RetrospectiveGaming looks back at Realms of Arkania 2: Star Trail:

Realms of Arkania 2: Star Trail (1994) Review

loading...

Realms of Arkania: Star Trail is a computer role-playing game by Attic Entertainment Software based on the German RPG system Das Schwarze Auge. The original German version of the game (German title: Das Schwarze Auge: Sternenschweif) was released in 1994. Due to the success of its predecessor Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, it was translated to English and released by Sir-Tech in the same year. An expansion, Speech Pack, was released in 1994 for the floppy disk version.

Vince D. Weller writes about a piece on the Iron Tower Studio forums titled The Lost Magic - Part One of a retrospective / after action report on Realms of Arkania 2: Star Trail. Here's an excerpt:

You get plenty of opportunities to put your skills to good use - pick an activity from a list, pick a character who’ll attempt it, and let the invisible dice roll. Getting caught while shoplifting doesn't turn everyone hostile, but will get you kicked out from a store and hits you where it hurts the most – your money bag.

Each activity has to be performed manually. For example, whereas in most games prices are adjusted automatically based on your charisma and/or trading skills, in Star Trail you have to negotiate manually every time you want to buy or sell something (and you may or may not succeed). Although it may sound tedious, it does add something to the game. You feel that your party members are doing something and you're reminded of their value every time you need to do a task or perform one.

Overall, the town is small, but it does actually look like a town. There are no generic houses to enter and generic loot to steal compulsively from chests and barrels, which allowed the developers to add more buildings without driving the players insane (yeah, let's pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about). Instead, there are little text-based encounters here and there, which certainly add a lot more than the best visuals.