I think that 30 hours is a bit too optimistic for Risen, to be honest... I'd say it's more like 15-20.

Also, I liked the boss fight. Don't see why everyone hated it. I thought it was quite nifty.

didn't they remove it with some latest patches? pretty please? ;)

I just don't get it, it required horsepowers when it was released and even now and I think that gothic 2 looked better. Well.. I know, It's not the graphigs.. But the bubble is freaking me out. it's so obvious.

http://www.worldofrisen.de/english/article_100.htm?PHPSESSID=02083306f7d523152ad95aabc7bfc4b4

Retail version is only protected by DVD check, which can be circumvented easily. I never had any problems with Risen copy protection.

just as I said, you won't even notice it most of the game... it's most visible on cliffs (like the one at the beginning of the game behind Ardea) and on the disappearing grass - which you'll probably turn off anyway to see all the healing herbs growing :) the developers thought that the gamers will keep the "view distance" bar at very low setting as the HW needed was only used in spaceships in that time :) so the engine can't draw the details very far away (the view distance setting only moves "fog" closer or further, doesn't affect drawing of details)

Get Risen. Since Risen 2 should be around the corner it would be a good idea to play Risen before.

And I disliked the last fight simply because by it's mechanic everything before was kinda made irrelevant. I mean for example, like in all Gothics, it's not really easy becoming a mage. But you do it, you only spend a few points in other skills. So you end up a bad ass mage that sweeps all in his path just to reach the final fight and realize all that was useless, you'll not be using any of those awesome skills of yours. It's basically a press the right button at the right time fight, something you could do with a lvl 1 character. Yeah... not that fulfilling.

Besides honestly the last chapters were rushed. The game goes from RPG to Action. It's still miles ahead of other AAA titles like the pathetic DA2. But it's far from perfect. I still hold high hopes for Risen 2. I hope they get enough time to put out a fully polished product from begining to end.

yesterday I played witcher 2 and was in the forest.. I mean that game also has that people appear a bit close.. and those bottles in a market stand.. You can see it very clearly. But boy it sure is pretty game. Nothing affects my fps in that game. Must be cpu then.
Anyhow.. Perhaps at some point I'll give gothic 3 another chance.

Edit: or drivers.

still, gothic 3 is 2006, witcher 2 is 2011, which is A LOT in graphics development... that of course doesn't change the fact that g3 has a terrible engine which isn't smooth even on today's most brutal machines :D PS: good thing about current graphic cards - USUALLY when there are new drivers, the power and stability increases dramatically!

I have my first ati card (has been a while) and I hope that 11.7 is good and stable. They should be released in this week. Some games just work better with geforce even it was a bit inferior card in specs.
In life as general, we really have to get used to huge amount of crap. Good thing we have games. And beer.

Really? That's interesting. The Risen I have is somewhat Tages-less. I think you might be referring to a different Risen.

Don't worry, we know you meant the Steam version. No sweat ;)

Well since Risen was developed by the same people that developed Gothic 1-3, and Gothic 4 was not, you're better off playing Risen.

I just tried editing the .ini to use the maximum view distance and loading/prefetching settings allowed in the game engine... the view distance is quite good now (full detail out to the edge of the game world), but the game itself seems to have broken in a spectacular and hilarious fashion. NPCs appear in T-poses and seem to be stuck that way (don't seem to be reacting to me in any way - some creatures seem to move around by teleporting infrequently), Nameless Hero seems to be able to walk through any object that isn't part of the landscape, and falling from things seems to cause issues... lets just say I'm now floating hundreds of meters above the ocean at the edge of the game world after falling/sliding off a rooftop in Ardea.

Also, the game is using 2.5GB of RAM O.o

Performance-wise, I'm getting a good framerate, though the stuttering is pretty bad (not much worse than it was before modifying the settings though - I think if I had faster/better RAM and maybe a SSD it would perform fairly well).

LOL, that game doesn't disappoint with quirkiness. Here's the one I was running, however. I didn't have any bugs, just the stuttering when the game was loading dynamically (especially when approaching cities).

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1360218

When I changed from 9800gt to ati's 6850 (it has other problems 'cos I bought it too soon.. But I remember that risen in the start that oceanfront, it really took a toll then but with this not anymore. I have to underclock memory to 1100 to 900, then this won't crash. And really haven't seen any performance trouble.. Annoyance still.
I still have warranty I quess.. I could go and try to ask the same card but newer patch.. There was something with these cards.. some voltage-chip or something is'nt so good as it should be.