The Risen 2 Thread

[Phelot]

Can companions die? Or do they get "unconscious."

EDIT: Also, can you play the game without any companions or are some encounters simply too hard? I hate having companions in an aRPG.

The latter, and yes you can mostly play w/out companions. There's a few occasions where they are forced on you, but you can get rid of them fairly quickly if you're so inclined.

Some encounters towards the end will probably be extremely tough, but I can't think of any that would be impossible. A little more doable if you use voodoo.

Thanks. Do they add anything to quests and stories? That is to say, will they comment on what you're doing in the game world, or do they just follow you around?

 

[Aeschylus]

Thanks. Do they add anything to quests and stories? That is to say, will they comment on what you're doing in the game world, or do they just follow you around?

Yes, they do. Some more in certain locations than others. They'll occasionally drop hints or suggestions, or help you navigate when you're lacking a map.

 

[Phelot]

My aspie need for separate item groups is betrayed in this game! how dare they combine chicken legs, apples, and wine into this nefarious "provisions" group?!

 

[skyst]

My aspie need for separate item groups is betrayed in this game! how dare they combine chicken legs, apples, and wine into this nefarious "provisions" group?!

Chicken Legs acquired from killing turkeys.

 

[Phelot]

I also need to point out that the graphics look pretty awful compared to the first game. I mean, the character models seem to be a step up, but everything else seems pretty nasty. I can't seem to get the brightness at a proper level, it is either awkwardly dark or too bright.

I was actually pretty darn impressed with the first game's graphics despite the big name reviews denouncing it for whatever reason.

Also, I like the VO's. Just like R1. Just fun, simple, but witty lines. Nothing pretentious so far.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I also need to point out that the graphics look pretty awful compared to the first game. I mean, the character models seem to be a step up, but everything else seems pretty nasty. I can't seem to get the brightness at a proper level, it is either awkwardly dark or too bright.

Yeah, I'm having the same, especially the brightness part annoys me.

 

[made]

Plenty of things to complain about in this game, but gfx wasn't one of them imo. Flickering shadows and warping plants can be fixed with ini tweaks (though I quite enjoyed the latter). Daylight too bright? Try turning off HDR.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Flickering shadows and warping plants can be fixed with ini tweaks (though I quite enjoyed the latter).

Oh? Do tell 'cause that's relevant to my interests

Daylight too bright? Try turning off HDR.

Couldn't find the option in options :/

 

[made]

Shadows:
http://forum.deepsilver.com/forum/s...he-config-files-only-for-adventurous-experts-!

Plants:
http://forum.worldofplayers.de/foru...2-AntiWarp?p=18929976&viewfull=1#post18929976

HDR:
Dunno, pretty sure I saw it somewhere (might be I mixed it up with Gothic 3 tho, don't nail me on that one)

 

[ManjuShri]

Official Codex mascot Angry Joe on Risen 2.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/aj/ajsreview/35199-angry-reviews-risen-2

 

[chewie]

Jip, good summary so far, although I don´t agree the lacking of see battles is a valid / major point. IMO it was out of the question that PB creates a genre hybrid. The points they were experimenting with (simplifying, pirate setting, new gameplay elements ("Dirty tricks")) didn´t go so well and drained too much dev time from the core game - which bites them back now. If those experiments had worked out and added the missing depth, it would have been quite a good game. The combat system isn´t totally broken, but is missing additional elements and weapon types as well as proper balance. Firearms are too powerful, swords are too weak, item design is non-existant (many swords, but without requirements you end up picking the best weapon per island which ATM forces you to switch your sword 3-4 times (first sword, pirate saber, corsair saber, windbreaker)), crafting is pointless, at least you don´t have to skill it and just "pick it up" by developing your main combat skill.

Just checked Risen combat once more, and it really is a shame & waste they didn´t build upon that one - at least for pc vs creature fights.

