Just started playing
 

So I've gotten around to playing Risen and I just can't seem to get into it very much. Does it get better, am I missing something?

Any feedback to get me to play it a bit more ….

Are you a fan of the Gothic games? Risen 1 is the Risen game that is most like Gothic. It has a very good melee combat system, is very challenging, and has a good degree of exploration. It also has a great soundtrack from the same guy who did the music for Gothic 1-3.

If you don't like it, there might simply be something wrong with you. ;)

I think the combat is inferior to Gothic 1 and 2 and is mostly about clicking at the right times like a QTE.
Never really played it really far into it though.

The combat is definitely nothing like a QTE. In fact, it might be the best melee combat in a Piranha Bytes game.

These games are largely about the world and tremendous atmosphere - which I think PB excel at creating.

I also think the (melee) combat system was excellent, though the actual encounter design grows stale after the first half of the game. There's simply not enough variety there.

But, I think the game is very good overall - and is only really let down by the last third of the game which isn't at the same level as the fantastic beginning and middle parts.

Generally, I'd say get better at combat, complete the bandit camp in the swamp and then go to Harbor Town when the quests lead you there. If it hasn't picked up by then, it probably never will.

Thanks everyone…I will stick with it..

The combat gets more complex when you spend some skill points on it. In the beginning you can only fight like that dude with a big stick. A couple of skill points, a better sword and an armour make a huge difference. Take the visual feedback seriously - don't attack somebody early on who looks like Conan the Barbarian and carries a broadsword.
The beginning is a bit slow. You should talk to every named NPC, collect a gazillion quests and start doing them. At that point you should see more action. Save in several different slots - PB games usually have a couple of decisions which are final.
Explore a lot. If you find enemies you can't beat, which will happen quite often, just run away.
Generally speaking keep your options open.

Stick with it, Celtic, but keep in mind that it's not ever going to turn into some action-packed, intense adventure, so to speak. The first Risen game is more like a laid-back stroll through a lovingly created world, rather than a hectic race to the finish. You should try to smell the roses a bit with a game like this, much like the first 2 Gothic games. If you give it some patience, it will reward you very nicely with some beautiful game mechanics and top-notch open-world design.

After a little more play last night and reading your guys post here I figured something out.
I had started Risen right around the time I gave Skyrim a forth chance. Over my holidays at Christmas I put about 150 hours into Skyrim. So when I started back up with Risen last week the combat through me a bit. I guess I was just use to a walking around with a two hand weapon killing everything in my way without any thought.
I think I am just going to restarted Risen today as I am not that far into it and give it a real go.

Any pointers on combat???

Combat is tricky. Try to focus on one enemy if you encounter them in packs. Make sure not to let enemies get behind you if you can help it. And if you think someone or something is tough, don't even try it. At least save first and you should be fine. :)

That's some of the top-notch open-world design I'm talking about. You can actually find tough enemies right from the start. Love that about the first Risen and first 2 Gothic games.

Well, do I even post this, sure why not.

Well I knew from reading that the combat was hard. But I have played my share of games over the last 30 years. So I couldn't figure out why this combat was so hard, I mean dying every battle almost.

Well I have no clue what I did when installing the game but I didn't have my shield option working. I could see a shield in my hands but could block with it. Anyways combat is still hard but a bit easier now that I can block attacks.

Risen is more challenging than the average modern RPG. I'd say the normal difficulty is equal to the hard setting in most other games. I played on hard which is close to Gothic 2 + NotR difficulty-wise.

There is a "cheesy" way to win almost every fight:
- Get axe level 2 for power attack (a ring of +1 axe will do, and one is found in the bandit camp).
- Increase Strength to 30+ and buy a good axe from the blacksmith in the bandit camp.
- User power attack by holding down left mouse button. Jump back twice by tapping backwards. Use power attack again. Repeat. Sometimes you need to jump back once, sometimes three times, but it's mostly two times.

This will get you through the majority of the game. Later on, at axe level 5 or 6, you can use shield + axe, which will get you through the rest of the game (when combiend with the power attack tactic).

Well I restarted it last night, I wasn't past the Bandit camp. I figured I had made so many mistakes in the beginning and missed a bunch of stuff. Much easier now that I got my feet wet playing it.

Thanks for all the advise, it is a very enjoyable game now that I have worked out all the things I was doing wrong.

Yes, dodging attacks per Maylander's advice makes seemingly impossible situations doable. Unlike Skyrim, you can't just stand there and get hit most of the time.

