Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny

aka: DSA 1, Das Schwarze Auge: Die Nordland-Trilogie Teil I - Die Schicksalsklinge, Das Schwarze Auge: Die Schicksalsklinge, Realms of Arkania 1: Blade of Destiny Classic
Moby ID: 3437
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

The Northern lands of the realm of Arkania are in trouble. The orc tribes, previously scattered and unorganized, have been united under strong leadership and are planning a large-scale attack on human settlements. A sword known as Grimring, or the Blade of Destiny, is the only weapon powerful enough to defeat the orcish chief and his minions. However, the whereabouts of the sword are unknown, with only one treasure map torn into pieces providing a clear clue. Hetman Tronde Torbensson, the leader of Thorwal, hires a party of adventurers to find the map pieces, locate the sword, and stop the invasion of the orcs - all within two years.

Blade of Destiny is the first in the row of role-playing games based on the German pen-and-paper RPG system Das Schwarze Auge ("The Dark Eye"). The player generates a party of six characters divided into "archetypes", which combine characteristics of classes and fantasy races. Alongside seven "positive" attributes (such as strength, wisdom, etc.) commonly encountered in RPGs, each character also possesses "negative" attributes, which include various phobias as well as traits such as avarice or violent temper, all of which affect the character's behavior and reaction during the course of the game. In addition, each character has skills ranging from weapon proficiency to lying and knowledge of geography.

The game itself takes place in pseudo-3D environments. Towns and dungeons are explored by moving through those environments from first-person view. However, monsters do not appear within them and each hostile encounter takes the player to a separate isometric battle screen. Battles are turn-based and tactical, allowing navigation on the field as well as taking into account details such as the direction the combatants are facing, their current physical state, etc. Traveling between towns and other areas of interest is done on a 2D map. Characters eventually become hungry and tired, and can also get sick, so travel planning and provisions are essential.

Spellings

  • 天命之劍 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 73% (based on 17 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 39 ratings with 1 reviews)

The Dawn of the best RPG-Series on PCs

The Good
Realms of Arkania is the first part of the so called "Nordic Trilogy" in the Universe of the "Das Schwarze Auge" a very famous P&P Role Playing System in Germany.

Well DSA is very rich in his history and has a vast variety of Characters and Landmarks as rich as the D&D Universe. I always have been a fan of DSA but never played the PC-game. Some years ago I played the third part of this Trilogy (Shadows over Riva) and was fascinated how good they implemented the complex system in a PC-Game. After I heard that you can play the whole trilogy (3 GAMES!) with ONE Party that you create in this first game, I started a new Beginning in "Blade of Destiny".

And what to say - it's pure gold. The character-creation takes time though but it's worth it. You can create up to 6 characters and you can chose from 11 classes: Warrior, Dwarf, Pirate, Thief, Juggler, Magician, Wicher, Druid and three types of Elves.

Every character has 6 good and 6 bad attributes. For example strength and intelligence are good and superstition and fear of dead are bad. But these are only the basics. You've got also about 30 Talents in your Fighting, Physics, Society ...

Sounds very complex but it is not! Because most of the talents are very important for the game others are not and for nearly every action in DSA you have to accomplish tests on your abilities (with a dice-roll). So in the PC-Game the computer does these tests in the background and depending on the outcome you just see the consequence on the screen. In the Background the Dice - NICE!

The traveling system is also very good. You can visit almost 50 locations (cities and dungeons) by travelling by foot or by ship. During your journeys you meet a lot of NPCs which can be helpful or just want to have a chat with you. It's up to you if you talk to them. Also it can happen that ships get attacked by Pirates or sea-monster. It can happen that you travel longer than one day. Then its important to have someone in your party, who can hunt animals or find water or herbage. Sleeping is always important to regenerate Hit- and Mana-points. When you sleep in the wilderness and don't arrange guards for the night you get attacked almost every night. As one can see DSA is a lot of logical management for a group of six people.

