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Risen | Official Thread (PC/PC/PC/360) -- RPG from Gothic creators

Ceebs

Member
canadian crowe said:
Hmm. Is it more like Two Worlds 2 (which I liked)?
That is as good of a comparison as you are likely to get. It's a smaller game world, but it's much more dense. The quests in Risen are better as well. It's honestly a much better overall game than Two Worlds 2 (which I also enjoyed).
 
Ceebs said:
That is as good of a comparison as you are likely to get. It's a smaller game world, but it's much more dense. The quests in Risen are better as well. It's honestly a much better overall game than Two Worlds 2 (which I also enjoyed).
Thanks. It was only 20 bucks, so I might as well crack it open.
 
Just use and abuse the quick save. That alone has helped reversed my opinion on the game.

Edit: Cleared the bandit camp quests, aside from the one handed to me from the Don and am on my way to Harbour Town. This game is a slow burn, it's punishing, it's a little obtuse (or, more likely, I'm far too used to games spoon feeding me all relevant information) but I'm really digging it now. I think how much I enjoy Risen directly correlates to the ease at which I can now smash a pack of boars or wolves to death with my mace.
 

Marvie_3

Banned
jaundicejuice said:
Just use and abuse the quick save. That alone has helped reversed my opinion on the game.

Edit: Cleared the bandit camp quests, aside from the one handed to me from the Don and am on my way to Harbour Town. This game is a slow burn, it's punishing, it's a little obtuse (or, more likely, I'm far too used to games spoon feeding me all relevant information) but I'm really digging it now. I think how much I enjoy Risen directly correlates to the ease at which I can now smash a pack of boars or wolves to death with my mace.
I'm at that exact same spot. :D

The one hit kills are kinda frustrating me so far.
 
So I'm at a crossroads where I could continue to help the Don, join the mages or join the Order and I'm not sure of what to do. I guess I'll talk to the town folk some more before I commit to any one path.

I may have no real love for the Don or his men thus far. They were a bag of assholes out in the swamp and the first thing one of the Don's men in Harbour Town wants me to do is
extort a sleazy pawnbroker (who is exploiting the troubles in town to get rich) for the Don's tribute
, so I guess my opinion of his band won't really be changing any time soon. The Don and his men are just a bunch of petty crooks but it seems like the locals tolerated them, maybe even liked them whereas The Order are invaders of a sort.

Based off of what little I know of The Order, I don't think I like them either. Admittedly what I do know is predominantly coloured by what The Don's men have said but this was also reinforced by the mages at the Novices farm. The Order have seized control of Harbour Town and various settlements around the island. They've taken the general populace and sealed everyone inside Harbour Town, supposedly for their own safety. They also supposedly arrest and indoctrinate people into their Order if you defy their law. I don't know why they're on the island and doing what they're doing. So far the one member of the Order I've spoken to wasn't a total shit.
He wanted me to help the member of The Don's faction and extort the pawn broker, but then have me give the money to him and he would return the money to poor the pawn broker had exploited. In the process I would screw over The Don's agent and likely alienate that faction, but would that be a loss?

The mages seem to be the neutral faction, the ones on the novice's farm helped me out, even helped me avoid the Order, but they're also the faction I know the least about.
 

Van Buren

Member
jaundicejuice said:
So I'm at a crossroads where I could continue to help the Don, join the mages or join the Order and I'm not sure of what to do.

It's been a while, but I remember being locked out of advancing along certain class paths after choosing a faction to side with - take that into account while choosing.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
jaundicejuice said:
So I'm at a crossroads where I could continue to help the Don, join the mages or join the Order and I'm not sure of what to do. I guess I'll talk to the town folk some more before I commit to any one path.