Overall they dropped way too much to call that game Risen 2 IMO. Completely new magic system, completely new weapon system, no bows, no heavy melee weapons, no staffs, no shields... Sure, most of it can be "explained" by the technical development (firearms) the game world went through, but from gameplay pov it is missing. Maybe if they put more focus on human vs human combats according to the new setting, they would have gained more from that. Right now you fight 80 % monsters and only a small amount of human opponents. Those fights are fun (at least in melee - with firearms it´s a joke - they should at least be banned from duells with trainers :D) especially if one uses all the additional tactics aka dirty tricks, parade and counter attacks. A pure pirate game without the Risen story would be awesome - think Pirates of the caribbean with battles during ship boardings, tavern fights, more city environments (Khorinis scale!) ... a well.. was already said a dozens of times - wasted potential. Picking up the pirate story after Gothic 2 would have been much better.

 

[Stauff]

Just a couple of questions to hivemind, I can't find answers to them myself no matter how..

1. Why chest operations, campfire, etc are now on separate out of context screen? For ages we've been toying with chests right in the game world and now, ahem what the fuck? (Risen 2 typical talk)
2. I can not find rear camera - it was in all PB games and was really helpful when being chased by a mob of angry monsters. Is it in there?
3. Why the hell everything is so ridiculously overpriced? I mean, it's stupid to ask 1000 gold pieces for lockping! It's just too much - what's the deal with inflation
4. Can't kill people, loot them = according to hivemind this musty be DS stupid morons will
5. Why the fuck I can't drink from barrel! Every motherfucker in this fucking risen 2 world can and I fucking can not!!

That's just a start.. Also what's your prognosis on mods fixing Risen 2 - I generally don't use mods but chances of PB fixing things up here are close to zero and I really want to see companion exploits removed and "true death+loot" for NPC restored.

P.S. You're not gonna fucking believe this! According to sources close to DS looks like Risen 2 is selling well and even more DS+PB are celebrating game release as a complete and overall success.. WTF? I mean really?? How on earth this can be?

 

[chewie]

That's just a start.. Also what's your prognosis on mods fixing Risen 2 - I generally don't use mods but chances of PB fixing things up here are close to zero and I really want to see companion exploits removed and "true death+loot" for NPC restored.

There are some very talented people (see tree fixes) who are digging through the data formats right now - but if Risen is an indication, modding will be about changing textures and game entity properties (items, monsters, etc). Everything else can´t be modified due to lacking tools (DS already said that there will be no official tools). So no dialogues, no new islands etc. Honestly, I´m not sure if many people will join modding anyway. Right now I got the impression that the file format digging is fun for guys like NicoDE, Baltram and all the others - but creating mods out of that is a different story. They are just playing with the game their way :p

P.S. You're not gonna fucking believe this! According to sources close to DS looks like Risen 2 is selling well and even more DS+PB are celebrating game release as a complete and overall success.. WTF? I mean really?? How on earth this can be?

That is indeed a strange info - first they would communicate that (there is a lot of talk around that topic on WOR, and so far no one from either DS or PB showed up in these threads and said "Don´t you worry, Risen 2 is selling well") and second: from what I´ve read so far from various sources, the overall mood isn´t that good (gamer pov).

My only explanation would be that they know Risen 2 is a low budget game and thus expect 50k sales as a success. (no hard figures, but I doubt that they are much higher right now - as said, extremely good sales would have been communicated somewhere)

 

[Phelot]

Plenty of things to complain about in this game, but gfx wasn't one of them imo. Flickering shadows and warping plants can be fixed with ini tweaks (though I quite enjoyed the latter). Daylight too bright? Try turning off HDR.

Yeah, I was only able to play for about an hour and didn't mess with the INI. I didn't see many options in the in-game video settings.

