Risen Starting Risen 1, anything I should do/install?

[Absinthe]

Right, as the title says, I just decided to install and play Risen. Been in my backlog for a long-ass while. So if I could get any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Are there any mods/patches/etc I should get? I have the 1.3 unofficial patch and that's it. From what I've heard Risen 1 is much like Gothic (never played that one) and after the 2nd arc it starts to turn into shitty combat segments mostly. Maybe mods have fixed some of Risen's problems, maybe not. The main Risen site (World of Risen) is in German I notice.

And is there anything else I should be aware of?

 

[Jvegi]

You should stop and install something else.

 

[razvedchiki]

nop.
one advice i can give you is to learn axe 6 or 7 dont remember that will allow you to hold 2handed axes with shields.

 

[Absinthe]

You should stop and install something else.

Do you have a reason why or are you just shitposting?

nop.
one advice i can give you is to learn axe 6 or 7 dont remember that will allow you to hold 2handed axes with shields.

Axe 6 does. Can you get weapon skills to 7 if you are going Mage route? And what's up with staves? Actually, what are the perks of the different weapon types anyway?

 

[Jvegi]

Do you have a reason why or are you just shitposting?

Mostly shitposting. The first city threw me off very much because everyone kept asking me for favors and giving me quests like I was some kind of the main character or something. It reeked of modern, masturbatory design.
I'm sure the game has a lot to offer, the beginning is awesome. I even like the papyrus-like character design.

So I guess my advice is to soldier through the rough parts because the game is worth it by most accounts. I gave up pretty early on and keep giving up ever since the game came out.

 

[Absinthe]

That kind of quest design is a given in almost any western RPG really, but it's true that some of the shit you get asked really doesn't require your help. There's Age of Decadence if you want a RPG that doesn't try to treat you like you're someone special.

I heard that the first two arcs of Risen were better and that the rest of the game was more of a dungeon-crawling slog with a shitty boss-fight in the end.

 

[Drowed]

As far as I remember, Risen 1 has no mods or unofficial patches that are essential. If you search the internet I don't doubt you will find something, but in principle it is perfectly acceptable as it is.

It's not an amazing game or anything like that, but if you're going in with balanced expectations, I'd say it's worth playing at least once. The last boss is horrible, though. What the hell was that. At least, it's literally the last thing you'll do in the game, so at that point you just ignore it and push on to finish.

 

[Multidirectional]

There is an unoficial patch that has some quest fixes.

 

[razvedchiki]

Axe 6 does. Can you get weapon skills to 7 if you are going Mage route? And what's up with staves? Actually, what are the perks of the different weapon types anyway?

staves are mage weapons but most of the time you will be spamming spells, when you get out of mana potions you can bash them with the staff.
rest dont remember much, mainly dmg/reach.
if you want a harder expericence you should join the dons men in the swamp, just watch at the start to not be forcefully recruited at the monastery/inquisition.

 

[Multidirectional]

Don't go mage route on first run, join the Bandit Camp like the game wants you to. Melee combat is actually quite fun in this game.

 

[Tigranes]

Go forth and play, it's fine.

Don't talk to mages/walk up to them right off the bat unless you want to join them. The standard "maximalist" pathway is to explore the bandit camp & harbour town and do the various quests, and then decide who to join, which you'll be familiar with from Gothic. (Harbour town entry/exit is restricted at start, but this really isn't a big deal - you can get out without committing to any path, and if you really want to, there are spots where you can jump the wall, leave, then come back.)

 

[Technomancer]

And is there anything else I should be aware of?

Someone made upscaled textures for the game. Never tried it but I will if I play the game again.

 

[mkultra]

Upscaled textures yeah, don't use that crap.
Here's one with new hi-res textures: Vurt's Dark Risen Textures at Risen Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com)
There are other mods as well on Nexus.

 

[Smerlus]

I was going to do my typical rogue playthrough when I first started but got caught and thrown into a prison camp. Think I became a monkish type character after that.

Really no right or wrong way to play the game. Just try to enjoy it.

 

[Murk]

There really aren't any major QOL issues and I haven't encountered a bug in R1 in pretty much forever (some minor typos I think but the voice lines are still there), so I'd say just go in raw and experience it as is.

For what it's worth, pay attention to what some NPCs warn you about.

 

[hello friend]

Don't go mage route on first run, join the Bandit Camp like the game wants you to. Melee combat is actually quite fun in this game.

Bears repeating, Risen has one of the best melee combat systems ever made. It just works.

 

[cretin]

the only thing you need is the antilag fix for the jumping bug (the solution posted on steam where you edit a setting in the gamefiles works too, but has the side effect of speeding the game up) and if you like editing the graphics settings to improve things like draw distances and what not.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Right, as the title says, I just decided to install and play Risen. Been in my backlog for a long-ass while. So if I could get any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Are there any mods/patches/etc I should get? I have the 1.3 unofficial patch and that's it. From what I've heard Risen 1 is much like Gothic (never played that one) and after the 2nd arc it starts to turn into shitty combat segments mostly. Maybe mods have fixed some of Risen's problems, maybe not. The main Risen site (World of Risen) is in German I notice.

And is there anything else I should be aware of?

Most of the posts above got you covered. I'll just tell you that power attack is a fucking game changer.

 

[Absinthe]

Is there something wrong with the Mage path or is it just that melee combat is better? How high can you get melee combat as a Mage anyway?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is there something wrong with the Mage path or is it just that melee combat is better? How high can you get melee combat as a Mage anyway?

There's nothing wrong with the Mage path other than being a Mage, which is wrong enough.
Mages and templars get to learn staff combat. Templars definitely get to max it out while mages get to level 7 of 10, I think, don't remember precisely.
The Don's dudes can max out axes, swords, bows and crossbows.

 

[Absinthe]

Ah, so the Mage faction is shitty.

How far can you get swords and axes as a Mage, btw? And what's up with staves? They seem like low damage weapons for a 2H, and all the other 2Hs can be equipped in one hand with enough skill ranks. Is there an actual benefit to using them?

 

[Tigranes]

Mage faction is fine, it's just bandit is probably best way to have lots of freedom, explore the areas, and get the most out of melee combat which is PB's strength, on your first playthrough. Or did you enjoy the pew-pews in G1/2?

 

[Nim]

Afair you can train both axes and swords to 10, as long as you do it before joining the inquisition.

Content wise the bandits have very few exclusive quests. Joining the inquisition is the way to go if you only plan on playing it once.

Edit: Axes might be only 7 but that's good enough.

 

[Absinthe]

Mage faction is fine, it's just bandit is probably best way to have lots of freedom, explore the areas, and get the most out of melee combat which is PB's strength, on your first playthrough. Or did you enjoy the pew-pews in G1/2?

Eh, I just wanted to abuse magic because it's abusable in almost all RPGs.

 

[Rafidur]

I thought the mage training was a high point of the game. Compare to Risen 3 where you talk to a dude and boom "yer a demon hunter arrrrry" and you can immediately teleport and shit.