Post by doktorljubavi on May 31, 2011 15:58:19 GMT -5
Yes, this is a two for one review. Showcasing the improvements from the first to the second.
Brief summary, Drakensang is a game using the game rules of The Dark Eye, a german based pen and paper role playing game, much like Dungeons and Dragons. It's a tactical game, where you have to utilize everything your group has to offer in order to overcome a lot of challenges. It's very cliche in the sense that "you are the chosen" and you fulfill quests, and become a hero legend. It's a "cute" story.
Note: Drakensang 2 is actually labeled as Drakensang: The River of Time, if you were to look for it. I am shortening it to Drakesang 2 to cut out any confusion.
Drakensang 1 Gameplay: 7/10
Drakensang 2 Gameplay: 9/10
Drakensang, as I said, is very tactic heavy. There is no scripting(like in Dragon Age: Origins), so you have to manually tab through your party "every round" to queue skills, which makes boss fights very interactive, but it also becomes tedious for small fights. The problem with Drakensang 1 was there was -a lot- of small fights, but it seems the good people at DTP figured it out, and in Drakesang 2, eliminated the amount of small fights, making less frequent fights, but more big fights.
The greatest part of Drakensang's gameplay is the freedom style with the "classes", you can choose classes, which dictate some starting stats, but you are allowed to lower stats to their base value(for the class) and throw them elsewhere. In essence, you can take the warrior class that is proficient mainly with swords and shields, and make them a two hander based warrior instead, or make the Healing Mage more of an offensive based caster.
However, this comes with a huge price, as in the first game it felt very useless to be one of the rogue archetypes because anyone in your group, or your own character can pick up the tools required to fulfill the "rogue" slot in a party make up. I had a dwarven sapper, a two hand mace/axe based warrior with high blacksmithing abilities, and a couple levels in the game I picked up all the tools needed to fulfill the rogue aspect.
Largely because rogues in Drakensang 1 were very difficult to have in a group as they wore leather armor(so took a lot of damage) and not having access to spells like Fastness of Body(an armor self spell) caused the rogue characters to die often, and fast, and to make it worse, daggers were far and too few to find, and did little damage with no real advantage. Fencing weapons, also proficient with rogue types, were sometimes useful but again, they died easily.
In Drakensang 2, however, it seemed they made rogues a lot more useful this time around(which I was thankful for personally). First improvements was how dodge was calculated, and armor value with leather was improved. My thief was still hit hard, but it took a few more blows to die, and she dodged a lot more often. Daggers received a huge improvement in damage value, but nothing crazy. The advantage came with daggers with Effects, and they added in a new ability for daggers and fencing weapons only called Bleed that, well, caused the target to bleed(and later doing a lot of damage with).
Also as a huge improvements, they added in the ability to become a follower of Phex(Phex being the God of fortune, luck, etc. Followed heavy by thieves and traders). This ability was only offered to the rogue archetype characters. It gave you a total of 5 spells with it's own resource, giving your rogue a more party oriented use without having to be a caster class.
In Drakensang 2, they also added 2 new classes, a Tribal Warrior(with the innate ability to go Berserk), and the Geode, a dwarven druid like class with it's own unique spells(and pretty powerful).
The greatest thing I love about the Drakensang series was the tactical thinking required for some of the boss fights. Tactically laying out traps, and managing your casters mana correctly. In Drakensang 2, you were given a boss fight you could ultimately make more difficult if you chose to, which is both fun as you get to set the difficulty, but have the ability to make it easier and almost faceroll if you are having a lot of trouble with the fight.
Drakensang 1 World: 6/10
Drakensang 2 World: 8/10
Drakensang 1 felt very boxed, and pathing was generally linear. It felt like an MMO as NPC's always stood around in the same spot, always waiting for you etc. There was no day/night cycle, and time itself felt frozen until you acted. It serves it's purpose, but I felt they could have made it a lot more immersible. The other thing that gave me some annoyance was NPC's had the same disposition despite your race/class. For example, an NPC called me a "little guy" even though the character was a tall elf. Elves in the Drakensang world are usually not seen outside their tribes, and it felt weird that everyone was very open with the elf character. Or when you played a Thorwalian race(think pirate/viking like people), and people would say ill things towards you despite the fact you're a giant hulking mass of awesome.
