I'd say go for it since you have M&M and WIzardry in your list. I have bought physical copies of them many years ago but I never actually sit down and really play them... Arkania 3 is using a realtime 3D view - quite impressive IMHO. All of them require for you to dedicate time just like the ones I mentioned above 😀

Thanks keropi! I've been reading up on all three in the series. Some good threads on ROA at rpgcodex.net. 😎

Sounds like if I had to choose one, it might be the 2nd (Star Trail), but the 3rd (in addition to using a realtime 3D view) is a much "lighter" experience, more along the lines of an adventure RPG than a paper pencil RPG. I suppose I'll try out ROA 1 and see if it holds my interest. I just don't want to invest 2 weeks into it, then decide I don't like it (as happened with EOB 1 and Fallout 1).

Good, I think you won't be disappointed... maybe some day I can start them as well 🤣 🤣 🤣
Keep in mind that Arkania2 is one of these games that *need* free ram under the 16MB range - not above it. I use XMSDSK with the /T switch to load a temporary ramdisk that consumes all ram above 16MB so the game runs fine

keropi wrote:

Good, I think you won't be disappointed... maybe some day I can start them as well 🤣 🤣 🤣
Keep in mind that Arkania2 is one of these games that *need* free ram under the 16MB range - not above it. I use XMSDSK with the /T switch to load a temporary ramdisk that consumes all ram above 16MB so the game runs fine

My 486 has only 8MB 😉 But I appreciate the heads up, I had no idea.

Is it possible to play as rapier-wielding swashbuckler in Realms of Arkania? Or does the game favor heavily armored knights?

^ I have no idea but I took pictures from the ROA1 and ROA2 clue books , the part it talks about "best party" setup:

Thanks for the reminder. My versions of ROA are from Steam, and they did throw in the cluebook and manual PDFs. Going to give them a good read (I'm still playing Strike Commander, so not ready yet to start playing ROA). Now that we are in Fall and approaching Winter, I'm looking forward to a good RPG or two. For some reason, I associate cold whether with playing RPGs, and hot weather with playing more action-oriented games. I know, I'm weird. 🤣

I tried playing all three games in the series, but I only liked (and finished) the 3rd game (I used the default party, I didn't create my own). So even if you don't like 1st or 2nd game, I suggest trying the 3rd one.

clueless1 did the steam bundle also came with ROA3 "hint guide" ?

keropi wrote:

clueless1 did the steam bundle also came with ROA3 "hint guide" ?

I don't think so, if that is different from the cluebook. Here's what's in the Documentation folder:

For some reason the ad inside ROA3 Shadows over Riva refers to the clue book as "Hint Guide". I haven't seen it ever so I am wondering if it even exists. What about SoR's document folder? Anything else in there except the manual/reference card?

keropi wrote:

For some reason the ad inside ROA3 Shadows over Riva refers to the clue book as "Hint Guide". I haven't seen it ever so I am wondering if it even exists. What about SoR's document folder? Anything else in there except the manual/reference card?

English manual is in the main folder.
The DOKUMENTE folder has the maps and what looks like a reference guide in German.
The dsaschatt folder has a bin/cue in it, I'm guessing the German version, since the main folder has the English bin/cue.
The dsarivahintcd folder has a HINTINST.EXE executable. Not sure what that is, I'm guessing an in-game hint system.
If there's anything you want a closer look at, let me know.

thanks for the info clueless1 , it seems that the RoA3 clue/hint book is not there ... I also have the GOG version, it doesn't have it either. Oh well 😀

I have played the three of them but I think I never managed to finish neither of them. They are very tough but are pretty pretty good RPGs. Shadows over Riva has got a beautiful soundtrack too.

Regarding more than 16MB system memory issue, you can enable 'Memory Hole at 16MB' in your BIOS options.

I liked ROA2 the best, which gave great party customisation. But there is a lot of micromanagement, and can be a chore - satisfying nonetheless.

Well, I managed to create my characters and am wandering about the opening town (Thorwal). Taking in the atmosphere and buying stuff from the merchants. Just getting the hang of the interface and such, but so far, I'm enjoying it! The music is quite nice on the MT-32.

j^aws wrote:

Regarding more than 16MB system memory issue, you can enable 'Memory Hole at 16MB' in your BIOS options.

AFAIK this option is there to reserve the memory in the 15~16MB area for some ISA cards that need to map it for their own BIOSes , it doesn't do anything when an oddball program needs memory under the 16MB range , something to do with DMA memory transfers transfers IIRC (can't be 100% sure, this has been discussed here in the past)
Care to elaborate more?

keropi wrote:

j^aws wrote:

Regarding more than 16MB system memory issue, you can enable 'Memory Hole at 16MB' in your BIOS options.

AFAIK this option is there to reserve the memory in the 15~16MB area for some ISA cards that need to map it for their own BIOSes , it doesn't do anything when an oddball program needs memory under the 16MB range , something to do with DMA memory transfers transfers IIRC (can't be 100% sure, this has been discussed here in the past)
Care to elaborate more?

That's what the BIOS manual tells you, but it works for every game I tried that has issues with more than 16MB of RAM. For example, the Installer for Alien Trilogy has issues, or the aforementioned Realms of Arkania: Star Trail. I've tried those games and others on a 440BX system with 128MB of RAM, and they just work with the Memory Hole BIOS setting enabled. On the same system with the setting disabled, these games fail to load.

Realms of Arkania games are hardcore. Even the (manual) character generation requires rules observation as stated in the manual.

Which reminds me... I too need to start playing the series... sick of seeing milked genre and sequels of sequels with the so-called new games....

EDIT : I love the MT-32 music during character generation in ROA 1.