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“Life after” Gothic “. Review Risen 2 and Risen 3
After the loss of rights to the Gothic series, Piranha Bytes developed a new series of games – Risen. The first “Risen” is a worthy game that develops the ideas of the old “Gothic” and to a large extent resembles them. The second part of the Risen with the subtitle Dark Waters makes a rather strange and bold move: a radical change in the gameplay, a change of theme to pirates with muskets, colony, natives and magic voodoo. Risen 2 from the very beginning destroys the “spirit of” Gothic “in such a way that for some people – the sentence to the game.
Gameplay in some places is more simplified than the first part, in some it is simply more convenient. In general, the game has become more dynamic: a division into the main weapons (muskets, sabers, scepter) and additional (pistols, throwing daggers and objects for “dirty techniques”) that can be combined, evasions were replaced by rollers, treatment occurs without animation.
During the battle, if it is necessary to replenish health, having drunk a bottle of grog and biting with provisions, you will have to evade attacks for some time and wait until the regeneration passes, which was not in previous games. The advantage of alcohol is that it restores more and faster than ordinary food, which is represented by the “Proviant” resource. And since the game about pirates, alcohol does not bear any negative consequences (but could!).
The pumping has changed: you can improve skills for experiences called glory. When reaching a conditional level of skill (near, long -range, voodoo, and so on), a teacher can buy certain abilities for both increasing skills and adding new gameplay abilities for money. For example, by spending experience points on improving the skill of dexterity, it will be possible to buy the ability to lay down and increase the ability to hack or pocket theft, although their progress occurs when pumping the level of skill.
Some abilities, for example, “stop chatting!”, suitable only for memes. In the game, their use is extremely narrow
Partners are useful in battle, represent an independent combat unit, even taking into account the fact that during the battle they can win. Although there are times when they get stuck in textures, trying to find the way to the player. They can give them a grog, a local “Hilka”, so that in battle they can last longer.
Voodoo magic is not too extensive in comparison with the magic of runes in previous games, but it is quite mobile in use, does not require mana (because there is simply no such parameter in the game), and it can be combined with other types of combat systems. Problem: only one effect of magic is superimposed on one enemy. It is impossible to simultaneously hang a “aura of fear”, which introduces into Stallock, and the “curse” that reduces the protective characteristics of the enemy. The use of the “cult of the dead” (roughly speaking, the skill that determines the power of the called spirit) was useless for me, since I had the opportunity to call “Ghost” at the end of the game, due to the fact that at one point the passage of the main quest becomes non-linear.
Voodoo magic is sufficiently useful
By the way, about quests. The task execution system has become easier due to the introduction of one thing-marks on the map. They are in the first part of Risen, but rather as an option, the game can be passed without them, all the necessary information is given out with the text. In the second part, when choosing an active assignment, the targets are marked with a cross on the map. And the quests themselves are often linear, but more on that later.
Another small innovation is mini-games. They are sustained in a pirate style, like “who drinks whom” and “hit a shot from a pistol into a flying bottle”. The latter, by the way, is a really difficult game that requires maximum concentration. To perform one quest, you need to get to the target eight times out of ten. The task is fulfilling, but you have to sweat.
I usually don’t write about graphics, but since I spoke quite a lot with my comrade on this topic, I will still tell. Graphics, without jokes, good. Water, although it does not “work” in physics, looks beautiful. The environment is generally pleasant to the eye, and it is clear that they worked on the style.
Despite the technical imperfection, the game looks beautiful
Despite the technical imperfection, the game looks beautiful
Despite the technical imperfection, the game looks beautiful
Despite the technical imperfection, the game looks beautiful
The only thing that can spoil the impression is the animations of the characters: they are very clumsy;Persons have only a couple of emotions that the developers are trying to compensate for abundant gestures, as in the good old. But the most important miscalculation is the animation of the sprint. She is shameful, chickens. Who approved her and said that he would go? Male models generally have a serious problem: the head is somehow strangely connected to the neck.
