Risen 2 - Delayed till August!

Detail corrections:
The reviews don't criticize "the weak quests" but rather that a number of quests are rather simple. That's a big difference.

I don't know... PC Action said "Many collect-this-kill-that quests" and PC Games said "FedEx quests are in the majority".
Since the mags also criticized the weak story, meaning that there are obviously no overly exciting main plot quests either, I thought that it would be safe to summarize that the quests are generally, well, weak :) .

Which is quite a pity. PB has been in desperate need of a decent writer since Gothic 1 in my opinion and one keeps hoping from game to game that they can finally at least match Gothic 1's level in the story department but it looks like we'll have to wait for Risen 3 before we see any substantial improvements in that area *sigh*...
 
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BTW it is 40 bucks on greenmangaming, I bought it, love me some PB exploration.
 
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Not that I expected different, but the first mainstream reviews are pretty negative.

6.5 from IGN and 7 from Destructoid.
 
Piranha Bytes continues the trend of making its signature style of role-playing more digestible in Risen 2: Dark Waters, though in the process thins out too much of the series' fascinating density.

And coming from mainstream IGN no less. Double ouch...

It's too bad, then, that the environment types are reused so often. Piranha Bytes chose to create multiple, separate islands for Risen 2, as opposed to a larger, single space. With the exception of the fiery cliffs of Caldera and darkened gloom of the Isle of the Dead, the islands don't look distinct, so while trekking through the woods in search of hidden treasures, it's often tough to tell at a glance whether the cave, beach or jungle you're exploring is in Maracai or Tacarigua, lessening the thrill of exploration.

Risen 2 may not foster the same sense of adventure as Piranha Bytes' past work
...

The smaller scale of the explorable areas also means it's harder to feel lost and isolated. It's a strange decision considering a big component of Piranha Bytes' past work has been creating spaces that let you wander far off quest paths. The upside, at least for players who prefer when designers hold their hand, is a more focused experience.

Triple ouch. Pretty much confirms every fear I had for the game... :-/
 
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I'm currently replaying Risen while waiting for Risen 2. The only thing that really needs an upgrade are the characters - both in terms of animations and writing. In a rather beautiful game, they look really out of place in a lot of cases. A slightly bigger world would've been good too I suppose.

So far, it seems they've changed a lot more than that. I honestly don't see a reason for that, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
 
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"Unfortunately the same sense of reward does not accompany the acquisition of armor sets, which are unceremoniously purchased from vendors in Risen 2, a huge departure from the protracted cycles of anticipation and reward normally associated with gear in Piranha Bytes games, where armor sets are major achievements that symbolize progress, status and faction alignment. "

Indeed.

"the islands don't look distinct"

Extremely disapointing :/
 
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I don't mind those things that much, but I still hope they've fixed the weird plant LOD.

But it most certainly doesn't look like it will be the Risen sequel we've been hoping for.
 
I'm currently replaying Risen while waiting for Risen 2. The only thing that really needs an upgrade are the characters - both in terms of animations and writing. In a rather beautiful game, they look really out of place in a lot of cases. A slightly bigger world would've been good too I suppose.

Couldn't agree more. Some improvements in quest design and the combat system (balancing and making the game a bit harder overall imo) would have been welcome too but I could have done without... I am afraid in their quest to streamline for a wider audience PB will just succeed in alienating their core audience.

All this effort would have been better spent in creating more content and polishing the game. Also, if their tech was the problem that forced them to segregate the world for the xbox then they should have started by improving on that imo. Skyrim seems to handle a much bigger world quite fine i.e while looking quite a bit better in the process...

Unfortunately the same sense of reward does not accompany the acquisition of armor sets, which are unceremoniously purchased from vendors in Risen 2, a huge departure from the protracted cycles of anticipation and reward normally associated with gear in Piranha Bytes games, where armor sets are major achievements that symbolize progress, status and faction alignment.

Why is there not a crying sm... oh wait found it: :'(
 
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All I wanted from a new Risen was approximately twice the size and a better balance between open world and dungeon exploration.
 
That would have been great.

I was also hoping back then that they would pull another NOTR and add that much to part1. (I must have been posting that wishful thinking for months here :roll:)

That would have given us pretty damn close to a second G2+NOTR level of experience... Sigh...
 
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I didn't mind the heavy dungeon exploration in the 2nd half of Risen so much. What bothered me the most was the lack of variety in the enemies.

It seemed to have a very limited bestiary compared to PB's other games, and it bugged me that enemies of the same archetype all dropped identical loot.
 
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I love dungeon exploration, but I felt Risen recycled the interior environments way too much - as well as the same 3-4 puzzles over and over.

I also agree with JDR that there was a serious lack of enemy variety, but it sort of made sense given the story.

But I had really great hopes for Risen 2 - and though they're not shattered at this point, I kinda think the writing is on the wall.
 
Destructoid gave it a 7. I know its not a big deal but there counted with the score on metacritic.

Risen 2: Dark Waters is a difficult game to review, because I want to express how much I enjoyed myself in spite of the mountains of criticism that it quite rightly deserves. It's unnecessarily mean-spirited, it demands an immense amount of the player's time before it hits its stride, and the whole thing's potentially offensive to boot. All that said, when it finally opens up and lets the player have fun, Risen 2 has hours upon hours of legitimately enjoyable gameplay on offer. The frustration of getting trapped in the corner by a faster opponent never lets up, but once players get strong enough to soak it up and hit back, the feeling of relief and vindication is remarkable. All told, you'll get over thirty hours of pirate-flavored silliness that will brutalize you, then make you feel good inside.

What Piranha Bytes has developed could have been a thoroughly supreme game, one that could have gone toe to toe with the heavyweights of action role-playing. Due to a number of highly questionable design decisions, however, a lot of that potential has withered away. With so much lost, it's perhaps a testament to how talented the team secretly is that Risen 2 is still packed with fun in the face of truly inhibiting setbacks.

That deserves a modest round of applause, at the very least.


Final Verdict:
7.0

Good: 7s are well-above average games that definitely have an enthusiastic audience within their *genre*. Some might lack replay value, could be too short, or has are some hard-to-ignore faults. Nevertheless, the experience is still very fun.

Link-http://www.destructoid.com/review-risen-2-dark-waters-225653.phtml
 
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Oh well, I am avoiding reading reviews since I have to do my own (and don't get those early copies like the major sites) ... but based on how much I loved Risen I will probably like R2 more than most of the mainstreamers ... sorta like how I like Bethesda and recent Bioware games LESS ... and anything from EA.
 
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