Risen 2 - Previews @ Strategy Informer, VG247

Originally Posted by JDR13
Before what? I'm just trying to understand what you're talking about. Did PB develop games prior to Gothic that I'm not aware of? Or are you talking about other open-world games. If so, what games?

Before Risen, obviously. The Gothics had swimming and Risen didn't.

It's sad that you had to immediately jump to being argumentive and condescending over a misunderstanding, but I guess it's nothing we haven't seen before.

Yes, a very far-fetched misunderstanding where you are concerned

If you one day start being fair and capable of seeing your own part in these things, I'll probably be less inclined to assume you're trying to start something.

Originally Posted by DeepO
Gothic 3 did have swimming. Busted!

Really? I tried hard to remember swimming in that game - and I just can't. Maybe it's just diving you couldn't do then?

Diving is kinda the key to why swimming is a nice feature, as it represents most of the "exploration" part

In any case, it just reinforces my point that PB have changed their approach since G3.

Originally Posted by vurt
The success of the PotC movies could've been one thing that have influenced the direction.

It certainly could have been one of the things influencing the direction, speculatively speaking . But personally I think the fact pirates now seem to be quite in course just made the decision easier, but it was not the main driving force behind it.
It´s just my feeling, but my general impression is that, at least setting-wise, with Risen 2 they´re engaging in something they really want to make and have fun making, whereas the Gothic 3 escapade made them in some regards compromise creativity in favor of perceived necessity when developing Risen.
I wouldn´t be surprised if they would´ve liked to make Risen pirate-y already, but considered that too risky at that time.
At any rate, in my opinion they desperately needed to infuse Risen´s setting with something and I´m glad they´re doing so. For what it´s worth, I wouldn´t mind if they went all steampunk on Risen´s ass either .

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Really? I tried hard to remember swimming in that game - and I just can't. Maybe it's just diving you couldn't do then?

Yep.
It probably wasn´t particularly "memorable", I mostly remember it for the hilariously bad splash sound effect it produced . Oh, and it was possible to swim to the desert areas pretty much right from the starting location.

One of the things I loved in Risen was the levitation spell - it enabled interesting alternatives for puzzle solving/exploration, and it would be a shame if they removed it…hope not!

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Before Risen, obviously. The Gothics had swimming and Risen didn't.

Ok, so what you actually meant to write was - "I certainly remember swimming in the Gothics, and Risen was already a step towards a more restrictive version of what came before."

The comma after "Risen" in that sentence changes the meaning entirely. When you wrote "Gothics and Risen", I read it as just that.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Yes, a very far-fetched misunderstanding where you are concerned

If you one day start being fair and capable of seeing your own part in these things, I'll probably be less inclined to assume you're trying to start something.

Fair enough. I fully admit to misunderstanding your shitty grammar.

How far fetched and unfair to misunderstand poor sentence structure…

FWIW. His sentence did not parse, so I ignored it. Happens quite frequently.

*SNIP*

Pointless

*SNIP*

Pointless

Originally Posted by DeepO
It probably wasn´t particularly "memorable", I mostly remember it for the hilariously bad splash sound effect it produced . Oh, and it was possible to swim to the desert areas pretty much right from the starting location.

Funny how I could forget that… I remember standing on the beach by the ocean and being pissed I was blocked from swimming there

Blocked from swimming, how?

Originally Posted by vurt
Blocked from swimming, how?

Unless I'm completely mad, I remember the ocean being blocked by invisible walls - meaning you couldn't explore any of it - and it was all "blackish" and bland with nothing underneath.

Did I dream all of this and Gothic 3 actually has explorable seas and stuff?

If so, then I apologise for the confusion and I'll have to try it again soon

You could swim across it to explore the other side, desert etc, but yes you couldnt dive like in the earlier games..

Originally Posted by vurt
You could swim across it to explore the other side, desert etc. You just couldnt dive like in the earlier games..

I guess I must have assumed it was impossible - as I never tried it. It's usually the kind of thing I test for right away, as I love the concept of being able to swim and explore in that way.

I remember searching forever for the "dual-wielding" trainer in the desert area - and if it turns out I could have just taken a shortcut through the sea, it'd be embarrassing.

Is there ANYTHING worth seeing by swimming in the ocean? Any secret areas?

Please tell me Risen doesn't have swimming, or do I remember that wrong too?

In Risen you can neither swim or dive, which is quite disapointing, imo that would be perfect for the pirate theme (sunken ships to explore, fighting underwater creatures, pearl diving etc).. meh, maybe in Risen 3.

Anything to see? well you could swim across to the desert areas etc. But there arent any islands that i can remember right now, or secret areas really.

Originally Posted by vurt
In Risen you can neither swim or dive, which is quite disapointing, imo that would be perfect for the pirate theme (sunken ships to explore, fighting under water monsters, pearl diving etc).. meh, maybe in Risen 3.

Yeah, when I first heard about the strong pirate theme, I was really hoping for swimming/diving to be a big part of the game. I also half-way expected them to implement a ship you could sail the seas with and explore freely. Seems like the perfect opportunity to have something like that - but naturally it's not a trivial feature to do.

Anything to see? well you could swim across to the desert areas etc. But there arent any islands that i can remember right now, or secret areas really.

Ok. Then at least I didn't miss anything

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Ok. Then at least I didn't miss anything

Actually there are several islands on Varant you can explore containing at least
2 heavy, one old and one "damaged" (I think this is a quest from the CP team ?
first time I found it is in this playthrough) chests, guarded by Ogres Undead and whatnot.

Pretty important if you are trying to get as many of the High Level items as possible from
the Special chests (i.e the Ansestor Sword Blueprints)

P.S: There is a solid metal chest too, that gives you a chance for another pure ore blank,
if you are not cheating/reloading with one on the mainland…

P.P.S Actually make that 1 Heavy, 1 Solid metal and the damaged one. The rest are near Bakaresh but on the mainland so I mixed them up a bit…

Originally Posted by JonNik
Actually there are several islands on Varant you can explore containing at least
2 heavy, one old and one "damaged" (I think this is a quest from the CP team ?
first time I found it is in this playthrough) chests, guarded by Ogres Undead and whatnot.

Pretty important if you are trying to get as many of the High Level items as possible from
the Special chests (i.e the Ansestor Sword Blueprints)

Damn!

Now I have another reason to go back and play it again…

Too many games right now, and Skyrim is imminent!

Well the way I remember swimming in Gothic 3 is that you could swim across the channel to Varant, but if you tried to swim in any other direction (i.e. out towards sea) you were quickly met with an invisible wall.

Ah, that might explain things

There's lots of swimming in Gothic 3. You can swim across lakes, rivers etc with ease. Diving was not included, however. If I recall correctly, PB said they simply didn't have time to include diving.