Risen A gripe about the ending…

Madjack

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Just finished Risen this evening. Really enjoyed it, great rpg but with one major proviso regards the end boss battle. I tell you, if whoever designed this had been within kicking distance, he'd be in orbit right now.

Why do developers do this? By 'this' I mean f*ck up the ending by suddenly deciding that the way the player's been approaching the game for the last umpteen hours is no longer relevant. Why? It's not fun, it just pisses the player off. Don't have me learn your combat system by hacking through thousands of monsters and then at the last minute, abandon all that in favour of a cludgy jumping puzzle, where even the act of backing up from the enemy can have you falling to your death because of camera issues.

(And just for fun, in my game, falling to my death resulted in a black screen on respawn meaning multiple reloads. )

A jumping puzzle? Really? What were you thinking?

I think most gamers (and if I'm wrong about this, I'm sure I'll get told) would just prefer a straight fight, extended perhaps, more difficult than previous fights even (but with a few chances to recover), but a fair fight nonetheless that uses all those fighting skills you've spend time developing. Not some contrived new play mechanic thrown in at the last moment.

Bad game designer! Don't do it!
 
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I don't think you'll find anyone here disagreeing with that view.

The end battle was a real shame, the vast majority of the rest of the game was great.
 
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You'll see I said the same sort of thing in my upcoming review!!
 
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I agree entirely, and it's something I will never understand coming from competent designers like PB.

Any designer who's been on the other side, as in having been a gamer - would know just how annoying such battles are.
 
Yep, it was ridiculous, anticlimactic, immersion breaking and badly implemented... Easily
the Worst thing about this game (Far beyond the general lack of depth and staleness of
the later chapters)...

I had to force myself to go through it (sort of like taking a bitter medicine)...
 
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I just got to the ending myself last night, and I too agree that the ending was a soul crusher for me. I have been alternating between fighter, inquisition and mage, planning on playing through all 3 possible ways, then decided to finish with the fighter. Now, I'm pretty sure I will not be playing through to the end on the other two.
PB! The end sucked! Plain. Simple. SUCKED! Not sure I'll visit another PB product after this, it really brought me down, hard.
 
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Have there been any comments from PB about the ending, in English that is?
 
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Eh? I think you're overreacting just a bit. Yes the ending sucked, but it comprised less than 1% of the total game.

Indeed. This is a very good game imo despite the (very) limited scope that PB went
with this time around (Such a pity too because this is their most Polished game to
date*).

A replay is most certainly in order but I think I'll wait a bit for a possible addon first,
before my mage Run (Just got DA:O anyway and that should take me a month or so
when I finally get to it)…


* My definition of the Perfect game: G1 "ported" to the Risen engine and gameplay
improvements :)
 
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Yes - don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this game and if anyone has an interest in RPG's, they should spend the coin to buy it, particularly as I'd like to see PB continue to make more RPG's. Would just like PB (and other devs) to not be so clever when it comes to the final boss battle. Make the final scrap harder by all means, but keep it consistent with what the player's been doing for the rest of the game.

By changing the rules in the last 1% of the game, you risk damaging all the good will that's been built up by the player during the rest of the game (e.g. Psychonauts and the 'meat circus' level).

Having said that, it's quite a bonanza at the moment for RPG's isn't it? Risen, Divinity2 (which I've ordered) and Dragon Age - Precursors + White Gold on the horizon.
 
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Eh? I think you're overreacting just a bit. Yes the ending sucked, but it comprised less than 1% of the total game.

Maybe so, maybe so, but I will wait for reviews from others before I rush into another buy. I do vote with my wallet, and this really hurt my desire to re-play the game. My twitch playing is not that hot and isn't going to get better, so I'm sure others won't mind it as much as I did, to be fair.
 
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This is kinda handy in one way - any review you read that doesn't mention this ending has probably been made by somebody who didn't play the game all the way through.
 
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I hope Risen gets an add-In treatment like Gothic 2.
PB can enhance the second half of the game and code a new ending / new endings.

PS:
I was enjoying the second half of the game, too - I like dungeon crawling more than anything else.
 
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I loved Risen. But when i saw the ending boss i stopped playing and in a silent protest i will never finish it. The good thing with Risen though was the playtime between the start and end. And i think that made up the bad part (ending). ;)

(I know nobody cares if i beat the end boss or not, but i will never try it and i feel my protest is important... *cough* :) )
 
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The ending was to difficult for me! :) I suck at platform games. Thats why i never play them.
 
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Thanks so much guys and gals. Good to see the feeling is almost universal

I finished Risen about 2 weeks ago and was pissed at the ending. I was playing a great RPG for most of the game and then when I get to the end its some kind of platformer / shooter???? WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had read some prior reviews of the game it it mentioned a lame end boss. I was thinking maybe it would take two or three hits to kill and then the game would shoot straight to the credits. But this was actually worse. The ending changed the whole play dynamics.

And what gives me pause, is that in the possible sequel, our nameless hero may have to fight the other Titans. If they think I will buy a game (at full price) with the same type of end boss, well PB might not be long for this world because that team is on CRACK.
 
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When I was fighting end boss i didnt care about it anymore. I mean the first chapter was so awesome that it could be one of my favourite games ever, I was sure at the time that I'm going to replay it many times.

Shit happened though.

Chapter 2 was boring "run half the island there and kill 20 enemies, then run back, tell me about it, after it run half of the island to another location and killl...", then came ever worse chapter 3 and 4. I was asking myself "What the fuck?" but end up finishing this game with thoughts like "Finally that's the fucking end!". Really, the game was crappy after awesome chapter 1.
 
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