Risen plays more like Gothic 3 "done right" its amazing... and minus the ending the absolulty greatest rpg Ive had the pleasure of playing in a long time... the length felt just right, not to short but not to long to get boring...

I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish... its relaxed and not so much "impending doom" i justr hated the very last thing in the game... total cop out...

the gameplay more than makes up for it though...

short answer: yes, it is.

the gameplay feels identical to g1 and 2. the night of raven was better balanced(more difficult) and the setting can't stand a comparison to g1. on the other hand the control/interface has been constantly improoved through the history of piranha bytes and of course the graphics are better ;) (i actually think it's more appealing to the eye then g3).

there is a new combat system wich most consider a good thing. it's more or less based on g3 but way better.

it isn't as "openworlded" as g3 and there's no way to compare risen in any aspect to the abomination arcania.

yea f*** arcania

I didn't mind the ending of Risen. I think it was a good idea to try something new and it was obviously 100x better than the godawful end bosses of G I and G II.

QFE

lasts bosses were truly boring and bland ,piranha bytes should consider that in next Risen game and put more work on that

Like Gothic 2 where the gameplay wasn't some tacked on half-baked afterthought.

I played Gothic 1 & 2 for the first time this year and they both stood up well. Graphics in them are a tad dated by the games pulled me in like few others ever have. Alas being in Aust the only way I could buy Risen would be if GOG added it to their catalogue! :P

The boss in G1 didn't fight me back at all. I think he was supposed to, but he didn't.

The boss in G2 was very easy once I opened up Marvin mode and just started typing "kill kill kill"

Best boss fights ever.

Ah yes that bug has also happened to me once. Trust me, you didn't miss out on much, the fight is shit.

*SPOILER*
All he does is throw fireballs at you which you have to dodge, until you get an opening to go for one of the five levers and use it. One by one. It's really shitty.
Actually last time that I played, he hit me as I was just about to finish opening a lever (it takes a couple of seconds), cancelling the use. This nevertheless rendered the lever unusable so I couldn't 'finish' the game }:<
*END SPOILER*

Don't see why you need Marvin for the G2 boss, just spam CTRL + UPARROW until he dies.

I think I screwed myself over in my build somehow, I forget the details, but I was having major trouble with all of the dragons. I could deal with them constantly knocking me down, I could deal with their regenerating health, but both of those things combined were just too much. I couldn't make any progress on their health bars.

Marvin mode? The final boss is a joke. It took me something like 20-30 seconds to kill him. Ice wave--> slash slash slash slash --> ice wave --> slash slash slash --> end of fight.

I tried ice wave right away, thinking that it couldn't be that easy against him. I almost felt guilty for killing such a big dragon in no time.

Honestly, I could see that happening next year.

And yea, I think it's just me. I also found it hard to get into freaking Morrowind, and I love The Elder Scrolls to death.

I also love Morrowind, but the parts I don't like about it really bother me.

the last boss on gothic 1 got stuck for me too

I like Risen much, much more than Gothic 3. It's not as good as Gothic 2, but a fine game nevertheless. And it has Sarah Connor, Gollum and Gimli in it :)