By Piranha-Bytes - the team that made Gothic and Gothic II.
It came out a couple of days ago. Been playing for a few hours and it's great. I guess it's supposed to be the spiritual successor of GII, however that's a tough one, because it essentially is Gothic II, just with better graphics and slightly revamped. It's essentially a copy - paste, but I'm fine with that because GII was great and it does what GII did and then improves on it. We don't need some shitty fucking innovation - look at what happened to the Fallout franchise. The game is loads of fun and it's great. For those that were unhappy about the combat system, it's been vastly improved, but it's still challenging as fuck.
Thus far - 9/10 because I'm a Gothic fanboy. Best RPG that I've touched for a very long time, definately recommend everyone on this forum to try it.
Voice acting is balls, but who gives a shit.
Risen
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Kashluk
It looks cool and sounds promising. Think it's worth the money? It's not horribly broken and bug-ridden, is it really 'a gem'? I heard they actually released (a beta version?) the game for free at starters, with the option to pay if you like it, but I seem to find no info about it anymore. Perhaps they got cold feet, I dunno...
There's no need to fix something that isn't broken. If the concept rocks, just keep on adding new content till it bursts, I approve of that. That's what they should've done with Fallout as well.
There's no need to fix something that isn't broken. If the concept rocks, just keep on adding new content till it bursts, I approve of that. That's what they should've done with Fallout as well.
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Frater Perdurabo
- Paragon
- Posts: 2427
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:51 am
- Location: Võro
Thus far, I've encountered no bugs whatsoever and the game just keeps getting better.
Choice and consequence.
Anyone remember the first two games where the first chapter basically consisted you of picking your faction? Here it's been done again, but a lot better. Instead of having a series of mini quests for all factions, doing them all for maximum total exp and then picking your faction, Risen plots you up against a series common problems that affect all factions, and solving them in a certain way will increase your favour with the according faction. Good stuff.
Essentially, I'm not sure if there is a real difference between doing any quests against the faction of your choice, but I guess the illusion of choice exists and it definately masks itself better than it did in the previous Gothic games.
Choice and consequence.
Anyone remember the first two games where the first chapter basically consisted you of picking your faction? Here it's been done again, but a lot better. Instead of having a series of mini quests for all factions, doing them all for maximum total exp and then picking your faction, Risen plots you up against a series common problems that affect all factions, and solving them in a certain way will increase your favour with the according faction. Good stuff.
Essentially, I'm not sure if there is a real difference between doing any quests against the faction of your choice, but I guess the illusion of choice exists and it definately masks itself better than it did in the previous Gothic games.
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Stalagmite
- Wandering Hero
- Posts: 1192
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:29 am
- Location: IN YOUR PANTS AUSTRALIA
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Kashluk
The pre- and reviews looked promising. Heard nothing but good about this game. They say it's like Gothic 2 all over again, which was the final straw - I ordered it 
Here's something to read:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/966/966064p1.html
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6560
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... view-Risen
http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/risen/revi ... 1830198023
Here's something to read:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/966/966064p1.html
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6560
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... view-Risen
http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/risen/revi ... 1830198023
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Frater Perdurabo
- Paragon
- Posts: 2427
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:51 am
- Location: Võro
So I finished the game with a mage, started a new one and I'm about to finish on the warrior now.
The game consists of 4 chapters, rated as follows:
Chapter 1 - 9/10 (chapter 1 is about 40% of the game)
Chapter 2 - 8.5/10 (40% of the game)
Chapter 3 - 6/10 (10%)
Chapter 4 - 6/10 (10%)
As you can see, the majority of the game is chapter 1 and 2 which is great, because that's the good part of the game. The latter two chapters are just dungeon crawlers, which are not horrible at all, but just nowhere near as great as chapters 1 and 2.
I'm now going to jot down a few pros and cons in general about the game. Keep in mind that this is the spiritual successor to the Gothic series so I am comparing it to the previous ones.
Pros:
-physical combat is refurbished and works great, however maybe a bit too forgiving, yet:
-addition of difficulty settings (the Gothic series just had one difficulty (hard, and insane for the G2 expansion)
-magical combat has also been revamped.
