- *stands there dumbfounded* ?~? - Hello, are you the one who teaches thievery? :'o - (So that's how it works?) Yes-yes, indeed I am. 3000 gold please! >:D *Wheel of Samsara makes a turn...*
Damn this still makes me sad. Risen 1 was a hidden gem on pc, in germany it was a huge deal and honestly it delivered on every promise. It was amazing on pc but awful on console. So you tried to do right by it by reviewing the sequel on PC. That was a really awesome move of you and i respect it. However the sequel just so happened to be terrible and vastly inferior to the first one in every way. It's the game that taught me never to pre order anything again. You had such bad luck with these games, i still believe you might have really enjoyed Risen 1 on pc back then.
You would've expected an Assassin's Creed Black Flag review after this mess. He seemed interested in the pirate theme and Black Flag was pretty much the first good pirate game. Shame we never got one.
He wanted to review AC4 but he was dealing with the UA-cam BS at the time. He did mention on his Twitch stream that he did love the game, but he didn't put out the review since by the time he got finished with the UA-cam BS it was kinda late for a review.
"first good pirate game" uhhh you know there is Sid Meier Pirates and the 2004 remake of that game, which is open world and has a lot more freedom then Risen 2, and AC Black Flag
I think this game surpasses our quality control with flying colours. We, the heroes of gaming have decided to add more content to Risen 3 through reliable methods such as DLC and preorder bonuses.
to be honest barbora girls love guyz with their beard grown not much though but they find it attractive cause it show masculine traits or something stuble like that
this was really the best angry Joe's review, probably the cosplay and the beer, and parrot helped, and am sure he has better, Joe you're awesome, cheers to you
This is my number 1 game. I love how easy it is in the beginning, and how it gradually gets harder towards the end. The combat is amazing, and there are so many different moves you can do. Also, the *graphics*! This game looks better than all the next gen games coming out at the moment. This game also has a very high educational value. It taught me the most important life lesson: how to kick.
***** I know, right?? My life has been shortened by about 30 years by playing this game, and I feel so much better for it!! Thank you Risen 2. *Thank you so much*
It was ironic that he asked "What kind of pirate can't swim?" and I said, "Like, the strongest characters in One Piece." Then the One Piece clip popped up and I burst out laughing.
Yeah, it's still ironic that in an anime/manga series about pirates fighting marines, at least half of the pirates/marines that can actually fight are incapable of swimming by virtue of eating a fruit that gives them superpowers.
Risen 2 was bad. I have to agree with Joe and I'm PBs fan for the life. Gothic, Gothic 2 and Gothic 3 with Community patch 1.73 which cured it's buggynes were great games and the original Gothic remains my favorite RPG of all time. PB do stuff differently than others. They are a small studio which shows. Their games are balanced, everything is in harmony because all the people inside PB know each other and cooperate, consult, there is single vision. World in the original Gothic feels more alive than in most modern RPGs which is a high praise considering how old that game is and what technical possibilities do we have now. Their games feels warmer than other RPGs, there is no generic stuff in them like "collect 5 this and bring me 3 of that" etc. Now Risen on PC was a true Gothic successor. I wouldn't call it's story uninteresting, nah. It wasn't very epic but that's fine by me, I don't have to save the world, galaxy, universe or whatever every single time. One island was enough for me. Combat felt modern yet complex, great visuals and lightning on PC, solid framerate, good voice acting, enough creatures with different tactics, sarcastic and grumpy hero. I liked the main protagonist a lot. Not many people did and I understand why but that's how it is in PBs games. He's pretty much like Nameless hero from Gothic series, no BS man, what you see you get, what he thinks he says :) Risen 2 was a disappointment for me. Dumbed down combat, reworked protagonist, bugs and visual errors... I couldn't get into it. Since they revealed Risen 3 is coming out this fall I'm going to play trough whole game at last so I don't loose tracking of what's going on. And I'm not afraid of Risen 3. PB learn from their mistakes. Anyway to close this freakingly long comment I'm gonna recommend all people who like RPGs to go and pick the original Gothic series on gog.com. Their versions works with modern systems fine and although Gothic is pretty old game it's still very playable and offers different experience than games from let's say Bethesda. They are definitely worth trying out. Just be patient at the beginning. PBs games are usually tough for first 3-5 hours before you level up a bit and learn the basics. It's for the kind of people who don't demand going on killing spree and do epic deeds 10 minutes into a game.
***** Well I finally went trough whole game and I have to admit it has a lot of potential. Story is great and characters are outstanding. Music is good as always and there's some good stuff like controlling other characters using voodoo. My biggest problem was how broken the game was when it was released. It's still not very well optimized but I have new graphic card so I got over it. All the flickering and broken shadows which were giving me headache after playing the game for couple of minutes is finally gone so my biggest problem was solved. I could play it fine now. LOD was fixed by mods so there are no more popping objects and transforming vegetation few meters in front of you and other annoying stuff. Gnome village on Thieves island was for some reason unplayable on my spec when my fps went down to 10 with some serious stuttering on 760 HAWK which is just lame, but that part didn't last long which is rather shame because gnomes were pretty cute and amusing. All and all if it would run better at places, had combat system from first risen and also an option to continue with side quests after finishing main story I would call it a great game. I don't mind it's slightly different than other PB's games, I liked it. Surprisingly lot. But since you're fighting nearly all the time that combat system showed to be a real let down. Shame. Btw. Half of the things Joe mentioned aren't worrying me at all. Controlling your ship and doing battles on see... Someone should remind Joe that Pyranha Bites is relatively small studio with tight budget. He has a different taste on RPGs. I see hundreds of problems with Bethesda's games which are lame at places, technologically very weak (considering their budget it's a crime) and downright weird at places (like little kids being happy about messy murder in front of their eyes in Skyrim). We have different taste but I like him because he's always honest which is rare these days.
