Risen Risen combat

[Dafela]

I would like to know what is Risen fans opinion about Risen combat.
Did you like learning the combos, using it in a fight, or dodging mechanics?

For me it was almost genious, so I don't understand why PB dropped it instead of polishing it by making it more smooth in Risen 2 and 3.

Also what is your favourite skills? I quite liked faction skills in Risen 2, and Risen 3 had more polished skills, but the close combat felt more annoying - like bad aiming with dodge - instead of loosing focus like in Risen 1. and I was randomly rolling around and there was constant interrupt without the nice dodge mechanic from Risen 1, but maybe I was doing something wrong.

 

[JDR13]

I don't really remember the skills in Risen because it's been so long since I played, but there's no doubt the melee combat is vastly superior compared to the combat in Risen 2 & 3.

As far as why PB dropped that system, I'm not sure that anyone outside of PB knows. I'd love to know why myself. The combat in the sequels was a big step backwards.

Imo, Risen also had better atmosphere and exploration.

 

[Maylander]

Didn't see this thread until now.

I loved the combat system, including the various spells. Playing a "battle mage" is my favorite, as it means getting access to things like levitate (being able to levitate down from the monastery to almost anywhere in the world is amazing), unlock chest, rain of fire etc, while still being able to buff the melee skills with berserk or whatever it was called, effectively making the character better at melee than a pure melee character (if built correctly).

I even have some notes and what not for how to set it all up. Took me a few attempts to make it work, but I had a lot of fun getting it all right.

 

[bjon045]

Risen 1 was certainly the best of the series. I played as a pure mage and it was a bit OP to be honest. I remember pretty much as soon as I could cast spells it made all the combat pretty trivial - I think most enemies died with a full power spell attack. I do remember the melee system was pretty involved though. The weakest part of Risen 1 was the final dungeon and boss though. The town was the high point even though it heavily "inspired" from G2

 

[txa1265]

(Thread necro!) I just finished Risen on the Steam Deck coming right after Gothic 2 NotR (couldn’t get G3 controls to work at all despite following all online guides) … and absolutely loved the combat. Been a long time since my last complete play through. Played as mage, which always includes melee - focused on staff fighting. That combined with heavy focus on magic (and maxing out mana add-ons by collecting/selling way too much stuff even late in the game to keep making perm mana potions!)

I just cannot explain how even after all these years, and with knowing and playing multiple times in the past … I was STILL surprised and appalled at how terrible the final battle was. “Hey, know that stuff you’ve done for the last 40 hours? Meaningless. Do these certain things in this certain order this many times to win.” And given the controls on Steam Deck were not quite as precise as mouse & keyboard … it was beyond frustrating!

 

[bkrueger]

I just cannot explain how even after all these years, and with knowing and playing multiple times in the past … I was STILL surprised and appalled at how terrible the final battle was. “Hey, know that stuff you’ve done for the last 40 hours? Meaningless. Do these certain things in this certain order this many times to win.” And given the controls on Steam Deck were not quite as precise as mouse & keyboard … it was beyond frustrating!

I feel with you! I replay the Risen games every few years and this battle annoys me every single time. I always ponder simply skipping it but always play it for completeness.

 

[JDR13]

As much as I love Piranha Bytes, I don't think they've ever done a final battle that was memorable in a good way.

 

[txa1265]

As much as I love Piranha Bytes, I don't think they've ever done a final battle that was memorable in a good way.

I didn't mind Gothic 2 with the final dragon - it directly utilized all of the same skills I'd developed during the game ... it was just underwhelming

 

[bjon045]

I didn't mind Gothic 2 with the final dragon - it directly utilized all of the same skills I'd developed during the game ... it was just underwhelming

I think that is the key. It's one of the reasons why I hate games that throw a QTE style event right at the end or in a key moment. Those key moments are exactly when you SHOULD be using all the skills you have built up during the game. Didn't Risen 2 (or 3?) have a segment where you have to run around hitting the kraken tentacles on your boat? It's like they learned nothing!

 

[JDR13]

Thing is, it's not just the final battle that lacks in their games but often the entire endgame.

Risen sort of dragged towards the end with all the combat. I don't remember Risen 2 being too bad in that way, but Risen 3 was awful. They could have cut out the last island entirely and it would have been a better game imo.

Elex 2 was the worst yet in that way. I still enjoyed it overall, but the last 15%-20% was such a boring slog.

PB isn't alone here of course. I guess it's just hard for RPG developers to be as creative towards the end of a long game. Larian for example has the same issue.

 

[bjon045]

Thing is, it's not just the final battle that lacks in their games but often the entire endgame.

Risen sort of dragged towards the end with all the combat. I don't remember Risen 2 being too bad in that way, but Risen 3 was awful. They could have cut out the last island entirely and it would have been a better game imo.

Elex 2 was the worst yet in that way. I still enjoyed it overall, but the last 15%-20% was such a boring slog.

PB isn't alone here of course. I guess it's just hard for RPG developers to be as creative towards the end of a long game. Larian for example has the same issue.

I just don't get why they (and others do it). It would cost less to make a shorter game! Cut the bloat and put some of the effort packing more content into the core areas in the game.

I can only guess that they do poll the fans (I've never got one despite owning all the games) and some of the fans say they do want large islands full of combat with the same combinations of enemies over and over again? Probably the same people who are telling them to put in more respawns?