MRG
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- Mar 24, 2007
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It's every so often that a game is released that just... catches your attention right from the get go. It's dosen't have to have the best graphics or even the best story. There is just something about the game that you find you really enjoy. For me, it's the small touches, such as the color scheme a game uses or the ambient audio for small out of the way places you may travel during the time you play a game. Such features seem to catch my eye more than any other feature.
In 2008, a game was released in Germany that quickly become popular. The game was called "Drakensang: The Dark Eye". The Radon Labs-designed game, has now found it's way to select shelves of American stores. This game caught my eye & after a very brief go @ the english demo, it was a given, that I would be getting this game.
Upon finishing the retail installation, I double clicked on the desktop icon & headed in-game. The opening intro was ok, a rather decent voice over, told a tale of dragons, which while in itself, the story was nothing all that original, it was the manner in which it was spoken & the words used, which first off caught my attention. I was, to be frank, expecting a rough German-to-English translated game. The intro soundsed like it was written & thus spoken in English, so that right away, I noticed that little, if any of the vernacular was off. A small nuance that for whatever reason, caught my... ear, for lack of a better way of explaining what I felt. Is that silly or dumb? Who knows.
Once the main title screen loaded, & the main menu was up, there was just something about how the graphics looked or perhaps it was the colors that were used, that caught my eye. It's hard to explain, I just knew I liked what I saw. Cartoonish, though the quality was so far greater. To give you an example, imagine the difference in visuals between a film by Pixar vs a cartoon from the 1970's. Not to say the main menu was this fantastic animated visual masterpiece, only that it was pleasant. At least in my opinion. After changing the settings under the options screen, I started a new game. After the transition-loading screen was done, I was now asked pick my class.
You have 20 to choose from. The generic fantasy classes were available. You could pick your gender, your race, (Human, Elf & Dwarf ) & your class. Each race, had similar, though at the same time different classes. You got to choose from any of the following classes: Warriors, Soldiers, BattleMages, Healers, Sappers, Elementalists, Archers, Rangers, Thief, Rogue, Burgler, Pirate, Amazon, Necromancer ( Though it's called something different ) & a few others I can't remember at the moment. Once you choose, you can name your hero & either start the game or click on "Expert Start" which lets you fine tune your characters skills & abilities before heading ingame.
This "review", though I don't really intend for it to be called that, is more or less just my thoughts on this game as I play through. Of course my thoughts could change as I played through it more. However, at this time, I am very impressed with the games overall presentation. Thats not to say however that I have not noticed any "problem" areas. However they may only be my own gripes & thus not actual problems with the game itself. Before I get to that though, I would like to first just say that I came across a gameplay feature that I thought was very well implimented. Since I do not know the exact name of it, i'll just call it "Skill based questing". By this, I simply mean that at times, before you can begin even the most basic of quests, you may need to learn the skills required. To give you an example, i'll use an actual quest. Don't worry, it's just a basic early game quest.
A wandering merchant will ask you to help him. Simply keep an eye out for a special plant & pick some berries for him to brew while out exploring the world or doing other quests. However, before you can start this basic quest, you'll first need to learn basic plant lore. sure you can view the plants, but without the correct knowledge, how will you know what to pick? So now who would be able to teach you such a skill? Why none other than a Alchemist. However, you can just go all whilly-nilly. You need to first gain the required level to be able to use your level skill points to "unlock/Learn" new skills. While I I'm generalizing everything so that I can cover it in as small a space as possible, I hope you see what I am talking about.
There is alot more I could say, but as i'm still new to the game, I feel it would be prudent to first invest some game-time before going any further. I hope the below screen-shots & video's give you an idea of what i'm talking about.
Official Website:
http://www.drakensang.com/
Official Demo:
http://www.videogamer.com/pc/drakensang_the_dark_eye/download/demo.html
-MRG
In 2008, a game was released in Germany that quickly become popular. The game was called "Drakensang: The Dark Eye". The Radon Labs-designed game, has now found it's way to select shelves of American stores. This game caught my eye & after a very brief go @ the english demo, it was a given, that I would be getting this game.
Upon finishing the retail installation, I double clicked on the desktop icon & headed in-game. The opening intro was ok, a rather decent voice over, told a tale of dragons, which while in itself, the story was nothing all that original, it was the manner in which it was spoken & the words used, which first off caught my attention. I was, to be frank, expecting a rough German-to-English translated game. The intro soundsed like it was written & thus spoken in English, so that right away, I noticed that little, if any of the vernacular was off. A small nuance that for whatever reason, caught my... ear, for lack of a better way of explaining what I felt. Is that silly or dumb? Who knows.
Once the main title screen loaded, & the main menu was up, there was just something about how the graphics looked or perhaps it was the colors that were used, that caught my eye. It's hard to explain, I just knew I liked what I saw. Cartoonish, though the quality was so far greater. To give you an example, imagine the difference in visuals between a film by Pixar vs a cartoon from the 1970's. Not to say the main menu was this fantastic animated visual masterpiece, only that it was pleasant. At least in my opinion. After changing the settings under the options screen, I started a new game. After the transition-loading screen was done, I was now asked pick my class.
You have 20 to choose from. The generic fantasy classes were available. You could pick your gender, your race, (Human, Elf & Dwarf ) & your class. Each race, had similar, though at the same time different classes. You got to choose from any of the following classes: Warriors, Soldiers, BattleMages, Healers, Sappers, Elementalists, Archers, Rangers, Thief, Rogue, Burgler, Pirate, Amazon, Necromancer ( Though it's called something different ) & a few others I can't remember at the moment. Once you choose, you can name your hero & either start the game or click on "Expert Start" which lets you fine tune your characters skills & abilities before heading ingame.
This "review", though I don't really intend for it to be called that, is more or less just my thoughts on this game as I play through. Of course my thoughts could change as I played through it more. However, at this time, I am very impressed with the games overall presentation. Thats not to say however that I have not noticed any "problem" areas. However they may only be my own gripes & thus not actual problems with the game itself. Before I get to that though, I would like to first just say that I came across a gameplay feature that I thought was very well implimented. Since I do not know the exact name of it, i'll just call it "Skill based questing". By this, I simply mean that at times, before you can begin even the most basic of quests, you may need to learn the skills required. To give you an example, i'll use an actual quest. Don't worry, it's just a basic early game quest.
A wandering merchant will ask you to help him. Simply keep an eye out for a special plant & pick some berries for him to brew while out exploring the world or doing other quests. However, before you can start this basic quest, you'll first need to learn basic plant lore. sure you can view the plants, but without the correct knowledge, how will you know what to pick? So now who would be able to teach you such a skill? Why none other than a Alchemist. However, you can just go all whilly-nilly. You need to first gain the required level to be able to use your level skill points to "unlock/Learn" new skills. While I I'm generalizing everything so that I can cover it in as small a space as possible, I hope you see what I am talking about.
There is alot more I could say, but as i'm still new to the game, I feel it would be prudent to first invest some game-time before going any further. I hope the below screen-shots & video's give you an idea of what i'm talking about.
Official Website:
http://www.drakensang.com/
Official Demo:
http://www.videogamer.com/pc/drakensang_the_dark_eye/download/demo.html
-MRG