***** You can get the community patch for Gothic 3 here: www.gamershell.com/download_88556.shtml I see they made v. 1.75 although when 1.73 was released they claimed it's the final one. Installing is no different from other software on Windows. It definitely improves the game. There is alternative difficulty which allows multiple enemies to attack you at the same time, tweaked AI (wild boars are no longer godlike creatures which can kill anything standing in their way), many fixes were applied, slightly better graphics with more options... Definitely try it.
Jakub Bednář Well to be honest, they said there will be no ship sailing. Its still fantasy RPG despite having pirates in it. Its not really a pirate game. You dont pilot Normandy in Mass Effect either. AC4:BF is an action game, and ship sailing is more suited for it than for an fantasy rpg. Combat with animals is not the best but with humanoid enemies its much better, it involves all kinds of tricks, timing is also important for parry. And i think PB is made of 20-25 people. 900 people worked on AC4:BF. Risen 2 was great but cant compare to the greatness of Gothic series (first 2 especially).
I loved Risen 2. I agree it's not the most polished game ever... but it has an interesting story, good voice acting and a nice change of pace from all the Fantasy/Wasteland RPG's we play.
*sigh* still more to offer as a pirate game than Skull and bones >< THIS GAME SHOULDNT BE A MEASURE OF HOW FAR WEVE LOST THE PLOT ABOUT HOW TO BE A PIRATE VIDEO GAME!!!
+Rancor Palmach Easier than you apparently think if you're whipping your pistol out of a belt and trying to fire at a moving target in the span of a second or two with your non-dominant hand. You ever try doing that? With practice, sure, but guns are a new thing to this game's world and it's an rpg, you have to get your quickdraw skill up.
Funnily enough this is actually 100% true and I've talked about this before with my friends. i find it hilarious but also sad, because now you see the potential of a GOOD pirate game. if Ubisoft actually let one of their Dev teams make a fucking full on pirate game without the assassins creed IP it could be even better.
I don't always petty - but when I do - I petty well IMO Black Flag may not be the best AC game - but, for my money, it is at least the most INTERESTING. I mean there are stand out moments in all the AC games but I played them once - was impressed - moved on. AC4 is the only one I've EVER come back to... well, AC and Rogue - but Rogue is a whole different kettle of fish that we'll leave for later. I mean the characters in AC4 are all interesting - the entire CAST stands out. There's a lot to care about - there's a REASON to keep coming back for me... and maybe you're right - maybe it is Pirates - but I have to say, whatever it is, no other AC game has ever managed to copy it for me.
Taoma H that being the reason I said 'IMO' - that's what these movies are. IMO. Every single thing Joe has ever posted has been his opinion. The Internet is chock-a-block of IMO. For myself I found Ezio kind of emotionless and flat. And if I wanted 'puzzles' I'd get out a puzzle - I want stories and adventuring and exploring and combat. I probably wasn't the target audience with the first three games - and I DEFINITELY wasn't the target audience for the last few AC games :P I really couldn't care less about the AC storyline - hell, I played the first three out of order and didn't even finish the first one :P I enjoy AC4 and Rogue so much because they are good games. Which is what I was trying to say - it may not be the best AC game (whatever that means) but it is - for me - the most memorable and enjoyable.
