EviLore said:
Swashbuckling! Parrots! Rum! Maybe even sailing! Yay!
I stopped playing Risen once it became "go into this dungeon and kill stuff" later on, but the exploration before was sooo good.
Running into a graveyard at lvl 1 and fighting skeletons and their special boss, dying a hundred times until you made it? Yes. Getting gored by a boar while minding your own business? Yep. Running circles around a giant turtle with trees on it, whacking it until it dies? Sure, even though I felt pretty bad afterwards. Getting stabbed to death by a huuuge scorpion after reaching that tiny island not far from town. Yeah, but I came back and crossbowed him to death. That epic duel with a lizzardman? Oh, hell yes.
One thing I´d love, though, is making trophies out of your foes. I spend lots of time and deaths killing an enemy I shouldn´t mess with right now, now let me parade through the streets with his head on a pole.