Posted July 06, 2017
I still have not finished the last act, but am now finishing up dlc quests, so I thought it would be a good time to write down some thoughts. Maybe it will help someone wondering if they should invest time and money in the game? So, here we go...
First, I started Risen 3 a couple of years ago on the PS3. From lackluster graphics to invisible walls and wonky combat, I wasn't able to get into the game even though I was somewhat familiar with PB's games and had just come off another Euro-RPG that was broken but great fun, Two Worlds II. Anyway, I packed the game away -- only to pick it up on PC after finishing Arcania (yeah, you read that right. i played the bastardization of PB's Gothic series and enjoyed it). So, I sat down on PC to play Risen 3 again...
Of all the intense Risen 3 criticism, the melee combat takes the most heat -- even being called "broken" by some (I'm looking at Angry Joe) -- and while I certainly would have agreed had I only played the game for a few hours, my opinion has almost completely changed after hour 10. Just as I played Bound By Flame as a swordsman/tank sans magic because I had watched videos saying that choice made the game almost impossible, I played Risen 3 as a swordsman using companions but very little magic, That meant that I boosted melee power and learned swordsman abilities as soon as possible. So, where the first few hours were filled with rolling, getting a few hits, taking some hits, and generally counting on companions, after hour 10 melee combat was a mixture of quick and heavy attacks, ripostes, and counters... mostly alone. Even the "teleporting" heavy attack became something where the range of the strike was understood and could be evaded, or countered. Yes, melee combat in Risen 3 is somehwat clunky overall, but as the game progresses, the system becomes more and more refined and enjoyable. After hour 10 I found the Risen 3 system almost on par with The Witcher melee combat.
Even with the clunkiness of environmental movement, the world is packed with NPC's, hidden dungeons, chests, enemies, and loot. While invisible walls based on what act you're in still got me down (a bird can't traverse a lava flow? seriously?), there were so many "hidden" places popping up that I always was interested in searching "old" areas I'd long since cleared. But, having come from Two Worlds II where I found a boat, traversed a sea, and explored the beaches of islands not even shown on the world map, I was a bit disappointed to start swimming to far off points and find PB forcing me into a "turn about" invisible wall a few meters out. For a game about exploration set during a time of exploration, it just felt cheap. At the same time, the actual design of the levels -- especially those later in the game -- were exceptional with their switchbacks, multiple levels, and interconnectedness (a la Dark Souls). Yes, the actual design of the levels was very good.
The graphics of Risen 3 are much better on PC than console (i know, everyone knows this) and some locations look great -- especially the water and sunlight. Antigua and the Crab Coast can look beautiful at sunset, but overall artistically the game is a mixed bag. For every location that looks great, there are others that look like the Art Director took the day off. Unfortunately, sound design suffers the same problem. From an amazing night swamp soundscape or gurgling lava flow to a canned animal growl that sounds like it was recorded in a closet, there's no consistency. And we won't even talk about actor's dialog often not even matching the character speaking (how many people were used to voice the main character?).
The story of Risen 3 is passable but never really lives up to the setting. This should be a rollicking fantasy pirate RPG, but instead it's a pretty standard fantasy RPG with a loose pirate / nautical theme. Few of the characters feel like they're specific to a pirate theme (except for Bones) and the same could be said of many of the islands. The story, characters, and locales work, but they're lacking that spark of exceptionalism. When I heard "fantasy pirate RPG" I'm expecting a story, characters, and locations that are so a part of seafaring fact and myth that you could not separate them from the nautical setting (a la Pirates of the Caribbean), but that unfortunately isn't really the case here.
The worst issues I had with Risen 3 were the quest system / log not adequately recording what needed to be accomplished, quests often having prerequisite quests which were not listed, and a few bugs which made quests impassable without loading previous saves. These issues made my style of gameplay -- going to every island and exploring as much as possible prior to getting quests -- grind to a halt when I went back to the story. These message boards show my desperation upon trying to return to completing quests on Kila. Those were not a fun 2 days. I was convinced I'd broken quests and would have to start so far back that I'd never finish this game... ever. Not fun. Luckily, I found a few others who talked about quests that looked broken and starnge prerequisites or I'd still be on Kila pulling my hair out with no one talking to me!
