I actually like the combat system, I find it very realistic, and I must say that Risen is one of the most realistic feeling games I've ever played, save for the fact that it's not in 1st person.

One of the things that adds realism to combat, for instance, is the fact that enemies jump away, but what I really like in Risen, is how effective your blocking is... - even right from the beginning!

I do find the Risen interface clunky though - even worse than any of the Gothics ever were. Bah!

Sadly I had to finish a project for work this weekend, so I didn't get any time to play, but I'm taking tomorrrow off, so I'll hopefully be making up then!

2 questions can the main character be a female ?

Do we get to put on our own armor with a image with the character like in Sacred 2?

Thanks in advance whoever answers the questions. Checking out the reviews now.

Hi Sherryah,

I did not see a choice in the beginning that allowed a gender selection. As for the armor, your character equips what ever is in the inventory similar to other RPG's. Is that what you are asking?


I do like the 3D element of the game. Regarding combat though, blocking is effective, but I can't tell if it (combat) is real time or turn based. From the foe's perspective it seems real time, but from the character's there are aspects that seem turn based. The limitation that I came across immediately was that a melee weapon attack is perceived as a forward advance. You can't back pedal or move to the side while attacking, unless that's a skill learned later. There also seems to be a lag when attempting to dodge instead of attack, which gives the advantage to the foe.

My game is on its way to me but I am curious as to how it looks. I read one review that said it looked muddy compared to the Gothic games. I hope not since I loved the color in the original games. The screenshots that I saw looked dark.

Once I got used to combat in Gothic 2, I liked it quite a lot. There is a rhythm to blocking and striking.

The demo played good so the game I bought should. Wrong game sorry. Richard

Thanks Trail -mystic that was what I was asking. Bummer about not being able to choose a female character. I was hoping for another sacred 2 clone but it doesn't sound like it has much in common with sacred 1 or Sacred 2.

In the previous Gothic games as well as in Risen you always play as a man (for some reason?). Piranha Bytes, the developers of this game have promised that Risen will have more female npcs that Gothic 3 had (not that difficult since Gothic 3 had none, I think?).

If you're looking for a Sacred 1 or 2 clone, this is definetely not it. Sorry to be so harsh, but Risen gameplay will play similar to the Gothic games. And yes, there is a rhytm to parry, block and attack which you'll have to learn. If you're interested in this game, then you should try the demo. It really is a great introduction to the game world as well as the combat system.

The art direction in this game is really great (as least the part I played; the demo). And yes, from a certain perspective this game looks dark, but you can always turn up the gamma correction to a more brightness scale or turn the brightness up on your monitor.

On the other hand, the game is supposed to look dark, sinister and grim, since afterall there are clouds and storms and gails brewing all over the islands.




There are story reasons behind this, which you will find out during the game.

Edit:

Even if it hasn't much in common with Sacred 1 or Sacred 2, the game is still worth a try (and a possible buy), I find.

I'm slowly getting used to the combat system. The dialogue so far is quite good and the story has definitely grabbed my interest.

Sadly, it does not have the colour that Gothic 2 and 3 had. The closest comparison I can come up with what it looks like colour and natural special effects-wise, is Crysis. So it's more of "grey-ish" really, than the brownish colours you got in Fallout 3. (Unless the US gets a different version - I've got the European version, and I read somewhere that often the US gets more bright colours than the the European version of a game.)

I tried making my colours more intense, as there is a setting for it, but it didn't seem to work.
EDIT:
--------------------------
Strangely, today I did manage to make my colours a lot brighter... - one has to inrease brightness quite a bit, and contrast a little bit. Then if you're having nice weather and it's not raining: Voila! Pretty colours like in Gothic 3.
---------------------------

Trail, if you haven't already, I would encourage you to read your manual. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there! I never normally read my manuals, but when I got a crossbow, I had to look up what to do in order to get a crosshair for aiming, and discovered that a lot of the backstory is given in the manual. Regarding you comments about combat, it also seems from their description there, that your fighting technique does evolve to include using you movement keys, since they talk there of "new methods of attack or combos" (See p.20)

Hm..- i must admit that i haven't really experienced the "lag" you were talking about, from my own charcter, but it does seem from opponents in the ring, as if they have a special "heavy attack" that it takes them longer to recover from.

As far as I remember, the Gothics were real-time, and PB seems to have used a very similar system here, except that blocking definitely is more effective in Risen.

Sherrayah, I'm afraid that Karsten is quite correct in implying that Risen is about as far removed from Sacred 2 as, well, fish is from pumpkin. Risen has a totally different "feel" and world and method of gameplay and ruleset.

Also, just like with the Gothic games, you don't get to customize your hero at all at the start. You get a basic human male construct with pre-set stats, and you must build him up from there. No nice armour for a long time either. You start off, literally, barefoot and in rags, and your very first weapon is a stick.

Your next step is a hunter's knife, and farmer's clothes or worker's clothes. Armour is very scarce. This game is very realistic, and far removed from the fantasy "feel" of Sacred 2.

Games you might enjoy if you liked Sacred 2, are Silverfall and Titan's quest.

Although it is not similar really to Sacred 2, you might want to look out for Venetica, to be released end of October.
This website has a preview and some trailers of it:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/venetica/news.html?sid=6198509&mode=previews

I thought it looks rather interesting, and I'm watching it with interest.

Moondancer, thanks for the tip. I have played Crysis and it looked pretty good. I do love running around a sunny landscape and grumble when it rains a lot. If it is very much like a Gothic game, I'm sure it will be great.

I've always been one to read through the manual moondancer, I'm just more accustomed to games with real-time combat allowing a truer to life movement as opposed to being limited to a forward advance when attacking even in the beginnings of a character's development.

I tend to be a border-line twitch gamer (wrong game genre, I know) and when I want a character to move in a certain direction it better move in that direction dang it.

It will be interesting to see how this character's abilities advance and what the combinations turn out to be...

My game arrived and installed okay but the first time I tried to run it, I got a strange error and it closed. The next time it ran fine except for a slight judder in one spot. Later it asked to insert the original disk which was already in the drive. I hope it settles down with no more errors. I am impressed with the voice acting. Picking up everything I see, including a good sword and have arrived at a village. The game is looking great.

I don't seem to have any quests listed in my journal. Should I have some?

According to this thread at:

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8384

Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes are working on a hotfix that will fix the problems with fogs on screen those with 7xx Nvidia cards are having.

Also, rumours of DLC abound --- as always, unsubstantiated...

I certainly hope you're not having this http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1060973315#post1060973315 problem, Pokey.


Luckily some fixes for it has been suggested, they are summarized in this http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8397 thread.

..but play on a bit, it might just be that you don't really have quests yet. Look under the "completed" tab, as opposed to the "current" tab?


Hey guys, I'm having the time of my life with this game!

Happy to hear u are enjoying the game, thought it would be fun.

I am still waiting for the fog fix.



Hot Fix is out. See u all next week