Drakensang Online has a lot of folks interested in playing with its literary tie-in as well as its Diablo-like game play. We've been putting Drakensang Online through its paces. See how it did in our official review.

It’s a story that, at this stage, is in danger of being done to death but Drakensang Online is yet another MMO that has a dragon as its big bad.  Where it strays from the beaten path, however, is by being a free-to-play action based romp that feels fresh and enjoyable whilst overflowing with accessibility.  Developers Bigpoint Games haven’t revolutionised the genre by any stretch, but that certainly doesn’t mean you should overlook this title.  Read on to find out why you should spend some time exploring the world of Duria, even if your stay perhaps won’t last indefinitely.

Read more of Luke Karmali's Drakensang Online: Our Official Drakensang Online Review.

I have had a lot of fun with this game in the few times I have played it. 

Stay AWAY! This is the absolute worst cash cow you will find, and the moderators are power crazy. just go look at the number of closed threads on their forums. In game money is barely used, repairs only, everything you need, or better would want to progress in the game is from your wallet. What a shame, I wanted to like this so much.

The original Drakensang RPG games were fun because of the NPCs and managing the party mechanics. The reviewer here mentioned similarities to Guild Wars 1, but if the henchmen are gone in the Online version, count me not interested.

I've been playing this game for the last week or two, waiting for Path of Exile and several other games to go into Open Beta / Released status.

Drakensang Online is a fun game, and I've gotten all the way to level 30 without spending any money on the cash shop.  My exp rate has slowed down quite a bit and I've finally run out of quests, at lv 30.  But it has been fun up until now.  The game is quite a gem for being a browser based free one.

[mod edit - do not copy and paste tables directly into the forum]

How can you give innovation a 7 when they first thing you say is that they don't do anything new?  Stop kidding yourselves and start being realistic in your reviews.

Originally posted by Hardanger

How can you give innovation a 7 when they first thing you say is that they don't do anything new?  Stop kidding yourselves and start being realistic in your reviews.

Yeah! Or else!

Originally posted by chazeb

Stay AWAY! This is the absolute worst cash cow you will find, and the moderators are power crazy. just go look at the number of closed threads on their forums. In game money is barely used, repairs only, everything you need, or better would want to progress in the game is from your wallet. What a shame, I wanted to like this so much.

 

+1

Nothing unusual though from Bigpoint game.

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Originally posted by chazeb
Stay AWAY! This is the absolute worst cash cow you will find, and the moderators are power crazy. just go look at the number of closed threads on their forums. In game money is barely used, repairs only, everything you need, or better would want to progress in the game is from your wallet. What a shame, I wanted to like this so much.

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I agree is a huge item dpended game but its up to you to spent money on items.

Ive played for few weeks now not spent one dime and have fun im lvl 34 and just use drops to progress and craft nice items. PvP after lvl30 is no good plus its boring.

You can have fun with drakansang online if you dont mind farm and craft items and dont wanne be uber fast without any sweat. You realy dont need to spent any money on the game if you want.

Andermant is only gamebreaking in PvP but if you just have fun ignore the items shop you can enjoy as much as someone who buy his way to top only difference you have actually played for it but its much harder thats all.

Some boss fights are challenging and fun beating.

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Originally posted by stormseekaz
I've been playing this game for the last week or two, waiting for Path of Exile and several other games to go into Open Beta / Released status.Drakensang Online is a fun game, and I've gotten all the way to level 30 without spending any money on the cash shop.  My exp rate has slowed down quite a bit and I've finally run out of quests, at lv 30.  But it has been fun up until now.  The game is quite a gem for being a browser based free one. 

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Strange im still doing plenty quests at lvl34?

I Have played this abit. It's Odd that he doesn't mention that this game is more like Diablo ..It's a hack n slash loot grabber, it's even odd to compare it to Guild Wars../shrug..However..for what it is... It can offer abit of fun and it's rather impressive that it's browser based :)

The singleplayer RPG's however is great however, oldshool turnbased and partybased RPG at it's best, but has nothing to do with this title part from it's name..

If you want something to do while you wait for Diablo...then..this can be an alternative :)

Originally posted by Hardanger

How can you give innovation a 7 when they first thing you say is that they don't do anything new?  Stop kidding yourselves and start being realistic in your reviews.

