First Risen 2 Game - Tips, Hints, Help ?
 

Hello everyone.
I am finishing up my Shadowrun HK game in the next few days probably and I wanted to play Risen 2.

About a year ago now, I had started the game to fool around a bit and did not really enjoy the combat system, but I thought since it's a PB game, I will probably enjoy most of the game/exploration/… anyway.

I was hoping I could get some basic starter tips from you guys (with minimal story-related spoilers, if possible).

I know I would like to play with the voodoo skills as they sound like the most fun to me, so I am interested in knowing which skills I should focus on and when I should start learning each.

For example, I know I can learn lockpicking at the start of the game from that prisoner. Is that worth it ? Or should I wait as there may be other more interesting things to use that money for ?

Also, regarding combat, is there a way to play it without having to roll around all the time ?

Any other beginner tips/hints ?

Lockpicking is a GREAT idea.
Dodge roll is so overpowered its ridiculous.
Like all PB games with dodge, you can finish it with level 1 sword with enough patience thanks to dodge/roll.

Try the puzzles without jumping to the internet for solutions immediately. I think you'll enjoy them a bit more.

Thank you both. I will keep that in mind. I might be back with more questions when I start :)

in the beginning keep patty with you.
dont let her leave.
if you do something do her leave , load and dont do it.
a lot of mobs will kill you in 2-3 hits

According to this guide :http://guides.gamepressure.com/risen…e.asp?ID=15286
The Voodoo skills are useless… Is this right ? Should I not bother ?

Most of voodoo skills are not useless. Just don't forget to beef up your black magic stat.
That guide sucks.

Voodoo isn't useless, but the guns are flat out overpowered in comparison. The main difference is that guns end up being a new "main" combat skill you can focus on. If you go with voodoo, you still have to use sword to deal damage. Voodoo does offer an alternate route for certain quests though, which is quite fun.

The way I remember it, only muskets are overpowered. You can choose to ignore them and play a pure pirate by putting all your skill points into blades, pistol, and the various pirate tricks.

Yes, I also recall firearms being vastly overpowered - but also pretty straight-forward if you don't want to go the complicated route.

I picked it because I have a thing for firearms in fantasy settings. I really don't know why :)

Around release, I seem to recall most people agreeing that Voodoo magic was the weakest path - but I guess they were wrong?

Yep, muskets (and shotguns) are overpowered. Very much so, especially the ones with a double shot. It's probably more fun to just stick with a more regulard melee build though.

Also, remember that you can get +1 in all attributes via collectibles, so never go beyond 9+1. That 10th point is very, very expensive. Also, alchemy requires voodoo rank 4 I think, and offers permanent potions, but only for the actual skills (the base herbs offer +1, the potions offer +2 for things like muskets, swords etc).

It's not just too much of damage output muskets, it's also kickarse sidekick Venturo you get if you go with inquisition that makes the game feel even more easy.

Voodoo is still more fun.

Yep, he's very strong. I generally play through Risen 2 twice whenever I play it, just to experience both sides. I tend to save right before making a faction choice (fairly easy to notice when "The Big Choice" is incoming), and then just re-load it after I'm done.

Oh. Very important piece of advice: Remember to enter your save folder from time to time and clear out most of the saves. I do it after every session, and only keep the most recent saves. If I want to keep some old saves, I move them to a back up folder until I need them. The auto- and quick save feature is insane in Risen 2, and spams the save folder to the point where it's silly.

Actually, voodoo + guns is only viable in Risen 3. In Risen 2, there is no way to get a good shotgun or musket when choosing the voodoo path.

Edit: Also, the only unique thing to voodoo are the sceptres, and they're fairly useless as they require such incredibly high skill before they work on anyone relevant. Alchemy, dolls etc are available to everyone from what I recall.

Edit 2: Oh yes, and a few quests can be solved in a unique way thanks to voodoo.

Are you sure about the availability of skills ?
Most seem to say voodoo skills are only
Available to natives …


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not skills. Items. Skills just marginally increase how good you are at using the items.

Sceptres and muskets/shotguns are the unique items. Everything else can pretty much be obtained and used by both paths, but the "Firearms" set of skills is useless without muskets/shotguns.

Edit: Combat skills, that is. Lockpicking, Intimidate and Silver Tongue are very useful, as they are skill check based.

Ehh, depends on your tolerance for combat. Muskets are OP, but dull, really that's all you get.
Voodoo starts weak, needs more investment, but picks up later on, crazy unbalanced. It can also net you more $ in the long run ( though by then you probably won't need it).
But seriously what's more fun… play as birocraut with a musket stuck up his ass or a freaky shaka-zulu witch doctor?
Damn shame you could not join in with that witch dance, though.

All followers kind of serves as combat cheats ( attract enemy, while being unkillable), but that guy with musket is best option.
Grab him as early as possible on second island and you'll have a lot easier time, delay until final faction quest.

So, I am now on Tacarigua. It's quite fun, but I really dislike the dodge-fighting arcade. Luckily Patty is around to do most of the fighting for now. I found a temple like place, where a trap opens up a passage to a "Guardian", which looks like an orc from previous games.

I almost had him, but he one-shot me :(

In terms of further questions:

1. Game seems to stutter quite a bit. Is this something in my settings or is there some ini fiddling required ?

2. I have a lot of loot. How do I know what I should/can sell without selling important items or even just random items that could be useful later on ? (e.g. plates and goblets had quests for them in Gothic 2, and in this game I have a few "Icons")

3. Should I skill up anything in particular before seeing pirates ?

4. How does the damage formula work in this game ? Is it the weapon primarily or your blade skill for example ? Reason for question is if it's worth me putting points into Blades at the moment or if I should focus on Cunning to get pickpocket and lockpicking ?

