RPGDX > Traditional RPGs > Dark Ages II: Engel

Review by Mandrake on 30-08-2002

Ahhhh, DA2. How many years has this been in development? Well, it runs perfectly wonderfull (but I haven't gotten really really far yet), graphics are a definate improvement. The mouse movement is reeally nice when you get used to it, it's simple, elegant, and easy to pick up. a change of pace that is welcome :)

The sewer level is a bit long, but once you get past that, and get into the game, it really blows the first DA out of the water. better graphics, better storyline, better gameplay. I'm already a fan :)

Review by js71 on 12-11-2003

Certainly not bad, but not quite what I was expecting. Some of the quests seem FAR too roundabout (Get the poision mushroom to make a poison to kill a warlord, so the rival warlord will let you pass through the mountains- Ooops, you have to find the spores before you can grow the mushrooms), and the maps are a bit confusing at times in their size. But the major gripe I had was the dialouge. It just REALLY doesn't fit, that after a long, well-worded conversation, you encounter an enemy with the dialouge "Crap! An enemy attacks!". There are a few examples of this 'style' of dialouge in the game, and it just does not fit. My final gripe is the music. No, it is simply SUPERB and fits the mood perfectly- But there is so LITTLE of it. Four songs. For the whole game. I mean... Come on. Morrowind did that, and it was dissapointing... And so is this, alongside the lack of battle music.
But I did play it for a fair amount of time, and dispite my numerous bashes... It's a decent game, and deserves a try.

Review by darkpagan on 08-08-2004

Being a huge fan of the original DA, I've meticulously played every one of the many demos that have been released since development started on DA2. The BETA has much more completed towns and quests and can be completed. The story is one of the most multilayered well thought out in ANY rpg (indie or commercial), the plot and game itself and non linear and various paths can be chosen all along the game. There are an endless ammount of subquests to play and exploring the ENORMOUS world of Engel is an experience no other indie RPG can rival. Unfortunately (and this is my only complaint) all levelling up outside of dungeons had to be done in special arenas as there are no wilderness battles, and arenas are also the only source of money outside of subquests. My other complaint is that the game is still slightly incomplete.

Great story, good graphics, great music but no wilderness battles.

Review by Rainer Deyke on 06-12-2005

I can (barely) tolerate the mouse-based interfaces of commercial RPGs such as Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment, where they eliminate the need for keyboard and manual by having intuitive on-screen controls for all gameplay functionality. I cannot tolerate the mouse interface for this game, which fails to eliminate the need for either keyboard or manual. I managed to play all the way to the end of the first random encounter before I uninstalled the game.

It seems unfair to give a score to a game that I didn't actually play to any significant extent, so I'm going to assume that the game is perfect and deserves ten points. Minus one point for the border around the playing field, which is a waste of valuable screen space and causes the playing field to be uncomfortably small. Minus another point for having graphics that, while not absolutely horrible, certainly don't belong in a 10/10 perfect game. Minus five points for the user interface.

Review by Ezlo on 11-12-2005

First of all, Keep in mind that some of the previous reviews are for the demo, not the real version. Thank you.

Having Beta-tested this game for about a year before release, I thought I would give my own two cents about it. First lets discuss the cons. Specifcly, the hard to get used to mouse control, the lack of random battles, and the lack of gold. First of all, the mouse control is rather difficult to get used to, but once you know how, you can zip from one side of the continent to the other in a minute or two. If you really just hate the mouse's guts, then just use the keyboard! Just keep in mind that you're top speed is a little slower.
Now, Random battles. If you had random battles over the entire map, then if you wanted to get to a town half-way across the world, which is quite large may I add, you would quickly run out of energy to cast healing spells, or items. But if you get rid of random battles altogether, it would be extremely hard to level up. So now there are specific screens which have random battles that you can access almost whenever you want, Including a whole island brimming with trolls and a cave full of dragons. Plus, when you are in a dungeon monsters come up periodicly. And if you're on a random battle screen and don't feel like waiting until one pops up, you can press "B" and fight one automaticly.
Lastly, the lack of gold. Monsters don't give much gold in this game, most of it comes from sidequests. At the time most of the other reviews were written, not a lot of sidequests existed. All that has changed, everywhere you look sidequests pop up. Some are long and intricate, some are short and sweet, but almost all give two or more rare weapons and buckets of gold. In fact, if you keep doing sidequests, you won't need to buy much weaponry at all, you will get most of your good stuff as rewards.
Now on to the good stuff. I personaly like how expansive the world is, about 400 screens of countryside and towns, and 100 screens of dungeons and caves. Around 1000 NPC's as DarkAges says, all of which have something different to say. The difficulty can be changed so that the difficulty of the monsters increases or decreases to your liking. THe storyline is intricate, involving more than one playthrough to try out each path through it. The variety of the sidequests is amazing too, from unraveling mysteries about a whole castles demise, to chasing down renegade mages, to shuting down an illegal gambling pit. There's even one side quest that so deep and involved that I can't even finish it! No in fact has finished besides DarkAges himself.
All in all, this is one of the best RPG's I think you can find on this site, so download it and give it a try. I hope you will apreciate the hard work I and bunch of other beta-testers put into this, as well as DarkAges himself, and most of all, I hope you have fun!