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Risen is predictable and far too similar to Gothic

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
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Meh? The XP gains from them are so tiny that it barely matters. I really didn't care about having a molerat or two being spawned into the world. I don't like it, but I don't really think it's a con for the game either.

except later on the game is just as likely to spawn rats in the middle of the road as it is to spawn mountain trolls
 
Joined
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shittiest third person combat I've ever experienced.
I disagree on the combat, as I feel that the enemy design is better rounded and scaled. By Chapter 3, I could kill just about anything in Risen with about 5 hits, and considering that combos in Risen are unbelievably fast and you have no stamina, it's plainly without challenge the last 10-15 hours of the game. In Elex the toughest monsters still stayed relatively difficult until the end, and you can't just stunlock enemies by swinging away because you have stamina. The attack patterns and animations in Risen are also stupidly broken, worse than in any other PB game despite being an issue in most of them. If you get hit once, you're going to get hit 2 or 3 more times more instantly with zero defense against it and that makes earlier combat pretty annoying. Infinitely annoying with ghouls and most animals because they group up on you, you get hit once, stunlocked for 2.5 seconds, get hit by the second one that's nearby and now you are dead.

So.. is the combat in Risen too easy or too hard? Ghouls are definitely tough at the beginning but they are not even meant to be touched at low level. Although it is possible with good utilization of dodge move and studying of their animations. Their cold attack is especially something you gotta learn to avoid. But again - they are NOT low level enemy.

Meh? The XP gains from them are so tiny that it barely matters. I really didn't care about having a molerat or two being spawned into the world. I don't like it, but I don't really think it's a con for the game either.

Molerat or two? There are way more respawns than that, Trolls included. Or Ogres, can't remember for sure how these big fuckers are called now. Also it's not just respawns, it's RANDOM SPAWNS. Meaning if you fast travel to same location two times in a row you might see completely different enemies. That feeling of hand crafted world and encounters that was always one of the best things about PB games is completely gone there. It's better than Ubishit sandbox or Oblivion/Skyrim for sure, but nowhere near trademark PB quality.
 
Last edited:
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unfairlight

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Neither too easy or too hard. It's just that the attack patterns are bullshit and one hit means death. Ghouls can stunlock you really easy, despite you not being able to do so if you can't kill them in about 3-4 hits. The cold attack is just another reason why I hated some of the enemy design, since they are the one and only enemy that I know of that can break through a block, aside from mages. The later game was way, way too easy since a sharp obsidian 2hander that I made at some part around chapter 3 could kill most things in one combo while ELEX retained challenge for far longer in my opinion.

I don't think that trolls or ogres respawned. As I said, I don't like it either but it was barely a flaw to me
 

Elex

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Early game monsters are ridiculous HP sponges. Late game they all drop like flys.

Because monsters in Elex only have one or two attack animations, they are easy to counter. Risen combat was more dangerous and unpredictable because enemies had a more diverse set of attack animations.
it's not HP, it's armor that reduce flat damage.
so basically it's early weapon with low damage.
 

Zerth

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
and combat is still almost the exact same as Gothic 2 but worse now
It's smoother than in Gothic 2. And you can perform more combos.

if you dodge an enemy before the enemy attacks, or before the enemy reajusts its position or if you dodge too far, then you stop being locked on to said enemy and you will almost always miss hitting the enemy with your weapon.
It was a bit awkward, but I don't recall having targeting issues after doing a sidewalk dodge when ur foe lunges at you. I ended up always at its side range to readily retaliate with a combo, this worked mostly against lizardmen. Although, consider I was a staff user.

Fuck it, I will download Gothic 3. As much as I gave it shit due to being exhausted with the game after almost 70 hours of play that mostly was boring. It was far more ambitious, adventurous and open than Risen is. It was like the previous Gothic games but actually tried something new.

You spent almost 70 hours enduring the flabby stunlock happy swordplay of Gothic 3, which swing animations look more like a bunch of toons flailing pool noodles each other instead of actual weapons. Rather odd you prefer to get back to this considering you said about Risen gameplay.
 

sullynathan

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It's smoother than in Gothic 2. And you can perform more combos.
it's mostly negligible
You spent almost 70 hours enduring the flabby stunlock happy swordplay of Gothic 3, which swing animations look more like a bunch of toons flailing pool noodles each other instead of actual weapons. Rather odd you prefer to get back to this considering you said about Risen gameplay.
I'm still playing Risen. I tried Gothic 3, it was too hard to get bacc into
It was a bit awkward, but I don't recall having targeting issues after doing a sidewalk dodge when ur foe lunges at you. I ended up always at its side range to readily retaliate with a combo, this worked mostly against lizardmen. Although, consider I was a staff user.
only used sword or sword + shield. Sometimes if you do a side dodge, it unlocks the camera and stops locking on the target. It's a flaw of this pseudo lock on system that's been here since Gothic 2 but I don't remember it as bad in Gothic 2. It makes it quite annoying fighting enemies when you either have allies or civilians in combat helping you. Gothic 3 also has this problem.
 