The fighting is based on Rounds. When you walk through a city you see the first person perspective and when a fight comes out it changes to an isometric perspective. The whole fighting is almost like chess. You ave movement points for every action. The account of these points depends on how much your characters carry. I never had the feeling the AI was too dumb or too strong if you make the right decision. (When you sent a thief into the blades of three orcs, it's your fault) The enemies most times flee when they recognize that they are loosing.

Sounds like a typical RPG as Baldurs Gate but I think the real excellence of the DSA-Trilogy is the role playing element as it was in times of Ultima. For example:

Your group are forced to eat and to drink otherwise they die (sometimes a real problem in dungeons far away from any city). So you must have a character which is good in hunting. You have to chose the right answers in dialogues. For example you have to be polite to women. You can sleep and you HAVE to sleep! You can get drunk - consequence is that all your basic values sink except the courage gets higher ;) When you travel you can get ill if you don't have the right clothes. You can be a good musician and earn extra money. You can steal but be careful. When you want to negotiate about some prices be good in it, otherwise the dealer kicks you out and let you there for days. Warriors are men/women of honor and so they can't use any type of poison and prefer no help in fights. These are just examples for the Role-Playing Element. There are so many I cannot count them. But I think that is what the world of DSA makes it so alive. You never have the feeling the NPCs are waiting just for you. They and you are part of a world and have to arrange each other.

One word to the graphics. The first part "Blade of Destiny" is old. That's fact! Most people are deterred when they see the game. Even I was. But one gets very quick used to it. And the really lovely, fantastic soundtrack let you forget the monotone graphics. I listen to it sometimes beyond the game.

The last thing that makes "Blade of Destiny" and the whole trilogy unique besides that it is most times really funny (jokes on every corner) and that you can play the whole trilogy with one party is the fact that BoD is one of these oldschool games with impasses...... I know I know most people hate this but you know what I hate - modern games which indulge the gamers with so stupid things that you can never ever loose. What the !°/@ is going on. The whole industry is afraid that the player get bored when he dies in the game or even has to think about a puzzle (Yeah Bob lets implement the game solution as a watch!) PENG. That's not gaming. I mean it is. But it is so sketchy.

When you make a game where the player is playing a Role and where you can interact with a whole world then the world has to act realistic. And sorry my world hasn't shown me the way to treasure and the princess yet!

Of course there are games with a lot of impasses and stupid ones too but in DSA it is really balanced. If you read all things attentively and make logical conclusions nothing really bad can happen. But this fact makes it a really realistic and a grown up-game!

The Bad
In the first part of the trilogy it's only possible to walk step by step. Not so bad but I prefer the smooth walk of an Ego-Shooter. You can choose these option in the other two Parts "Star Trail" and "Shadows over Riva".

Well DSA is famous for its stories but in the PC-Game the main plot is kind of flat and sometimes ridiculous but all the other quests are really lovely. It never bothered me though I love good stories in games. But as I said the game has its own method for a deep atmosphere.

The handling is sometimes really annoying when you have to manage 6 inventories and everything is stacked. They improved the handling from game to game.

The graphics of the dungeons are really boring most times. You can find a lot of nice locations but you just see plain walls. Every interesting thing you explore in a dungeon is described by text boxes. Thank god they changed it in the other parts.

The effect of poison is too extreme in this part.

You have a time limit in this part. I think 1 1/2 year and than the Orcs overrun the country. But the time you have lasts at least.

Some questions are really difficult if your are not into the P&P Game of DSA - but hey there are a lot of solutions in the web.

The Bottom Line
If you want a REAL Role-Playing-Game with an unique atmosphere, a vast world to explore, a stunning soundtrack a balanced gameplay and if you like character processing in a game then the trilogy of "Realms of Arkania" is the best game if your are not lost in Ultima VII yet...

