The Dark Eye : Book of Heroes

Was kann man nach über 100 Stunden Spielspaß sagen. Es ist zumindest anders als alle anderen Spiele, die im Das schwarze Auge Universum spielen. Wer also eine zweite Nordlandtriologie, ein neues Drakensang , Demonicon oder Blackguards erwartet, wird hier entäuscht werden. Was ist schlecht? - Es sind eine Reihe von Bugs im Spiel enthalten, die auch laut Entwickler nicht mehr gefixt werden. Diese sind nicht Spielentscheid oder behindern den Spielbetrieb, sind aber defintiv nervig weil sie den Abschluss macher Missionen unmöglich machen (oder zumindest sehr schwer) - Es ist wenig Abwechslungsreich. Der Spieler startet (und kehrt auch nach jeder Mission wieder zurück) in das Gasthaus zum Schwarzen Keiler. Dort ist es zwar möglich, Gegenstände in der eigenen Truhe zu verstauen, Tränke zu Brauen und ähnliches. Allerdings ist die Truhe nicht wie in Diablo 3 Spielerbezogen sondern Charakter bezogen. Wer also einen guten Gegenstand gefunden hat und denkt, den benutze ich bei einem anderen Charakter wird entäuscht werden. Desweitern kann der Startort werden Ausgebaut noch sonstwie verändert werden. Und wer glaubt hier wenigstens andere Spieler treffen zu können wie an den öffentlichen Plätzen in Guild War der hat sich auch geschnitten, man kann wenn man überhaupt mal andere menschliche Spieler findet diese nur bei Missionen treffen. Was ist gut an dem Spiel: - Jede Mission kann belieb oft wiederholt werden und schaltelt Boni frei, besserer Verdienst bei Missionen, mehr AP (im Prinzip Exp) , neue Missionen oder Charakter (NPC) zum Mitnehmen bei Missionen - das aufwerten des Charakters erfolgt gegen KArten, die man nach jeder Erfolgreichen Quest erhält. Diese lassen sich gegen Geld verbessern oder Neuziehen. Auf diese Weise entwickelt sich jeder Charakter nach den KArten die man bekommt anders und es ist deutlich schwieriger (und dauert auch länger) seinen Charakter in die entscprechende Richtung zu entwickeln. Ich denke die eher negative Wertung kommt weil sich die Fangemeinde unter dem Spiel etwas anders vorgestellt hat als es auf den Markt kam und da man viel Potenzial bei diesem Spiel liegen gelassen hat. Erweiterungsmöglichkeiten des Gasthasues, mehr Charakterklassen freispielbar, Hintergründe und Spielergeschichten in Form von findbaren Büchern al la Elder Scrolls , eine deutlich Komplexere Hauptgeschichte als die traurig erzählten Zwischensequenzen der Spielbaren Mainstories und ähnliches hätten dem Spiel gut getan und es in besserem Licht dargestellt.

I love this small game - there is advanced background/class/race character creation which gives you background and personal quests to pursue - that is a feature I was missing in many RPGs for roleplayers, then it generates numerical stats itself based upon that -again something I'm OK with as I play not a perfectly min maxed character, but a character based on a chosen background. Then I love the group of adventurers - simle party (for solo play, for coop it is replaced). I don't control them, so it looks a bit funny how they wonder around on their own, but it could be annoying in more tense combat. I do like the system of choosing skill cards at the end of dungeons, which will become permanent if you choose to, and simple potion/accessories crafting. I like those random events in dungeons where I can use my other than combat skills. I like the music and overal feel of inn full of adventurers setting off to their own goals. Also point and click movement/interactions feel smooth. I'm OK with simple narrator/non voiced dialogues. EDIT after playing longer: Pursuing my own personal quest does sound interesting, but sadly the game isn't finished and instead there is cheesy complete 10 dungeons to unlock something, which is the most hated online feature and I believe that was a mistake made because of the coop implementation decision. I wish they would focus on singleplayer aspect instead and flesh out the group of adventures, implement better progression and instead of number of dungeons to complete, make story dungeons unique and others could be just random dungeons on the way. I believe it does have low score because of Dark Eye fans and those MMO repetitive mechanics, because the new dungeons reuses the assets and the game is not strategic enough to make something that much better/different the next time, but you get random cards as rewards, so the next time you are stronger, and you meet different encounters, but they don't repeat as they should have and they seem to be unfinished/too few. I wish some of those encounters would become permanent - like hiring new kind of adventurers and level them up. So I hope for more singleplayer focused sequel, but it doesn't have to be named Dark Eye, because it doesn't use anything from the setting anyway.