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unfairlight

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It was a bit awkward, but I don't recall having targeting issues after doing a sidewalk dodge when ur foe lunges at you. I ended up always at its side range to readily retaliate with a combo, this worked mostly against lizardmen. Although, consider I was a staff user.
Side dodges were shit. If you were close enough, you often would still fall into their attack range even after dodging if they did a combo that went from side to side (most of them.)
 

Grampy_Bone

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"Oh woe is me, this fun game is too similar to this other fun game!" Methinks the codexer dost protest too much.


Roasts aside, I really think Risen is the only Piranha bytes game with decent combat. Gothic 1, 2, and ELEX did their thing and that was fine, Gothic 3 + Risen 2/3 were all just a hot mess. But Risen 1,, did they hire a special combat designer just for that game, and then fire him after it shipped?

PB: "Whoa whoa whoa! Hold ze phone! Zis combat is all wrong!"

Combat Dev: "What do you mean? It's tight, responsive, and rewards both player skill and character development."

PB: "Exzactly! Don't you know our games are zupposed to play like hundescheisse?? YOU ARE FIRED!"
 

Tiospo

Learned
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Aug 1, 2018
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129
I enjoyed Risen because it reminded me of Gothic.

I enjoyed Risen 2 because of how relaxing the game was. I also liked some of the characters, mainly Jaffar. It also improved some gameplay mechanics from Risen 1. For example, in Risen 2, you don't have to activate teleports in order to fast travel. Just visit a location of some importance. Then you can travel there anytime you like.

I enjoyed all Risen/Gothic games because of the humour they contain.
 

Lord_Potato

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Glory to Ukraine
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Ok,I took your advice and started playing Risen.

So far, so good (although I had to deal with strange animation stuttering that should not appear on my gaming laptop). Looks very similar to Gothic 2. Locked island, 3 warring factions (of which "paladins" and "mages" are in alliance and "outlaws" are hiding away from the main town). Possibility to work for everyone up to a certain point. I chose to go to Harbor Town first, not the outlaw camp in the marshes. Did I choose wisely, provided I want to finally join Don Estebans group? They seem like the least nasty assholes of the whole setting.
 
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unfairlight

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IMO going to the Don's camp is more interesting and sets you up better for what comes later. You can build up your gear a lot better there.
 

Lord_Potato

Arcane
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My bad. I guess I will live with the consequences of my choice. Hopefully, the "white robes" will not try to forcefully recruit me. Never liked the concept of being a paladin or some other holy warrior.
 
Unwanted

Micormic

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Never played g1 or g2.



I played the first Risen, I thought it was better then G3 but found it lacking in many areas.
 

typical user

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Nov 30, 2015
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Never played g1 or g2.

I played the first Risen, I thought it was better then G3 but found it lacking in many areas.

You just missed the best PB games.


They should of ran on my PC then :outrage:

The controls in the first one are mess, the second one has a tad worse story but gives you more complete experience with additional content. Just remember to give away the blade you get from Night of Raven expansion it makes game too easy and ruins the experience.
 

ortucis

Prophet
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
Messages
2,015
It's all so unimaginative because it just seems like Piranha bytes took their old game and pasted it in an island with some pirate motif

The whole point of Risen was to recreate Gothic, since they didn't have the IP anymore (back then).

But nobody gave a shit about Risen cause it was even more generic than Gothic. At least Gothic had cool talking ORC's who weren't just dumb violent archtype's from every other game. Risen meanwhile, had giant moths you would fight.. and suddenly, LIZARD PEOPLE. It was just fucking stupid.

Every game PB makes is trying to mimic the success of Gothic. I think they finally got one with ELEX.


Anyway, as for combat in PB games. It has never bothered me, nor has it been "hard" to master. I never understood people bitching about it. Not everything needs to be Demon Souls. Just get good.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
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Dec 22, 2015
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Risen's combat is better than Gothic's. There's a bit too many dungeons right now fighting Lizardmen.
Demon Souls
Game sucks, but PB could be learn a lot from it
At least Gothic had cool talking ORC's who weren't just dumb violent archtype's from every other game. Risen meanwhile, had giant moths you would fight.. and suddenly, LIZARD PEOPLE. It was just fucking stupid.
Got the words right out of my mouth. The first Gothic still has the least generic setting of their games being set in a prison, this one is set on an island and is supposed to have a pirate theme but I don't see it. It's just like Gothic without the the prison dynamic. The faction system this time is almost non-existent compared to Gothic 2.
I never understood people bitching about it.
You don't understand why people bitch about an action rpg where a large portion of the game is combat and the combat isn't good?
If you do quests, it leads to combat. Going outside to explore leads to combat. Chapter 3 is right now is dungeon crawling with lots and lots of combat. All of their games have lots of combat and it went from pretty bad to servicable at best once you've fully leveled up an ability.
 

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