First time player + Some questions

Discuss Drakan: Order of the Flame with fellow players and post any technical problems here where an 'unofficial' support team will try and help you. Gameplay help questions can go here too.
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null
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First time player + Some questions

Post by null »

Hey guys!

First of all, I am very surprised that there are still some active users in a forum that is devoted for a twenty year old game.

Let me introduce myself: I am 25 years old and live in Germany. When I was very young (like 6 years old), my dad used to play this game and showed me Rynn's amazing skills. Unfortunately, I could never properly play this game on my very old machine that I had during these old times. It was very laggy and I experienced a lot of crashes. Sad times.

But now, after reaching a decent age (and becoming a father some months ago), I decided to give it a try again and thanks to the community patch I was able to run it properly. I immediately fell in love with this game and I was surprised how much content and special enemies it offered.
However, there were some situations in the game that felt exceptionally weird, but I managed to play through it just half an hour ago.

The difficulty I have chosen in the beginning was hard (3/4), some scenes in the game were indeed pretty difficult but I was disappointed that the endboss fight was so easy. Somewhere in this forum I have read that the developers had to rush in order to finish the game within the deadline, which I think is pretty sad. This game had very much potential. But we all know that many games suffer from rushed development.

I have some questions to you all:
1.) Did you play the Drakan TAG (PS2-only)? How was it? Some let's Play looked pretty interesting, and I can only agree that it's sad it didn't make it to PC.
2.) What happened to the Unity remake of Drakan? I can't find any working downloads. Was Sony complaining?
3.) What did you like the most about the game?
4.) I am actually a Developer (mostly Mobile Apps and High-Performance Development). I am sick and tired of working for other people so I finally want to dive into game development. I programmed some games in my youth but those were nothing serious. What I dream of is to program a RPG mobile game (perhaps also Nintendo Switch). And you know what? I think it would be great to have a game that is very similar to Drakan (at least plot-wise). This would be perfectly legal as it only copies the idea; not actual names, models, skins, sounds or other contents. What do you think? Would a world like Drakan make it in an Indie-Game? Of course this mainly depends on the game design.

Thanks in advance for each and every response I get. Also thanks to Arokhs Twin for making this possible.

By the way, have you seen these interesting interviews?
http://www.thecomputershow.com/computer ... rview1.htm
http://www.thecomputershow.com/computer ... rview2.htm

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shoprat
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Re: First time player + Some questions

Post by shoprat »

Now that you've completed the game it's time to load up some player created levels. Some of them are quite entertaining and challenging. There's a German level, 'Search for Arokh', that was a lot of fun. There's a lot of action still in store for you with these levels.

The Ancients Gate (ps2) is as much fun as the original. If you search around you can find an .iso of the game that's playable with a ps2 emulator. I don't think it's allowed to give a link, but it's out there. The game allows you to become an 'expert' in three categories: fighter, archer, and mage. This make the game very replayable. For example, in the city you can clear out a basement full of spiders for a good reward. You can go in with a sword, buy a bow at the blacksmith shop and snipe them, or swim over to Jade's Tower, buy the fireball spell and toast the critters. There's a lot of flexibility on how you complete the quests.

The game isn't as linear so you can take on a challenge you may not be able to complete until you level up. If you want to go after the Inquisitor first you're able to enter the cave under the waterfall at any time. For a real nail biter, get the bow and fireball spell and take him on early in the game. It's fun to complete the game using weapons that require different techniques. The types of bows, swords and magic spells will keep you hooked on the game for many playthroughs.

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Arokhs Twin
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Re: First time player + Some questions

Post by Arokhs Twin »

I've played Drakan: The Ancient's Gates a few times and as Shoprat says it has a high replayability value. I was disappointed that it didn't come to the PC much like the rest of the community but that was due to Sony's decision to stop making PC games and concentrate on the new PS2. Psygnosis was already part of Sony when Drakan:OOTF released and almost never made it.

It's a very enjoyable game with some RPG elements which admittedly makes it a better game than OOTF. The story is more fleshed out but it's designed to be standalone and there is never any explanation of what exactly happened after Rynn and Arokh dived into the rift. It just says Delon is "lost" but some references to OOTF are there. The story of OOTF was for Rynn, whereas in TAG it's Arokh's story; his ultimate goal is to bring back the Order of the Flame with Lady Myschala's help. His character and personality is more defined and it's clear he's the boss in their relationship. There's some funny humorous moments when they disagree with each other over things and Arokh sternly puts Rynn in her place. :) The redesign of Arokh is not to my liking and the blurry low resolution textures spoil the game somewhat giving it a bright and cartoony look. RAM limitations on the PS2 was due to this.

As for the Drakan remake; that was cancelled due to potential copyright issues that may arise. Also for one person working on it the game would take years to complete to a good standard. It's a shame really as it was beginning to look very good. As for it's future, well the game may be released as a tech demo but we will see.

What I liked about both games is the unique ability to ride a Dragon and the bond / relationship between them. It's a unique concept that has never been done since. The game world and story is pretty generic but Surreal did give a sense of wonder regarding the Order of the Flame and it's history. Maybe it's just me but some game stories / plot just clicks with me. I've been a fan of the Star Wars universe too (the extended universe, not the new movies that make the books and most games non-canon) with the Dark Forces & Jedi Knight series being my favourites.

Lastly if you do ever play Drakan:TAG it does have a better ending than OOTF and concludes Rynn and Arokh's story somewhat but yet leaves it open for a possible sequel. That never happened but it can be easily left to the imagination what happens next. Lets just say it would be a new beginning for the world of Drakan but not necessarily involving Rynn and Arokh as the main protagonists.
By fire and by blood I join with thee in the Order of the Flame!
Webmaster of Arokh's Lair

null
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Re: First time player + Some questions

Post by null »

Thanks for your responses.
TAG definitely sounds interesting, after you told me something about the gameplay.

I don‘t think there would be any copyright issues whatsoever, as the community (or the programmer) wouldn‘t sell the game anyway, would it (or he)?

Definitely need to try one of those custom maps! Thanks :)

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Arokhs Twin
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Re: First time player + Some questions

Post by Arokhs Twin »

There was a long discussion on our discord server about the copyright. Duncan who worked at Surreal frequents the discord server and even he wasn't sure where we would stand from a legal standpoint. Drakan is still owned by Sony and although the remake would not be sold and require the original game to play it was decided to cancel it.

To be honest I don't think Sony would care about the remake but it wasn't my decision to cancel it.
By fire and by blood I join with thee in the Order of the Flame!
Webmaster of Arokh's Lair

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yangez93
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Re: First time player + Some questions

Post by yangez93 »

Hi null :)

1)I only played TAG using emulator, I had only couple times FPS drop, but in my old graphics card nVidia GTS 250 it works quite fine and stable. I borrowed a gamepad for PC from a friend

2)It was decision not only because of copyright but most part of it, but I would rather do my own projects, even if they didn't have a lot of interest. Of course, if I'll find time I'll make fan art with Drakan, I'd like to post new topic about it.

3)I like this game because of main story and singleplayer, especially level concept,levels differ from each other so the game is not boring. I used to find every secrets of maps hoping to find something else interesting. When I found on internet 445 patch and level editor I was excited and wanted to make new maps, unfortunately there weren't any fan made patches such as AiO or CP then.

4) It is also discussed on Discord or on other topics, I always encourage creators, developers and artists to making and developing own projects. All you need is hard work and be motivated

I like this interview with Alan Patmore when he describes Drakan and its features

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