Edit-edit – original download links now contain the fixed version too
Edit – fixed, faster downloads are here, here and here. (Thanks, Batolemaeus).
1.09 Gigabytes of vast, highly-anticipated-by-some, German-made roleplaying game await you just here or here. In either case, it’s the earliest stages of what’s a huge, free-roaming and non-didactic game, casting you as a recent shipwreckee, washed ashore on a rather nasty island. Adventures!
Risen is the spiritual sequel to the Gothic series, a trio of dense and ambitious RPGs that have an especially devoted following, yet have never quite found their way into the hearts of the UK/US mainstream. The whispers I’m hearing about Risen, which goes on sale tomorrow, suggests that particular song is likely to remain the same: adored by the devout few, ignored by the many. But, regardless, it’s ma-ha-ha-hassive news in roleplaying land, and anyone with enthusiasm for the whole swords’n'monsters’numbers shebang should, at the very least, take a look at the demo.
A reader email suggests copies of Risen may have made their way to some folk early – anyone got in hand yet? Whaddaya think? Better than the (apparently) disappointing Gothic 3?
Oh, I’ll be frank – in this current, incredibly busy gaming season, this gigantic thing is not looking like something any of RPS will have time to immediately gravitate towards, much as I’m sure we will get around to it in quieter times if word of mouth is all yay-woo-yeah. If you think we are rank idiotholes and should, in fact, currently be shoving other things aside in favour of Risen then don’t tell us off for not talking about it – but tell us why we should be talking about it. It’d be great to have some enthusiastic, inspiring discussion generated about the game that isn’t simply a case of the initiated bitterly grumbling at the uninitiated.
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…actually no impressions. Demo hanged when I went to the first enemy to attack them. Pure 5 minute ‘music is playing but game is standing still’ Piranha Bytes beauty. Uninstalled.
I’d say wait for a patch. Piranha is not known for getting stability right on release.
Dan Whitehead posted a 4/10 review over on Eurogamer. For the XBox port though, most of the complaints relate to the interface (which isn’t a problem on PC) and the things that made the Gothic games Gothic so little wonder that the comments thread mainly consists of people disagreeing with him.
Anyhoo, the postman just pushed it through my letterbox so I look forward to playing it.
EDIT: Ooh. Comes with an extra soundtrack CD. Didn't know that. Anyone know if the music is any good?
Yeah, everything he says is right, and every problem is probably multiplied by fitting the controls on to a pad. But us Gothic fans (and, maybe, every niche-PC-genre gamer) have already leapt the enjoyment-barrier of obtuse controls many times, so that’s no real problem for us. Same goes for the slow pace and lack of hand-holding. Hell, we’ll probably even say they’re plus points for the game. Us niche-PC-genre gamer are a funny lot.
It does all suggest that non-fans are not going to be convinced by this new game.
I’m generally non-plussed by reviews nowadays, but I was a little irked by the Eurogamer review’s complaint about levelling. I’m not sure that the staple of hitting a magic experience number and then levelling up stats and skills on the spot is a good thing, and doing something different doesn’t mean you’re giving short shrift to a ‘genre cornerstone’. Finding people to teach you new skills makes more sense, as does having to pay them for their time.
Also, the line about lifting from past glories seems like a petty kick in the ribs given Bioware/Bethesda/any JRPGs habit of repeating themselves.
“Us niche-PC-genre gamer are a funny lot.”
In a world where everyone else is playing Dance Dance Revolution, we considered ourselves like the real gamers here. If only these people playing Sims stop, and move to Dwarf Fortress…
It makes more sense to find someone to ‘teach’ you a new level, but is it fun? Or is it an annoyingly pedantic bit of fussy game-mechanics. If you’re already having trouble getting into the game in the first place, this sort of thing does not help. I don’t agree with him, but I know exactly what he means.
And I love Dance Dance Revolution so much.
Well I grant that it can be a barrier and that’s how the reviewer sees it, but in the overall context of the game it’s perfectly in character. The designers are taking a harsher route all-round and making the world a grittier and more hostile place, rather than creating you as the all-conquering centre of the universe from level 1 onwards.
I get a bit defensive with games like Gothic, Divine Divinity and the Witcher because it never feels like they get their due from UK-based reviewers. I know you have to work past some poor translations, interfaces and clunky controls but there are some really great elements there. Although… I guess if I was scoring them I’d have to knock off quite a few marks too.
