Risen, the new gothic

Hi everybody,
I just popped in to check if you're still alive and I found it a good occasion to write a few words about a new cRPG I had played recently.
I mean the latest work of Pyranha bytes, the creators of Gothic series, whose arguments with Jowood resulted in the loss of rights for the brand name. The Germans didn't seem to care that much and decided to create a gothic-like game for all fans of the nameless hero out there... and lo, there came Risen.

Its graphics are good, similar to Gothic 3 but somewhat different in style. Somewhat less artificial-looking, I dare to say. If you played the last gothic, you're sure to remember the in-game rainy days and the odd greenish/bluish glow all around. Well, there's nothing like this in Risen. Rainstorms look just excellent (I mean the colours and particularly, thunders). I can say the same about all other sorts of weather conditions.
As for monsters and character design. The models are well-made but pretty much different from what you'd expect of a gothic game. Some of them do bear a slight resemblance to what we saw in Peter Molyneux' Fable: The Lost Tale (yuck!) and most faces are shared by at least a couple of NPCs. Whether it should be considered a serious drawback, is for you to decide. Personally, I prefer seeing a face several times over looking at seemingly unfinished, rubber-skinned no-names like some characters in G3.
Certain critters are really well made. Gnomes, ashbeasts certainly are pieces of great design.

The story is nothing special but at least you don't get called a hero, saviour or messiah at the very beginning of it (as you did in G2 and G3). I think it's all I should write about the storyline not to spoil it. The entire game takes 40 hours at most so it's a short one.

The very beginning may be disappointing in terms of encounters and gameplay. My first battles gave me a strong feeling that the fighting system would depend on mindless clicking, just as it does in Gohtic 3. You also come across monsters that simply could be done better. Fortunately, it only gets better as you keep playing.

What may seem very unfamiliar to Gothic fans is the fact that the game is very, very stable. It didn't crash once when I played it. It also ran surprisingly well on my laptop. Compared to Gothic 3, it's heaven and earth (or hell, as the latter would even crash while saving ).

All in all, it's worth playing. If you liked Gothic, especially the first two parts, you'll be sure to enjoy Risen.

Also, if you come across the G3 expansion, Forsaken Gods, do NOT buy it. It's the worst utter piece of junk I've ever installed on my PC. The story is tragic and the game was really done in a slapdash. They used a part of the basic G3's world and didn't even bother to remove quest items from the old scenario (they're still there, but impossible to pick). The whole thing doesn't stick together at all. It has all the drawbacks of G3, an even dumber plot, NPCs changing not only voices but also the very gist of what they're saying and much more. It's an utter disgrace, a way for someone to get more cash from naive fans.

I played it around 2-3 hours so far. And I am so happy that I play
finally a worthy continue of Gothic series.

The good things so far:
- Great atmosphere, similar to first 2 parts of Gothic.
- Really stable game, no crashes,bugs or low fps and
my pc is 2-3 years old!! Is the opposite of Gothic 3
- The feeling that you are so weak and powerless at the
start, similar with Gothic 1, I love it!! You must discover
your way into a really unfriendly and dangerous world.
- Dialogues so far are so good. I love them!

Things I didn't like(so far):
- Scenario is not so strong as the first parts for sure.
- A little more chaotic at finding your way imo(than G 1+2.)

Anyway, is so soon to say for sure if will be a great experience as
Gothic 1+2 , but already is soooo much better than the crappy Gothic 3.
Not to mention that is the first of the newer games that I play and I don't
need to download few gigabytes at patches and/or on line registrations...

Edit: After 30+ hours of gaming I must say this is a true Gothic experience.
All funs of Gothic 1+2 must play it

This post has been edited by Lord13 on Nov 19 2009, 02:42 PM

Agreed.

But: 40 hours? I'm sure that's only true if you rush trough the game and/or use a walktrough. I didn't really keep count, of course, but I played Risen for a few hours each day for the past week (so let's say at least 20 hours) and I still haven't finished chapter 1. I enjoy roaming the world and doing each and every side quest too much to be able to finish this in 40 hours, I guess. I mean: this takes a lot of time exploring, searching and sometimes retreating to rest and get rewards for sidequests.

We're actually not supposed to compare Risen too much to Gothic 1 & 2, but that's very hard since it's made by Piranha Bytes and is at the very least a "Gothic 1/2 type game". I think they kept almost all the good things they learnt from Gothic 1 and therefore put in Gothic 2 (alchemy, smithing, more ranks for fighting skills, ...), they kept the one very good thing about Gothic 3 (the way crossbow fighting was implemented as of G3) but made none of the mistakes they made in G3 (melee fighting is like G1 & G2: your character AND you become gradually better at it, in stead of mindless clicking like in G3 + the world is smaller but full of life again). PB took all their experience from making the Gothic series and used it to create a new game (and hopefully a new series!).

What with Risen being almost "the G3 we never got", I wonder whether Arcania (Gothic 4) will be able to fulfill expectations. I fear G4 will be a totally different but equally serious disappointment for a lot of people who hated G3... and who should therefore play Risen instead!