Risen 2

[Maigrets]

I'm just posting a few early screen shots for the moment, but I'll type up my impressions of the game later.
You know I will... This is also a Steam game so updating is easy.

Suffice to say it's a pirates life for me and a very good game IMHO. Yaaarrr! Sorry...had to do that..

I working to get a parrot that is used for distraction and also a monkey to steal for me. That is when I get the gold to actually buy and train them...not to mention the skills.

I couldn't get the in game screenshot to function as it needs to have the console enabled in the config file which is a bit strange, so I'm using an external program. They turned out OK though. You can disable the complete HUD in the ini but that's dangerous considering how hard the game is and I want to see my health bar as it drops to nothing in a fight.... So I've just disabled the on screen mini map (which I wish Skyrim had) and the Tool Bar for screenies, which can be done in game.

I noticed the distant LOD is a bit blurry so I'm going to do a few ini edits I found on the forums. I've already made some edits to stop autosaving and to change the default save folder.

Just off the ship at the first island.


Hmmm...my health bar is running a bit low.


Nice palm trees and they drop coconuts that can be thrown as a distraction. Dirty Tricks skill. I like kicking sand in the enemies face better though, but I ran out.

[MasterAub]

Hi Maigrets
How big is the world and do we get to have a feeling of total freedom as we do in Skyim?

[Maigrets]

It's HUGE and yes it is free roaming. It's set on various large islands and one continent. You travel to each island by ship and also there are rowing boats on the beaches that you can use to row around the island. Plus, I didn't find out until I was playing for ages that you can also fast travel and I did read the manual.

If you ever played the Gothic games you will like this as it's made by the same people and it is very hard to start with as you are weak and poor. You level up by doing quests and killing monsters for XP, not the same way as Skyrim and I have always preferred it myself. I feel more rewarded when I get XP for solving quests

You don't have a choice in character as it's a story about one man, but that doesn't bother me. The graphics are beautiful, although the character models could be better, but I don't even think about it because it's such an involving game with a good story and several ways to accomplish it. There are also consequences for every thing you do and factions to join which you also have to think about which is another reason it has so much replay value.

I played for over five hours tonight and should have stopped sooner, but I keep finding things to do. Most of it is real quests and very little if any "fetch this and take it there" ones and they don't all involve killing. It's very involved and with little hand holding, although it does have an excellent journal that keeps all the dialogue from quest givers which is very handy.

I forgot to take pictures but next time I will because I'm on the continent which is very beautiful. I am about to learn the art of Voodoo from the natives.

The voice acting is very good and with a good sense of humour. British style humour which I like. Lots of swearing (F...) which might offend some people but doesn't bother me in the context of the pirate theme....and lots of rum.

[MasterAub]

and lots of rum.

hehehehe...I guess I need to think about this one...I am torn between Reckoning and this Risen 2...

[Maigrets]

and lots of rum.

hehehehe...I guess I need to think about this one...I am torn between Reckoning and this Risen 2...

They both have very different styles and what I've seen of Reckoning doesn't really appeal to me. Plus, I don't like EA's Origin platform which is what the game uses here, but maybe it's on Steam now. I've had a couple of recent games that use origin and had problems with activation and actually playing the game. At least Steam works..for me anyway.

Something unfortunate is the developers of Reckoning, 38 Studios, have gone broke because the game didn't sell as well as they thought it would.

[MasterAub]

Reckoning is on steam...but you have more than a valid point about the developpers gone broke...

[Maigrets]

I imagine it went to Steam to try to boost low sales. I only buy disc versions of games and when Reckoning was released here in Australia it had Origin, and still does if you want the disc version, so I declined.

If it had better user reviews or has something really special I might have thought about waiting until it was lower in price and giving it a go, but I already have too many games I don't play after the first install and look around. A few never got past the tutorial, like Arcania..Gothic 4. That was a tragic game and should never had the Gothic label.

[MasterAub]

Same thing I already have too many games so I really look for oustanding one...I passed on Arcania and Risen by the way, but always wanted to be a Pirat... . So I might giving a go...