Loved Risen 1, hated 2, will I like 3?

[Butterlord]

Title, does this play more like a Gothic style game or a bad Bioware rip off?

[kris.aalst]

Well... that's a difficult one. Risen 2 is definitely the worst and pretty much only playable with a ranged build (muskets). Risen 3 is a much better game but the general style is much more like 2 than like 1.

I don't know if you've played other PB games but the first Risen game was a natural follow-up to PB's earlier work (Gothic games). As of Risen 2, the setting and gameplay was changed so much that it was barely 'classic PB'. They kind of corrected that with 3 but not to the extent it was back to a classic PB style game. If you're looking for that, I suggest trying Elex. It's another natural evolution in PB's type of games.

[Jernas]

Originally posted by kris.aalst:

Well... that's a difficult one. Risen 2 is definitely the worst and pretty much only playable with a ranged build (muskets). Risen 3 is a much better game but the general style is much more like 2 than like 1.

I don't know if you've played other PB games but the first Risen game was a natural follow-up to PB's earlier work (Gothic games). As of Risen 2, the setting and gameplay was changed so much that it was barely 'classic PB'. They kind of corrected that with 3 but not to the extent it was back to a classic PB style game. If you're looking for that, I suggest trying Elex. It's another natural evolution in PB's type of games.

That is your personal opinion. Risen 2 is a great game, it expanded on the first game in many areas. To the OP, Risen 3 is very much like Risen 2, so if you didn't like Risen 2, you probably won't like Risen 3.

[kris.aalst]

Originally posted by Jernas:

That is your personal opinion. Risen 2 is a great game, it expanded on the first game in many areas.

I never said it was a bad game or anything like it. True, I posted my opinion (go figure !) that it's the worst of the three Risen games, and that happens to be the opinion of most PB fans as well. So your point is that your opinion matters more than mine or the general opinion? Mkay.

Originally posted by Jernas:

To the OP, Risen 3 is very much like Risen 2, so if you didn't like Risen 2, you probably won't like Risen 3.

That's what I said but at least I explained a bit why, so the OP would be able to come to his own personal conclusion as opppsed to just dictate my opinion as gospel as you do.

The horse you're on is extremely high. You may want to consider coming down from it. No obligation, just a suggestion.

[SpectatorBehold]

Well... Compared to Risen 1, Risen 2 was more streamlined (or dumbed down, I guess some would say) in addition to basically doing a (IMO jarring) genre shift from a sort of more traditional fantasy rpg to a pirate rpg... Risen 3 feels a bit of a blend of both games; it'll still feel much like a pirate RPG, but it brings back stuff from the first game that may make those that liked Risen 1 feel a little more at home...

[Butterlord]

Originally posted by kris.aalst:

Well... that's a difficult one. Risen 2 is definitely the worst and pretty much only playable with a ranged build (muskets). Risen 3 is a much better game but the general style is much more like 2 than like 1.

I don't know if you've played other PB games but the first Risen game was a natural follow-up to PB's earlier work (Gothic games). As of Risen 2, the setting and gameplay was changed so much that it was barely 'classic PB'. They kind of corrected that with 3 but not to the extent it was back to a classic PB style game. If you're looking for that, I suggest trying Elex. It's another natural evolution in PB's type of games.

Thanks your answer is exactly what I was looking for. I recently played through Gothic 1 and loved it, playing through Gothic 2 NotR right now. I have Elex and loved what I played but my gaming PC broke and my current one can barely run it, so I haven't fully explored it yet. Risen 3 sounds like it might be worth checking out during an extended sale, but I won't rush to check it out.

[kris.aalst]

Originally posted by SpectatorBehold:

Well... Compared to Risen 1, Risen 2 was more streamlined (or dumbed down, I guess some would say) in addition to basically doing a (IMO jarring) genre shift from a sort of more traditional fantasy rpg to a pirate rpg... Risen 3 feels a bit of a blend of both games; it'll still feel much like a pirate RPG, but it brings back stuff from the first game that may make those that liked Risen 1 feel a little more at home...