This one totally flew underneath my radar and when I first saw it, it was already dicounted, with overwhelmingly negative reviews. I hesitated, but finally gave it a shot and I am damn glad I did. So glad in fact, that I bought a second copy of the game after 20 hours of playtime and gifted it to a friend. Since then, we played it in COOP, where this game really shines (and what RPGs are all about in the first place). Now, I finished the game with all Storylines and 100% Achievements and had 254 hours of fun, but I surely took my time to write these lines. I wanted to be sure to give you a foundated insight and no "below-2-hours-playtime-review" that comes along like I know all about this game. And after 250 hours I know a lot, but still not all. Even on my last day, I found 2 new items and some occurences are still a riddle to me. There are still some bugs, one even borderline gamebreaking, but one thing is for sure: Book of Heroes certainly does not deserve so much hate. So it is said, that this game has no Story what is absolutely not true. In fact, it has 8 storylines, that are embedded in a timeframe, where an uprising of Orcs and cultists of the Nameless God take place (the intro video draws the picture). This and the henchmen-behaviour is quiet unrivalled in the genre, at least nothing I can think of. The various stations of such storyline consist of a number of adventures (like gamebooks/modules) and the detective work to follow the hints where the next adventure takes place. So Yes, it is no "Start-to-Finish-All-Epic-One-Man-Show-to-Rescue-the-known-World-and-all-the-Rest" and No, it is not a storyless and bland game, but has some smaller stories that might fit better into schedule with getting together with friends for cooperative roleplay and high replayability. Choose what you like best. If you have no friend at hand, you have to resort to henchmen, which first set is displayed in the Cover Artwork. The first ones join you on an adventure for free, stronger ones have to be unlocked and charge you a fee per adventure. If you don´t look too close, they behave like human players, opening doors (or smashing them down), searching for valueables (but not looting) or engaging enemies. I would have liked it, if the thief took more initiative and disarmed traps without telling him to do it, or at least give the player a proper command in the chat-wheel instead of doing it via the map, but ok. If the nosey sorceress is going to scout the dungeon, you can tell her to stay put. You can even use it to your advantage, if your character is a little meek himelf, staying behind and drawing back further to initiate a rest when things get ugly. Unless human players, henchmen don´t need to be in the same room for resting. Shaping your Character is done "Ultima-Style" with Inrah-Cards (kind of Tarot) at your friendly gypsy-next-door. While I really like this approach (and generally getting rid of the dusted AD&D-like Level-system) there needs to be more variation in the cards (maybe 5 cards). There are squires that raise general skills and Lords for the main attributes. In addition each Arch-Class has its own type of card. Fighters get Knights, Mages get Mages, and Blessed-One get Seers. My Blessed-One of Rondra (sort of Crusader/Paladin) got lot of Seer-Cards, but not a single Knight for his two-handed sword (only one for daggers). So he never got any better with his weapons. Good that my buddy could do the tanking with his elven archer. With such a devastating feedback it is highly unlikely that the devs will work further on this project despite it´s potential (additional classes/adventures). I never regretted playing this game, like others, that start promising and then put you in an endless grind until I forgot, what it´s all about. Have a shelf full of this...

Sorry to say so, but this game has to be considered a failed gaming project. I wouldn't even rate it, and if forced certainly below 60/100. So sorry. I love the world of the Dark Eye (German: Das Schwarze Auge). It is certainly one of the coolest and deepest fantasy worlds I have encountered. I played the pen and paper RPG and a number of the older PC games set in this world. Book of Heroes is supposed to be a sort of action RPG I guess using procedurally generated maps, They use some of the more recent rules, but progressing the characters is basically coincidental as you have to find cards which you can use to invest your adventure points (=xp) in the abilities or skills on said card. Not really possible to make a proper build like that. The character generation started promising though. Quests are boring, the maps are too simple. As your characters and the henchmen can hardly die the game is also not really exciting. Pathfinding is a pain too. After five missions the game ended for me, no more missions would be presented although I bested all maps. Didn't bother to try it with another character. The game seems to aim at children below 14 years or so. Sorry to say so, but this game is unworthy of the title "Dark Eye". It is also unworthy of your time, unless you are said young child and your parents want to introduce you to the Dark Eye. I don't know what the developers and publishers were thinking. I guess they might have thought that the Warhammer universe has many fans too and those guys get by producing mostly only average (or rather bad) games too... Better alternatives within the world of the Dark Eye are Blackguards 1 and 2 or the very old Das Schwarze Auge: Schicksalsklinge, Sternenschweif and Schatten über Riva. Drakensang was also ok.