 

[Stauff]

Here is the translated blurb from Russian world of risen site.. Last weekend in Germany there was an event called "Role Play Convention 2012: Dark Waters". The main topic being Risen 2. On it many people could test the game and during prolonged time chat with PB devs either on stage or close and personal. Not much devs were there however - Matias, Jenny, Garry and new cool girl (with nice boobs) - Claudia.

http://www.rpc-germany.de/

Additional comments expressed the idea that this event was full of mutual love and celebration.. It's like I kinda depict such an event with raging fans, shouts, screams and poor PB mixed with shit.. And here we have a whole event - a convention and peace, flowers, trucks of gold - heading DS way.. Anyone from Germany can provide more info?

 

[bonescraper]

1. Why chest operations, campfire, etc are now on separate out of context screen? For ages we've been toying with chests right in the game world and now, ahem what the fuck? (Risen 2 typical talk)

Because the inventory menu has its own separate screen.

2. I can not find rear camera - it was in all PB games and was really helpful when being chased by a mob of angry monsters. Is it in there?

There is no "rear camera".

3. Why the hell everything is so ridiculously overpriced? I mean, it's stupid to ask 1000 gold pieces for lockping! It's just too much - what's the deal with inflation

The lockpick is indestructible.

4. Can't kill people, loot them = according to hivemind this musty be DS stupid morons will

Wat?

5. Why the fuck I can't drink from barrel! Every motherfucker in this fucking risen 2 world can and I fucking can not!!

Because the game is piss easy, and there's an abundance of health regenerating food.

 

[chewie]

-> First Patch is available

* creature attacks can now be blocked exactly the same way it works with human opponents
* dodge roll is now available

(...and some other stuff, see ChangeLog)

 

[made]

At last it's a proper rollplaying game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

From no defence whatsoever to both blocking and dodging monsters

mittelgrunt, was ist das

 

[Aeschylus]

Huh. o_O

Looks like they took a broken system and flipped it back around again. Well, depends how dramatic the dodge is. Being able to strafe properly would be nice. I'll probably give it a second playthrough eventually. Hopefully it's made the combat less blatantly awful. More variety in melee attacks beyond clickclickclick would be nice.

 

[Stauff]

Posting Changelog, quite a lot and it imho deserves to be here..

Features
- Players can now block most attacks by monsters
- Player has a "dodge" move in the fight - double press the arrow keys while holding the right mouse button / goose-mode Y + stick right / left / back to controller

Balance / Tweaks
- Are created only a maximum of ten autosaves
- Improvement in the attack behavior of the monster AI
- Improvement in attack behavior when characters were attacked from behind
- Improvement in the representation of vegetation
- Improving the visibility of objects
- Improving the representation of the terrain

- Guns sabotage in Puerto Isabella is now much simpler
- Dealer of the Sword Coast now sells rum
- Exploit removed while shooting mini-game
- Increases hit points of Mara
- Steelbeard's Hat can no longer be sold

Bug fixes
- Trees flicker in the distance is no longer on NVidia cards
- Solve problems with video cards in SLI
- Fixed crash when using a 7.1 sound system
- Fixed rare crashes occurring when climbing
- Fixed bug with "return to the ship" option
- Fixed an error when it rains indoors
- Crew members can no longer be killed by monsters
- Players will now receive the item-Fools juice after brewing
- Fixed an error in the learning of specific skills
- Various exploits removed

 

[Vicissitudes]

The patch that changes core of the combat? That's bold. Incline?

 

[Elwro]

Incline? Moar like "OK, the console versions will get the real game, shame we had to release a botched version for the PCs".

(I still like it though, the PB touch shines through...)

 

[Gord]

Moar like "OK, the console versions will get the real game, shame we had to release a botched version for the PCs".

Come on, now you're really getting silly...

 

[Elwro]

I find it hard to believe that something so stupid as removing dodge (and any sort of blocking option against animals) was a design decision. For me the natural explanation is that it wasn't tested properly and they didn't want to push the release date closer to Diablo III, so the game was released without it...