Risen 3: Titan Lords - Patch 1.2 Released

Edgy said:

It's not. PB doesn't want to make another Risen game but Deep Silver do.
Contract is contract, this is why you don't go to bed with a publisher when you don't have the upper hand (see Human Head Studios case).

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You said the contract was for 3 games. Risen 3 was the 3rd game, so what's the issue?

The German source (WoR) claimed that risen 2 was the first one in the deal though yea DP did published the first risen.
That would explain why PB half assed and recycled risen 2 into three.

I am pretty much confused right now but you are right and I am wrong.

Yea, he has a point, I also saw Taranis in Risen 2.

It took place in the same region. It made sense for PB to include some of the previous areas for continuity. There were enough changes to where I wouldn't call it recycled.

Regarding ludicrous:

You are invincible while evading. Your companions are IMMORTAL. You fight the same giant chickens over and over and over. The main guy companion with the tribal face paint had the most laughable voice work I've EVER heard in any game, ever. The sister character looked like some kind of pirate stripper clown. Her voice work was terrible. Almost all the NPCs looked alike… ugly balding guys wearing shades of gray and black. The main character voice work was merely bad… a laughable mix of quirky, unfunny "humor", out of place swearing and overall terrible writing.

It had some decent graphics. And I even had some fun with it for a while, but mostly the kind of fun you have when watching a B-movie that's so bad it's good. But then it got repetitive and the overall preposterousness of the thing made me move on.

Which is why I don't call it a BAD game, just a ludicrous game.

Also, the realism and "immersion" of being able to carry 50 rusty swords, six suits of armor, and 500 assorted other things while jumping around in the tropical heat in a woolen officer's uniform.

Ovenall said:

You are invincible while evading.

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You were until this patch.

Ovenall said:

Your companions are IMMORTAL.

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No, they're not. I think they're overpowered, especially in the early game, but they're not immortal.

Ovenall said:

You fight the same giant chickens over and over and over.

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There were giant chickens? Where? I love chicken!

Ovenall said:

The sister character looked like some kind of pirate stripper clown.

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What's wrong with that?

Ovenall said:

Also, the realism and "immersion" of being able to carry 50 rusty swords, six suits of armor, and 500 assorted other things while jumping around in the tropical heat in a woolen officer's uniform.

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You mean like most video games?

As someone who is reading the WoR forums on a very regular basis, I feel like clearing up a few issues (all to my best knowledge but based on official statements):

- The Unreal engine game that Mike Hoge is working on (working title is Spacetime) is not directly affiliated with PB. To quote Mike Hoge "PB and PB RED [ed. the latter is Mike Hoge's endeavor] are two entirely separate entities, although we do occasionally have some talks and exchange ideas."
- PB has not said a word about the new project except that it is not a Risen 3 expansion and no Gothic reboot. It could be Risen 4 or a new franchise and it is being developed for PC (confirmed) plus whatever else -in terms of platforms- the publisher "orders".
- They have also never officially confirmed or commented on whether the Risen series has come to an end with part three or whether the contract with Deep Silver covered a trilogy.
- The standard blurb when asked about Risen and a continuation of the series is always along the lines of that they are "feeling very comfortable" about everything Risen and working within the Risen universe.


On a slightly off-topic note:

Well, you DO end up with chicken legs from killing the giant birds.

And OK, I played for around 20 hours and my companions came back from death EVERY time they died. If that's not immortal, then what is?

And the voice acting was train-wreck bad, absolutely terrible.

But I get it, all Euro developers are special little perfect snowflakes for you weirdos...

Ovenall said:

And OK, I played for around 20 hours and my companions came back from death EVERY time they died. If that's not immortal, then what is?

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Ah ok, I thought you were implying that they couldn't get knocked out of a battle at all.

Your companions regain consciousness after a battle if they get knocked out. It's just like any modern Bioware game, but I've never seen you complain about it in those.

Ovenall said:

And the voice acting was train-wreck bad, absolutely terrible.

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There's that typical hyperbole I've come to expect from you. The voice acting was definitely hit or miss, but I've heard much worse.

Ovenall said:

But I get it, all Euro developers are special little perfect snowflakes for you weirdos…

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Tada!

You almost had me believing it wasn't pure trolling, so thank you for clearing that up. Oh, and to have it be about something as predictable as the usual anti-EU "quirky" crusade where all your complaints are largely interchangeable between US/EU RPGs is just icing on the cake.

Well, ok, perhaps not the voice acting - where I admit Risen 3 wasn't great, especially in the tutorial, which is likely where you really stopped playing.

Delicious

Moriendor said:

As someone who is reading the WoR forums on a very regular basis, I feel like clearing up a few issues (all to my best knowledge but based on official statements):

- The Unreal engine game that Mike Hoge is working on (working title is Spacetime) is not directly affiliated with PB. To quote Mike Hoge "PB and PB RED [ed. the latter is Mike Hoge's endeavor] are two entirely separate entities, although we do occasionally have some talks and exchange ideas."
- PB has not said a word about the new project except that it is not a Risen 3 expansion and no Gothic reboot. It could be Risen 4 or a new franchise and it is being developed for PC (confirmed) plus whatever else -in terms of platforms- the publisher "orders".
- They have also never officially confirmed or commented on whether the Risen series has come to an end with part three or whether the contract with Deep Silver covered a trilogy.
- The standard blurb when asked about Risen and a continuation of the series is always along the lines of that they are "feeling very comfortable" about everything Risen and working within the Risen universe.


