Risen 2 - Review @ RPG Codex

The DLC's were so confusing that i decided against buying it. Didn't feel like researching how to get them or if i would get them, it was really vague and seemed to be different depending on where you read about it. Too bad ~99% of their fans seems to think Risen 1 was the better game. They should've been able to make a better game with the larger budget and input / reactions from the first game.

I enjoyed both games quite a bit and played through them each twice. But I must admit, Risen 1 was much better than Risen 2.

My main problem with Risen 2 was the greedy DLC and how they purposefully mislabeled them as having 8-10 hours of content when it was more like 2 hours at most. That really soured me on the company...

The codex wrote up a negative review of an RPG? Hmmm, that's really odd...

I've just started playing the game a couple of nights ago and I must say that although I'm only half way through Tacarigua or thereabouts, I agree with the review in its criticism of the melee combat - it's absolutely dreadful so far and several steps backwards from the first game. I hope it improves with more skill point allocation, otherwise I may just skip it and go for guns.

My mind kept floating back to my horrendous mind-draining experience with Arcania, it's that bad. There's just no sense of feeling or feedback between sword strikes like one would get from Gothic 1-2 and to a lesser degree, Risen.
There's also no sensation of awe or caution when approaching monsters; (like say a Shadowbeast) as no creature has yet felt unbeatable. I took out three ghouls with Patty (who is now a distastefully done Angelina Jolie-look-alike-wannabe) within the first hour of exploration with only 1 skill in Blades and couldn't believe it - that just wouldn't have happened in Risen.

Thus, so far...not so good. Here's to hoping it'll improve. My PB faith is still reasonably strong.

As to the review - if people disagree with it, I'd appreciate hearing more in depth responses (without spoilers naturally) as it'd be interesting to discuss the game in greater detail.

Pessimeister said:

My mind kept floating back to my horrendous mind-draining experience with Arcania, it's that bad. There's just no sense of feeling or feedback between sword strikes like one would get from Gothic 1-2 and to a lesser degree, Risen.

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With all due respect, you're nuts if you think Risen 2 is anywhere near as bad as Arcania. You're still very early in the game though, and Tacarigua is far from being the best location.

Combat also gets a lot better once you have some skills under your belt, but it's definitely not a strong point.

Pessimeister said:

There's also no sensation of awe or caution when approaching monsters; (like say a Shadowbeast) as no creature has yet felt unbeatable.

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Oh trust me, that will change.

Exaggerated review. Sure, Risen 2 has a couple of weaknesses, but it's still more open than most other modern RPGs and certainly a decent game.

Pessimeister said:

I took out three ghouls with Patty (who is now a distastefully done Angelina Jolie-look-alike-wannabe) within the first hour of exploration with only 1 skill in Blades and couldn't believe it - that just wouldn't have happened in Risen.

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Definitely one of Risen 2's many flaws. You can defeat every enemy early on with Patty at your side. Even if Patty gets knocked out, you just need to run away and she will be auto-resurrected back to full strength instantly once you lose aggro. Then you just go back in with Patty and continue the fight where you left off until the mob is dead. There is zero challenge involved.
Just don't use a companion and leave them at the ship you say? Nope. You never know when/where your companion might provide some useful advice or a humorous snarky comment while you're exploring the world.
The character interaction is one of the game's saving graces so leaving the companion at home is no viable option in my opinion.

Anyway, they could have very simply avoided the whole issue by either making companions mortal (forcing you to reload) or at least exhausted (after a K.O.) for some time (like a one or two minute cooldown timer before they'd be able to engage in any kind of combat again). And finally it might have been a good idea to give mobs at least a slow and steady health regen to avoid the cheap hit & run tactics.

This is just one of the many, many mind-boggling issues in Risen 2 though. There is a problem that is very easy to identify. There is a very simple and obvious fix. And yet PB chose to ignore the whole issue and left it as it is.
If you are the kind of gamer who pays attention to detail then be prepared to be driven crazy by many such obvious oversights throughout the rest of the game.
I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that I'd ever agree with a cesspit review but the Codex reviewer is 100% spot on when he says that someone needs to kick sense back into PB. It is simply incomprehensible why they chose not to address even the most obvious design flaws.

Sounds as if Risen 2 was made for a broader audience.

I'm sure no one here had that idea.

JDR13 said:

With all due respect, you're nuts if you think Risen 2 is anywhere near as bad as Arcania.

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Don't misunderstand me - I don't mean the game as a whole, I'm simply comparing the two melee systems, as the lack of visceral feeling or feedback (for lack of a better phrase) and the hit point sponge nature of the monsters in Risen 2 so far, is somewhat reminiscent of my experience with Arcania. You could practically swing-click mindlessly through almost all encounters in that game with nary a thought of taking a side-step, unlike Gothic 1-2 or Risen, where that approach is likely to only get you killed.

Good to hear that there will be greater challenges though. Just as long as they don't involve having to hit the bloody space bar all of a sudden, I'll be happy. That's another unwelcome mechanic which doesn't belong in my opinion.

Pessimeister said:

Good to hear that there will be greater challenges though. Just as long as they don't involve having to hit the bloody space bar all of a sudden, I'll be happy. That's another unwelcome mechanic which doesn't belong in my opinion.

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Um…well. Unfortunately there is a bit of space bar hitting from time to time.

Look at the positive side… it's better than Gothic 3's melee!

While it has some flaws it's not as bad as this review says. With the patch dodge and parry added to the combat. While combat seems a little step down from Risen 1, it's still tactical. Every monster has a different tactics to defeat them which is a plus.

There're still quite a bit of exploration. Dialogues are well written and add character to NPCs. Overall it retains most of what makes Piranha Bytes games good. Also pirate setting is a welcome change.

Do any of you know how to buy the English boxed version in Europe, please let me know.

JDR13 said:

Risen 2 isn't bad at all. I disagree with a lot of what the reviewer said.

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Of course you do

Gokyabgu said:

Do any of you know how to buy the English boxed version in Europe, please let me know.

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This is where I bought my copy in the UK:

https://www.coolshop.co.uk/catalog/product/68830-risen_2_dark_waters_pc

rune_74 said:

Of course you do

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We had 32 posts in this thread before you stopped by to troll.

You're usually faster than that.

JDR13 said:

We had 32 posts in this thread before you stopped by to troll.

You're usually faster than that.

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I love it when you get all frothing at the mouth...continue.

*Edit* Nevermind... not even worth the keystrokes.

i think it's a great attempt, i'm still frustrated about the combat(i'm just playing the demo now), and there's that sense of not enough impact on the plot/monsters strength etc'. but i'm a fan, a huge fan of PB games, and just to see these shiny moments i think i'll buy it(i'm really impressed with the graphics).

everytime i read these over harsh reviews, they seem to have this tone of disappointment in them. get over it-all PB games are frustrating, until the point where you get it, and find the right path to play. for me, it's part of the game. even if it's a stupid bug like: "jump over stone-monster can't follow-shoot until dead."

The review seemed convincing enough to me and since even its supporters won't offer a praise better than "it's not that bad", it seems to fit well in the 'safe to ignore' category.

So PB managed to get the Gothic license back? Would be wonderful if they did a true sequel to Gothic 3. Something along the scale of Gothic 2 would be wonderful.

So melee combat is still broken in G3? I've recently started and already pumped some points into strength. So I should just focus on ranged or magic then?