There's no Risen board, so this is the obvious place to bring this up since Risen is an obvious continuation of the Gothic series past 3.

I just beat Risen 1 and I was having a lot of fun and then I moved onto Risen 2...

5 minutes in: WHAT. THE. HELL.

This game is AWFUL! The combat is TERRIBLE!

In Risen 1 I could recognize things in combat to know when I was doing something right- in this I just wail on them until they start attacking then I just backpedal while holding the block button...

The stats (which are a staple of Gothic, and obviously carried over to Risen 1) were totally scrapped for some completely new system...

Does combat ever become coherent? I've heard fighting non-humans is even worse than fighting humans...

I don't know if I can go on...

Someone who has experience with this game: Is the game worthwhile? Does the combat ever become bearable or is the rest of the game good enough to warrant playing despite it?

The combat system in Risen 2 was a major step backwards from Risen, and unfortunately it doesn't get much better as the game progresses. Melee is passable for fighting single human opponents, but against multiple opponents or animal opponents it just doesn't work well. Best advice I can give is to start using rifles/shotguns as soon as possible as those at least allow you to handle most enemies without too much difficulty. The combat will never get to be enjoyable like it was in Risen (once you got good at it), but at least you'll be able to take on enemies. And stay away from magic- it's utterly useless in combat.

As for whether or not to persevere with the game, try to at least get through the first island- if you still find the game unenjoyable after that then your opinion of it is unlikely to improve and you might be better off finding something else to play.

Mmph- maybe in the future I ought to ask more objective questions... you guys both gave good answers xO!

Thanks, I plan on waiting a while and then returning to this, Risen 1 is still too fresh on my mind.