The Realms of Arkania Thread

[Gord]

Disks? Newfags! I had to play games on my C64 with a Datasette.
Great if it got de-calibrated yet again and you didn't notice it until after the usual 5-10 minutes loading time.

 

[DraQ]

I don't see anything weird about that number.
I would if it was pertaining to a tightly scripted storyfag game.

Disks? Newfags! I had to play games on my C64 with a Datasette.
Great if it got de-calibrated yet again and you didn't notice it until after the usual 5-10 minutes loading time.

Ever managed to get that calibration screw fall out and ended up having to dismantle the tape drive to fish it out and put it back in?

Sweet, sweet memories.

 

[CorpseZeb]

Disks? Newfags! I had to play games on my C64 with a Datasette.
Great if it got de-calibrated yet again and you didn't notice it until after the usual 5-10 minutes loading time.

I'm sorry, in the context of tape loading times, C64 (as well as ZX or Amstrad) was for pussies. Atari was for a real tape masochists. C64 had a decent tape turbo systems from the beginning (practically), while Atari got one on the end of the system road (circa about... 88?). So... 20 minutes of loading of Jet Set Willy anyone (a poor game with wonderful music)?


Ps. Now... before we drown in the sentiment... and before Ancient Dudes who entering their games by typing hex numbers into some kind of monitor, appears...

 

[Renegen]

Hilarious review, it starts with "Don't know about you, but I was never too fond of any RPGs up to the time of Beholder 2". Then it continues and says he has reached all of the third town, and that he's no graphic whore or anything, but Zelda looks way more advanced than first person D&D RPGs. Final grade, 67%.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I admit I was conditioned by this kind of thing.

One of the first things I would look for on the box was how many hours it promised. "Hundreds of hours" was quite common, with smaller games promising 80-100 hours. I still remember turning my nose up when CRPG's started touting 60 hours...and horrified/feeling ripped off when 40 hours entered the equation.

The internet with walkthroughs, etc, has destroyed all this anyway. Once you know exactly how to progress through a game, even such epics as Dark Heart of Uukrul, Death Lord and Fate: Gates of Dawn become much smaller than the many months worth of gaming required of old.

 

[Duckard]

It's (quite) instantly accessible!

Is he allowed to use that word? I thought it was Skyrim's word?

Also, I will admit to being a gameplay hours fag when I was younger.

 

[Turjan]

I never played any of the Realms of Arkania games, but it took me about 150 hours for my first playthrough of M&M6. Then again, I move at a quite leisurely pace through RPGs and I could definitely shorten that somewhat, but what for?

 

[Morkar Left]

I play really slow, especially rpgs, but I don't think I spent more than 60 hours on a RoA game. I remember I played for three months till I beat BG1 and needed half a year till I finished BG2.

 

[markec]

There are people who brag how they spent several hundred hours on games like Fallout 3 or Oblivion. I have a friend who "finished" Obliivon some 8 times and thats on Xbox without any mods.

 

[joeydohn]

There are people who brag how they spent several hundred hours on games like Fallout 3 or Oblivion. I have a friend who "finished" Obliivon some 8 times and thats on Xbox without any mods.

Don't forget the Final Fantasy games where you could spend 12 hours grinding for exp (to beat the optional, completely overpowered bosses), items, rare spawns, etc. I'm more amazed at the Final Fantasy MMO where people aspies were fighting the same boss for tens of consecutive hours (a marathon, you know without sleep) in order to beat them.

 

[hrose]

Once you know exactly how to progress through a game, even such epics as Dark Heart of Uukrul, Death Lord and Fate: Gates of Dawn become much smaller than the many months worth of gaming required of old.

Oh, did you finish Fate Gates of Dawn? Because even with a walkthrough I think it's a feat of epic proportions.

 

[markec]

There are people who brag how they spent several hundred hours on games like Fallout 3 or Oblivion. I have a friend who "finished" Obliivon some 8 times and thats on Xbox without any mods.

Don't forget the Final Fantasy games where you could spend 12 hours grinding for exp (to beat the optional, completely overpowered bosses), items, rare spawns, etc. I'm more amazed at the Final Fantasy MMO where people aspies were fighting the same boss for tens of consecutive hours (a marathon, you know without sleep) in order to beat them.

Gran Turismo has 24 hour race in real time, it seems that console players have shitty choice of games so they need to make the best of what they got.

 

[Wolfus]

When I played Ambermoon for a first time it took me more than two months of inensive playing. No internet or paper walkthroughs, of course...

