[Michael Rüve]

Yes get rid of WizarBox

Wizarbox went into insolvency proceedings (aka "bankruptcy") 2013.

[Maladiq]

Well, here are my 2 cents.

+ The landscape looks really well. If not technically, at least atmospherically.
- For fuck's sake, why are some textures high-res, and some low-res?

[Bild: res.jpg]
Ground stone: awesome and highres, stone ledge, crappy and low res.

- Why the fuck are the armours not of a higher resolution? We see them upclose all the time.
+ Readable books.
+ Birds flying, rats just chillin.
- The location is kinda empty. Just a couple of NPCs.
- No consequences for stealing/fighting.
- The human models have horrible faces. The only model on par with the rest of the graphics was the gnome.
+ Magic practising.
+ Lots of objects, both to pick-up and just stare at.
- Flashy text during combat, pillaging, getting glory. Bleah.
- HORRIBLE and UNNECESSARY inventory screen. Why the hell do I need to look at my character when in the inventory or trade screen? It takes me completely out of the game. Just leave the image transparent, and have the left and right inventory screens, and the upper inventory menu. But don't take me out of the game, and don't make me invincible while in the inventory.
- I really dislike the inventory.
+ Finishing moves.
- Flashing hands during combat.
- The water is too bright, looks synthetic.
+ Combat seems decent. Though I can't really say until I've played it.
+ The gnome's facial animations really stand out.

[Morgannin09]

* Trader has more than one lockpick. No more skeleton key, apparently - multiple lockpicks probably means they break.

I don't know for sure. Some merchants in Risen 2 would sell sand or salt more than once, even though one unit had infinite uses. Could just be a mistake.

[The Ore Baron]

Or maybe because Gnomes are not mammals? Who knows...

Why the belly button, then?

I don't know for sure. Some merchants in Risen 2 would sell sand or salt more than once, even though one unit had infinite uses. Could just be a mistake.

True that. Thought about it this this morning. With the lockpicking mini-game staying the same, I doubt breaking lockpicks will be implemented.

The human models have horrible faces. The only model on par with the rest of the graphics was the gnome.

I agree about the first guy the hero meets, the one with a ledger. His face is really awkward... I think it's the wrinkles that look somehow off. Other two guys (especially the guy on the ship) had very good faces, I think - miles ahead of anything in Risen or Risen 2. I agree about low-res armor textures, that's just bad.

EDIT: made some screenshots for reference.
Marbuk - http://i.imgur.com/R8xyMC0.jpg, Rumold - http://i.imgur.com/E7rYN1l.jpg, Neron - http://i.imgur.com/Rnqo8Ah.jpg.

[Maladiq]

Now I realize why I don't like them. They are too orange, like they got fake tan. And for fuck;s sake, is it so hard to give them alpha textures for hair?!

EDIT: that low res armour of the blonde npc... shudders.

[The Ore Baron]

Now I realize why I don't like them. They are too orange, like they got fake tan.

You're right. It was bothering me as well - now I see it.

[Dez]

Btw about atributes/skills etc:

Atributes:

1. Nahkampf = close combat
2. Fernkampf = long range combat
3. list = cunning
4. einfluss = influence
5. härte = hardness -> toughness
6. fingerfertigkeit = prestidigitation ? -> dexterity / thieving?
7. magie = magic
8. geist = spirit

are those correct translations for atributes?


Needs more work:

-The harbour location felt a bit "empty"-> needs more npcs. Where were all the traders, farmers, workers, whores, fishermen, soldiers, drunks etc?

Do you remeber the old camp (gothic1), Khorinis (gothic2) or Silden (gothic3) piranha bytes? That kind of level of activity I expect to see in risen3.

You could improve things a lot by placing more npcs on the harbour. Those npcs don't need to have names or backstories. Just random workers, guards to make things more lively etc.

Although obviously one location is just one location or maybe this location is not meant to be heavily populated, but in my opinion this is something to consider atleast.

-I dislike how opening inventory, lockpicking screen or trading screen takes you outside of the game. I wish you guys could find a way to make the transition feel less apparent. It isn't game breaking really, just something which bothers me slightly.

Good job:

++ I really like the visual style. The scenery, artwork, textures etc are all really atmospheric and joy to look at.
+ Ambient creatures like npcs rats, turkeys doing their own things. Now you guys should add cats chasing rats and dogs chasing cats! Cows and other kind of farm animals too!
+ Nice to see that books can be read like in previous games
+ While I'm not the biggest fan of risen 2 inventory, those tabs keep stuff organized at the least.
+ Sitting on chairs for example is possible once again. If a npc can do it, why can't hero. Please follow this paradigma
+ Npcs seem to react stealing and entering restricted areas
++ Animations feel quite natural. You've clearly improved your work in this area of game design. Animation guys deserve a bonus
+ Clothes aren't just passive objects, they move when player moves and so forth.
++ Fighting animations in particular look MUCH better and the fighting system seems quite fluid and fun.
+ Better finishing moves
+ I really smiled seeing Mages faction once again.
++ Gnomes. Those little creatures are just getting better by each game!
++ Npcs practising skills, like magic, NICE! I hope to see more of this in risen 3.
+ Beautifull lightning effects
+ Quick belt: one can easily assign items on the belt. Its good that you haven't fixed this. Don't fix which isn't broken
+++ Hand crafted locations and lots of detail everywhere. This is one of your "trademarks" which has always set you apart from many other developers
+ Menu music sounds inspiring and the world map behind menu set me in a nice mood.
+ Gnome cheered when mendoza knocked that one guy sensless... Reminded me of gothic!
+ Enemies can be looted. By the way can you also loot npc's weapon, not just gold or random items?
+ Lockpicking seemed intuative enough, i wonder though why there were three numbers above the chest. 20/40/10
++ Mages' ship felt quite magical. Good job on that location in particular. The town area just needed more npcs.

