Risen 2 - Previews @ Strategy Informer, VG247

Here are a couple of new Risen 2 previews…no great revelations but still worth a look. First, from Strategy Informer:

This is a very story driven game, with voiced conversations and multiple dialogue options. There's more tongue and cheek humour this time around, with swearing, innuendos and everything in between. Quests can be approach in multiple ways, each requiring slightly different skill sets. Do you want to steal what you need? Talk your way into getting what you need? Simply blow a hole in the wall? This is a party based game as well, although you can only choose one other member to come ashore with you. Sometimes a quest or a mission will grant you other NPC's that will fight with you, and companions have their own skills they can use in battle.

…and a sample from VG247, who use more of a walkthrough approach:

The island we’re shown features a number of Risen 2’s more interesting features with its day and night cycle alongside NPCs going about their business and not standing idly by, waiting for you mine them for side-quests. The hero’s main goal here is to spring the unwilling resident of the local jail-house so that he might join the crew you’re putting together for a little pirate adventure.
Happily, this task can be set about in a number of different ways and speaking to the detainee reveals information about the burly guard that holds the key to his freedom. Here, the hero is presented with the option of deploying a trained monkey – which you take control of directly – to pick-pocket the guard, though this option first requires dealing with the other guards, either quietly or with brute force. It’s also necessary to disable the numerous cannons fortifying the town so that a clean getaway can be made without fear of being bombarded once aboard the ship.

More information.

…and the game world itself is designed to reward you for exploring and poking about.

Ohh baby, YES what else you got???

I think the mix for Risen 2 is best described as Ultima and Zelda

yes… YES YES!

From Ultima, you have a big interactive world and people that are reacting to what you’re doing

Oooh yes I like that… YES

From Zelda, you have the dungeons that have riddles and traps, every dungeon is going to be unique – we don’t have any cookie-cutter type dungeons

YES YES YESYESYESYES!!!

Uh oh, consolitis alert!

Here, both 360 and PS3 versions have been focused on from the beginning, resulting in design decisions that work for all three platforms – such as replacing the quick-bar with a more console-friendly quick-wheel and the game world being split into several smaller islands rather than one huge one, a better fit for the lower available memory on consoles.

Is it extremely hard to have a quick wheel for consoles and a quick bar on the pc version? Or perhaps have the option of either?

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Uh oh, consolitis alert!

Yeah, well, I guess I´ll put the UI right next to climbing hot-spots as Risen 2 related disappointments of the day.

Multiple quest solutions and dungeon crawling is good though.

Damn, I have to get PB the benefit of doubt. Just hoping the team members aren't really leaving due to a massive invasion of consolism.

Originally Posted by DeepO
Multiple quest solutions and dungeon crawling is good though.

True! I'll try to be more positive. Hope!

Well the consolizing of The Witcher II was annoying alright, but at least it didn't completely ruin the game. Really the thing I'm most worried about is god awful localization which has, more often, been one of the chief failings of PB's games. The greater presence and advertisement in English language media does make me a little hopeful that the dialog writing and voice acting won't be an immersion-breaking cringe fest. If the menus feel a little console-like but the gameplay is good and the multiple solutions and open-ish world remain I'll probably be happy.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Uh oh, consolitis alert!

The quickwheel is only present on PC when you plug in your Xbox 360 Gamepad and enable the option to play with that gamepad in the options of the game. If you don't use a gamepad you will be able to use your old'n trusty quickbar

The same applies to how you fill your quickbar/quickwheel. When you have enabled your gamepad you can assign weapons, potions and dirty tricks by holding one one trigger and pressing a button on your gamepad. When you don't wanna use the gamepad, just drag and drop with your mouse like before.

So essentially, when you play Risen 2 on PC you have the choice of either using a gamepad (with console interface & quickwheel) or just stick to the PC interface with drag & drop and your quickbar.

P.s. I should perhaps do a short clip about that and put it on youtube, so you can see what will be possible in the final game.

P.p.s. Ah yes, there is one more thing. We even made sure you can play the game with keyboard only. For the fans of the Gothic series that is how they are used to play it - so we actually got three different ways to play the game

Hah, ok well I asked if it was difficult to offer both options and I guess you answered that by saying "well we did it, so no it wasn't."

What's this about climbing hotspots?

Originally Posted by Lemonhead
What's this about climbing hotspots?

Around campus that was when you used an outdoor public wifi router as a handhold for climbing onto the roof of a building.

Originally Posted by Lemonhead
What's this about climbing hotspots?

You will be able to climb ledges in Risen 2 like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvyXlkju13Q

There is a small bug in the video where the weapon changes direction while climbing - that has been fixed.

Originally Posted by jhwisner
Around campus that was when you used an outdoor public wifi router as a handhold for climbing onto the roof of a building.

He he, nice one!

Well, I guess I can scratch UI from my list of Risen 2 related disappointments for
now .
Hot-spot climbing stays on it, but it may not be a big deal if the world design supports it extensively, plus

Originally Posted by doberlec
You will be able to climb ledges in Risen 2 like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvyXlkju13Q

I´ve noticed there´s no "click to climb" indicator present which is good, less of such indicators the better. If these are planned to be in the finished game, make them optional, please .

Originally Posted by doberlec
P.p.s. Ah yes, there is one more thing. We even made sure you can play the game with keyboard only. For the fans of the Gothic series that is how they are used to play it - so we actually got three different ways to play the game

Mr. doberlec, I love you!

Originally Posted by doberlec
The quickwheel is only present on PC when you plug in your Xbox 360 Gamepad and enable the option to play with that gamepad in the options of the game. If you don't use a gamepad you will be able to use your old'n trusty quickbar

Fantastic! Thanks for letting us know! Cheers!

Sounds nice, but I'm still not interested since I can't play as a mage. That is an automatic game killer for me!!

Originally Posted by Corwin
Sounds nice, but I'm still not interested since I can't play as a mage. That is an automatic game killer for me!!

I agree on the loss of the mage, but that's probably due to the world evolving 100's of years from medieval to the renaissance era technology. That and the gods are all dead who were the source of power.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
… due to the world evolving 100's of years from medieval to the renaissance era technology.

Huh? Risen 2 is set "only" ten years after the events of the first game. The hero is the same guy.

That and the gods are all dead who were the source of power.

They were already "dead" (or actually they abandoned the world according to official canon) in the first game so that does not serve as a viable reason for the absence of crystal magic.
You will, however, be able to learn Voodoo magic so it's not like there is no magic at all in the game.