Risen 2 - Preview Roundup # 1 and QA

Previews start coming from this game and as such previews can be found at Destructod, IGN and G4 while at RPGamer a short Q&A with Björn Pankratz, the game's project director, can be found. A quote from the Q&A at RPGamer:

You've stated in a prior Q&A that choices have more of an impact on skills and who will help you. Could you elaborate on this? Does this mean that there is no branching storylines at all?

Björn Pankratz: The player's decision which guild to play for influences a lot of things, such as the skills, the hero's companions, and the storyline, which increases the game's replay value. For example, the player may hear about a certain island, or some NPCs might be friendly or unfriendly. However, you should really discover for yourselves which events develop differently.

IGN isn't that impressed.

PC performance is mostly where it should be, but the console version is a bit rougher. Both had framerate issues, but the console one looks months behind, with jagged visuals and a lot of missing or somewhat broken animations. The final months of every game's development cycle are for cleaning up issues and addressing bugs, but the skeptic inside comes out due to the developer's pedigree. Pirahna Byte's Risen had its share of technical gremlins, but Gothic 3 was an utter mess. A representative can talk till their blue in the face about how this is unfinished code, but it takes time to rebuild faith after releasing broken products.

Destructoid likes it.

Risen 2 has a lot of traditional PC RPG aspects, yet its abandonment of the medieval setting that has become so ubiquitous makes it feel surprisingly fresh. The lush, tropical environments are pleasingly vibrant, made more dynamic by some nice mood lighting and the day and night cycle. The characters are crass, affable, and oftentimes humorous -- it’s a nice break from stuffy fantasy dialogue. Everything about Risen 2: Dark Waters just feels so adventurous. I really hope my positive experience with the game is indicative of the final product, because I could really use a new, good pirate game.

G4 tell us about the game using a quest as an example.  Spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk:

For example, in the demo level Deep Silver showed off for us, we walked though a seaside town filled with rickets-laden sailors and wooden buildings, on a quest for a sacrificial knife. This is done through helping a captain break a trade embargo in order to supply a ship to sail off to get the knife. In order to get drinking water for the ship, you have to take care of a boss named “Butch,” who is so ineffective; he can’t convince his workers to load barrels for him. You can either convince Butch to accompany you deep into a cave, where you summarily murder him in cold blood (pirates were not saints, after all), then order the men to get to work, or you can be a bit more devious and use voodoo to take care of old Butch. Should you choose the ancient magical art/religion of voodoo to help you, you fashion a voodoo doll of Butch, then take control of his character. You then walk over to the water carriers and browbeat them into moving some damn barrels, post-haste. Problem solved.