Risen is just as bad as Gothic 3. Well, maybe not that bad.

No, it might look like it sucks at first. Play on, then you'll feel it rocks. I played Gothic 1-2 back then, then Risen 1-2, always skipped Gothic 3 but I'm playing it now. Not as good as Gothic 2, but heck alot better than Risen 2, heck alot better than any recent RPGs even. Genuinely having bucketloads of fun with it. Combat sucks when fighting beasts, you'll get chained and knocked-down even with good armour, they seem to be tougher than almost any enemy out there, Wolves are particularly dangerous, so arm yourself with a bow and do a hit and run. Use elevated terrain and rocks so that the beasts can't hit you and snipe from there. Melee combat is better fighting weapon wielding enemies, you can go up with any melee enemy 1vs1 and not get hit a single time if you know when to dodge and when to strike back, essentially you can win any arena duel with shit weapons if you know what you're doing. Fighting against groups will be trickier.

Exploration is ace in the game as is the revolution system. You get so many Learning Points in the game you don't have to fear not leveling up anything, but of course you need to priortise what you want like hunting trophies and early lockpicking for the extra cash. There's so many things to do in G3 it's mindblowing. I'm a level 49 now with a sharp inclination to magic, 213 Ancient Knowledge and spamming spells like nuts thanks to the mana regen talent. Also have about 181 strength for melee, wielding a sharpened, poisoned, self-forged Broadsword and around 150 hunting skill to shoot down stuff with the bow. Think I'm only halfway through the game and I've been playing for 2-3 working weeks.
Risen 1 is awesome. First 2 chapters are a blast, Gothic feels and all. The last 2 chapters are just dungeons drag.

And what about Risen 2?

I thought Gothic 3 was a fine game. Loved it even. Looking forward to a 2nd playthrough at some point. (I have not yet played 1 or 2).

Got it here on GOG and I don't think I played it with any "fan patch", but I don't recall for sure. (I have found that oftentimes a 'prerequisite' fan-patch often changes the game not necessarily for the better - take Far Cry 2's 'Dylan's Realism Mod' as an example - which I feel turns me the player/merc into a super-Rambo; and doesn't at all make anything more 'realistic', but that's JMO.

What I liked most about G3 was the fairly large 'world' with no-loading at all that I could tell - even going into the towns, caverns and mines (well, the large mine). I really liked the geography (except the overly large ruins in the desert), particularly the snowy mountain-ess North with its many overhands and high peaks. I also felt that 'exploration' was 'rewarding'.

I loved exploring that world and found it very immersive; and I thought the quests were fine (altouhhg I rarely went from 'quest location' to 'quest location' - usually springing forth on my own just making my way around the world.

As they say... different strokes....

First couple islands are decent, musket combat is fun, but game really falls apart into linear corridor hell in the back half.

Pirate setting is great, atmospheric. Combat at start relies on hit and run with the starting musket. Voodoo Magic while hilarious at times (voodoo doll control), falls remarkably insignificant in the end if you compare it to the spell lists of Gothic 2 and 3. Melee combat feels extremely lackluster compared to Risen 1, feels more like a action clickfest instead of actual combat. Non-potion consumables grouped into a common label called "Provisions", different foods no longer have different regen or other bonuses. Dialogue is funny at times. Exploration on most of the later islands feel pathetic, no open feeling at all kinda like Bioware's recent console RPGs i.e. Mass Effect. Some islands are just plain boring.

I really adored Gothic 3. The open world and exploration completely pulled me. Sure there was no real overarching/progressing plot like the other two games, but the sheer volume of the world was just great. I had never experienced that kind of crafted openness since Morrowind.

Don't go in there expecting Gothic 2 the third, go in there expecting Gothic: Big World Time, and you won't be dissatisfied.

Just wander around and go where the winds take you, and also try not to commit to any one faction until you're really beefed up.

Wow, if you think the load times are bad post-patch you should have played it back in the day. I got load times of over 5 minutes on average and about 3 minutes with "quick loading". The game is not THAT bad but is a huge step down from 1 and 2. But like others have said, if you think 3 is bad then just wait until you play Arcania G4 - that was a real stinker!

I've played through Gothic 1+2 multiple times in the last 12 years and upgraded my PC at the release of Gothic 2, but never went far into Gothic 3. Even after the next PC upgrade and all the current community patches, it still does not run too well which isn't so bad, because it's a shitty game anyway. Worst beginning of the game ever seen (apart from some horrible NES classics the AVGN mentioned), stupid fighting system, etc..
It took a massive dump on the whole franchise only for extremely unoptimized shiny graphics. Woah, the translation must be really bad.
The dialogues of Gothic 1+2 were one of the best parts of the original (German) games.
It seems that I should be glad to speak both languages for being able to enjoy even more stuff in the original versions (and not needing subtitles for "Iron Sky"), I just wish I'd understand Czech for Inquisitor and proper French for Little Big Adventure too. :D

It has nice music, if that matters. I wanted to love it, sadly that did not happen.

It's not bad with the community patch. Not great either, but I had some fun with it. It's amusing to summon stuff and let it fight for you.

The factions in Gothic 3 are more black and white than previous games, but there are still individual members of each faction that add a bit of grayness. Just two vague examples, there are several Orcs who treat Nameless Hero with respect from the first moment you meet them, and many Orcs will treat you (and others) with some degree of respect once you've proven yourself to them. The only group that is painted as entirely bad are the Hashishin.

I liked gothic 3 better than the previous two. Even despite the turboattacking wolves and boars.

I wouldn't say that they're really black and white, and I would argue that there is LESS black and white than the previous games. The previous games, Beliar was bad. Period, end of story, bad with a capital B. Orcs, bad, demons, bad, undead, bad, dragons, bad big B.

The orcs aren't necessarily bad in 3, they're a little brutal, but they're not BAD. If you prove yourself to them, they respect you. They come from a culture that fought a war against an ineffectual king that would do anything to win a war that he still lost even with his extreme measures.

Hashishin aren't necessarily BAD either. They're "bad", but they also provide opportunities to those that prove themselves. My big beef with them was their beef with the Adanos people, but if you think about it a lot of the issues exist because of religious rivalries.