anyone played the RISEN demo yet?

its right here

You people post here and tell us what you think of this game. I have way too many RPG's to play to mess with demos, and plus this sounds kinda me-too.

I'll try it.

It's wonderful.

It's wonderful.

Baranga

It played wonderfully with everything on high on my Athlon x2 5000 3GB ram 9600gso 384 @ 1280x1024. The game story I could not get into, however.

farrell2k

Who says you're the sole survivor?S0H0

played it the other day. it runs surprisingly well on high on my pc, looks pretty decent too. I didn't know how I would take this game, thought I might not like it as it did look kinda boring. but I was drawn in by the world and intrigue of the setting. overall I enjoyed it and will probably get it.

Hm, I don't think the main character lost his memory. You find one survivor on the beach, a woman, and he definitely remembers her.

The feeling was amazing. You wake up on the beach, with bodies and cargo items around you during a huge storm. You then stumble upon Sara, and have to protect her from the monsters that roam the beach. Morning comes fast and the storm settles - the island is an amazing tropical paradise. There's a smoking volcano in the distance, and the earth trembles from time to time.

You'll head towards civilization soon, lead by torches through the jungle. The first sign of civilization is an abandoned house - and that's where I realised the design has Mediterranean influences. After you cook a delicious meal for Sara, you leave her in the house and continue exploration.

It certainly feels like Gothic. The level-up system is the same, and this confused me when I first played it, I completely forgot "the catch".

It also nails the exploration and item hunt part. A lovely note was that Sara was too scared to follow me in the first cave I encountered. I decided to listen to her and returned a bit later - phat loot was waiting for me! I later encountered a spooky tomb and got scared ****less at the first trap (which was very simple and should've been obvious). And then I fell in that trap a second time, thanks to the devilishly simple, yet confusing design of the tomb.

As in the Gothic games, the world is very detailed. I distinctly remeber that in the first Gothic I decided to climb a boring, ugly, tall rock near a camp just for the lulz. It was 2001, an age when nobody would've even textured that rock. Yet there were trees, rocks, fences and items on top of it, a place where no sane person would go. This attention to detail is present in Risen too, everything deserves to be explored.

Has the game been unlocked? Steam says available now but I am not at home so can't see if it's downloading :) I think I might go play hooky...

"It also nails the exploration and item hunt part. A lovely note was that Sara was too scared to follow me in the first cave I encountered. I decided to listen to her and returned a bit later - phat loot was waiting for me! I later encountered a spooky tomb and got scared ****less at the first trap (which was very simple and should've been obvious). And then I fell in that trap a second time, thanks to the devilishly simple, yet confusing design of the tomb."

Yeah, that first crypt was spooky...and that trap caught me off gaurd as well :P

one thing i know for sure - this game has the smartest wolves in video games. watch as they strafe-duck like Bruce Lee and whack you from behind. :D

avoided them. at this point i can't really damage them. the wolves? i can deal with them if i'm careful and lucky. but not the boars.

just to let you know how complicated things can be in this game - at one point you'll reach a farm, where you must avoid being seen by a warrior of the order (a law enforcer sort of guy). being curious, i tried talking to him. he immediately knocked me out and i woke up at the order's garrison, where i was forced to join their rank.

i'm not sure how often will you run into complicated situations like this, but if this is any indication, the game is bound to be very immersive.

Not as bad but you probably will still not like it (it's very similar). Check out the demo, nothing to lose.dnuggs40

in terms of melee, you have to unlock your parries and combos as you level up, so the sense of character development is always, and the overall experience should be more rewarding than G3, in which you basically just upgrade your weapon damage. the combat itself is akin to that of G3, but since your enemies are smarter ( again, that's how it appears to be so far ) the combat has a much more tactile feeling to it. the good ole button mashing definitely won't take you very far.

Okay, I'm downloading it.

What are the constraints of the demo, though? Time limit? Area-limitations? Level limit? I don't think I've ever played a demo for an open world game before?

Are the demo saves compatible with the full game? It's the same build, isn't it?

Hopefully its better than Gothic. :)

Just played through the demo and was left with a positive impression, it is like Gothic right down to plants and all but technically improved, I will certainly be getting it at some point.

- Melee combat is still not great, but it is improved from Gothic3.
- Atmosphere seemed very good.
- NPCs were more "alive" than in G3.
- Graphics seemed quite poor, but no hitches or glitches in sight.
- Feels like a PC game and plays like a Gothic game.
- Impossible to judge the story, but seemed like Gothic3 with "Inquisition" instead of Orcs.
- Demo was short.

Some screenies:[spoiler] [/spoiler]

- Felt like a Gothic game, played like a PC game.
ManicAce

Can you plaease elaborate on this? I'm confused by what you mean? :?

Okay, you know what, not bad.

I'm not saying I would've waited five years for this (like I did for that other RPG which I won't presently mention), but not bad. A nice little diversion maybe, before the release of Dragon Age (whoops, I said it!).

Actually that's probably the problem right there. Dragon Age is nearly upon us, and I'm clearing out my calender right now. No new games until after Dragon Age. I've got about five titles that I just recently started, including Batman, Dead Space, Majesty 2, and Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood, and they have to go first. This Risen is a title I might pick up next spring though (a Steam sale might do the trick).

The game looks a lot better than I thought it would. This out-of-focus depth-of-field thing that we're suddenly seeing in almost every new game does a decent job of covering up how horrible the visuals can be in the distance. It's a really nice effect - for now... but I wonder if I'm going to get tired of seeing it? It works well in Empire: Total War, and it works well in Call Of Juarez, and it works well here too. But ho-lee, on a Core i7/GTX 275 the game feels smooth, but just barely. There's a little micro-stuttering every now and then. Doesn't feel optimized to me.

