None of those things bother me as much as the fact that it was never mentioned in Risen 1 or 2 that Patty had a brother. It's like they were just sitting around looking for ideas someone said "I got it!" "We'll just retcon a brother into the story!"

I think it was mentioned (although in a casual manner) that Steelbeard had a lot of illegitimate children and Patty was his favorite. But even if I'm mistaken and this was not mentioned, it's safe to assume he had, him being a pirate captain and all.
 
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Pirate's life = A child in every port. :D
 
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No lag here. The video works fine. By the way, it's the "intro_loop.wmv" in the SteamApps/common/Risen3/data/extern/videos folder.
As you can see it's a Windows Media video file recorded at 1280x720 (thank you again, consoles - NOT :biggrin: ) @ 60fps.
Maybe try playing it in your video player to see if it still lags?

Nope, it runs fine if I play it outside of the game. Although there's no sound for me when playing those video files in the folder. I'm not sure if there's supposed to be sound though. Is that a separate file?

Checking my codecs now...
 
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I think Gothic 3 introduced the "Easter egg hunt" type of quest in PB games. I can't believe they think this is fun for adults. There must have been 50-100 "hunt the x amount of items lying about an area" quests in that game alone, and Risen 2 must have had at least 100 as well. I can't believe they are still doing these type of quests. I want to kick the designer(s) responsible in the balls for putting these quests all over the place.

Other than that, things aren't that bad. Decent Risen 2 upgrade at least so far.
 
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Still working on my replay of Risen, but I did the first area up till you are able to leave the island, and aside from my SLI laptop having a few performance issues, so far I'm seeing an updated and refined Risen 2 with a nod towards more exploration.

Keep in mind, when Risen 2 first released there was an outcry about the sterilization of items and about the size and diversity of the islands. I think this game has addressed those two things somewhat. From what I can tell, magic is back and regardless of the faction that you choose you will have some form of magic to use. I'm tempted to do Voodoo as Risen 2 was actually a fun game on the voodoo path as opposed to the faceroll fest that ensued when you picked up the Muskets.

Combat feels better and is about timing and dodging effectively. So far different enemies have required slightly different approaches. Alligators require good dodge timing, while other enemies require some parrying in order to open up their defenses.

Still haven't played around much with the character building, but it seems to be a little bit more open than Risen 2, though, I felt the progression system in Risen 2 was enjoyable and quite easy to learn. This one is a bit more open with way more stuff to spend leveling points into.

I'm stoked honestly.
 
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By the way some quick info and good news for people with older computers or laptops: Risen 3 is not overly demanding. I'm playing with everything maxed at 1920x1080 and the game only uses about 850MB of VRAM on the first island (Crab Coast).
My graphics card (GTX 780Ti) also throttles down sometimes and only reaches temperatures of about 65°C - 70°C max instead of ~80°C when playing more demanding DirectX 11 games (Risen 3 is still a DirectX 9 game).
So this should definitely run on a wide range of systems since there are many options to reduce the visual fidelity.
 
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Yeah, it definitely seems to be better optimized than past PB games were at release.

Unfortunately, I'm still having that issue with lag at the main menu, and I can't seem to figure out why. I've uninstalled all extra video codecs, updated my codecs, updated my graphics drivers, tried setting different players as the default WMV player - i.e. VLC player, fiddled with different settings on the players… all to no avail.

I'm currently reinstalling the entire game to see if that fixes it. >:O


*Edit* Fuck it… I ended up renaming that WMV file so it doesn't play during the menu. I just wish I understood why some videos are playing with no problems while others aren't. :(
 
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He's streaming gameplay... Rolling all way around till the whole horde notices him and attacks, you can't play a PB game like it's a common console onehit to kill mobs rubbish!

Whatever, I'm waiting for the review he'll make to get some laughter.
 
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It gets significantly better after the "tutorial". From what I've seen so far, this game is a lot more open than Risen 2 was.
 
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the tutorial is annoying but apart from that it seems nice so far :)
although I still miss Gothics trolling "hey you're in a prison colony good luck lol"

changed my mind... with an immortal follower to do the heavy lifting it's really easy so far...
 
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After quite a few hours in (maybe about a dozen) I have to say that I am not exactly a happy camper so far. At least to me this is one of PB's weakest offerings so far (still hoping ;) ).