We need to stop using innovation as a game quality measurement period.  If a game does innovate something then give the dev team credit and kudos, but not every game needs to innovate to be good.  And I agree, the rating of 7 on innovation is ludicrous.  It's a 7 because if the reviewer didn't give the game a 7 it would bring down the average of the game and make it look bad, but then again nearly every single game ever would have this happen.  It's not representative of a game's quality.

These screenshots look good.  Very colorful... I'm interested.

For the people who are saying yuou should stay away from this game because its Pay2Win... it is.  However, if you treat the game like Diablo, where you're not concerned about the pvp and end-game as much as you are the journey and dungeon running, then you will be able to get all the fun's worth out of this game without spending a penny.  Path of Exile (which im stress testing this weekend) is way better then Drakensang Online, but for the time being while PoE is in closed beta, Drakensang Online is definetally a good time killer.

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Hardanger

How can you give innovation a 7 when they first thing you say is that they don't do anything new?  Stop kidding yourselves and start being realistic in your reviews.

We need to stop using innovation as a game quality measurement period.  If a game does innovate something then give the dev team credit and kudos, but not every game needs to innovate to be good.  And I agree, the rating of 7 on innovation is ludicrous.  It's a 7 because if the reviewer didn't give the game a 7 it would bring down the average of the game and make it look bad, but then again nearly every single game ever would have this happen.  It's not representative of a game's quality.

 You're right.  But, as I've recently come to realize, the way MMORPG.com rates games and what the final score end up being is very misleading.  I am pretty sure the categories aren't weighted, and they all count for equal amounts.  If thats the case, then things like "Innovation" count for way more then they are worth.  Innovation has never been a make or break for any game.  Just because a game doesn't have any innovation doesn't mean it isn't the hottest shit ever.  Some games can take things that have existed before and just package them way better, and make a solid game.

Meh, it doesn't look too interesting, and the name is weird...

The name is German and the original (not the MMO version) is based on the largest RPG system in Germany.  Kind of like D&D here in the States.

How interesting can you really make a hack n' slash game?  Atleast it does have a story line.

It's a good game for needing something to poke at when you're bored but don't have the resources for a larger game.

But for those talking about staying away from this game because of its cash cow mentality: most free to play games are like that. You don't pay to play but the people who translate/host the game do need to make some kind of living for what they do so all the "premium" items for the game will have a $ price to them instead of in-game cash.

I played all three classes to the 20ies so far, and this review is pretty accurate.

Graphics are just awesome, but I can't help to think that with so much graphical talent, it is a shame the game is not more advanced. Still at the beginning gameplay feels dull, as it is just click and hold rinse repeat, but before lvl 10 you suddenly find you have to be clever in skill usage and position to survive, and I had to change tactics several times as I levelled up. I have played without buying anything and maybe that is why I say, it is actually a challanging game that will require some dedication.

The combat reminds me a bit about WoW with a twist of diablo, spiced with Conquer Online business model.

However their shop solution is lame, everything in the game is designed to make you buy game currencies, from identifying gear to entering some dungeons and forget about pvp completely if you dont spend ridiculous amount of money. I took a peek at their prices and a rough calculation made me realize this might cost several euro or us$ a DAY just to keep playing. With that in mind and taking it is actually not a very big game and still in beta, their prices are ridicolous. I can't help to think, if they lower their prices (alot) and continue to improve the game, they might be able to make me spend some money (and that is comming from a guy who is against most shop solutions).

So, anyways I am having fun in free mode for as long as it last and if you are not a quitter when stuff gets tough, there is nice fun for a week.

When I win the lottery I want to hire whoever is doing graphics in that game.

ps. At the moment their engine only works with internet explorer, but other than that you wont notice you are playing in a browser.

Apr26 note: So it is again proven, little changes can completey change a game. Been playing dragonknight because it was fun as hell, logged in today and found the most important skills replaced with crap ones. This change changed the challange from hard to impossible and the fun was gone - Maybe they found out it was possible to play without spending money in the shop.

Anyways, byebye Drakensang and thanks for all the fish.