Risen

[PorkyThePaladin]

Couldn't find any recent threads on the first Risen, so starting a new one. Started playing it today, and I am enjoying it a LOT so far. I think I now understand why people still hold out a faint hope for ELEX and Piranha Bytes.

Typical RPG start:

NPC1: Oh, chosen one, we have been waiting for you to come and save us!
NPC2: Great hero! Heed our call to arms and rescue our village!
NPC3: Thy skill at arms is unparalleled, let me shine thine booty with mine very lips!

Risen start:

NPC1 (in bandit camp): Fuck off!
NPC2 (in bandit camp): Piss off you nosy fucker!
NPC3 (in bandit camp): Your pretty face belongs in a brothel! Come, let me show you some ruins with gold we can split. (after getting you alone in the night) I want you gone permanent! (draws sword)

I am loving this stuff, just like the first 2 Gothic games, the world feels so real and grown-up. And then you start fighting, and you suddenly have to time your parries in a very exact manner, and you think back to all the shit action combat systems you've endured since Gothics 1/2 (like the Witcher or Oblivion/Skyrim/Morrowind) and you wonder, why can't people just copy this simple as fuck system from Gothic/Risen. Parry, counter-attack, parry, counter-attack, simple in its brilliance, but so challenging nevertheless and so much fun, evocative of sword-fighting scenes in classic movies, I can't believe more games aren't using it.

The whole island theme is pretty cool too. I haven't played enough to see what they do it with it, but working your way from the ship-wreck with the well-endowed woman is a great way to start it off, and I already found so many sidepaths and hidden away side-tunnels and caves. I can't believe this company struggles so much while Bethesda prospers. Life is something else.

 

[Darth Roxor]

dont forget to check the sequels

 

[Kahr]

Wait till you see the second half.

 

[animlboogy]

Please bump this thread when you get to Risen 2.

 

[Dux]

I really need to finish that game some day. I remember completing most of the side-quests on the island and getting reasonably far with the main quest. Then it all fizzled out unfortunately. Too bad. Next time I'll just concentrate on what actually needs to be done and worry about the distractions later. I want to finish it goddamnit.

 

[taxalot]

I got the entire series untouched and chose to play Arcania instead. Even the DLC.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Spoke a bit too early. After I posted last, I found out there is a bit of an issue/exploit with the combat system. Apparently, if you just hit attack really fast over and over, you can take down most enemies like that, as they can only parry/dodge some blows and not all of them, and the fast speed doesn't give them a chance to attack. That's so stupid, can't believe PB allowed that in. I don't recall this in Gothic 1/2 (maybe just memory letting me down, but I think in those games if you tried button mashing, you'd get your ass handed to you by humanoids). I am just going to pretend this doesn't exist and just use parry/counter-attack mechanism, but this is a bit of a bummer.

 

[Metro]

Only a few tryhards here bash the first Risen. It's a solid game. Yes it does get tedious towards the end but so do all PB games including the first two Gothics. That said, the second one is abysmal. The third tries to make a recovery but still doesn't come anywhere close to the first game.

I have no hope for ELEX because they've inexplicably regressed with the latter two Risens and I don't see them correcting those issues for another franchise.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

That's pretty much the first thing I did, up the difficulty from normal to hard, but same result unfortunately. Maybe it's different for tougher NPCs, but in bandit camp, I can definitely speed attack Lorenzo and some other named dude to defeat. There is a sort of combo system in play, where if you attack immediately after a swing, the 2nd swing will be faster than usual, and same for third. So by using that, you can spam until victory. Such a shame too, as the other parts of the system, the parrying and dodging are great, so I have no idea what they were thinking coding this mechanism that allows the player to bypass the real combat system. But if there's anything RPGs teach us, it's that developers can make the oddest decisions sometimes.

 

[Orobis]

Have fun killing lizardmen.

 

[Beastro]

the world feels so real and grown-up.

Wut?

A big part of the charm is how silly the premise is and how everything acts right down to the exaggerated emoting.

 

[AetherVagrant]

Dont listen to these fools , Risen2 is/was GOTY material. Its like Saturday Night Live does RPGs. The most fun you can have with a monkey will still keeping both eyes.

