i believe it's all abou the money. these developers do not have much of it. in comparison with earlier games like gothic 1-3 it's still an improvement.
only the story-liniarity is a bit itchy for a RPG.
other games leave more freedom in decision-making and character/story developement.
but if you like "pirates of the caribean" or "Pirates" in general, this game is for you to play.

The Great JT:
The ending bit was good. And really, who does like Barney?

Oh yeah, I definitely hate that purple dinosaur.

What? Oh, Barney Calhoun.

That guy's a badass, how could you hate him?

endtherapture:
De Montford University hahahaha.

That made me laugh so much.

I'm going there in September.
Yay?

Never gave a crap about Risen and will continue doing this
Also, pirates aren't exactly my thing. Yes, I played hell out of Pirates! (recent version, not the first one), but still I feel meh about pirates.

The Barney moment in the end was funny
"Please stop banging on the door, we know you're there, we just don't like you"
:D :D :D

Aren't we perhaps a tad biased towards Pie Rats, eh old bean?
Oh, but it's not like SOMEONE wrote a whole novel about them, mmm-hmmm.

I had never heard of this game but you know what!

I would throw all my money at a big-budget developer (Bioware or Bethesda) to make a pirate-themed RPG! Everything you said about Risen says that it is pretty crappy but I like the idea very much and would definitely get out of the tired old medieval RPG's.

---

About that half-life video at the end...you sounded a lot like John Cleese.

Krantos:

Amaror:
or is a feature for them. Like making the game not too easy.

See, but none of the problems I had with Risen 1 were related to difficulty.

For example, if you're not using swords, the game beats you over the head with how you should have used swords. Most rare items you find are swords...

There are 3 sword types in the game (long, bastard, and two-handed, iirc, maybe there were only 2), but only one type of everything else.

Getting the ability to prospect is a difficult thing since there is only one person who trains it, but then the only thing you can do with the ore is smith it.

And you can only smith it into swords...

While we're on smithing... I hated how you had to wait until the local blacksmith was done with the forge/anvil/whetstone/etc to use it, but then he inevitably moved to the next one you needed, meaning you had to wait some more.

Then the UI was arduous, the Quest tracker, asinine, and the map was well nigh on useless.

I also really don't like the skill system. I know it's a carry-over from Gothic, but, as Yahtzee said, it makes it feel like everyone else is more capable than you, which doesn't bode well when you're the intrepid hero. The fact that there will always be someone else who is at least as good as you makes you wonder why you can't get more help taking down the Personification of Evil d'jour.

IDK, I enjoyed the first game for a while, but after a time the frustrations outweighed the charm and I shelved it and any interest I had in the second.

p.s. oh, and there is the fact that the first game was wildly misogynistic, but that's a different topic altogether.

Ok the sword thing was retarted of the developer, but i didn't mind since i like swords more than anything else nontheless. I liked the skill system. It doesn't makes you a mighty god, but rather shows that the only special thing about you, is your will to take on the evil. I think the Map was rather usefull. It showed the main roads ´, so you know where to go and it showed were you're objectives were, what more do you want?
But then again i know how you CAN be pissed of by such things, i just happen to like them or don't mind.

Half Life ending was brilliant.

Also another good review, my thoughts exactly - brilliant ideas but just poorly executed. Still, kudos for them trying to do something a bit differently!

Well there's a game I'll probably avoid. There's two reasons really, the first one being that the review didn't really show me a game I'd be very interested in. The second being that the review was a little overshadowed by something. And that's surprising because there were an awful lot of crab jokes, usually its hard to top that.

On a side note, I happen to have a massive evil underground complex and the slaves... Sorry, sorry, government doesn't like it when I call them that. My LABOURERS, god damn pinkos, could use a bit more colour in their lives during that early morning grind, do you hire out? The rates are of course entirely unfair.

Falseprophet:

templar1138a:
It's too bad the mechanics sound so bad. There do need to be more RPGs that aren't in a medieval setting (elves and dwarves are just fine in the Industrial Revolution, for example).

They did make that game, it was called Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura and it was great. You can get it from GOG.

I said they need to make more RPGs that aren't in a medieval setting. I bought Arcanum years ago, still have it, still try to play it, still sigh in disappointment. It's just not up to snuff with today's graphics and I need to do a lot of grinding to get my skills built and be able to learn the tech schematics/spells I want. That game needs a kickstart on Source or Havok. Or better yet, there needs to be a new Industrial Fantasy game based on modern standards (except, y'know, a more fulfilling experience).

The closest I've gotten is Fable III. That's pretty sad.

Xenominim:
Sounds every bit as awkward as the first. I did play the first the whole way through, once and with a guide after leveling in such a way that I was screwed the first time I tried, a couple of mods helped it a tiny bit graphically but didn't really change the gameplay which sounds a lot like this. I know their budget isn't huge and that excuses the graphics, but their combat and leveling system does need an overhaul of some sort if they ever want to reach a wider audience. Right now combat is just broken and leveling puts too much focus on cash, and from the sounds of it certain skills are imbalanced to the point of being indispensable or utterly useless, and you don't necessarily know which is which without a guide or blowing a huge chunk of change and possible working yourself into a hole you can't climb out of when the enemies scale up.