-storyline is great. Slightly predictable but still captivating.
-skill and profession system revamped and it works great. Levels seem to come a lot quicker and the skill system is more forgiving so you can easily invest in all those side professions without fearing a crucial lack of skillpoints so that you won't cope.
-addition of helmets (Y)
-new quest and journal system works great. One offputting thing in G2 for beginners was the ability to sell quest items, because people could get rid of something that was needed for a later quest - Risen automatically tracks quest items and awards exp where due.
-relatively bugfree. I've only encountered a couple of minor bugs and nothing gamebreaking.
Cons:
-crystal magic is too simplistic and perhaps overpowered
-magic is disappointing. Only 4 seals of magic with only 1 rune in the final seal that you get in the endgame, and the rune is shit. Seal 3 is learned way too late. Seal 3 contains Pick Locks, something that you'd want to have from the beginning but only get when 75% of the game is over so you have to go back over all those chests in the world that you couldn't open before because you didn't learn lockpicking past level 1 because you were going to become a mage? Bollocks.
Warriors of the Order can also use combat magic (crystal magic) so there is no real benefit to becoming a mage since:
a) you have to find/buy the runes
b) their use is situational
c) you could just use scrolls instead
Overall, I enjoyed playing mage in Risen a lot less than in Gothic.
-main quest is too short. The entire main storyline consists of a series of dungeon crawlers with a small twist. You spend 75% of the game doing your own thing and when you actually want to focus on the storyline, you see the end coming already.
-too few armors (only like 4 for each path?!) and weapons in game, good weapons available too early.
-not enough content. In comparison to Gothic II, the world is way too small and not detailed enough. Too few caves and shit, with experience being the only motivator to explore (unlike exp and loot like in G2).
-economy. They've really tried straining you here. In Gothic I you sold at 1/2 price, Gothic II 1/3 price and Risen 1/5 price. In addition, you cannot sell your items gold, gold can only be found. It's the developers' attempt at trying to avoid people becoming superrich and gold losing it's real purpose - yet what's the point. There is so little use for gold anyway (in Risen, now training any skill or stat anywhere costs gold as well as LPs) so you should always have enough and if you didn't, it would only piss you off anyway, so what is the point?
-no real appeal to NPC, no circle of buttbudies aka like in previous games. Just seems that the characters just haven't been developed enough for them to be appealing.
Just feels like there isn't quite enough there. Not enough content, caves, world, items and it just doesn't feel like people have a lot to say. It's like Gothic II fixed so it runs smoothly, but without the shine. Nothing in the game is really epic and makes you feel special. Don't get me wrong, it's still a solid game, I just wish that they got more things right which I expected to be a standard since Gothic II. I need sleep.
The game consists of 4 chapters, rated as follows:
Chapter 1 - 9/10 (chapter 1 is about 40% of the game)
Chapter 2 - 8.5/10 (40% of the game)
Chapter 3 - 6/10 (10%)
Chapter 4 - 6/10 (10%)
As you can see, the majority of the game is chapter 1 and 2 which is great, because that's the good part of the game. The latter two chapters are just dungeon crawlers, which are not horrible at all, but just nowhere near as great as chapters 1 and 2.
I'm now going to jot down a few pros and cons in general about the game. Keep in mind that this is the spiritual successor to the Gothic series so I am comparing it to the previous ones.
Pros:
-physical combat is refurbished and works great, however maybe a bit too forgiving, yet:
-addition of difficulty settings (the Gothic series just had one difficulty (hard, and insane for the G2 expansion)
-magical combat has also been revamped.
-storyline is great. Slightly predictable but still captivating.
-skill and profession system revamped and it works great. Levels seem to come a lot quicker and the skill system is more forgiving so you can easily invest in all those side professions without fearing a crucial lack of skillpoints so that you won't cope.
-addition of helmets (Y)
-new quest and journal system works great. One offputting thing in G2 for beginners was the ability to sell quest items, because people could get rid of something that was needed for a later quest - Risen automatically tracks quest items and awards exp where due.
-relatively bugfree. I've only encountered a couple of minor bugs and nothing gamebreaking.