In Drakensang 2, they made some improvements on this. Example, playing the new Geode, Geode dwarves are usually seen as "crazy" people or "odd ducks" in the Drakensang world, and NPC's would pick up on this. For example, a very upset NPC told me to go "hug some trees". Or when you came across other Geode's in the game, they would address you as "brother". Little subtle things that make the world immersible. Make you feel as though you really are X race/class.
The other improvement, was the stylized intro quests based on your class. Mages got to go apprentice under a crazy mage living in a tower, doing mysterious experiments, rogues got to join the thieves guild, warriors got to fight with the town guard, etc. Some missions you were sent on gave you a choice to either use your ability to sneak, or just straight up brawl, awarding equal rewards despite your choice. The world felt more "together" when you were doing things your character would most likely be doing.
Drakensang 1 Character Development: 5/10
Drakensang 2 Character Development 8/10
I labeled these games as "cute" adventure stories, because that's what it really is. Your character is the silent protagonist and you become a hero, in both stories. However, this doesn't necessarily excuse the people you group up with. Most of the characters you grouped with in the first game generally felt flat, and had nothing really going for them. Some spoke, and disagreed with some of your actions, and very few of the characters ever had a philosophical change in them. The cliche nature loving elf will remain a nature loving elf, and the knightly knight will still be as knightly as he can be.
In Drakensang 2, it was somewhat improved. They cut down on the amount of characters you had to roam with, and made them (somewhat) more interesting. In the beginning, the stoutly dwarf would bicker with the handsome rogue, and they'd have arguments over what would be more efficient, to stealth in unnoticed, or to just charge the gates and wreak havoc with an axe. By the end of the story, the two characters would be more friendly with each other, and you could actually feel as though they had grown to be the best of friends.
Characters in 2 had more insight on what decisions to make, but it would feel much more like a role playing experience if characters you roamed with gave their 2 cents, and offered their opinions more.
Drakensang 1 Storyline: 7/10
Drakensang 2 Storyline 9/10
Drakensang 1 and 2 is an obvious cliche silent hero, but it doesn't stop it from being a fun experience. There is humor, some touching moments, and a lot of YOU ARE THE CHOSEEEEENNNN OOOONNNEEE, but it wouldn't be an adventure story without being regarded as a hero, right?
Drakensang 1 was a lot more linear, and had very little choice. You had a couple, but it didn't change how things played out really. The biggest decisions were probably choosing to side with the Witches or the Inquisition. But it had no overall bearing on the story itself.
Drakesang 2 made an improvement here giving you a very tough choice in the beginning. You had to choose between two people who to save, letting the other one ultimately meet his/her fate. Later, giving you choices that align best with your abilities, smooth talking people into leaving, making an agreement, or just straight up butchering them all like the blood thirsty warrior you are. The effect on the gameplay was the disposition people had on you based on your decisions. Later, you would come across some of the people that you either, were nice to, or distasteful towards, and they would treat you in kind.
You'd still become a legendary hero, but at least in Drakensang 2 they gave you a bit more freedom on how to get there.
Drakensang 1 Overall Score: 6.25/10
Drakensang 2 Overall Score: 8.5/10
Overall, the games were fun, and I enjoyed my time in the Drakensang world. The games are not expensive at all, the first one might be on sale soon, and the second one is 20 bucks right now, with an available DLC that is it's own storyline for 10 bucks. It won't break your bank, and for the cost of an hour and a half movie DVD, you easily get 60+ hours of gameplay.
The games can be very complex, but that is half the fun I think is figuring out it all, and tailoring your character to what you like, and then overcoming very fun, and very tactic heavy boss fights. I'd recommend at least playing the first one, then playing the second. The second game is a prequel, but I will say it's fun finding all the characters you met in the first game, and seeing the "younger" versions of themselves.
