Risen 2 subtitle + artwork

Nothing new, indeed. But at least they aren't tossing features that make Gothic Gothic.

Havoc said:

That was normal in the Gothic series. Nothing new.

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Well, it was hardly needed in the previous games. Sure, you could sneak past monsters in caves and perhaps steal a treasure, but quests hardly presented you different ways to solve them. If they're going to implement scenarios like this on purpose, then that's nice.

In Risen you could steal two items required for different quests, completeing said quests without being required to have a difficult fight. That was nice but apart from that pickpocketing wasn't very useful.

Another article I found. Nothing new in it really, but I love reading anything about this game. Can't wait for it.

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2 ... Waters/p1/

Arriving on this new island, you'll immediately get a sense of what Piranha Bytes are trying to accomplish. Lit by an excellent day and night cycle and with a realistic focus on the water, the new world looks really nice, if not early in development. The towns are built by pirates in a ramshackle fashion that reminds players that its inhabitants aren't architects and they're just trying to survive. You'll encounter all kinds of shady characters and really get a sense of grit.

The game is set across multiple islands to improve performance, as the game will only require a single load per island. With smaller maps, the overall game is still an enormous experience. The developers want you to grind your way back to earlier areas to solve puzzles you couldn't before and in general build a powerful character. They're aiming to build a world that doesn't “impose visible barriers.” That means there will be a lot of exploration and you'll see all sides of the social hierarchies. You'll need to win the respect of different factions and you won't be welcomed with open arms to most areas.

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From one of the links:

Risen had a very generic RPG style with dull colors, and dark landscapes, but Risen 2 has broken that mold. With what I saw they're really trying to put vivid color into landscapes, and add detail and style to the characters.

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Risen was already on a tropical island, and I thought the colors were fine. I hope they aren't going to overdo the tropical ambience and turn the game into, say, Far Cry.

You have to realize that some game journalists don't need to play a game to determine its flaws and virtues.

Rather than porting a PC-centric title on Xbox 360 this time, Risen 2 is being developed with multiple platforms in mind from the getgo. And with smaller maps on multiple islands, the game runs smoothly across the areas we were shown in the game.

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I'm not in full-blown pessimism mode yet, but my enthusiasm has been dampened.

Looks like my initial feeling about the parallel, less PC centric development is true.
Interface redesign.
The first game was a PC port for consoles, now it's a parallel release for 3 platforms.
Remains to be seen.

Here is one from digital trends:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/fir ... rk-waters/

http://www.gry-online.pl/S022.asp?ID=7317

can any polish codexers please translate this?

Dantus12 said:

Looks like my initial feeling about the parallel, less PC centric development is true.
Interface redesign.
The first game was a PC port for consoles, now it's a parallel release for 3 platforms.
Remains to be seen.

Here is one from digital trends:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/fir ... rk-waters/

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Ok this has me worried, very worried. Hopefully PB will still deliver, but this still changed this game from a first day purchase for me to a wait and see stance on it.

Being developed with consoles in mind almost guarantees it will be a fuckfest on the PC, at least as far as menus/interface is concerned. See: Oblivion/DA2.

Having said that, I still have very high hopes for this game.

Gobbo said:

http://www.gry-online.pl/S022.asp?ID=7317

can any polish codexers please translate this?

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Game starts 10 years after Risen, Main character is bitter and disappointed that his doings didn't help much, he managed to save one island but more and more titans are waking up. he's joined Inquisition, the most powerful faction.

We start in Caldera. The Inquisition has found a way to protect it from titans' attacks but the town isn't self-sufficient and it depends on getting food and other goods from other islands. Unfortunately, ships sailing to the town are being destroyed by monsters that started terrorising oceans. There are rumours that some pirates know how to fight the monsters so our first quest is to gain their trust.

Piranha doesn't want to follow the light-hearted, funny style of Pirates of the Caribbean. Their vision of the game is much darker and the world should be very detailed.

Reviewer is quoting a Deep Silver employee, Daniel Oberlerchner, who claims that "Bows and arrows wouldn't suit game's theme and setting" so the designers decided to get rid of them and introduce guns. The explanation for such a jump in technology is that guns were already in use in the times of Risen but the island from the first game was pretty much a shithole with little contact with outside world. We'll be able to meet the inventor of firearms in the game.

Piranha and Deep Silver were listening to the fans and now they improve game mechanics basing on their feedback.

The first improvement can be seen in characters' models. In the first game heads were fit on different body types, while in Risen 2 whole models are being made for NPCs with great attention to details. The journalist was presented with screenshots comparing NPCs from both games and claims the difference in huge. Animations are changed too. All humanoids used to use the same animations so all women, men and lizard-men walked in the same manner. Now even different factions among people should be recognisable by the way they move. Short presentation proved that animations look naturally and all turns, attacks and gestures look impressive, much better than stiff moves from Risen.