Cons:
-crystal magic is too simplistic and perhaps overpowered
-magic is disappointing. Only 4 seals of magic with only 1 rune in the final seal that you get in the endgame, and the rune is shit. Seal 3 is learned way too late. Seal 3 contains Pick Locks, something that you'd want to have from the beginning but only get when 75% of the game is over so you have to go back over all those chests in the world that you couldn't open before because you didn't learn lockpicking past level 1 because you were going to become a mage? Bollocks.
Warriors of the Order can also use combat magic (crystal magic) so there is no real benefit to becoming a mage since:
a) you have to find/buy the runes
b) their use is situational
c) you could just use scrolls instead
Overall, I enjoyed playing mage in Risen a lot less than in Gothic.
-main quest is too short. The entire main storyline consists of a series of dungeon crawlers with a small twist. You spend 75% of the game doing your own thing and when you actually want to focus on the storyline, you see the end coming already.
-too few armors (only like 4 for each path?!) and weapons in game, good weapons available too early.
-not enough content. In comparison to Gothic II, the world is way too small and not detailed enough. Too few caves and shit, with experience being the only motivator to explore (unlike exp and loot like in G2).
-economy. They've really tried straining you here. In Gothic I you sold at 1/2 price, Gothic II 1/3 price and Risen 1/5 price. In addition, you cannot sell your items gold, gold can only be found. It's the developers' attempt at trying to avoid people becoming superrich and gold losing it's real purpose - yet what's the point. There is so little use for gold anyway (in Risen, now training any skill or stat anywhere costs gold as well as LPs) so you should always have enough and if you didn't, it would only piss you off anyway, so what is the point?
-no real appeal to NPC, no circle of buttbudies aka like in previous games. Just seems that the characters just haven't been developed enough for them to be appealing.
Just feels like there isn't quite enough there. Not enough content, caves, world, items and it just doesn't feel like people have a lot to say. It's like Gothic II fixed so it runs smoothly, but without the shine. Nothing in the game is really epic and makes you feel special. Don't get me wrong, it's still a solid game, I just wish that they got more things right which I expected to be a standard since Gothic II. I need sleep.
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Kashluk
PiP, I'd say it's slightly better than Witcher and about 10 times better than Drakensang. But then again, I've always liked the Gothic-series, so I'm rather biased. And what an excellent post from Frater Perdurabo! I agree with most parts...
Incorrect. If your items are worth more than what the other person is offering, then you will be given gold accordingly. Try it. It works. The translations are just screwed up so it says "You will need to give X gold" when you are in fact receiving that same amount.Frater Perdurabo wrote: In addition, you cannot sell your items [for] gold, gold can only be found.
If you can't be bothered to read the rest of FB's post, this pretty much nails it down. Definitely your money's worth, I'd add.Frater Perdurabo wrote: Don't get me wrong, it's still a solid game, I just wish that they got more things right which I expected to be a standard since Gothic II. I need sleep.
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Kashluk
Finished my first game. Nice. I liked everything up till the ending, which itself was pretty lame. I'm hoping to see some real replay value here now.
Something I noticed about the equipment in the game... On my first run I must've completed like 60% of the game on Chapter 1, which means I was wearing this second crappiest armor in the whole game for the entire time. Then the game is set on 'ultra fast' and I seem to get better armors every 20 minutes as the chapters go on. Staves are also really, really underpowered. They're much more rare than any other sort of weapons + they always do less damage than their sword or axe 'counterparts'. So, there's no point in learning staff fighting if you still have the choice. Swords dominate about 90 % of the game, all the way to the last quests where you will (automatically) receive an axe that does a whopping 120 damage. And notice: if you develope your skill in some weapon far enough, you will be able to use two-handed weapons with one hand, ie. enables you to carry a shield & a two-hander.
The contrast between the first and last five hours of gameplay is quite drastic: you hold on to your each gold coin and experience point in the beginning, barely surviving the attacks of mosquitos and harsh winds, but near the end of the game you've got like 50 learning points to spare and 20 000 gold and nothing (smart) to spend it on. And those beasts that used to be '1 hit - 1 kill' threats to you in the beginning? The tables are turned, it now takes 2 or 3 swings to take them down, and you're most likely left without a scratch.
