Risen 2: Dark Waters

[Orchomene]

Almost finished the second island on natives side.

So far, the story is ok. But why did they have to add some QTEs ? I hate QTEs.

Treasure chests and temples are the main sources of gold.

[Sisay]

You can use flowers to brew potions, but in Risen 2, it seems such crafting skills are only available after the midpoint in the game - same with crafting muskets, guns, etc. - and brewing potions is tied to Voodoo. There are also some rare flowers that give permanent stat boosts. In older PB games, you never want to eat them because they can be brewed for even more powerful permaboosts, but I'm not far enough here to know when/if that happens.

 

 

You can't brew potions at all on the Inquisition side. You can make stat potions if you side with the natives. I think it doubles the talent bonus from +1 to +2. Not amazing, but you can find like 5 of some of the plants so it adds up. You need to buy/find the recipe first, however.

 

I went with the Inquisition but I regret it now. Guns are good in combat, but I just wanted to use a pistol sidearm. Then I fell in love with the Parrot, so I have no use for guns anymore. Siding with the Inquisition doesn't get you anything outside of combat, whereas with the Natives you get stuff like Voodoo mind-control for quests and way more crafting options.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Sisay

[Tigranes]

Huh, pity. I'll have to play to the end to see whether the crafting limitations are a good thing or not. (C&C!!!111!) I guess I'll sell the hundreds of plants I've collected, now, and eat the statboosts.

[Gorth]

Almost finished the second island on natives side.

So far, the story is ok. But why did they have to add some QTEs ? I hate QTEs.

The game just disappeared from my wishlist...

[Tigranes]

They take an average of 10 seconds, are very easy, are bound to difficulty so you can set difficulty to easy for them, and are only required apparently for one part of the main story; I myself have only seen only one instance where you need to do them for any sidequest or even significant benefit.

 

There is the lockpick 'minigame', but it's even easier than Oblivion / Skyrim / FNV / etc; most of the time I just shake the mouse for a couple of seconds and I win.

[Sisay]

They take an average of 10 seconds, are very easy, are bound to difficulty so you can set difficulty to easy for them, and are only required apparently for one part of the main story; I myself have only seen only one instance where you need to do them for any sidequest or even significant benefit.

 

There is the lockpick 'minigame', but it's even easier than Oblivion / Skyrim / FNV / etc; most of the time I just shake the mouse for a couple of seconds and I win.

 

It gets somewhat more difficult later on. Took me a while to understand how it even works, since it's so easy at the beginning. Feels something of a step back from the traditional left or right PB lockpicking, even though it's very similar. You can't even fail the minigame.

 

There are other minigames that are forced on you by the main quest, but if you set the game difficulty to easy they get easier as well.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Sisay

[trulez]

Feels and plays like Risen 0.5, did they run out of money or why did they release the game when it clearly isn't polished enough.

 

I gave Risen 10/10, this abomination they call Risen 2 only deserves 6/10.

[Tigranes]

The double-barreled musket has propelled my character to awesomesauce, shooting down everything in its path. I think bullets should be a tad more expensive - it would also be nice if there were different types (are there?). Running around Antigua doing this and that, game hasn't devolved into hack and slash yet.

[LadyCrimson]

Game won't beat TW2 or anything like that but it's charming and makes me want to explore.

Just wondering if you still feel this way.

I couldn't get into TW2 much after some initial forays. I may give it another chance someday. (this is assuming TW2=Two Worlds2...if not...never mind...)

Edited April 30, 2012 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

I actually assumed he meant The Witcher 2.

[LadyCrimson]

Ah...that might seem more likely. Haven't played that one. The danger of using acronyms...there are almost always more than one meaning to them.

 

That said, there have been some things about Risen2 that have idly reminded me of Two Worlds2. Nothing I can really put my finger on tho...maybe it's just some of the graphics.

