My first guide - Drakkhen leveling guide

[Fragger]

Hi guys,
i planned to publish this self-written guide on the website, which i plan to relaunch (Mightygamers, maybe someone still know it.. since its down for ages now), so i wanted to release this guide before the relaunch, on this nice forum.
As you know, i´m from Germany, so my english is far from perfect (Well i think so), so focus on mistakes with tenses or grammar.

I will add some screenshots to this guide soon, because those are a great help to explain some points in this guide.

Before i start the guide, some words to that game i choose.

Drakkhen (http://hol.abime.net/423)

I received Drakkhen as a present from my uncle in the 90ties.
I can remember that i played this game really often, and i can remember that i never finished it, due to the fact its kinda hard and frustrating at some points. I also remember that i leveled up a real IMBA char, which was also able to kill those mighty dragons.

So, about twenty years after release, i finally decided to complete the game. And it took hours for me to find out how to level the chars in game without any frustration.

So, have fun with my guide ... and give that game a chance, its really cool, if you find out, how to handle it.

We all know games, which are unbalanced and unfair in certain points, where the game mechanics
are not optimzed for the optimal game experience.
Well and yes, Drakkhen is one of them.

Fortunately, there are hints, some which will make our life in Drakkhen somewhat
comfortable. But imagine that the equipment is also a very important aspect
in the game...

In this small guide, i will tell you how to level up your party, to finally
get through the game much easier.

You don´t need to use any cheats (or change hex values ;-) ), all of my hints depend on Trial & Error and Grinding, Grinding, Grinding.

Drakkhen, as a classical rpg with level system, makes massive use of so
called "random encounters"... In most cases, you aren´t able to avoid those
encounters, because its not your decision to attack a mob or not. You cannot
see them before the encounter, you just see them when the battle is right about to start.

Unfortunately, those encounters are not connected to your character level.
So it could be, that you loose your whole group in the first 5 minutes of the game.
As the death is not irrevocable, because the game loads the last save game after the
death of every member of your party, its just important to be cautios, when you advance and
proceed futher in the game.

First of all, some basic rules for a much better game experience:

1. Make use of all those character classes

There are warriors, priests, scouts and mages"... You should take
at least 2 warriors, one priest and a mage with you.
You really need spells like "Unlock locks" at several points within the game.

2. Keep an extra eye on your weak classes

Mages and priests are weak ..... Don´t give them a melee weapon, if you
don´t need to. At the beginning its ok, because you need to keep all your chars
on nearly the same level. You should equip those classes with long-range weapons
like bows ...and yes... spells... but due to the low mana tank at the beginning,
spells aren´t a great help in the field.

3. Sorcerers get all the girls

Well thats not true in real life, but its important to understand the following:
Experience points are not splitted up among your party, the char with the last, killing blow
on the mob will earn experience points and eventually level up.
So its important that everyone in your group has the chance to kill a mob.
So if you need a char to hit the level of your group, switch all other members to a non-damage spell.
This improves your chars chance to get the final hit.

4. Equipment is everything - Sabres are better than swords

In modern rpgs, you can see how much damage a weapon will make on a mob. Well, Drakkhen
is some more old school. You really don´t now. Easy, hum? Just believe me. If you find a sabre,
use it. You should often visit the shop in the iceland, to sell your spare weapons and armor.
Unfortunately for you, you will find the best weapons and armor on those mobs. And, guess what,
harder mobs will result in better loot.


The game is split up in 4 different areas - the grass land (where you will start your journey), the swamp,
the ice land and finally the desert. The grass land is the area for the low level beginners, which means
not that you can kill every mob within a few seconds. You should also avoid travelling during the night
when you are low level, because of ..well ..just look at the stars..when they start to move, it will be just
too late.

1. Step - Castle Crashers

Right at the start, you will see the the road to the castle of Prince Hordthken, the Prince of Earth.
Just be cautious, there is that shark in the moat.
When you enter the castle, you have to use the right switch. If you take the wrong buttons,
2 lesser mobs will appear. You can repeat this, so this is the right way to easy xp for the first
character levels.

2. Step - Way crosses in Grassland (or everywhere else)

If you have reached char level 14 or higher with your char, you can fight against the hounds,
which are spawned after hitting the way crosses. Unfortunately, you will not receive any
gold are equipment. This is only good for equipment.


3. Step - Wandering around and keep saving often

Next step should be to wander around in the iceland (maybe visit the armor shop), you should often
save here, just avoid the death of your group members.

4. Step - The swamp - the temple

There is a reg-greenish temple in the swamp. You have to hit the right switch too, but at this stage of the game,
there will be not a right one. A mob will spawn, keep it fighting, earn the exp and pickup the equipment


5. Step - the desert

You will see that there are many flying mobs in the desert, not only at night.
Those are giving nice exp and sometimes good equipment

6. Step - Grassland

When you have hit char level 17 or above (should be nearly equal for all of your party members),
you are able to return to the triangles, which i told you before to avoid.
This is a pretty hard one, because your lower leveled chars will easily die here.
Just hit those triangles and a mighty dragon will spawn.. If you are able to win this fight,
you will find about 10.000 - 15.000 gold for every successful battle and eqipment like "Sabres +2" or "Helmets
+2". At this point, you really should save after every battle. If one party member died, just reload the game.
Just keep a look at the health and mana generation, they bars will automatically fill over the time, so just stay before those
triangles, hit enter and switch to auto-attack. Normal mobs shouldn´t be a problem at this point of the game, so you can
leave your computer alone. If those bars have been completely reloaded, just attack those dragons again.

The game should be much easier now, due to that sometimes unfair random encounters.

Happy playing.

[Anemos]

I think is a good work
congrats

[gilgamesh]

Cool, I loved Drakkhen. The 3D landscape was so cool back then. What a nice, weird game.