Review Risen gone and got reviewed

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Risen

<a href="http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/reviews/risen.html">Gamerzines review Risen</a>, say stuff about it:
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<blockquote>Welcome to the world of Faranga, where you have been shipwrecked on a tropical island with magical promise and a population torn apart by an ongoing war between three very different forces. [...] The world is complicated and the power struggle can be felt through the game's sixty to eighty hour experience. [...] Combat feels a little unresponsive using one button to attack and one to defend. [...] There are some really imaginative spells at your disposal
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[...]
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Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices and you'll be making them very often. Some moral choices are easy such as stopping a brutish customer beating up prostitutes whereas others are much more complicated like with a snitch who has the choice of either being killed by the men he has shopped or being enrolled in the inquisition, neither of which sound appealing or viable for long term security.</blockquote>
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You have to <a href="http://www.gamerzines.com/downloads/magazines/PCGZine_34.pdf">download the PDF of the mag</a> at the bottom to read the rest apparently but I couldn't be assed. I'll just wait until someone else does a review and posts it online like normal.
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You can also watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/DeepSilverUK#play/user/68119035B2D4FCA6/3/D1z9kgoMCyM">videos of Risen on the YouTube channel</a>, including a "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1z9kgoMCyM">making of</a>" one.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[Ogg]

The manual is also available here.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices and you'll be making them very often.

Hrm.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices and you'll be making them very often.

Hrm.

That blew my mind as well.

 

[LittleJoe]

It's Gothic 2 in a Gothic 3 style engine.

What's not to like?

 

[JarlFrank]

Gonna torrent it, and the chance that I'll buy it afterwards is about 90%. If it lives up to the promise of being like the previous Gothic games, I'm sold. I even enjoyed G3 with the latest fan patch, so as long as the bugs aren't too crippling...

 

[phanboy_iv]

Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices and you'll be making them very often.

Hrm.

That blew my mind as well.

I'd assume the way that should be worded is something like "You'll be making choices very often, and Risen tries hard to dissuade you from making binary ones"

Anyway, it sounds promising so far.

 

[aleph]

I will definitely buy it. After the total fail that was gothic 3 it is about time piranha bytes brings out another real "gothic" game.

Btw, where is skyway saying that the game is shit?

 

[Twinkle]

RISEN
An island conspiracy with mages, muscle and balls

RPGs are known for their slow, methodical pace but even by gnere standards, Risen is the definition of a slow burner. As soon as you step foot on the isalnd on which you are marooned, there's little help or guidance showing you where to go and what to do. In fact, during the first 20 minutes of the game you make a decision which will shape the entire campaign experience.

Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices, and you'll have to think about some decisions very carefully. Some moral choices are easy, such as stopping a brutish customer beating up prostitutes, whereas others are much more complicated, like deciding if you should hand over a snitch to the Inquisition or the Outlaws - the Outlaws will end up killing him while the Inquisition will press-gang him into their ranks, which you may see as a fate worse than death anyway.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Risen is needlessly punishing but in reality it's just braver than your average RPG. A prime example of this would be the lack of instant travel and a complete lack of mini-map. The island of Faranga is a harsh, unforgiving place, with creatively designed beasts and a population torn apart by open war. Right from the start you can either choose to fight for the ruler of the Outaws, Don Esteban, or the evangelical leader of the Inquisitors, Mendoza. Due to both clans keeping their true motives concealed, both are constantly pouring honey into your ear about how their clan is better that their rivals. But you'll soon find that the lines between good and evil are often misconstrued.

The story is split into four different chapters and the gameplay easily sprawls into 60 hours-plus territory, and that's without exploring the island's many different temples and side quests. Sometimes the choices in front of you can be a little overwhelming, and when key quests end you're sometimes wondering what to do next.

At times, some of the characters look very similar, which is only intensified by the NPCs often being voiced by only a few different actors. It's only noticeable during the busier settlements in the game but it immediately breaks the immersion, and blights an otherwise believable story-driven experience. Characters are usually fully rounded and there are some memorable ones which will stick with you long after playing.

The inclusion of John Rhys-Davies as Esteban and Andy Serkis as Mendoza is a masterstroke and, as expected, they both completely steal the show. Combat is very mouse dependent - you use the left button to attack and the right button to defend. It's simple but becomes more complicated as you level up and learn how to parry and block. The usual fantasy arsenal is included, such as spears, swords, axes, bows and arrows and magic spells. You'll find that the spells are powerful and are helpful during quests as well as combat scenarios.

Each trainer has very specific skills which are appropriate for their role on the island. For example: treasure hunters can teach you how to dig, miners how to find iron ore and blacksmiths how to forge weapons. Everything you find can be used for a specific purpose. There is no weight in your character's inventory and the environment cries for your interaction with great harvesting potential. As you gain experience you'll earn learning points which can be spent on gaining new abilities like cooking and the ability to forge your own weapons.

There are some minor niggles, like incosistent visual performance and some ugly character models. The biggest issue we found was a lack of a first-person camera, as looking at your character's back soon grows tiresome. Also, the jumping animation is cringeworthy but you'll soon ignore these initially jarring impressions.
Risen won't convert any gamers who are put off by the role-playing game genre, but existing fans will lap it up. It's an easy recommendation to anyone who is looking for something to scrath that Oblivion itch and it's only a few niggles away from greatness.

PCGZine Vertict: a complling RPG expereince with some great ideas.
84%
+ Memorable characters
+ An intriguing and original story
- Takes a while to get going.

