Risen 2 - "Why Risen 2 will be better" @ Eurogamer

Pirahna Bytes' Michael Hoge together with Deep Silver's Daniel Oberlechner discuss Risen 2 with Eurogamer. Let's start at the beginning with our quote:

Eurogamer: Was Risen 1 your best work?
Michael Hoge: No, absolutely not. Risen, especially the console version, was done quite poorly. It was our first console project. The PC version was all right, though. With Risen our main goal was to produce a role-playing game in time and in budget.
Daniel Oberlerchner: [Piranha Bytes] wanted to recover from the feedback they got for Gothic 3. Gothic 3 was their previous project before Risen 1. The feedback from the community and also the press was abysmal for Gothic 3 because the project lacked a lot of time and polish. It was a huge world but it wasn't really filled properly and there were many bugs.
We wanted to get rid of the bugs and polish it down for Risen 1. And I think we succeeded with that.

…and a quote on Risen 2:

Eurogamer: What is the budget for Risen 2?
Michael Hoge: The project Risen 2 is by far the most expensive project that we've done. I can't elaborate on that, sorry.
We've put much more effort into the animation by using motion capture. Also, the structure of the game: in Risen 1 we had quite an imbalance in the game chapters; as the game went on there was less and less to do, and at the end you had to run through a couple of dungeons. This gave you the feeling that the game became more boring.
What we're doing in Risen 2 is mix it all up: the dungeons will not be at the end of the game but at several points in the game.
We have a completely different travelling system. We've split the world into several islands and coastal regions, so you still have an open world, which you can explore freely, but we can force the player to solve some missions before we allow him to travel to another island. Thus we can ensure the player knows certain things when he arrives.

More information.

Anyone else hate how Eurogamer quotes their own reviews as if they were facts to be referenced?

Found out Oberlerchner's stint at dtp was short and he is back at Deep Silver.

Oops……

The feedback from the community and also the press was abysmal for Gothic 3 because the project lacked a lot of time and polish. It was a huge world but it wasn't really filled properly and there were many bugs.

in Risen 1 we had quite an imbalance in the game chapters; as the game went on there was less and less to do, and at the end you had to run through a couple of dungeons. This gave you the feeling that the game became more boring.
What we're doing in Risen 2 is mix it all up: the dungeons will not be at the end of the game but at several points in the game.

It's refreshing to see a developer that's not afraid to talk about negative aspects in their previous titles and admit to their mistakes. I have high expectations of Risen 2, and I think there's a chance it might even be PB's best title yet.

True, but they're still telling a story created by marketing. In Germany they're saying they were not involved at all in the Risen conversion.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
Anyone else hate how Eurogamer quotes their own reviews as if they were facts to be referenced?

They are facts to be referenced. It's a fact that Eurogamer thought Risen was bad on console and just ok on PC. That's what they are referring to. Since there is no objective fact of whether a game is good or not, it is implied that statements about the quality of a game are statements of opinion.

Originally Posted by Badesumofu
They are facts to be referenced. It's a fact that Eurogamer thought Risen was bad on console and just ok on PC. That's what they are referring to. Since there is no objective fact of whether a game is good or not, it is implied that statements about the quality of a game are statements of opinion.

It's just the way they do it, like one reviewer's opinion is what the industry thought of the game. It bugs me. They do it all the time too, in pretty much every news article they link to their review and quote it like it's an objective statement.

It's a fascinating concept to be in the position to want to defend a game from its own developer. I actually liked the narrowing of focus after the wide-ended nature of the first couple of chapters. Colour me strange, but I also liked the dungeon crawling found in the latter part of the game very much.
I agree with JDR that it's nice and humbling to see an openly critical minded approach from developers.

Am doubly enthusiastic about Risen 2 and its great potential. It's great to read that they've had a budget to hopefully support their vision for a game that they think will exceed the original.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Found out Oberlerchner's stint at dtp was short and he is back at Deep Silver.

In fact it was so short that it didn't happen at all You can check my vita here.

Originally Posted by doberlec
In fact it was so short that it didn't happen at all You can check my vita here.

It doesn't get much shorter than that!

Anyway, good read. I loved Risen, and I see no reason I won't love Risen 2. Let's just hope they manage to pull it off - it sounds quite ambitious.

Originally Posted by Maylander
Anyway, good read. I loved Risen, and I see no reason I won't love Risen 2. Let's just hope they manage to pull it off - it sounds quite ambitious.

+1

Particularly like the promise of not narrowing down the later chapters too much.
I just hope they don't overdo the: "having to finish certain quests before moving to the
next Island". Such walling off was never a particular problem with their previous games
and I would hate to see it become that now…

And (pretty) please no EndBoss out of an old Platformer this time

Everything still sounds really great.

What we're doing in Risen 2 is mix it all up: the dungeons will not be at the end of the game but at several points in the game.

Cool. Risenīs uneven (s)pacing was its biggest problem in my book and this is pretty much the way I wanted it to be addressed in the sequel (as opposed to, say, just pulling dungeons out altogether).

We've split the world into several islands and coastal regions, so you still have an open world, which you can explore freely, but we can force the player to solve some missions before we allow him to travel to another island.

Sounds pretty much like G2: NotR.

It's very hard to do the balancing bit without auto-magic strength-levelling of creatures - we didn't want to do that.

Good .

Anyway, canīt wait.

Sounds really good, especially the fact that the game world is now many times bigger, Risen felt a little too small imo.

Originally Posted by doberlec
In fact it was so short that it didn't happen at all You can check my vita here.

I know.

There was a little mistake in the original newsbit.

Originally Posted by Badesumofu
They are facts to be referenced. It's a fact that Eurogamer thought Risen was bad on console and just ok on PC. That's what they are referring to. Since there is no objective fact of whether a game is good or not, it is implied that statements about the quality of a game are statements of opinion.

Your reasoning is correct, but quoting your own material is poor journalism at best. Imagine writing a college paper where all your footnotes refer to prior papers you wrote… your professor would likely be very skeptical and your grade would certainly be at risk.

They're trying to generate hits.

Originally Posted by JonNik
+1

And (pretty) please no EndBoss out of an old Platformer this time

If they just do that one thing, that one thing. No improvement in graphics, no improvement in ambiance, no improvement in combat. If they just have a typical RPG end boss or even no end boss. They will have a grade A classic RPG for the ages.

That's the thing: I'd be really happy if Risen 2 stuck to the Risen 1 formula and just took care of its biggest flaws(shit end game content), it sounds like they're risking a lot by mixing up the formula with the new setting, islands etc.