I can't imagine someone being disappointed in the loot in Risen, and yet being satisfied by the loot (or lack thereof) in Gothic 3. G3 was the ultimate disappointment when it came to any kind of significant reward for exploration.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Gothic 3, but it was a HUGE letdown compared to its predecessors. Once you get past how pretty the world is, it's only a matter of time before you realize how unimportant most of it is. The randomization of the loot in the chests, as well as the items for sale was also disappointing.
Also, anyone claiming they only died 4 times in Risen is either stretching the truth, or playing on "Easy"
. I probably died at least 12-15 times in the first chapter alone, but I'm also playing on "Hard", which feels about right to me. I'd say it's close to being on par with Gothic 2+NotR in terms of difficulty.
The thing that really tainted Gothic 3 for me was that it was
artificially difficult because of the broken combat mechanics. I probably died around 50 times as well, but 30+ of those instances was because I was stunlocked by a wolf or boar. That's not legitimately "challenging", that's being frustrated because of horribly implemented combat.
As far as lying about dieing 4 (it was 4-7 actually now that I think about it, still not enough) times in RISEN, here's my
Xfire profile, if it looks like I am some random RPG only player that will have trouble getting around simple combat in Risen.. well then..
I actually finished Risen and restarted as a Mage (and both times NOT Easy) in under 49 hrs (last 12 hrs includes completing chapter 3 & 4.. the chapters with most combat).
I don't really see how you can complain about loot in these games. The size of Risen allowed developers to not randomize loot a bit but in the end, that was the problem, the world wasn't big enough to add more exploration for the player (which you ARE admitting if you can tell that loot wasn't THAT random).
Also, I am confused about your definition of "exploration" like "loot". Exploration to me is finding random caves where few crazy creatures reside, huge treasure at the end isn't what makes it fun for me. The part about the world having such locations for creatures to hide in is what makes exploration fun for players like me, it makes the world feel alive. Not every inch needs a special treasure chest to make exploration fun if you are really into enjoying the game.
I never played any other gothic before 3 so I can't be bothered about debating whether they were fun or not. All I know is that I played G3 after Oblivion, one of the most overhyped games like Halo. The quests were terrible, beggars speaking in royal bloodline voices all of a sudden was just amateurish, the "Radiant AI" was as radiant as a chicken in Gothic and Risen (which seems more active
). I still played that game only to explore the wilderness on my Horse.. which was pretty useless. Two Worlds mixed a lot of features from Gothic 3 and Oblivion (esp. making horses useful and "upgradeable"), it was better in almost everything but the storyline and interesting characters (there weren't any).
Anyways, Risen, a great effort from G3 developers but it's just Gothic 4 in the end considering the content and the story (replacing Orcs and Humans with Inquisition and Don). Maybe in next game they can actually try putting in a more interesting story, G3 like bigger world with a lot of hidden areas to explore (loot where you were expecting in G3 was always good, even armors were to be found.. not just brooms and candles like in Risen, which doesn't make much sense in most of the areas). Also, giving players some more information on creatures they kill can be fun (instead of just saying "they came from the temples…".. what? giant moths? is that all those temples could come up with?).
I don't care about Gamespot reviews and haven't read this one but if I would be reviewing it after playing G3, I wouldn't give Risen anything higher than 7 myself (hell, I would be more brutal with pulling it apart considering most of the game is pretty much similar to G3).
BTW, I died 50+ times in G3 not cause of getting stunlocked (that was never a issue, at least it made sense if you are going to battle a wild animal FFS, which is probably what developers were going for), I died cause I simple LOVED running into huge camps with my sword flailing like a madman. Obviously, most of the time I died, I knew the outcome before charging in but cutting apart Orcs with my sword one after another until I was subdued by mages and archers was just priceless. No such fun in Risen.. instead I got killed a freakin moth because I wasn't really expecting a moth with pretty fragile wings to stand against the might of a sharp sword..