Admittedly, Risen 2 is frustrating at times. It has it's flaws, and it's crashed on me a couple times while leaving one island to the next (Xbox 360) - but just like the first Risen, it is very rewarding after actually playing it for some time. I started actually gaining momentum after about 8 hours, same as with Risen 1. You basically start off as the washed up, drunken loser, formally known as the slayer of a fire titan. So the whole, "not knowing wtf you're doing" thing, kind of makes sense. At least that's what I took from it. Throughout the game you slowly get better. I'm actually playing it now for the first time, and I've learned that leveling your "Cunning" first, is an absolute must. Once you're able to pickpocket and pick locks, you should then work on your "Toughness" and "Blades," while spending all of the "booty" you make, on learning new skills in between. After that, it's really just equalling out your other main attributes, and slowly building your character in every single skill - while focusing mainly on the ones that will benefit you in combat. Such as sword fighting, parrying, kicking, healing, blocking, and so on. Further into the story, once you've become more efficient at thieving and fighting, Risen 2 drastically gets better. It's still challenging, but all of that tediousness begins to pay off, and the game becomes satisfying and rewarding. Especially when your equipment actually helps, you're no longer getting dogged in fights, and you're actually making progress. The storyline itself is entertaining, and even amusing. The pirate theme is indeed heavy in Risen 2, and at times is even comical. At one point you'll even meet a foul-mouthed gnome. Who cusses more than your dad used to do, when you weren't holding the flashlight in the right place under the hood of his rusty old "project car." And said gnome even accompanies you out into the world, and shares with you on your adventures. You can have a trained monkey steal people's things, and open doors for you. Or you can have a parrot maliciously attack your enemies. Someone not cooperating? No worries! Steal some of their hair, and create a voodoo doll of them to take control of their body! Risen 2 in my own opinion, is a hardcore RPG, that has to be given the upmost effort. But if like me you can't make yourself sit and play it for hours on end. It still rewards you little by little, with each time you save and come back later. My own review: 3.7 out of 5 stars. Also - I wholeheartedly agree that Two Worlds sucks complete, and total ass. And that Two Worlds 2 was light years better than it's predecessor. 😂
I watched this review like 5 times, its just that great, and I love Risen even more than R2, though I did break LMB playing it. Play it on PC, the atmosphere is something you compleatly forgot Joe. The music is incredible, makes you feel like you're ''Lost in Gothic''
***** Honestly mate, if you enjoy RPG games you can't go wrong with it while it's on sale. If you like pirates your enjoyment will be much more since you get a lot of bang for a few bucks at the moment. I can't beat Joe's review but do take into account it has been about 2 years since it came out, they fixed quite a lot of bugs... No game is ever flawless, some people just review games on the surface without a lot of knowledge about how games are made, especially rpg games are crazy endeavor! For 4 or 5 bucks? You got to be kidding for still asking me to tell you how it is, you can't even have a proper meal at a decent restaurant for that money, so you see, get it while it's 80% off!
***** If you want a good pirate game, get Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag. Don't bother with Risen 2, it is complete shit and a waste of time and money.
***** I don't think we can agree on that. For me Gothic 2 is a 9/10 even compared to Skyrim, not just because ''it was good for its time''. Despite that I enjoyed Gothic 3 and Risen to some extent, I think that Risen 2 is utter crap. They threw away the medieval fantasy setting completely, which doesn't make much sense, when you look at the story, the sidequests were boring and most of them included killing a number of monsters. The main story was mediocre at most and the characters, that you meet were all the same and not memorable at all. I played Gothic 1, when it came out and to this day I can remember Diego, Milten, Xardas and a lot of others. The only character I can remember from both Risen games is Inquisitor Mendoza.
i know it's his opinion, and i respect all of his reviews. i trust his reviews more than ign or gamespot. guess i disagree just a little with what his saying with this one. he more than likely is right about it.
tnecniw I totally do! With serious ship-to-ship combat with amazing strategy elements... sailing through islands, outgunned... does your ship have a shallower draft? Head for the shoals... is the enemy inexperienced enough to follow? Will he go around and try to head you off? You get to safety and cant see him anymore... which way do you exit? Send scouts onto the island to find out his position and take time to prep for battle make some repairs... but while you're doing this, he might be sending carrier pigeons to ask for reinforcements, so you've gotta act fast... will your scouts make it back in time? Maybe you have t abandon them which will reduce morale... I want different types of shot, crew management, fleet-forming (like clans), recruiting better crew-members, boarding, attacking ports, politics, spying to find ship routes and cargo, I could go on for hours haha sorry to ramble but yes, I want an awesome pirate game!
Like seriously: what is a hardcore pirate RPG? Are we looking for one where you can catch VD from rape, have all your teeth rot out because you drank too much rum, and die of thirst in a gibbet because you were busted for rolling into port?
Stan Nicolae hmm..perhaps you're right... Gothic 2 might deserve the first place, It's an amazing game. I just have personal memories that affect my view of Gothic3 ...and I relly enjoyed Risen resently...
You are not a true gothic fan. Gothic 3 is the worst in the whole series. Gothic 3 is the cheesiest modern graphics RPG I played. Rainbow coloured mushrooms, meek mild music and ORCS THAT DANCE LIKE 5-year old girlies!? Xardas was depersonalized into some corporatised style rag that sucks up to the player, for which I had to put him out of his misery in Gothic 3, but mostly because I hold him responsible for solving the mess he made of Myrtana that made me play the game. Xardas came back to haunt me in Gothic 4 as some kind of raging humanist...
I think Joe never got the fact that Piranha Bytes is a PC developer and the Xbox 360 version of Risen (1) wasn't even developed by them. Give it a go on the PC and the game is really a lot of fun! But I guess there's a reason why the Risen predecessors, the Gothic games, are hardly known in the USA. You don't get rewards/achievements shoved up your ass for playing the first few minutes. Progression is slow at first and punishing. You're not a badass, you're a weakling who has to pick fights that are actually winable while avoiding bigger enemies. It takes hours until you get your first piece of armor and a decent weapon, magic is almost unavailable until you join the mages or buy a few scrolls. You really have to muscle through the first few hours until it really clicks. The games are far more popular in Europe, specifically Germany and Eastern Europa, like Russia and Poland. I personally think the developers made a mistake when they tried releasing their games on consoles and reaching more players. Their games just aren't mass compatible like mainstream horseshit like CoD.
oh my god bro he just showed me 21 minutes of pure shit. why would I want to buy this game? FUCK this game and FUCK you thinking if we don't like it we're all about "mainstream horseshit" aka COD Whilst I don't like COD I can say that they and battlefield are the current heavy hitters of their respective fields for a reason. People like them; that's how it gets "mainstream". All in all I consider COD and Battlefield to be no more than FIFA and NFL just with guns ( I really don't like those games either, but I understand theres not a lot of room to evolve in a modern day sports game, same way theres not a lot you can do or explain to a modern society about modern warfare other than a horrid attempt at realism ( ARMA series; it's good but all bullshit) and an arcade focused game like COD or Battlefield; same way nobody plays those sports management realistic sims; and prefer the arcade games like Fifa.