Me: Can we get Drakensang 3? Universe: We have Drakensang 3 at home! Drakensang 3 at home: Ok… despite the little comedy bit up top I never believed it to be a proper RPG (like some of the trailers make it out to be) but just a fun little dungeon crawler. But let's not beat around the bush and go straight to the big mistake this game makes. The cards… Instead of allocating points once you level up or using them to increase their value on the fly (like in Drakensang) you basically select one of three tarot-like cards. These can be interchanged or upgraded afterwards. You do not get to choose how to advance your character the way you like for it's mostly up to RNG. And the upgrading is inconsistent. For example: You get a card that gives you +1 Impact Weapon Proficiency and purchase the upgrade for the card. But you end up losing the original bonus and get something you did not want. Nothing warns you what the change in the card is going to be, and to add salt to the wound, there are cards that retain their original bonus after upgrading! The in game glossary contains no info on upgrade paths so you need to experiment and remember/write down all upgrades. And even then some carts give several abilities that are given once every purchase. So if you get one undesired ability from a card there is no way to know if another is present that you do like to have. This is possibly the worst upgrade system I've ever seen in not just RPG’s but in any game with character stats. Then there are your npc companions. You have no control over them (you can give them some simple commands via map markers) but they are somewhat helpful by looking around for loot locations. But mostly they will go into rooms full of enemies ahead of you getting themselves killed. If you want to prevent this you have to constantly press the Follow/Stay button so the AI resets its (personal) priorities. Apart from some strange combat behavior from NPC’s I did not encounter game breaking bugs… in the beginning that is. In the beginning it was just “NAME” in the event log instead of a proper name and an examination text being obviously wrong (Torch is missing while there is definitely an active torch pressend) that sort of thing. But It was at “The Forge of Agrimoth” where I encountered a game breaking bug. There is a Rostrum present where you need to offer up several items attached to the cards it shows (yes more cards…) so I give it my selection but nothing happens. The magical barrier that is supposed to be lifted remains and I can't get the items out. I restarted the Adventure and looked up a guide for the correct answers. And once more nothing happened, the level is completely bugged and unfinishable for me. And so I came to the decision to lay the game down. The concept of a quick bite dungeon crawler is compelling but this is not the one.

A lot of negative views, but honestly, I am enjoying the game. I found the combat a little slow and the path finding difficult. That being said, I like the feel of the game and find I want to continue to play to earn new skills. The combat is slow because of dice rolls and timed execution of attacks to keep things fair. The missions are fairly short and not complicated. If you like easy going games and simple then i recommend this. Developers this is a game that could be great with more weapons choices, some control over henchman, crafting needs more choices and lastly more slots on hero to upgrade with, rings, amulets, artifacts etc. Love the game.

Insgesamt KEIN gutes Spiel, aber man kann es schön nebenbei spielen, während man trinkt oder Podcasts hört oder beides. DSA-Fans können es sich mal überlegen, kompletter Schrott ist es nicht. Ich bereue den Kauf nicht, Drakensang ist natürlich 10 Mal besser.

I enjoy plating this game in spite of its many flaws, but recommend buying on sale. My frustration centers on the weak single player mode combined with no other players available for co-op mode. Many bugs with spells, items and abilities that don't work properly, with no patches for 2 years, and a frustrating upgrade system where often I don't know what I'm "buying". In spite of this non of the problem prevent the missions from being fun and the varied plot lines encourage replay.

Das Spiel hätte viel Potential. Hier liegt die Betonung jedoch auf HÄTTE. Es gibt wenig Aspekte die wirklich positiv ins Auge stechen. Gute Ansätze gibt es viele, hier bleibt es allerdings bei guten Ansätzen und dem Spiel hätte eine längere Entwicklung und eine tiefere Story und ein besseres Kampfsystem gut getan. Von der Grafik und der Steuerung will ich gar nicht erst anfangen zu sprechen. Es soll nur gesagt sein, dass eine Kamera Drehung nicht Möglich ist und man in vielen Questen einfach durch die map rennt den Endboss besiegt und das Level wieder verlässt. Leider viel Potential liegen lasen. Es soll aber gesagt sein, dass es mit den richtigen Leuten im Coop zumindest für ein paar Stunden Spaß macht, aber nur wenn das game im Angebot zu haben ist und man sich bewusst ist worauf man sich einlässt, der Spaß entsteht lediglich durch Freunde und nicht durch das Gameplay.