The design of almost every island is corridors of varying degrees of width with small branches and several “hubs”. They try to dilute such a misunderstanding with spacious fields so that the attacks of claustrophobia do not prevail, as well as the search for treasures.
In all branches there are lifers with small goodies. But a lot of money is not in them, but in classic buried chests and temples of local natives: gold, jewelry, jade idols and expensive cutlery. This is the main source of income. Also in some treasures are legendary objects that forever increase a certain skill or skill.
Piranha bytes plots turn out to be simple, and their unpretentiousness somehow fascinates. But in the second “Risen” I noticed another feature of the plot, which was not so obvious in previous games of developers. I’m talking about the satire of adventure works about the chosenness of the protagonist and the salvation of the world. In Gothic, it was some violation of the genre template. In the second part of the “Rizen” this feature was erected to the Absolute.
Why is the main character the chosen? He was endowed with the power of the gods? There can be no question of divine power, because even in the first Risen it is said that the gods left this world. No, just a hero is a bird of free flight, a frivolous person who always sticks his nose into all the scraps. The game in direct text declares and often emphasizes that the protagonist is not from this world, he stands out too much his behavior. And the hero in the second part perfectly understands his chosenness, often jokes and refers to this topic. Has the right, because he did the great business in the first part! Although it clearly implies that these adventures are attendants.
Such conversations, concentrating on the personalities Nonukcasinosites.co.uk of the protagonist, often occur in the game
Such conversations, concentrating on the personalities of the protagonist, often occur in the game
Such conversations, concentrating on the personalities of the protagonist, often occur in the game
Such conversations, concentrating on the personalities of the protagonist, often occur in the game
Such conversations, concentrating on the personalities of the protagonist, often occur in the game
Such conversations, concentrating on the personalities of the protagonist, often occur in the game
The protagonist is not a spineless doll, he has a personality. The player has the right to make a certain choice, but this will not affect the character. In the context of the Risen series, I would even say that waging in the second part is more narrow than in the first. But in fairness, I will note that before the choice in Piranha Bytes’s games did not particularly affect the narrative (except for the third Gothic) – the plot was still completely lines. In the second part, Risen became too straight in this regard. During the passage, this feature does not cause inconvenience, but nevertheless it is insulting that the player was deprived of such a variety.
But what is most amazing – the protagonist once again without a name. It seems like non -metabolic for identifying a player with the main character, but in this case everything was done … on jokes? Or, again, a thin German satire? For myself, I decided that this is just one of the chips of the story of the “Pirania”.
The plot is purely adventure: you need to collect weapons and artifacts to combat one of the lords of the Titans – Mara, who, according to rumors, is subordinate to Kraken. They entrust the task, respectively, to the best person in such matters, the lieutenant of the Inquisition, the one -eyed alcoholic – the nameless. In parallel with this, the Inquisition prepares the evacuation of Calders and plans to develop new lands, since their mainland turned out to be between two Titanes, Ursgor and Izmail.
Due to the second part, the Risen universe itself expanded: two continents with different cultures and several islands between them instead of one island of the Autsider in the first part were demonstrated;showed a society of pirates, their life;a jump in technology occurred (even too sharp), and bows with crossbows remained out of work.
The Inquisition refused to use magic and imposed a veto on it, as a result of which all the magicians scattered where. The decision of the Inquisition itself is clear: the consequences of the events of the first part. Question in another: where did the magicians go? The only place where they could go in theory is a neighboring continent, but there is not a single mention of them, there are no traces. It is clear that it was necessary to explain the replacement of classical magic by the magic of Voodoo, but this was done at least inaccurately. I would like to have two types of “sorcerers”, but the developers limited themselves to one.
And what they, in my opinion, surpassed themselves, is in the relationship of the hero with partners. All comrades are colorful: what a long-standing friend of the protagonist from the first part of Patti (with the habits of the Center) that the dwarf-warriors Jaffar, that the madman Bons, who has lost his soul, and so on. You often talk to them, they themselves sometimes get into the hero’s conversation with someone, everyone has different views on life, and some even have personal quests. But there is no system of reputation: no matter what the hero does, relations with the partners will not change.
