Preview Risen 2: Dark Waters Previews

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Piranha Bytes; Risen 2: Dark Waters

<p>Piranha Bytes' upcoming action RPG <strong>Risen 2: Dark Waters</strong> is subject to a few more previews.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Joystiq mourn that the game is just<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/15/risen-2-dark-waters-preview-murky-depths/" target="_blank"> too inaccessible and hardcore</a>, how droll.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The one major change we got to see was that Pirahna Bytes has abandoned the sword-and-shield idea, and instead gone for a dual wield setup, letting you put a gun in one hand and a sword in the other. But even that isn't really necessary -- the whole point of a game like this is that you can do what you want, so if you want to just hack and slash or just shoot from a distance, that's viable as well.<br /><br />Which sounds good in theory, but in practice, Risen 2 seems to fall back down to the realities of game development. While the graphics look better, the gameplay still looks as frustrating and inaccessible as all of these other hardcore RPG titles, with various monsters assaulting you as soon as you step out into the world, and lots of complicated mechanics with not a lot of direction.<br /><br />I was told, for example, that you'd have your own ship, with faction companions on it that would open up new skills and abilities. But even just watching the gameplay showed me that there wasn't much explanation for that. And even things like combat came across as difficult and unclear, even without a controller in my hand.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>GamesRadar found that <a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/risen-2-dark-waters/preview/e3-2011-risen-2-dark-waters-die-hard-meets-an-open-world-pirate-rpg-seriously/a-20110615132746710086/g-2011060894957669071" target="_blank">what they saw</a> definitely showed promise and significant improvements over its predecessor.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The first Risen was a solid game, but was understandably criticized for its dated graphics and occasionally stupid allies (and enemies). Deep Silver has taken note of these problems and is taking a stab at fixing them. Graphically, the environment looks more photorealistic and the characters have also had a makeover. It&rsquo;s not quite Skyrim just yet, but it&rsquo;s a huge improvement over the first title.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Your shield hand from Risen now holds throwing knives, a variety of guns, or bombs. You can also throw sand in the eyes of some types of enemies to distract or enrage them. This brings us to the variety of enemies, all of whom have different weaknesses. We saw a group of giant crabs and found the best way to kill the top-heavy beasts was to kick them on their backs and stab their soft underbellies. Unfortunately, the enemies&rsquo; behaviors are all being done by hand and most haven&rsquo;t been implemented yet, so the various baddies we saw mostly ran around aimlessly. But the final product should feature a deep menagerie of smarter targets, which should make combat much more satisfying.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>RPGamer <a href="http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2011/061411c.html" target="_blank">seem impressed</a> with the game&rsquo;s sense of freedom, its scope, and its handcrafted natur.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Each crew member has a role on the ship and each fits into various character archetypes when they join you on away missions. For example, you can recruit a melee fighter who doubles as the ship&rsquo;s cook, or you can recruit Betty, the navigator, who you talk to move from port to port. You can also take a crew member with you on shore leave to help you in combat. One of the great things about your companions is that you don&rsquo;t have to manage or babysit them in any way. You don&rsquo;t have to level them up or give them items to heal them. The intention was to have them help you rather than be a burden. You are not stuck with a companion when you land on an island. At any time, you can fast travel back to your ship and switch your companion with another crew member. For example, when you are in a wide open area, you may want to take your favorite musket-wielding crew member to pick off enemies in the distance, but when it&rsquo;s time to venture into a more confined dungeon, you&rsquo;ll want to take your melee-focused swashbuckler to better deal with close quarters combat. You can also opt to bring along a healer to support you from the sidelines. A lot of the fun and strategy in the game will revolve around recruiting crew members and deciding who to bring with you in any given situation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/103499-risen-2-dark-waters-previews.html">Gamebanshee</a></p>

 

[Crooked Bee]

While the graphics look better, the gameplay still looks as frustrating and inaccessible as all of these other hardcore RPG titles, with various monsters assaulting you as soon as you step out into the world, and lots of complicated mechanics with not a lot of direction.