@Corristo89...You do realize he did this one on the PC, right? At the beginning, he said that he decided to review this one on the PC AND NOT THE XBOX 360.
This is the stupidest comment ive seen yet. "People dont like our game so it must be the fault of those stinky lazy americans who need rewards!!! Its not like anyone in our glorious soviet corrupt motherland plays videogames to have fun!" If you seriously think a game should be limited in release because its not "mainstream compatible" aKa badly thought out, then the game has problems. And there you go calling CoD shit too. Such generic, pointless comparisions and complaints that offer nothing constructive
Amen Joe. Risen 2 is lazy work done by a horrible writer and features really bad visuals. Risen and Risen 2 are not Gothic 2: Night of the Raven. That's a fact and PB needs to move it's ass. 4\10 seems to be right.
Sure Risen 2 could've been a lot better, but a 4/10? Really?? I personally liked this game (and its predecessor) quite a bit. It's immersive and atmospheric, and it has loads of great dialogue and funny moments. The combat could use a lot more polish, as would all the other gameplay aspects, but a 4/10 sounds to me like some serious disappointment; there are a lot of games quite a bit worse than risen 2 (*cough* both dragon ages *cough* skyrim *cough*), that have received a lot more positive reviews. Risen 2 isn't a perfect game, but it sure as hell deserves more than a 4/10. I suspect that this game gets a bad rap because its european, and it doesn't try to kiss the players ass at every opportunity like the more popular games. In fact, the game treats the player character rather badly, and I suspect that most players just can't handle that, but that's the main thing I like about this game; it arouses genuine feelings towards certain characters. I actually cared about some of them, and in these days that is saying a lot. Everyone can see the faults of this game, that's not a big surprise since they're quite glaring. What I am amazed is that so few people can see the good in this game, the memorable characters like Patty, Steelbeard, Jaffar, Bones, Slayne, or the incredibly beautiful maps and amazing music. Sure the combat sucks and there's too much of it, but that's true for almost every single rpg in existence. Anyone remember battling with the damn camera in Dragon Age: Origins? The "tactics" of the game consisted of one AoE disable spell and a couple AoE damage spells, and most of the time that was it. Controlling your characters was one hell of a hassle, especially since you had to turn off the utterly idiotic AI, and besides a few exceptions the characters were rather bland, boring and generic. In DA2 the protagonist at least had some personality. In skyrim there isn't a single fucking character worth remembering, not a single quest that went beyond "I would've laughed at this if I was a teenager" - quality, and the game tries to place it's tongue so deep inside the player's asshole that it gets rather uncomfortable. And the combat sucked; slash slice hack heal slash slice dead. EDIT: sry about the rant, couldn't help myself.
ThaneDukeHeineken So you're one of those guys who think skyrim is great just because the general consensus believes it to be great. Let me just ask you a question: *in what way is skyrim better than let's say risen 2?* A simple question, and unless you can come up with real arguments (dude, it's skyrim isn't going to cut it here), then it's your credibility that is destroyed here. Just because my stance about skyrim isn't a popular one, doesn't mean I'm not right.
Here's one way. The world is much more diverse and accessible. Most of the Risen 2 islands look very similar whereas Skyrim has tundra, forest, the Dwarven ruins. Not to mention the hundreds of buildings in Skyrim. Here's another. There are many more weapons and weapon types (archery, staffs, conjured weapons.) I find Skyrim to be much more immersive and Skyrim has tonnes more content than Risen 2.
So many risen apologists here. People, 20 hours of leveling up and learning the proper skills to not hate the game and somewhat enjoy some parts in the last little bit isn't worth it. The pirate theme was done badly, (look at AC4 for pirates done well) and the combat isn't as immersive and thought provoking as risen fanboys claim. It is mostly just tedious and the AI is so bad. The quest menu sucks and so does a lot of other aspects of the RPG element. The graphics are pretty sub par and the level design isn't anything special. The boss fights are lackluster and your average enemy is either incredibly easy, annoyingly difficult, unrealistic, glitchy, or boring. Risen and it's sequel and risen 3 are all sub par games, and you have no right to say things like "Joe your opinion is wrong dont do risen reviews anymore" on a review, which involves people's OPINIONS ON THE GAME. Rant over
I recently played Risen 1 and 2, as someone who played Gothic back in the day i knew what to expect here. Risen 1 is petty much the Gothic, in Risen 2 they slaped a Pirate theme on it, but whiout actually being a pirate focused game. I ended up enjoying Risen 1 and 2. The combat is trash until you learn some things, what is expensive. But, as you can go with a companion most of the time, it is actually not that hard. The hardest part is when Patty meets her father at the start and leaves you alone whiout a companion on the first island. That was a mistake. But the worst to me is Risen 3, but not because of the gameplay, i went there expecting to continue the story of the main character and Patty, and i find myself playing the never heard off, Patty half brother, with no explanation as to what happened to the Nameless hero and why he does not longer travels with Patty. I hated that. What worse, it looks to me as if the plot was designed for the nameless hero and changed later in development.