DOS · by BostonGeorge (751) · 2008

Discussion

Subject By Date
Locked doors, keys and lockpicks Alex Z (1856) Apr 7, 2012

Trivia

Bugs

The first release of the game was bug-pestered. They didn't even get the copy protection right. Included was an annoying doc check from the manual and a large color map ("what town is north/south/east/west of that town"), but the manual was misprinted so some questions had the wrong answers. They included a correction sheet which made the protection even more stupid. In some cases, even correct answers to the map questions were accounted as wrong.

Guido the Druid

One of the pre-made characters, which are stored in the temple, is a druid called Guido. In an interview with Guido Henkel on crystals-dsa-foren.de in September 2007, he commented on the subject:

That's a relict, I believe. Of course we had all kinds of standard and test parties during the development and the testing phase of the game. Looks like the one or other character wasn't removed correctly.

Intro

It's an interesting fact that the Orcs in DSA are generally black instead of the usual green as seen in nearly every other fantasy product. But during the intro sequence they are shown also as standard orcs with green skin. That is due to the fact that the intro has been drawn by external graphic artists, who weren't familiar with the DSA world. And because changes would have been too expensive and too complex at that time, Attic used the already drawn intro.

Origin

The three founders of Attic Entertainment Hans-Jürgen Brändle, Jochen Hamma and Guido Henkel used to play the original P&P DSA years before they developed Blade of Destiny. However, only the later director of Attic Entertainment Brändle was a hardcore player in his youth and played in several groups.

Save Function

Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny featured an unusual save function. Anytime the player saved the game outside a temple, all characters lost one experience point (which is not much, but still noticeable in the Schwarzes Auge RPG system). Saving a lot would weaken their characters considerably. That was implemented by the developers on purpose to prevent people from using the save-mode as a cheating device and to immerse the player more into the game's world.

Awards

  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1993 – #2 Best Game of 1992 (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue 02/1993 – Best RPG of 1992 (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by phlux and SimonG.

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Related Games

Realms of Arkania Trilogy
Released 1997 on DOS, 2008 on Windows, 2014 on Linux
Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
Released 1994 on DOS, 2013 on Windows
The Dark Eye: Realms of Arkania - Blade of Destiny
Released 2013 on Windows, 2017 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4...
Realms of Arkania III: Shadows over Riva
Released 1996 on DOS, 2009 on Windows, 2013 on Macintosh
The Dark Eye: Realms of Arkania - Star Trail
Released 2017 on Windows, 2017 on Linux, 2018 on PlayStation 4
The Dark Eye: Realms of Arkania - Blade of Destiny: Ogredeath
Released 2014 on Macintosh, Linux, Windows
The Dark Eye: Crypt Raiders
Released 2004 on J2ME

Related Sites +

  • Arhu's Dreamworld
    Contains a "Traveller's Guide" that includes a map of the game that shows locations of dungeons, lists of items, deities and their miracles, NPCs, shops and the amount of wares they offer, and a thorough record of all fifty-two towns you can visit.
  • Blade of Destiny Walkthrough
    Walkthrough on Games Over
  • DSA - Die Nordlandtrilogie ( mostly german )
    The biggest German fan-page of the Realms of Arkania Trilogy. Contains just about everything you need to about the trilogy. Maps, items, bug lists, patches, tips and tips & tricks, etc... It probably is the most complete database about the trilogy on the web. Unfortunately the the site is in German, but there is some effort at the moment to translate the major parts into English. Already done are the maps.
  • Die Schicksalsklinge
    official German page of the game at Attic Entertainment Software's website from 1998, preserved by the Wayback Machine

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 3437
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Alexander Schaefer.

Windows added by Patrick Bregger. Amiga added by Xoleras.

Additional contributors: -Chris, Rebound Boy, Jeanne, Mobygamesisreanimated, formercontrib, Paulus18950, Cantillon, SGruber, BostonGeorge, Patrick Bregger, MrFlibble, ZeTomes.

Game added March 26, 2001. Last modified March 20, 2024.