Very true. The reason for that is PB got the rights to the Gothic games back between Risen 2 & 3. You can clearly see it in the game, most notably some monsters from the Gothic universe make a comeback in Risen 3. That was a pleasant surprise

[SpectatorBehold]

Originally posted by kris.aalst:

Very true. The reason for that is PB got the rights to the Gothic games back between Risen 2 & 3. You can clearly see it in the game, most notably some monsters from the Gothic universe make a comeback in Risen 3. That was a pleasant surprise

Yeah... Though I'm not certain how much sense it does to see creatures from the Gothic series in the Risen series, as they're separate worlds/universes as far as I'm aware. Still, it does give us a more diverse set of enemies to face, so no complaints from me .

[Alvin the Elf]

Originally posted by SpectatorBehold:

Originally posted by kris.aalst:

Very true. The reason for that is PB got the rights to the Gothic games back between Risen 2 & 3. You can clearly see it in the game, most notably some monsters from the Gothic universe make a comeback in Risen 3. That was a pleasant surprise

Yeah... Though I'm not certain how much sense it does to see creatures from the Gothic series in the Risen series, as they're separate worlds/universes as far as I'm aware. Still, it does give us a more diverse set of enemies to face, so no complaints from me .

The beginning of Risen 1 talks about how the gods were banished from the world, which is the most popular ending of Gothic 3. So it may not be official (since they did not have the rights to Gothic back then) but I like to imagine that at least some of the writers did envision the Risen world to be the same universe as Gothic, but much later.

[Mathalis]

Originally posted by Jernas:

Originally posted by kris.aalst:

Well... that's a difficult one. Risen 2 is definitely the worst and pretty much only playable with a ranged build (muskets). Risen 3 is a much better game but the general style is much more like 2 than like 1.

I don't know if you've played other PB games but the first Risen game was a natural follow-up to PB's earlier work (Gothic games). As of Risen 2, the setting and gameplay was changed so much that it was barely 'classic PB'. They kind of corrected that with 3 but not to the extent it was back to a classic PB style game. If you're looking for that, I suggest trying Elex. It's another natural evolution in PB's type of games.

That is your personal opinion. Risen 2 is a great game, it expanded on the first game in many areas. To the OP, Risen 3 is very much like Risen 2, so if you didn't like Risen 2, you probably won't like Risen 3.

I appreciate your view. Personally I agree with Jernas. Risen 2 made the cardinal mistake of totally changing the world, story, lore, and combat. We went from a fantasy RPG to a pirate adventure game. They totally removed magic and made all the armor look very pirate themed. It was a massive let down for me.

[kris.aalst]

Originally posted by Mathalis:

I appreciate your view. Personally I agree with Jernas. Risen 2 made the cardinal mistake of totally changing the world, story, lore, and combat. We went from a fantasy RPG to a pirate adventure game. They totally removed magic and made all the armor look very pirate themed. It was a massive let down for me.

Er... you agree and disagree with whomever you want but Jernas said Risen 2 "is a great game". It doesn't seem like you agree with that but okay. Also, Risen 3 brought back magic and faction-related armor so again it seems you agree with me rather than with Jernas.

l repeat and I can't stress enough that you are free to say you agree or disagree with whomever, of course. It just seems contradictory in this case.

[Jernas]

That got me confused as well. Nevertheless, I agree that Risen 2 was a different game, but it wasn't necessarily a worse game. It had its strengths, and I appreciate the courage Piranha Bytes had to try something new.

[kris.aalst]

Definitely. I was a bit too late to the party but about 80% through Risen 2 I switched to muskets and had a lot more fun than the disastrous melee experience before that. I'm really looking forward to replying R2 sometime and going muskets from the start. I'm sure it'll be a much better experience than my first run.

[LordSithaniel]

They tried to make the game more like 1 again, with a new nameless hero and suddenly "skull portals" come out of the ground, similliar to the temples. But the magic system is again completely reworked, they tried to mash every aspect from previous games together which balancing wise completely dont work. Game is super easy. I would say its a average rpg, fun, totally fine but totally forgetable.

[tigerpoetry]

This kind of thread is always impossible to answer.

It's a bit like me asking... "I like lasagne, so would I enjoy all Italian meals?"

My advice is to try it and see for yourself. It's not too expensive. All games are a risk, just like going to watch a new film is a risk.

I loved the original Alien, based on the book. I liked the second one. I hated the third and I quite enjoyed Alien resurrection.

Someone else may have a completely different viewpoint.

[agentM]

Didn't like the change from classic Gothic-esque setting to Pirates of the Carribean. Lots of enemies/names are taken from Elder Scrolls names too like Mara and Caldera???