Lastly, naval combat is mediocre. When it happens in-game there's an intense feeling that Risen 3 is about to become something great, and then... it doesn't. Luckily, these sections are short. But, when taking to sea, you get the distinct feeling that a great pirate RPG with factions vying for control of a ship could have been amazing. Anyway...
So, with all of that said, is Risen 3 worth the time? For me -- an obsessive pirate fan and general fan of Euro RPG's -- yes, for all of its shortcomings, Risen 3 is a fun exploration game with adequate combat. Now, in hearing Piranha Bytes talking about Elex, it's clear they hoped Risen 3 was moving toward a Dark Souls style of combat, and while the game can be suitably difficult at the beginning on higher settings, it's far, far from the precision of Dark Souls combat. This is Witcher lite... which I could live with after I leveled up. Risen 3 could have been exceptional -- and certainly had the elements including pirate setting and the usual Euro-RPG reluctant hero -- but comes up as just "ok." Either PB didn't have the will or resources -- or both -- to clean up the gameplay, streamline the systems, and give us an exceptional pirate adventure. I may revisit Risen 3 one day to play another faction (I certainly think R3 is far better than Spellboaund's Arcania, and I started a 2nd playthrough there), but after the credits roll I'll probably be fine with putting it away. Still, glad I have the Risen games. Even with their story mediocrity, they're still unique if for no other reason than there are few pirate action RPGs. If only PB could take on the RPG and naval combat of Akella's SEA DOGS and make a "modern" action RPG.
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Update
Having now finished the game, I think it's a mediocre pirate game, but a fun fantasy dungeon crawler once you have specialized and leveled up. The combat -- although never becoming technically excellent -- certainly gets more refined with leveling and goes from a chore early on to fun and challenging. Exploration is the key to PB games, and here it is again top draw -- the basic story only serves to get you to the next area to clear and explore. Is it clunky? Yes. Is the dialogue great? No. Are there bugs? Oh yes there are bugs. Are there times when you'll have to consult message boards and feel like pulling your hair out in frustration? Well, I certainly did a few times. But in the end, was it fun? Yes.
First, I started Risen 3 a couple of years ago on the PS3. From lackluster graphics to invisible walls and wonky combat, I wasn't able to get into the game even though I was somewhat familiar with PB's games and had just come off another Euro-RPG that was broken but great fun, Two Worlds II. Anyway, I packed the game away -- only to pick it up on PC after finishing Arcania (yeah, you read that right. i played the bastardization of PB's Gothic series and enjoyed it). So, I sat down on PC to play Risen 3 again...
Of all the intense Risen 3 criticism, the melee combat takes the most heat -- even being called "broken" by some (I'm looking at Angry Joe) -- and while I certainly would have agreed had I only played the game for a few hours, my opinion has almost completely changed after hour 10. Just as I played Bound By Flame as a swordsman/tank sans magic because I had watched videos saying that choice made the game almost impossible, I played Risen 3 as a swordsman using companions but very little magic, That meant that I boosted melee power and learned swordsman abilities as soon as possible. So, where the first few hours were filled with rolling, getting a few hits, taking some hits, and generally counting on companions, after hour 10 melee combat was a mixture of quick and heavy attacks, ripostes, and counters... mostly alone. Even the "teleporting" heavy attack became something where the range of the strike was understood and could be evaded, or countered. Yes, melee combat in Risen 3 is somehwat clunky overall, but as the game progresses, the system becomes more and more refined and enjoyable. After hour 10 I found the Risen 3 system almost on par with The Witcher melee combat.
Even with the clunkiness of environmental movement, the world is packed with NPC's, hidden dungeons, chests, enemies, and loot. While invisible walls based on what act you're in still got me down (a bird can't traverse a lava flow? seriously?), there were so many "hidden" places popping up that I always was interested in searching "old" areas I'd long since cleared. But, having come from Two Worlds II where I found a boat, traversed a sea, and explored the beaches of islands not even shown on the world map, I was a bit disappointed to start swimming to far off points and find PB forcing me into a "turn about" invisible wall a few meters out. For a game about exploration set during a time of exploration, it just felt cheap. At the same time, the actual design of the levels -- especially those later in the game -- were exceptional with their switchbacks, multiple levels, and interconnectedness (a la Dark Souls). Yes, the actual design of the levels was very good.
