Risen 2 - A Pirate's Life @ IGN

I don't know about "serious". From Mud and the pot smoking swamp dwellers in Gothic 1 to Fred and the silly gnomes in Risen… PB games have always had humorous elements and all of their games have had a USK 12 German age rating (and as we all know Germany is usually pretty strict when it comes to gritty! and dark! and mature! games).
In true pirate fashion, Risen 2 will have either a parrot or a monkey as a companion on your shoulder that is supposed to spice things up with sometimes helpful and often times hilarious comments so the humor in Risen 2 is definitely covered. A gnome companion has also been all but confirmed so it's hard to imagine that the game will be super serious.

I didn't say "super serious" or completely devoid of humor. I also said "plausible" which is probably the most important thing about their stories.

I really like their down-to-earth characters with mostly fully believable motivations and ambitions.

I don't think I've ever played a pirate game that wasn't partially tongue-in-cheek and a bit too "arrrr, matey!" - and I'm not convinced even PB can pull one off. I certainly hope we're not getting a big cliché from them.

Not sure what that is all about. With the exception of the NotR expansion which did turn Gothic 2 into a fairly challenging game, I'd say that PB games have always been very accessible once you got over the initial control scheme issues (especially of Gothic 1). There has always been enough in-game help like every NPC telling you to stay on the roads and stuff like that. The games have also been very easy to play since Gothic 1 was originally supposed to become a Playstation game. All of the game's functions easily fit on a console controller.
I find it strange that people like to think of PB games as hardcore RPGs. They have always been RPG-flavored action adventures to me.

Gothics accessible and very easy?

Ehm, ok.

We live in different worlds :)

I'm about as "hardcore" as they come, and even I can remember some initial frustration with controls and a shit-load of early deaths in Gothic. One of the most sobering games, even at the time of release.
 
Nice bit of Fox News work there Kapitan ;)

Here is his complete quote:

Strategy Informer: We understand you've got a studio called Wizarbox - the same people who did the 360 port of the original game - to do the console versions of Risen 2 as well. Are you guys still not that confident with doing console games?

Daniel Oberlerchner: The issue with that is the internal view is different from the external view. When Risen was conceived, it was originally going to be a PC only game, no one wanted to do a console version. But then we were halfway through development and we thought that maybe a console version wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. But if you're familiar with development cycles, then you'll know that by that time we'd already done pre-production: All the interface, all the structure of the game.

So you've got a game with a huge island, no loading zones, dynamic weather, AI like crazy, sound effects… everything a console hates! And then you do a console version. So from our, internal, perspective - and something people on the outside wouldn't necessarily know - Wizarbox did a damn good job considering what they were given. We were lucky to have an Xbox version at all. But people on the outside don't know the difficulty of what is needed, so people on the outside were thinking "oh, Risen is not good enough".

But with Risen 2 you can already see, even in the alpha version, that it's already better - they just needed the right structure in place from the beginning. So for Risen 2 we decided to have multiplayer islands, so that the memory can be flushed when you move from one to the other. The interface will be the same for everyone, as well the controls - with the exception being a "quick wheel" on the console instead of a quick bar.

He's talking about how they made it possible for the console.

This question deals with actual multi-player and not how they got around the technical limitations of a console:

Strategy Informer: Did you guys ever consider multiplayer for Risen 2? Other RPG franchises are starting to experiment with it, after all.

Daniel Oberlerchner: It's a question that always comes up during development, however it would of course limit what you could do. In Risen, your decisions are important, what you choose to do with the characters are important. They remember what you're doing… now imagine someone's trying to trade with someone, and the other is just trying to attack them with a huge axe, or something. There are different solutions to that, different instances etc… but in a single-player RPG would end up having so much that you end up with a very diluted experience.
 
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Didn't know he worked for PB, if indeed he does. So I guess earlier reports about the size are wrong?

Don´t take my word for it, but I vaguely remember that in one of the interviews/previews it was quite clearly stated that the "as big as G3" referred to the overall "map" size that includes sea as well, which means the actual traversable portion will be smaller.
Personally, what I hope for (and rather expect) is an overall landmass size roughly equal to G2:NotR´s and three main islands roughly corresponding with G2: NotR´s three main maps. Even if it the overland maps will be a bit smaller, dungeon spelunking aspect should still make up for it.

I´m a bit worried about the extent of openness of the exterior maps themselves though. As in Risen, swimming is out, I don´t think there´ll be an equivalent of levitation spell either and, considering travelling with companions has been apparently given more prominent role, I won´t be much surprised if the world design turns out to be more on the corridor-y side and climbing only possible via hot-spots.
 
