[ram]

Supposedly this one is going to be fully multiplatform, PC/360/PS3, rather than PC/360 as with Risen 1. 360/PS3 versions handled by Wizarbox. Doubt there's anything to worry about there in terms of the PC version suffering (see Risen 1), so just good news for our console-only zerglings.

what? wizarbox last port (venetica on ps3) was a complete mess. it felt like a pc game on a ps2 - 10 years ago. DO NOT WANT!

[Dennis]

I forgot Skyrim.....

[IoCaster]

Damn, so another RPG for the queue. I'll have to get busy and finish playing Risen soon otherwise I'll be swamped by the time Skyrim and ME3 drop. This year is shaping up very nicely indeed.

[Kuran]

Ultima VII handled pirates well.

[bloke]

Awesome, first Risen got me back into western PC RPGs, seriously looking forward to this more than Skyrim, Dark Souls, Witcher 2, etc...hopefully it's coming out this year.

[Dennis]

I allways thought Risen looked shit when maxed out

LOL WUT. Risen has one of the most beautiful gameworlds to explore, ever.

[Stallion Free]

I love me some pirates. Also I have way too many rpgs to catch up on.

[ThatGuy]

Here a short summary of the PCGames article for my fellow gaffers:

Story

- you are again the same nameless heroes of Risen
- he is now living in a small harbour village called "Caldera"
- you are now wearing the Ocular of the inquisitor (story relation not known yet)
- the game is now spread about multiple islands
- there is still the inquisition located on one of the islands
- ..... (more later)
- the story is more complex and will have different consequences depending on your choices
- you will meet familiar faces like Carlos, Gregorius Steelbeard,...

Setting
- pirate setting
- its no longer on Faranga from Risen
- you can travel to different islands by ship (if you can have an own ship is not known yet)
- in the sea lives different sea monsters who attack ships
- it will also have an fast travel system on the islands
- the islands will have different climate zones with different settings and monsters
- guns,canons and othe fire weapons in the game
- there is still magic
- skill system same as Risen
- should feel more realistic than Risen (for example chests who are empty or have rubble in it, but to every chest is a story)
- the world is bigger as in Risen
- side quests should be more complex than in Risen

Graphic / Technic
- animation is now motion captured
- NPCs and monsters more detailed
- bump mapping, realisitc relatime clouds instead of a skybox
- more realisitc faces
- no loading times on the islands and invisible walls only short loading by changing the island
- NPCs talking with each other (for example you can hear a conversation between too NPCs when the treasurer leave his treasure)
- every NPC has a daily routine like in Risen
- in the night different monsters than on the day like in Risen

Monsters
- there will be Gnomes again
- minecrawler
- some familiar and some completly new monsters
- also normal animals like apes,boars,... depending on the climate zone


- Risen 2 is about 80% done they doing voice recording right now

Source and much more:
http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum...d.php?t=955700

[Dennis]

Thanks for posting the summary

[I <3 Memes]

I hope they don't go too overboard with the world size or we might end up with another Gothic 3. Having another highly content dense world where every damn place has something to see (like Risen 1) is what I want. If they can maintain that over a larger area, that'd be amazing.

I'm playing through Gothic 3 for the 3rd time right now and I must say that even now the size of the game world is daunting. If you are a completionist like me then it makes you a little hesitant to start a gaming session knowing how many missions and enemies you are going to face just trying to move around the game world.

[wwm0nkey]

80% done? Damn we wont have to wait long then.

[Lonesome_Raod]

I'm loving those details. I was one of the few who enjoyed the shoddy console port even though I did not complete the game. I will be there day 1 for the sequel.

[bloke]

- Risen 2 is about 80% done they doing voice recording rght now

Wow, so it's coming out this year then, they need to be careful about release window though, late summer/early fall then?

[Binabik15]

Fucking Gnomes. I´ll go on a Gnome genocide at the earliest opportunity.

