Risen 2 - Temple of Air Confirmed

Moriendor writes in with confirmation from a Deep Silver rep on their forums that Temple of Air (we'll have to see exactly what the English title is in due course) is indeed the third Risen 2 DLC, counting Treasure Isle (preorder bonus DLC) and the CE special items. For German readers, Moriendor writes:

It has also been confirmed that the German special edition (not the CE but the more expensive SSE) is going to include that DLC via the "secret handwritten note" that is supposed to be included in the box and that was a mystery item until today.

More information.

I've tried to find information about the "CE special items", but I can't find anything. What is it?

I know PB are big in Germany but 2 Collectors Editions?

http://www.amazon.de/Risen-Dark-Wate…/dp/B0052RNFKI

Originally Posted by Gorath
http://www.amazon.de/Risen-Dark-Wate…/dp/B0052RNFKI

Ouch.. 90 Euros? Even as a Piranha Bytes fanboy, I have to say that's a bit pricey.

Any mention of when that DLC will become available to the rest of us?

I remember Two World 2 had a special edition with extra DLC but it was available in English also.Risen 2 CE is not.

I love almost all of PB games but seriously how many editions and dlc do they need. This isn't bitching its just stating a fact.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I love almost all of PB games but seriously how many editions and dlc do they need. This isn't bitching its just stating a fact.

Yeah even from a broad and basic marketting perspective - it's generally better to offer a more concise "menu" than complicate things by having too many different editions and versions of the same core product. That's why I always thought the retailer exclusive pre-order bonuses were an odd creature to come out of marketting - it's pretty basic and demonstrated behavioral science that this sort of confused menu is bad for sales compared to a more concise simple one.

Why offering choices that make it easier to decide on an option is better - from a marketting standpoint - than a myriad of hard directly compare alternatives

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I love almost all of PB games but seriously how many editions and dlc do they need. This isn't bitching its just stating a fact.

Yes you are bitching, but you have every right and I'll just join you.

Currently in DLC business there are two branches:
1. EA and followers that release DLC of suspicious quality and pretty expensive
2. CDprojekt that release DLC for free

Since I've preordered Risen2 which means 1st DLC included, all I want to know how much this ToA DLC will cost me. If PB is planning to enter EA's train and charge 10$ for a mere hack&slash location you'll solve in 10 minutes or it's just a box containing weaponry+armors+robes "of air", I'll probably refuse to buy it and continue with bitching.

My bet is on "Temple of the Skies".

Off topic - does anyone else think that Risen's combat system is leagues ahead of Skyrim? In Risen you have to learn enemy attack patterns, get your attack timing right, block timing right etc. In Skyrim it's just - point towards target, left mouse button, right mouse button - and repeat. Or am I playing it wrong?

Originally Posted by Gorath
http://www.amazon.de/Risen-Dark-Wate…/dp/B0052RNFKI

So they have "german only" exclusive DLC? I couldn't find anything similar in the english versions.

I really don't like the way PB are going with this game. I have already pre-ordered it at Steam (out of blind faith in one of my favourite gaming studios) though.

I think they will lose a lot of sales just because everything is starting to get so confusing with this game and its DLC and their availability. I was about to order it some time ago, but now i'm not so sure any longer.

I'll just wait for the edition with everything piled in, thanks. It's not like I've managed to play the first game in the series yet anyway.

I'm hearing rumors they didn't fix the plant LOD issue for the full release.

Can that really be true? It was bad enough to make me not want to play at all.

I would not die of shock or anything if that turned out to be true.

Remember that the Plant Lod on #1 was not set to win any awards either (some shockingly low res textures changing to the normal ones. Vurt's texture pack ameliorates that issue too, to some degree)

This one though seems so weird and surreal I could not but assume it is some configuration/tweaking issue of the used Algorithm. It happens right next to your char and it weirdly seems to replace a larger with a smaller texture of not very noticeable different quality (also happened to ground geometry very close)

It boggles the mind that instead of upping texture resolution for the algorithm from #1 they would implement something like this… Very immersion breaking.

I just hope those rumors are false

I would very much prefer either worse framerate or generally lesser but even gfx quality to this…

Originally Posted by JonNik
This one though seems so weird and surreal I could not but assume it is some configuration/tweaking issue of the used Algorithm. It happens right next to your char and it weirdly seems to replace a larger with a smaller texture of not very noticeable different quality (also happened to ground geometry very close)

That "cauliflower effect" is so noticeable that I have to wonder if it's not intentional. Perhaps the devs actually thought it looked cool

Personally, I wasn't bothered by it enough to consider it immersion breaking. It was more just a "wtf?" moment for me. I never noticed it in any of the ground geometry though. Only in foliage, and only in a few specific places.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Personally, I wasn't bothered by it enough to consider it immersion breaking. It was more just a "wtf?" moment for me.

Well if we can't tweak or mod it away I am hoping I can train myself to "not see it" pretty soon. Seriously though, wtf indeed…

Originally Posted by JDR13
I never noticed it in any of the ground geometry though. Only in foliage, and only in a few specific places.

Yeah it was in some places very near the character. The changes were not very drastic (it was like having small bumps on the ground at either side inflate or deflate). It took me hours to notice and it was only on some places that I recall…

To each his own. I can't figure out how they thought it was an improvement over the LOD in Risen. Maybe it's a console restriction thing?

I can't figure out what makes it efficient, if at all, since it seems to be the same amount of polygons only that the size (not poly count) of the model itself shrinks and gets bigger as you approach. They're using Speedtree and it has a really nice, built-in LOD system. I really hope it's a bug that they intend to fix.

And no it's not fixed yet according to Brother None on the RPGCodex forum, he has a review copy.

But that is the thing, I can't recall transition between a significantly low to a higher res texture. Unless the large version is a simple texture while the small one was geometry (branches) and textures… Hmm, If I hadn't deleted the beta I could check it out to see if my memory deceives me…

Oh well, we will see soon enough (about a week for most and a bit more for us that got if from GMG I guess)…

Edit: Posted simultaneously with vurt. So my memory of it was correct
Also not fixed?!!