Kay, I'm going to go for Order Warrior, better know as the Paladin, a sort of battlemage character, with armor, weapons and spells. In this kind of game I've found that you start off with a sword and get some gold and quests then as soon as you can, become a Paladin and start working on ranged spells. But at the beginning you'll need a sword and sheild. And like Pokey says, run, run, run. I usually get the monsters to chase me and then run into the bandit camp and let them deal with while I shoot from a rooftop with a cross bow and hope I get the kill shot and thus the xp. At the very least I can loot the corpse. You lose some bandits that way but no great loss except for a quest here and there.

Good to see you again. [Image Can Not Be Found]

kaythomas said:

Could one of you explain how this game fits into the overall world of RPGs and how it relates to games like Morrowind and Oblivion.  That sound like a lot of explaining for someone to do but really all I am looking for is a way to put this into a larger picture.  Or perhaps you could send me to a place that could provide an overview.  Kay

kay,

Morrowind and Oblivion are very much US RPGs. Bethedsa, the developers, specializes in open, massive game world with minimal narrative and  a sort of bland, beautiful, slick game world.

Risen and its predessors, Gothic 1, Gothic 2, and Gothic 3 are from the eastern European rpg school of role playing computer games. The color scheme is, if anything, even more brown, more gray, and the gameplay more difficult. The narrative, however, is tighter, more linear and follows a perceivable arc. The mechanics, as you have seen for yourself, are simpler, stripped down and to the point. Graphics are simplistic, but combat is more complex. NPCs are more cruel, more brutal and more unforgiving. The fauna in this sort of game are especially lethal and you cannot, should not, ever take a confrontation with the local wildlife lightly. Unlike in Oblivon, in Risen there are areas in the game world you frankly, just cannot explore until late in the game. You can try but you won't get very far. The best strategy is to level up until you are very beefy and then return and clean out these areas. If you wander into a place where the combat seems impossible, just leave.

There are three main paths to combat. Three factions.

1. The sword. Bandits. Timing is everything here and unlike the Bethedsa games, you cannot just hack and slash your opponent to death. It's more a dance of death, with the you and your opponent attacking and retreating, blocking, sidestepping, and trying to read the other's pattern. You have to choose the right moment to swing the sword and then quickly right click and block and retreat, move the side, try to work your opponent into a corner or against a wall where you will be able to press the advantage. If you just start swinging the NPC AI will read your pattern and make quick work of you. Most gamers either love or hate this combat style. It is real time, exhilarating and unforgiving. Peronally I sort of like it though if an opponent gets in a hit, you are stunned, frozen and kicked back. If you don't recover in time, you can quickly be killed. Oddly, animals with their teeth and claw seem to hit harder and faster than humans with all their blades and axes.

2. The sword and the spell. Warrior of the Order. My favorite. In Risen this is the path of the Warrior of the Order and the path I'm taking. I think Pokey and Yapette have also chosen it. It is the best of both worlds, part bandit and part mage. You have armor, weapons, spells and some magic. It's a sort of jack-of-all-trades character and is equivalent to the Morowind Battlemage or a Paladin. I was a battlemage in MW and I think Pokey was too.

3. The spell. Mages. No real weapons or armor to speak of early in the game. This character is weak early on and invincible in the end. It takes the most strategy and delivers the most pay off and is the most frustrating. People who play the game through 3 times in order to play each faction, usually reserve the mage for last. This way they have the advantage of foresight...know what they are getting into and can be better prepared.

On the whole, Risen is getting a reputation for being a brutally hard game towards the end, even harder than the Gothic 2 expansion, Night of the Raven, which was considered the hardest of the Gothics. Though I played G2, I didn't play NOTR. The forums were full of gamers testifying to NOTR's difficulty and also it's superb gameplay. Risen also is still  a young game and so there are bugs.  I think I have already broken 3 quests in the swamp at the bandit camp. Luckily, that sort of thing doesn't bother so I could give a crap.

Read Yapette and Pokey's posts. They give you a good overview. I'm also starting to post. A good site for info is Risen's US distributor, Deep Silver.

Their forum is here:

http://forum.deepsilver.com/fo...../index.php

I am still in chapter 1 and foresee myself playing this thing to the end. I loved the Gothic games though they are sort of the Kafka's of RPGs… if that makes any sense. The devs, Piranha Bytes, made the first three games and then lost the rights to the as-yet-unreleased Gothic 4, so in a way Risen is Gothic 4.

Hope this helps.

Holy crap, this thread has gotten huge since last I looked! I am still waiting to resolve my sound issue before I can play, and by then y'all will probably be done [Image Can Not Be Found]

I solved the murder mystery in the monestary and dealt with the guilty party. That was a hard fight. My hand was cramping and I had to start hitting quick save so I could give it a rest. That worked in my favor in the end though.  I have now finished basic training and am off to the upper level to get the rest of the Master's training. I spent more than I wanted to in learning points on the staff fighting though. Hopefully I can get to the fireballs soon.