While it's a pretty obscure series, I've still met a good deal of Drakan fans in a few websites I visit. Any here? And if so, what's your favorite in the series? Order of the Flame, or The Ancients' Gates? Mine in The Ancinets' Gates. Such a great open world RPG for the PS2, I tell you; very nostalgic, too!
Drakan - 2 "The Ancient Gates" My wife ave finished the "ancient gates" over "OPL091VMC" !!!Best regards.PS : From "France" old french boy.
I'm actually on my first playthrough of TAG these days. The save system sucks, but apart from that I'm having a good time. And OotF is one of the titles I intend to go back to once I get the driver issues on my Win98 box sorted out - definitely one of the most memorable titles of that era for me. While too much time has passed for a fair comparison, I'd say I prefer OotF. It's more linear, sure, but TAG's "open world" feels a bit half-assed (or maybe we've just been pampered by more recent titles - I think games built on "open world" concepts usually don't age well, with newer titles' worlds getting much bigger all the time).
Yeah, the save system is a bit of a drag, I'll admit. Glad to see you're having a great time, though! And as for OotF, it works quite well on modern operating systems (granted you have it patched properly), so if your issues are not resolved, I definitely recommend trying it on your newer computer. But yes, definitely a memorable title, indeed. I enjoy TAG's open world, but I wish it was more populated; more enemies, more NPCs, more landmarks and so on. And one thing that bugs me, is how once an enemy dies... it stays dead. Forever. Makes pre-end game adventuring a drag (I like to explore around for a good while before completing the game). I wonder if there's a way to fix that through a mod, or GameShark code. Hrm... EDIT: I also do not like how sections of the game remain locked away upon completion (like the Andrellian Iles, Shadowmire, Ravenshold and so on). And, of course, upon beating the game, you can't go back anywhere except before the final boss, unless you start a new game. I swear, if there's any game that'd severely benefit from a new game+, it'd be this one. Or just, you know, allow post-game completion free roaming.
I've played Order of the Flame, it's a very iconic game for me. I'd like to beat it, but getting it to work properly on modern systems is kind of a hassle. This dude on Youtube did a fantastic job reviewing both games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuqWqnhiST8
Honestly, on my Windows 8.1 machine, all I had to do was install the game from its CD, then apply one or two patches (I think it was two, however it's been a while since I've done it). After that, the game works wonderfully. ALSO, some beautiful screenies I took of TAG with PCSX2 (don't mind the lack of texture filtering; I prefer it, as I love the pixelated look): http://i.imgur.com/XCnoS27.png http://i.imgur.com/Rg8YJHq.png http://i.imgur.com/DXxpTwh.png http://i.imgur.com/GYFLtNZ.png http://i.imgur.com/ceDwYkg.png http://i.imgur.com/GMquJps.png http://i.imgur.com/bn17EOK.png http://i.imgur.com/J2scB7i.png http://i.imgur.com/NX2NeWE.png http://i.imgur.com/dc1B28k.png
Honestly, on my Windows 8.1 machine, all I had to do was install the game from its CD, then apply one or two patches (I think it was two, however it's been a while since I've done it). After that, the game works wonderfully. And, lol, no. No he did not, in my honest opinion. Never has someone complaining about how hard a game is annoy me so much. Maybe it's just my bias for the series speaking, but plenty of his issues with the games seem like stuff that is entirely his own doing, due to the fact he just doesn't know how to properly play the game. Some issues are created by him (childishly) not being able to cope with the difficulty of the two games. Sure, the games have issues, but they're not as bad as this guy makes them out to be. The games are great.
Running Windows 8.1 here as well, using the latest fan made patch, the game runs a bit slowly for whatever reason. I'll have to give it a second look sometime, I really want to beat it eventually. I don't think the guy hates the game (maybe the 2nd a little bit), I believe he loves OotF, it's just that he brings up some of the greatest flaws of the games. Weird controls and collision detection are a true annoyance and should not be part of the difficulty of any game. I have a friend who grew up with OotF and he has a game designer background. Semi-often Drakan comes up when talking with him and we have talked endlessly on how it could have been that much greater. It feels a bit rushed and rough on the edges, but it's a great game nonetheless. It's sequel seems kinda meh to be honest, but it's alright as long as it gives you joy . I grew up and love a lot of games that others hate or just ignore.
I recently finished Order of the Flame for like.... third or fourth time, haha, although I hadn't played it for years before that. I gotta say, with all the latest fan-made patches, the game ran quite nicely on my Windows 7 laptop, and while it normally crashes all the time, it only crashed once on me at a specific location. I had to restart the level and approach it differently, but other than that it was a pretty much flawless experience in terms of technical difficulties. I haven't yet played TAG for the PS2, but I'm going to sometime. Gotta get a copy first! As this is Assemblergames, I guess I could post some alpha/beta videos here, just for the fun of it. Here's a 1998 trailer. Notice how smooth Rynn's movement and animation is in this version. Also, gotta love how Rynn stands inside Arokh, while's she's on top of him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZckNsLMHs8 Here's some beta footage from a bit more finalised version of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pLUFKBVwbs Lastly, here's probably the most interesting/different beta footage I've found so far: The last trailer is actually quite interesting. Notice how not only it's got a lot of things already finished there that are not present in the other 1998 trailer, but also how it's the same year. Maybe at some point they started over when they realised it may have not been good enough? Also notice how there are some things not present in the final game at all, like Arokh being able to burn down trees.
Those two things actually play into each other... Every time you save, the game seems to store all state (position, health, what-have-you) of all entities in the current level, which is slow and bloats the save file. I'm guessing the team probably had a lot of PC devs, where that concept isn't all that expensive (resource-wise)... While this allows you to e.g. drop a sword, leave the level and come back later to find it exactly where you left it, imho they should just have (mostly) reset the map on reentering (except for quest items and maybe the stronger enemies).
I run it at a very good framerate, so you probably just need to tinker around. And, well, I think he does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojuuSdhPEo At the end: "You wanna know which one's better? You're both fucking horrible!" And, sure, he goes on to say he prefers the first one, but it's still obvious he hates the games. Oh well, though, it's just someone's opinion. No skin off my ass. Yeah, it would have been a good idea for them to just reset the map. As basic as this game's combat is, I think it's meaty and fun, and it's a drag to have to restart the game (or load an old save file) whenever I wish to experience it.
I was actually trying to remember that game with the Dragon and the Girl for the PS2 I played a long time ago. Thanks for the reminder.
I briefly tried it and liked what I played. I was working at Hollywood Video at the time and we could take a bunch of games/movies home to try, so I didnt get deep into it.
Played The Ancients Gates several times...one of my favorite PS2 games. I am afraid to go back and play again if it hasn't aged well. I'm sure it will be fine. Played Order of the Flame afterwards but didn't get very far. I really wish they could have made another...here's to hoping
Just play it again. I'd say it aged well enough. Also, yes, I seriously hope there is a Drakan 3. Warner Bros. owns the IP now, so they damn well better use it. :/
There is a funny thread on the Gamefaqs board for Drakan, there are 10 or so people who have been there just chatting about life ever since the board died, i go check back in once in a while. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/451207-drakan-the-ancients-gates