First, there is the nonsensical intro (lots of WTFs indeed, especially considering the background of the entire series) and premise. It's just really weird and awkward to me. A major disappointment after the also extremely weak intro of Risen 2.
Why did they not provide a bit more background? What happened to the old nameless hero? Why are we on this treasure hunt? Who else is hunting for the treasure? What has happened since Risen 2?
Questions, questions, questions… and when you click on Patty hoping to get some clarity all you get is "let's talk later". Very poorly designed IMHO.

Then I might have made a mistake by first going to Takarigua where Patty was last seen according to Bones. I just hope that island is not an indication of things to come. Takarigua is a pretty huge disappointment.

There are a few boring fedex quests, a murder "mystery" which as you can see from the quotes is neither mysterious nor does the resolution have ANY type of consequence or does anyone even comment on the resolution or do you have any option to make the resolution more public or… well, nothing. Like all of the other quests on the islands it is completely meaningless. The only quest that has a real "consequence" is when you help Jack return to his lighthouse.
One quest has you search for a "hidden" treasure and you're only supposed to be able to retrieve it by transforming to bird form. Untrue on both accounts. Neither is the treasure hidden nor do you need a transformation scroll. Hop, hop (not even challenging) and you got it.
Oh, and as for the crystal gates that the shadows emerge from… umm… come on, they're not really doing "close all of the Oblivion gates on each island" thing here or are they? O_O

The thieving system is completely inconsequential and inconsistent. In Puerto Sacarico (Inquisition Law & Order HQ!) you can just go right ahead and loot a chest in the middle of the main square in front of the barracks because there is a quest item inside but may God have mercy on your soul if you take an apple from a barrel in the same place.
Re thieving: The lockpicking mini game is almost a straight rip from ES4 (Oblivion) except that Oblivion's system had considerably more depth because there was a chance to break the lockpick depending on the difficulty level of the lock.
Not so here. If you have the required skill level then you can open any chest with a single unbreakable lockpick (yay me who bought three lockpicks from Jack, thinking they'd be breakable or at least "consumable" - good-bye, dear gold).

And then there's lots of grinding on the island. I have to say that I don't like the shadow world parts at all. It feels out of place and it's just grindy. I've cleared the entire island except for the high difficulty shadow-infested swamp area and it's really been quite a bit of a drag with such a low level character where you rely a lot on your companion (I'm playing on 'hard' BTW).
Melee combat sucks in my opinion (I will definitely stock up on massive magic/ranged skills later on) and the balance is all over the place where I can quite easily kill some 400 glory/each golems and rammers but then a bunch of 50 glory/each scavengers or monkeys can get me in real trouble.

So… I have moved on to Antigua now and hoping that things will improve rather massively.
So far it is very disappointing though. Meaningless quests, inconsistent, inconsequential thieving system, unbalanced, boring, grindy combat, nonsensical story (and premonitions of a lame derivative "close the demon gates" plot element), companions way overpowered.
Poor UI (thank you consoles) and inventory (why does Risen 3 still not have basic functionality like a mouse-over compare option when you have a store window open? or maybe some colored text e.g. in dialogs indicating whether you meet or do not meet the required skill check… come on… that's basics), exploration is so-so because once you figure out the layout you realize that it's not really all that open at all and so on and so on…

The only things this game has going for it so far is the typical PB style of exploration and some of the typical PB humor. Which, unfortunately, you can't take full advantage of since you get a negative soul rating for the asshole replies. And at least on this first playthrough I want to try to max positive soul points so I'm not sure I like the fact of effectively being forced into a certain style.

OK, here's to hoping that the other islands will provide more entertainment, more interesting quests, less grindy combat and at least some more meaningful c&c. - We shall see… :)
 
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Finishing up Divinity, will probably hit this, this weekend . . . .

I'm a little disappointed that there is more island hoping, but it sounds like PB wanted to maximize their assets. I can't blame them but they still have to make a good game.

Any word on the QTEs???
 
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Any word on the QTEs???

Only ones I have seen so far:

1) If you step on a trap you need to hit 'space' real fast. Stepping on traps is avoidable since if you watch your step carefully then you can jump over them.