The graphics of Risen 3 are much better on PC than console (i know, everyone knows this) and some locations look great -- especially the water and sunlight. Antigua and the Crab Coast can look beautiful at sunset, but overall artistically the game is a mixed bag. For every location that looks great, there are others that look like the Art Director took the day off. Unfortunately, sound design suffers the same problem. From an amazing night swamp soundscape or gurgling lava flow to a canned animal growl that sounds like it was recorded in a closet, there's no consistency. And we won't even talk about actor's dialog often not even matching the character speaking (how many people were used to voice the main character?).
The story of Risen 3 is passable but never really lives up to the setting. This should be a rollicking fantasy pirate RPG, but instead it's a pretty standard fantasy RPG with a loose pirate / nautical theme. Few of the characters feel like they're specific to a pirate theme (except for Bones) and the same could be said of many of the islands. The story, characters, and locales work, but they're lacking that spark of exceptionalism. When I heard "fantasy pirate RPG" I'm expecting a story, characters, and locations that are so a part of seafaring fact and myth that you could not separate them from the nautical setting (a la Pirates of the Caribbean), but that unfortunately isn't really the case here.
The worst issues I had with Risen 3 were the quest system / log not adequately recording what needed to be accomplished, quests often having prerequisite quests which were not listed, and a few bugs which made quests impassable without loading previous saves. These issues made my style of gameplay -- going to every island and exploring as much as possible prior to getting quests -- grind to a halt when I went back to the story. These message boards show my desperation upon trying to return to completing quests on Kila. Those were not a fun 2 days. I was convinced I'd broken quests and would have to start so far back that I'd never finish this game... ever. Not fun. Luckily, I found a few others who talked about quests that looked broken and starnge prerequisites or I'd still be on Kila pulling my hair out with no one talking to me!
Lastly, naval combat is mediocre. When it happens in-game there's an intense feeling that Risen 3 is about to become something great, and then... it doesn't. Luckily, these sections are short. But, when taking to sea, you get the distinct feeling that a great pirate RPG with factions vying for control of a ship could have been amazing. Anyway...
So, with all of that said, is Risen 3 worth the time? For me -- an obsessive pirate fan and general fan of Euro RPG's -- yes, for all of its shortcomings, Risen 3 is a fun exploration game with adequate combat. Now, in hearing Piranha Bytes talking about Elex, it's clear they hoped Risen 3 was moving toward a Dark Souls style of combat, and while the game can be suitably difficult at the beginning on higher settings, it's far, far from the precision of Dark Souls combat. This is Witcher lite... which I could live with after I leveled up. Risen 3 could have been exceptional -- and certainly had the elements including pirate setting and the usual Euro-RPG reluctant hero -- but comes up as just "ok." Either PB didn't have the will or resources -- or both -- to clean up the gameplay, streamline the systems, and give us an exceptional pirate adventure. I may revisit Risen 3 one day to play another faction (I certainly think R3 is far better than Spellboaund's Arcania, and I started a 2nd playthrough there), but after the credits roll I'll probably be fine with putting it away. Still, glad I have the Risen games. Even with their story mediocrity, they're still unique if for no other reason than there are few pirate action RPGs. If only PB could take on the RPG and naval combat of Akella's SEA DOGS and make a "modern" action RPG.
========================================================
Update
Having now finished the game, I think it's a mediocre pirate game, but a fun fantasy dungeon crawler once you have specialized and leveled up. The combat -- although never becoming technically excellent -- certainly gets more refined with leveling and goes from a chore early on to fun and challenging. Exploration is the key to PB games, and here it is again top draw -- the basic story only serves to get you to the next area to clear and explore. Is it clunky? Yes. Is the dialogue great? No. Are there bugs? Oh yes there are bugs. Are there times when you'll have to consult message boards and feel like pulling your hair out in frustration? Well, I certainly did a few times. But in the end, was it fun? Yes.
Post edited July 06, 2017 by kai2
