Screenshots :.
Risen
PC
Jay
07-10-2009
"Hmm...should I stab him in the back or just steal his purse?"
"Certainly a pretty game..."
"Cast faster! Cast faster!"
"How, exactly, can you see me eh?"
"NPC's that are actually worth talking to? Get outta here..."
There's certainly a great deal of internal conflict when it comes to the choice between a decent strategy or a decent RPG when deciding what to play most evenings. A well constructed RPG can help whittle the time away with a nice cold 4-pack of your choosing. Other than the 10-a-penny MMO's that have hit the Tinternet as of late – RPG's have been a little thin on the ground, and when arriving at our doorstep, have been a little thin on content.
This is not the case with Risen at least. The content's there a plenty. Moreover, to make things more interesting they've chosen the angle of “What? We're not going to help - get on with it” which I quite like in an RPG of this scope. It gives you a chance to actually find what you're good at an start building your character from scratch rather than presenting you with a list of meaningless presets defining a series of choices for you before you've even started the game.
You begin Risen being ship wrecked (I know, I know that's not happened before) onto a mysterious island (never one that's peachy, everyone gets along fine and there's good mobile reception) with some random lass who seems to be the only other surviving member. She'll give you a few tips on how to find a branch and hit things with it - because apparently you're incapable of such Neanderthalism. One thing that'll strike you straight off is just how pretty the game is for a title you've probably not heard of until it practically hit the shelves. It's got the whole bag of bloom, particle effects, decent water, high end textures and scantily clad chicks that you've all come to expect – which is a bonus.
After getting to grips with combat, and probably your inventory, it's time to head on deeper into the island proper tagging the survivor with you. She'll keep nattering about various survival tips along the way, which in the grand scheme of things counts for very little as when time comes to blows (easy now lads) you'll likely get your branch out and start clubbing all things bright and beautiful a month from Sunday. Yes, in essence, the combat is about as simple as it gets. Aim towards target – click repeatedly. Is an RPG about about the diversity of combat? Well up until now not so much, but it would've been a plus.
Races don't exist as you're the dude to begin with and that's that. The class system is like Oblivion Light in that it's about putting the right points in the assigned skill sets to achieve whatever it is you're aiming for. Rather than the system generally regarded as the favourite where the player gets to assign arbitrary points into any number of stats available with a few additional feats. Furthermore, skills are obtained by speaking to NPC based on a particular class. For example, should you wish to become stronger you'll need to talk to a fighter; want better pick-pocketing skills, talk to a rogue etc.
This system of levelling and limited class choices is likely to be the make or break of whether you like the game or not. Personally I don't think it hampers that much with how much more the game offers through storyline, items, jobs, hookers and overall immersion. There's a ton of things you can pick up and either use or flog to the nearest guy with gold. Should you wish, there's a load of crafting jobs you can endeavour to get good at should that sort of thing take your fancy – a sort of game in its own right.
One of the key things, that at the end of the day was a major selling point for the likes of Oblivion, was the world in which they set the scene. We have, as a nation, since dispensed with the RPG's where random NPC's stand around waiting for you to talk to them so they can spew out some inconsequential dialogue that doesn't mean anything other than “do this = cash and/or item”. Signs of this emerged very early in the game when after talking to some local huntsman he was set upon by several hungry wolves. Waiting for the fight to finish, not wanting to get involved in such a brawl you understand, I finished off the wolves and bagged myself some decent gear – top bloke. Didn't die in vain.
Like some drunken Frat boy in search of a hidden location to empty my bladder, I've often wondered off the path at sporadic moments in the game just to see what was off the beat and track. It's surprising the amount of times I've stumbled onto some part of the game that I never would've witnessed had I not take the time to do so: ruins with traps and edifices, mountains with Yak's and precipices or brothels with cracks and... crevices...
Never a dull moment.
Another point to appreciate is all the little factions within the game. In a world being hampered by the Inquisition you can choose to join the oppressors or face them. How you go about this has been thought out enough that should you choose to join these religious fanatics, you can always pinch a golden candlestick or too. Your moral compass will wave with the tide as is often the case when presented with absolute poverty and lack of power – steal from the rich to give to yourself and help the poor when you can be arsed is my motto.
I found the difficulty spike a little off at first. Feeling that perhaps taking on a glorified hedgehog with a stick and almost getting my testicles handed to me, only to have to stop and eat some vegetation in order to be able to continue onto the next spiny bastard was a little long winded and somewhat harsh. However, after running away from a pack of around 5 wolves (for miles man, for absolutely miles!), beaten and bedraggled, clawing my way to the back end of some town in the middle of nowhere, having the guards save my bacon just in time to find out that the town was in marshal law and I was going nowhere once in... I had to laugh. That was pretty much how I'd see myself coping on some random island I'd been plonked on.