Honestly, I think the hate is a little intense of this game. I for the first time played both risen games this year. Yes, the first one was rough, it was empty and clunky. Put I could still see they truly did make an attempt with the story and tried to make some quests that would be fun. The dialogue and quips were honestly what really shined for me. The main character is very quick with a joke and that shows even more in the second game. Again the combat is different and a bit difficult. But they truely did try to build from the first game, using what characters they most loved. The Dynamic between Patty and the MC is super fun and adventurous to me. And theres this sense of respect and honor with the druid. They tried to make unique creatures to the world and give it lore. Even though the cutscenes were nothing to brag about, they really tried to make the story parts shines. I loved the action figure part. Another fun part was a mudcrab slaying quest where they were referred to as "Horrors in a halfshell". What sucks is that all the companions are super fun with dialogue, but you can only bring one and the game does not really show off that dialogue except when doing quests, which you can only do once. I guess for all of it's flaws, I can still forgive Risen. Because there truely was an effort into making a fun story with a piraty feel. Which is sadly far more than we've been getting with recent games. Sea of Thieves has become Live Play which means being punished for not being an active player at all times. Skull and Bones has been delayed after showing itself to be an absolute disaster and insult to Assassins Creed Blackflag. And any other game they've tried to make pirate style has just utterly failed. Hell, the only fun pirate game with a story out atm is Return to Monkey Island. Which I find hard to call a game and as it's more so a narrative driven puzzle. I think the point I'm trying to make is, this game is more of a pirate game than most. It's not the best. But it's not the worst. I wouldn't call it mediocre, but certainly not for everyone. It was fun for me. And that's more than I've been getting of late with games. Be that from Microtransactions galore, a battlepass, early access that's never finished or just bad game design in general with no effort put into the stories. Getting harder to have fun gaming every year. So when it's comes to games like the Risen Series. I think it's worth a single playthrough. But definitely not a repeat haha.
i did like risen games, 1 and 3 mostly. I know most people would disagree , but in my opinion they are some of the most hardcore rpg games out there. Yes there are stupid stuff, and stuff that make no sense but the "learn to swim" mechanics are just unique for me. The absurdity and disorientation are stuff you either like or hate, but as a dnd player for years, and in addition of the bottlenecks in the game i grew to love it.. The fact that there are 3 games out there means something ya know
+sizorblade i liked all of them, but risen 3 was my favorite, improved combat, more variety in world design, great characters and replay-value. Risen 2 you can play 2 times and you've seen everything, sorry
+sizorblade You think a lot like me. Altough I only got Risen 2, I'm 5 hours into it and... honestly... i quite enjoy it. Despite being a fan of Joe and his opinions, I actually like the game so far (and the conversations are pretty damn funny), so.. I guess I should give the first and the third ones a shot as well, right?
Creepy Pirate The first is the most well recieved (play it on pc, tough. The console version is full of box and bad textures) Risen 3 is very good imo. altough the start isn't that good, it gets better and better the further you get into the game (yes, alot better than risen 2. If you understand the fighting system, which joe did not.)
I miss these kinds of reviews. Honestly, it feels Joe mostly reviews just AAA games these days. It says a lot that Joe didn’t give any 1/10 scores for 6 years(2017-2023).
"The inferior Xbox version" Wish these kids would explain this, I played it on the 360 and PC, there is no friggin' difference! I have the opposite opinion to Joe though, love all the Risen games
3:46: "Joe hasn't showered or shaved for days for this role" Okay Joe, not SHAVING for days would've convinced us enough, but we can't smell you through our computers, & another thing you missed: To stick to TRUE pirate history, you should've not BRUSHED YOUR TEETH for several days, because obviously, they didn't have toothbrushes or toothpaste back in the pirate age.
I stuck with the game and ended up having fun playing it, but there's no denying the game has issues. Like Joe said, the early game is horrendous, thanks to the dumb "glory+gold" leveling up mechanic, augmented by the sheer difficulty of a lot of the enemies and the lack of available gold. Voodoo was dumb, and mostly useless. There was HUGE potential for a really cool set of voodoo skills...but in the end it was limited to making a few trinkets, potions, dolls that can control a few pre-set NPCs, and a few staves with limited power. Combat is repetitive, and firearms are frustrating as hell. Still, if you're willing to really, really, really grind, you'll eventually get over the hump and end up with enough gold, glory and good equipment to improve your character to the point where the game is enjoyable and easier.
I picked the path of muskeets and it was far more fun. Unlike pistols, muskeets are really powerful and help you deal with many dangerous enemies from afar.
Ive got more fun with this than with AC 4 tbh.. Maybe its because im German and I like the style of German RPGs but AC 4, apart of the sailing it sucks like AC 3.