Well, I was done in the swamp last night which I enjoyed very much(Quest from the Don now). There just seems to be something soothing in the way the game has played so far. I started to head out to Harbor Town and the world sure does seem to open up now.

Hard to believe this one has been sitting on my hard drive for awhile.

It's a great game, Celtic. I'm really glad you're enjoying it. Not everyone has enjoyed that one, unfortunately. I know you "get it", so you're cool with me. Haha. :) :cool:

Yeah, Risen is generally underrated imo, but I also think that about the entire series. :)

@Fluent - What's your new avatar pic? It's kind of hard to make out.

Agreed about the series being underrated. Risen 2 was great, too.

The avatar pic is from Konung 2. http://i.imgur.com/3L9rOhk.jpg

It's another gem that's unheard of/underrated. It's a bit slower-paced, but a fine RPG with some good ideas. I wrote an article here about it last year.

Ah ok.. I was just curious. I like the art style. :)

WOW!! only into chapter two. I have no idea how long the chapters are, though the longer the better. Still not that great at the combat but getting by with a ton of saves.

In Gothic, G2 and Risen the first chapter is by far the longest.

Here's a tip to make the last 2 chapters or so more enjoyable. Not really a spoiler.

I also like it, but I can't help thinking that grey beard is her dad, and they've just had words about her outfit.

Any tweaking tips for Risen? I have already modified the ini for better shadows and viewing distance. I'm now looking at how to increase the font size. I found Fluent's thread on the steam forums and tried the custom font installer to install Calibri bold. I don't notice any difference though, maybe that's because the font installer said it was already installed in the game.

I'm in harbor town at the moment. After a difficult start (dying 20 times to kill 5 wolves) the game is slowly starting to get me in its grip. It really breathes gothic 2 from what I remember.

I'm in harbor town and possible underleveled as it took quite some hammering to take Costa's bodyguard down. On top of that, in the axeman thread above Pladio had 30 strength when first entering harbor town and before joining a faction, I have 16 strength :) I was thinking of joining the order as warrior but now I'm not so sure anymore.

Mandatory screenshot:

I'm loving it and I can't stop playing (life is suffering because of it). The graphics look better by the minute. Lighting is very good, just those once-in-a-while bad textures, low-poly objects and environments really detract from it all.

I went for an axe-wielding warrior of the order. It really clicked for me when doing the monastery quests and since then I'm unstoppable. Cleared the east and west coasts, got 5 of the 6 discs (only the pirate treasure left). I put 80 into strength and axe up till 6, nothing else. Amount of hand-holding is perfect. No obvious quest markers, just a dot on your map if you are lucky but always enough text in the journal to know what's next.

I should have played this sooner but the review scores put me off. So big thanks to the rpgwatch giveaway :-) I'm already staking out Risen 2/3 and Elex. Elex looks great, so might skip over to that one immediately afterwards.

Fun facts:
- Wine is an ingredient of a health potion as it should be!
- Those jumping goblins are so cute!! :)
- Timing in combat is important. Chains are executed much faster which is crucial
- Exploration!
- Is it my imagination or do monsters respawn? :(
- Forgot most of what I wanted to say

Glad you're enjoying it. Risen is an underrated gem for sure. :)

Only when you advance to a new chapter. Iirc, there are 4 chapters.

Risen was a lot of fun. I just found the last few chapters a bit railroadey.

I finished risen 2 last year and plan to play risen 3 this year when I can find a week where I'm not too busy.

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Reading this thread gave me a mood to replay the series since i havent done it since risen 3 came out; if outward turns out to be crap, its risen time :biggrin:

Finished it at level 26 in just about 32 hours. Enjoyed it a lot. Last chapters were railroadsey but still lots of fun dungeon crawling, and not that easy puzzle wise (requiring scrolls, a good deal of exploration, etc.). It is a bit of a pity that your skills don't really matter in the final fight. There was not too much to it. I was wondering, the hammer of the titan lord has a +6 axe skill. Does that mean I only had to get my axe skill up to 4 (+6 = 10) or does it stack beyond 10 (+6 = 16) for extra damage? Strength was 154. Wisdom a whopping 220 or so, but magic was useless as I had no mana and only level 3 fireball.

A lot to like in this game that is rarely found in modern games anymore. A difficult beginning with a weak character, and then a strong sense of your character getting stronger. The factions give a sense of belonging. Most importantly, no minimap makes it much easier to get immersed in the world, otherwise I start navigating using the minimap and quest markers. Now I actually appreciate the world more.

Indeed, also creatures are added but old ones don't respawn. And as the spawning is not time sensitive I can live with it. In fact it is probably one of the better approaches and even preferred over no respawning.