What I really want from Risen 2 is better animation. Seriously, that "jumping" animation+plus going downhill = lolwut. If they´re using mo-cap now, that´s good.

Is there an animation library or something devs can buy as middleware or even open source? Tons of smaller studios could really, really benefit from something, many great looking games are let down by poor animation. Handmade stuff is often stiff, requires a lot of time and mo-cap is still to expensive I guess?

There´s Euphoria, but that seems to be hellish expensive and the licensing is really weird, from what I´ve read on GAF.

Someone should bribe, err, convince some politician to state fund something like this.

1) Use drama students and soldiers/police to mo-cap common movements
2) Create a large database as part of some "National Video Game And Animation Art" effort
3) Give/lease to devs (national devs could get a tax break on those costs)
4)) Become European centre of games development
5) ???
6) Profit (BILLIONS, nay, TRILLIONS of dollars)

[fanboi]

Is Risen like Bg2 style? (aka explore, encounter a deamon that will kill you in one hit etc).

[EviLore]

Is Risen like Bg2 style? (aka explore, encounter a deamon that will kill you in one hit etc).

Exploration-heavy open world rpg, no level scaling and the world tends to get much more dangerous the further you get from civilization.

[kallisto76]

YES!!! Pirate setting is great!!

[DaBuddaDa]

- Risen 2 is about 80% done they doing voice recording right now

I hope that means a 2011 release, but I hope they can somehow avoid the inevitable RPG crushing Skyrim will deliver in November.

[Ceebs]

OMG....Pirates, Tropical settings, Battles on the sea. It's like they are making this game to tweak every RPG wish I can think of. This just jumped ahead of The Witcher 2 as my most anticipated game of the year.

[Ettie]

Hope you can play as a female in this one. /broken_record

[CecilRousso]

LOL WUT. Risen has one of the most beautiful gameworlds to explore, ever. [/img][/url]

It has nice enviroments, but that´s about it.

[ThatGuy]

Forum avatars on the official Risen2 board, the last 4 are probably screenshots. Sorry for the size.

[Santiako]

Risen with pirates, that's just brilliant.

[Minsc]

Pirate theme = immediate purchase and completion and I don't even play single player games any more.

Does that mean you were one of the few to buy/play Pirates of the Sword Coast?

[dak1dsk1]

This pirate setting will have a limited appeal. Count me out.

[fanboi]

Exploration-heavy open world rpg, no level scaling and the world tends to get much more dangerous the further you get from civilization.

+1 sale then

[Confidence Man]

Holy shit! I'd like to attach these screens and details to that Lionhead survey that asked what we wanted from Fable.

[Lyphen]

This pirate setting will have a limited appeal. Count me out.

Oh ho ho no you don't, we're booting you off this ship.

[Arcane Hayter]

Is the first Risen worth playing on the 360?

[BeeDog]

The info sounds delicious. Can't wait!

[sweetvar26]

How is the leveling system in Risen?

[shintoki]

Damn, Witcher 2 and Risen 2 in the same year.

[BeeDog]

How is the leveling system in Risen?

You gather experience as usual by killing enemies or solving quests/reading books etc. After reaching a new level, you gain 10 Learning Points (LP's). You then go to a trainer, and you have to purchase stat upgrades (e.g. +5 Strength will cost 250 Gold + 5 LP's). There are tons of different skills you can learn as well, such as brewing permanent stat potions and whatever.

[sweetvar26]

You gather experience as usual by killing enemies or solving quests/reading books etc. After reaching a new level, you gain 10 Learning Points (LP's). You then go to a trainer, and you have to purchase stat upgrades (e.g. +5 Strength will cost 250 Gold + 5 LP's). There are tons of different skills you can learn as well, such as brewing permanent stat potions and whatever.

Nice, sounds interesting.

[BeeDog]

Nice, sounds interesting.