But paying someone to teach you some new ability, or rank up in certain criteria certainly is not a feature newly introduced in Risen, since it has always been a staple of the Gothic series as well.
And amusingly, a feature of some small game called World of Warcraft or some such.
Well, my only experience with the Gothic games was installing Gothic 3, ‘playing’ it for ten minutes, uninstalling it and getting my money back.
So far though, I am really enjoying the demo for this. I’d kill for a frying pan though.
First impression:
I’m in love.
No, honestly. It looks better and runs better at the same time on my hardware. That’s a really great thing. I’m not entirely convinced by the fighting system, but still, it works for me.
What I’ve seen from the land is just beautiful. The colors, the lighting, it just feels very, very convincing.
Gothic is a milestone of computer gaming. Gothic 3, well…I went buffalo hunting with a stash of swampweed. Good enough for me.
Risen – Inquisition – nasty Island. Buying is a no-brainer for me.
toni: They do? I tried “running her over” with a few goblins – she stood right in the middle of ‘em and still wasn’t attacked. Hm.. Maybe it was just my ugly face that did it.
@Railick: You are obviously a smart self-sufficient troll and I cannot deny the fact that Gothic 3 was worse than Oblivion. But GothicI/II/NOTR are better than Oblivion. What could be the meaning of this? :D
Traditional levelling is a relic from gaming of days past, which most RPG-makers seem surprisingly keen to hold on to. Gothic’s (and apparently Risen’s) system of learning a new skill from a person in the game world rather than receiving it magically from the RPG gods is grealy superior in terms of immersion and I don’t see how it could possibly hinder gameplay in any real way.
If I were making an RPG I would do away with visible statistics entirely. To hell with XP.
I played this for a few minutes before I felt self conscious playing a game in the library… got just past the frying pan before I quit but I really enjoyed what I saw… this is pretty open world right? Because I am desperate for a classic open world RPG.
I’ve spent a couple of hours with the demo, and so far I can’t see how this can be considered good combat. The timing feels weird and the movement / dodge / parry all seem slightly unresponsive. And the framerate jerks sometimes, it’s usually pleasant but still weirds me out when I’m used to playing games that look much better at a smooth 60fps.
I can see there’s a lot to love here; at times the world can look really pretty and it’s crafted in a very natural, believable way. I’m just worries combat versus two or more opponents will be hopelessly annoying.
P.S.: I also don’t like how the realism of the game is at odds with the RPG mechanics. Case in point: a boar that can kill a man with three humps yet can take over a dozen sword cuts before it dies.
Sure, I wouldn’t think twice about it it this was a Final Fantasy-like cutesy Japanese RPG – it’s not supposed to make sense! But put me in a very realistic setting, and there are certain expectations.
(Not that it’s exclusively Risen’s problem. Oblivion and many, many others keep doing this as well.)
That Eurogamer review is a bit of an embarrassment, innit. EG seems to be going the way of Gamespy, writing about gamepad controls in a PC game review.
Yes, I realize that the review is technically headlined for PC and XBox 360 – but the 360 version isn't out till 2010 and there's nary a mention of traditional PC controls, i.e. mouse and keyboard. It appears that the reviewer played an early review copy of the 360 version, but I'm a bit baffled that EG would pay cash money to review one version that's not out for 3-6 months, while ignoring the version that's actually been released. Sigh.
(EDIT: Is it only Stateside that the 360 version won't be out till next year? That still doesn't change my basic gripe, that publications like EG seem all too happy to review a game on console and then pronounce that review relevant for the PC version as well – even when much f the review's griping is leveled at the interface.)
I'm not a troll, I'm dwarf :P Geeze.
For what it's worth I did buy each Gothic game as it came out and tried to play each one of them. I found them all to be unplayable after a very short peroid of time and stopped playing them but never returned them. I loved the idea of Gothic but could never stand to play the game. I will certainly give Risen a try if and when I can make sure it will work on my computer. As far as paying people to train you, Daggerfall,Morrowind, and Oblivion did that and also had the much more realistic concept of skills going up as you used them (hence learning from doing ect) and stats increasing based on the skills you used, nothing new even when Gothic 1 was made ;) Sorry
I did like Morrowind but enjoyed Oblivion much more. I've never played any other game that had such a powerful editor and fantasic world with which to tinker with. Being able to make your own floating castle in the sky with an army waiting for you to return from your missions , a dragon landing pad and all the crap you need to enchant/create spells/make potions/ and display your loot is just fantastic. Yes, you can do that in Morrowind but I like Oblivion's setting and combat system better ;)
Shadowcat “It hammers at my retinas like an evil woodpecker of pure energy”
FINALLY a PC RPG not dumbed down for consoles. Reviewers expected another Fable, so Risen turned out to be too difficult to them. GOOD.
