Renzatic on 2/10/2009 at 19:56

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Yeah, I obviously haven't been too far into the game yet (which I plan on remedying later on tonight), but I've already seen a few reviews state some things that aren't true at all. Like the combat. There's no way you can just swing at something til it dies like I've seen a few other reviews mention. You can only get a couple or three hits in before whatever monster start returning the favor in kind. Not even the wimpy monsters around the beach at the beginning will allow you to smack them around like that.

Once again, the whole thing is pretty stupid. If you're gonna review a game, at least review it decently whether you like it or not.

Zygoptera on 3/10/2009 at 01:24

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Ignored? It deserves nothing less than sustained ridicule. Playing a game for an hour and then writing a(n inaccurate; surprise, surprise) review of it should be regarded as dishonest, lazy and pathetic, and they should be called on it.

Equivalent review of "Animal Farm": it's blatant propaganda for communism because the animals overthrow the farmers.

Renzatic on 3/10/2009 at 17:08

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So after about half an hour, I finally get past the area cordoned off in the demo, and the experience starts fresh. Let me tell you, the next 3 hours were the most fun I've had in an RPG for a long, long time.

Here's a vague, relatively spoiler free version of my journey thus far.

I'm walking around a giant field surrounded by thick forest late at night. The moon is high in the sky, and I have no idea where to head to next. Harbor Town sounds like the best bet, but no one I've come across seems to think that even going there is a good idea. I figured I'd just skirt the outer walls of the city and see what things look like from there.

And so began my travels into the deep, dark heart of the island. A journey fraught with wolf attacks and the occasional shit scared NPC. Whatever is going on here has made everyone tense and on edge. The Inquisition has crowded everyone into the city and made them miserable. Their much beloved Don has fled north into the swamp and anyone caught outside is immediately sent to the dreaded monastery at the base of the volcano. It makes traveling the major roads a little scary, since you never know when you're gonna get your ass kicked by a wandering White Robe patrol and drug off to be brainwashed and tortured by the Inquisition.

Not at all a friendly place to find yourself shipwrecked. It was this need to stay off the main roads that landed me in the trouble I currently find myself in.

Since I was travelling unfamiliar land under the cover of dark, I, of course, ended up taking a few wrong turns. Long story short, I end up passing the night in an old abandoned hunters shack currently occupied by someone who isn't quite crazy, but will soon be there, and wind up getting chased by a few big wolves into a large farmstead soon after waking up. Fortunately for me, my screams of HEP HEP HEEEEEPPPP were answered by a bunch of friendly farmers. Unfortunately for me, they were also friendly with the Inquisition, and knocked me right slap the fuck out shortly after saving my life and trussed me up for a one-way trip to the much dreaded monastery.

I came to...

And thus my tale ends, since everything past here goes deep into spoiler territory. This was roughly the first hour and a half of the game, and I left a lot out.

It all confirms my beliefs that Risen is a great damn game with always flexible, fluid situations. Never reload your game when something bad happens. Just let it play out and see where it lands you. This isn't like Oblivion where you either win or lose a quest and the NPCs are nothing more than informative roadsigns. Every positive or negative leads right into something else. Every enemy you make earns you a friend elsewhere. Even something as simple and bog standard as a fetch quest feels important. You're not doing it just to get experience for that next Sword of Hell Yeah, you're doing it to gain someones much needed favor. Like all of Piranha Bytes games (even Gothic 3, though to a much lesser extent), everything around you feels like a living, breathing, and very threatening world. It ain't just a pretty landscape to walk through. It's a thing teeming with mystery, conspiracy and very angry people you need to make friends with if you want to get anywhere.

So if you like awesome RPGs, you ought to be playing Risen right now.

Koki on 3/10/2009 at 17:46

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Seems like I'll have to play it and tell you guys what's wrong with it again geeez

gunsmoke on 3/10/2009 at 21:18

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Oh, I am giddy!!! THIS is the game I have been waiting to play...for years. Gothic 3 was such a turd, especially on the heels of the masterpiece that was Night of the Raven.

Thank you, PB for giving me something to look forward to playing soon.

Renzatic: enjoy, man. I envy you.

As for the 360 vs. PC debate: I have no problem playing a game with decreased distance draw, lower res. textures, etc. I just don't want the content to be gimped. I mean, I can still play the original Gothic and be immersed entirely. Graphics mean little to me in a game like this, the world is #1.