Drakensang: The Dark Eye Update Interview

RPG Vault has conducted an interview with Project Director Bernd Beyreuther to catch up on Drakensang: The Dark Eye. Bern sure isn’t short of exorbitant claims, opening the interview by stating that Drakensang marks “the return of REAL RPGs”.

Jonric: Who do you see as your core target audience, the kinds of players who are most likely to love the game rather than just like it?

Bernd Beyreuther: RPG fans will love the game. The easiest way to describe it is “Finally, REAL RPGs are back.” Drakensang is no action RPG, no over-hurried hack and slay-only clicking orgy. There’s no need to be online, and you are not forced into guilds like in many MMOGs.

The Dark Eye has been around as a pen and paper classic party-based RPG for more than 20 years. The whole world of Aventuria was developed over a long time, with much care and love. In our game, we will have appealing, memorable characters, pausable combat, heaps of equipment, a classical character skill system, a huge amount of archetypes to choose from, and so on, and so on….

It’s also easy to learn, even for players who haven’t been in the Dark Eye universe or Aventuria yet.
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Jonric: How significant will the story element be, and what are you doing to make this part of Drakensang stand out?

Bernd Beyreuther: Drakenang’s story is one of its key elements. This game is no rush-through action hack and slay. The story has been the cornerstone since the start of the whole development process; you can even describe the game as story-driven.

Players will experience an epic story with unique characters. There were six original The Dark Eye authors who created the Drakensang story, dialogues and more than 80 unique characters that, of course, also got unique looks. In-game cutscenes support the story, which develops very intensely when you talk to other characters. We had a very special eye for all these characters that the player can take into his party. We are convinced they will easily find a way into the player’s heart.

Jonric: How significant will the dialogues and other interactions with characters be within the overall gameplay?

Bernd Beyreuther: Dialogues are definitely another key element of Drakensang and its gameplay. They are mandatory for solving quests; we could even say they are the story’s motor.

We expanded the classical multiple choice dialogue system to make it more dynamic. Dialogue skills like beguiling or convincing will mean conversations never run the same. It is important for the player to get immersed into the story, to engage in dialogues; otherwise, he won’t be able to complete various quests, or even get them.

The interview also hints there might be news on the international release dates of the game too, as they’re working out the kinks on those now.