• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Risen 3: Titan Lords |OT| The magic is back

Sentenza

Member
I found high end weapons in chests, but it seems you can buy better ones from the guy in Killa.
I bought a bastard sword from Wilson (which you can easily upgrade in a Oath sword) and then unless I missed something there isn't a single melee weapon which is more powerful in the whole game.
Even the "legendary" Calador's Coronation Sword is roughly at the same level.

Same with guns (which I didn't use). Sure, you can find relatively good ones looting chests, but chances are you already bought/crafted something better somewhere else.
I mean, what's arguably the most powerful musket in the game as far as I can tell is something I pickpocket from a guy.
 

Moff

Member
i bought a bastard sword for Wilson (which yo ucan easily upgrade in a Oath sword) and then unless I missed something there isn't a single melee weapon which is more powerful in the whole game.
Even the "legendary" Calador's Coronation Sword is roughly at the same level.

Same with guns (which I didn't use). Sure, you can find relatively good ones looting chests, but chances are you already bought/crafted something better somewhere else.
I mean, what's arguably the most powerful musket in the game as far as I can tell is something I pickpocket from a guy.

do you know the stats of the musket, and what guy? can it shoot twice?
I never said you find the best weapons in the chests btw. just that you find actually great weapons instead of just gold and provisions in high end chests.

the best sword I found is the legendary quest sword "sphärendorn", I think it has 60-90 damage and +10 to the skill. its better than the coronation sword.

So, are swords even worth using after I get my magical right hand weapon?

no, unless you want to block something, but you can just as well dodge around. magic is super overpowered.

I really need to find the toughness reciepe... I'm sitting on 5 permanent plants for it and I'm already the 2nd to last island.
most of them can be found with alchemists in the factions camp. some are in secret areas. I think the one for ranged combat was in the riddle secret room on calador.
dont remember where toughness was.
 

Jag

Member
Don't wait to join a faction like I did. The game gets much more fun and combat is easier once you have access to the faction perks. I thought I would check all the factions out, then decide what to join, but halfway through I just decided to go Demon Hunter and had a blast (literally).

Also, the Thieves Island DLC with the Gnomes is pretty annoying. I don't mind the Gnomes in small doses, but an entire island of them is getting on my nerves. I think I need to leave before I finish all the quests.
 

Tanolen

Member
So, are swords even worth using after I get my magical right hand weapon?

Ive gone full melee with slashing. Ive got the 105 damage sword with 155 in slashing and the 20 percent damage up grade, most stuff is dieing in 2 hits. Also using the demon hunter spell demon blade that makes you swing twice as fast just levels groups of monsters.
 

Sentenza

Member
What's the 105 damage sword? How si it that I missed all this cool stuff? I'm usually obsessive about finding everything in these games.
 
Hmm, kind of on the fence if I should jump in.

The retail "first" edition includes Risen 1 and 3 both on DRM free discs.

Always wanted to try a Piranha Bytes game.

Fake Edit: Oh, they are located in Essen ? Now I feel obliged to support them lol .

Thats not even an hour from where I live.
 

Zukuu

Banned
What's the 105 damage sword? How si it that I missed all this cool stuff? I'm usually obsessive about finding everything in these games.
I've just found a sword that trumps the legendary crafted one in chest beyond the gap where
you fall to the oracle
on killa: 45 - 90 +5 sword
 

Denton

Member
So, finished my epic New Vegas playthrough today, so I am planning to finally start this one. I tried the intro and the jerky stutter while panning camera and moving sideways is also happening on my system. It is not gamebreaking, just slightly annoying. Is there a fix already ?
 

Tanolen

Member
What's the 105 damage sword? How si it that I missed all this cool stuff? I'm usually obsessive about finding everything in these games.

Im not near the game right now, but i think it's called the captain's saber, but it is 45 - 105 damage with +10 to slashing. You buy the lower version from the Buddy in kila then upgrade it.

It seems that slashing has the highest damage swords, but that piercing has a higher low end, with swords somewhere in the middle.
 

Durante

Member
I'm continuously surprised by just how much this game is sucking me in. I couldn't even point to one particular thing it does exceptionally well - but it does everything well enough and I'm simply enjoying it a lot.
 

Zukuu

Banned
I'm continuously surprised by just how much this game is sucking me in. I couldn't even point to one particular thing it does exceptionally well - but it does everything well enough and I'm simply enjoying it a lot.