Just to clarify it further, this is the only screenshot I could find of the skill tree:



As you can see, there are different levels of some skills, like Sword Fighting and Axe Fighting. Unlocking higher levels will increase the damage output and add new attack combos, for example. Some skills will also take some effort to obtain, since you need to find the proper trainer in several cases. It's a very fun, albeit simple skill system that works, IMHO.

[Neuromancer]

Those screens look amazing!

[Zefah]

Risen is the best exploration-RPG ever made.

I completely agree. I should play through it again sometime soon...

I'm very happy a sequel is coming! It looks like there will be pirates!

[GreekWolf]

Is the first Risen worth playing on the 360?

The Euro 360 version was a horrific monstrosity that should have never passed certification. Visuals, animation and framerate were all abysmal. Most reviews were based on this version, and (rightfully) hammered the game.

The U.S. release was patched to make it considerably more aesthetically pleasing. Frame rate was improved to about 25 fps. Most of the game-breaking glitches were ironed out. It's still a joke compared to the PC game, but certainly playable. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

[Asparagus]

Day one, the original was one of the few games I just couldn't put down.

[John]

great news, i'll have to finish up the first one soon

[Ceebs]

I hope the pirate theme carries over to the various weapons and armor you find. I like the fact that getting armor upgrades was a huge deal since there were so few, but maybe this time they will look a bit cooler than the various rags you wore for the first half of the original.

[Ricker]

Is the first Risen worth playing on the 360?

If you are not a graphic whore,yes :P

[Micius]

Nameless hero looking pimp as hell with musket and Mendoza's ocular. Oh, and the hair too of course... :D

[Jerk]

LOL WUT. Risen has one of the most beautiful gameworlds to explore, ever.

Graphically, the game is pretty damn gorgeous, it is the art that is a bit on the ugly side.

[Dennis]

Graphically, the game is pretty damn gorgeous, it is the art that is a bit on the ugly side.

It is a problem with most Euro-RPGs to be honest. Risen, Two Worlds, Gothic etc. all tend to be very graphically advanced but have a distinctly generic approach to their fantasy art.

Another problem for these game is the atrocious and outdated animations.

But Risen 2 will use motion capture for animation and the pirate theme may be less generic than the more regular fantasy stuff. As for Two Worlds 3, they seem to be bringing a new animation team.

[Snuggler]

Nice, the shots look hot and I really like the swashbuckling style of the graphics. I still have to play Risen 1, which I will do soon, but 2011 is shaping up to be the ultimate year for RPG's.

shits crazy yo

[epmode]

the pirate theme may be less generic than the more regular fantasy stuff.

This is the best part of the news. I love these recent Euro RPGs to death but they could really use a revamped setting or two!

[jaundicejuice]

Is there a thread that provides a general overview of all of these Euro-cRpgs? Risen, Drakensang/River of Time, Two Worlds II (the first doesn't look too hot) and Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga are all games I'm interested in trying out, for the right price given some of the DRM involved, but I'm unsure of which to start with. I've been leaning towards Divinity II, but Risen looks kind of neat too.

I loved the hell out of The Witcher, my first real Euro-cRpg, because of its combat system (I enjoyed its interactive nature over say Dragon Age Origins detached combat system), the dark eastern European fantasy setting was an interesting twist on the bog standard D&D/Tolkien fare, the political intrigue, the racial tension between humans and nonhumans, every other woman dropping trow and, of course, because of the choices you were forced to make in the story and the ways in which they impacted your experience.

Now I have The Witcher 2 pre-ordered, but which of the above listed games would be a similar or worthwhile experience? The first Risen? Divinity II?

Sorry for the hijack?

[Zeal]

this hot shit right here, Skyrim, and Dark Souls. that'll be all, thanks.

oh, and Fable 3 just got shat on.

[Neuromancer]

this hot shit right here, Skyrim, and Dark Souls. that'll be all, thanks. oh, and Fable 3 just got shat on.

Fable 3 pretty much dug it's own grave.

So when do we think this'll come out?