 

[Phelot]

Which sounds good in theory, but in practice, Risen 2 seems to fall back down to the realities of game development. While the graphics look better, the gameplay still looks as frustrating and inaccessible as all of these other hardcore RPG titles, with various monsters assaulting you as soon as you step out into the world, and lots of complicated mechanics with not a lot of direction.

Phew! This is a relief. I was afraid it was going to be easy. Granted, Risen 1 had some major balancing issues, but at least at the beginning it was relatively challenging.

I was told, for example, that you'd have your own ship, with faction companions on it that would open up new skills and abilities. But even just watching the gameplay showed me that there wasn't much explanation for that.

I WANTZ MAH SHIP! I hope this guy is just a moron. I don't care about companions, in fact, I'd prefer not having them, but having a customizable ship would be great.

The first Risen was a solid game, but was understandably criticized for its dated graphics and occasionally stupid allies (and enemies).

I never got the hate for the graphics of this game. I believe it came out with DA:O and yet that game had awful graphics which were praised.

I also don't get what they mean by stupid enemies. They were fairly difficult, especially the humans. At least early on.

You are not stuck with a companion when you land on an island.

AWESOME!!!11

 

[Multidirectional]

Joystiq previewer is surely butthurt:

There are those players, of course, for whom inaccessibility and difficult mechanics are actually selling points for a game, and those people will probably enjoy Risen 2 for both those things and for its undoubtedly complex story and dozens of hours of gameplay.

To those people, I begrudge nothing at all. Go forth, I say; enjoy your clumsy mechanics, and put up with your awkward user interfaces

 

[Krraloth]

I am thrilled, looks like a solid , also companions that you don't have to babysit? cool.

Actual AI implementation? who knows, but I eagerly await to find out.

 

[Phelot]

The graphics look God awful bright, though. No wonder they all think the graphics are improved.

 

[Jaesun]

Jebus, Joystiq are fucking morans.

 

[Micmu]

the gameplay still looks as frustrating and inaccessible as all of these other hardcore RPG titles, with various monsters assaulting you as soon as you step out into the world, and lots of complicated mechanics with not a lot of direction.

SOMEONE MURDER THIS PIECE OF SHIT

So why don't he stop playing games then?

 

[Darth Roxor]

The first Risen was a solid game, but was understandably criticized for its dated graphics

Jesus K Reist, what?

At any time, you can fast travel back to your ship and switch your companion with another crew member.

Fast travel, huh. I hope that's just a teleportation rune and that you don't get it right friggin away.

 

[circ]

The graphics look God awful bright, though. No wonder they all think the graphics are improved.

Risen 1 did really look like crap, though in its defense, it was far more detailed than anything released around the same time and the dungeons actually required you to use a torch to see shit. Also, bloom overload comes to mind when thinking back on Risen 1.

Also, more muskets and pistols? I hope this trend continues.

 

[Morkar Left]

At any time, you can fast travel back to your ship ...

Another one bites the dust...

 

[Multidirectional]

At any time, you can fast travel back to your ship ...

Another one bites the dust...

That's it, this game is ruined. Nothing can salvage it now. All we can do is play Risen 1 that never allows you to teleport anywhere.
This is like a polar opposite of attitude in Joystiq preview which is nonetheless every bit as retarded.

 

[Excidium]

Joystiq preview just raised my Risen 2 anticipation by another boucing fapping monster.

 

[Angthoron]

The first Risen was a solid game, but was understandably criticized for its dated graphics

Jesus K Reist, what?

Yeah, what the hell. For the time of its release Risen looked gorgeous and insanely detailed. Hell, it still is gorgeous and insanely detailed. What did the guy play it on, on a lightbulb stuffed into his anus? Gee.

 

[Azrael the cat]

While the graphics look better, the gameplay still looks as frustrating and inaccessible as all of these other hardcore RPG titles, with various monsters assaulting you as soon as you step out into the world, and lots of complicated mechanics with not a lot of direction.

I still find it astounding the extent to which crpg developers, and of course professional game churnalists, just cannot bring themselves to believe that some gamers want more intricate crpgs with less hand-holding.