That's the magic of euro-jank. I had a similar thing with an objectively pretty mediocre to bad game, and still enjoyed my whole journey through the game much. The Dark Eye Demonicon


edit: Kraken Eye (legendary slashing weapon) does 45 - 110 damage btw :p
 

Durante

Member
I don't think Risen 3 is objectively mediocre though, it's pretty good. And very competent technically, I'm quite impressed by the combination of visuals and framerate that I'm getting, considering that it's an open world game.
 

Zukuu

Banned
I don't think Risen 3 is objectively mediocre though, it's pretty good. And very competent technically, I'm quite impressed by the combination of visuals and framerate that I'm getting, considering that it's an open world game.
Oh, I didn't meant that Risen 3 is mediocre. It's pretty good and I like it very much (nearing the end). It's still a bit lacking compared to the magic of Gothic 1 and 2 tho, main because the world itself is just not as cohesive due to the nature of the island setting. I also understand the critique about "missing progression". You basically fight the same creeps throughout the game. While I can appreciate that it's more realistic that only "you" get stronger, it does mean you have a pretty frontloaded difficulty. Ah yeah, and I still hate the setting. Fucking pirate vodoo jungle islands. >_< Somehow the setting is still way way better than Risen 2's. The game itself is also immensely better than Risen 2.
 

Tanolen

Member
Man fuck this final boss, such a difficulty spike.
edit:
Ehh i take it back, as long as you get very liberal in your consumable use it makes it pretty easy.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Just grabbed this from GMG for $40 and played about an hour. Seems a lot more like Risen 2 than the original, which I can't say I'm a huge fan of, but at least the performance seems much better and the combat isn't nearly as bad. Just not really interested in their take on pirates. Hopefully some of the later areas will be less like this.

And, man... it sure is chock full of jank. Voice actors changing between dialogue choices with certain characters. Overall the VO is just garbage in this. I don't remember it being so bad before.
 

Durante

Member
I like both the VA and the setting :p.
Particularly because the latter isn't something you generally see in RPGs. In fact, I don't think I've ever played an RPG in a "Pirate" setting. (I didn't play Risen 2)
 

Moff

Member
Piranha Bytes had several pirate elements in their games, though.
the gothic 2 expansion pack introduced pirates and a carribean setting. in risen 1, finding a pirate treasure was part of the main quest.

I really dont like pirate settings either, its one reason why I didnt play risen 2 until a few weeks ago. but I somehow got used to it, luckily. otherwise I couldnt enjoy risen 3 nearly as much as I do at the moment.

I also had no Idea pirates were present in risen 3 until a few days before release. I feel they have hidden that to promote their "back to the roots" promise.

I think the island and ship/crew setting works very, very well. but two games is definitely enough. I really need pirates to disappear completely and have the setting be one huge continent again in the next PB game
 

moniker

Member
I'm continuously surprised by just how much this game is sucking me in. I couldn't even point to one particular thing it does exceptionally well - but it does everything well enough and I'm simply enjoying it a lot.

Sound like a Piranha Bytes game alright. Looking forward to playing this since I actually liked Risen 2 despite its numerous flaws and, by all accounts, this sound like a better game.
 

Moff

Member
Sound like a Piranha Bytes game alright. Looking forward to playing this since I actually liked Risen 2 despite its numerous flaws and, by all accounts, this sound like a better game.

I actually think there are some things risen 2 did better.

a signature element of Piranha Bytes are the trainer comments and explanations whener they train you a perk.
in risen 3, some of them just say "ok" or "all right", and you get the perk.
unless there is a really good explanation for this, thats next to a disaster honestly. huge bummer for me, you learn an ultimate perk that needs 100 of a stat and get an "ok". I really hope they dont plan to lose that feature. and it was in risen 2 witthout exception.

and I think risen 2 actually had pretty good quest design, and risen 3 has too many kill and fetch quests.

and I hate that you have all maps in risen 3 from start, you had to find them all first in risen 2.

but of course, as a whole, risen 3 is the much better game, they really listened to the community and improved and (re)introduced many important things.
rating wise I'd say there is at least a 10-15% gap between risen 2 and risen 3.
 

mujun

Member
I'm enjoying this despite the crappy combat. I also enjoyed the first two games.

One question: Where the hell is the epee that belongs to the depressed pirate in Antigua? It's marked as being in the warehouse and Flynn said it's there but no matter how long I spend searching the warehouse I can't find the damned thing!
 

