Risen 2 Questions and Ramblings

Is there any good reason to talk to Steelbeard's ghost when you already know that Garcia has the amulet? I learned that from Booze. Please, no spoilers, just a simple yes or no would suffice. Thanks!

I learned that Garcia was the guy at the Maracai camp, posing as Corrientes. Now, whenever I talk to Garcia, he attacks me. That's fine, but the problem is, the WHOLE CAMP attacks me as well.

I tried talking to Chaka Datu about it, he won't listen to me. I've spoken to Valdez, I've secured Garcia's ship, I've done everything on Maracai except for the Secret Entrance quest. I've found the wall of fire, but the quest just says to report it to Corrientes, yet "Corrientes" is really Garcia and if I try to report it it just triggers the attack dialog.

So, what the heck do I do? I hope I didn't break the game by doing quests in the wrong order. I really want to progress the story but I simply can't kill the entire Maracai tribe - they slaughter me easily.

Any tips on what to do next?

Hello everyone!

First post here, and I want to start by saying I am a newcomer to Piranha Bytes games. I've played Risen 1 for I'd say about 15 hours or so before becoming distracted, and I'm currently playing Risen 2 and have spent 57 hours with it and am at the last area. I am really enjoying Risen 2 and I am going to go back to the Gothic series and play it for the first time when I'm done with Risen 2, as I heard those are great games as well.

I've been playing RPGs for over 20 years and I have a lot of experience with these types of games. I feel the first 2 Risen games are quite excellent games, but I'll be throwing out some suggestions for Risen 2 specifically since I spent more time with that than the original Risen.

So, without further ado, the ideas.

Idea #1 - Less generic treasure.

Let me explain. Digging up buried treasure and finding treasure chests are great. However, after you've found so many of them, they quickly start to become all the same. I would suggest lowering the amount of chests but making the contents more worthwhile and unique.

I expected higher level locked chests to possess rare and unique items. Yes, you might find some rare gems, but even those chests all start to blend together after awhile and it takes away some of the fun of finding them.

The buried treasures are a great idea, but there needs to be more unique loot to fill them. Even looting temples got boring a bit because it's always the same. I kept expecting some great, unique, rare item to appear, but it never happened. This brings me to my next idea.

Idea #2 - More unique items.

There needs to be a larger variety of items to find, especially rings, amulets, earrings and potions. I don't get excited anymore when I see an amulet on a desk or in a cave or something, I know it's just going to be another one of the same ones I've been finding all game. Same with rings, earrings and potions.

To further this idea, there needs to be more variety in potions as well. More things with unique effects. They could overall also be more rare in the game. I've found tons of potions and haven't really had to use alchemy at all except to craft a few permanent effect potions.

Bottom line here is, there needs to be more variety in the items all the way around. If you guys really work on this, the game will be filled with even more discover than it already is. Which leads me to my next idea.

Idea #3 - More varied skills and abilities.

There just needs to be more stats and abilities in the game. It's very streamlined now, which is not bad, but again, this plays directly into the fact that potions/amulets/rings/etc. become boring because they only affect these core stats. There needs to be more variety. Finding a ring that grants you some wild bonus, or allows you to unlock new dialog by wearing it, or has some other quest-related thing attached to it; things like that. Not just +5 Bladeproof or whatever. Those are fine, but there needs to be about 10 times as much with more variety.

Less quantity, more quality and uniqueness.

I hope I'm being somewhat clear here. The game just needs more variety. More clutter. More unique items. More abilities and skills. More things to discover. But not necessarily "more of the same".

Idea #4 - More danger in the game world.

There should be ambushes that surprise the player, other than just the occasional trap. Wander off the path and get ambushed by a few panthers or something. Also, I feel there should be more higher level mobs in more areas at the start, creating more danger.

For example, Tacarigua. When you first get there,
However, I would have liked to seen more danger.

Example. "Don't go in the western woods, a giant, evil treebeard lurks those woods and eats those who wander about". Or, the northeastern beach has some rare giant sand snakes that can only be killed when you have an elixir from the local doctor. Things like that.

The point I'm trying to make is that there should be more danger. The game should really kick my ass at times and keep me away from certain encounters until I'm more prepared. I'm not saying it's devoid of this, but there could be more. More lore, more rare/unique monsters and more dangerous areas would add a larger sense of danger to the game.

Those are my main 4 points I wanted to make here.

I feel other things in the game are done well. The exploration is wonderful. The world is well crafted. The design of the open-world is done well. The island idea compartmentalizes the exploration and makes it more efficient. The dialog is excellent and well-written. The quests are interesting and have multiple ways to accomplish them. I like the choices you have to make at times. The companions are great and they balance combat quite well (it wouldn't be a bad idea to be able to customize their gear, though). The combat is not perfect but it's fun. Guns are implemented well and are fun to use. Crafting is great but could definitely be expanded even further. Voodoo is amazing and I really enjoy using it.

There are a lot of good things going for this game and also some areas to improve upon. I can't wait to play the rest of the Piranha Bytes games and I look forward to all the work you guys plan on doing in the future. I really do like Risen 2 quite a bit.

Best of luck and thanks for reading. - Fluent

P.S. Please let me know if you agree/disagree with these ideas and what you think can be improved in future games. Thanks!