While Risen has it's moments of deflation with combat, sometimes clunky environments and voice acting has more wood than the title, it certainly offers more than it takes away. I've enjoyed my rise to the challenge; I've set my mast full sail and sort my fortune – you too can grab your lofty ambitions and bask in a shaft of shining glory. You can...
OK enough with the phallical references. Good game.
This is not the case with Risen at least. The content's there a plenty. Moreover, to make things more interesting they've chosen the angle of “What? We're not going to help - get on with it” which I quite like in an RPG of this scope. It gives you a chance to actually find what you're good at an start building your character from scratch rather than presenting you with a list of meaningless presets defining a series of choices for you before you've even started the game.
You begin Risen being ship wrecked (I know, I know that's not happened before) onto a mysterious island (never one that's peachy, everyone gets along fine and there's good mobile reception) with some random lass who seems to be the only other surviving member. She'll give you a few tips on how to find a branch and hit things with it - because apparently you're incapable of such Neanderthalism. One thing that'll strike you straight off is just how pretty the game is for a title you've probably not heard of until it practically hit the shelves. It's got the whole bag of bloom, particle effects, decent water, high end textures and scantily clad chicks that you've all come to expect – which is a bonus.
After getting to grips with combat, and probably your inventory, it's time to head on deeper into the island proper tagging the survivor with you. She'll keep nattering about various survival tips along the way, which in the grand scheme of things counts for very little as when time comes to blows (easy now lads) you'll likely get your branch out and start clubbing all things bright and beautiful a month from Sunday. Yes, in essence, the combat is about as simple as it gets. Aim towards target – click repeatedly. Is an RPG about about the diversity of combat? Well up until now not so much, but it would've been a plus.
Races don't exist as you're the dude to begin with and that's that. The class system is like Oblivion Light in that it's about putting the right points in the assigned skill sets to achieve whatever it is you're aiming for. Rather than the system generally regarded as the favourite where the player gets to assign arbitrary points into any number of stats available with a few additional feats. Furthermore, skills are obtained by speaking to NPC based on a particular class. For example, should you wish to become stronger you'll need to talk to a fighter; want better pick-pocketing skills, talk to a rogue etc.
This system of levelling and limited class choices is likely to be the make or break of whether you like the game or not. Personally I don't think it hampers that much with how much more the game offers through storyline, items, jobs, hookers and overall immersion. There's a ton of things you can pick up and either use or flog to the nearest guy with gold. Should you wish, there's a load of crafting jobs you can endeavour to get good at should that sort of thing take your fancy – a sort of game in its own right.
One of the key things, that at the end of the day was a major selling point for the likes of Oblivion, was the world in which they set the scene. We have, as a nation, since dispensed with the RPG's where random NPC's stand around waiting for you to talk to them so they can spew out some inconsequential dialogue that doesn't mean anything other than “do this = cash and/or item”. Signs of this emerged very early in the game when after talking to some local huntsman he was set upon by several hungry wolves. Waiting for the fight to finish, not wanting to get involved in such a brawl you understand, I finished off the wolves and bagged myself some decent gear – top bloke. Didn't die in vain.
Like some drunken Frat boy in search of a hidden location to empty my bladder, I've often wondered off the path at sporadic moments in the game just to see what was off the beat and track. It's surprising the amount of times I've stumbled onto some part of the game that I never would've witnessed had I not take the time to do so: ruins with traps and edifices, mountains with Yak's and precipices or brothels with cracks and... crevices...
Never a dull moment.
Another point to appreciate is all the little factions within the game. In a world being hampered by the Inquisition you can choose to join the oppressors or face them. How you go about this has been thought out enough that should you choose to join these religious fanatics, you can always pinch a golden candlestick or too. Your moral compass will wave with the tide as is often the case when presented with absolute poverty and lack of power – steal from the rich to give to yourself and help the poor when you can be arsed is my motto.
I found the difficulty spike a little off at first. Feeling that perhaps taking on a glorified hedgehog with a stick and almost getting my testicles handed to me, only to have to stop and eat some vegetation in order to be able to continue onto the next spiny bastard was a little long winded and somewhat harsh. However, after running away from a pack of around 5 wolves (for miles man, for absolutely miles!), beaten and bedraggled, clawing my way to the back end of some town in the middle of nowhere, having the guards save my bacon just in time to find out that the town was in marshal law and I was going nowhere once in... I had to laugh. That was pretty much how I'd see myself coping on some random island I'd been plonked on.
While Risen has it's moments of deflation with combat, sometimes clunky environments and voice acting has more wood than the title, it certainly offers more than it takes away. I've enjoyed my rise to the challenge; I've set my mast full sail and sort my fortune – you too can grab your lofty ambitions and bask in a shaft of shining glory. You can...
OK enough with the phallical references. Good game.
7/10
