Risen 2 - A Pirate's Life @ IGN

Someone was commenting on our forums that Risen 2 news was a little quiet - here you go, A Pirate's Life at IGN with input from Daniel Oberlerchner who isn't with Piranha Bytes but publisher Deep Silver as I recall:

Or, to put it another way, you start out as a washed-up drunkard and end up as a pirate captain. Risen 2: Dark Waters is a genuine attempt at a deep pirate role-playing game. It's a mix of treasure-hunting, scimitar-wielding, rum-fuelled action in port towns and on deserted islands, and an overarching tale of supernatural world-threatening powers that will be familiar to any devotee of the first game. It's an interesting synthesis, but in moving away from the return to high fantasy that's currently sweeping the RPG genre thanks to games like Skyrim and The Witcher 2, Dark Waters is carving out a recognisably different identity for itself.

"The Witcher and Skyrim were partly the reason why we thought of another setting," says Piranha Bytes' Daniel Oberlerchner. "I mean, how many medieval RPGs do people want to play? It's hard to make something distinctive in that setting, especially as The Witcher did a really good job.

"What's cool about the pirate theme is that it's really carried through the entire game, it seeps into every core aspect. It's not just the backdrop for the story, and it's not just been slapped on to the Risen engine. It's part of the skill tree, it's integral to how you interact with people (and not just because of the swearing). We've driven it further than anyone before in terms of how detailed this re-enaction of a pirate's life can be. In most games you're limited to sailing around in a ship and doing naval battles – everybody's done that a hundred times before. We wondered: what would a pirate be doing when he's not on a ship?"

More information.

"I mean, how many medieval RPGs do people want to play?…"

Well, personally, I could play RPGs in a medival setting forever. I doubt I'll ever tire of it.

Especially in the US, people were shocked that you could die in the tutorial.

I hope PB won't take ques from the U.S. feed-me-with-a-spoon-and-reward-me-NOW mentality that we have here. People worldwide, more than not, want games to be challenging and purposefully NOT easy - particularly RPGs type games.

Considering the wild popularity of the just-released Dark Souls (and it's sobering level of difficulting) I think the pendulum is at last swinging away from make-it-easy-and-instantly-gratifying and heading back in the other direction of 80s style challening. I hope Dark Souls will be a commercial success as well as a critical one to keep this momentum going.

I'm currently replaying Gothic 1 which is quite challenging and ridiculously interesting. Playing it again after all these years is great because while I have some idea of the game from having played it over a decade ago, I've also forgotten quite a lot about it making it interesting to play all over again.

In G1 I constantly die. I constantly don't have enough skill points. I constantly don't have enough money (ore) to buy things I NEED. I frequently have to reload to earlier saves because a choice I made earlier on had an outcome I don't want. And I love it.

Hell, I would take Gothic/Risen over Witcher any day, obviously can't really say about Skyrim, to be fair. PB games have always shined brightly compared to other RPG games.

The only area Risen/Gothic ever seems to fall down compared to any of the Bethesda games is the Editor. PB really needs to put at least ONE Full Time team member, on building the Editor. It would be even better if they even had a team member for each major spoken language of their game release.

If risen 2 is half as amazing as witcher 2 is, it will be day 1 buy for sure.
Enjoyed first risen very much too, great ambiance and atmosphere. First two chapters especially good.

Originally Posted by Acleacius
It would be even better if they even had a team member for each major spoken language of their game release.

Yeah playing Risen and also the Gothic games did give me a better understanding what non-English speaking and non-Japanese speaking players have probably had to live with for years when playing American, Canadian, and UK developed AAA titles. Many of these games, including the original Risen, do deserve far better localization work than they received. I'm sure a German or French player would say something similar when talking about many American titles though too.

Nice to hear the guy say they're concentrating on stuff they're good at. Having been sailing in Two Worlds 2 and receving quests in Rage recently I think that's quite a good idea

I think its foolish not to include basic sailing between islands, its a game about pirates and becoming a pirate captain and you can't sail a ship. That is stupid.

But regardless I liked Risen and I will play this as well, as open world rpg are my fav genre and there are not many of them.

You know, I loved Gothic 1&2, I loved Risen too… but I'm not sure what to think of the Piratey approach of Risen.

I mean it looks cool, and rather fresh as a setting… but it kind of feels like a different world altogether now rather than a sequel to Risen.

-Sergorn

Setting the game 10 years after the original will also probably kill any urgency as far as R1's Titans are concerned.

