Which Risen Is The Best?

[Noodle]

Looking for a decent, cheap RPG to pass the time, preferably open world and one that I can sink hours into and still have fun. Gonna try the demos to give myself a feel for the games but do I have to play them in order? I'd happily get the first game if it means I will understand the story better.

[kris.aalst]

There isn't much of an arching story, really. Story-wise, the first game is the strongest and the most interesting. Unfortunately, Risen 2 & 3 don't do a lot with the lore started in the first game and storywise, they go 'full pirates game' instead. There are some references, of course, and there is a vague link, but it's as if they mostly started anew with Risen 2.

The same goes for gameplay, actually. Risen 1 feels a lot like an old-school action RPG whereas in Risen 2 & 3, the influence of console gaming is more obvious. I don't want to call it 'dumbed down' because that wouldn't be fair, but they tried to make the gameplay a bit more 'modern', I guess, and because of that, it turned out very different from the first Risen game.

[Dohi64]

you should play all 3, they're different enough to provide new stuff, though some people seem to hate 2 and 3 because they're not exactly like the first. risen 2 doesn't have a huge amount to do with stuff in the first game but risen 3 feels more like the second half of risen 2, while also referencing things from the first game. they play very differently, as you'll be able to tell from the demos, risen 3 doesn't have one but it's somewhere between the other two games.

and if you're looking for similarly janky but really enjoyable rpgs, try two worlds, it goes on sale regularly.

[Oneeyed]

Gameplaywise Risen 1 is the best. It has a great combat system - which some people don't get because they can't click everything dead at their first encounter. Instead if you haven't skilled your character and are low level most of the monsters will just rip you apart and then it's game over. The story of Risen 1 is ok-ish and the end boss is absolutly abysmal.

Risen 2 has the best dialogues of all the Risen games. The hero is often so dry-witted or laconic it's hilarious. Of course you have to like something like that. The first half of the game is fantastic. The first 2 islands are open world and you can go and do whatever you like. The melee combat system is horrible if you ask me but you can buy a rifle at the first island if you are not blind. Otherwise you have to wait for the second island and re-join the inquisition in order to use guns and are stuck with melee weapons. The story is dumb and childishly presented.

Risen 3 is a strange game. It has many good things but there are forced sea battles which you can't skip and have to do every time you sail to another island after you have your own ship. The story is completely bland. The dialogue is outright boring and bland and its just horrible to listen to all that crap. And the voice of the hero is completely abysmal. He talks like the voice overs in action movie trailers ... all the focking time. Besides that it has some good mini-games and the island of Taranis is a master piece in world design. Most other islands are just boring.

[Noodle]

Originally posted by Oneeyed:

Gameplaywise Risen 1 is the best. It has a great combat system - which some people don't get because they can't click everything dead at their first encounter. Instead if you haven't skilled your character and are low level most of the monsters will just rip you apart and then it's game over. The story of Risen 1 is ok-ish and the end boss is absolutly abysmal.

Risen 2 has the best dialogues of all the Risen games. The hero is often so dry-witted or laconic it's hilarious. Of course you have to like something like that. The first half of the game is fantastic. The first 2 islands are open world and you can go and do whatever you like. The melee combat system is horrible if you ask me but you can buy a rifle at the first island if you are not blind. Otherwise you have to wait for the second island and re-join the inquisition in order to use guns and are stuck with melee weapons. The story is dumb and childishly presented.

Risen 3 is a strange game. It has many good things but there are forced sea battles which you can't skip and have to do every time you sail to another island after you have your own ship. The story is completely bland. The dialogue is outright boring and bland and its just horrible to listen to all that crap. And the voice of the hero is completely abysmal. He talks like the voice overs in action movie trailers ... all the focking time. Besides that it has some good mini-games and the island of Taranis is a master piece in world design. Most other islands are just boring.

Okkayy I'll stick to trying to motivate myself to play the Witcher XD. Seems like too many issues. I dunno. The first games voice acting just puts me off too much (Tried the demo).. Thanks anyway :p (And to others who commented)

[Dohi64]

Originally posted by Oneeyed:

Gameplaywise Risen 1 is the best. It has a great combat system - which some people don't get because they can't click everything dead at their first encounter. Instead if you haven't skilled your character and are low level most of the monsters will just rip you apart and then it's game over. The story of Risen 1 is ok-ish and the end boss is absolutly abysmal.

Risen 2 has the best dialogues of all the Risen games. The hero is often so dry-witted or laconic it's hilarious. Of course you have to like something like that. The first half of the game is fantastic. The first 2 islands are open world and you can go and do whatever you like. The melee combat system is horrible if you ask me but you can buy a rifle at the first island if you are not blind. Otherwise you have to wait for the second island and re-join the inquisition in order to use guns and are stuck with melee weapons. The story is dumb and childishly presented.

Risen 3 is a strange game. It has many good things but there are forced sea battles which you can't skip and have to do every time you sail to another island after you have your own ship. The story is completely bland. The dialogue is outright boring and bland and its just horrible to listen to all that crap. And the voice of the hero is completely abysmal. He talks like the voice overs in action movie trailers ... all the focking time. Besides that it has some good mini-games and the island of Taranis is a master piece in world design. Most other islands are just boring.

I was worried about sea battles when I read about them but there are 6 altogether and supposedly you can skip a few if you get your ship later, and they don't happen every time, just after certain story sections or when a certain amount of progress has been made. I played on easy and they were fine, much better than naval stuff in assassin's creed 3, for example, didn't run into any of the bugs either.

[Oneeyed]

Originally posted by Captain Narwhal:

Okkayy I'll stick to trying to motivate myself to play the Witcher XD. Seems like too many issues. I dunno. The first games voice acting just puts me off too much (Tried the demo).. Thanks anyway :p (And to others who commented)

If you like The Witcher series you most probably like at least Risen 1. There is a reason CD projects big role model is the Gothic series. And the Risen series is made by some of the people who made Gothic. Risen 1 is a great experience and a lot of fun. So is the first half of Risen 2 and I would miss something if I had never played Risen 3.

Yes they have issues but - sorry to be blunt here - so has The Witcher series. If I would have written all the issues of the Witcher series and you would have never played it you may have said ok then it has to many issues for me. But nevertheless The Witcher series is a great series and everyone who likes CRPGs should have played it. And that is the same with the Risen series.

Everyone who likes CRPGs should have played it.

[The Dude]

It's out of 1 and 3. I didn't really like 2.

[GAME GOD FLUENT]

To me, Risen 1 is up there with Gothic 1 as best games PB has made. Honorable mentions to ELEX and Gothic 3.

I'd say Risen 2 is my 2nd favorite Risen so far. I played it, beat it and yet wanted more after a solid 60 hours of game.

Risen 3 is worth a play IMO, but it feels a bit lifeless to me. The islands seem cramped with not enough NPCs, and the scale seems weird. But it's still not "bad" and worth it if you like action RPGs.

Best one by far though, is Risen 1. I'm playing it now and having a blast again. There's just a lot of gooey details in the world design. Nooks and crannies, alternate routes, hidden caches. NPCs feel abundant, there's lots of quests and far reaches of the map to get to and explore. Enemies block the way sometimes, dangerous monsters are all about and there are a lot of ways to build your character and create a playstyle. Everything is hand-placed and feels consistent. I could go on and on. It's nearly perfection as far as I'm concerned. For an action RPG it doesn't get much better.

[MIND ЯEWIND 2]

Risen 1