Risen

[Murk]

There is the one upside to it - if you join the outlaws and after slaving away to help the doneso much and at long last it comes time for them to help you - no one lifts a fucking finger, like the greedy mafioso scum they really are.

You'd think that as an Outlaw if you needed to raid the temple the Don was staying in that at least Fincher or someone would be like "bro you single-handedly delivered harbourtown to us, I got your back in this dungeon" but no. I guess commanding the squad of Fighters to attack the Order for the western ruins was pretty cool tho.

If I'm not mistaken the don even says "here's some gold, get out of my sight" at one point (paraphrased) after delivering the town to him.

It kind of went to confirm everything the Order was saying about how the Don's a lying sack of shit who manipulates people.

But yeah the awesome build up goes poof in the second half of the game (chapters 2 and on).

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I expected chapter 2 to be really shitty when they brought in the "find five disks!" MacGuffin hunt, but honestly the quests were reasonably varied and interesting and the (two) dungeons to the point and atmospheric. Are the bad parts still to come, or am I just easily entertained?

 

[MetalCraze]

First two chapters are gut. After that however the shit comes.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

Chapter III and IV are mostly dungeon crawling, but they're pretty good if you like the exploring part. However if you were expecting something dialogue heavy like chapter I/II prepare to be disappointed. Arguably chapter II might be the best, you will probably still have several side quests still left to complete and you can pretty much explore the entire island, barring a few dangerous caves and such.

 

[Gobbo]

But yeah the awesome build up goes poof in the second half of the game (chapters 2 and on).

After the Don retook the town I went and talked with every npc in town to get their reaction and I was suprised, some people were really glad he's back and others cursed him (the rich traders mostly). :D There were a lot of different reactions, I found that to be really great.

 

[Jaedar]

First two chapters are gut. After that however the shit comes.

 

[racofer]

First two chapters are gut. After that however the shit comes.

 

[Murk]

I expected chapter 2 to be really shitty when they brought in the "find five disks!" MacGuffin hunt, but honestly the quests were reasonably varied and interesting and the (two) dungeons to the point and atmospheric. Are the bad parts still to come, or am I just easily entertained?

No that's pretty much the course now. You're going to get a few more "Get the X macguffins" quests but otherwise it doesn't get diabolical - you'll find some harder enemies soon enough tho.

I think the main downside is that you won't have side quests anymore if you already finished them in the first chapter, but it is mostly going to be pretty cool dungeons with some neat traps to overcome followed by lizardmen genocide.

the last boss will probably disappoint tho

 

[Murk]

But yeah the awesome build up goes poof in the second half of the game (chapters 2 and on).

After the Don retook the town I went and talked with every npc in town to get their reaction and I was suprised, some people were really glad he's back and others cursed him (the rich traders mostly). :D There were a lot of different reactions, I found that to be really great.

All named characters of your faction have something to say about you as you get promoted too -- like Hawkins being jealous/bitter that you you're climbing the ranks while he's just sitting around being a git - I think the hero even calls him out on it too.

 

[Gobbo]

I really love such details, I wish they had more to say tho, maybe throw a quest or two your way during which you can actually understand the motivations of some characters. Again I think they drop the details too quickly, Master Aric was a great character and after he runs away you don't see him which is a shame. Same goes for those two guils in the Volcano, they just point you where to go and that's it, no more interesting interactions with them.

 

[Murk]

Question then: on the starting beach if you look towards the left (if the water is at your back), there is a giant structure on the cliff face - has anyone figured out what that structure is?

this thing:

 

[Black_Willow]

Maybe something which will become significant in the add-on, just like "Aztec" ruins in NotR.

 

[tarkin]

It's a shield, presumably from the statue of which legs still stand above the harbor city.

 

[Murk]

It's a shield, presumably from the statue of which legs still stand above the harbor city.

which statue? i don't seem to recall seeing legs...

any in game confirmation on this? If it is a shield it is pretty gigantic compared to anything else... that picture doesn't quite show just how huge that cliff face is...

the metal rails are also built into the stone... so either that entire cliff face is the shield or the shield is just placed far away from the statue?

Maybe something which will become significant in the add-on, just like "Aztec" ruins in NotR.

one can only hope

 

[tarkin]

Rpgwatchhas it covered with pictures o ye of little faith. You can even see the legs on the in-game map iirc.

ninja edit: yup, i was right.

 

[ghostdog]

Piranha bytes copy-pasted the island from LOST.

 

[Murk]

oh shit, guess i never paid attention to the city map but the world one i do remember - guess i'm just 'tarded.

edit: ten USD says that the expansion includes some "gather the 5 pieces of the fallen god's statue"

legs:

 

[[Jez]]

There's an expansion? when did this happen?

 

[LusciousPear]

Heh, I never even heard of this before. Will have to czech it out.

 

[MetalCraze]

Not yet. But PB are too silent which means expansion is inevitable

 

[Gobbo]

Any more snips about the so called expansion?

 

[Turisas]

Any more snips about the so called expansion?

Funny how fast the thread went from hypothetical afterthought into an absolute certainty.

 

[Gobbo]

Well they do work on something, yet I guess it's a sequel rather then some addon or something.

 

[Imbecile]

Heresy I know, but was this completely awful on the consoles, or did it just look unoptimised?

 

[Azrael the cat]

Lord of the Rings Online has a cool compass system. It directs you with the standard dot, but when you get close enough it goes away and shows a giant blob colored area instead. The point being, here's the general area, now you find it.

It's a nice compromise between being on your own and blindly navigating by dialog alone, and having a big obnoxious arrow lead the way until you're two inches from your destination.

Ever heard of real maps?

Games should have locations marked on a map as accurately as would be realistic in the context that the location is marked on the map. They could have maps with different scaling. A world map, a town map, even a building map (such things exist), except the player would have to either buy or find and steal such maps.

What they shouldn't have is a fucking player arrow moving on the map like magic, unless the game is really fucking exceptionally good at rationalizing it as real advanced magic that everyone uses like the internet in the real world. Otherwise, learn to read a map, please, and accept that if your target moves, you won't get to know its exact location until you actually find it.

(I guess someone might say that the arrow is there because it's the PC who does the map-reading for the player. My counter to that would be: such games are crap, and they wouldn't need to be. Remove the arrow, because it's NOT immersive. A game isn't immersive if the player doesn't do the things that he would do if he were the character in the game world. Moving your party of half-naked fags from one cutscene to another is about as immersive as drinking shit diet coke while watching the newest crap from Ron Howard. Shit.)

Exactly what gothic had (and from memory Risen's map works the same way) - you had to buy a map before you could access it, and there'd be different maps for the city and island, and quest markings would be pseudo-handwritten markings and circles on a faux-ink map.