For me, this is the best plot game from Piranha Bytes, but not without problems. The narrative is excellent, but it is too linear. The lack of gameplay variety exacerbates the situation, which is why the reprint does not make any sense: either the player uses a saber and muskets, or a saber, muskets and magic voodoo, the third is not given. What is sad.
The third part of Risen with the Titan Lords subtitle was decided to fix the gameplay uniformity. The difference with the second is not too much at first glance. But there are differences, and what varies is radically different. I will only write about what has changed, what has been added and how it looks like.
The gameplay mainly remained the same, even the interface and animation, with small corrections, directly migrated from the previous game. The omission compensates for the fact that the plot and gameplay diversity appeared in the third part: not only is one of the three different fractions, and with the advent of the moral system, it is allowed to play the letter “M” and the knight on a white horse. A little more about “moral” later.
If in the second part only Voodoo magic was available from magic, then in the third part the magic of runes and the magic of crystals were added to it. Each magic has unique spells, for example, “lightning stab”, “fiery rain” and “treatment” only “crystals” have, but “the call of shadow hounds” – only “runes” only. Without entering the faction, the player can use them, but as consumables, scrolls.
The graphic part was pulled up, it looks even more pleasant
The graphic part was pulled up, it looks even more pleasant
The graphic part was pulled up, it looks even more pleasant
The graphic part was pulled up, it looks even more pleasant
As in the second part, there is no mana system in the game, but there was a division into combat magic and auxiliary. The battle occupies the main weapon slot and does not have a kuldown, while the auxiliary occupies only a quick access slit and has a rollback rollback time.
The discovery of new magical skills occurs after accession to the fraction and not due to the points of experience or gold, but with the help of special resources: for “crystals” – magic crystals (logical), for “runes” – ancient parties, for the magic of Voodoo – nephritis. The player pays them to teachers who in return teach new spells. All these resources are calmly in the study of peace or in the pockets of merchants.
No one forces a magician. But why deny yourself pleasure?
The use of additional weapons without kuldown does not break the balance as it seemed to me at first. Yes, pistols and others like them give significant damage to the enemies at first, but the farther the game, the more you rely on the main weapon, since it makes more damage. Secondary must be used according to the situation.
For even greater simplification of quests, a mini-card was added. Its problem is that it covers an overly small radius, literally five meters. She still shows an arrow where to go on the assignment, so the innovation is not so useless. But I turned it off, and it was replaced by the usual compass.
Sea battles appeared. Yes, there were no them in the second part, although it was positioned as a game with a pirate theme. There are three such battles and … these are not the best moments of the game. The case when you can praise for idea and diligence, and for the implementation barely reaching three out of five.
“Sea battles”? Rather, “sea catch -up”
The ship is controlled as an oh-very slow car, and he does not even need to make an amendment. There are salvo shots on the left and right, which are quite difficult to get into the enemy, and a aimed shot from the nose of the ship, which inflicts little damage, but more precisely, it beats, and more often I used it precisely.
Only one battal location. And the whole battle is to catch up with the sea monster, which is periodically firing in green slurry. I don’t know if to thank the Almighty, but there are only three such sea clashes as I wrote above (the latter is the most nasty), and the player will warn each of them. In general, such an entertainment, but it occupies less than an hour from the general gameplay and for me no critical moment was.
I was skeptical of the emergence of a new nameless and the fact that the hero of the protagonist’s friend became the hero of the previous parts. That is, for history it looks more organically, the hell knows where the person who has come from without a name and past, but with a great future, as it was before. In the third part, the son of the captain of the steel beard appears from nowhere, which was mentioned in the first part and appeared in the second, where he took an active part in the plot. In fairness, although the hero is like a piano in the bushes, nevertheless, it will not be possible to call him a full cardboard (I think this was facilitated by a fan Russian voice acting), but it is obvious that he is a more flat character than his predecessor. I suspect that these are the consequences of the introduction of a moral system.
