Geography
 

One element to Risen that I think may have added quite a bit more immersion to the game with minimal or perhaps no additional programming would have been to provide more names to the map locations.

There were too many 'East Coast,' 'West Coat,' 'Eastern Temple,' 'Northeastern Temple' etc. type references.

Consider the Ultima series in this regard. You had Serpent Hold, Cove, Covetous, & Destard, to name a few specific locales and dungeons.

This would have been a relatively easy implementation to the game and without it, the various locales in Risen, while interesting, lose a bit of character.

I would have liked a world map that showed other bodies of land in relation to Faranga.

It was odd that they actually managed to make the teleport stones boring and identical as well.

If you look closely, the teleport stones all have different icons that correspond with their destinations. They're kinda hard to see though…

The names never bothered me in Risen, but now that you say it out load I had to agree. They are pretty unimaginative. So many thing were done right in Ultima. ;) But since the game has more console focus than Gothics, it makes sense (dumbing down).

Like those runic letters. Now days nobody dares to make a game which would require that kind of effort and learning. Even ten years old kids (like me back then) played Ultima that had very steep learning curve! The "deciphering" the runes made the game so interesting and mystic. Are new generations getting more stupid or are we just thinking that they are?!

Lol I think both are correct. Certainly gaming has become dumbed down over the years. Where are the Adventure Games of the 90's??? I want another flight of the Amazon Queen!!! Not a HALO Shoot everything that moves with your Ultra Lazer BFG.

In my opinion, the gaming industry is dumbing down in order to meet the cognitive capacity of the average modern day gamer. While some might not agree with me, but here in Australia the education system could really use a haul over, starting with teaching the multiplication table.