Just finished the game for a second time and I still love it, and I remembered this video. Verry funny (especially the voodo pirate part and 12:20), but you're just not good at it dude. You say the combat is too easy (gets more advanced later) yet you complain you cannot win a fight...curious. And why were you not eating provisions or drinking grog to regain your health? Let's see how you win against an aligator just by spamming click, it just doesnt work, you have to dodge, regain your health, use your pistol or for humans other dirty tricks like sand (pocket sand sha sha), salt. To be fair Gothic1 and Gothic2's combat were shit too but people still loved it. The monkey? You use it a lot in temples if you want extra lootr from places you cannot go to, or get through house windows or roof cracks to steal. Not necessary but fun. Of course people are going to kill it if you do it in the middle of the day and you get caught. The parrot? Good to start a fight with a better opponent, you cant use it in the middle of the fight. Also you have the inventory bar, you put your pistol on a number, the parrot on another, the grog, and so on. You switch between them and use them fast. Come on now Joe. "they're reusing faces, the graphics are shit" cant say otherwise but if you're having fun the graphics dont matter.
+Xenomorph Captain Vex muno it isnt believe ne. Some people like it other dont. Some rate it 8 out of 10 some say its a masterpiece, worth checking out in my opinion
Am german. hate Risen. Combat system is the most boring, repetetive and frustrating thing in the world. Even skyrims shitty ass one button combat was better. I will stick to Fromsoft when it comes to hand to hand combat
Ich hab nur gesagt, dass nur Deutsche anscheinend Risen (1+2) mögen können (zu großen Teilen wegen der rauen Atmosphäre). Ich habe nicht gesagt, dass alle Deutschen es mögen. ^^ Natürlich gibt es da welche, die Risen nicht mögen (auch wenn das für mich bei Risen 1 zumindest unvorstellbar ist, warum man es nicht mögen kann, aber jeder wie er will).
Played all 3 Gothic games, liked them all. Played Risen 1 and liked it (not as much as Gothic game), but after Risen 2 Piranha Bytes died as game developers for me, they we ahead of their time with Gothic 1 and 2 , but since that time they are just standing in place, it is such a shame.
Honestly, I like medieval fantasy like Gothic, Skyrim, or Dragon Age much more than pirate stuff. I think an RPG set in ancient times might be good as well, but I haven't played any yet.
I miss the time when go did these videos more often where he would show off more gameplay even in the background. The font on the screen explaining stuff was good too. I feel like he barely ever does big game reviews like this as much.
So I guess you could say Risen 2 had incest sex with its father Risen and then the result was Raven's Cry: The mentally challenged rip off version of all of this. Until of course they renamed and re-released it with virtually no improvements.
- Can you make me a better thief ?
- For gold ? Suuure :)
*Give 2000 gold*
- Thanks ! Bye !
*Thievery +20*
- *stands there dumbfounded* ?~?
- Hello, are you the one who teaches thievery? :'o
- (So that's how it works?) Yes-yes, indeed I am. 3000 gold please! >:D
*Wheel of Samsara makes a turn...*
Steals gold back
Bruh i laughed 🤣👍
12:49 Perhaps the funniest thing ever said by a human, I still watch this clip 5 years later whenever life gets too much.
It is now 5 years later, here is a reminder to watch again.
The part where Joe’s monkey gets blasted always gets me. 😂
Lolololololooloolmlollolloo that monkey exploded. The camera whipped back so hard.🤣
That Motherf**ker Killed My Monkey!!!
awesome opening 0:20
Always coming back for the feels 😂😂
Joe i'm here to tell you that Raven's Cry makes Risen 2 look like the Witcher
Kenneth The Wizard HOW DARE YOU COMPARE THE BELOVED WITCHER TO THIS GARBAGE HOW DARE YOU
i am not comparing it you idiot i just mean Raven Cry makes Risen 2 look good
but you mention witcher UNACCEPTABLE
Alex Dicarlo what could i mention then?
Kenneth The Wizard XD ahahaha i read this comment and died i hated raven's cry
"Now some of you may remember my Risen review.... I HATED IT!!" So jokes
Most of the male characters have the arms of C-3PO
Damn this still makes me sad. Risen 1 was a hidden gem on pc, in germany it was a huge deal and honestly it delivered on every promise. It was amazing on pc but awful on console. So you tried to do right by it by reviewing the sequel on PC. That was a really awesome move of you and i respect it. However the sequel just so happened to be terrible and vastly inferior to the first one in every way. It's the game that taught me never to pre order anything again. You had such bad luck with these games, i still believe you might have really enjoyed Risen 1 on pc back then.
I miss Joe's youthful rage circa these videos, but I understand his old man frustrations nowadays. I'm going through that same progression myself lmao
Same here
Young Angry Joe was the best!
You would've expected an Assassin's Creed Black Flag review after this mess. He seemed interested in the pirate theme and Black Flag was pretty much the first good pirate game. Shame we never got one.
He did review it but I think it got taken down or something
Anoe Lee It did ? Shame
He wanted to review AC4 but he was dealing with the UA-cam BS at the time. He did mention on his Twitch stream that he did love the game, but he didn't put out the review since by the time he got finished with the UA-cam BS it was kinda late for a review.
