Started Chapter two today, I've got to say the first chapter was brilliant, but I have to ask those who went bandit, was there someone in the bandit camp that bought hunting trophies/smith swords at a reasonable price?
Because in Harbour town there wasn't and that was a major reason I went down the order mage path. I always liked the fact you could sell furs to one paticular NPC in Gothic 2 and his reaction when your brought him the skin of a black ogre. Something else that I've found disappointing is the lack of armor in Risen, it seems it's gone down the rank = armor path again(which I don't mind) but has not put any other decent armor in the game(so far).
Other things of note:
Very good graphics
Fantastic lighting (as good as Stalker IMO)
Great side quests
Good combat
Nice atmosphere
NO BUGS!!!
Runs very well
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Average - Poor VO
Average story (so far)
Poor models
Uninteresting characters