Drova - Forsaken Kin

A game that does not try to re-invent the genre of RPG but instead delivers a rock-solid game with all the great stuff an RPG needs. Great talent system, some crafting, interesting NPCs, combat system, puzzles, world building, exploration, story... you name it!

I grabbed this way back but dropped it at like 2 and a half hours, saw a plug for this in the gothic remake 500k units sold and remembered that I have it and completed it this time around.. honestly it's not terrible and I'll look into their second upcoming game but I can't recommend this one. The "gothic vibes" other reviews praise just aren't there for me, the combat is only enjoyable against "high" level monsters, the early mobs are complete pushovers and humanoid enemies while tougher fights, play by completely different game rules than you (infinite stamina, infinite focus, infinite consumables [lucky they weren't given healing potions]) wich just makes those fights unfun for me. Stats made no sense to me whatsoever, I don't know if there's a min damage mechanic or not but finding a big 30 damage weapon upgrade or using your old weapon felt like no difference at all, even the endgame weapons or armor for that part didn't feel like it made a huge difference and I cleared like 80% of the map in the free leather armor you can find. The story was interesting enough, once it picked up, to push through to the end.

The opening is such a slog. Mashing through bad dialogue, picking up 50 items I don't care about yet, following footsteps in fog, bad combat. Get me out of here.

如果不是為了解成就的話，其實還蠻快玩完， 沒有成就收集癖的話，建議盡早加入陣營，直衝第3章拿盧恩石解鎖魔法， 然後入手迷踪步(閃現），比較有遊戲體驗，主要是跑圖太慢，且路徑單一， 閃現可以直飛對岸，跟能拿強力道具，免得之後為了道具跑回同一地點拿。 如果你看了其他人評論說是資源有限，把地圖刷好刷滿，才加陣營進第2章， 真心沒必要，因為這遊戲主線非常的短，你最後會剩一堆資源沒花就結束， 而且主線的boss戰，難度也沒很高，完美結局的前置任務除外， 真正難打消耗資源的，反而是隱藏Boss(只是成就)，不影響結局。 說實在，完美結局 跟 普通結局，其實體感上相差無幾， 也就是最後的一張配圖改了一下，然後文本改了2句，就沒了， 對，放完文本就直接播工作人員名單回主選單，你對世界的影響全憑想像。 特別提一下，兩個陣營的結果都是一樣的，他們主線要做的事是一樣， 如果想要更多支線任務，建議進『奈米頓』， 想省事快點打主線看劇情的，直接進『遺族』。 整體來說，算是精品，不是大作，都是同一張地圖一直來回跑， 倒也算是符合作品名，然後練級感覺也是浪費時間，夠穿裝備就行了， 主要是練完，也沒剩多少東西給你打了，畢竟地圖資源(怪物)是有限不再生， 遊戲共5章，1-3章任務數量佔了9成，4-5章都是主線，設計上虎頭蛇尾。

I'm not posting feedback for games usually, but Drova is the exception from the multiple fronts. Beautiful level design, memorable quests and characters and satisfying combat & leveling. Turns out that 2D game may still feel dynamic and rich graphics wise without consuming 100s GB of space. Highly recommend to all the RPG-enjoyers!

IDK I just found the combat pretty boring and the skill tree to be pretty underwhelming. That killed the game for me. Locking movesets behind skill points isn’t engaging for a player. I’d have preferred if the baseline movesets were fully fleshed out for players and skill points just unlocked the option to use an alternate stance or actually modifies the gameplay somewhat. Usually good RPGs, allow players to make choices in their skill tree. Those choices usually ADD or MODIFY existing gameplay. But in Drova, they essentially are LOCKING features of certain weapons I think are pretty baseline behind a skill tree. It’s just an artificial skill tree - and enemies can still be fought easily either way. Maybe some bosses are slightly challenging but it’s still perfectly doable. There’s no depth to this game. A game like this with a linear story that asks the player to “kill this enemy to progress through the story” really needs its combat system to have enough depth to really pull it off. Quest/narrative wise, it also doesn’t feel compelling. The story was very easy to progress through and it felt more like I was reading a book, except that instead of turning pages, I had to kill a few enemies every now and then instead. The whole ‘you can be a morally good or evil character in this game’ is just rubbish; there are other games that actually make you feel your choices have an impact. In this game, it just feels like you are taking two roads to the same destination. It kinda feels like the game treats the player like an idiot. The main systems I am engaging in as a player actually feel really boring. The only points I can give would be for the pretty gorgeous art and sound direction I guess. 2/10.

Ein wundervolles Abenteuer für alle Gothic-Fans! Schon bei den ersten Schritten unseres (nicht namenlosen) Heldens wird klar, dies wird ein Abenteuer nach feinster Gothic-Manier. Drova ist eine Perle der Nostalgie und hat mich von Anfang bis Ende gepackt. Die Welt ist rau, gefährlich und ein falscher Schritt kann zum Tod führen. Die Dialoge haben den Charme, den ich bereits von Gothic kennen und lieben gelernt habe. Ich wünsche mir deutlich mehr solcher Spiele. Ich fasse mich kurz: Kauft es, spielt es und genießt es...es lohnt sich.