This system is designed to make even more diversity. Not only are there three fractions, in each of which you can enter, and you can also play three types: good -man, evil or situational. There is a stobal scale “Moral”, where a dozen means that you are a demon in the flesh, and ninety -angel. It is affected not only by the choice in tasks, but also by the usual replicas said by the hero to the interlocutor, as well as the use of some special items. Gameplayino “moral” will only affect when playing for an evil character: additional opponents will appear in the world.
The plot is all the same adventure, but it became more personal for the protagonist. His initial goal is to return his own soul from the kingdom of the dead, lost during the searches of the next treasures. In the end, this leads to the fact that it is necessary to defeat the next lord of the titans and save the world. It is worth noting that the degree of satire has decreased at times. The narrative has become more serious, which does not mean the lack of humor as such, but for me the difference was big. It can be seen that the approach to the narrative relative to the second part was changed.
The Universe Risen also expanded the third part. Finally they gave an answer to where the magicians went in the second part: they fled to the island of Taranis, who once belonged to the dwarves. Opened for research the new continent Calador with demon hunters living on it. Showed a new native tribe of keel, which worships the oracle or Margolot – the most ancient creature in the world. They told a little more about the kingdom of the dead and in general the afterlife in the Risen universe.
The game has two endings, good and bad, depending on the “morality” indicator, the player will receive one of them. What a sin to hide, both are made up. No epilogue, no conversation between the main character and Patti, as it was before, is not thought about what will happen next. One big n-kre-on. There were no such hacks in previous games at all. Yes, even if you abstract from past games, then the endings are still weak. Especially for the part that completes the series!
The situation is also aggravated by the fact that during the game you are prepared for the grand final: they give them to talk with important characters from past parts, give hints of their direct participation, even the previous protagonist from the two previous games of the series can be found! But in the end, all this looks like an ordinary cameo, which is in no way, and I emphasize once again, does not affect the final.
Immediately after passing, I took this problem not so negative. But the more I think over the whole situation, the stronger the bewilderment. It was possible to finish the series where the best.
Gamesvoice fan -acting voice acting is good, although there was a strange, replaying and under -extinguishing acting game, which, in principle, is to some extent to the official voice acting of Piranha Bytes games, if you think about it, if you think about it. Even for me, ignoramuses in such a case, this is understandable. The voice of a protagonist, who at first I did not really accept, later played perfectly. The actor sounds both menacingly and friendly, very suitable for the very moral system. Why am I writing so much about the hero’s voice? Because the English voice, I checked, always sounds equally strained, while restraining, and the prerequisites for the fact that the hero is a descendant of the Witcher, I did not meet. Not that such a game has no right to exist, but still a Russian version is closer to me.
The gameplay is clearly improved and more diverse compared to the previous part. But the plot, in theory, completing the trilogy, ends with nothing, and the same moral system mainly affects only the endings that are sloppy. In addition, the narrative has lost its satirical approach and became a little more serious: not that a bad change, but for me it is an omission.
I heard a lot of statements that Piranha Bytes make another “Gothic” from time to time. But personally, I am categorically against calling the second and third part of Risen “something like Gothic, only worse/better”. The first two Gothic is Gothic. The first Risen is Gothic. All other games are similar only by the fact that they were made by the same developers studio, but the approaches are completely different.
In the last two “risen” the narrative has changed: the main character began to mean more for history as a person;The moral system from the third part allows you to play different types;Very often, staged cat-scenes on the game engine are used.
The game process has also changed: the fighting has become faster, the execution of quests is simplified due to markers, the locations are not particularly spacious and rather resemble corridors with nooks arrangements (things are much better in the third part, but the fact).
In general, these are good games, which, we will be honest, look safe, have strange gameplay features and omissions. I am an analogy with the Japanese RPG, where they use their approaches to the game process. Also with the games of the German studio. Will sound pathetic, but they make a kind of unique games that you can either love or hate. And I absolutely cannot deny the fact that their games are constantly improving and changing, and not stagnant.
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