Risen 15 minutes into Risen i can already tell this is a good game

[cretin]

Preamble: played Risen 3 before, didnt like it because of how tacky it felt, not just "low budget" but actually "shit". Decided I'd start from the beginning as Risen seems to be better received here than its sequels.

Short bit of exposition that doesn't overstay its welcome, and then boom, scenario. Ok, I'm stranded on a shore, and like an actual shipwreck, theres shit everywhere if you care to look. Cool. Tropical island setting in a 2009 adventure game, oh boy this is going to be shit- wait what the fuck this jungle is actually dense like real jungle, and yet you can and should actually explore through it! Game isn't holding my hand, but it is warning me off stupid ideas.

The combat..... is "rudimentary"....and GOOD. Yes its "rudimentary" and has everything an ARPG needs: blocking, stepping (instead of boring i-frame filled somersaults), combos, and enemies that attempt to maneuver on you and also dodge your attacks. Jaja nice job blockheads. This actually feels way more responsive and accurate than ELEX's combat. Yes, thats right, i like it better than ELEX combat. It feels good to anticipate an enemy attack and preemptively sidestep them and counter. So far ive only had 1 on 1 encounters, so we'll see how this holds up with groups of enemies, but I'm pretty sure its just better. One has to wonder why they didn't keep this system and just polish it. Because whatever they had in R3 is dogshit and what they came up with in ELEX feels clunky (and this extends to the AI, ELEX enemies often get locked into launching long attacks that are way off target. R1 enemies seem to have much better tracking)

Hopefully the story and characters are engaging and don't sour my initial impression because I'm ready to ditch my sprawling playthrough of Twitcher 3 for this.

 

[Wunderbar]

Risen's combat is the best combat Piranha bytes ever made.

 

[Master Librarian]

Here's a sincere advice from the bottom of my heart: Drop the game once you're about halfway into Chapter 3. Just nevermind the completionism, nevermind anything - drop it and spare yourself the lasting poor impression.
In retrospect, it seems generally like a good idea to drop the final chapter or the last 25% of any Piranha Bytes game. It's always the same - hordes of copy pasted 2-3 variations of enemies pushed into your every bodily crevice for a couple of hours.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Here's a sincere advice from the bottom of my heart: Drop the game once you're about halfway into Chapter 3. Just nevermind the completionism, nevermind anything - drop it and spare yourself the lasting poor impression.
In retrospect, it seems generally like a good idea to drop the final chapter or the last 25% of any Piranha Bytes game. It's always the same - hordes of copy pasted 2-3 variations of enemies pushed into your every bodily crevice for a couple of hours.

I liked the ending to elex

 

[JDR13]

Risen is a really good game if you value exploration and atmosphere. I enjoyed the entire trilogy, but Risen is easily the best of the three imo.

It's also the last PB game that had Kai Rosenkranz as the composer. Their soundtracks haven't quite been on the same level since then.

 

[Master Librarian]

Risen is a really good game if you value exploration and atmosphere. I enjoyed the entire trilogy, but Risen is easily the best of the three imo.

It's also the last PB game that had Kai Rosenkranz as the composer. Their soundtracks haven't quite been on the same level since then.

It's a pity he didn't have a larger budget to work with in Risen. He truly outdid himself with Gothic 3, it's one of the most memorable, most outstanding OST's in video game industry. To be quite sincere, I don't recall Risen's soundtrack being nowhere near as good in comparison. The only track that sticks to mind is the one playing in

Spoiler

secret section of Monastery's library, due to how ominous it is and how well it depicts the atmosphere of that specific dungeon.

 

[cretin]

ok this is bizarre. Risen's combat is not just a little better than anything else PB has done, it is MARKEDLY better. What the fuck happened? How does a developer decline so badly?

I just had a fight with wolves and goblins armed with knives. The wolves would do stuff like zig then zag to my flank and then immediately follow up with attacks. The goblins would dodge back after missing an attack, making it not so easy to just sidestep and counter, and then, we attacked at the same time and our swords clashed instead of just magically hitting one another. That doesnt fucking happen in ELEX, a game from 2017. Its not just mechanically better, the fucking AI is better. In a 2009 game.

 

[cretin]

i could understand if they had a massive exodus of key devs like potatozone GSC, but AFAIK pb is the same boomer blockheads its always been.

 

[JDR13]

Risen is also a much smaller game than Elex. In fact, it might be their smallest game in terms of the game world. Maybe that was a factor because it allowed them to spend more time tweaking the combat, idk.

It does have the best melee combat out of all their games, but the magic system is somewhat lacking.

 

[JDR13]

Risen is a really good game if you value exploration and atmosphere. I enjoyed the entire trilogy, but Risen is easily the best of the three imo.

It's also the last PB game that had Kai Rosenkranz as the composer. Their soundtracks haven't quite been on the same level since then.

It's a pity he didn't have a larger budget to work with in Risen. He truly outdid himself with Gothic 3, it's one of the most memorable, most outstanding OST's in video game industry. To be quite sincere, I don't recall Risen's soundtrack being nowhere near as good in comparison. The only track that sticks to mind is the one playing in

Spoiler

secret section of Monastery's library, due to how ominous it is and how well it depicts the atmosphere of that specific dungeon.