The one question I have however is this: is there visual character customization? Or do I have to play as that male? What if I want to play as, say, a female magician? I don't like being locked in like that when I'm playing an RPG. This is a big consideration, and could slightly ruin the game for me.

But again, not a bad demo. I usually know within one minute of playing a demo if the game doesn't look right, or feel right - and this is game looks pretty good.

[QUOTE="ManicAce"]

- Felt like a Gothic game, played like a PC game.
GPAddict

Can you plaease elaborate on this? I'm confused by what you mean? :?

And I actually meant to say other way around, plays like a gothic game, feels like a PC game.

Okay, you know what, not bad.

I'm not saying I would've waited five years for this (like I did for that other RPG which I won't presently mention), but not bad. A nice little diversion maybe, before the release of Dragon Age (whoops, I said it!).

Actually that's probably the problem right there. Dragon Age is nearly upon us, and I'm clearing out my calender right now. No new games until after Dragon Age. I've got about five titles that I just recently started, including Batman, Dead Space, Majesty 2, and Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood, and they have to go first. This Risen is a title I might pick up next spring though (a Steam sale might do the trick).

The game looks a lot better than I thought it would. This out-of-focus depth-of-field thing that we're suddenly seeing in almost every new game does a decent job of covering up how horrible the visuals can be in the distance. It's a really nice effect - for now... but I wonder if I'm going to get tired of seeing it? It works well in Empire: Total War, and it works well in Call Of Juarez, and it works well here too. But ho-lee, on a Core i7/GTX 275 the game feels smooth, but just barely. There's a little micro-stuttering every now and then. Doesn't feel optimized to me.

The one question I have however is this: is there visual character customization? Or do I have to play as that male? What if I want to play as, say, a female magician? I don't like being locked in like that when I'm playing an RPG. This is a big consideration, and could slightly ruin the game for me.

But again, not a bad demo. I usually know within one minute of playing a demo if the game doesn't look right, or feel right - and this is game looks pretty good.

Charles_Dickens

Defrag your HDD. That should solve the stuttering, partially at least. You'll still feel it when you enter a new area.

Hopefully its better than Gothic. :)

GPAddict

Just played through the demo and was left with a positive impression, it is like Gothic right down to plants and all but technically improved, I will certainly be getting it at some point.

- Melee combat is still not great, but it is improved from Gothic3.
- Atmosphere seemed very good.
- NPCs were more "alive" than in G3.
- Graphics seemed quite poor, but no hitches or glitches in sight.
- Feels like a PC game and plays like a Gothic game.
- Impossible to judge the story, but seemed like Gothic3 with "Inquisition" instead of Orcs.
- Demo was short.

ManicAce

Graphics poor? From screenshots and videos I have seen they look amazing.... I haven't tried it yet on my system though...

The graphics are passable - nothing to write home about. Far short of amazing, really.

Just finished playing the demo:

Graphics - nothing special they aren't great but they aren't bad either

Grameplay - similar to Gothic

Story - you don't get much story from a demo

I'll most likely buy it for 40$ you can't go wrong.

It kind of feels like a poor man's Oblivion, but maybe that's a bit unkind.

It's amazing though how quickly you can tell from the demo if it's a game that you'll buy or not. Majesty 2's demo I loved - just loved it. But Dawn Of Discovery's demo completely turned me off.

Yeah, I'll buy this one day.

You know what's sad? That the first Gothic had much better AI and a much more detailed world than Oblivion and Fallout 3.

The demo is a bit too short, it would've been nice to see the leveling system, which is indeed original.

I just finished the demo and it ran flawlessly on my pc. I'm probably a little biased, since I like the European-made rpgs, but I enjoyed the demo and will be purchasing the game, regardless of the negative reviews the game is getting on other sites.

in terms of melee, you have to unlock your parries and combos as you level up, so the sense of character development is always, and the overall experience should be more rewarding than G3, in which you basically just upgrade your weapon damage. the combat itself is akin to that of G3, but since your enemies are smarter ( again, that's how it appears to be so far ) the combat has a much more tactile feeling to it. the good ole button mashing definitely won't take you very far.

Jinroh_basic

that sounds like an improvement to me. parry should be automatic right? how about combos? do we need to mouse+key combination to peform them or also automatic?

also, how viable is it to play as an arcane character?

Its an improvement over Gothic I guess, but not much.

I played about an hour, I'll play some more later, so I can find out the source of the monster noises.

[QUOTE="Jinroh_basic"]

in terms of melee, you have to unlock your parries and combos as you level up, so the sense of character development is always, and the overall experience should be more rewarding than G3, in which you basically just upgrade your weapon damage. the combat itself is akin to that of G3, but since your enemies are smarter ( again, that's how it appears to be so far ) the combat has a much more tactile feeling to it. the good ole button mashing definitely won't take you very far.

teardropmina

that sounds like an improvement to me. parry should be automatic right? how about combos? do we need to mouse+key combination to peform them or also automatic?

also, how viable is it to play as an arcane character?

If you keep your right mouse button pressed, your character stands and blocks. If you press and release the right mouse button, your character will actively deflect the enemy's blows. I don't know about combos or following the arcane arts...in order to train (level up), you have to go to areas that are not available in the demo.

I highly doubt that there will be combos available...the combat in the demo is like the Gothic games, so it's probably going to be "attack" or "block". And like the Gothic games, the combat isn't the main focus of the game. It's about immersing yourself and exploring a highly detailed world.