I may have no real love for the Don or his men thus far. They were a bag of assholes out in the swamp and the first thing one of the Don's men in Harbour Town wants me to do is
extort a sleazy pawnbroker (who is exploiting the troubles in town to get rich) for the Don's tribute

I made up my mind in the first few hours of that game, from getting all the BS in the Don's camp, especially the one jerk
you tries to trick you, I kicked his ass good, after about 20 loads on hard and learning how to dodge successfully 30 times in a row, it was a bit rough
. I did everything I could to screw the Don's camp over short of going back and killing them all, and I haven't regretted it yet; granted I'm still not too too much further, just cleared the Temple. I'm hoping the game pits me against the Don himself at some point.
 

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
I joined the Don after depleting the quest pool otherwise.

The next step was murdering the innocents when noone was looking, of course.
 
After poking around The Gutters and Harbour and accepting quests from the Don's men, the Order and one of the mages, I don't think I'll be aiding the Don's men much longer. Everything the Don's men ask me to do is vile or reprehensible. The Order, while unloved by the general populace, seem to have at least some positive interest in the town's well being. The lone mage I've spoken to is the only one truly helping people.

I'm not certain about which faction I'm going to side with yet but whatever I lose out by not helping the Don, I think it's worth losing out on.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
piratepwnsninja said:
Any recommended mods for this game? I've seen some great shots, but it seems like they have to be using some graphic mods or something.

I haven't used any mods, but if you haven't already, kill DoF. I hate how it's implemented in Risen, it basically just adds a wall of blur to everything 100 yards ahead of you.

The Order, while unloved by the general populace, seem to have at least some positive interest in the town's well being. The lone mage I've spoken to is the only one truly helping people.

I intentionally let the Order take me in. So far, they seem like OK dudes.
 
jaundicejuice said:
After poking around The Gutters and Harbour and accepting quests from the Don's men, the Order and one of the mages, I don't think I'll be aiding the Don's men much longer. Everything the Don's men ask me to do is vile or reprehensible. The Order, while unloved by the general populace, seem to have at least some positive interest in the town's well being. The lone mage I've spoken to is the only one truly helping people.

I'm not certain about which faction I'm going to side with yet but whatever I lose out by not helping the Don, I think it's worth losing out on.[/QUOTE ]
If you want to be a mage go with Order, if you want to be a "thief" (bows) go with Thieves, if you want to be a fighter I think you can pick either.

I went with Order when I played but I don't recall anything after Chapter 2 that indicated that either faction choice made a difference in the back half of the game.
 

epmode

Member
Snuggler said:
I haven't used any mods, but if you haven't already, kill DoF. I hate how it's implemented in Risen, it basically just adds a wall of blur to everything 100 yards ahead of you.
Agreed. Depth of field is almost entirely useless in videogames. Big performance hit for no benefit.

Unless we're talking cutscenes! Then it's a good thing!
 

Minsc

Gold Member
jaundicejuice said:
Is there any way to force v-sync? I don't see that in any of the options and sometimes the screen tearing is persistent and annoying.

d3doverrider (riva tuner). Works for 99% of all new games too, and sometimes better than the in-game options.


epmode said:
Agreed. Depth of field is almost entirely useless in videogames. Big performance hit for no benefit.

Unless we're talking cutscenes! Then it's a good thing!

Makes me feel real good about my 5870 never dropping below 60 with everything on maxed. Though you're probably talking about it in general, and it did kill framerate in Metro 2033, though I enjoyed it in The Witcher (made for picturesque backgrounds to conversations) and Dragon Age, and wherever else it appears generally.
 

epmode

Member
Minsc said:
Though you're probably talking about it in general
Yessir!

But not only that, it's actually detrimental if used during normal gameplay. I still resent Wind Waker (one of the best-looking games ever) making it so that I'll never be able to see faraway details in sharp focus. Same goes for just about every other game I've seen it used.
 

FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
jaundicejuice said:
After poking around The Gutters and Harbour and accepting quests from the Don's men, the Order and one of the mages, I don't think I'll be aiding the Don's men much longer. Everything the Don's men ask me to do is vile or reprehensible. The Order, while unloved by the general populace, seem to have at least some positive interest in the town's well being. The lone mage I've spoken to is the only one truly helping people.

I'm not certain about which faction I'm going to side with yet but whatever I lose out by not helping the Don, I think it's worth losing out on.

