I should write an email to all the dumb reviewers that don't get this game, because Risen is the most fun game I've played in years--but I'm too lazy to do that.
The RealGamer comments are especially stupid. Besides, I really don't care if such silly little staples of fantasy RPG look similar to other games. How many games are there in which you open chests in that same way, anyway?
I'm glad I got the PC version, but it's unfortunate that the Xbox 360 version suffers so much. In truth, the screenshot comparison didn't bother me so much. It seemed like a matter of taste to me, even with the decreased foliage and detail. But maybe you need to see it in action to see the problems.
for this kind of problems, changing driver version might do.
one of you will have to try various old drivers (incl. betas), or you both wait for the next version.
it's easier messing with nvidia drivers than ati, so i would give it a try asap if interested in the game.
I would recommend this too. Old cards usually work better with old drivers. My 8800GTS640 that I sold last year had problems with new drivers too. The best driver I ever had was the unofficial omega driver. Even though a bit old (the one who made it didnt update it) it worked great in all games.
After about 8 hours of playing, my impression is, that this is the best game released in the last couple of years (can't say for sure yet, since I'm still not very far into the game). It really saddens me that when a game like this finally is made, it gets trashed by reviewers. 3/10 , 4/10, that's scores that only the very worst games of the year gets... unbelievable and sad.
Perhaps risen is niche game by todays standards. Some reviewers falsely trash niche games because they dont uphold the values of the mainstream ones. Anyways it doesnt matter much if people just keep buying it.
Even the local gamesmag gave only 80% (two worlds got 76% and I think there is a world's difference) without recommendation while they score over 90% to most mainstream games.
Yes, Risen is probably a niche game. It's very different from Oblivion and Fable, and maybe that's why I like it so much. I can imagine it takes some effort to get into for some people not used to similar games, and it's not as easy to play as, for example Oblivion.
I get the impression that many of the negative reviewers dislike the same things that I like about the game, and list them as negatives. One reviewer complained that the game map isn't helpful enough, and that you had to read the manual to understand certain aspects of the game, for example. And that you have to find trainers to improve your skills, instead of just improving them yourself when you level up.
And all these comparisons with Fable and Oblivion.. I can understand that if those games are your favorite rpgs, and you consider them the masterpieces of the genre, you might not like Risen. But still, reviews that give the game 3/10?? That's just too harsh. That's a score that should only be given to a game that's completely broken and unplayable IMO (and Risen works as intended, I have seen zero bugs so far).
What I fear is that all of this will make the game a financial disaster, which in turn means less chance for similar games in the future.
European-made CRPGs always seem to get a rough ride from reviewers in the US and the UK. I still enjoy the likes of Oblivion for what they are, but it seems that the mainstream press gloss over the flaws whereas Risen gets panned for any shortcomings it has.
I also like Oblivions for what they are, and have great fun when playing them, even if my last post may have indicated something else. I just like games like Risen much more
And maybe everything isn't lost, Risen got some good scores as well. And let's wait and see what happens when sites like Gamespot and IGN give their opinions.
And maybe I exaggerate the importance of reviews, word of mouth and such may be more important, I'm not sure.
Haha, nice one. But then again i dont need it, bought the game and loving it.
Only problem i have is some minor clipping problems and some sounds issues.
Someone slap me pls for buying anything from the Gothic-lineage at release day. HARDER! >.<
I have the same bug like almost all Nvidia 79xx and some others: the entire game has a FUGLY grey fog over everything. It looks terrible. Now they are "working on it".
NOW. AGAIN. Well, I'll be damned if I EVER EVER EVER again buy something even remote connected to Gothic earler than 1 year later from the grab bag for €10. *__*
Blast it!
You tried a different driver?
Or perhaps buy a new card, cost are low for a decent card. 79xx is kinda old aint it?
Also you can try riva tuner and do a setting reset in rivatuner. it worked for me, because i had THE SAME problem with age of conan and rivatuner fixed it for me !
Risen is not a mainstream game for the general mass. Reviewers need to appeal to their readers' taste, otherwise Joe Simple - who bought it because of their positive review - will trash them after finding out he couldn't master the game in the first 5 minutes. Of course lying about facts is intolerable, and such misleading should be punished.
What is this graphic problem that you guys are speaking of? Any screenshots?