"first good pirate game" uhhh you know there is Sid Meier Pirates and the 2004 remake of that game, which is open world and has a lot more freedom then Risen 2, and AC Black Flag
he put it on his top ten games of 2013 video. i think he said that he wished he did a full review for Black Flag but never got around to it
"What pirate worth his weight can't swim?"
.......Luffy?
Was just thinking the same. XD
***** Maybe not when they started out as a pirate, but on a ship, sooner or later you learn to swim... Or at least don't sink. Trust me.
***** Because they were pretty stupid.
David Burk They did not know much about history or stuff... But they knew alot about Ships... They were not as "stupid" as history-guys say...
But Luffy is a pretty shit pirate anyway. No worth his weight.
I think this game surpasses our quality control with flying colours. We, the heroes of gaming have decided to add more content to Risen 3 through reliable methods such as DLC and preorder bonuses.
I'm watching this in 2019 because it's funny as hell.
2020
Arvin Nassiri You too huh lol
tbh not so fun - watching redditor cry a lot on hard game
2021
Jesus look at how slim Joe was.
not going to lie this is probably my favorite angry Joe review I come back all these years later just to watch it and laugh my ass off lol
How Pathetic 4:56
still is mine 😁
Joe looks really good when he lets his beard grow like this tbh, hah
Barbora Holubcová you're a liberal
Get in there hahaha.
to be honest barbora girls love guyz with their beard grown not much though but they find it attractive cause it show masculine traits or something stuble like that
CoolSlimGuy it’s hot
@@jasminetorres5963
Beard = 🤮
this was really the best angry Joe's review, probably the cosplay and the beer, and parrot helped, and am sure he has better, Joe you're awesome, cheers to you
This is my number 1 game. I love how easy it is in the beginning, and how it gradually gets harder towards the end. The combat is amazing, and there are so many different moves you can do. Also, the *graphics*! This game looks better than all the next gen games coming out at the moment.
This game also has a very high educational value. It taught me the most important life lesson: how to kick.
Aethere_ Nocturna Yeah. I'm glad someone is on the same page as me. :)
***** I know, right?? My life has been shortened by about 30 years by playing this game, and I feel so much better for it!! Thank you Risen 2. *Thank you so much*
+Sam S it killed me and brought me back from the dead just to taunt me! Love you Risen 2 ^-^
+Commenter38 mostly cancer
11/10 IGN GOTY
Just saw the trailer for Risen 3, came here immediately. Maybe the third time is the charm.
The trailer looks promising, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be good. Remember the trailer for I am Alive?
I just need to know. Where the hell is the talking plant from?
Dogyphil
Unfortunately 3:rd time wasn't the charm. Just the same shit. Crappy gameplay and boring characters.
Crimson Knight
Little Shop of Horrors
@heh Nah, you're just a dögshlt player, get gud at games.
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag was a better pirate game than this.
that didn't come out till a year and a half after this...
I know. Still a better pirate game.
***** True
***** LMAO
a parrot was a better bird than an eagle ;p
Still better than sea of thieves lol
No.
Nick Oggard you people are insane I’d rather play sea of thieves then this broken ass game
At least the developers cared enough to keep updating it to MAKE it better now.
@just a channel you made a valid point. There are a lot of better games than Sea of Thieves.
@Ben van der Riet the point is this game and 1, AND Gothic games are better than Sea of Thieves.
The best part of the video for me was AJ and One Piece.
It was ironic that he asked "What kind of pirate can't swim?" and I said, "Like, the strongest characters in One Piece." Then the One Piece clip popped up and I burst out laughing.
lol
GunshotPhoenix At least in that case, it's justified and explained (sort of).
Yeah, it's still ironic that in an anime/manga series about pirates fighting marines, at least half of the pirates/marines that can actually fight are incapable of swimming by virtue of eating a fruit that gives them superpowers.
"what pirate worth his weight can't swim?" You clearly haven't watched One Piece.
Luffy has the plot behind him.
To each their own, I quite liked all 400-something episodes. If my fucking name wasn't an indication, I'm a fan.
+MasterStryfe I think we got the point, Chief.
+XXsirstrawhatXX There's a clip from One Piece in the video
I like to see you eat a cursed fruit
I don't know why, but I've watched this review so many times, it is amusing and amazing......Is it because I like pirates of the Caribbean?
Risen 2 was bad. I have to agree with Joe and I'm PBs fan for the life. Gothic, Gothic 2 and Gothic 3 with Community patch 1.73 which cured it's buggynes were great games and the original Gothic remains my favorite RPG of all time. PB do stuff differently than others. They are a small studio which shows. Their games are balanced, everything is in harmony because all the people inside PB know each other and cooperate, consult, there is single vision. World in the original Gothic feels more alive than in most modern RPGs which is a high praise considering how old that game is and what technical possibilities do we have now. Their games feels warmer than other RPGs, there is no generic stuff in them like "collect 5 this and bring me 3 of that" etc.