Originally Posted by Sergorn
You know, I loved Gothic 1&2, I loved Risen too… but I'm not sure what to think of the Piratey approach of Risen.

I mean it looks cool, and rather fresh as a setting… but it kind of feels like a different world altogether now rather than a sequel to Risen.

-Sergorn

That has been my problem from the beginning. I'll probably love the game, but I wish it wasn't the sequel to Risen, but a separate IP.

Many thanks for the update, Dhruin good sir! *tips hat in appreciation for the news*.

Like GBG, I'm a little torn on the setting changes as well and uncertain on the potential sense of disconnection I'll experience between the two games. I'm optimistic that PB will deliver on the core of the gameplay though and that I'll also enjoy the game.

Not sure if I especially like the article's attempt to dwell or emphasise the swearing aspect very much. Hopefully the patented PB dry sarcasm, wit and writing quality is strong enough to carry the narrative beyond the realm of expletives dominating the tone every second word. For me if that's overdone, it could bog it down a little.

Originally Posted by Paul
If risen 2 is half as amazing as witcher 2 is

Nice troll attempt

Not sure if we've had any actual game-play footage so far. If not then this might interest a few fans.

I take it that was X360 footage - I found it irritating the way player seemed to stop and clumsily adjust the camera every few seconds.

Anyway, I'm happy with the change. I found Risen a little underwhelming. I enjoyed it but I thought they played too safe - I'd played this before (ie, the Gothics) -only bigger and better and without narrowing in on a dungeon crawl.

It's also not such a big shift for me. Pirates were one of the best parts of NotR and Patty's quest chain was easily the best part of Risen to me, so pirates are an integral part of their heritage. Didn't the ships have cannons, as well?

Originally Posted by Dhruin
I take it that was X360 footage - I found it irritating the way player seemed to stop and clumsily adjust the camera every few seconds.

I would expect most modern games to be presented on a X360 but if you notice the various tutorial toolbars during the video they clearly suggest pressing keyboard keys and mouse buttons. As for the camera I think this might be related to the control changes described in this post, either that or the player really enjoyed the scenery.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Didn't the ships have cannons, as well?

Oddly enough, the ship in Gothic 2 had cannons, but not the ship in Risen.

Looks ok, doesn't seem to be at the same standards as the other rpg's being released in the same time period. The animations look a little stiff as well, seems only certain body parts move when the model moves, this was really apparent on the player character itself. I did like the shadows on the walls in the town though. It does already look a bit dated though.

Originally Posted by Kostaz
Not sure if we've had any actual game-play footage so far. If not then this might interest a few fans.

There's been quite a lot of gameplay footage mostly filmed off screen from the time around Gamescom where the game was actually playable for fans visiting the Deep Silver booth. A (German) Gamescom presentation video with quite a lot of in-game scenes can be found right here for example.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
I take it that was X360 footage - I found it irritating the way player seemed to stop and clumsily adjust the camera every few seconds.

Risen 2 now has a free camera instead of a fixed chase cam like PB's previous titles.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Anyway, I'm happy with the change. I found Risen a little underwhelming. I enjoyed it but I thought they played too safe - I'd played this before (ie, the Gothics) -only bigger and better and without narrowing in on a dungeon crawl.

It's also not such a big shift for me. Pirates were one of the best parts of NotR and Patty's quest chain was easily the best part of Risen to me, so pirates are an integral part of their heritage

Agree fully. I also find it odd that quite a number of people (not just here but also at the World of Risen forums etc.) are turned off by the pirate setting. The whole quest with that Captain Makarov (or was that the bad buy from Call of Duty? ) or whatever he was called (it was a Russian sounding name IIRC) and Captain Greg Steelbeard and Miss Patty Steelbeard was probably the most interesting quest line in Risen. Also the ending of the game strongly hinted at the likelihood that the search for Captain Steelbeard would be playing a major role in a potential sequel. Given the history of PB games and the general popularity of piratey stuff (see Pirates of the Caribbean) I don't find it at all surprising or alienating that PB chose this particular setting.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Looks ok, doesn't seem to be at the same standards as the other rpg's being released in the same time period. The animations look a little stiff as well, seems only certain body parts move when the model moves, this was really apparent on the player character itself. I did like the shadows on the walls in the town though. It does already look a bit dated though.

Every Xbox 360 game looks dated at this point. I expect the PC version to be superior, as was the case with Risen 1.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Every Xbox 360 game looks dated at this point. I expect the PC version to be superior, as was the case with Risen 1.

I'm pretty sure this was the pc version…since it was calling for keys on the the keyboard….