The best recent example is Dragon Age - now I didn't enjoy even the first game (as my bitching to VD indicated) - but it's still an interesting example: Bioware reverts to a 4-person party with semi-isometric tactical view, and a degree of tactical fights and detail that we haven't seen from them since BG2 (it isn't even close to BG2, but compare it to ME or KoTOR and you get my point). They seem ultra-worried about the game's viability, and try to sneak it through as an all-out action title, with an embarassingly dumb-action 'the new shit Marilyn Manson trailer and a marketing campaign that seemed to go out of their way to try to make it sound as untraditional as possible. The campaign seemed more like damage mitigation than confidence in their product. And the game was a megahit - one of their biggest, if not their biggest.

And yet they just couldn't believe that the fans who became creepily obsessive, all those user reviews and community around the game had any relation to it being more of a crpg than anything they'd released lately. It seems like they were convinced it must have been because of their writing, or some mysterious fluke. So what do they do in the sequel? Remove everything that made the first game different to their recent action-game-with-token-rpg-elements (in before Volourn), promote the writing (that MUST be why folks liked Dragon Age: Origins - right? right?), and turn the rest of it into yet another 'cinematic action game'.

And then when folks complained, it couldn't be because there were people who actually liked crpgs. No, it must have been 4chan conspiring against them. Almost every response from the developers seemed to deny that any significant market segment might have been turned off by the stripping back of crpg elements - complaints of that nature were ignored or outright mocked, whereas the most inane complaints about things being too complex seemed to get taken seriously. It's almost like no amount of evidence could convince them of the existence of a significant crpg market, and that any such evidence had to be interpreted away, no matter how bizarre the chosen explanation.

Risen, and now its sequel, seem to provoke the same responses from game journalists. The fact that 'hardcoreness'- a genre/segment issue, rather than a quality issue, is taken to be a criticism again shows that the assumption that no-one 'really' likes genuine crpgs is so deeply embedded that it is an ongoing unstated operating assumption, that cannot be questioned because it is part of the bedrock beliefs upon which gaming opinions/reviews must be based. It's as silly as criticising a driving game for being a driving game, but it is taken as objective fact, and barely questioned. Then when enough people went and bought Risen to warrant a sequel (which I suspect will also sell decently) - just like people bought Gothic 1 and 2, despite the criticisms of (non-continental European) game journalists (I should make a note of excepting the occasional genuine journalist from reputable newspapers, especially the New York Times and the Guardian, who soar above the dedicated gaming mags on the rare occasions that they actually review a computer game). And don't the journalists seem resentful of that fact - again, it's like it CAN'T be that there's a market for crpgs, it must be ignorant gamers who don't know what they're buying.

 

[Orgasmic ThoughtCrime]

The first Risen was a solid game, but was understandably criticized for its dated graphics and occasionally stupid allies (and enemies).

I never got the hate for the graphics of this game. I believe it came out with DA:O and yet that game had awful graphics which were praised.

If I remember correctly, the graphics in the first Risen were shit only for the console version.

Because it was such a big island with streaming environments and textures, the devs had to severely cut texture size in order to make it run smoothly on the shitbox.

The final product ended up looking like complete crap, and also suffered from heavy frame rate drops in certain areas. It was quite a bad port from PC.

The PC version on the other hand, had crisp environment textures and Direct X 10 integration, and looked gorgeous (apart for the fugly character models).

I remember seeing the most beautiful sunrise on a plateau high up in the Eastern mountains, with the DirectX 10-powered light shafts passing through the foliage gently soothing my character's face while the muffled thuds of the Thunder lizards echoed nearby... Damn, the game had great atmosphere...

 

[Cassidy]

The one major change we got to see was that Pirahna Bytes has abandoned the sword-and-shield idea, and instead gone for a dual wield setup, letting you put a gun in one hand and a sword in the other.

 

[circ]

I still find it astounding the extent to which crpg developers, and of course professional game churnalists, just cannot bring themselves to believe that some gamers want more intricate crpgs with less hand-holding.