[Tigranes]

I thought Two Worlds 2 was a terribly mediocre game that isn't worth 5 minutes of your time (I gave it 5 hours), and Kingdom of Amalur wasn't much better. Arcania, obviously, is bottom of the crap-barrel. Risen 2 is far, far better. Currently, my assessment is that it's just as good as Risen 1. It's weaker in some aspects, like combat, which I really don't appreciate, but I think they put in the pirate theme skilfully, and the addition of muskets and other elements improve the game. One big question mark is whether, like all other PB games, the last bit of the game will devolve into mindless hack and slash - Risen 1, like all Gothics, wasn't worth playing once that happened. In a related way, I hope I don't see many more 'boss battles', I saw one and it was (a) far too easy, (b) stupid-boring.

 

Not sure about my initial comparison to Witcher 2. I think they're very different games, so maybe it was silly to begin with. Certainly I've had great fun with both games so far, but I'm not done with R2.

[LadyCrimson]

If the graphical pop-in/flicker bothers you a lot, I'm told that apparently you can try tweaking the XML config file to improve things. I haven't tried it (got used to it, after a while I barely notice it anymore) but there it is.

 

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16967

[Tigranes]

Oh wow, OK. So later you meet these gnomes, and turns out some of them learned to talk, but obviously they picked it up from pirates, so the it's a pidgin of their own language and....

 

These guys are hilarious, awesome stuff.

[Nightshape]

Think I'll pick it up when it's released on 360, I believe they're planning a version - I haven't checked this out robustly, but I'm sure it'll give me plenty of reason to annoy mkreku immensely.

 

Speaking of which, I'm moving to Uppsala.

[Sisay]

One big question mark is whether, like all other PB games, the last bit of the game will devolve into mindless hack and slash - Risen 1, like all Gothics, wasn't worth playing once that happened. In a related way, I hope I don't see many more 'boss battles', I saw one and it was (a) far too easy, (b) stupid-boring.

 

Fairly light Risen 2 spoilers.

 

There is one short section that could be considered to be a dungeon crawl, but it's nothing like the whole latter part of the game like in Risen 1. When you run out of islands to explore, the game ends quite quickly. I think it's better than the typical final hack and slash portions of PB's games, but it did seem just a bit abrupt. There could have been another short dungeon or something. There are more boss fights, but not that many.

 

[mkreku]

Finished the game already. Damnit!

 

I would give this game a 7/10, if I had to grade it. The story is so-so. Not awful or bad, but you have seen it all before and there's no twist or anything like that. You just follow along and do the things the game asks of you and that's it. But the dialogue is very well written and actually funny in a few instances. I liked it a lot. They've improved immensely since the first Gothic games.

 

The technology behind this game is awesome. I know it flickers and the popup can be disturbing. But I had ONE crash the entire 45 (or so) hours it took me to complete the game! And that crash was 'clean', as in the game just suddenly disappeared right after the final battle! Yes, the only crash came with 30 seconds left to play. Ironic. I also didn't break any quests, there were no major bugs, I only saw two bodies fall through the terrain once and it really runs smooth as butter on my rig. Hats off to Piranha Bytes for creating such an excellent game engine.

 

The combat.. well, this is this game's biggest flaw. I bought the parry and the riposte, but I never used them. Instead I relied on the over-abundance of healing thingies (booze, actually) as they can be ingested immediately and without penalties (no animation, no disturbance in the combat, nothing) and then just mashed the attack button from start to finish. I tried learning to parry and riposte, but it was no use. It's just quicker and less painful to smash the attack button until you win. This game really needed a dodge move. Fortunately, you'll get powerful enough after a while that the combat is swift and over with quickly.

 

The world. Definitely the biggest strength of Risen 2, as usual when it comes to a game from Piranha Bytes. It's not big, it's not varied, it's not even pretty or majestic or any other superlative you might expect from it. But damn, do those boys at Piranha Bytes know how to create interesting nooks and crannies! There's always something to see and/or do. Always. It wasn't as good as Gothic or Gothic 3, but definitely the best I've played since.. well, Risen. I don't like that they've divided it into islands. Actually, I like the islands, but I don't like that they're feeling like individual levels now. No loading times and actual sailing would improve this a lot.

