Risen hints very mild spoilers
Werner Punz
hard to play at all.
First I am in the middle of chapter 3 and so far I still like the game
very much, still feels like Gothic2 and despite becoming more linear
after chap 1 it still is very good. (Just like the Gothics)
Anyway here is a few hints:
Get lockpicking as early as possible it pays off
Secondly, train only one melee weapon and that as high as possible
otherwise you are screwed at chap 3 mostly,
Generally avoid general levelling, the learning points are scarce
and later it becomes very hard to get new ones. Try to limit yourself
to one melee weapon, unlock chests to get out of the no money misery in
the beginning, and than either one long range weapon or 1-2 long range
spells. (Additional hunter skills are also useful for the ingredients
you need later if you are a mage or alchemist)
As for levelling up I am currently in the middle
of that problem, I trained sword and staff in the early stages and now
have middle level on both of them, needless to say, I am screwed now in
chapter three wenn things become really hard and probably have to cheat
myself out of that (I dont have time to start anew to correct my
mistakes) The game is unforgiving regarding levelling, and while you can
adjust strategies (I killed an enemy for instance by distracting him
with a conjured skeleton warrior while hitting him in the back while he
was fighting the skeleton) it does not always work out.
Overal playing time, I guess 30-40 hours with 20-25 being spent in the
first two chapters if you do most if not all sidequests.
The later two are definitely shorter only with 1-2 new sidequests per
chapter.
johns
I was kind of like you, and thought the sword was the ultimate
weapon. It is not. While you must develop sword skills and
STR to level 6 and a bit over 100, you really need the bow
up to level 6 and when you get the War Bow, you will deal
nicely with the Lizard Warriors ... run and gun. Level 6 with
the sword lets you use any of the top Bastard Swords one
handed plus a shield. If you train well, you can beat any
of the Lizard Warriors 1 on 1 .. with the game set to
Normal difficulty .. or even Hard difficulty.
If you play at Normal or Hard, you must use "friends" to
help you .. a lot at first. And they are generally there in
the game. Tedious to say the least, but that is just the
way it is. Use the bow to lure the enemy to your friends,
and then use the sword .. or bow .. once both of you
are engaged. Best attack is to come from the rear because
the "friend" has the creature distracted.
The only times I needed "Fred" was in the Volcano, where
2 Lizard Warriors have the way blocked. Fred distracted
them, and I did the rest with my bow from a safe distance.
And of course at the end against the Inquisitor.
If you have Alchemy to level 3 .. very good. You can gain
STR and DEX much faster and higher when you buy
the scrolls from the Mage at the Bandit camp in Ch 2.
Most important exploit !! Find places to climb up on a
wall, and use the bow against all comers. Lure and run
to the wall and climb up.
I'm playing the game now in Hard difficulty. I see no
real difference from Easy or Normal ... because I use
the exploits. Takes a few more arrows is all.
johns
Werner Punz
> I've been entirely through the game 4 times.
games you might like them.
Gothic2 + Gothic1
Arx Fatalis
Ultima 7 (Get the exult engine and google for the game files if you
cannot buy them)
Ultima Underworld 1+2
The Gothics and Risen are mostly Ultimas with 3d engines in their feel,
but slightly less sophistication in their environmental interaction.
Gothic2 is the closest to a good 3d Ultima we ever had (Ultima 9
was too early to pull off something decent)
Anyway I am going to check out Venetica next after I have finished this
one. The game looks promising and by the time I have finished Risen it
will have all the bugs ironed out. I checked the intro sequence on
youtube looked very much along a similar angle as Risen, but I assume
more on the action side with more boss battles etc...
I probably will skip Dragon Age for now, since my family prevents to
play a 100 hours+ beast and by the time I will be able to play
the uber edition with all DLCs will have hit the bargain bin as well.
Also I always get lukewarm on Bioware games they do not feel right
because the environmental interaction and exploration aspect constantly
is missing due to their engine and the linearity of the games.
(Mass Effect somehow was an exception due to the excellent story but the
engine still felt limiting)
Btw. not an RPG but has anyone played Assassins Creed2 yet, I am a
little bit weary of any Ubisoft game by now. They seem to produce
too much boring graphically amazing, but nevertheless boring games (The
latest prince of persia was an example of how good a dreadful game can
look).
I do not want to fall into the same trap again.
johns
I have all the Gothic series .. and you are right.
The Gothic series is the best RPG ever written
.. with Gothic 2 NOTR being the top game. I will
probably go back to NOTR after I have learned
all I can in Risen. Of course, I don't consider
the G3 addon to be part of the Gothic series. It
was just a dirty political joke played on us by
Jowood. And I'm sure Arcania will be no better
now that PB has clearly demonstrated that
they are the only coders capable of doing the
job needed to maintain the Gothic series.
I wonder what PB plans now ? Are they going
to continue with the Risen theme and take the
fight to the Mainland ? I almost bet that PB had
already written a piece of that game if they
were working on the "Unknown Lands" where
I think G4 might have gone. If so, the sequel
to Risen might come along in a year or so.
johns
Werner Punz
>> I do not want to fall into the same trap again.
>
> I have all the Gothic series .. and you are right.
> The Gothic series is the best RPG ever written
I would rate the Ultima6 and 7s and Underworlds way higher than the Gothics.
(Dated graphics aside)
I hate in the Gothics the first chapter if you do it once it is ok if
you do it twice it os ok but every game having to go through the same
fraction dreadmill, also it does not reach the level of environmental
simulation the Ultimas Underworlds and Arx Fatalis did.
Ultima 7 was way better in this regard, it simply threw you into the
story and you never had the feeling of having to go through a
dreadmill/beginners stage, but it simply dropped you into an open world
where you could follow the story or get your butt kicked if you went
into areas you were not allowed to enter.
It had a similar level of densitiy however and nothing felt generic as
well. And no game except Arx Fatalis ever has reached that level of
interactivity and world simulation as those rather old Origin games did.
But as I said Gothic2 comes as close to a 3d Ultima as possible (which
Ultima 9 never really did due to being a few years too early)
And it is very clear that Ultima 7 was one of the inspirations for Gothic2.
> .. with Gothic 2 NOTR being the top game. I will
> probably go back to NOTR after I have learned
> all I can in Risen. Of course, I don't consider
> the G3 addon to be part of the Gothic series. It
> was just a dirty political joke played on us by
> Jowood. And I'm sure Arcania will be no better
> now that PB has clearly demonstrated that
> they are the only coders capable of doing the
> job needed to maintain the Gothic series.
>
Well there were two sides on G3, Jowood insisted on the release date
they hat negotiated with PB, and PB simply overdid itself with Gothic 3
and could not keep it. Since Jowood was in financial trouble they
simply pushed the game out while it needed another year.
I think the truth lies somewhere between both sides and both sides know
that. In the end PB is better off with SilverStyle now and they have
obviously learned from their past mistakes and keep the world smaller
but keep it handcrafted.
> I wonder what PB plans now ? Are they going
> to continue with the Risen theme and take the
> fight to the Mainland ? I almost bet that PB had
> already written a piece of that game if they
> were working on the "Unknown Lands" where
> I think G4 might have gone. If so, the sequel
> to Risen might come along in a year or so.
>
I just can guess here, since Risen was very successful in germany
(Piranha Bytes has a very good status here in german speaking countries
and it was on top of the charts for more than a handful weeks)
and people have mostly forgiven them Gothic 3 they probably either will
make an addon or continue with Risen.
Not sure if they will go for a big world again, like in Gothic 3, for
many of their users this was after having played G3 a big mistake, I
personally think they will opt for areas like G2 and Risen for their
next games.