[Khassar]

It caught my eye that the end of Gothic 3 and intro of Risen have something in common, banishment of gods from mortal plane. I played the whole Gothic series (with the sole exeption of FG), but my PC just couldn't handle Risen. So my question would be, are there any hints/facts pointing out that worlds of Risen and Gothic are acctualy the same one, i.e. that stories of the two coexist? Don't spoil the story too much if you don't have to, since Risen is probably the first game I'm going to play after I pimp my PC a bit. And yeah, I know the whole PB/Jowood thing, so please don't use arguments based on that, only quests/ingame books related ones.

[MartinX]

Risen feels very much like Gothic, but I think they are set in different universes.

[Khassar]

Yes and no. Before PB and JoWood broke apart, PB already started working on the concept and world of Gothic IV. After the two companies separated it was only financially sensible to use the already existing concepts in their new game (Risen) and adapt them accordingly where needed.

But that raises an interesting discussion: Risen can give us hints about what was supposed to happen in Gothic IV. And, presumably (based on the ending of Gothic 3), Gothic IV would have taken place in the Unknown Lands: so the island of Faranga could be similar to the Unknown Lands in some respects.

Thx for well detailed explanation. What set me on the wrong trail is conversation with one of my friends some 13-14 months ago (back when Risen still wasn't released).

Judging by how he got it, storyline would be as this: first we would play as Nameless #2 in Risen (where Faranga would be neighbour continent with Myrtana) in that banished-gods-story (set in motion by things mentioned in Gothic 3), then we would play as Nameless #3 in Arcania, trying to defend the Southern Islands from invading forces of Myrtana lead by Nameless #1 (Rhobar 3 is plain stupid), and then, in what would be Gothic 6, Nameless #2 and Nameless #3 would join forces and try to stop Nameless #1 together, as Myrtana would also invade Faranga by this time.

When I heard this version, I was amazed.

Spoiler:(zum lesen bitte Text markieren)

By how stupid it was.

Although I liked some parts of it (invasion forces of paladins/knights/fire mages/what not would maintain a feeling similar to the one of invading orcish armies, and would seem as a certain parody of them). But too many cross overs is too many cross overs. Not to mention the number of Nameless Heroes present.

About Faranga being Unknown lands and PB/Jowood separation, it makes a lot of sense. Too bad that separation was there. Although I always imagined Unknown lands as some sort of immaterial plane, and nameless' and Xardas' journey as some sort of transcedention, with UL being some sort of Neitzsche's Otherside (if you had philosophy class you'll know what I mean).
Even so, It would be way better than FG.

Risen feels very much like Gothic, but I think they are set in different universes.

Thx, I guess that this sums it up pretty well.

[Don-Esteban]

Here you can find a screenshot gallery of the first intro concept for Risen:
http://www.worldofrisen.de/gallery_138.htm (most of all is in German)
It shows a hero and a mage and the mage explains the effects of the absense of the gods. (The rise of the titans.)

This connects the Risen beginning to the Gothic 3 end.

[Talek]

Even more so, I found a funny (most likely already mentioned) relation between NotR and Risen - the mention of an infamous captain Gregorious Steelbeard strangely reminds me of captain Greg Cant help but grin if it was intentional

[vic1968]

relation between NotR and Risen

And what do you say about Jack, the lighthouse keeper?

[Talek]

And what do you say about Jack, the lighthouse keeper?

Jack was a recurring theme throughout the majority of PB games (Gothic, Risen) but I agree. Though Greg thing took me quite some time to relate to (another replay of gothic after risen).

[Arkose]

The intro concept makes it clear that Risen takes place in the Gothic universe (at least at this point in development) but even at this point Piranha Bytes didn't intend to have the same protagonist.

As for Steelbeard his notes are labelled "Greg" internally, but considering the multiple Jacks it could go either way. The ending indicates he might turn up in the flesh in Risen II, so perhaps we'll find out then.

[InnerMoon]

It is pretty clear, risen was going to be Gothic 4. I mean, forget about myrtana, Gothic 4 was going to take place in Faranga (i mean, risen continent). For Myrtana, Faranga is the unknow lands, and for Faranga, myrtana is an unknow land too. The argument would the the consecuences of the bann of the gods from the world, and how could they fix it (Xardas didn't know about the Titans, so, he probably would have to find a way to fix this mess, again, with the nameless hero help :P).

Forsaken gods, and Arcania are not canon for PB IMHO

[vic1968]

It is pretty clear, risen was going to be Gothic 4.

Yup.

I mean, forget about myrtana, Gothic 4 was going to take place in Faranga (i mean, risen continent). For Myrtana, Faranga is the unknow lands, and for Faranga, myrtana is an unknow land too.

Not really, I think;maybe Faranga is part from the Southern Islands so no unknown lands.
Indeed, I didn't mean that Jack is the same from G2 but this Captain Greg is something else, he could be very well the same with Gregorius Stealbeard...