All in all, an enjoyable experience.
Brief summary, Drakensang is a game using the game rules of The Dark Eye, a german based pen and paper role playing game, much like Dungeons and Dragons. It's a tactical game, where you have to utilize everything your group has to offer in order to overcome a lot of challenges. It's very cliche in the sense that "you are the chosen" and you fulfill quests, and become a hero legend. It's a "cute" story.
Note: Drakensang 2 is actually labeled as Drakensang: The River of Time, if you were to look for it. I am shortening it to Drakesang 2 to cut out any confusion.
Drakensang 1 Gameplay: 7/10
Drakensang 2 Gameplay: 9/10
Drakensang, as I said, is very tactic heavy. There is no scripting(like in Dragon Age: Origins), so you have to manually tab through your party "every round" to queue skills, which makes boss fights very interactive, but it also becomes tedious for small fights. The problem with Drakensang 1 was there was -a lot- of small fights, but it seems the good people at DTP figured it out, and in Drakesang 2, eliminated the amount of small fights, making less frequent fights, but more big fights.
The greatest part of Drakensang's gameplay is the freedom style with the "classes", you can choose classes, which dictate some starting stats, but you are allowed to lower stats to their base value(for the class) and throw them elsewhere. In essence, you can take the warrior class that is proficient mainly with swords and shields, and make them a two hander based warrior instead, or make the Healing Mage more of an offensive based caster.
However, this comes with a huge price, as in the first game it felt very useless to be one of the rogue archetypes because anyone in your group, or your own character can pick up the tools required to fulfill the "rogue" slot in a party make up. I had a dwarven sapper, a two hand mace/axe based warrior with high blacksmithing abilities, and a couple levels in the game I picked up all the tools needed to fulfill the rogue aspect.
Largely because rogues in Drakensang 1 were very difficult to have in a group as they wore leather armor(so took a lot of damage) and not having access to spells like Fastness of Body(an armor self spell) caused the rogue characters to die often, and fast, and to make it worse, daggers were far and too few to find, and did little damage with no real advantage. Fencing weapons, also proficient with rogue types, were sometimes useful but again, they died easily.
In Drakensang 2, however, it seemed they made rogues a lot more useful this time around(which I was thankful for personally). First improvements was how dodge was calculated, and armor value with leather was improved. My thief was still hit hard, but it took a few more blows to die, and she dodged a lot more often. Daggers received a huge improvement in damage value, but nothing crazy. The advantage came with daggers with Effects, and they added in a new ability for daggers and fencing weapons only called Bleed that, well, caused the target to bleed(and later doing a lot of damage with).
Also as a huge improvements, they added in the ability to become a follower of Phex(Phex being the God of fortune, luck, etc. Followed heavy by thieves and traders). This ability was only offered to the rogue archetype characters. It gave you a total of 5 spells with it's own resource, giving your rogue a more party oriented use without having to be a caster class.
In Drakensang 2, they also added 2 new classes, a Tribal Warrior(with the innate ability to go Berserk), and the Geode, a dwarven druid like class with it's own unique spells(and pretty powerful).
The greatest thing I love about the Drakensang series was the tactical thinking required for some of the boss fights. Tactically laying out traps, and managing your casters mana correctly. In Drakensang 2, you were given a boss fight you could ultimately make more difficult if you chose to, which is both fun as you get to set the difficulty, but have the ability to make it easier and almost faceroll if you are having a lot of trouble with the fight.
Drakensang 1 World: 6/10
Drakensang 2 World: 8/10
Drakensang 1 felt very boxed, and pathing was generally linear. It felt like an MMO as NPC's always stood around in the same spot, always waiting for you etc. There was no day/night cycle, and time itself felt frozen until you acted. It serves it's purpose, but I felt they could have made it a lot more immersible. The other thing that gave me some annoyance was NPC's had the same disposition despite your race/class. For example, an NPC called me a "little guy" even though the character was a tall elf. Elves in the Drakensang world are usually not seen outside their tribes, and it felt weird that everyone was very open with the elf character. Or when you played a Thorwalian race(think pirate/viking like people), and people would say ill things towards you despite the fact you're a giant hulking mass of awesome.