Mixed reaction:

+/- Like people have spoken: few of the textures are kind of low resolution. Obviously this is a beta, so you guys are tweaking things. Its just something which I also spotted.
+/- Mendoza: I smiled seeing the old bastard once again, but i think you guys have a small continuity issue here. In risen 1 Mendoza was wearing a whole different kind of armour. Why not port Risen 1 armour for mendoza's character?

Or maybe the ghost was meant to reprisent younger Mendoza. In other words: Mendoza before he lost his mind and common sense.

[Morgannin09]

+ Enemies can be looted. By the way can you also loot npc's weapon, not just gold or random items?
+/- Mendoza: I smiled seeing the old bastard once again, but i think you guys have a small continuity issue here. In risen 1 Mendoza was wearing a whole different kind of armour. Why not port Risen 1 armour for mendoza's character?

1. I doubt it. The characters need their weapons, but having them simply get back up with a new one would allow the player to keep knocking them down and stealing their weapon. This was a problem in Gothic 3, where you could beat up enemies who carried expensive weapons, and they'd always have a new one when they got back up. The CP tried to fix this by defaulting them to a cudgel after you take their weapon, but this made them pretty useless if they ever needed to fight after that.

2. Porting the armor would probably open up a lot of new problems. The character models are different, so the armor might not fit right and get stretched or distorted somehow. I am sure there are a lot more difficulties with it as well. Still, so far his armor looks like it is unique to him, so I don't know why they took the time to develop his armor without making it look anything like it used to.

[Eldred]

1. I doubt it. The characters need their weapons, but having them simply get back up with a new one would allow the player to keep knocking them down and stealing their weapon. This was a problem in Gothic 3, where you could beat up enemies who carried expensive weapons, and they'd always have a new one when they got back up. The CP tried to fix this by defaulting them to a cudgel after you take their weapon, but this made them pretty useless if they ever needed to fight after that.

2. Porting the armor would probably open up a lot of new problems. The character models are different, so the armor might not fit right and get stretched or distorted somehow. I am sure there are a lot more difficulties with it as well. Still, so far his armor looks like it is unique to him, so I don't know why they took the time to develop his armor without making it look anything like it used to.

It could be one of the inquisition armors in Risen 3.

[warstrike]

I'm sorry ,i can't watch the video with that german dude who sounds like he's high and that gnome that does those weird sounds. It's like i'm watching some Tom& Jerry cartoons.
Will wait for another one

[Dez]

No kidding, I had to mute the video just to able to watch the gameplay... He is so annoying. I wonder why that crazy dude got the world exclusive for risen 3 demo.

[AggroBuLLeT]

About some low res textures : Iam not really sure about this, but he says that he isnt playing on his real computer, because he is in a Hotel room. So maybe the game isnt even on max graphic settings? A piranha could confirm.

[Ravenhearth]

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzlTyvO6p8c

[Demonium]

Nice promotion Deep Silver...finaly 2 and half months before the release of the game and we get an ingame video...IN GERMAN
Do you plan to release the game in Germany/Austria/Belgium exclusive perhaps? Just let us know...

About the graphics...It does look a bit better than Risen 2 but still it has its ugly parts.

-Lighting is quite nice but the object reflections/shadows look horrible including NPC faces, clothes, armors...
-The shaders look bad...Skin shaders are some of the worst i have ever seen...Plastic skin, plastic cloth, plastic metal...
-Even if 3d models and NPC faces are a bit better this time, the awful shaders and colorful textures make them look worse.
-No alpha textures for hair...Is this a cartoon? Or Toy Story sequel perhaps?
-Combat looks broken...He attacked a rat and then accidentally hit a nearby NPC...
-NPCs stuck on objects in front of them and probably on edges too...Like "Marbuk" at 4:45 of the video...10 years ago games had such bugs
-Low res textures on armors and on objects you will always see from close distance. Placement of high and low textures is out of place.
-picking locks mechanism looks boring
-reactions on stealing and attacking people felled better in 10 year old games...
-A.I reminds me of Gothic 3
-UI looks too cartoonish and way too colourful for my taste
-Same goes for inventory...Nice and organized, but too colourful and cartoonish. Were is the dark atmosphere in there?
-Perhaps the rest of the towns and harbours are not like that, but so few NPCs and empty harbour makes me worry...

