Where does Piranha Bytes stand among all time great studios?

[PorkyThePaladin]

So they have released seven games in their history, which is roughly around twenty years now:

Gothic
Gothic 2 + Night of the Raven
Gothic 3
Risen
Risen 2
Risen 3
ELEX

Four of the seven are high quality RPGs: Gothic, Gothic 2, Risen, and ELEX. The other 3 are not very good. But the good ones rank very highly, I mean all three that were out before the last Codex list was done were on it, one in the top ten. And this is on the Codex, which is known to be biased toward turn based, isometric games.

To me, their track record looks very good, and can stand toe to toe with just about anyone. 57% success rate with their games, and the successful games being really great, and not just good. And to their accomplishments, they might be the only monocled studio who survived the decline (with Risen and ELEX).

 

[Sigourn]

Makes me want to see a chart comparing different devs as if they were Hollywood studios.

- Sir-Tech
- Origin Systems
- New World Computing
- Strategic Simulations

Would be the most important IMO, then followed by:

- Interplay/Black Isle
- BioWare
- Piranha Bytes

 

[Ivan]

Risen "high quality"

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

Among "all time great" studios?
Rock bottom.

 

[DalekFlay]

Risen "high quality"

Risen is fucking sky high quality compared to most bullshit released around the same time.

Risen 2 is rightly hated for being corridor island, as the review here said, but I did love the setting and a lot of the typical PB writing and questing. Haven't played Risen 3 or Elex yet.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Piranha is in the basement guarding the broom closet.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Having developed ELEX, they are obviously at the very top.

 

[sullynathan]

Not that high. That's a disappointing list of games developed since everything after gothic 2 was shit

 

[janior]

Four two of the seven are high quality RPGs: Gothic, Gothic 2

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Risen "high quality"

Risen is my least favorite of PB games (from among the good ones), but it's a pretty good game overall. The first part especially is amazing. Later parts unfortunately, not as good. When PB gameplay comes together, there is nothing quite like it.

Having developed ELEX, they are obviously at the very top.

You ever get tired of shit-posting? You are a pretty smart dude, Darth Ratsor, so it's sad to see you make so little effort outside of reviews.

 

[Sinatar]

2 Amazing Games, 2 decent games, 3 dumpster fires...

Not very high.

 

[Herald of Durance]

Gothic 1, 2 + NotR are top tier.
Gothic 1 has interesting story, setting, atmosphere.
G2 + NotR improved almost everything, especially mechanics and the combat. It was fun fighting with enemies while being seriously underlevelled and with shitty weapon. It was fun because it was possible to win, even though the chance was really slim. The story was meh.
Gothic 3 is shit. However there's some nice landscape and soundtrack.
Risen is meh. It's Gothic 2 in tropical setting, but worse.
Risen 2 is surprisingly fun. Very cheesy and stupid, but fun.
I couldn't get into Risen 3, the voice of main character is terrible.
Haven't played ELEX yet.

 

[Darth Roxor]

You ever get tired of shit-posting?

who says i'm shitposting

 

[Micormic]

I've only played gothic 3 and risen 1, wasn't a fan of either so for me not very high.



I had gothic 1 and 2 in a bundle but they didn't run on 3 different computers so I sold them and never thought about it again.

 

[frajaq]

Didn't play any of their games besides ELEX because people around here hyped it up a lot

They seem like an overrated developers if ELEX was anything to show

 

[deama]

I would say Gothic 1/2 are very good, Risen 1 was ok, I didn't like Risen 2 much, Risen 3 wasn't as good as 1, but had some redeeming qualities (it had good spell combat). Elex is ok, I didn't like how they done character progression and the combat was meh (especially magic).

 

[Belegarsson]

Piranha Bytes is basically the developer who makes flawed, unpolished games that are so charming and compelling that you somehow already threw 50 hours into them before realizing what happened.

 

[Ivan]

Risen is my least favorite of PB games (from among the good ones), but it's a pretty good game overall

Agreed. For me, Gothic 2 is a revelatory title, easily ranking among my top 5 RPGs. It has the most well realized game world I've experinced. I enjoyed Gothic well enough but was blown-away by the leap made in the sequel.

 

[Alex]

You ever get tired of shit-posting?

who says i'm shitposting

It is your avatar. It looks like you are adding a parrot to each and every post you make.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Elex and Risen are underrated. Sure, if you compare them to Gothic 1/2, they are inferior, but if you compare them to the vast majority of RPGs (even the really good ones), they have tremendous strengths. Yet, much like the mainstream media parrots, many here will just harp on lack of polish or jank or some other bs.

 

[Vlajdermen]

They gave us alternatives to FO3 and FO4 in the form of Risen and Elex. In my eyes, that's something to be admired and cherished. I don't consider them to be as objectively good as Obsidian or Black Isle, but I just love their games the same way people love From Software.

Piranha Bytes is basically the developer who makes flawed, unpolished games that are so charming and compelling that you somehow already threw 50 hours into them before realizing what happened.

Couldn't have put it better myself

 

[Vlajdermen]

Also Gothic 2 has a case for being the best game of all time so there's that

 

[Elex]

if elex 2 have 2 jetpack he will be the best rpg ever

 

[Wunderbar]

Risen is just too small when compared to G2 or even G1. It also declines after the first two acts (tbh every PB game declines after first two acts, but Risen declines harder).

 

[J_C]

Whatever they create now and in the future, they will forever belong to the pantheon of Gods for Gothic 1-2+expansion.