It was one of the hardest faction choices I've ever made in an RPG.

Authoritarian fascist assholes or morally bereft douchebags. The Don's men were just slightly more dickish towards me so I chose the former.
 

larvi

Member
jaundicejuice said:
The difference lies not purely in leveling up your character but in learning abilities and enhancing specific stats with mentors. The difference a few points in your strength or improving your weapon proficiency can be pretty staggering. I went from barely being able to damage this skeleton lord to being able to hold my ground and deal some decent damage.

I'm also wrapping my head around the combat a bit more. You can't just mash your way through combat, it seems as though each click gets queued, so if you see an incoming strike you may not be able to defend in time if you've got another melee strike loaded. The game punishes you if you're impatient or too greedy, you've got to wait for openings to attack, dodge or parry.


Yeah, I tended to save my skill points until I have a clear direction of what I want to do with them. But I didn't find the weapon skills very useful, in fact I eventually found it better to fight unarmed (with a high strength). I also tend not to like games or do very well in games that make me have to dodge or time my attacks. In rpg games your character's stats and equipment should be the primary driver in combat success, not you own reflexes.
 
I've cleared Harbour Town of all but one of the optional quests in Chapter 1, I've thoroughly fucked over the Don and his plans for the town, I can come and go as I please from Harbour Town, I can gain entry to the Monestary, I can choose to join the Order or the Mages but I'm in no rush. I have a whole island I could explore with a brand new, highly detailed map to aid me. I can prospect now, I know how to use alchemy, I'm loaded to the gills with curative potions, I've got some decent equipment (still no armor) and I can bash in the skull of almost anything I come across. Ghouls still give me a bit of a fright though.

This game is brilliant. It's a bit of a bear at the beginning, but once you wrap your head around the basics and quick save like there's no tomorrow, it's easy to start making some genuine progress. I can wander down any path, explore to my hearts content and try to fight whatever I come across without the fear of losing too much progress. I can't believe that a few days ago I was almost going to shelve this game but now I'm almost twenty hours in. This is easily one of the better rpgs I have played this generation.

I'm buying Dark Waters day one now. I am now a fan of Piranha Byte.

Minsc said:
d3doverrider (riva tuner). Works for 99% of all new games too, and sometimes better than the in-game options.

I'll definitely have to give that a shot.
 

-SD-

Banned
jaundicejuice said:
This game is brilliant.
Glad to see you didn't give up. Yeah, Piranha Bytes' games can be tough and unforgiving but once you get the hang of them you're in some seriously awesome stuff. My best action-RPG memories are from PB's games.

I've been a devout PB fan since 2001, the first Gothic game, and can't wait to get playing Risen 2.
 

Zoso

It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time.
jaundicejuice said:
I can't believe that a few days ago I was almost going to shelve this game but now I'm almost twenty hours in. This is easily one of the better rpgs I have played this generation.

I'm buying Dark Waters day one now. I am now a fan of Piranha Byte.

I'm glad you're enjoying it! It's a very fun game once you get into it. Especially the first 2 chapters are great. I didn't care much for the last half.

I screwed over the Don's men too. They were all super annoying in the swamp so I sided with the order. It was a good decision, I don't think you'll be disappointed. But I am curious if the game changes that much playing for the Don. Seems like it would, but I'm guessing it doesn't.
 
Slow burn is a fairly apt description of Risen's plot but what an epic pay off the end of Chapter 1 was. I became a mage, a goal and a greater purpose have been attached to my actions as most, if not all, of the cards for the plot laid out on the table before me.

It was a lot of work to simply become a mage and it looks like it's going to be a lot of work to become a half-decent one but the quests have been fairly interesting and the pay off looks like it's going to be pretty substantial. Faction-specific weapons, armor and abilities. I can't believe I was complaining about having too many learning points and having no means to spend them at the start of the game, now I have no points and too many different skills I could develop. Being cooped up in the Monastery for the majority of training also ate through almost all of my gold reserves just as I have need to purchase all of this mage specific gear.