Плюс в игре вижу только один и это создание ГГ, его история, цель начала пути, а так какая то унылая дро4ня одних и тех же данжей по 10 раз (для ачивок) и ещё не вариант, что вы его сможете пройти 1 раз из - за жёсткой рандомайзерной системы боя. Пример: у меня получился ГГ с преимуществом в боях с нежетью, первый заход игра вылетела (с кем не бывает проехали), второй удачный, а третий провал, т.к. теперь босс начал призывать 2-3 скелетов на подногу, а у меня один дворф. Два раза гасил волны скелетов магией и начал биться с боссом, а через пару секунд меня окружила новая волна скелетом и хана заходу. Как в это играть в первом уровне данджа с голой жопой без коопа желательно? Как прокачиваться без ресом и нала? В др. данжах ещё хуже, где нет преимущества против мобов, я проиграл с полным ХП кабану, но до этого успел вальнуть только волка (отхилил ХП отдыхом, если что до кабана), а где то ещё должны быть разбойники и думаю они сильнее кабана, а может нет. (Возможно кол-вом. возьмут, но это не точно) Мусоля лёгкие данжы можно кое как на ноги встать, но дальше ещё хуже дела намечаются с пазлами которые заруинят хороший по началу заход. Это подбор предметов к рандомному набору карт в кол-ве. 4 штук и может не хватить какой - нибудь книжонки для завершения захода. Мне, как пример, не хватило в конце хилки, которую не так давно использовал. Как себя должен чувствовать игрок прошедший уровень и не смог его закончить из - за е6учей хилки. Бой - бой с воздухом ГГ машет машет оружием, а толку нет, хоть напарники НПС в основном тянут на себе бои и бывают жёстко тупят (И их быстро выносят группы мобов). На счёт тупости в игре есть механика подслушивать что творится за дверью, но НПС всегда даёт ложную инфу, когда были враги говорил тишина, а когда не кого - "Я слышу какой то шум". P.S. Пытаюсь играть, но игра вылетает после 2+- заходов в данж или в момент нахождения в нём.( После этой писанины игра не вылетала на удивление.\ По итогу после пройденных мучений и в последствии ещё продолжатся, я не рекомендую это багованное и унылое дерьмо. Интересный видел обзор цитирую не дословно: "Чем все недовольны, разработчики сделали что обещали не больше не меньше", но можно было сделать лучше механику боя, а не то что имеем большую часть времени в заходах, что я вижу: "Уворот, промах, промах, уворот..... и т.д. т.п.". Даже не знаю как описать два ужасных уровня с жирными(по факту и по ХР) мобами орками, если наткнулись на 9 шт. хана 100%, а также уровень где из самых дальних углов таскать шестеренки с черепашьей скоростью + пазл подсовывают со статуями гномов комбо мазохизма. Нашёл ЛАЙФАК, когда герой под отравлением паука или упыря, то он таскает тяжёлые предметы для пазлов как пушинку. Может это кому то поможет сократить время на заход. Ещё прокачка героев рандомная, т.к. нельзя влиять, а только выбирать из предложенных наград по завершению квестов - качайте ХР, но даже около 200 ед. некоторым мобам совершено по барабану нагнут вас кол-вом..( В конце игры понял что на Alt можно подсвечивать название объектов и предметов, так бы рычаги находить которые мог пробежать при условии полностью открытой карты, но увы уже поздно в обучении этого не заметил, если было.( Только из - за достижений хочу пройти все истории (минус они будут, почти, на тех же данжах по началу), но при создании персонажа мага + НПС (воинов набрал в помощь) в заходе как то эта коллаборация подсасывает, гг всегда нацеленно выбивает ИИ и лежишь ждёшь когда свои ИИ додумаются помочь подняться. Думаю нужен воин-танк, качать только ХР по возможности и урон бы хороший, но я так и не увидел возможности его увеличивать намеренно, если только находить экипировку получше и всё.