Risen 2 - Preview Roundup

lostforever said:

I don't think so. One of the previews mention that you have to talk to an NPC to get the ship moved to another island etc

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That would be Steelbeard - and it should be obvious that Captain Steelbeard cannot do minor work if he's on the ship.

Another minor info from WOR:

Risen 2 will have native AA support.

I´m glad the trainer system is in, cos I love the general system.

DArtagnan said:

It will, as with most things, depend on the implementation. I just don't hope it means I have to spend endless hours tracking down trainers for what I want. I hate having to look at walkthroughs or similar for such things, and to have a stunted character for half the game because you can't find the right trainer, is a stupid concession for realism.

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It certainly depends on implementation, but personally I really like when character development is to some extent tied with exploration as it was in, say, Gothic 2.

DArtagnan said:

I'd probably prefer a guild system for this kind of realism. Something where you have to locate the guild and build your way up - and then develop yourself with increasingly talented trainers. Seems a happy medium between realism and gameplay.

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That´s partially how it worked in G2 too and it seems like Risen 2 will use something similar as well.
One of the previews implied there´s a kind of thieves´ guild and inquisitors (firearms), voodoo (magic) and pirates (melee) are pretty much confirmed.

Personally I consider hybrid approach the best.
Factions/guilds which provide to some extent mutually exclusive benefits + idle trainers who "reward" exploration or are tied to questing + maybe also some hard to obtain items granting special skills/perks.

There´s not enough info yet, but what I´m kinda worried in this regard is the announced linear beginning of the game which, if contexted in certain manner with the trainer system, might result in the beginning stages of character development being too straightforward/linear.

GhanBuriGhan said:

It would also be a nice mechanism to implement character specialization into open world sandbox games in a natural manner (if you impose some restrictions on joining factions), and to control character progression in such a game. But I digress.

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That´s quite how it was in Gothics and Risen, wasn´t it?

JonNik said:

Actually I doubt they are changing the basic design that much… It just seems that reviewer was unfamiliar with the previous titles…

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Yeah.

There´s also a veeery short bit of Risen 2 in motion here.
The waterfall is nifty.

Gorath said:

Another minor info from WOR:

Risen 2 will have native AA support.

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Awesome!

The original ran fine for me with AA forced anyway, but it's still nice to have native AA.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

This is totally unlike any other RPG I know of - and it is something I found fairly unique even in the original Gothic game - that you had to find your teachers and wouldn't know where or when you would find them - and how.

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It's not altogether unique a concept really - the Might and Magic games, particularly from 6-8, required the party to find teachers for skills - the highest of which were generally in remote locations and thus a little difficult to find.
I don't mind the idea at all, personally. It allows natural exploration to evolve and for one to take notice of your surroundings/environment and plan adventures accordingly. (i.e I must return here when I have the skill points and gold required etc.)

Providing the player isn't ever blocked off or prevented from returning to a trainer at a later point in the game, I'm for the idea and also liked how it worked in the Gothic games.