get it to run without crashing

I have the same problems, sometimes it causes my system to do a memory dump and restart.  Error message flashes up about an IRQ number being less than.... (I don't have time to read the rest).  There are times I've played for a few hours without a crash but yesterday I got maybe 10 minutes in before it dumped.

The IRQ number notice is an old WinXP error that basically means you're having conflicts with either the graphic card or a non-motherboard based soundcard. I don't remember which. You don't happen to own a Creative soundcard, do you?

Nope and I'm using Vista 64 bit not XP.  My sound card is on the motherboard.

[Sarkus]

Anyone else having pathfinding issues in the deep caves? My party hangs to far back and encounters with enemys can then be a problem. I can get around it by manualy moving everyone up as we go along but it's a minor pain.

I've only had the rare pathfinding issue since I started making sure I was clicking the "group" button before moving.  Using that the other party members stay pretty close.  That said, I do usually tell them what to do at the start of a battle.  If they are in "defensive" mode (shield icon on their portrait, click on it to change) they won't attack on their own and won't enter a fight until they are attacked.

[Roguetad]

A few of the archetype/class names didn't survive the German-English translation, or they were literal translations.  While Pirate is an awesome sounding class, it's really a Viking.  Even the names during character creation are viking names, not pirate names.  I guess a viking could sort of be considered a pirate raider, but not in the classical sense of "Arrrr matey!!"  Either way, the Viking...Pirate is a strong class. 

Metamage has to be a translation thing.  That doesn't even sound right.  Maybe Meta = Arch, which would have been Archmage?  Or they could have just gone with the function of the template, Necromancer.  Warrior is ok, but probably would have been better named Knight, given the formal academy stuff and starting boost to Etiquette.  Soldier could have been named Warrior.  Archer is just kind of meh.  Why would you want to play an Archer when you can play a Ranger?

All the dwarf classes are cool: Merc, Prospector and Sapper.  Something about a Dwarf Merc just seems badass.  Their running animation is a little weird, especially without weapons.

The Elven Spellweaver and Ranger are good, but Fighter?  Come on!  That's pretty vanilla for an elf melee-magic class.

I just finished up the starter area with a Viking Pirate and the Dwarf Merc last night.  Both are good.  Graphics are great.  Very smooth.  Even the interface is good.  Production values seem really high for a $29 game.