I´m glad the trainer system is in, cos I love the general system.
It will, as with most things, depend on the implementation. I just don't hope it means I have to spend endless hours tracking down trainers for what I want. I hate having to look at walkthroughs or similar for such things, and to have a stunted character for half the game because you can't find the right trainer, is a stupid concession for realism.
It certainly depends on implementation, but personally I really like when character development is to some extent tied with exploration as it was in, say, Gothic 2.
I'd probably prefer a guild system for this kind of realism. Something where you have to locate the guild and build your way up - and then develop yourself with increasingly talented trainers. Seems a happy medium between realism and gameplay.
That´s partially how it worked in G2 too and it seems like Risen 2 will use something similar as well.
One of the previews implied there´s a kind of thieves´ guild and inquisitors (firearms), voodoo (magic) and pirates (melee) are pretty much confirmed.
Personally I consider hybrid approach the best.
Factions/guilds which provide to some extent mutually exclusive benefits + idle trainers who "reward" exploration or are tied to questing + maybe also some hard to obtain items granting special skills/perks.
There´s not enough info yet, but what I´m kinda worried in this regard is the announced linear beginning of the game which, if contexted in certain manner with the trainer system, might result in the beginning stages of character development being too straightforward/linear.
It would also be a nice mechanism to implement character specialization into open world sandbox games in a natural manner (if you impose some restrictions on joining factions), and to control character progression in such a game. But I digress.
That´s quite how it was in Gothics and Risen, wasn´t it?
Actually I doubt they are changing the basic design that much… It just seems that reviewer was unfamiliar with the previous titles…
Yeah.
There´s also a veeery short bit of Risen 2 in motion
here.
The waterfall is nifty.