Hmm. Bought River of Time and it's crashing on start-up. This is the Steam version.
Anyone else have this issue?
No, but keep at it: River of Time is one of the classiest rpgs I've played in 3 years, plus it's a lot more polished than the original.
What do u mean, classiest? I enjoyed Drakensang, but the ending was horrible. This one any better?
I never finished Drakensang: the back end mechanics weren't very integrated into the game (read: so many non-combat skills are next to useless), the storyline was pretty cliche (tournament! dragons! divine test!), etc etc. I played about half? a third? of it. Then when River of Time came out I grabbed that and dived in (since it's a prequel). The ui, use of skills, crafting, pacing of the game, etc are vastly improved. It feels like River of Time had a lot more time devoted to straight polish than the original did. I totally got lost in it, took a week to finish and it was a blast from start to finish. They also fixed the difficulty curve issues that put a lot of people off the orginal.
When I say classy I mean in-depth rpg mechanics that are nicely integrated into gameplay (it's based off a p&p system but doesn't feel forced into a realtime computer game), the quests/locations/events contain a nice balance of fantasy vs. reality, optional boss fights for when you think you're all badass, it even has a bit of a Cthulu vibe to the events/lore surrounding that river.
If you're a BG2 kind of guy then it's a lot of fun. If you're looking for a more action adventure game like DA2 then it's probably not for you.
Edit: General cool stuff about the game
- Waypoints within maps. So you can teleport from the inn to the merchant quarter, or whatever. Saves a lot of walking.
- A LOT more item variety than the original. No more buying an axe within the first hour of the game and using it for hours and hours before seeing an upgrade.
- Way more in-depth crafting system. You want cooler shit than you're suppose to have? Make something. Also, some of the best items in the game are crafted and the best consumables can only be crafted.
- A lot of hard to find quests. Paying attention during dialogue, taking different party members to different places, revisiting locations and generally exploring everywhere pays off.
- Non-linear locations. While a there's one main questline, a lot of it can be done in any order. So if one location is kicking your ass, go somewhere else. Do some optional stuff or grind or whatever you want: you got options.
- Game runs better than it's predecessor (at least for me it did) and in general has low system requirements. Still looks very good (kicks the hell out of DA:O...but then that's not hard to do)
- RoT is fully voiced: the original is not.
Wow, so bringing this thread back once again. I remember reading that there was going to be another Drakensang coming out, but then it apparently did and I totally missed it!
Now It seems that Phileasson's Secret, an expansion pack to what I guess is the sequel(?) to Drakensang just came out and I almost missed that too. Luckily I just happened to be browsing Steam and saw it.
Really glad to hear what Lanrutcon had to say about the game... I really could use another great RPG and with River of Time + Phileasson's Secret, I should be set for a little while!
So, started playing this over the weekend after buying both River of Time and the expansion pack from Steam. I've gotten a decent amount of playtime thus far, and it seems like a generally good game.
I think the main complaints I have are that the dialogue is every bit as clumsy and awkward as the first game (likely due to translation) and basically just as linear; there doesn't seem to be much branching to the story. The other is that the combat is sooo sllloooooow... everyone takes so long to attack between 'rounds' that it is painful. I keep looking for a way to quicken it up so it looks like a real battle and not a bunch of dudes standing around staring each otehr down for five minutes before taking a swipe.
I thought the beginning of the game was pretty dull, but it's started to pick up and I'm genuinely interested in the story. As I play, I can't shake this feeling that I'm missing a bunch of stuff. In the first 'town', there's a huge wilderness are around it, but I never saw any quests telling me to go out there and do anything. I went exploring on my own, and kept finding quest items for quests I don't seem to have. Maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself, but since quest-givers don't really have any designation that I've found, it's entirely likely I just missed them.
I guess the one last thing that bugs me about the game is that the 'fuck mage' A.I. is still in. So far it doesn't seem too prevalent, but certain mobs just go straight for my casters and nothing I can do will peel them off. I guess it kinda comes as a consequence of their being no real 'tank' mechanisms in this ruleset.
