a I se, well tahts great, i love deepness in games, escpecially if you dont have to be involved in it, jsut knowing that its theer somewhere in the back:P

I've just started playing this as well. While I'd like to roll my own party and play in advanced mode, I feel that I'm not likely to fare better than the computer at building and growing my party due to my lack of knowledge of Das Schwarze Auge game system.

I've not played very far in (explored maybe half of the first level of the fort in Thorwal) but so far my only regret with playing the pre-rolled party in novice mode is that the game won't let me view my characters' skill proficiencies. This is fairly frustrating because I'd like to have a better idea of who should be lockpicking, who should be wielding an axe versus a sword, etc. to reduce the likelihood that my party will fumble around like a bunch of idiots in any given situation.

My main impression of this game so far is that they started by building a generic game engine around Das Schwarze Auge game rules and then created the Blade of Destiny scenario over the top of it. This is probably great for people familiar with the game system in its original pen-and-paper format, but it makes the game less accessible for those not familiar due to incomprehensible anachronisms and unnecessary fluff.

This is not to say that I am disliking the game so far, but rather that I am finding it hard to learn despite the game's attempt to dumb things down by providing novice mode and a pre-rolled party. In truth, I've found it hard to get into most other games in the Wizardry sub-genre as well (including Wizardry 1-5, Might & Magic, etc.); I really cut my teeth on Wizardry 6-8, and I've not found any other Wizardry-style RPGs with game systems that I've felt are comparable to that trilogy. I suspect, however, that Arkania 1-3 would give Wizardry 6-8 a run for its money if I were more familiar with Das Schwarze Auge, especially since it sounds like the mapping and combat mechanics are improved in the Arkania sequels.

Have anybody played the drakensang game, also based on the Dark Eye mechaniques? In that case, is it any good an is it similar to Realms?

I just started RoA1 too. I decided to use the pre-gen party and play in novice. I think this game will be tough to beat, even in novice mode. This is a hardcore rpg. I tried playing it about 5 years ago and gave up because it was too hard and time consuming, but now I have more time and plan on beating it over the next few months. I will buy Drakensang when it drops to $9.99 with free ship on Amazon or I might just wait for GOG. My first tip for someone just starting is to make sure to charge your magician's wand to level 4 at the inn. Wand2 is free light in dungeons, Wand3 is using wand as a rope, and Wand4 reduces the AP consumed for casting spells!!! Very important to level up your Wand at the beginning of the game!!! I will continue to give tips during my journey.

People (including myself) generally advise playing in Advanced mode, simply because that way you can focus (e.g. the computer might spread your weapon skills, where a human player would focus on one kind of weaponry) and you can adjust the party to the way you like to play (some want to be more stealthy, others want to fight it out, some prefer to have their opponents flee, others want to kill everybody to turn up on the battlefield,...).
I fully understand how the underlying system is overly complex for a computer based roleplaying game, though I think that you can figure out a good deal of it as time passes by and while a lot of people (including myself again) are going to warn you that, measured on today's standards, the game is rather 'harsh' and tricky at times, it does still grant you room for 'non optimised' parties, so you can easily invest some on not so useful talents or spells and still successfully survive all your adventures.


I've got nothing to back this up, but I think that the game was initially planned for the German market next to exclusively, because of the fear that it might not sell well in other countries and I'd wager that 90% of the Germans who bought the game had at least some idea on the system. That said, there are plenty of flawed design decisions (from today's point of view) and several suboptimal GUI strategies. In the games (and its creators defence) I'd like to point out that GUI design was rather new and 'experimental' back then.


I bought both parts (during the Summer Camp Steam sale ;)), but plan on replaying Realms of Arcania first. And I delay playing Realms of Arcania until I finished my little RoA editor. And I delay finishing my editor, because I'm a horribly lazy person. *sighs*


I wish you good luck and hope that you're going to enjoy this game!


Considering the financial (and thus resulting jurisdictional) status of the developers and their IP, I have a feeling that you might wait a long time before GOG get access to the games. IF you consider Steam a valid alternative, it's kind of a pity, as you missed an opportunity. The game was available for 3.39€ (~5 USD) and I'm sure you'd have found some GOGer to gift you a copy in exchange for some GOG title.

I bought both parts (during the Summer Camp Steam sale ;)), but plan on replaying Realms of Arcania first. And I delay playing Realms of Arcania until I finished my little RoA editor. And I delay finishing my editor, because I'm a horribly lazy person. *sighs*


Are there still 2 drakensang games on steam? I could only find one

Regional restriction is the answer to that. A hint in general when you want to check a game on Steam, try steamprices, since that grants you access to a game even if you can not normally see it on the Steam page (and you can actually compare the price including a history of promotions/sales ;)).
I'm rather convinced that you can find a friendly American GOGer who'd happily gift you the game (and expansion) on Steam if you want to. They work (for me) despite the regional restriction, with a little trouble when first installing the game (you should not download both the game and expansion at the same time like dumb me did, because the expansion obviously overrides some of the original game and that screws up both the game and the expansion, which led me to having to redownload ~4GB and about five tries of getting the game to run).

aha so an american steam:er can gift american hames to a european account? awesome, well perhaps I wilL! first I'll finish REalms and then try out drakensang though

Gifting regional restricted games works in most but not all cases on Steam, which is why I mentioned that it is possible in this specific case ;)
I always try to search and ask around for information before I have somebody else gift me a game.