After a very long time on the fence, I finally decided to take the plunge and dive into this great series.

I actually own the original game, but as many Germans, I bought all three games in one package, which at the time was shipped with only a very rudimentary "manual" on the disc. So I'm wondering whether the gog.com version indeed includes the FULL manuals of all three of the Realms of Arkania games?

If so, I think I'm going to get it just for the manual..

Yes, all three games have proper manuals.

RoA is "only" a users guide. But a very good one that has lore information, gameplay information, etc. It actually is better than the original German manual which was too comprehensive as it was based on the PnP game and went on and on about stats and skills that were never used in the game.

RoA 2 has the full manual, but in a rather shoddy scanned version. Yet it sticks to the game and will get you through the basics.

RoA 3 is a faithfull representation of the original german one. As also the german release never had a proper manual (there never was a "boxed release" of SoR).

The are minor differences between RoA and DSA Nordlandtrilogie, most notably that RoA has multiplied the XP by 100 (but also in regard to amount needed to advance, so no gameplay difference).

While I highly recommend buying the GOG version, because it's awesome and should be supported, I would play the german version which I find superior.

What release do you have? Goldgames, Jowood?

Thanks for the answer!

However, I have to follow up on "RoA is 'only' a users guide": How useful is this?

To be a bit more precise, I have played a bit and also checked various online resources, but seem to be unable to even find a thorough explanation of the character sheet, or even the full process of creating a character, which begins to annoy me a bit..

For example, after a few hours I realised I had inadvertently skipped 2/3 of the character creation process. The program won't allow me to edit a character file, and so I hex edited my save to include the missed rolls .. but didn't find the information as to which talents I would be allowed to increment by 1, 2, or 3 points.

So a too comprehensive manual sounds about right to me - but if the gog.com included user guide is able to answer these questions, I guess I settle for that ôO

As for your question: I own the TopWare collection of the three games, which was sold a billion years ago in a shoddy paper box, containing the discs in shoddy paper envelopes. Good times ;)

And also, yes, the games should definitely be supported, and I guess I'll by them anyway. But if the manuals don't help, then maybe I should be looking for an eBay version of the game..

*edit: Oh, and I forgot to thank you for the info on the RoA/NLT differences, that x100 multiplier is really interesting, never heard that before!

Excellent, that answers all the questions I had, thanks again!

Some additional translation work is no problem, that's still a lot faster than piecing that stuff together via google snippets.

"And by buying the game on ebay you don't support the game"
True, but then again, I already supported the game a thousand years ago when I bought it the first time. But I see what you mean, and it's what makes gog.com so great, so I think I'll buy it and just gift to someone. More people need to play games like this to sustain them over the years of you-know-what-this-game-needs-more-casual-gameplay-and-mass-appeal-of-course :P