For those of us who have no prior history into the world of The Dark Eye, what are the essential bits of information that we should know? 

The adventure world Aventurica has been in development for over 20 years now and is reminiscent of central Europe. The special thing about Aventurica is that the world is constantly changing. You can subscribe to a newsletter and be informed every two months about what’s going on. It is a classic medieval world with traditional and popular fantasy elements: Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs – Castles, Knights and Magic. The Black Eye is the leading RPG-System in Germany, in existence long before the others and has enjoyed an excellent reputation for over 20 years.

A terrible magic war under the lead of blackmage Borbarad lays waste upon half of Aventurica. Drakensang takes place a short time after that war in Kosh, one of the very few unharmed regions. This is an area where talented Dwarfs forge the best weapons and brew the most delicious beer! Players can look forward to a classic fantasy game.  

Drakensang: The Dark Eye is based on Germany's most popular dice game, how have you adapted that to make the experience enjoyable for PC gamers who have never played the original board game? 

This question has two aspects: first the rules system and gameplay, second the world as background.

For the rules and the gameplay: It was always clear to us that the original P+P game can only be an enrichment and should never become an obstacle for the players who do not know that system. An elaborate GUI which went through much iteration saves the game from too many unnecessary explanations and makes connectivity immediately clear to the player. Above that the game offers much concise information which can be accessed everywhere via one simple click. All that is the result of intensive work with focus groups and the analysis of test data, which we used to make the game coherent. Primarily the combat system has received many, many months of continued optimization. What we have now is a game with a great depth for both tinkerer and people who like optimizing numbers though it retains an easy playability because the players can always decide for their own how deep they’ll go into the game mechanics.

The second aspect, the world the game takes place in, is presented in a rich and deep format. Aventurica’s background of Gods and tales has been created for over 24 years now with many details. Ferdok, the most important city has been implemented in a ratio 1:1 based on the original plans. Someone who already knows the world will find a thousand familiar things, someone who doesn’t know it will be amazed and sucked right into the World, which is way more detailed and more precisely designed compared to other games.

With the plethora of Party-based RPG's available for players today, what will make them choose Drakensang: TDE over any other? 

At this question I had to think about which “plethora” of party RPGs are actually meant. There aren’t that many – ignoring the JRPGs on the consoles there are just a few left: Neverwinter Nights 2, Mass Effect (both out for a longer period of time now) Dragon Age (not released yet). We’re seeing us in a niche where players do not get enough titles. There aren’t really that many classic party RPGs. Our game Drakensang is way different from the typical Action RPGs (The Witcher, Two Worlds, Gothic) of the last years. Up to 6 characters in the Party, dynamic multiple choice dialogues, pause function, party RPG, enormous amount of equipment, enthralling story and strong characters. Complete control over tactical combats, comprehensive, flexible, easy to learn skill sets, diversified magic and special attacks. All packed into over 60 hours of gameplay.  

With other fantasy RPGs, your character can hack and slash through the entire game. How have you adapted the rules of the dice game into this expected system of combat? 

It was – like I mentioned before – a long process. At the beginning we implemented the classical and well-balanced P&P rules 1:1 in the game. The result was a well played game– but slow – and not always exciting enough. So we’ve been analyzing the screenplay to continuously improve the game dynamic. Rules have been modified, the timing was changed and feedback implemented. Battles should be – although with round based backend  - modern with tons of action- and special fx.

When you released the game in Germany, it fell upon critical acclaim, even winning "Best RPG 2008 at the German Developer Awards. How do you feel other countries will react to a game that they have not grown up playing? 

Of course knowledge of the game is missing in other countries. So the first step it’s important to just inform the players about the game. We have had a great experience introducing new players to the game, and they really seem to like it. When they hear about Drakensang’s traditional style we’ve heard feedback like: “Finally a classical party based RPG. That’s awesome!” “Finally classical, medieval European Fantasy again“, „I’ve been waiting for it so long“ - these are some spontaneous reactions I have gained at presentations.

Once players master the world of Aventuria (the continent on which the game takes place), can they expect expansions and patches for additional content? 

We will soon release information on the next installment of Drakensang, as we know our fans will be anticipating that!