Sniktitt: Risen 2: Dark Waters (X360, PC, PS3)

[Schreiber]

PC gamere er så jævla kravstore. Helt forferdelig å høre på sutringen over hver minste lille detalje. Nei, vær heller glad for at dere får noen som helst spill så mye som dere piratkopierer!

Når det er sagt er dette spillet noe jeg virkelig ser frem til. Jeg har siklet etter et spill med piratsetting siden kanselleringen av Armada of the Damned.

 

Konsoller har en oppløsning, så skriften er like stor uansett TV. PCen kan endre oppløsning, og høyere oppløsning gir mindre skriftstørrelse. Dermed blir den enten for liten om vi har høy oppløsning eller for stor om vi har for lav oppløsning, så vi er nødt til å enten skalere skriftstørrelsen eller (enda bedre) la oss justere tekststørrelsen selv. Det samme gjelder hele UIet, for øvrig. Jeg vil ikke si vi er for kravstore om vi krever at spillet blir spillbart.

[Nether]

Flott at du spurte på forumet KayAU. Var innom der med en gang jeg leste denne artikkelen og stusset litt på at ingen andre hadde hørt om det.

Er fortsatt litt skeptisk med tanke på tekststørrelse, men forhåpentligvis ser det bra ut likevel.

Kommer uansett til å kjøpe spillet så fort det kommer ut.

[xm8]

Oversettelse fra et polsk intervju (http://www.gry-online.pl/S022.asp?ID=7317) :

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Game starts 10 years after Risen, Main character is bitter and disappointed that his doings didn't help much, he managed to save one island but more and more titans are waking up. he's joined Inquisition, the most powerful faction.

 

We start in Caldera. The Inquisition has found a way to protect it from titans' attacks but the town isn't self-sufficient and it depends on getting food and other goods from other islands. Unfortunately, ships sailing to the town are being destroyed by monsters that started terrorising oceans. There are rumours that some pirates know how to fight the monsters so our first quest is to gain their trust.

 

Piranha doesn't want to follow the light-hearted, funny style of Pirates of the Caribbean. Their vision of the game is much darker and the world should be very detailed.

 

Reviewer is quoting a Deep Silver employee, Daniel Oberlerchner, who claims that "Bows and arrows wouldn't suit game's theme and setting" so the designers decided to get rid of them and introduce guns. The explanation for such a jump in technology is that guns were already in use in the times of Risen but the island from the first game was pretty much a shithole with little contact with outside world. We'll be able to meet the inventor of firearms in the game.

 

Piranha and Deep Silver were listening to the fans and now they improve game mechanics basing on their feedback.

 

The first improvement can be seen in characters' models. In the first game heads were fit on different body types, while in Risen 2 whole models are being made for NPCs with great attention to details. The journalist was presented with screenshots comparing NPCs from both games and claims the difference in huge. Animations are changed too. All humanoids used to use the same animations so all women, men and lizard-men walked in the same manner. Now even different factions among people should be recognisable by the way they move. Short presentation proved that animations look naturally and all turns, attacks and gestures look impressive, much better than stiff moves from Risen.

 

Many of the changes are being made to assure the quality of console versions. [Fffuuuu...!!!!]

 

The main reason for the shortcomings of Risen's XBox version was time spent on creating it - work was started just eight months before release date. Now the game isn't being ported but the PC, XBox and PS3 version are all created at the same time.

 

Console port of Risen was ugly because its low memory couldn't handle loading highly detailed textures for such a big isle. Thus Piranha decided the action won't take in one place but on several smaller [fffuuuu...!!!!] islands and parts of the continent. This will allow for more detailed environment as the console won't have to store the data for the whole game area at the same time. There won't be any loading screens between outdoor and indoor areas.

 

It should also make the story much more interesting. "In the first Risen, the whole island was fully explored by the time you get to the third chapter and everyone knew that the game will end in the heart of the vulcano. Now we can introduce a new faction even after twenty hours of gameplay!" - said Daniel. They can also send you to a new area at any time and build suspense up until the end of the game.

 

Interface is design in such manner that it should be easily controlled with a gamepad [fffuuuu...!!!!] and the fonts will be bigger on consoles and on PC. PC gamers will still benefit from using mouse and keyboard, e.g. they will be able to drag and drop items in the inventory.

 

The editor couldn't believe his eyes, seeing how pretty the game was. The screenshots doesn't really show how beautiful the game is in motion. Water looks amazing because of the reflections and fishes swimming in it. The palms are swaying on the wind and are casting dynamic shadows. Textures are sharp and lightning is impressive. Daniel said that the demo was running on extremely powerful machine (and there were some frame drops despite that) but the game should look good on lower settings too and if you have a PC that fit recommended requirements f Risen, you shouldn't have any problems playing its sequel.

 

The architectonic style is worth mentioning too. The houses or other buildings look don't look like anything we've seen in "medieval fantasy" games and their placement make sense. There are no copy-pasted buildings, every single one should be unique and all the islands should have their own visual style.

 

Presentation also involved showing the day-night cycle which will impact the gameplay. NPCs will talk to each other, exchanging rumours about the various islands and their situation. Overhearing a conversation can sometimes introduce you to a quest [just like in E3 Oblivion presentation, nyah?] Crafting is back and "any item that can be made by a working NPC can be made by player's character too". A short fight showed that combat animations are improved and even animation of falling monsters look more realistic. The combat will be similar to what we experienced in Risen, some improvements are being made but there are no plans to make it simpler. You should be able to evaluate how tough an opponent is by observing his body language.

 

Risen 2 should be 20 hours longer than the predecessor, i.e. a single playthrough should last about 60 hours.

 

There is no release date yet, not even its year is sure. The game shall not be rushed so it won't share the fate of Gothic 3. Preview's author seems to be hyped.

[aphelion3]

Selv om jeg er enig med KayAUs skepsis til å bytte ut buer med skytevåpen, høres mye annet her veldig lovende ut. For meg er det ingen ulempe at handlingen foregår på flere forskjellige øyer, det kan snarere holde min interesse for spillet oppe lengre, nærmest stykke spillet opp i flere "småspill" eller kapitler for oss som ikke har tid til å spille så mye om gangen. Samtidig høres det ut som noe av det jeg liker best ved Gothic-serien, nemlig gradvis "opplåsing" av nye områder, slik at du får tid til å utforske ett område fullt ut før du blir fristet/får mulighet til å oppdage noe nytt.

[Schreiber]

Jeg kan ikke helt se for meg å stå på et skipsdekk og prøve å sikte med en bue, og jeg har slettes ingenting imot å løpe rundt i skogen med en pistol eller rifle. Det eneste jeg krever er at de er balanserte. Jeg vil ha piratvåpen, ikke Call of Duty-våpen.

 

At det er flere øyer høres veldig bra ut. De sier jo ingenting om hvor små øyene er (Storbritania er jo teksnisk sett en øy), så vi kan bruke mange timer på en øy og noen minutter på en annen. Så lengde de går for kvalitet over kvantitet er jeg fornøyd.