In Drakensang 2, they made some improvements on this. Example, playing the new Geode, Geode dwarves are usually seen as "crazy" people or "odd ducks" in the Drakensang world, and NPC's would pick up on this. For example, a very upset NPC told me to go "hug some trees". Or when you came across other Geode's in the game, they would address you as "brother". Little subtle things that make the world immersible. Make you feel as though you really are X race/class.
The other improvement, was the stylized intro quests based on your class. Mages got to go apprentice under a crazy mage living in a tower, doing mysterious experiments, rogues got to join the thieves guild, warriors got to fight with the town guard, etc. Some missions you were sent on gave you a choice to either use your ability to sneak, or just straight up brawl, awarding equal rewards despite your choice. The world felt more "together" when you were doing things your character would most likely be doing.
Drakensang 1 Character Development: 5/10
Drakensang 2 Character Development 8/10
I labeled these games as "cute" adventure stories, because that's what it really is. Your character is the silent protagonist and you become a hero, in both stories. However, this doesn't necessarily excuse the people you group up with. Most of the characters you grouped with in the first game generally felt flat, and had nothing really going for them. Some spoke, and disagreed with some of your actions, and very few of the characters ever had a philosophical change in them. The cliche nature loving elf will remain a nature loving elf, and the knightly knight will still be as knightly as he can be.
In Drakensang 2, it was somewhat improved. They cut down on the amount of characters you had to roam with, and made them (somewhat) more interesting. In the beginning, the stoutly dwarf would bicker with the handsome rogue, and they'd have arguments over what would be more efficient, to stealth in unnoticed, or to just charge the gates and wreak havoc with an axe. By the end of the story, the two characters would be more friendly with each other, and you could actually feel as though they had grown to be the best of friends.
Characters in 2 had more insight on what decisions to make, but it would feel much more like a role playing experience if characters you roamed with gave their 2 cents, and offered their opinions more.
Drakensang 1 Storyline: 7/10
Drakensang 2 Storyline 9/10
Drakensang 1 and 2 is an obvious cliche silent hero, but it doesn't stop it from being a fun experience. There is humor, some touching moments, and a lot of YOU ARE THE CHOSEEEEENNNN OOOONNNEEE, but it wouldn't be an adventure story without being regarded as a hero, right?
Drakensang 1 was a lot more linear, and had very little choice. You had a couple, but it didn't change how things played out really. The biggest decisions were probably choosing to side with the Witches or the Inquisition. But it had no overall bearing on the story itself.
Drakesang 2 made an improvement here giving you a very tough choice in the beginning. You had to choose between two people who to save, letting the other one ultimately meet his/her fate. Later, giving you choices that align best with your abilities, smooth talking people into leaving, making an agreement, or just straight up butchering them all like the blood thirsty warrior you are. The effect on the gameplay was the disposition people had on you based on your decisions. Later, you would come across some of the people that you either, were nice to, or distasteful towards, and they would treat you in kind.
You'd still become a legendary hero, but at least in Drakensang 2 they gave you a bit more freedom on how to get there.
Drakensang 1 Overall Score: 6.25/10
Drakensang 2 Overall Score: 8.5/10
Overall, the games were fun, and I enjoyed my time in the Drakensang world. The games are not expensive at all, the first one might be on sale soon, and the second one is 20 bucks right now, with an available DLC that is it's own storyline for 10 bucks. It won't break your bank, and for the cost of an hour and a half movie DVD, you easily get 60+ hours of gameplay.
The games can be very complex, but that is half the fun I think is figuring out it all, and tailoring your character to what you like, and then overcoming very fun, and very tactic heavy boss fights. I'd recommend at least playing the first one, then playing the second. The second game is a prequel, but I will say it's fun finding all the characters you met in the first game, and seeing the "younger" versions of themselves.
All in all, an enjoyable experience.
see what i did there??? 
