Drakensang Review (90% complete)

Drakensang is a fun RPG with some problems here and there. The graphics at high settings are quite good, especially for the characters. There is a nice range of vegetations. Some textures applied on the grounds and walls are a mix bag of good and ugly. There is no weather effect in DK (No rain, snow, etc…), and you will also miss the limited lighting. But overall the game is pretty decent visually.

The sounds are average. The music has to be turn off. You barely ear your peoples running. And the sounds given to the levels fall short of feeling you involve. The enemies voices are ok, exception of the Grolms. Other voice overs are fine. The dialogues are often in text with the first phrase done in voice over.

The story is interesting and rich. I really like how it deploys itself around this world, and how much you want to go forward to see it conclude. You certainly do care about your party and their peoples.

The gameplay is somewhat good. This game plays by the rules of DD. So, combats often feels aleatory because you miss as much as you hit, even at high levels. Getting better stats doesn't change this problem that much. In your party Magicians don't spell magic, all the others don't uses their items or their special abilities…you constantly have to do it manually by pausing. Which is rather frustrating especially regarding magic. What is the point of getting a magician if he doesn't fight properly ? There is a big hole in terms of AI for your party, and in the long run, it doesn't help. Still the fighting is ok, but when you get at the last 2 levels the enemies are far superior than you. Again, another game that suffer from AI balance. Interacting with NPC is correct but is mainly for side quest, which is fine by me. You have a lot of loot and stuff to create potions,weapons and more…There is a lot of character settings to change, maybe too much. You constantly ask yourself: what stats is better ? And after 90% of the game done, I am not sure which one was the best. And that's not good…Exploration is a blast, even tho you  have to do a lot of backtracking. A means to travel faster would have been a great addition to the game. The map system is quite helpful and most quest and subquest are well marked.

Overall, Drakensang feels like a good game but play like an average one. Some elements are well done and others seems unfinished or unpolished. Still it's a good RPG that will give you a lot of hours to play, but don't count on a perfect game.

(7.5/10)