The best recent example is Dragon Age - now I didn't enjoy even the first game (as my bitching to VD indicated) - but it's still an interesting example: Bioware reverts to a 4-person party with semi-isometric tactical view, and a degree of tactical fights and detail that we haven't seen from them since BG2 (it isn't even close to BG2, but compare it to ME or KoTOR and you get my point). They seem ultra-worried about the game's viability, and try to sneak it through as an all-out action title, with an embarassingly dumb-action 'the new shit Marilyn Manson trailer and a marketing campaign that seemed to go out of their way to try to make it sound as untraditional as possible. The campaign seemed more like damage mitigation than confidence in their product. And the game was a megahit - one of their biggest, if not their biggest.

I really wouldn't put DA's 'success' down to perceived RPG elements, because frankly, it really didn't have any. It sold well because of its romances and seemingly having depth in the characters. Source? Just look at the most active topics on bioboards. Then there's DA 2, seemingly more of the same, but now with an easier interface and more action-y combat. But even most romance buffs hate it. Why? The female is too slutty now. They want sultry emo vixen and cutesy emo girlie with sad past, not a hippie whore who sleeps around with anything and has no connections that you still manage to tie down because you're just that fucking special. Now I don't visit bioboards on a regular basis, or even irregular basis, but I bet most of the praise concerns the naive emo elf girlie.

DAOOO has nothing in common with RPG's, NOOOTHING. It has more in common with Diablo and Leisuire Suit Larry.

 

[Spectacle]

DAOOO has nothing in common with RPG's, NOOOTHING. It has more in common with Diablo and Leisuire Suit Larry.

That's just plain wrong, unless your definition of "RPG" is incredibly narrow to the point where only Fallout and Planescape count. DAO is clearly an RPG, it's just nowhere near being a good one.

 

[Orgasmic ThoughtCrime]

The one major change we got to see was that Pirahna Bytes has abandoned the sword-and-shield idea, and instead gone for a dual wield setup, letting you put a gun in one hand and a sword in the other.

-snip-

This gets me giddy as well, for there are too few games out there that deal with renaissance-era civilian-style dueling.

I look forward to seeing a greater emphasis on the main gauche - or any other type of off-hand weapon (be it small bucklers or firearms), in a true swashbuckling manner. Maybe even some exotics such as swordbreakers or trident daggers for some fancy disarming techniques.

 

[4m3rica]

Ugh.. I never thought Risen would get a sequel. It's probably the most unintuitive presentation in a game this gen. The map is unnecessarily complex, inventory is messy, lock-on system unresponsive. It's not overall bad, the RPG element is there, but it's not good either.

I'll give it a shot, but you know what else is on early 2012, ME3 and FF XIII-2... They will most likely to push it almost one year from now.

Guys, we don't need Risen 2, which will be horribly unintuitive, when he have RPG classics such as Mass Eff3ct and FF Xwtf.

 

[Gosling]

After a few Gothic sequels, the company introduced a new Pirate-themed RPG a few years ago called Risen

The joystiq journalist sure knows his stuff alright.

 

[made]

There's an interesting trend lately of hardcore PC RPGs coming out of Europe, of which The Witcher 2 is only the latest and greatest so far.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Ctrl-f buttsex
nothing
Ctrl-f romance
nothing

I'm sorry but how can this be an RPG? I don't see how you can compare this game to masterpieces such as Bioware's DA2 or upcoming ME3.

Also Jotstiq guy needs to make the world a better place and choke on a doughnut or something.

For example, there are always different options to solve a quest. In one scenario, you can persuade a bouncer blocking a door to leave or you can simply beat down the guy to move past him. Things get interesting if that guy is a mentor in the world and could potentially teach you a new skill. If you beat him up and he hates you, then he may not want to train you. Similarly, if you start doing quests for shady people, you will start learning rogue-like skills from them. Rather than clicking on an icon in a menu when you level up, the choices you make in the game have a direct impact on how you grow as a character.

If this is true and quest decisions are able to routinely fix your character path (rather than simply forcing you to go to the next town to skill up), then its some major in

There are no cookie cutter dungeons or towns, no random chest filling, and no dungeons are recycled.

After Risen, I'll believe the part about not recycling dungeons when I see it.

 

[Shannow]

Joystiq? Moar like "Controlla", am I right?

And as was mentioned, Risen's console version looked like crap. Considering these are professional gaming journalists, they probably cannot even install a game on the PC. Can't expect them to judge anything but a console version.