Game News Risen - Now with Non-Nuked Demo!

[Jason]

Tags: Piranha Bytes; Risen

After some <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=917115#917115" target="blank">false starts</a>, the <b><a href="http://risen.deepsilver.com/blog/pages/en/downloads/downloads.php" target="blank">Risen demo</a></b> is ready for your fervent love and/or mocking. Alternate mirrors can be found at <a href="http://www.gamershell.com/download_51644.shtml" target="blank">Gamers Hell</a> and <a href="http://computergames.ro/en/downloads/viewitem/id/15131/name/risen-demo.html" target="blank">ComputerGames.ro</a>. Set aside 1 GB for the download.
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Behind door # 2 is the <a href="http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?t=683897" target="blank">Gothic 3 Community Patch 1.73</a>, which oddly enough is about the same size as the Risen demo. Expect better bloom and softer particles.
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Or ditch the Gothic scene altogether and grab the <a href="http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2009/09/machinarium_demo_is_available.html" target="blank">Machinarium demo</a>. No, it's not an RPG but how many games have you played with art direction <a href="http://www.machinarium.com/gallery.html" target="blank">like this?</a>
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<i>Thanks to larpingdude2.8</i>

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I'll take the Machinarium demo for 35 MB thanks Jim.

 

[vazquez595654]

I'm guessing Machinarium's art direction is all it really has going for it. Under the hood it's a mostly uninteresting silly puzzle game with maybe a couple of unique puzzles.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Just finished the demo. Machinarium's art direction is all it really has going for it. Under the hood it's a mostly uninteresting silly puzzle game with maybe a couple of unique puzzles.

 

[Elwro]

Well, I, for one, think that while Machinarium may have a couple of unique puzzles, the single thing that it really has going for it is the art direction.

 

[catfood]

I'm always sad when such artistic talent is wasted on mediocre games.

 

[asper]

Well, Machinarium is a puzzle game, so what did you guys expect? C&C?

It also has very nice music by the way.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Well, Machinarium is a puzzle game, so what did you guys expect? C&C?

Decent puzzles? A slightly longer experience? Something other than 10 mins of clicking around a self-contained screen for a given area until I happened upon whatever it was I was meant to click on before moving into the next self-contained area?

 

[asper]

Longer experience? So you've played the full game already?

As for the self-contained screens, those supposedly only occur in the beginning of the game:

The game’s first four screens (which took a lot longer than it sounds) are all self-contained, escape-the-room scenarios, but unlike its Samorost progenitors, Machinarium soon broadens into a more open-ended design. Progression is still linear in the sense of constantly making your way back towards the city, but items or clues from as many as four or five screens are soon necessary to solve puzzles elsewhere.

http://adventuregamers.com/article/id,1035

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Longer experience?

Yeah, at the end of the demo it says "30 locations". There are 3-4 in the demo, they were all self-contained and fairly simple (all up took me about 20 mins to complete the demo). Something that shows the game has something more than art direction and "click everywhere until something happens because you can't tell the stuff you can click from everything else in the background" would've been nice.

I'd wait until someone spends their hard earned, buys it, takes a day or two to finish it and raves about some really awesome puzzles before considering it again. As it was, the game mechanics didn't interest me and the puzzles didn't interest me.

vazquez595654 really got the demo down pat at least.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

Something other than 10 mins of clicking around a self-contained screen for a given area until I happened upon whatever it was I was meant to click on before moving into the next self-contained area?

Hello i'm Gobliiins, a masterpiece...

how were you able to describe me so well, do i know you?

seriously if puzzles are hard enuff, the scheme you mention works perfectly.

 

[asper]

Uh, no, Gobliiins had very good and original puzzles, and the gameplay definitely wasn't "clicking on everything", in the way that it is in Machinarium.

But agreed, if the puzzles are good enough it should be a good game.

 

[mondblut]

Machinarium looks like it was drawn by DiTerlizzi. You know, the middle-age Planescape guy.

 

[Monolith]

Looks like I'm the only one getting the Risen demo.

EDIT:
2 hours later and I'm still downloading...

 

[MessiahMan]

Count yourself lucky. None of the three download links work for me. I'll nab that machinarium demo at least. Should provide for some kind of experience, but I'm not expecting much more than a glorified artsy-fartsy flash game.

 

[Pseudofool]

Nvidia 6000 and 7000 users will likely have graphical problems (for me a haze over everything, save one inch sphere right in front of the camera); supposedly, fix forthcoming.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So, what is Risen about then? Is the demo any good?

 

[GarfunkeL]

I haven't played Gothics but Risen gave me a similar feeling that the beginning of Morrowind/Oblivion did. The demo is quite short, you experience couple of npc chats and kill a bunch of animals and explore one very small tomb, that's it.

 

[youhomofo]

I played the demo. If you like Gothic you'll like this. Unfortunately the demo just reveals the first fifteen or so minutes of the game, all of which is pretty linear. As is the norm with Gothic you have the choice between three towns: A fighter town, a rogue town and a mage town. The game ends just before you each any of them.

Same old same old.

 

[Morkar Left]

Just played the demo. It´s a mix between gothic 1/2 and gothic 3. Combat is faster (no slow combat animations) and at least the wolves seems to dodge and show some tactic. Graphics are like gothic 3 except the chars, they are looking a little weird sometimes but nothing that´s annoying. But I have a gray film, maybe it´s just fog but it lasted for the entire demo. The performance is very good and way better than gothic 3. I have to search for an answer about the gray film. When I know what´s about this I will buy the game.

 

[Metro]

"click everywhere until something happens because you can't tell the stuff you can click from everything else in the background"

Agreed. That's the biggest problem -- it's extremely annoying and has little to do with puzzle solving.

 

[ricolikesrice]

played the demo, think i m gonna get it but wasnt totally blown away to be honest.

graphics look really nice, dont get the complaints - well okay, the NPCs, especially the female, look pretty bad ... but the environments are great.

combat been meh so far. but i guess thats to be expected from that early in the game, i hope it gets more interesting/challenging as you level up but according to reviews it does.

writing/story seems to be godawful on the same very, very low level as drakensang or fallout 3. the NPCs i met in the demo didnt behave at all as i d expect a NPC in their situation to behave. looks like 12y old fanfic level writing with some curse words thrown in - luckily i m not a story fag so i dont care as long as the rest is good but how people have the balls to bash bioware s medicority when compared to something like this i ll never get...

anyhow, could be a really interesting exploration game - wanna play more, will pay.