Preview Risen 2: Dark Waters Preview @ Gamebanshee

Many concerns I had have been alleviated by reading this preview, but I am still worried about rose-tinted goggles I may have in choosing which points of view to put stock into. Regardless, I no longer have reservations about pre-ordering, therefor... good, I think.

Sounds as bad as i thought it may be.

phah... what combat mechanics.

Sounds like Gothic 3.51.
That is closer to 4.
In terms of shittifying it.

Brother None brofisting a link to his own article? Come on, bra~ M:

Anyway, it sounds fine and if they are indeed going to pursue the Gothic franchise further than it does make sense to shift things a bit thematically. Character development seems okay -- it was fairly simplified in Risen 1 and this sounds a bit more involved. The lack of mana isn't an issue since PB never could balance mages properly. Either they were grossly overpowered (as in G1), fairly underpowered (as in G2), or just a magic flinging archer (as in Risen). Length seems good for a modern game (the preview suggest 30-40ish hours total) and since I really didn't have a problem with the quests in Risen 1 the fact that Risen 2 has better ones is just fine.

You realize there was no aiming in G1 or G2, either, right? You just locked on to something and whether you hit or not was based on your bow/crossbow ability. Probably the same here. As far as no mana, as I already mentioned PB has never done mages well. Ditching mana seems like it is an improvement.

Looks like a voodoo-oriented character could provide some fun.

So PB haven't let you take any screenshots BN?

Bah, I don't know about the character system. I want an RPG that gives you five dozen skills and says 'fuck it' to balancing them all--just let me use them in interesting ways in the game.

The increased emphasis on more interesting quest design is heartening, though:

Also, Re: PB's right to use Gothic: They do have it, but it looks like they haven't decided what to do with it yet.

That's basically what Elder Scrolls games did (well prior to their streamlining), not a fan.

Indeed. No screenies from the preview copy. Not unusual.

I was bro-fisting VoD's quickness.

How can they simplify their character system? Gothic (excluding Gothic 3) and Risen was always very bare bones anyway.

G3 vanilla actually was the most simplified as you did end up as fighter/mage/hunter, it is worrying that you only need gold after increasing main Stat. Proper balance, and not having infinite amount of XP is more important for decision making then number of skills to choose.

P good preview (as per usual for BN), cheers to all involved

No reload animation for guns? That's meh.

Not really thrilled about the new pirate direction.

I think the pirate stuff actually sounds pretty fun. I liked the glimpses of it in the first Risen, I just hope they don't go overboard with it and end up stumbling into self-parody. Then again I guess since Piranha Bytes are German, their games are already sort of stealth-parody by default anyway.

Removing shit left and right, dumbing non-combat stuff down, KILLCAM?
Jesus Christ, it looks like they recycled the worst shit of EAware / betshitsda lowest common denominator products.

Fuck them, bye.

Bye.

Betrayal at its finest, turning your back on the fans.

Re: lockpicks. Did anyone ever seriously have an issue with lockpicks in G1/G2 or Risen? It was still basically a mini-game then (LRLRLLLRR) and given there was pretty much never a shortage of money you typically had tons of lockpicks. Especially in G2 where bandits usually dropped two or three of them. Sure, having one nonbreakable lock pick can be called simplified but it just seems like an example thrown out there to force a particular point. I believe I read that you still need to learn the skill for it, yes?

Sort of like how they work in G2 where you learn them with one initial investment and your success is based on your agility?

Re: trophy systems. Who spent LP on this in G1 and G2? Quite frankly, they were fairly superfluous skills (oh, by the way there was no mining in G1/G2 other than those gold nuggets in the expansion where you could spend 2 LP to cap out at 100% proficiency for no apparent reason). In G1 it was simply for cash/ore (which you could get in truckloads by simply selling herbs, weapons, whatever). In G2 it occasionally gave you access to mini-quests where you turned in X shadow beasts horns for XP or whatever. You could also make minecrawler armor but that was rendered obsolete by armors available with NoTR. So, again, it was mostly just for money.

TLDR: While viewed in isolation the removal of LPs for trophies and the unbreakable lockpicks look 'simplified,' when you actually consider how these two things were implemented in past PB games these changes are inconsequential. Just seems like a rhetorical device to say... hrmmmm dumbed down.

As far as the character system, as Hobo Elf says, I really don't see how that is 'simplified' compared to Risen 1 (where it was extremely simple). Not as if it was complex in G1 and G2, either... perhaps G2 with NoTR but that was devised because the addition of an entire new map's worth of enemies and quest woulds unbalance a character otherwise.

What you're saying is the systems were imperfect in previous game. That doesn't mean removing them isn't simplification, it still is. It might be an improvement, sometimes simplification is an improvement. It's still simplification.

Also, you missed the point on lockpicks where the minigame is way too easy. Maybe it gets harder later on. But with unbreakable pick and super-easy minigame, I don't understand why you don't just open it when you click it and have the required skill. As is, this is pretty bad implementation.

Lockpicking is an actual skill check in G3, not a largely superfluous mini-game. No, it's generally little more than an inconvenience to keep yourself supplied with picks. With clear plateaus in advancement, though, you take out the slow, more graduated progress curve that an actual check would allow for. And for a fighter with just the bare minimum invested in lockpicking, picking every chest would be a chore, while to a dedicated thief, it's a glory. It's not that lockpicking was great and crucial, it's that this seems like a step in the wrong direction by making the sense of character progression simpler and apparently reducing the distinction between classes a bit, though I guess with sufficiently high prerequisites for the skills, this could be avoided.

Taking inconsequential stuff out of the game to polish the more important aspects is fine, but I'm not going to celebrate the fact that they went that route instead of finding a way to make those more consequential skills.

EDIT: Ninja'd.