Posted October 17, 2009
Ever wondered how The Lord of the Rings would have turned out, had Mr Tolkien used Microsoft Excel instead of good old ink and paper to compose his fantasy milestone? Cue Realms of Arkania for the answer, just go play it now, seriously, this is what you've been looking for.
Now with that crowd out of the picture I can hear the rest of you moaning: „So my character status screens have seven pages instead of one, the game gives me basically no directions whatsoever and if my Knight forgets to wipe his ass after taking a dump, he's guaranteed to die of an infection with no apparent way to be brought back into the realm of goblin-asskicking again. That doesn't exactly sound like fun, so why should I give this massive amagalmation of tables and dicerolls pretending to be a game a chance?“
To which I respond: „You forgot to mention that one third of the mechanics aren't even implemented in the first game, some skills never see any ingame use, at all, buildings in town basically look the same, which is a problem considering the sheer number of them and the game is actually slightly imbalanced in a way that a newcommer might choose a party that quite frankly laughs at his efforts to, you know, beat the game. Chances are, you should still give it a try.“
The truth is, Realms of Arkania has one thing going for it that could very well elevate it above all those problems: the sheer scope of its world and its attention to detail. It's not so much that it would take you 2 days of real time to travel from one end of the game world to another, quite the contrary, but that within those boundaries pretty much everything can happen. You might travel via ship and get attacked by a giant kraken. You roam through the wilderness, discover some tracks and decide to hunt some game. You might even discover new stuff on your fourth playthrough, because your leading character has a high enough stat in perception (those numbers aren't just there for decoration – most of them, at least). The vast majority of all the things that may or may not happen have no relevance whatsoever to your main quest, but that's exactly where Realms of Arkania has so much of its appeal: Aventuria (which is the place your party goes questing around in, in case you wondered) is a living, breathing environment, that couldn't care less about you. There are no tents on the roadside with desperate peasants, who need you to constantly get back a bunch of cupcakes, that a pesky band of orcs, who live in an empty cave for no apparent reason, stole from them. Instead you might occasionally see another group of adventurers rafting along a river – with no relevance to you or even much chance of interaction, it just happens. The same attention to detail has been granted to the way you actually interact with this vast world. Need some money? Gather herbs and sell them at the local market. Mix some potions out of those herbs beforehand and make a bit more dough through the wonderful art of alchemy. Or go to the next bar and dance on the tables, it's up to you.You could even look for the next best random battle and summon massive demons. It's not like that'll solve your money problem, but c'mon, massive demons!
If you still don't get what the fuzz is about, you should look elsewhere for your next slice of electronic entertainment. However, if you want to explore a diverse, captivating and unpredictable fantasy world that actually lets you, you know, roleplay and don't mind a steep (although usually more overwhelming than really punishing) learning curve, you might just feel right at home in Aventuria.
Now with that crowd out of the picture I can hear the rest of you moaning: „So my character status screens have seven pages instead of one, the game gives me basically no directions whatsoever and if my Knight forgets to wipe his ass after taking a dump, he's guaranteed to die of an infection with no apparent way to be brought back into the realm of goblin-asskicking again. That doesn't exactly sound like fun, so why should I give this massive amagalmation of tables and dicerolls pretending to be a game a chance?“
To which I respond: „You forgot to mention that one third of the mechanics aren't even implemented in the first game, some skills never see any ingame use, at all, buildings in town basically look the same, which is a problem considering the sheer number of them and the game is actually slightly imbalanced in a way that a newcommer might choose a party that quite frankly laughs at his efforts to, you know, beat the game. Chances are, you should still give it a try.“
The truth is, Realms of Arkania has one thing going for it that could very well elevate it above all those problems: the sheer scope of its world and its attention to detail. It's not so much that it would take you 2 days of real time to travel from one end of the game world to another, quite the contrary, but that within those boundaries pretty much everything can happen. You might travel via ship and get attacked by a giant kraken. You roam through the wilderness, discover some tracks and decide to hunt some game. You might even discover new stuff on your fourth playthrough, because your leading character has a high enough stat in perception (those numbers aren't just there for decoration – most of them, at least). The vast majority of all the things that may or may not happen have no relevance whatsoever to your main quest, but that's exactly where Realms of Arkania has so much of its appeal: Aventuria (which is the place your party goes questing around in, in case you wondered) is a living, breathing environment, that couldn't care less about you. There are no tents on the roadside with desperate peasants, who need you to constantly get back a bunch of cupcakes, that a pesky band of orcs, who live in an empty cave for no apparent reason, stole from them. Instead you might occasionally see another group of adventurers rafting along a river – with no relevance to you or even much chance of interaction, it just happens. The same attention to detail has been granted to the way you actually interact with this vast world. Need some money? Gather herbs and sell them at the local market. Mix some potions out of those herbs beforehand and make a bit more dough through the wonderful art of alchemy. Or go to the next bar and dance on the tables, it's up to you.You could even look for the next best random battle and summon massive demons. It's not like that'll solve your money problem, but c'mon, massive demons!
If you still don't get what the fuzz is about, you should look elsewhere for your next slice of electronic entertainment. However, if you want to explore a diverse, captivating and unpredictable fantasy world that actually lets you, you know, roleplay and don't mind a steep (although usually more overwhelming than really punishing) learning curve, you might just feel right at home in Aventuria.