Risen 2 - Review @ RPG Codex
 

RPG Codex has posted a review of Risen 2, calling the game "Risen 2: FedEx Waters". In general, it's quite negative with a litany of complaints from the combat to the questing to the exploration, with the writing and humour being the only real high points:
More information.

Hmm, sounds pretty bad. Glad I didn't jump onboard.

Risen 2 isn't bad at all. I disagree with a lot of what the reviewer said.

I liked Risen 1 more myself, but if you think you can afford to ignore a game like Risen 2 for some minor flaw, then you can pretty much give up to the entire genre these days.

Dissapointing, I liked Risen 1. I will probably pick this up eventually but not until it drops price quite a bit.

I like my paper box - I haven't given up on brick and mortar yet. I will get Risen 2 somewhere down the line but I hate the fact that they are forcing PC buyers to get it digitally - at least in the US. So this is my form of protest.

Well it sounded like the combat was bad. And the lack of an open world like the Gothics and Risen is also a turnoff. Mainly boring fetch quests too give me a sigh. All in all not such minor flaws in my eyes. But I am open to revising my opinion, since a pirate setting is a big plus for me.

The combat is a step back from Risen, but it's not as bad as some try to make it sound. The world is open, and the sidequests aren't any different than 99% of the other AAA crpgs on the market.

Exploration isn't as satisfying as PB's older titles, but it's worth playing for the story, characters, and atmosphere if you like that setting.

I was disappointed, though I put it aside halfway through, so perhaps I haven't seen the best moments. As much as I like the setting in theory, it didn't do much for me in practice. The combat, exploration and other issues are well documented but it was the poor story exposition and the tone that took an additional toll. I like a touch of humour in my games but I didn't care much for either the overdone pirates or the ooga-booga natives.

All things considered it is still a good game, but definately a step in the wrong direction for PB. The loss of their trademark things like great exploration and all the impressive ambient stuff npc-s used to do in their earlier games is especially painful for me, as is cutting some key skills like prospecting and hunting related skills. The setting is great in theory, but the writing to support it is very weak (and it has never been PB's forte anyway). And all the endless fedex quests are a slap in the face to all the old PB fans.

Was anyone even expecting a positive review from the Codex?

Risen got quite a positive review from Codex. Coincidentially it is also a very different game at its core. One with all of PB-s old strengths intact.

I really loved the game for the most part, but I got sidetracked in the latter half of it. That's not a good sign - and I have to admit that the islands turned out to be too samey. Exploration was much less interesting after getting halfway through, because it was pretty apparent that it was the same stuff you were going to see.

The combat isn't good, either. Well, I should say it's not very well balanced - because I found it was pretty entertaining overall. I think they made voodoo too complicated/messy - and firearms (especially the muskets) way too powerful.

Overall, I consider it a good game - and the atmosphere is absolutely fantastic for a long time. It's just really sad that they couldn't fill it up with more variety in terms of locations and exploration.

It also got a rough reception from the mainstream media - and I fear it will not have sold enough copies to really make a sequel particularly desirable for the investors.

I loved Risen, but I had some problems with the Buccaneer setting of R2. It always seemed to me that PB wanted to enter the Pirates of the Caribbean bandwagon, and the early screenshots just strengthened this feeling (funny baby-faced enemies with maori tattoo, Alice Cooper lookalike voodoo priests, sexy gals in red latex, etc)… as if they could not decide whether the game is a parody of Gothic/Risen, or a full-fledged pirate adventure in its own right.
See: http://www.dsogaming.com/news/risen-…2-screenshots/

I was hoping Risen 2 would be to Risen 1 what Gothic 2 was to Gothic 1. That was not the case, unfortunately. However, I still enjoyed it a lot, and I do consider it a great game.

Both Risens are a major waste of potential in my opinion. There are many good ideas to be seen but in the end everything is just pretty half-assed.
I basically have a love/hate relationship with both games. I love the good old PB style and atmosphere, the exploration, the humorous characters and dialogue and I hate just about everything else.
As for the Risen franchise, I sincerely hope that PB (or DS for that matter) is going to bury it. It has no future. There is no continuity, no lore, no coherent story, no depth, nothing…
I wish they would start over from scratch with a new universe and actually think stuff through next time.
Create a universe. Create a world. Create lore and create a vision. Then make a game based on that vision.
In essence: Rediscover creativity or -if they have lost all creativity as it seems when looking at Risen 1 + 2- then go and hire someone who is able to come up with and follow through on a creative vision.

Eventually, I will play Risen 2 as I like Piranha Bytes but I simply refuse to pay full price for a digital download and I definitely refuse to support Day-0 DLC. Consequently, I have no choice but to wait for a Steam sale that includes all DLC.

I wonder how many people thought like me thus leading to lost sales during release.

Considering the mixed reviews, it becomes easy to have the patience until the Steam sale arrives :).

Harsh. I haven't playe R2 yet, but I tentatively agree - I thought pretty much from the beginning that as fun as the pirate theme seemed in and by itself, it was a strange choice with regards to developing a sequel, and thus with developing Risen as a franchise. Might have been better they'd just done a pirate game, if that's what they wanted to do.

I think that reason why risen and risen 2 have so different setting is that PB got gothic licence while risen 2 was announced and still pretty far in development.First risen was spiritual successor to gothic but once they got licence back they no longer needed successor and made risen 2 distinctive from gothic.That is my theory.

ummmm yeah

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