On a slightly off-topic note:

Spoiler

Regarding Mike Hoge's project, there was an interesting turn of events recently when it was revealed that Daedalic is working on a space exploration game called 'The Long Journey Home'. Just like Mike Hoge's game, it is using the Unreal engine, and again also just like Mike Hoge's game, it is supposed to feature a soundtrack by Kai Rosenkranz.
Coincidence? Maybe. But if so a pretty massive one.
Also, Mike Hoge used to be quite talkative in the thread about his new project until late last year but not a single bleep since 12/23/2014. Maybe because he is simply too busy…. or because he is under publisher NDA now?
If you ask me, it's the same game. Spacetime = The Long Journey Home.
But we'll have to wait and see for an official confirmation as always…

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Thanks for clearing stuff up man. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Regarding the game itself, it had low budget so PB couldn't afford AAA voice actors or to generate alot of assets. Inventory and Immortality stuff is just gamey like any other game.

IMO the game was fine besides the combat which could use some fine tuning and the writing.

Edgy said:

Thanks for clearing stuff up man. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Regarding the game itself, it had low budget so PB couldn't afford AAA voice actors or to generate alot of assets. Inventory and Immortality stuff is just gamey like any other game.

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Thanks for the infos you've posted, even though some look a bit differently after Moriendor's post.

Localisation (incl. translation and voice acting) is traditionally a point in which the publisher has a lot of input. He has better market data and more experience than a developer to decide if higher expenses are worth it.
PB's games usually have good German voice acting, because quality voice actors are inexpensive here. English voice acting is a different beast ...

I really can't understand since when superquality voiceovers became a crucial part of a game.
For all I care, I don't need voiceovers at all in my RPGs.

If someone refuses to play Risen 3 because of voiceover (and btw I didn't find them bad at all, but even if I did, so what), their loss. It's like refusing to play Risen 3 because Angry Joe couldn't learn the simple cheasy-easy combat moves.

Fun game! I enjoyed the combat and I also enjoyed Jaffa or Jafar or whatever. Kinda like having an ewok for a companion. Too bad they fixed his exploit.

Oy. Your tongues go so far up PihranaBytes' butt that you risk getting them cut off by the fish's sharp little teeth.

Someone sure got stuck in the darker places of Bioware

Thanks JDR13 and DArtagnan for humiliating a troll.

joxer said:

I really can't understand since when superquality voiceovers became a crucial part of a game.

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VO is good and easy complaint to bash the game. You can see it often when reviewer exaggerate VO quality to describe it as "undearable" and "atrocious" etc… while he didnt write almost anything of value about the content of RPG!! Sometimes it seems like he is playing an action game or watch a movie - VO is bad… and writing is awfull… and there is lack of polish… so it means that RPG is bad. OMG.
Now compare it with all those AAA hyped cinematic games where you are regularly interrupted by cutscenes. You have so much "dramatic" talking there (to make it look like a movie), implausible bad writing, laughably wannabe tough guys, over the top cool guys etc. How often do you see the same ppl complaint about bad writing in these games? Or did label "AAA" works like brain switch for them?

Worst cases are games like Ravens Cry:
- unknown game - some reviewers wont be interested to play it at all
- EU devs - bad or mediocre in US
- bad VO - publisher went bankrupt so devs had to make some cheap replacements
- some bugs - again publisher went bankrupt so they had to release it
- lack of polish - again…
- weak animations - again…
- possible lack of side quests or bigger world - some ppl probably think that all linear shooters take place in Skyrim…
If the game has visible problems its easy to bash it quickly and dont bother with real content. So fake review is born.

joxer said:

I really can't understand since when superquality voiceovers became a crucial part of a game.

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Full voice-overs from A to Z, from the beggar to the kings, every single dialogue including ambient blabbering, is a trademark of Piranha Bytes games so I'd say that quality VO is definitely a crucial part of a Piranha Bytes RPG.

Gorath said:

PB's games usually have good German voice acting, because quality voice actors are inexpensive here. English voice acting is a different beast …

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In Risen 3's case I felt that the German VO was pretty horrible as well. They changed the voices of a few prominent characters like Eldric and the new guy most definitely sounded much worse than the "real" Eldric.
And the game suffered from the Oblivion VO phenomenon where many (mostly) side characters, like the beggars in Oblivion, had the same voice. At least Oblivion had the excuse of hundreds of beggars but Risen 3 has a very low population count so it really stuck out like a sore thumb.

Moriendor said:

Full voice-overs from A to Z… is a trademark of Piranha Bytes games so I'd say that quality VO is definitely a crucial part of a Piranha Bytes RPG.

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How do you come to this conclusion? And do you really try to tell us that Piranha Bytes is pioneer and leader in RPG market who pushed for full VO? Really?

Joker has a habit of overlooking bugs in games like risen and Ravens cry and exaggerating bugs in skyrim. It gets to be a bit of a joke.