 

The quests. Varied and funny. I had a lot more fun with the side-quests than the actual main quest. Some quests have a sort of adventure feel to them as in you have to actually think to complete them. I really like this! I still hold Gothic 3 as Piranha Bytes best work when it comes to quests, but Risen 2 is not far behind. There are a lot of them too.

 

One funny (and worrying) thing worth mentioning is how Piranha Bytes seem to be regressing when it comes to ambition. In Gothic you had a medium sized world where you could run, jump, climb, swim and dive. In Gothic 2 you could run, jump, climb,swim and semi-dive (I think you could dive but not actually do anything under water). In Gothic 3, you could run, jump and swim. In Risen you could run, jump and semi-climb (not everywhere). In Risen 2 you can run, half-jump and barely climb (only in designated, very visible places). If there's a Risen 3, I expect to only be able to run along the ground and get stuck on small stones, like in Bioware games. WORRYING.

 

All in all, I had a blast. The islands were a tad bit too small and repetitive, the main quest a bit too.. plain, the game mechanics a little bit too restricted (moving around the world) and too simple (the combat). But the dialogue is great, the characters likeable, the setting is awesome (never thought I'd think this) and I really wanted to just keep playing. It has that arbitrary fun factor that's so hard to pinpoint. Great game.

[Tigranes]

Done. Steam says 23 hours, savefile says 19, they're both probably right given the amount of death/reloads involved. That puts it roughly at the same length as most other RPGs the last 5 years, since I tend to do everything pretty fast.

 

Definitely a solid RPG, fun game, PB title with a few ups and downs from R1. The setting worked well, the game was very consistently good all the way through, but I'm disappointed that it's an easier game and the sword combat has degraded.

 

Looking forward to the voodoo. Not entirely sure how I feel about the exploration stuff, since *in practice*, the exploration I did in R2 wasn't that different from R1. But it definitely is more linear.

[LadyCrimson]

If you mean a voodoo based build, I'd love to know how that turns out. I probably won't have the patience/time/motivation to run the game more than once, but it did look a bit intriguing.

 

Also, for both of you - is the DLC included in the "I'm done"? Since I see no separate DLC "button" I assume it's something that becomes available to enter at or near the end of the base game? Or is it integrated into the main game in some fashion?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Been playing it a couple of hours so far. I'm enjoying it but I'm not sure if I like the design shift to some more standard RPG mechanics, fast travel, normal equipment, etc. Combat sucks too, but eh, Piranha Bytes.

[mkreku]

I think the DLC is its own island that you can just sail to after it opens up somehow in the main campaign. I didn't get it with the collector's edition (!) so I'm not sure about this, but it's what I read.

[Orchomene]

If you mean a voodoo based build, I'd love to know how that turns out. I probably won't have the patience/time/motivation to run the game more than once, but it did look a bit intriguing.

 

Also, for both of you - is the DLC included in the "I'm done"? Since I see no separate DLC "button" I assume it's something that becomes available to enter at or near the end of the base game? Or is it integrated into the main game in some fashion?

 

Voodoo is fun and well integrated as a possible way to solve situations via voodoo dolls. But it's not really impressive in combat as far as I can imagine.

The DLC is quite integrated to the story : after some discussions with Patty, you get the quest to find clues for the Blackbeard treasure. The clues are scattered all over the different islands and the conclusion of the quest takes place on a seperate island.

[Gorgon]

I caved and got it.

 

 

I don't remember Risen looking this bad grapically. Maybe it's just that they stuck more cutscrenes and dialouge where the camera takes control in, as is the fashion these days.

 

What should I spend points on to begin with ?. Trying to avoid the usual re starting 60 times syndrome that I have wth RPGs. Is there a retool function somewhere later on.

[Labadal]

I started with cunning and swords. Cunning because I wanted to lockpick and pick pockets as soon as I could. Swords because that's what you start with, and upgrading this helps in fights vs humans.

[Tigranes]

You get plenty of Glory (XP) so don't worry too much about screwing up. You have to choose Firearms vs. Voodoo later, so don't bother putting points in yet until you do. 4 Cunning is required for pickpocketing & locking picks, so keep that in mind.

 

Game looks a lot better in the actual islands once you get off the firey initial location.