Zukuu

Banned
a signature element of Piranha Bytes are the trainer comments and explanations whener they train you a perk.
That really bugged me too! I mean, it's probably hard to come up with something for "+10 blade resistance..." x3 and in Gothic they don't say much when you level strength / dex / int either. However, I really miss the progression from Gothic 1 and I think it was in 2 as well. You started to swing very slowly and had a huge recovery window afterwards. You held your sword with 2 hands and use both to swing it around. When you learn "Swordmaster level 1", the trainer tells you "Most untrained people use a 1h sword with two hands, which takes away from swiftness. Start using it with 1h only and..." and afterwards the MC uses it with one hand only and strikes way faster. With "Swordmaster level 2" you get even faster and get a new combo "Try using the flow of your movement to add another strike" etc. 2h weapons were similar, where you'd hold it sideways in front of your body carrying the blade with one hand and the hilt with the other. Only once you learn how to use them properly, you carry it like a candle close to your body with both hands around the hilt. That detail is so awesome. I wish more games would do it and not only yield +10 damage or something.
It's the only game series I know where that was done.
 

Sentenza

Member
You started to swing very slowly and had a huge open window. You held your sword with 2 hands and use both to swing it around. when you learn "sword master level 1" the trainer tells you "Most untrained people use a 1h sword with two hands, which takes away from swiftness. Start using it with 1h only and..." and afterwards the MC uses it with one hand only and strikes way faster. Swordmaster level 2 you get even faster and get a new combo "Try using the flow of your movement to add another strike" etc. 2h weapons were similar, where you'd hold it sideways before your body carring the blade with one hand and the hilt with another. Only once you learn how to use them properly, you carry it like a candle close to your body with both hands around the hilt. That detail is so awesome. I wish more games would do it and not only yield +10 damage or something.
It's the only game series I know where that was done.
Oh, this! This has always been one of my favorite features in the franchise.
I read that they were planning something similar in The Witcher 3's vision document but considering I never heard any word from them about this feature in the successive months I'm guessing it got canned.
 

Terra_Ex

Member
I'm enjoying this despite the crappy combat. I also enjoyed the first two games.

One question: Where the hell is the epee that belongs to the depressed pirate in Antigua? It's marked as being in the warehouse and Flynn said it's there but no matter how long I spend searching the warehouse I can't find the damned thing!

I think that something else is in the warehouse, not the Epee, but anyway - go to the ground floor of the warehouse, look up, you should notice an upper level that is not accessible by any stairs/doors etc. It's up there, I turned into a parrot to retrieve it.
 

Sentenza

Member
I think that something else is in the warehouse, not the Epee, but anyway - go to the ground floor of the warehouse, look up, you should notice an upper level that is not accessible by any stairs/doors etc. It's up there, I turned into a parrot to retrieve it.
I just went to the superior floor and I dropped paying attention to land on the catwalk just below... But yeah, I guess the parrot spell is more risk-free as it doesn't imply the risk to fall to your death if you miss.
 

Zukuu

Banned
I think that something else is in the warehouse, not the Epee, but anyway - go to the ground floor of the warehouse, look up, you should notice an upper level that is not accessible by any stairs/doors etc. It's up there, I turned into a parrot to retrieve it.
I also used parrot fly to get there at first, but later there was a stair case that lead up to that level. I dunno when it appeared tho. It wasn't there at first.
 

haveheart

Banned
That really bugged me too! I mean, it's probably hard to come up with something for "+10 blade resistance..." x3 and in Gothic they don't say much when you level strength / dex / int either. However, I really miss the progression from Gothic 1 and I think it was in 2 as well. You started to swing very slowly and had a huge recovery window afterwards. You held your sword with 2 hands and use both to swing it around. When you learn "Swordmaster level 1", the trainer tells you "Most untrained people use a 1h sword with two hands, which takes away from swiftness. Start using it with 1h only and..." and afterwards the MC uses it with one hand only and strikes way faster. With "Swordmaster level 2" you get even faster and get a new combo "Try using the flow of your movement to add another strike" etc. 2h weapons were similar, where you'd hold it sideways in front of your body carrying the blade with one hand and the hilt with the other. Only once you learn how to use them properly, you carry it like a candle close to your body with both hands around the hilt. That detail is so awesome. I wish more games would do it and not only yield +10 damage or something.
It's the only game series I know where that was done.

Agree 100%. I really do not like the new fighting mechanics.

They stated the whole time that Risen 3 would be more like Gothic. But I don't get this feeling at all.
The music is boring, the "world" is just some seperated islands which are sooo linear. You even can spot hidden places on the (ugly) map.
One of my quests actually got aborted because I travelled to another island, wtf.

Gonna keep playing nevertheless... hope it gets better.

Very disappointing for a huge Gothic fan.
 

mujun

Member
I think that something else is in the warehouse, not the Epee, but anyway - go to the ground floor of the warehouse, look up, you should notice an upper level that is not accessible by any stairs/doors etc. It's up there, I turned into a parrot to retrieve it.