Oh well, free to roam the island again and I can burn things from a far. I'm sure everything will sort itself out.
 
I am now a Master Mage of the Order of the Holy Flame that can cast spells from the third runic seal and I'm going to try my damnedest to gain enough wisdom to learn the fourth runic seal. Also, I shall soon
become a Titan Lord...? That is if Ursegor isn't trying to pull something nefarious and underhanded.

Over forty hours in and still digging this game, although Chapter 3 was a serious endurance run. Near the end I was so low on supplies that I munching on my alchemical ingredients, saving what few potions I had left for an emergency mid battle. There was an interesting series of revelations in the temple near the end. I can't say that I'm all that surprised by the turn of events
with the Inquisitor being willing to sacrifice the island, being arrogant enough to think he alone can control a titan where Ursegor required the aid of the gods to do so
. The end-game is shaping up to be fairly interesting.

There are only a few nooks left unexplored on the island, mainly because there are Ash Beasts blocking those sections off but, with the aide of Fred (who I can now summon at will, no more need for scrolls), I think I can take them now. There are a number of chests that I'll have to go back for because I couldn't pick them open earlier and now I can just point to open them. Beyond that I think I'm largely done with the exploration in the game, beyond what few new areas there are left to reveal. It was fun while it lasted but I think I've almost picked the island clean.

The alchemy (mastered), prospecting, smithing (mastered) and gutting skills have been invaluable, particularly alchemy with all of the permanent stat boost elixirs you can learn to make. At one point I made 60 learning points worth of Mana enhancements with a few potions. That's huge, it allowed me to spend all of my learning points on actual abilities and develop a powerful skillset even faster.

I think I'd be interested in doing a run through the game sticking with the bandit faction just to see how different the overall structure of the game and plot are if you stick with the Don. I'll probably attempt that the closer we are to Dark Waters being released.
 

Marvie_3

Banned
Just finished this game yesterday. Kept getting this weird glitch before the end and I was pretty worried I wasn't going to be able to finish the game. Finally got it though.
 
Completed Risen this evening. Took me a little over 50 hours. The balance of gameplay really got stilted towards dungeon crawling and combat towards the end of the game, with very little in the way of exploration outside of the few areas I missed. If it wasn't for my buddy undead Fred, I think the last section of the game would've really ground down on me.
 
I just started playing this last weekend based on the recommendations of GAF. I'm enjoying it, but, man, when do I get stronger? I'm currently very early (
in the monastery after CHOOSING to go to the Order
) and while I can win fights with one opponent, it takes FOREVER to chip away their health in melee. Hold block, attack, be blocked, hold block, attack, be blocked, hold block, attack, take away a microgram of health, hold block. Am I doing something wrong?
 

Marvie_3

Banned
SnakeswithLasers said:
I just started playing this last weekend based on the recommendations of GAF. I'm enjoying it, but, man, when do I get stronger? I'm currently very early (
in the monastery after CHOOSING to go to the Order
) and while I can win fights with one opponent, it takes FOREVER to chip away their health in melee. Hold block, attack, be blocked, hold block, attack, be blocked, hold block, attack, take away a microgram of health, hold block. Am I doing something wrong?
No, that's pretty much how the combat goes for quite awhile. Towards the end of the game you'll be kicking ass but it takes awhile to get there.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Gvaz said:
Bumping because Risen is a daily steam deal, more people should play it!
Bought it, played it. Didn't like it, started doing more quests, started liking it more.

6 hours in and I'm loving it. Exactly what I needed to fill my WRPG fix :)
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Joseph Merrick said:
check out gothic3!
I might just have to do that some day. Though it needs a lot of fan patches and mods to be enjoyable last I heard :p.