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I don't get why they would remove swimming...it doesn't really make sense for a pirate rpg.
 
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I don't get why they would remove swimming…it doesn't really make sense for a pirate rpg.

Sense or not... swimming and diving is not going to be in Risen 2, unfortunately. It'll be like the first Risen where you can only wade through shallow water.

... climbing only possible via hot-spots.

That one has been confirmed. There will no longer be any free climbing but you will indeed have to be on the lookout for climbing hot-spots if you want to reach a higher place.

Gothics accessible and very easy?

Ehm, ok.

We live in different worlds :)

I'm about as "hardcore" as they come, and even I can remember some initial frustration with controls and a shit-load of early deaths in Gothic. One of the most sobering games, even at the time of release.

Aha, so you're one of those guys who skips dialogue without actually listening to what NPCs have to say :) .
Seriously, once you get over the initial control issues which takes all of 15 minutes or even less for an experienced gamer, Gothic is really not a very difficult game to get into.

You follow the path down to the old camp, you talk to NPCs, and if you actually listen to what they have to say then you're getting tons of in-game hints about how to proceed... like to only fight low level creatures (bloodflies, scavengers, wolves etc.). They are also telling you to always stay on the roads or to make sure to talk to one of the companion NPCs if you want to travel from the old camp to the swamp or to the mercenary camp because it would be too dangerous to travel on your own.
There is a lot of subtle guidance in all of the early dialogues and journal entries.
You can also save at any time so you can always do a bit of trial & error gaming like taking on a dangerous looking critter, getting your ass kicked, reload, continue.

That doesn't really make it a hardcore game in my book. As I said, the controls are simple and you can easily play the game with a gamepad. You have a very limited choice of equipment (just one piece of armor instead of multiple slots), a very limited number of stats and skills to keep track of, non-degradable equipment, and there's generally very little need for micromanagement ... compared to many other RPGs -especially of its time- Gothic is very "RPG light" in the typical "hardcore" departments and at least IMHO certainly a game that is/was mainstream compatible due to its simple gameplay mechanics and pleasing visuals (at the time). The series also sold hundreds of thousands of copies in German speaking territories so it's proven to be a series that appeals to the mass market at least in our part of the world.
 
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Jump/climb hotspots, that's rather disapointing. A bit expected i guess since they seem to be going towards more streamlined games.

Makes me wonder if Skyrim will be the last RPG that will have jumping/climbing/diving. at least it'll be the last one with full exploration possiblites for quite a while it seems. this makes me a saaaaaaaaaad panda.
 
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That one has been confirmed.
There will no longer be any free climbing but you will indeed have to be on the lookout for climbing hot-spots if you want to reach a higher place.
Well, that certainly sucks then. Can´t say I´m surprised, obviously :).


Seriously, once you get over the initial control issues which takes all of 15 minutes or even less for an experienced gamer, Gothic is really not a very difficult game to get into.

There is a lot of subtle guidance in all of the early dialogues and journal entries.
You can also save at any time so you can always do a bit of trial & error gaming like taking on a dangerous looking critter, getting your ass kicked, reload, continue.

Doesn´t seem like you´re really in disagreement then, I´ve bolded somewhat relevant parts for you :).
(though I would replace "experienced gamer" with a "somewhat flexible" one)

I´ve played first two Gothics shortly after their english releases and by that time I can´t say they´ve felt "hardcore" to me either. "Hardcore" meaning in general, aka uncompromising towards player, not the more specific requires-hours-to-read-about-rule-system-before-start iteration.
They felt reasonably challenging and fair.

They are also telling you to always stay on the roads or to make sure to talk to one of the companion NPCs if you want to travel from the old camp to the swamp or to the mercenary camp because it would be too dangerous to travel on your own.
But the game doesn´t restrict you to explore the off-roads on your own and a lot of these regions contain dangerous opponents right from the start.

Anyway, these games became, relatively, more "hardcore" as time went by.
Stuff like enemies not being level scaled or guidance being merely subtle has not been exactly common in more recent cRPGs and pretty much every cRPG nowadays also comes with adjustable difficulty settings, which neither of the first two Gothics had and that alone is quite a big deal in regards to this topic.

I find it strange that people like to think of PB games as hardcore RPGs.
I´m pretty sure most of the people are well aware these games are actually action RPGs.

They have always been RPG-flavored action adventures to me.
General questing may be "RPG-flavored" adventure, but the combat, which is a major part of these games, is action/RPG-ness distilled :).
Even a lot of "non-action" RPGs tie character development mechanics only to combat and resource management and leave dialogues and general quest solutions entirely on player (no skill checks).
 