Overall? Generally fun game that I'm quite enjoying, despite some flaws and things that I just generally don't like. Seems like a grand adventure ahead of me, and hopefully it won't all fall apart at the end like the first game.
Posts
I'd like to know as well. I was quite disappointed with the original Drakensang.
I never finished Drakensang: the back end mechanics weren't very integrated into the game (read: so many non-combat skills are next to useless), the storyline was pretty cliche (tournament! dragons! divine test!), etc etc. I played about half? a third? of it. Then when River of Time came out I grabbed that and dived in (since it's a prequel). The ui, use of skills, crafting, pacing of the game, etc are vastly improved. It feels like River of Time had a lot more time devoted to straight polish than the original did. I totally got lost in it, took a week to finish and it was a blast from start to finish. They also fixed the difficulty curve issues that put a lot of people off the orginal.
When I say classy I mean in-depth rpg mechanics that are nicely integrated into gameplay (it's based off a p&p system but doesn't feel forced into a realtime computer game), the quests/locations/events contain a nice balance of fantasy vs. reality, optional boss fights for when you think you're all badass, it even has a bit of a Cthulu vibe to the events/lore surrounding that river.
If you're a BG2 kind of guy then it's a lot of fun. If you're looking for a more action adventure game like DA2 then it's probably not for you.
Edit: General cool stuff about the game
- Waypoints within maps. So you can teleport from the inn to the merchant quarter, or whatever. Saves a lot of walking.
- A LOT more item variety than the original. No more buying an axe within the first hour of the game and using it for hours and hours before seeing an upgrade.
- Way more in-depth crafting system. You want cooler shit than you're suppose to have? Make something. Also, some of the best items in the game are crafted and the best consumables can only be crafted.
- A lot of hard to find quests. Paying attention during dialogue, taking different party members to different places, revisiting locations and generally exploring everywhere pays off.
- Non-linear locations. While a there's one main questline, a lot of it can be done in any order. So if one location is kicking your ass, go somewhere else. Do some optional stuff or grind or whatever you want: you got options.
- Game runs better than it's predecessor (at least for me it did) and in general has low system requirements. Still looks very good (kicks the hell out of DA:O...but then that's not hard to do)
- RoT is fully voiced: the original is not.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Now It seems that Phileasson's Secret, an expansion pack to what I guess is the sequel(?) to Drakensang just came out and I almost missed that too. Luckily I just happened to be browsing Steam and saw it.
Really glad to hear what Lanrutcon had to say about the game... I really could use another great RPG and with River of Time + Phileasson's Secret, I should be set for a little while!
I think the main complaints I have are that the dialogue is every bit as clumsy and awkward as the first game (likely due to translation) and basically just as linear; there doesn't seem to be much branching to the story. The other is that the combat is sooo sllloooooow... everyone takes so long to attack between 'rounds' that it is painful. I keep looking for a way to quicken it up so it looks like a real battle and not a bunch of dudes standing around staring each otehr down for five minutes before taking a swipe.
I thought the beginning of the game was pretty dull, but it's started to pick up and I'm genuinely interested in the story. As I play, I can't shake this feeling that I'm missing a bunch of stuff. In the first 'town', there's a huge wilderness are around it, but I never saw any quests telling me to go out there and do anything. I went exploring on my own, and kept finding quest items for quests I don't seem to have. Maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself, but since quest-givers don't really have any designation that I've found, it's entirely likely I just missed them.
I guess the one last thing that bugs me about the game is that the 'fuck mage' A.I. is still in. So far it doesn't seem too prevalent, but certain mobs just go straight for my casters and nothing I can do will peel them off. I guess it kinda comes as a consequence of their being no real 'tank' mechanisms in this ruleset.
Overall? Generally fun game that I'm quite enjoying, despite some flaws and things that I just generally don't like. Seems like a grand adventure ahead of me, and hopefully it won't all fall apart at the end like the first game.