*UPDATE* I've read the corerules and found something about the fumble rule + some miscalculations in the review... This is a hastily written 'review' *UPDATE*

The real reason why I’m writing this review is because of the hit chance percentages. EVERYBODY COMPLAINS ABOUT THIS. For those who doesn’t know The Dark Eye ruleset this is very confusing. A 100% chance of successfully hitting someone doesn’t give you a 100% chance of doing actual damage, and I think the percentages are thus misleading, also, the rules aren’t explained anywhere and the rolls aren’t shown in the battlelog. And to be honest, according to the rules, I don’t really know how you can have 100% for certain in the game - you always have minimum change of have a fumble.

I’m going to explain it a little bit with the actual rolls of the core rules. This is by memory actually and I'm just guessing some percentages, since I'm not a mathematician.

THE ROLLS BEHIND COMBAT:

You want to hit an enemy with your sword! You have two actions. One is moving toward the enemy, the other one is swinging with your sword trying to hit him. Your PC has an attack value of lets say 8. Your Rapier has an Attack Value of +1. The Rapier’s special attribute is agility, for every 3 points in agility above 8 you get a +1. You Agility is 14. 14-8= 6. You get a +2 to hit. This means you have to throw lower than 11 with you 20 sided die.

This means you have 55% chance to hit. (This would be a starting level character btw).

If you hit, the following happens.

Your enemy can parry or dodge with his parry or dodge skill. His parry skill is 13. Which is calculated by his DEX. Now he can use every 3 points above a base value 8 for agility. He has an agility of 12. 12-8= 4. So he gets a +1. Which is 14. Now he tries to parry with a short weapon against a medium weapon. He recieves -2 on his parry. He has to roll lower than 12. He has a chance of 60% to parry the weapon.

He can also dodge the attack. A Dodge is your agility divided by 2. 12/2= 6. But he has a skill body control which gives him +1. He has a dodge of 7. Which is too low to use.

You have 55% to hit and the defender 60% chance to defend himself. Which gives you less then 33% in total to hit. But the game will show 55%.

I think the percentages shown ingame are your own hit percentages. Because you can’t know your enemies stats.

THE FUMBLE RULE (IN TDE IT'S CALLED A BOTCH )

Now why still miss when a 100% hit percentage is shown? Two reasons. Probably the game rounds up. Lets say if you have to roll lower than a 19. But if your enemy lies on the ground, this gives you an advantage: making your *chance* 100% to hit: this can even go over 20. Lets say you have to roll lower than 23 to hit. This means that if you roll a 19 + a random disadvantage of + 2 making a 21 still is a hit. But the fumble rule still applies. If you roll a 20 it’s still an instant fumble (or botch as they call it in TDE, fumble is a DnD term) and norally in the P&P the gamemaster may get creative and invents a random failure. An archer misses on 19-20 rolls. So there is always a 5%-10% chance you fumble, and a 5% chance you crit (on rolling a 1) .

(If you played Drakensang, the first game wich uses the same DSA ruleset, there you can even fumble on picking up a flower.)

So in the original P&P, lets say you are in a house with a low ceiling. Your enemy lies unconscious before you on the ground. Let’s kill him in coldblood! You swing your sword full of rage. Outgame you have to roll a d20; let’s say that everything except a 20 hits. You’re unlucky: you roll a 20. The DM decides what happens: your swing your sword above your head in full rage and your sword gets stuck in the ceiling.

ABOUT THE GAME

It’s a difficult and unforgiving game. But it’s somehow still entertaining!

Daedalic is known for making point and click adventure games set in the Dark Eye world. This game is a story driven turn based strategy game with the occasional cutscenes which have some dialogue options for the fluff. The towns and outposts are like in an adventure game, where you can click on merchants or NPC’s. The cutscenes are ok, the way the story is told feels a bid like a normal P&P RPG session. Where a DM narrates what happens and you are given the ILLUSION of choice. But in this game there is NOT much choice, doesn’t matter if you have choice or not: it’s entertaining.

The turn based strategy is very difficult. Gamers without patience will have a hard time restarting the same combat over and over.

It’s fun, It’s hardcore. Its worth playing.