I have been able to get lots of Glory going into the jungle with Patty and I now also have pickpocketing as a skill. My next stop would be the pirates. I'll probably go there the long way through the jungle as there are some nice treasures hidden about.

Anyone able to help with the questions above ?
Especially question 1 ?

What are your system specs? I remember having some stuttering, but I thought that was due to the game being new at the time. Iirc, lowering the shadows down one notch in the settings made a significant difference.

I have a GT760, 8GB RAM, i7 4700MQ @ 2.4GHz.

I reduced shadows and it seems to have helped a bit. Thanks. Any other tips ?

I can't think of anything else off the top of my head regarding performance, but it's been a good 5 years since I've played Risen 2. I'd suggest googling some walkthroughs to help with your other questions.

I'm pretty sure damage is a combination of the weapon's stats and your skill with that weapon type, i.e. piercing, etc., but I'm not 100% sure on that.

2. If you're going vodoo, you will need some ingredients for spells/etc. Otherwise, not really ( sell silverware, treasure, etc). Guide shouldn't be hard to find.
3. Depends on faction…melee for natives, and well, melee for non natives.
4. I'd go with cunning first for $

Thanks.

I have now reached the Sword Coast. I put a couple of points into Blades and toughness and trained up Sabres a bit. Seems to help a lot now that I found a better sword too.

I have just reached the natives, so I have a question. Is it like all the other Gothic/Risen games where I can do missions for both factions up until the decision point ? OR am I stuck with the natives now ?

If you have any trouble whatsoever with sword fighting (like me) then I highly recommend just using muskets. It does make the game a bit too easy but it was the only reason I finished Risen 2.

I'm doing alright I think although I am looking forward to using Voodoo.

I am now at the point where I can join either faction. I am planning to explore the island some more though before I do that.
I know of at least one treasure I want to find and I have some cargo to pick up on beaches.

My skills are as follows:
- Blades 3
- Toughness 3
- Cunning 5
- Pistols & Voodoo 1

I think the game is quite fun, although the combat is meh. I understand why we need companions, because otherwise it would be very annoying.

I am planning to go around the Sword Coast collecting some more glory.
I wouldn't mind finding a trainer however for blades, but there doesn't seem to be one here :(

You can ignore my previous question by the way.

I do have a new one.
Will I be able to go from one island to another as I please or is it story specific ?

Memory is kind of hazy here, but the Voodoo skill/sceptre that pits enemies against themselves is amazing for the later areas in the game when the difficulty ratchets up a bit.

Glad you're enjoying it btw. I played it a few years back and thought it was really underrated. One of the rare games where after beating the game in 60 hours I genuinely wanted more.

Yep, as soon as you get a ship. A lot of freedom.

Thanks :)

I really enjoy taking over people and I think it's a nice quest mechanic. In Caldera you are able to take over a character and make decisions for him. I assume that it may not be the most rewarding in terms of gold as I couldn't loot any chests that way from the council, but it was still fun.

I'm now in Antigua and I will be exploring around the island now.
The main thing I lack currently is gold as I seem to be spending tons of it on skills and items. I bought myself a nice suit of "armour" and a good sword. I am wondering if forging is worth it ? I have two pieces of a sword which make up a better sword than I currently have, but not sure if it's worth spending so much glory on blades and then gold as well.

Anyway, I think the game is quite fun. The combat is still a mess, but now that I can survive a few more hits I tend to simply slash as much as I can and tend to beat most things, especially with Patty around.

Any view on if there's a difference on which companion to bring with me around the different islands ?

Patty seems to know more about Steelbeard's treasures, but I don't know if Chani brings anything to the table ?

It's still possible to enter it as yourself, using the non-voodoo way, if you feel like doing a bit of looting.

As a voodoo character, I'd say Blades is likely to be your main style of fighting. Guns won't be worth it. As for crafting: The unique, crafted swords are the best in the game by a fair margin. Also, you can get sword blanks to craft and sell some swords to make a bit of gold.

Just a little chit chat here and there. The most powerful companion is Venturo, but he's Inquisition only, so I personally stick to Chani (for healing) as a voodoo character.

They didn't let me in anymore as I made Mauregato resign…

Well, the Slayne fight was a bit of a letdown. With Crow I had to make use a crazy amount of Grog and provisions to get through it as all my allies died in a minute :D

Now on Maracai Bay. I think I will bring Chani along for this one as there'll be natives here. Should be interesting.
I do like that the gnomes can speak now. I feel like they probably wanted to do this in Risen I.

What I do not understand is why the Inquisition use swords and not spears …

It would have been cool if the natives used axes/throwing spears, the pirates swords/pistols and inquisition spears/muskets.

I think it's:
- Inquisition: Rapiers/Muskets
- Pirates: Sabres/Pistols
- Natives: Spears/Voodoo

I don't think you'll find many in the Inquisition that use a sabre of any kind. They all use more elegant weapons.

I am having a slight issue. I am killing jaguars, but cannot get jaguar hearts.
Is this a bug ?

You have the Remove Heart skill?

There are no hunting skills as far as I'm aware in Risen 2.
Am I wrong ? I can take all other types of hunting trophies such as teeth, claws, eyes, etc.

Sorry, not sure then. I remember there being Remove Heart in some of those games. Guess they were the Gothics or something.

Ah, I think you need the right tools.

I think I have all of these :(
I'll double check, but thanks.

Sorry, it's been awhile since I played, and those little details seem different from game to game.