2) Sometimes in combat you get nailed down by an enemy and need to hit 'space' in rapid succession to free yourself. Unnecessary and dumb QTE but probably a leftover from Risen 2 (think jaguars).
 
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Only ones I have seen so far:

1) If you step on a trap you need to hit 'space' real fast. Stepping on traps is avoidable since if you watch your step carefully then you can jump over them.

2) Sometimes in combat you get nailed down by an enemy and need to hit 'space' in rapid succession to free yourself. Unnecessary and dumb QTE but probably a leftover from Risen 2 (think jaguars).

Okay, thanks for that. That's not so bad. Praying for no Witcher 2, Kayran in the mix.
 
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I think you do yourself a disservice if you try to clear islands from the get go. I think the intended progression is do the quests on Kila, Taranis, and/or that northern Demon Hunter island, then choose a faction, get better armor and magic, and then clear islands. The only quests which might be lost are the ones on these islands if you choose a faction before the point where you can make the choice one of three ways. This is the classic save point for this PB game (and they all have one), from here you can restart with all the chores complete and play any faction you choose.

Edit: I think it is worth knowing that unlike R2, this game uses purchasable skills for skinning/trophy taking (at least 5 of them), and not items you buy from merchants. Look for hunter type people to teach you these, so you don't miss out on a big source of income.
 
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Melee combat sucks in my opinion (I will definitely stock up on massive magic/ranged skills later on) and the balance is all over the place where I can quite easily kill some 400 glory/each golems and rammers but then a bunch of 50 glory/each scavengers or monkeys can get me in real trouble.

I agree, and I think it's easily one of the worst aspects of the game unfortunately. I'm playing on Hard too, and there isn't enough of a feeling of progression with the different enemies. Fights are either too easy or frustratingly difficult, and I definitely find myself relying on companions more than I would like to.

I must say though that the exploration is MUCH better than what it was in Risen 2 imo. Not only do the islands feel more open, I love that you have so many choices of where to go after the first island - as opposed to Risen 2 where you had to do the first 3 islands in a linear fashion.

Regarding QTEs: I've only encountered 1 so far on 3 islands.

Fwiw, I went to Antigua first and then Tacarigua. I'm currently trying to decide where to go next.
 
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I haven't played much due to the skills menu not working for me, but my main problem with the combat is the camera, which is an unfortunate holdover from Risen 2 and shares the same problems. I much preferred the original game's camera which was always locked behind the character. Unless I have it zoomed out all the way (which doesn't work well in confined spaces) I seem to do a lot of attacking enemies off screen, and I don't like that moving away turns your back to enemies.
 
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After quite a few hours in (maybe about a dozen) …
I went the same logic and same way. First stop - Tacarigua, to get Patty if possible.
Playing on normal.
Done with Tacarigua. All mobs killed except two superhard minion something like mages that use some hit like a mule spell and, of course, the shadow lord.

But I like all of it Moriendor. Yes, grave spiders that were OP in Risen 2 are now easy to kill so what? No mindblowing quests, I'll agree, but Rosco's treasure hunting quest in the swamp made me smile.
Dunno which hidden/parrot treasure you were after but you still need parrot spell to get a couple of runestones. If you think on the certain legendary item, then it's correct, you don't need to fly to get it. :)
There is only one thing I really dislike and that's too many hard chests to open. For example in the kitchen there is a chest that needs 120 skill to open it! Wrote them all down, it'll be much time till I get enough skill to return for those…

Anyway, clearing the first island and then Tacarigua took me 10 hours. No stone (that was possible) was left unturned.
Not that I'm copying Moriendor, but during exploration of Tacarigua you learn that there are two legendary items on Antigua and their location. That'll be my next stop, obviously.

Edit: I think it is worth knowing that unlike R2, this game uses purchasable skills for skinning/trophy taking (at least 5 of them), and not items you buy from merchants. Look for hunter type people to teach you these, so you don't miss out on a big source of income.
Those skills are musthave but there are no hunting trainers on Tacarigua. For those who didn't start playing yet and want those skills early, pick some other island as a first stop.
 
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The skills menu being invisible and crashing was due to using large fonts in Windows, so if anyone else is having the same problem put the fonts to their default of 96 DPI. Not great, especially if you have a really big monitor, but it'll have to do for now.
 
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