*UPDATE* I've read the corerules and found something about the fumble rule + some miscalculations in the review... This is a hastily written 'review' *UPDATE* The real reason why I’m writing this review is because of the hit chance percentages. EVERYBODY COMPLAINS ABOUT THIS. For those who doesn’t know The Dark Eye ruleset this is very confusing. A 100% chance of successfully hitting someone doesn’t give you a 100% chance of doing actual damage, and I think the percentages are thus misleading, also, the rules aren’t explained anywhere and the rolls aren’t shown in the battlelog. And to be honest, according to the rules, I don’t really know how you can have 100% for certain in the game - you always have minimum change of have a fumble. I’m going to explain it a little bit with the actual rolls of the core rules. This is by memory actually and I'm just guessing some percentages, since I'm not a mathematician. THE ROLLS BEHIND COMBAT: You want to hit an enemy with your sword! You have two actions. One is moving toward the enemy, the other one is swinging with your sword trying to hit him. Your PC has an attack value of lets say 8. Your Rapier has an Attack Value of +1. The Rapier’s special attribute is agility, for every 3 points in agility above 8 you get a +1. You Agility is 14. 14-8= 6. You get a +2 to hit. This means you have to throw lower than 11 with you 20 sided die. This means you have 55% chance to hit. (This would be a starting level character btw). If you hit, the following happens. Your enemy can parry or dodge with his parry or dodge skill. His parry skill is 13. Which is calculated by his DEX. Now he can use every 3 points above a base value 8 for agility. He has an agility of 12. 12-8= 4. So he gets a +1. Which is 14. Now he tries to parry with a short weapon against a medium weapon. He recieves -2 on his parry. He has to roll lower than 12. He has a chance of 60% to parry the weapon. He can also dodge the attack. A Dodge is your agility divided by 2. 12/2= 6. But he has a skill body control which gives him +1. He has a dodge of 7. Which is too low to use. You have 55% to hit and the defender 60% chance to defend himself. Which gives you less then 33% in total to hit. But the game will show 55%. I think the percentages shown ingame are your own hit percentages. Because you can’t know your enemies stats. THE FUMBLE RULE (IN TDE IT'S CALLED A BOTCH ) Now why still miss when a 100% hit percentage is shown? Two reasons. Probably the game rounds up. Lets say if you have to roll lower than a 19. But if your enemy lies on the ground, this gives you an advantage: making your *chance* 100% to hit: this can even go over 20. Lets say you have to roll lower than 23 to hit. This means that if you roll a 19 + a random disadvantage of + 2 making a 21 still is a hit. But the fumble rule still applies. If you roll a 20 it’s still an instant fumble (or botch as they call it in TDE, fumble is a DnD term) and norally in the P&P the gamemaster may get creative and invents a random failure. An archer misses on 19-20 rolls. So there is always a 5%-10% chance you fumble, and a 5% chance you crit (on rolling a 1) . (If you played Drakensang, the first game wich uses the same DSA ruleset, there you can even fumble on picking up a flower.) So in the original P&P, lets say you are in a house with a low ceiling. Your enemy lies unconscious before you on the ground. Let’s kill him in coldblood! You swing your sword full of rage. Outgame you have to roll a d20; let’s say that everything except a 20 hits. You’re unlucky: you roll a 20. The DM decides what happens: your swing your sword above your head in full rage and your sword gets stuck in the ceiling. ABOUT THE GAME It’s a difficult and unforgiving game. But it’s somehow still entertaining! Daedalic is known for making point and click adventure games set in the Dark Eye world. This game is a story driven turn based strategy game with the occasional cutscenes which have some dialogue options for the fluff. The towns and outposts are like in an adventure game, where you can click on merchants or NPC’s. The cutscenes are ok, the way the story is told feels a bid like a normal P&P RPG session. Where a DM narrates what happens and you are given the ILLUSION of choice. But in this game there is NOT much choice, doesn’t matter if you have choice or not: it’s entertaining. The turn based strategy is very difficult. Gamers without patience will have a hard time restarting the same combat over and over. It’s fun, It’s hardcore. Its worth playing.