I'd have to disagree. Gothic 3 does have a great soundtrack, but it's a little over-orchestrated for my taste. I actually prefer the more subdued tones of Gothic 1&2 and Risen.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Here's a sincere advice from the bottom of my heart: Drop the game once you're about halfway into Chapter 3. Just nevermind the completionism, nevermind anything - drop it and spare yourself the lasting poor impression.
In retrospect, it seems generally like a good idea to drop the final chapter or the last 25% of any Piranha Bytes game. It's always the same - hordes of copy pasted 2-3 variations of enemies pushed into your every bodily crevice for a couple of hours.

fake news

risen endgame is perfectly fine as long as you enjoy the wombat, it's only the final boss that's trash

 

[Master Librarian]

risen endgame is perfectly fine as long as you enjoy the wombat, it's only the final boss that's trash

Yeah, gorillion reskinned orcs swarming you on every road and in 5 near identical dungeons with near identical puzzles and enemies intended as a time sponge are definitely not my cup of tea. By that time, you're also so overpowered if you aren't an absolute IQ 70 subhuman, that there's a distinctive lack of challenge as well, it just becomes tedious. Nevermind the final boss either, the ending itself is one of the most horrible ones in gaming, ever.
As OP said, he's interested from the aspect of story and characters - and for that reason there's absolutely zero need to play through the last chapter of this game.

 

[Falksi]

Risen 2 is better.

Seriously. Although I still prefer Risen 1's melee combat, the run & gun combat + humour/dialogue + theme in Risen 2 makes it a real win.

 

[Risewild]

enjoy the wombat

 

[Smoker]

Had to watch the ending of Risen on YouTube because of a non passable bug near the end. People have figured out how to console command past it now.

Also R2 was entertaining. Dropped 3 after a hour or 2.

 

[adddeed]

Melee combtgetseven better the longer you play, as you learn new moves.

 

[Sreggin Etah I]

i enjoyed Risen a lot for being a more polished Gothic with much better controls, UI and overall gameplay. But Risen is a bit shallow compared to Gothic, the lizard warriors is boring compared to Orcs. The setting, world, soundtrack, enemies design and atmosphere of Risen is inferior to Gothic in my opinion.

Gothic with Risen improved gameplay would be perfect.

 

[Raghar]

ok this is bizarre. Risen's combat is not just a little better than anything else PB has done, it is MARKEDLY better. What the fuck happened? How does a developer decline so badly?

I just had a fight with wolves and goblins armed with knives. The wolves would do stuff like zig then zag to my flank and then immediately follow up with attacks. The goblins would dodge back after missing an attack, making it not so easy to just sidestep and counter, and then, we attacked at the same time and our swords clashed instead of just magically hitting one another. That doesnt fucking happen in ELEX, a game from 2017. Its not just mechanically better, the fucking AI is better. In a 2009 game.

Before Dark Souls was ported to PC, it was one of best combats in 3D PC games.

 

[whydoibother]

Celebrating jank as if its something desirable is my least favorite codex meme.
Just because good design and good writing correlated with jank in the golden age, doesn't mean the jank itself is good. We like STALKER despite of the jank, not because of the jank.

Fucking posers.

 

[Multidirectional]

Yes, thats right, i like it better than ELEX combat.

Well you'd have to be braindead to prefer ELEX combat. R1 has easily best melee out of all PB games. What they did in later games was so disappointing.

I would suggest doing some visual tweaks in ini for increased shadow resolution and vegetation distance. And if you have nvidia card you can force sparse grid supersampling with nvidia inspector tool, which does wonders for vegetation. Though maybe you are playing in 4k and it isn't needed so much.

 

[cretin]

I would suggest doing some visual tweaks in ini for increased shadow resolution and vegetation distance.

i was wondering about this. I like the way the game looks, but i dont need the xboxified lod pop in and low shadow res. What values in particular can be tweaked without breaking anything?

 

[Avarize]

Celebrating jank as if its something desirable is my least favorite codex meme.
Just because good design and good writing correlated with jank in the golden age, doesn't mean the jank itself is good. We like STALKER despite of the jank, not because of the jank.

Fucking posers.

Risen is probably the best TPP RPG after Gothic 1 and 2. Personally I enjoy it even more than those two because it's less dated.

 

[cretin]

Celebrating jank as if its something desirable is my least favorite codex meme.
Just because good design and good writing correlated with jank in the golden age, doesn't mean the jank itself is good. We like STALKER despite of the jank, not because of the jank.

Fucking posers.

shut up you bulgar mutt. I never once celebrated jank and if you're implying the combat in risen is janky, I would suggest your brain is janky. Dont step to me again or ill use my bitcoin coffers to hire a 12 year old on a BMX to do a drive by on you next time you go out for milk, and I'll have your mother and sisters trafficked into turkey to be prostitute for the rest of their natural lives. You've been warned.

 

[Multidirectional]

I would suggest doing some visual tweaks in ini for increased shadow resolution and vegetation distance.

i was wondering about this. I like the way the game looks, but i dont need the xboxified lod pop in and low shadow res. What values in particular can be tweaked without breaking anything?

Shit bro, it's been some time since I replayed it so can't remember off the top of my head, but googling should help. Unfortunately draw distance can only be increased for vegetation as I recall, and I used shadow res 3072 when I last played, which is triple of the original. Also I think i disabled SSAO because it actually looked worse with it, more distracting. There is also unofficial patch for it which has quest fixes.

*edit* Found this tweak guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=636946065

 

[whydoibother]

Celebrating jank as if its something desirable is my least favorite codex meme.
Just because good design and good writing correlated with jank in the golden age, doesn't mean the jank itself is good. We like STALKER despite of the jank, not because of the jank.

Fucking posers.

shut up you bulgar mutt. I never once celebrated jank and if you're implying the combat in risen is janky, I would suggest your brain is janky. Dont step to me again or ill use my bitcoin coffers to hire a 12 year old on a BMX to do a drive by on you next time you go out for milk, and I'll have your mother and sisters trafficked into turkey to be prostitute for the rest of their natural lives. You've been warned.

Insulting the account of a person, because you have nothing to say about their argument, is my second least favorite codex meme.