 

[Jasede]

Hell, I didn't even manage to finish Ambermoon on my own. I quit once you got to the planets because I must have gotten stuck somewhere.
Amberstar, however, was also quite a piece of work! Especially with no manual. It's fun learning to read the in-game alphabet. Reminded me of learning the Ultima runes as a kid. (Again, no manual then.)

I did beat BG 2 in two intense months though- but I was a kid then and on Christmas holidays - my gamefile was 130 hours, as I tried to finish and find every single quest.

I finished the game at least another four, five or six times, but all those together can't have taken much longer than my first foray.

RoA took me ~35 hours - but RoA 2 took me far, far longer. There are a lot of "fuck you" moments in RoA 2.

 

[taxalot]

Gran Turismo has 24 hour race in real time, it seems that console players have shitty choice of games so they need to make the best of what they got.

How does that even work ? Can you save midrace ?

Not to brag, but PC gamers did it first : we had the 500 miles <3

 

[markec]

Gran Turismo has 24 hour race in real time, it seems that console players have shitty choice of games so they need to make the best of what they got.

How does that even work ? Can you save midrace ?

Dont thinks so. My friend told me about it, he tried to finish it between work while putting the game on pause. While on hour 16 his wife got pissed and unplugged the playstation.

 

[hrose]

I did beat BG 2 in two intense months though- but I was a kid then and on Christmas holidays - my gamefile was 130 hours, as I tried to finish and find every single quest.

I finished the game at least another four, five or six times, but all those together can't have taken much longer than my first foray.

Then you should do as I did: make an epic install of BG1+expansion and BG2+expansion + boatload of patches, though BG Trilogy and play the whole thing as one humongous game

I wonder if we could make a RPG database with an average of play-through hours. Could be useful.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Once you know exactly how to progress through a game, even such epics as Dark Heart of Uukrul, Death Lord and Fate: Gates of Dawn become much smaller than the many months worth of gaming required of old.

Oh, did you finish Fate Gates of Dawn? Because even with a walkthrough I think it's a feat of epic proportions.

Indeed I did. One of my favourite RPG experiences.

 

[Renegen]

Gran Turismo has 24 hour race in real time, it seems that console players have shitty choice of games so they need to make the best of what they got.

How does that even work ? Can you save midrace ?

Dont thinks so. My friend told me about it, he tried to finish it between work while putting the game on pause. While on hour 16 his wife got pissed and unplugged the playstation.

Worst part is that there are many stories of people frying their PS2 doing those races. Just like in GT3, the best prizes were reserved for the most insane grinding so those races are very tempting. But not at the risk of destroying your PS2. There's also an auto racer, it sucks but maybe it's good for a few hours if you have a 100 lap lead.

 

[hrose]

Indeed I did. One of my favourite RPG experiences.

Then how many hours did it take you that one?

 

[Jaesun]

What is the difference between the CD version and the Floppy version (on GOG)? Is it JUST the music?

 

[crazyirish]

Don't forget that rolling up a good party in RoA takes at least 20 hours.

 

[commie]

I don't see anything weird about that number.
I would if it was pertaining to a tightly scripted storyfag game.

Disks? Newfags! I had to play games on my C64 with a Datasette.
Great if it got de-calibrated yet again and you didn't notice it until after the usual 5-10 minutes loading time.

Ever managed to get that calibration screw fall out and ended up having to dismantle the tape drive to fish it out and put it back in?

Sweet, sweet memories.

Yes, fuck YES!!!! I was one of the crazed few that had an Amstrad rather than getting a C64 and though I had a disk drive, all the best games were on fucking tape for which I couldn't find an official Amstrad tape deck so had to make do with the most fiddly piece of crap ever invented. Fuck altering the calibration then not breathing or moving for 10-15 minutes for the game to almost load(remember how the loading screen would fill in a line at a time?) then get fucking stuck at 90% or something and having to rewind, alter the calibration, then go again?

Oh ho ho what FFFUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!!!




As for length, well I finished Arcania Fall of Setariff on the Gothic difficulty in 3.5 hours and it felt like it was 1000! No one can top that....

 

[Morkar Left]

What is the difference between the CD version and the Floppy version (on GOG)? Is it JUST the music?

For RoA 1 BoD the interface is polished, too plus some bugfixing and some new bugs as well (but not as much). For ST I can't remember and I never played the third one (but soon...).

 

[Jasede]

Don't bother getting the CD version for RoA 2 from GoG; it's the English-language one. I suggest you learn German and get the 2 CD version instead, so you can enjoy all the music, not just some.