 

[Orobis]

Dont listen to these fools , Risen2 is/was GOTY material. Its like Saturday Night Live does RPGs. The most fun you can have with a monkey will still keeping both eyes.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Risen 2 was very fun for me. I finished the game at 60 hours and totally wanted more. However, Risen 1 is my favorite in the series.

The way Risen 1 and Gothic 1 & 2 are crafted is a way I like to call very "organic" and natural. They are plausible worlds that make sense, have a strong sense of progression, meaty dialogue systems, excellent hand-crafted and hand-placed everything and a large, interconnected world with danger around every corner to explore.

Risen was actually my first foray into the smaller budgeted RPG world, back when I was mostly a console gamer, and I was completely shocked by what I was experiencing. The way the dialogue system interconnects in a totally fluid, natural way. The absolute "no dumbing down" approach. Even how the map system worked where you actually look at a real map and have to either buy the missing parts or find them. Truly innovative and again, very organic and totally different than what I was used to with more mainstream RPGs.

Piranha Bytes delivers excellent RPGs and I have no doubt ELEX is going to be special. Although if you like Risen 1 and haven't played the Gothic games, I highly suggest you go back and check them out as well. Pure RPG class.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Ok, played some more and I think the combat system is OK. I think Lorenzo and the other guy I fought were just not very good, because what happens is once you get skill level 2 in sword fighting, you get counter parries, which not only parry the blow if timed correctly, but turn your blade aside for a bit and leave your helpless. Apparently the NPCs I fought in the beginning didn't have that, but the tougher ones do, so you can't just spam fast attacks against them, as that will leave you helpless every once in a while, and taking heavy damage. Now, spamming IS still way more effective than it should be, because even tougher opponents will let some of the spamming attacks in and take some damage, but at least it's not completely unchecked.

Yeah, I am totally enjoying this game so far in the ol' Gothic way (1 and 2 only obviously). Like the guy above said, the world design is just beautiful. It is so awesome to play a relatively modern game where you aren't put through a 2 hour tutorial on every little thing and are just let loose in a cool setting. And there is just something about the good Piranha Bytes games that makes their worlds special. It's not that they have amazing writing or amazing dialogue or amazing something else, but they just feel like real places. NPCs talk more like real people than in most other RPGs, not deep philosophical diatribes or flowery fantasy drivel, or overlong cutscenes that make you want to slash your wrists, but simple and yet intelligent dialogue that gets the point across and comes off authentic. And right away there are all these factions, groups, subgroups, faction conflicts, and distinct personalities that it could well be your workplace rather than a fantasy world.

 

[Junmarko]

Only a few tryhards here bash the first Risen.

I tried hard to like Risen. But Risen didn't try hard enough.

 

[Sheepherder]

When fighting vs. NPCs use charged power attacks from a distance. AI is too dumb to account for the extended range of power attacks and doesn't block incoming blows. You can do the whole bandit camp arena without leveling a single time, with just a woodcutters axe and an Axe ring, both of witch can be found right there. Trivializes absolutely all combat vs human and skeleton enemies. Swords get power attacks at level 6 (or 8) too.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

... if you can't exercise a little self-control you mean, or are you one of those that when discovering an exploit is powerless to its allure?

 

[Sheepherder]

Nah, Risen NPCs are piss easy anyway due to extremelly poor AI, so it's a time consuming tedium to fight them. As are skeletons and bogmen. Lizardmen not so much.
Fighting mobs is where it's at.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Haven't played Risen since launch, might try a new run soon. I'll probably go Magic user or something.

 

[Sheepherder]

Pick fire crystal magic and don't lvl your mana past 200 (rings and amulets included). There's a bug that affects magic, bows and xbows: you won't get any cast speed increase until lvl 10 of that skill.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I purchased Risen on 7/7/2011.

I have zero hours played.

 

[adddeed]

Finally someone with reason. As ive sid before Risen series are very underrated games. Risen 1 has the best aRPG combat, period. Risen 2 and 3 do not deserve the the they get, at all. Overall, Risen series > Gothic series.

 

[Kahr]

How often is your tag mentioned per post you make? It has to be a rather high ratio.

 

[adddeed]

Thanks for listing the reasons why Risen 1 is not the best. Oh wait you're just another dumbfuck.