Oddly, although the game’s being posted as available to play, it shows as “not yet released” on Steam. There’s a minor furor in process on the Steam forums.
Actually, that last sentence is redundant. There’s a minor furor on the Steam forums that’s related to this specific issue.
People are complaining? ON THE INTERNET?
Crap. I just buy the game. Note to self: check the steam forums first for a game.
Yea. I suppose we are about to visit a new horror tale of buggy programming, DRM and more buggy programming, from the same authors of Gothic aka “I eat your savegames”.
The warez version is everywhere, so Is only paying people that have to wait. This going to be fun :-(
From what I've heard Tei, or rather read, it is actually not very buggy at all. someone said they played it for 5 hours straight with no bugs or crashs. Of course the worst bugs take weeks and months to come up. The ones that pop up at the end of the game require you to restart the entire thing to get around them : P Gothic 3 had quiet a few of those , quests that you couldn't finish people that wouldn't show up ect. Heck Morrowind had tons of them too. I remember plaiying morrowind when the character I was suposed to talk to to finish my quest LITERALLY floated up into the air and disappearing into the ceiling just before I could talk to her O.o
I was playing Daggerfall and fell through the floor of a dungeon on my way to meet the Wurm King. I got REALLY lucky and fell through the ground, landing ontop of a tunnel that lead right into the wurm kings throne room skipping all the bad guys lol. I just kept jumping up and down on the invisible floor until it let me fall through the roof and into the room ;P
Is downloading now :-)
woot! Let me know what you think.
Yep, download seems to be working. Something that came up in one of the threads struck me as odd. Someone fed up with waiting (and rational, despite what I may be suggesting) called his credit company and had the game charged back to Valve. Folks immediately chimed in with variations on “your account will be hammered because of that!”
Anyone have any (clearly unpleasant) experience along those lines? It seems rather terrible to lose your entire catalog of games for one offense. Punishment != crime, for given values of the words “punishment” and “crime.”
It’s weird that everyone seems so divided on this game…personally I think it’s absolutely fantastic, really nice combat, nice graphics…great story (so far) and I really like the pacing and the general gothic2…ness. The magic system seems awesome too…could very well be my RPG of the year depending on how dragon age turns out…
Just my opinion.
Is a good RPG. Is a good tiny RPG with some of the good things of Gothic, and some of the bad. But for some reason the bad things are not bad, and some other of the bads (like the interface) are like the way I like it. Maybe the problem with any Gothic game (like Risen) is that are somewhat “80’s”.
I like it, and I am having fun playing it. I am in the hunterd camp, doing quest and leveling. A thing that I like about this game, is that after 5 hours playing, the combat is not trivilized, a normal moster can kill me.
I have played it from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. So yes… Is one of these games that can make you avoid sleeping one night :-)
Thanks Piraña guys! :-)
I thought Gothic 3 was a pile of broken drivel, so I pleasantly surprised to find that the Risen demo not only works, but is rather engrossing. Will definitely finish the demo and if am still interested by the end, will pick up the game. As Katy Perry might have sung, I kissed a Piranha Bytes game and I liked it.
P.
I tried the demo and quite liked it, then found out that the Steam version has Tages limited activation DRM, so I guess that’s off my ‘to buy’ list. It’s not even listed in the game’s system requirements.
When will Valve get a clue and start banning third party DRM, or at least ensure that as soon as they list a game they list the DRM so that customers can make an informed choice?
The best way to handle games with tages is gamersgate. They’ll be willing to keep on handing out activations, so it hardly matters they can’t be reset.
What Heliocentric said. GG guarantees you’ll never run out of activations, so they’re my go-to service for games with stupid DRM.
I’m really curious now how JoWood’s Gothic 4 (or Arcania: A Gothic Tale I guess it’s called) is going to compare. It’s hard to imagine how Arcania could be any more Gothic-like than Risen.
Will the real Gothic 4 please stand up? (Or will Arcania just be Gothic 5?)
(Yeah, I know JoWood’s is the one with the continued story and characters…)
Downloading the demo now… Will give it a crack this evo and let you know how I get on…