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Makes me wonder if Skyrim will be the last RPG that will have jumping/climbing/diving.
Last TES game that has climbing is Daggerfall and of course Morrowind still has levitation which alone makes a lot more for vertical exploration than climbing can, but Oblivion has neither and I doubt that´s changed for Skyrim.
 
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I think it's great that PB is trying something new again. Sure, they tend to be an over ambitious lot, but let's keep in mind they damn near revolutionized open world RPGs on their first attempt when trying something new (Gothic 1). They decided to play it safe when developing Risen 1, which is fair enough when establishing a new franchise, but it's high time they made another attempt at making an RPG that's memorable for years to come.
 
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Last TES game that has climbing is Daggerfall and of course Morrowind still has levitation which alone makes a lot more for vertical exploration than climbing can, but Oblivion has neither and I doubt that´s changed for Skyrim.

I've jumped/climbed on top of stuff numerous times in Oblivion so there's no problem of exploring verticaly. Acrobatics allows you to make higher jumps which allows you to get get to higher spots.. I'm not sure what the difference was in MW, if there was one it wasnt noticeable to me.

But whatever, it wasnt really the point, i just think it sucks that all (except for Skyrim) new RPG's removes diving and jumping, it makes the game world so much less immersive.
 
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I've jumped/climbed on top of stuff numerous times in Oblivion so there's no problem of exploring verticaly. Acrobatics allows you to make higher jumps which allows you to get get to higher spots.. I'm not sure what the difference was in MW, if there was one it wasnt noticeable to me.

But whatever, it wasnt really the point, i just think it sucks that all (except for Skyrim) new RPG's removes diving and jumping, it makes the game world so much less immersive.

Yes, it seems we are moving backwards in that respect.
 
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But whatever, it wasnt really the point, i just think it sucks that all (except for Skyrim) new RPG's removes diving and jumping, it makes the game world so much less immersive.
I got the point and think the same :).
However, I made that post with the assumption that free jumping is still there in Risen 2 and if it is, that would potentially mean the same "vertical" possibilities as in Oblivion (on land), plus the addition of "real" (as in, directly upwards) climbing which is something Oblivion doesn´t have.

Or is jumping also only possible via hot-spots, falling from cliffs isn´t possible, etc., in Risen 2?
 
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Or is jumping also only possible via hot-spots, falling from cliffs isn´t possible, etc., in Risen 2?

I would really like to know this as well.

doberlec, could you elaborate on this please?

I remember that in one of the interviews doberlec (i think it was) said that you can transform into your pet monkey, and that this monkey can jump and crawl into small spaces (through a window for example). So hmm, if they've restricted jumping to hotspots it would mean you can only transform into the pet monkey at hotspots too?
 
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I would really like to know this as well.

doberlec, could you elaborate on this please?

I remember that in one of the interviews doberlec (i think it was) said that you can transform into your pet monkey, and that this monkey can jump and crawl into small spaces (through a window for example). So hmm, if they've restricted jumping to hotspots it would mean you can only transform into the pet monkey at hotspots too?

Alright there seems to be some mixup on the different degrees of freedom in the game, so here are the details:

Jumping: You can jump anytime you want, no limitations.

Climbing: You can climb on ledges on specific spots in the game world. This is how those ledges look in the game and how climbing will look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvyXlkju13Q

Monkey: The monkey is very much like the Nautilus spell in Risen 1. You can transform into the monkey and control him at any time you want as long as you have learned the skill to do it. Whereas the Nautilus was a very passive creature, the monkey can not only pass through smaller holes but he can also loot items, activate levers/buttons and open chests. Some houses have windows which are not guarded so you can just stand in front of the window, activate your "pocket-monkey" and you can sneak into the room. You also have to be careful though: NPCs will follow the monkey when you obviously enter a building by running across them. If you get caught stealing with the monkey, NPCs will attack you and they can also kill you. If you monkey gets killed, you will be taken back to your character and you loose the items which the monkey had in its pockets. So it's not an overpowered skill and it also has a penalty if you don't take care of your monkey.
 
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Ah..ok. So climbing is actually the same as it always was. It's not "hot-spots" in the way that some people were thinking. It just has to be a climbable ledge.


If you monkey gets killed, you will be taken back to your character and you loose the items which the monkey had in its pockets. So it's not an overpowered skill and it also has a penalty if you don't take care of your monkey.

What happens if the monkey misbehaves? Can you spank the monkey?
 
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No, but you can shock the monkey.

Actually, I like the sound of this. Makes being a thief more interesting.
 
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