[Arkose]

For Myrtana, Faranga is the unknow lands, and for Faranga, myrtana is an unknow land too. The argument would the the consecuences of the bann of the gods from the world, and how could they fix it (Xardas didn't know about the Titans, so, he probably would have to find a way to fix this mess, again, with the nameless hero help :P).

Actually, the Gothic 3 neutral ending makes it quite clear that the Unknown Land is a mystery but believed to be some completely separate dimension/planet/etc. since the whole point of Xardas's plan is to completely remove the gods' power from the world (relocating it wouldn't achieve that result), and the Risen intro shows their departure affecting the entire planet, not just one continent.

While Xardas could probably come up with a way of fixing what he unknowingly broke, Piranha Bytes' continuity has him still in the Unknown Land which would make getting his aid all but impossible (and that's if he would even agree to return, which is unlikely).

Forsaken gods, and Arcania are not canon for PB IMHO

Well, tying the two plots together could become awkward; Forsaken Gods takes place two years after the departure of the two, talking only of an "uneasy peace" in the interim, whereas Risen depicts a world that was thrown into chaos by the Titans during roughly the same period. This is even before you consider the problem of the old hero returning during the events of Forsaken Gods and Xardas seemingly following by the time of Arcania, even though the permanent nature of their self-imposed exile was critical to the success of Xardas's plan in Gothic 3.

When and if Piranha Bytes were to reclaim the rights to Gothic and decided to use the name once more I would certainly expect them to declare Forsaken Gods and Arcania to be no longer canonical. This certainly wouldn't be the first time games have been kicked out of a series' continuity (it's happened to several Castlevania games, for instance). However, it's more likely that they would just continue with Risen as-is (due to the negative effect Jowood's actions have had on the series) and instead make increasingly blatant references to their Gothic trilogy.

[.†.MikeL.†.]

It caught my eye that the end of Gothic 3 and intro of Risen have something in common, banishment of gods from mortal plane. I played the whole Gothic series (with the sole exeption of FG), but my PC just couldn't handle Risen. So my question would be, are there any hints/facts pointing out that worlds of Risen and Gothic are acctualy the same one, i.e. that stories of the two coexist? Don't spoil the story too much if you don't have to, since Risen is probably the first game I'm going to play after I pimp my PC a bit. And yeah, I know the whole PB/Jowood thing, so please don't use arguments based on that, only quests/ingame books related ones.

You said that you played all gothics but not risen because your PC can't handle it? Did you know that risen is 5 times lighter than Gothic3?

[Cor Innith]

You said that you played all gothics but not risen because your PC can't handle it? Did you know that risen is 5 times lighter than Gothic3?

My PC was able to handle Gothic 3 well enough to enjoy the game, but could only very barely run Risen. Don't know much about system requirements, but I bet there's a little pain in the arse in there.

[d3a7hr0w]

Here you can find a screenshot gallery of the first intro concept for Risen:
http://www.worldofrisen.de/gallery_138.htm (most of all is in German)
It shows a hero and a mage and the mage explains the effects of the absense of the gods. (The rise of the titans.)

This connects the Risen beginning to the Gothic 3 end.

So NH and Xardas are having a vision of the hero in Risen?

[.†.MikeL.†.]

My PC was able to handle Gothic 3 well enough to enjoy the game, but could only very barely run Risen. Don't know much about system requirements, but I bet there's a little pain in the arse in there.

Weird, for me it was the other way around. G3 was almost unplayable, i only libirated 2 or 3 cities and always at some corner or something and looking down the floor to lessen the lag as much as possible (lowest graphics) while i had Risen on almost high and playing smoothly all the way.

[Talek]

I had troubles running Risen as well while I had none for Gothic 3 but after swapping HDD Risen goes smooth as butter (even though gothic 2 and arcania are incredibly laggy (possible because of the beta driver)). If on-topic, this only shows that some part of the connection between the games was lost :P

[Korianous]

This makes me wonder if PB's writers were secretly glad of the separation from the Gothic Universe. While you can tell it was initially based on the conclusion to Gothic 3, the story of Risen works because of the new setting, and the chance to establish a new mythology.

If Risen had indeed been Gothic 4, and the Titans were freed because Xardas and the NH banished the gods, it would have been a bit too much disbelief for me to suspend.

[vic1968]

This makes me wonder if PB's writers were secretly glad of the separation from the Gothic Universe.

Hey man, you are going too far, don't you think?

If Risen had indeed been Gothic 4

But it is and the name: Arcania: Gothic4 is an infamy in my opinion.It would have been better the first Arcania-A Gothic Tale although Gothic could miss...

[Korianous]

Hey man, you are going too far, don't you think?

Hey man, not really, why do you ask?

[vic1968]

why do you ask?

I was just curious, you know.In any case, I wonder how can you make such statements because, if you really played Risen, than you must know that there is the same mythology ( without orcs and Xardas of course ) and are a lot of connections between Risen and Gothic.The feeling is quite the same, at least for me...