Sidebar text:
Sinful activity - What's clear from the very beggining is that there's a distinct lack of order in Faranga. Drugs, gambling and prostitutes are all available to you, just make sure you aren't noticed by the Inquisition.
It's a kinda magic - Even though some magic is underwhelming, there's plenty to experiment with. Being able to transform into diffferent creatures like the Nautilus and conjuring dancing ladies are particular highlights.
Take a stroll - A lack of quick travel during the earlier levels forces you to take sights of the island. The lighting system and constantly changing weather offers some amazing sights of the varied geography which bursts with personality.

 

[Paula Tormeson IV]

It's Gothic 2 in a Gothic 3 style engine.

No, it's not. Wrong. Ding, ding, two errors in a row.

 

[Murk]

Have recently played Gothic 3 in the last two weeks I'm pretty much sold that I'll enjoy Risen even if it fails in many calibers like Gothic 3 did.

I'm really curious about the combat however, I'll probably have to look through the videos later and try to find detailed explanations of combat.

Praying for no ridiculous wolf-stun-locks tho.

 

[Frau Bishop]

It's Gothic 2 in a Gothic 3 style engine.

No, it's not. Wrong. Ding, ding, two errors in a row.

Would like to understand, please elaborate.

 

[Paula Tormeson IV]

It's Gothic 2 in a Gothic 3 style engine.

No, it's not. Wrong. Ding, ding, two errors in a row.

Would like to understand, please elaborate.

Since you live in the Fatherland, I'm assuming you have played the game. So elaborate. Would understand.

 

[Secretninja]

It's Gothic 2 in a Gothic 3 style engine.

No, it's not. Wrong. Ding, ding, two errors in a row.

Would like to understand, please elaborate.

Since you live in the Fatherland, I'm assuming you have played the game. So elaborate. Would understand.

wut

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

It's Gothic 2 in a Gothic 3 style engine.

No, it's not. Wrong. Ding, ding, two errors in a row.

Would like to understand, please elaborate.

Since you live in the Fatherland, I'm assuming you have played the game. So elaborate. Would understand.

wut

Since he doesn't want to bother to justify his snarky comment, he responded with 'you play it and tell me what I mean'.

 

[Paula Tormeson IV]

Oh sorry, it hasn't been published yet? I guess I was ahead of my time again.

Well, I can only hope the gameplay is straight from Gothic 2 (except balanced the way it was in Night of the Raven). Until you've actually tried it, how would you know? One button for attack and another for defense sounds very suspicious to me. And the video I saw looked very suspicious. The combat in it was straight from Street Fighter Turbo or something. And I hope the engine isn't like Gothic 3.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices, and you'll have to think about some decisions very carefully. Some moral choices are easy, such as stopping a brutish customer beating up prostitutes, whereas others are much more complicated, like deciding if you should hand over a snitch to the Inquisition or the Outlaws - the Outlaws will end up killing him while the Inquisition will press-gang him into their ranks, which you may see as a fate worse than death anyway.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Risen is needlessly punishing but in reality it's just braver than your average RPG. A prime example of this would be the lack of instant travel and a complete lack of mini-map. The island of Faranga is a harsh, unforgiving place, with creatively designed beasts and a population torn apart by open war. Right from the start you can either choose to fight for the ruler of the Outaws, Don Esteban, or the evangelical leader of the Inquisitors, Mendoza. Due to both clans keeping their true motives concealed, both are constantly pouring honey into your ear about how their clan is better that their rivals. But you'll soon find that the lines between good and evil are often misconstrued.

Sounds great, I'll be picking this up the minute it's released.

 

[Krash]

Risen tries very hard to dissuade you from making binary choices, and you'll have to think about some decisions very carefully. Some moral choices are easy, such as stopping a brutish customer beating up prostitutes, whereas others are much more complicated, like deciding if you should hand over a snitch to the Inquisition or the Outlaws - the Outlaws will end up killing him while the Inquisition will press-gang him into their ranks, which you may see as a fate worse than death anyway.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Risen is needlessly punishing but in reality it's just braver than your average RPG. A prime example of this would be the lack of instant travel and a complete lack of mini-map. The island of Faranga is a harsh, unforgiving place, with creatively designed beasts and a population torn apart by open war. Right from the start you can either choose to fight for the ruler of the Outaws, Don Esteban, or the evangelical leader of the Inquisitors, Mendoza. Due to both clans keeping their true motives concealed, both are constantly pouring honey into your ear about how their clan is better that their rivals. But you'll soon find that the lines between good and evil are often misconstrued.

Sounds great, I'll be picking this up the minute it's released.

No you're not, you're going to stay chained to that desk programming Scars of War. ::whip::

 

[Hamster]

Risen is out in Russia, i already bought a copy. Not sure if i will start playing it right now though, i haven't finished Majesty 2 and i don't like abandoning games in the middle.

 

[Kraszu]

Risen is out in Russia, i already bought a copy. [...] and i don't like abandoning games in the middle.

Then better wait for some patches.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

bloomtastic :shock:
http://imageshost.ru/links/0d35a66e4e8e ... e84fdd42fa
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7397/72d8a.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6907/aa560.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1679/r ... 513173.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1826/r ... 514053.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2565 ... 522392.jpg
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4228/r ... 544135.jpg

 

[Darth Roxor]

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4228/risen2009092811544135.jpg

Oh my this makes Oblivion look old-gen

 

[Felix]

It's an easy recommendation to anyone who is looking for something to scrath that Oblivion itch and it's only a few niggles away from greatness.

I just noticed this.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4228/risen2009092811544135.jpg

What the hell? :shock:

 

[Emotional Vampire]

Bloom + shitty graphic settings = eyestab