Risen - vs Gothic 3 Screens and Live Play Blog

The npcs in Risen look much better then in Gothic 3 and the lush jungle looks much better in Risen then the fields and forest of Gothic 3. I have been looking at both games and in my opinion Risen looks much better then Gothic 3 and has a much better atmosphere also.

I am not talking about UI. I am talking about the look of the game world. Very basic example, most of the herbs in Risen blends in with the game world, whereas in G3, a lot of them look like they are randomly placed and stands out from the environment too much.

It is the details of the game world that I find most appealing. Everything Risen screams detail and care (of the designer) when compared to G3.

And technically speaking, considering the performance difference between the two game, I much prefer the graphic Engine of Risen.

There is much discussion about Risen the other day, and all I read is graphics, graphics, graphics.

It's sad what rpgwatch has become ...

ok - lets talk about non-gfx-aspects:

Risen is using exactly the same game mechanics as Gothic 1 & 2.

Some tweaks here and there:
+ more options in combat
+ you can be a goldsmith
+ better inventory system
+ nice map system
+ very good economy balance (I need gold!)
+ good enemy balance
+ lightning fast game save & load
+ find unique items
+ many many quests (high density of quests)
+ quests have multiple solutions
+ you can break quests
+ very good music
+ consistent game world / mostly plausible quests
+ Gothic-like humor

(still) not so good:
- diary could be better -> it records only the conversations
- no swimming
- sounds of some animals could be better

To be fair, I only talked about gfx because the OP talked about Risen Vs. G3 screens.

And I am sure you can see that we have far more threads here that are not gfx related.

Back to the game. I agree with what HiddenX has posted.

But I just wish that we could mark the map.

But some more great thing about the game:

+ Very nice integration of puzzle elements into quests.
+ Nice dungeon designs. I love AND hate the designers of the awesome AND awful traps in dungeons.
+ Very rich and livily environment that seem to be created with a lot of care. Not many things in the game that feel "out of place."
+ Great animation for monsters and NPCs.
+ While the overland map is definitely smaller then that of G2, the deep dungeons and the verticle nature of the landmass more than makes up the size difference.

I think Risen is much better looking. G3 is a nice looking game but it doesn't stop me in my tracks the way some of the areas in Risen do.