Something I noticed about the equipment in the game... On my first run I must've completed like 60% of the game on Chapter 1, which means I was wearing this second crappiest armor in the whole game for the entire time. Then the game is set on 'ultra fast' and I seem to get better armors every 20 minutes as the chapters go on. Staves are also really, really underpowered. They're much more rare than any other sort of weapons + they always do less damage than their sword or axe 'counterparts'. So, there's no point in learning staff fighting if you still have the choice. Swords dominate about 90 % of the game, all the way to the last quests where you will (automatically) receive an axe that does a whopping 120 damage. And notice: if you develope your skill in some weapon far enough, you will be able to use two-handed weapons with one hand, ie. enables you to carry a shield & a two-hander.
The contrast between the first and last five hours of gameplay is quite drastic: you hold on to your each gold coin and experience point in the beginning, barely surviving the attacks of mosquitos and harsh winds, but near the end of the game you've got like 50 learning points to spare and 20 000 gold and nothing (smart) to spend it on. And those beasts that used to be '1 hit - 1 kill' threats to you in the beginning? The tables are turned, it now takes 2 or 3 swings to take them down, and you're most likely left without a scratch.
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Frater Perdurabo
- Paragon
- Posts: 2427
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:51 am
- Location: Võro
You can wield 2h swords with one hand at Blades level 8 and Axes at level 6. I looked into this before I started with my warrior playthrough. I agree completely with the contrast of difficulty from say, even the first 5 hours of gameplay to everything that follows. Staves are really underpowered in comparison and definately the worst pick however I think they go all-right with the entire mage role-play thing and since difficulty is abolished anyway, might as well, right?
Axes are really overpowered, in the beginning of chapter 2, you can buy (yes, from the smith in swamp camp) an axe with 96 damage. I'm now well into chapter 2 and I oneshot black wolves. Fighting humanoids is tougher, but hey, it's still cake.
However, the mage playthrough was easier still - Magic Bullet spam destroys anything before they have time to hit you.
Axes are really overpowered, in the beginning of chapter 2, you can buy (yes, from the smith in swamp camp) an axe with 96 damage. I'm now well into chapter 2 and I oneshot black wolves. Fighting humanoids is tougher, but hey, it's still cake.
However, the mage playthrough was easier still - Magic Bullet spam destroys anything before they have time to hit you.
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Kashluk
What is the most effective to use, axe or sword? Because I have my highlander sword then I don't know if its really effective for a fight.Frater Perdurabo wrote:You can wield 2h swords with one hand at Blades level 8 and Axes at level 6. I looked into this before I started with my warrior playthrough. I agree completely with the contrast of difficulty from say, even the first 5 hours of gameplay to everything that follows. Staves are really underpowered in comparison and definately the worst pick however I think they go all-right with the entire mage role-play thing and since difficulty is abolished anyway, might as well, right?
Axes are really overpowered, in the beginning of chapter 2, you can buy (yes, from the smith in swamp camp) an axe with 96 damage. I'm now well into chapter 2 and I oneshot black wolves. Fighting humanoids is tougher, but hey, it's still cake.
However, the mage playthrough was easier still - Magic Bullet spam destroys anything before they have time to hit you.
mod edit: link removed, probably a spambot
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Kashluk
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Frater Perdurabo
- Paragon
- Posts: 2427
- Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:51 am
- Location: Võro
Yes, but:Kashluk wrote:IMHO, it was swords > anything else for pretty much 90 % of the game and then at the final 10 % you'll end up getting axes/maces/hammers that are the best weapons in the whole game.
Staves (staffs?) are really unbalanced, there's pretty much no point in investing skill points to them.
Frater Perdurabo wrote:You can wield 2h swords with one hand at Blades level 8 and Axes at level 6.
Frater Perdurabo wrote:Axes are really overpowered, in the beginning of chapter 2, you can buy (yes, from the smith in swamp camp) an axe with 96 damage. I'm now well into chapter 2 and I oneshot black wolves. Fighting humanoids is tougher, but hey, it's still cake.
