Risen Message Board  

So far, I think Risen is a wonderful game...to me, it's what Fable SHOULD'VE been. Hell, some of the people remind me of Fable NPCs

The way you level up is kind of annoying, but makes sense. Gain learning points, then go find someone to teach you the ways in which you wish to learn, rather than, "Ding, I suddenly know how to swing a sword better!"

The quests are two-sided. On the bright side, they're very in-depth, and it's really neat to see how a lot of them are all connected to eachother (My experiences are just of the bandit camp quests.) I like the fact that the quests/NPCs don't outright tell you the exact places to go to find things...means you have to do a bit of searching.

Now the bad side, and I'm sure you all know what's coming. BUGS. BUGS. BUGS. The quests in this game are so buggy, I can't believe they released it to the public. Some quests you accomplish completely by mistake...(I stole an armor plate from someone in harbor town, and it said quest success: Yadda Yadda...)

Sometimes, you get conversation options for later parts of the quest chain you're on, sometimes you have to speak to someone multiple times to get them to say what you need...I even ran into a problem where (attempting to avoid spoilers) I told Rachel something, and she got ****ed off at me and said never to talk to her again...then immediately spoke to her again, turned in two more quests, and she pretty much worshiped me. There are other, more serious issues with questing...like being unable to complete the game because an NPC you need got killed by a wild animal and you couldn't do anything about it, or an NPC just flat won't give you a quest for whatever reason.

Moving on. The graphics are really nice. Again, they have a Fable-ish feel to me. Really enjoyable. Your character moves awkwardly sometimes, such as when he jumps, but it's not a big deal. The environment is stunning...I found a secluded beach once while exploring, and just sat there admiring it for 20 mins or so I wish the rain was a little easier to see...the weather makes it sound like a storm, but it barely sprinkles.

The sound and music are another plus. I think they did a great job with the voice acting for MOST of the characters; some of the ones I've run across didn't sound so great. The music is really easy to listen to, and doesn't drown out the other noises in the game.

Fighting is really great. The higher you get in weapon skills, the more abilities you learn. Dodging, blocking, parrying, are all things that YOU control, and are not just random to chance. Learn to break your opponent's parry, and leave him open for an attack. Move in and knock the weapon out of his hand, and have your way with him. Or, go ranged, and snipe your enemies from crazy ranges...kill entire packs of animals before they even get to you!

Anyway, that's my review for this game. I hope those of you who pick it up really enjoy it, like I am!

I do agree that the quests are pretty well thought out compared to many other RPGs we've seen lately, but I really miss the kind of depth in dialogue and choices that old RPGs like Baldur's Gate had... It's just not done anymore and I think that's a real shame.

The graphics are indeed great and except for the bugged quests the game runs very smoothly. I can't remember right now what other RPGs have come out this year, but I'm pretty sure Risen is the best so far!

I have 2 gripes with this game...

1. Its so easy to break the quests, including the main storyline, its sad when you have to avoid certain quest just so the main one doesn't break

2. The fact you can't continue at the end of the game, I love the idea that you can go back and finish any incomplete quests that may be around. Or even just to explore.


other than that, I really loved the game, but I love all the Gothic series other than Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods, which was utter CRAP..

[Edited by Supersize, 10/8/2009 6:29:05 PM]