And yeah, console reviews made me mad... But again, consoles attract different crowd of people, who has much different tastes... *summons up all my might to stop right here and not talk about how I feel about what console trends are doing to gaming*
For those interested… The game works perfectly on Win7 latest release candidate (it's legal so don't think I own something that isn't out yet) and nVidia 8600GT.
There is no "nVidia driver problem" there whatsoever.
There is a certain problem that leads to a game crash after several hours of gameplay, but I simply don't care. Why? The quicksave is made in - as it seems to me - just one milisecond!
Other than that I don't see any problem with the game at all. For now.
Because I havn't played the game itself much, but I tellya this one looks promising.
One of revievers up there said 3/10. Three?! Is that a joke or what? Oh, I know, PB didn't pay him for a positive review.
Just for the sound and looks this can't go below 7.
Picked up Risen this afternoon, I've played it for about 2 hours now. So, Initial Impressions follow.
Firstly, I the story premise is kinda interesting, moreso than the standard fantasy RPG. Yes, you're a shipwreck survivor but...well, in case someone wants absolutely no spoilers, I'll wrap the introduction revealed in the starting movie in tags
The premise is that humanity has banished the Gods which ruled them for ages past. But the departure of the Gods has caused some other, ancient power to rise up, something which causes storms, earthquakes and temples to rise out of the ground. The movie shows the Head Inquisitor trying to fight an invisible-to-everyone-but-him sea monster in the heart of one of the storms. Your character is a stow-away on his ship, ,which promptly gets destroyed. But not before the inquisitor teleports away. So the story intrigues me. The twist on the "ancient evil rises" with humanity banishing its Gods leading to these events is fairly cool, and the sea monster gave me a cthulu-sea-beasty vibe.
Ok, so good start to the game, I want to dig into the story. You quickly discover that these events have affected the island you start on. The Inquisition have taken over, they are investigating the risen temples. The mages of the Convocation are obeying the Inquision. Don Esteban and his men have been forced out into the swamp and have become "bandits", biding their time and building their forces/cash. It is classic Gothic faction division, a good thing.
The game feels a lot like previous Gothics, it is essentially Gothic 4 even down to the familiar boars. The setting is lush and beautiful, I have a powerful machine so I can run it on max. Just like Gothic 3 I find it extremely pretty, you really feel like it is a real world, it is amazingly engaging, visually. The same NPC cycles are in there, bringing the NPCs to life. And they will notice if you enter their houses, chasing you around and going hostile. Great stuff.
Speaking of NPCs, this brings me to my only criticism so far. The NPC models are...ok. There are some obvious issues in a few cases with the animations/joint bending, and the females look just...bad, while the males are ok.
That being said, on the other side of the coin I find the voice over and dialogue engaging and well done, better than Gothic 3. NPCs have personality, nothing makes me cringe. So, better by far than NWN2 already.
The combat is actioney. But I'm finding it better than Gothic 3. While there is still a lot of twitch, and at first I got handed my ass, I've gotten the hang of it and can take on 2 or so at a time. Boars are still a problem, but I'm level 3, so...overall, combat seems better. I haven't got to magic or bow yet, but melee was the biggest issue in Gothic 3.
Just want to add here, I've experienced no bugs and the performance is really good. Load times, menus, all respond quickly. Game is smooth. (Various people are getting reports of that grey fog on older cards though)
So far , Risen is a really enjoyable RPG experience. I need to go further before I can give it my full recommendation, but...very promising.
All in all, most PC reviews seem to be getting good scores, but the XBox versions don't. I suspect the porting was not very successful, though I have yet to try the XBox version myself.
It's one of very few games that are developed for the PC, then ported to a console. Guess it turned out about as great as most console ports to the PC...
I have played the demo only. It was a very good demo. I would give it a 8/10, don't know about the rest of the game, though. However, if the rest of the game is as polished and well designed, especially the art direction, as it is in the demo, I commend Piranha Bytes for listening to its fans, making the game they want to make, not the game, Atari wants to make. They being Piranha Bytes, of course.
On another, the story's take on the ancient evil rising is so much better than the story in Mass Effect or in Dragon Age: Origins. Really, really unique and creative it seems to be The story behind DA: Origins is slightly build around the same concept of mankind banishing or no longer believing in the Old Gods, but the premise for Risen is much better, I find.
