I didn't at first. I adore it now, and I don't even like racers that much.

I weep.
The combat is not for everyone but that doesn't make it "wrong." :P The reason they were "kicked off the license" (they actually retain some rights) is because JoWood are assholes. :P

Risen is incredible and I found it to be much less problematic than either of the Gothic games.

To be more precise, Jowood rushed Piranha Bytes for the release of Gothic3, which was a joke for the fan base. And as an added bonus,G2 was promoted terebly by JoWood in europe and together with Atari failed miserably to promote it in america, and don't even get me started with the expansion. It's a miracle we have a "Gold" version today. After the G3 debackle, Piranha Bytes split from JoWood, and were not "kicked". They may have spitted a few times, and some du hurensohns and arschlochs might have been heard. Then came Forsaken Gods. Yes, JoWood raped their game (indian gangbang).

In Cold Blood.

So it wasn't because they released Gothic 3 in a less than half finished state? Or that they already had a reputation for leaving games unpolished? Or the poor reviews Gothic 3 received? Or the fact that, for an action RPG, the action was kinda shoddy? Or generally that Piranha Bytes couldn't be trusted to make a good forth instalment? No, I don't think you can blame JoWood for that. Especially not after Gothic 3.
There are a lot better developers out there and while I don't think Spellbound is such a developer, time will tell.

Only a few, honestly. I seem to have some fond memories of Castles 1 + 2, but the interfaces are so bad that I couldn't get into either. Also some old adventure games like Tex Murphy 1+2 and Gabriel Knight 1 were just a bit too old for me to appreciate, since I never played them when they were new.
Mostly GOG has been has been a great chance to replay games from my childhood, and to try out old games that I missed. I feel that I've at least gotten enough entertainment out of them that they justify the price. Compared to the price of going to the cinema, I got at least the comparable 2-3 hours to fun, but MUCH more for many of them (Fallout 1 + 2, Disciples 2, and HoMM 2 + 3, and Gothic 1 + 2 come to mind.)

They released Gothic 3 in that state because of JoWood. What developer would make two great RPGs then a completely half assed one, then a completely awesome one that clearly represents everything the previous game they wanted it to be and then some? :P And under a new, good publisher that doesn't release horrible spin offs. Coincidence? Umm no.

All of which sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation until you get to Risen. I tried the demo of that... bloody hell... Suffice to say that all the same problems manifested themselves again. Piranha Bytes are just another developer (like Obsidian) trying to do more than they actually can manage to achieve.

That's your opinion, and there's a large community that disagrees with you. You don't like the series, don't mistake that for PB being a shitty developer. And PB at least makes truly original work (though I like Obsidian anyway).

Was the release date brought forward during development? If not then there's no excuse, no matter how tight it is. If there's not enough time then you scale the game down so you can actually release something playable.

I'm not calling them shitty. I'm saying they try and bite off more than they can chew. That results in a worse game than they would have achieved had they scaled down the scope of the game.

I highly doubt it's that simple. Even if it was technically plausible, JoWood probably wouldn't have allowed it cause they want to be able to pimp out the features, graphics, etc.

Well, I don't agree at all on the biting off more than they can chew part (I kind of do with G3 but Risen to me is absolutely a masterpiece), but the second part yes. I just doubt it was plausible.

Which is all speculation and still not an excuse. All of the details should have been agreed before development commenced. Meaning that it should have been made clear what was possible within the allotted time frame. If JoWood were pushing for more and more then it should have been made clear that equals more time too.
If JoWood brought the deadline forward halfway through development then they broke that agreement and it's their fault. Otherwise it's down to Piranha Bytes' management or lack thereof.

If so then they really, really shouldn't have released the demo. It was practically pre-alpha.

Just curious... what was about the demo that made you get a complete mental picture of the whole game. As for the technicall part, I found one big bug (dialogue crash) and a small pack of non-invasive bugs in the game. Quite stable in my book, and that before the first patch.
Btw, in "gothic/risen" series, you get better in fighting over time, as your character advances. At first, you suck big time, so if you only played the first parts of these games it might explain why you think fighting is so bad.
And I salute chautemoc as a comrade in the gothic defence force :)

I was actually very interested in the game as it seemed to be about what Piranha Bytes could do when the shackles were off. The screenshots were particularly promising too.
Yes, the demo did put me off. I am aware of the fact that the full game may be more functional, but when you've got a demo that can barely recognise only a small portion of a standard keyboard (not exactly a mammoth task in itself) then you know you're off to a bad start. I couldn't get too far with it simply because it was so clumsy and annoying.
Generally speaking I got more out of the bloody screenshots.

The Red Baron pack, almost.
I find one game to be too ugly to play in 2010, where the other one has controllers issue for me.
Still, I wouldn''t go as far as say I regret buying them.

I assume they agreed upon the year at least from the beginning.
Hmm well now that I think of it, it's possible (emphasis on possible) it being their first time with an advanced engine could've hurt development more than expected. But still, a good publisher would've extended development time at least enough that the game could be released in a reasonable state and patched up to very polished within a few months about, no?
As for the Risen demo, I can't conceive how you can call it pre-alpha/alpha. :S I read your opinions on it and I dunno...to me it lived up to the "what PB can do" thing, and exceeded that, even. I had no qualms with the keyboard setup and found the game used plenty of it -- as much as needed, anyway. Didn't find it clumsy at all, but it has that trademark style albeit lots more polished imo. I think this is just down to preference.
Thanks. :) I am very passionate about it haha.