Just got to Chapter 2 and I didn't really expect the fact that
You end up being the inquisitor's bitch
. But damn is this game amazing, it just keeps pulling you in. The fact that it's absolutely beautiful helps too :). Great dungeon music as well
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Man what level must you be, so the Scorpions and War Crickets don't one or two-shot wreck you?
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
K.Jack said:
Man what level must you be, so the Scorpions and War Crickets don't one or two-shot wreck you?
I haven't encountered any scorpions but the War Crickets so far have been managable if you're careful. Unless they get stronger later on D:
 

Skirn

Member
I've played this for 2-3 hours now and, holy shit, this game really does not throw any kind of help in your face like other modern RPG's. First couple of hours I just ran around getting killed left and right, not knowing where the hell I should go! I was almost ready to call it quits and uninstall Risen... but then I just went with the flow and endured. It's starting to get more fun once you accept that you can't kill everything, at least not this early into the game.

I've run into some Order fellows. The bastard knocked me out with a single blow and I woke up in some kind of monastery, but all of my Bandit quests got cancelled for some reason. Can I get them back once I get out of here and talk to the bandits again?

Also, how do I know when I'm starting to get too friendly with a faction and lock myself out from the other factions?
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Skirn said:
I've played this for 2-3 hours now and, holy shit, this game really does not throw any kind of help in your face like other modern RPG's. First couple of hours I just ran around getting killed left and right, not knowing where the hell I should go! I was almost ready to call it quits and uninstall Risen... but then I just went with the flow and endured. It's starting to get more fun once you accept that you can't kill everything, at least not this early into the game.

I've run into some Order fellows. The bastard knocked me out with a single blow and I woke up in some kind of monastery, but all of my Bandit quests got cancelled for some reason. Can I get them back once I get out of here and talk to the bandits again?

Also, how do I know when I'm starting to get too friendly with a faction and lock myself out from the other factions?

If you get press ganged into the monastary then you are stuck with them as your faction.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Oh god, someone help me. I encountered a strange bug. Every character model has disappeared, so it sort of looks like you're controlling the sword and shield on the ground, like a snail. :(. Thinking teleporting might help it gets stuck on the load screen.

Edit: Solved it by loading an older nonfucked up save then quickloading :). If this happens to anyone without any older saves I'm gonna assume it works the same if you start a new game then quickload.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
I was excited just for the pirate theme, but after spending a good 17 hours into the first now, I'm even more excited, absolutely wonderful game.
 

Dennis

Banned
Easy_D said:
I was excited just for the pirate theme, but after spending a good 17 hours into the first now, I'm even more excited, absolutely wonderful game.
It really is a gem. Mores the pity so few have played it
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Yeah it sucks that this (And Divinity 2: DKS) are overlooked, rarely see anyone talk about 'em. Hopefully Risen 2 gets more exposure in the gaming community :).

Anyway, anyone know if there's a way to fix the audio loop issue? Ambient sounds like to skip and it's especially annoying wen you're near a river or if it's raining.
 

-SD-

Banned
Easy_D said:
Nice, I'll bookmark that link for when I buy it. Didn't realise it came out in '06 though so I was shocked by how good it looked :D
Oh, yeah :O

Some scenes in Gothic 3 still look really amazing, especially if you tweak the .ini file to maximize grass rendering distance etc.

Here's the tweaks I used the last time I played through the game (v1.73). Glitch-free and beautiful as heck:

\Gothic III\Ini\ge3.ini

Render.PrefetchGridCellSize=20000
DistanceHigh.fFarClippingPlane_High=20000.0
VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_VeryHigh=20000.0
Render.DOFStart=20000.0
Render.DOFEnd=30000.0


\My Documents\gothic3\UserOptions.ini

LensFlare=0
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
-SD- said:
Oh, yeah :O

Some scenes in Gothic 3 still look really amazing, especially if you tweak the .ini file to maximize grass rendering distance etc.
I assume this shot is using a tweaked ini? Looks spectacular. Funny how the DoF looks way better than it does in Risen.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
-SD- said:
Yes, it does.

I remember my INI settings having DOF pushed more further. It's too near in that pic for my taste.
Can you tweak the DoF in Risen as well? It looks kind of "thick" I'd love it if I could push it back and make it thinner. Or something. Lol
 
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