+ Nice long distance view
+ Better looking grass, trees and foliage
+ Nice small details added
+ Lots of random items across the world
+ nice water, although it looks like "far cry" tropical...
+ nice textures overall but some are low res

Thus far, nothing interesting and nothing spectacular. There is not something cool that makes me wanna play it...
If that was not a PB game, i wouldnt even watch the video till the end...Thats the bitter truth

[SacredGamer]

Wizarbox went into insolvency proceedings (aka "bankruptcy") 2013.

Sad for the employees.
But hopefully a new team will make the console version of a better quality.

Who is developing the console versions now?

[Misanthrope]

Liked:

The Hero looks unique and more memorable. Huge improvement for the game.
Rats, birds, more details... Good. Something to read. Good.

Neutral:

Decent combat mechanics. Magic is back.

Well I'm still very skeptical on this one. Magic is mostly fun when combined with close combat to do some creative attacks and not to just push someone against the wall and click until you beat the crap out of him.
So it would be realy nice is they made magic more important and useful. For example, cretures that can be killed only with magic, like ghosts or something.

Disliked:

Generic atmosphere. Harbour, ship, storage room with bunch of barrels. Really? How long since we've seen this scenario.

However, I didn't understand if this was the actual start of the game or some random demo location/quest? I hope for larger (much larger actualy) locations with more life later on.

Faces look somehow strange, like they're wearing too much makeup or something...

Strongly disliked:

Still looks pretty much like R2. Colors are over saturated and too vivid for my taste.

UI/Inventory - terrible. Complex PC interfaces are pain in the ass to handle on consoles and vice versa, but why not make a difrent version for the PC. You know, grid inventory, simple stats overview is still nice.

Nothing "back to the roots" here as far as I'm concerned.

Didn't understand the dialogs, so can't comment on that.

+ Nice long distance view

What distant view?

[Eldred]

However, I didn't understand if this was the actual start of the game or some random demo location/quest? I hope for larger (much larger actualy) locations with more life later on.

It is somewhere in the game and not the actual game start. Also the character got some good equipment, skills and Mendoza already, which he most likely will not have when he first enters this island.
Tomorow the Let's Player should reach the mage's camp which is a bit bigger and filled with more NPCs than the harbour.

[Demonium]

Liked:
What distant view?

There is no foliage pop up and you can see in the first video some good lod management...Trees and mountains dont look too blurry or very low res...
Its decent and at least better than before...(I am not saying it looks like Crysis)

Also i forgot to mention that the atmosphere is nothing close to Gothic or back to the roots...That area feels empty, boring and generic.
Also i cant understand why you have to carry around that Mendoza corpse with you. Its annoying...

And till now i havent seen one single difference with Gothic 3 combat...Where is blocking, where are the cool combos, the different fighting styles?
Please tell me this isnt happening again...

[The Ore Baron]

Harbour, ship, storage room with bunch of barrels. Really? How long since we've seen this scenario.

It's a harbour. What sort of harbour it would be with no ships, storage rooms or barrels? Not to mention it's a game about pirates, sea expeditions and a region full of small islands.

Also i cant understand why you have to carry around that Mendoza corpse with you. Its annoying...

Why's that? He's not even talking all that much. And I am sure there is some interesting reason why the antagonist of the first game who tried to kill you is now a ghost that accompanies you on your journey. Mendoza is one of the things I'm eagerly looking forward to. I do hate how he has that ugly blue outline to signify him as a phantom of sorts... I'd rather have an actual sentient zombie.

Anyway, impressions from the new video:

+++ A DUCK!
++ I really like the new icon for provisions. That bowl of fruit looks delicious.
++ Many monsters are returning - I like that. Creates continuity. No monsters returned from Risen to Risen 2... except for boars.
+ Bones moved under the feet of the main character as he was walking on them - a nice little detail.
+ During the night, NPCs at least showed some anger at the player entering the storehouse.

...that's it. Nothing else caught my eye. Drinking from the barrel is a nice touch, but it's the same category as sitting on chairs, which we've already seen.

I also did not bother to read quest descriptions - don't want to spoil myself.

[Maladiq]

Ok, let's discuss gameplay vid #2

- The cutscene when you first see the obelisk. Reminds me of Spellforce cutscenes. Also, it takes you out of the game, by having a forced cutscene/animation.
- Scavengers don't have the chicken/rooster like sound.
- Slowmotion of powerful blows.
- Everything turns to provisions.
- The armour animation while drinking from a barrel.
- The sea is too blue.
- You have to use the mouse to select sleep option and use the inventory.
- The air distortions above flames are too powerful.
- WHY THE FUCK DOES THE GHOST HAVE TO SNEAK?!?! IT IS A FUCKING GHOST!

+ The duck
+ Familiar blue plant design.
+ I really like the graphics. To me, they are very atmospheric. Also the level design is pretty decent. Oh, and the sky effect.
+ The armour animation during combat.
+ Drinking from a barrel
+ The barrel water looks great.
+ Facial expressions.
+ Moving bones.