Sounds like you just described an Elder Scrolls game.

Having seen the game on Steam one or twice and having been intrigued, I may pick it up anyway. Probably at reduced price, however, and only after I get a new computer.

As to the end sketch, I would have figured the Black Mesa personell would have been a little more fond of the stylings of Oingo Boingo.

templar1138a:

Falseprophet:

templar1138a:
It's too bad the mechanics sound so bad. There do need to be more RPGs that aren't in a medieval setting (elves and dwarves are just fine in the Industrial Revolution, for example).

They did make that game, it was called Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura and it was great. You can get it from GOG.

I said they need to make more RPGs that aren't in a medieval setting. I bought Arcanum years ago, still have it, still try to play it, still sigh in disappointment. It's just not up to snuff with today's graphics and I need to do a lot of grinding to get my skills built and be able to learn the tech schematics/spells I want. That game needs a kickstart on Source or Havok. Or better yet, there needs to be a new Industrial Fantasy game based on modern standards (except, y'know, a more fulfilling experience).

The closest I've gotten is Fable III. That's pretty sad.

What wouldn't I give for a good and original RPG with an original setting. I agree, Arcanum is good, but it hasn't aged too well. Though I still play it on my laptop.
Or really, I can even take another medieval RPG if it has a good setting and a good plot. And a "living" world.

Loved the Half-Life video Yahtzee. Good stuff, not this game though. Terrible, terrible game. [shakes head]

It's a shame the game suffers from so many flaws. I kinda liked the idea of a non-traditional themed RPG. Oh well...

Loved the outro skit. Witty dialog, as usual. Good show Mr. Croshaw.

The Great JT:
The ending bit was good. And really, who does like Barney?

Me. :(

Though, he does still owe me that beer; that cheeky bastard.

To answer my question from yesterday's post, The WATCHMEN joke in the Half-Life radio bit was "Dr. Juspiczik (sp?) from Quantum Entanglement", referring to Silk Sectre II and Dr. Manhattan.

And for the record, I like Barney Calhoun too.

Ooh yay he's doing the skits again yay. And what was that first song?

Thomas fucking Dolby, Yahtzee you bastard, now I have that stuck in my head.

Regarding the review, I guess I'll stick to Sid Meier's Pirates! then...

Hutzpah Chicken:
The Half-Life bit was great. I wish this was a sign that Black Mesa Source is finally ready.

Funny really as this is the week were we learned that they are at least still working on Black Mesa.

Achievement unlocked: Finally a Zero Punctuation review for a game I worked on. This took far too long. :)

I've said it before and I'll say it again,
FUCK REALISM!!

I got it myself and I found enjoyable even with it's design flaws.Have been waiting to play a pirate themed RPG for a while now.

Love the epilogue part as well,don't think I've seen that in any other video that you've made.Hope to see more in the future.

That Half-Life thing at the end was awesome. More of that please.

The game is set in Risen 1 theme and not a pirates theme obviously, they just made it more pirate related. its just a continuation of Risen 1 and you even play the main character from that game. And yes the game only looks nice, little of the game/combat mechanics has changed from gothic 3, even as far back as gothic 1 a 2001 game which is a bit sad, i was hoping for a combat revamp in this one, rather they just made the attack spam easier. The game being german Primary languaged makes the voice acting a bit bad at times to ofc.

Like the idea of islands to visit then the huge Gothic 3 / oblivion / skyrim'esque maps that are pain just to walk across which also concentrates the interesting areas more..

Hooray the return of the ending sketches! Sector 7-g, I see what you did there.

As for the waining popularity of pirates over say, zombies, it's a little harder to get into things that you might actually run into in the world and murder you for your boat.

Yay ending sketches! When was the last time Yahtzee did that?

I'm thoroughly enjoying Risen 2. Yes, it's very cheesy, the graphics aren't AAA, the acting is a bit dodgy, but the game is FUN. It's a shame Yahtzee didn't try Voodoo (Risen 2 doesn't have anything like a traditional magic system). Possessing people, cursing them with a voodoo doll, and turning them against each other is a lot more interesting than shooting lightening from your fingers. Seriously, I am enjoying this game more than I did Skyrim. Skyrim was often a grind - Risen 2 (so far) has never felt like "work".
As others have pointed out, dodge during combat was added in a patch.

so glad you've started doing those post-review bits again, that was fantastic!

Heh heh heh, sector 7G.

There needs to be more games where you just sit around and listen to stuff.

Ha ha! Loving the De Monfort University Reference! Brave for an ex-pat brit living in Aus posting his wares to a largely US-Centric website.

I grew up in Leicester, my dad was a prof at the "real" university. De Monfort was called "Del Monte" because "The admissions man from Del Monte, he say yes!". Ha ha.... ahahahaha..... I'll get my coat.

The last bit reminds me of how funny Yahtzee used to be

Currently playing through Risen 1. I just got to act 2, also known as the point where the rather nice voice acting gets in the back seat and lets the infuriatingly hard combat take over. Fighting shit is too damn hard. Unless, of course, you overlevel it, in which case, it's too damn easy. Why is there no middle ground?

Jackle_666:
The last bit reminds me of how funny Yahtzee used to be

I think he needs a break.

It's parry then riposte, not riposte and parry.