Realms of Arkania

If you like CRPG's, this is a good one. I remember it fondly and have been playing it last couple of days. However, 2 questions have sprung up. First, I did download the official manual for it, but the developers must be retarded, because it does not tell you what the spells do. I don't have time to cast them all and guess what they do. They have weird names too, so I can't decipher what they are from their names. The only one I could understand, was lightning. Even that was messed up, because all lightning does is blind the enemy. Every CRPG in existence, lightning is a offenseive spell to zap and burn to a cinder, the enemy. So you see my delema. Was wondering if anyone out there plays this game, and if they have some sort of spell list for me?

Second, I swear I remember the other 2 sequels to this trilogy, came out for Amiga also. Star Trail, and Shadows Over Riva. Every search I've done, I can not find them. Does anyone know for sure, if these 2 sequels were IBM PC only?

I also just thought of a question about this site, I figured I'd just ask here, since I already started this thread. What's the points system here, and what am I donating these points to?

About the points system:

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Originally Posted by Harrison

The points system is now installed and fully working. I still need to finish configuring it at the start of next week and customise the names of it's various parts, but you are all welcome to have a play around with it.

You gain points from general activities on the forum such as reading threads, typing replies, posting replies and polls etc... You can also play the daily and weekly lottery to try and win the jackpot.

The new forum arcade will allow you to win the jackpot on each game if you get the highest score and th jackpot increases with each new winner. You can also donate some of your points to other members and spend your points on some fun forum features such as jazzing up your username and title, or buying extra reputation points or power.

We will also be able to use the points to award winners of future quizzes and competitions.

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I know Realms of Arkania, the german version was called Das schwarze Auge, but never played it, and unfortunately I don't know any spell or if there's an existing list.

Star Trail and Shadows over Riva were DOS only.

I can confirm that parts 2 and 3 of Realms of Arkania were definitely PC only. As for the manual, it sounds like you're missing all the appendices which are mostly required to get anything out of the game. Not just spells, but information on herbs, diseases and character classes are also things you really need to have. As luck will have it, I allready have scanned the manual of the entire PC trilogy for *ahem* some strange reason. So I've attached an archive with the pages you need for you. I think I got all the important information you need in there, but let me know if there's something missing.

I have the apenndices in the manual I downloaded. But I will have yours a go. It is probably the same thing unfortunetly. Yes, the Appendices list the spells, but only say what class they came from, (druid, magician..etc.), how much power it costs to cast, and how long it lasts. But no where does it say what the actual spell does.


EDIT: Looked at yours, and yes, that is what I neeeded! Not all of it...lol, but the spells are there. Thank you very much. I wonder why the official manual's appendices don't look like that? Oh well, I'm good to go. Does suck about the sequels, but oh well. Thanks guys for your help.

@Teho

Could you add the manuals for the first game into the site entry?

http://www.classicamiga.com/content/view/4040/96/

Cheers :thumbs:

I could, but it would be a little strange. It's the one for the PC version after all so the installation instructions are wrong. And, those appendices we just talked about is only printed once in the trilogy's manual as they are the same for all three games. But they used the ones from Shadows over Riva (the third game) so whenever the game's title is mentioned in the appendices, it's that one. Finally, the scans I made back then are pretty crude as I didn't want to put that much effort into it for that purpose back then (the entire thing is over 200 pages). So it's double pages with the pages very visibly folding into the spine. But if you still want me to, I could get only the pages relevant for the first game and work them into a pdf. Shouldn't be that much work, allthough I'd split the images up in single pages at least, I think.

Anything is better than nothing so if you could that would be great. Maybe include a note on the first CA coverpage saying that they are from the PC version just so everyone knows.

When you think about it most Amiga games come with PC manuals and an insert card telling you how to install on the Amiga so it's not a problem.

This is very true, and I was thinking about this the other day. I own a lot of PC games that were also released on the Amiga so was thinking of scanning those for the site as they would still be useful for users to reference as the game controls and in game functionality are generally the same across the different platforms.

Right, it's added now.

edit: Have added a ton of screens as well

Cool. Great stuff :thumbs:

That's looking great, good job :thumbs:

Ah ... I remember this was probably the last Amiga game I played on the Amiga itself (non-emulated). Really nice atmosphere, great music, great artwork, but a little bit too 'deep' for its own good (for example, I spent hours fiddling around with the character creation alone). Never got around to delving very far into the game though, even though I probably should have.

The same thing happens to me in many recent games. The character creation screens are so detailed that you end up spending the first day playing just setting up your character. Oblivion was a good example of this. So it isn't until the next day before you even get to see the game.

In Realms of Arkania, if you haven't spent over an hour creating your characters then you haven't done it right. ;)

It is very hard to get into though, you're right about that. At the start your character will have a hard time surviving against just about anything, and don't think the game does anything like level scaling or something to help you out. Oh no. It's one of those old, really unforgiving RPGs. The game will never stop you or even warn you against doing something stupid, like crossing a mountain mid-winter in your undies. It expects you to be clever enough to know things like that won't work, and punishes you harshly if you aren't. But it's a beautiful game if you persevere, but it does take ages to play. I literally spent months with it when I had it back in the day. There's so many places to visit, and a lot of random events that can occur when travelling around. But it does become repetitive, if not only because there's little variation in the graphics.

Too long and not enough variation to be recommended to play today, but back then this was the Elder Scrolls of its day in my opinion, in terms of scope and freedom to go anywhere in a huge world.

I don't mind a game that takes a bit of perseverance to play well. Most games nowadays literally walk you through them automatically, with literally no danger of ever dying in-game.

I'm actually kind of interested in picking up Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Haven't played a good, western-style RPG in ages.

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Originally Posted by Sharingan

I'm actually kind of interested in picking up Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Haven't played a good, western-style RPG in ages.

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If you still haven't played it then it is well worth getting hold of. Some parts of it relating to the main story do get a little repetitive, but there is so much to do outside of the main story that you can almost play the game without even progressing the main story if you wanted.

And if you do get it make sure you install one of the mods that sorts out the enemy levelling system in the game. By default all enemies level up when you do so regardless of how much you level up your skills you are never any better than you were before. With these mods it keeps the enemies at their original levels so you actually feel like there is a point your all your levelling up

I forget what the name of the mod in question is. Some of the others on here should be able to let you know and I think it has been mentioned somewhere.

Oblivion is also highly customisable with a ton of hacks and mods available to do loads of things, plus loads of extra missions, stories and items you can add to the game.