[World of Risen]

Apparently not an april fool hoax, the Russian site igromania.ru managed to get an interview from Mike Hoge. The co-founder of Piranha Bytes talks shortly about Risen 2 and what lead the developers from Essen to certain design decisions.


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The English translation of the interview:

German RPGs have been the only alternative to games from BioWare and Bethesda for quite some time. But they also have to deal with troubles. After Jowood's bankruptcy, the future of the great Gothic series remains clouded, the makers of Drakensang are now developing a browser game, The Dark Eye: Demonicon seems to have died before before it was born and things have been quiet about Sacred 3.

Basically, only our old friends are still fighting the good fight - the veterans from Piranha Bytes. Despite the rather moderate success of Risen 1, they announced a successor. And thinking about the situation about Arcania: Gothic 4, it seems that Risen 2: Dark Waters will satisfy the Gothic-deficit in the bodies of the Russian gamers.

But the people who made the first three Gothic games and repeated the concept in Risen 1 (for which they were, by the way, scolded by Igromania at the time) decided to make something new: The sequel will be nothing more than a pirate RPG. There will be cannons, firearms, sea travel. The get more details, we talked to one of the project leads - Mike Hoge.

Igromania (IG): Pirates and Gothic - an original combination! What known features of pirate romanticism will be see in your game?

Mike Hoge (MH): We will have everything that you usually associate with pirates: Treasure, parrots, a lot of rum! But we do not stop at clichés and also add fantasy elements, even Voodoo magic.

IG: Does that mean that Piranha Bytes will forfeit their dark and Gothic style this time?

MH: We believe that the pirate theme fits quite well to our style. We had pirates in our games before, i.e. in Gothic 2: Night of the Raven or in Risen. This time, we decided to dedicate an entire game to this topic.

IG: Something is telling us that we will see more romanticism and women this time. Is that correct?

MH: Yes, the hero will meet an old acquaintance - the pirate girl Patty with whom he flirted in the first game. But it's better to keep it secret where this might lead.

IG: It is known that the hero in the second part will be the same. But this time, he has depressions and drinks booze. How does that affect the gameplay? Will the game be more grown-up?

MH: The hero has come a long way, experienced a lot and that will of course influence the gameplay and also the decisions you have to make. But if we talk about the decision problem in RPGs in greater detail, then the gaming aspect is the most interesting for us. That means: How will your decision influence the options in the game? For example, the hero must get past a guard to get somewhere. Bribe the guard, beat him up or steal the key - that's only half of the possibilities.

IG: When watching the trailer, one could get the impression that we will work together more intensely with companions. Does that mean there will be elements of a party RPG?

MH: Companions are an important part of the game mechanics. We felt that we had to improve in that particular field and hence, developed the party system. It is important to understand that we develop a relationship system and not a party interface. In the game, you have to communicate with NPCs and not click through a menu. Most of the interaction happens via dialogue. In other words: You will have to tell your companions what you expect them to do.

IG: Tell us more about the game world. How large will it be, can we explore it freely?

MH: The action does not take place on one island anymore but on several. And you can use a ship to travel between the islands. In the first part, the world was smaller than in Gothic 3 and that worked quite well. In the sequel, we want to be daring again and make a larger world. And we want the world to have the same density as in Risen and our previous games. We're very proud of that.

IG: What factions will there be in Risen 2?

MH: There will be new faction for sure but I cannot tell you which ones.

IG: How will the role-playing system change? Will there still be teachers?

MH: For Risen 2, we developed a completely new role-playing system. Yes, there will be teachers and trainers but everything else will change. The player will have more freedom and he will be able to create his own class.

IG: There has been information that the combat system will change greatly. How exactly?

MH: One of the most important changes is the camera. While it was always glued to the back of the player in Risen, it is now detached from the hero which is very helpful in fights againt multiple opponents. Furthermore, we added more depth to the combat mechanics. Where you could only choose between a few moves in Risen 1, you will now be able to try different tactics, i.e. using both melee weapons and firearms. Together with enhanced animations and the motion capturing technology, we create an effective and impressive combat system unlike any in our previous games.

IG: Finally, one question we cannot keep back: Are you following the events with the bankruptcy of JoWood and are you perhaps thinking about buying your Gothic rights back?

MH: Of course we took notice of the situation but for the moment, we are completely focussed on Risen 2.

This English translation by foobar is based upon the German translation by Voland and not the Russian original.

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[Maladiq]

Well, the combat system seems to have been inspired from Arcania, with the "not glued" camera and alternating weapons... I am curious to see and feel it.

[Nisarg]

Mike Hoge (MH): We will have everything that you usually associate with pirates: Treasure, parrots, a lot of rum! But we do not stop at clichés and also add fantasy elements, even Voodoo magic.

Isn't Voodoo magic in a pirate setting cliché too?

MH: Companions are an important part of the game mechanics. We felt that we had to improve in that particular field and hence, developed the party system. It is important to understand that we develop a relationship system and not a party interface. In the game, you have to communicate with NPCs and not click through a menu. Most of the interaction happens via dialogue. In other words: You will have to tell your companions what you expect them to do.

Sounds good, I think its an expansion of the rudimentary (wait, come, here's-a-potion) system followed in previous PB games.

MH: For Risen 2, we developed a completely new role-playing system. Yes, there will be teachers and trainers but everything else will change. The player will have more freedom and he will be able to create his own class.

I sincerely hope that more freedom does not come with a lack of consequences or depth of role-playing.

MH: One of the most important changes is the camera. While it was always glued to the back of the player in Risen, it is now detached from the hero which is very helpful in fights against multiple opponents.

Hmmm, I think I'll hold my opinion till I try it out, though I think that the camera work in Risen was great, and there's no need for this particular change.

This English translation by foobar is based upon the German translation by Voland and not the Russian original.

So, this article may suffer from the Chinese whiskers effect too?

[foobar]

Isn't Voodoo magic in a pirate setting cliché too?

No, not all. Arr.

So, this article may suffer from the Chinese whiskers effect too?

s/k/p/

Very much. Keep in mind that Mike does not speak Russian. I assume that the interview was done in English because both understand that language. So two non-native English speakers talked about the game. This conversation was then translated into Russian. Then it was translated by Voland into German (who I assume is either not a native Russian or German speaker) and finally translated into English by me (not a native English speaker as well).

Draw your own conclusions.

[AshleyG]

Can't someone (a mod) send a mail and ask for the english version?
They might have something (not too scattered copy-paste remnants)