Thanks a lot!
 

Tanolen

Member
I had alot of fun with this, I was also a fan of risen 2.

Risen 3 is the better game, even though I got a little quested out by the end.

Also i hate to admit that i never realized that alcohol were health potions until the final boss. I had just been using provisions. Guess i forgot from the previous games. I think I have been conditioned from other games that alcohol is not a good thing.
 

Clydefrog

Member
I'm enjoying this despite the crappy combat. I also enjoyed the first two games.

One question: Where the hell is the epee that belongs to the depressed pirate in Antigua? It's marked as being in the warehouse and Flynn said it's there but no matter how long I spend searching the warehouse I can't find the damned thing!

Hahaha - I had the same problem. I was doing insane platform jumping on the roof for like 15 minutes trying to find the damn hidden item. Then I walked around the building and saw that stupid little opening into the secret area. Parrot me timbers and I got in there.
 

pronk420

Member
bought into this with the promise of suspicious ducks, but wow the intro on the PS3 is pretty special graphically. literally becomes a slideshow at some points and the depth of field blur looks awful.

graphics seems passable in the first chapter so far though, and its definitely a risen game with the awesome dialogue/voice acting.
 

Druz

Member
I think what no one has mentioned as a downside, is that all of the Gothic games have had far more memorable OSTs. I'm still addicted to 2 and 3s music. Risen just strikes as generic, anyone feel the same?
 

Zafir

Member
I'm enjoying this despite the crappy combat. I also enjoyed the first two games.

One question: Where the hell is the epee that belongs to the depressed pirate in Antigua? It's marked as being in the warehouse and Flynn said it's there but no matter how long I spend searching the warehouse I can't find the damned thing!

I had to exit the island and come back to get it. Took me forever to find it, really annoying.
 

mujun

Member
Hahaha - I had the same problem. I was doing insane platform jumping on the roof for like 15 minutes trying to find the damn hidden item. Then I walked around the building and saw that stupid little opening into the secret area. Parrot me timbers and I got in there.

I had to exit the island and come back to get it. Took me forever to find it, really annoying.

Yep, I checked both the bottom and top floors thoroughly over and over as well as flying up to the roof and climbing all over it and the exposed beams :)
 
Ship combat is fucking awful. The sheer randomness of it is making me rage like no game before it.

Yeah it was terrible, hopefully it's only that once?

----

Faction question, I'll spoiler just in case:
How many times can you rank up in the Demon Hunter guild? I've done the annoying promotion quest, is there another one?
 

Zukuu

Banned
Yeah it was terrible, hopefully it's only that once?

----

Faction question, I'll spoiler just in case:
How many times can you rank up in the Demon Hunter guild? I've done the annoying promotion quest, is there another one?
Twice. And that is main quest related afair.

You have to do 3 ship battles... 1st and 2nd were okay. for the 3rd I put the game on easy ( dunno if that changes anything) since it took forever to deal any damage and I died after like 10 minutes. I agree that they were awful. Once is okay, but 3 is really pushing it...

It's not really random tho. In case you didn't noticed it, when you swap to first person with right-mouse you can move a canon left and right and shoot it. That combined with the flak fire from the side once you're close to the beast made it actually rather easy.
 
Twice. And that is main quest related afair.

You have to do 3 ship battles... 1st and 2nd were okay. for the 3rd I put the game on easy ( dunno if that changes anything) since it took forever to deal any damage and I died after like 10 minutes. I agree that they were awful. Once is okay, but 3 is really pushing it...

It's not really random tho. In case you didn't noticed it, when you swap to first person with right-mouse you can move a canon left and right and shoot it. That combined with the flak fire from the side once you're close to the beast made it actually rather easy.

Thanks I really wanna get that Demon Hunter armor with the cool spiky thing on the front haha.

Once I found the front cannon and moving the ship to use the broadside cannons it was quite a bit easier.
 

Tanolen

Member
Twice. And that is main quest related afair.

You have to do 3 ship battles... 1st and 2nd were okay. for the 3rd I put the game on easy ( dunno if that changes anything) since it took forever to deal any damage and I died after like 10 minutes. I agree that they were awful. Once is okay, but 3 is really pushing it...

It's not really random tho. In case you didn't noticed it, when you swap to first person with right-mouse you can move a canon left and right and shoot it. That combined with the flak fire from the side once you're close to the beast made it actually rather easy.

I had to put the game on easy for the third one, it was just unfair. Alot of it had to do with the homing attacks and the fact that when it went underwater it could still run into you doing alot of damage.
 
Top Bottom