Many of the changes are being made to assure the quality of console versions. [Fffuuuu...!!!!]

The main reason for the shortcomings of Risen's XBox version was time spent on creating it - work was started just eight months before release date. Now the game isn't being ported but the PC, XBox and PS3 version are all created at the same time.

Console port of Risen was ugly because its low memory couldn't handle loading highly detailed textures for such a big isle. Thus Piranha decided the action won't take in one place but on several smaller [fffuuuu...!!!!] islands and parts of the continent. This will allow for more detailed environment as the console won't have to store the data for the whole game area at the same time. There won't be any loading screens between outdoor and indoor areas.

It should also make the story much more interesting. "In the first Risen, the whole island was fully explored by the time you get to the third chapter and everyone knew that the game will end in the heart of the vulcano. Now we can introduce a new faction even after twenty hours of gameplay!" - said Daniel. They can also send you to a new area at any time and build suspense up until the end of the game.

Interface is design in such manner that it should be easily controlled with a gamepad [fffuuuu...!!!!] and the fonts will be bigger on consoles and on PC. PC gamers will still benefit from using mouse and keyboard, e.g. they will be able to drag and drop items in the inventory.

The editor couldn't believe his eyes, seeing how pretty the game was. The screenshots doesn't really show how beautiful the game is in motion. Water looks amazing because of the reflections and fishes swimming in it. The palms are swaying on the wind and are casting dynamic shadows. Textures are sharp and lightning is impressive. Daniel said that the demo was running on extremely powerful machine (and there were some frame drops despite that) but the game should look good on lower settings too and if you have a PC that fit recommended requirements f Risen, you shouldn't have any problems playing its sequel.

The architectonic style is worth mentioning too. The houses or other buildings look don't look like anything we've seen in "medieval fantasy" games and their placement make sense. There are no copy-pasted buildings, every single one should be unique and all the islands should have their own visual style.

Presentation also involved showing the day-night cycle which will impact the gameplay. NPCs will talk to each other, exchanging rumours about the various islands and their situation. Overhearing a conversation can sometimes introduce you to a quest [just like in E3 Oblivion presentation, nyah?] Crafting is back and "any item that can be made by a working NPC can be made by player's character too". A short fight showed that combat animations are improved and even animation of falling monsters look more realistic. The combat will be similar to what we experienced in Risen, some improvements are being made but there are no plans to make it simpler. You should be able to evaluate how tough an opponent is by observing his body language.

Risen 2 should be 20 hours longer than the predecessor, i.e. a single playthrough should last about 60 hours.

There is no release date yet, not even its year is sure. The game shall not be rushed so it won't share the fate of Gothic 3. Preview's author seems to be hyped.

Console port of Risen was ugly because its low memory couldn't handle loading highly detailed textures for such a big isle. Thus Piranha decided the action won't take in one place but on several smaller [fffuuuu...!!!!] islands and parts of the continent. This will allow for more detailed environment as the console won't have to store the data for the whole game area at the same time. There won't be any loading screens between outdoor and indoor areas.

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FUCKING XBRICK

No doubt there will be a lot more sacrifices because of that outdated POS.
It might be an OK game in the end, but by no means the best that they could do.

FUCKING XBRICK

Thank you Jim Cojones!

:potato:

thank you indeed Cojones. Sounds good ,I just hope the final boss fight won't be a stupid frogger game as in the Risen though. I do hate platform games ...

The complete absence of bows/crossbows worries me.

Gobbo said:

The complete absence of bows/crossbows worries me.

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Who needs bows when you can shot muscets, arquebuses and falconets?

toro said:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/chosen-by-risen-2/718837

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Looks good. What a pleasant warm feeling it is to wait for a game that won't suck.

Renegen said:

toro said:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/chosen-by-risen-2/718837

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Looks good. What a pleasant warm feeling it is to wait for a game that won't suck.

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It looks good so far and it sounds promising, but to be honest I'm a bit concerned about the abundance of cinematic cutscenes and about what they said about the new combat system (free camera? dealing with many opponents at once? Sounds like Fable/Arcania, and they both were fucking bad).

toro said:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/chosen-by-risen-2/718837

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Yes.

if this game turns out to be a disappointment, I'm gonna get a planeticket to Germany and stab someone at PB

I read somewhere that at least the combat system will be the same as in the first Risen. Of course there will be some changes for muskets and maybe other tweaks, but this sounds good. And yes, cinematic cutscenes are lame.
Anyway, the best version of the trailer is on the official site: http://www.risen2.com/