Now Risen on PC was a true Gothic successor. I wouldn't call it's story uninteresting, nah. It wasn't very epic but that's fine by me, I don't have to save the world, galaxy, universe or whatever every single time. One island was enough for me. Combat felt modern yet complex, great visuals and lightning on PC, solid framerate, good voice acting, enough creatures with different tactics, sarcastic and grumpy hero. I liked the main protagonist a lot. Not many people did and I understand why but that's how it is in PBs games. He's pretty much like Nameless hero from Gothic series, no BS man, what you see you get, what he thinks he says :)
Risen 2 was a disappointment for me. Dumbed down combat, reworked protagonist, bugs and visual errors... I couldn't get into it. Since they revealed Risen 3 is coming out this fall I'm going to play trough whole game at last so I don't loose tracking of what's going on. And I'm not afraid of Risen 3. PB learn from their mistakes.
Anyway to close this freakingly long comment I'm gonna recommend all people who like RPGs to go and pick the original Gothic series on gog.com. Their versions works with modern systems fine and although Gothic is pretty old game it's still very playable and offers different experience than games from let's say Bethesda. They are definitely worth trying out. Just be patient at the beginning. PBs games are usually tough for first 3-5 hours before you level up a bit and learn the basics. It's for the kind of people who don't demand going on killing spree and do epic deeds 10 minutes into a game.
***** Well I finally went trough whole game and I have to admit it has a lot of potential. Story is great and characters are outstanding. Music is good as always and there's some good stuff like controlling other characters using voodoo. My biggest problem was how broken the game was when it was released. It's still not very well optimized but I have new graphic card so I got over it. All the flickering and broken shadows which were giving me headache after playing the game for couple of minutes is finally gone so my biggest problem was solved. I could play it fine now. LOD was fixed by mods so there are no more popping objects and transforming vegetation few meters in front of you and other annoying stuff. Gnome village on Thieves island was for some reason unplayable on my spec when my fps went down to 10 with some serious stuttering on 760 HAWK which is just lame, but that part didn't last long which is rather shame because gnomes were pretty cute and amusing.
All and all if it would run better at places, had combat system from first risen and also an option to continue with side quests after finishing main story I would call it a great game. I don't mind it's slightly different than other PB's games, I liked it. Surprisingly lot. But since you're fighting nearly all the time that combat system showed to be a real let down. Shame.
Btw. Half of the things Joe mentioned aren't worrying me at all. Controlling your ship and doing battles on see... Someone should remind Joe that Pyranha Bites is relatively small studio with tight budget. He has a different taste on RPGs. I see hundreds of problems with Bethesda's games which are lame at places, technologically very weak (considering their budget it's a crime) and downright weird at places (like little kids being happy about messy murder in front of their eyes in Skyrim). We have different taste but I like him because he's always honest which is rare these days.
***** You can get the community patch for Gothic 3 here:
www.gamershell.com/download_88556.shtml
I see they made v. 1.75 although when 1.73 was released they claimed it's the final one. Installing is no different from other software on Windows. It definitely improves the game. There is alternative difficulty which allows multiple enemies to attack you at the same time, tweaked AI (wild boars are no longer godlike creatures which can kill anything standing in their way), many fixes were applied, slightly better graphics with more options... Definitely try it.
Jakub Bednář
Well to be honest, they said there will be no ship sailing.
Its still fantasy RPG despite having pirates in it. Its not really a pirate game. You dont pilot Normandy in Mass Effect either. AC4:BF is an action game, and ship sailing is more suited for it than for an fantasy rpg.
Combat with animals is not the best but with humanoid enemies its much better, it involves all kinds of tricks, timing is also important for parry.
And i think PB is made of 20-25 people. 900 people worked on AC4:BF.
Risen 2 was great but cant compare to the greatness of Gothic series (first 2 especially).
It's good to see another Gothic brother, we are few and far between
Thank you buddy ! Your speech was just about what I think of gothic series and risen.
Best Pirate game by far is AC4
Sid Mier
I loved Risen 2. I agree it's not the most polished game ever... but it has an interesting story, good voice acting and a nice change of pace from all the Fantasy/Wasteland RPG's we play.
*sigh* still more to offer as a pirate game than Skull and bones ><
THIS GAME SHOULDNT BE A MEASURE OF HOW FAR WEVE LOST THE PLOT ABOUT HOW TO BE A PIRATE VIDEO GAME!!!
I enjoyed it alot on the console the combat was also pretty fluid for me.
you probably wouldn't like Gothic 1 or 2 , yet you think Skyrim is a nearly perfect game... nothing to add more
I hate gothic 1 combat on pc
He called gothic a great series.
Tyler Staub
can't say much about the entire series but goth 1 was easy and the combat was pathetic and annoying.
ater sol That was directed to the op not you sorry M8
Tyler Staub
Ah K
How do you miss at POINT BLANK?
+Rancor Palmach Really, really, really, REALLY terrible aiming, I suppose.
+Rancor Palmach Easier than you apparently think if you're whipping your pistol out of a belt and trying to fire at a moving target in the span of a second or two with your non-dominant hand. You ever try doing that? With practice, sure, but guns are a new thing to this game's world and it's an rpg, you have to get your quickdraw skill up.
Kren Dae True...
Ask my XCOM squad
Evan Cunningham I heard XCOM A.I.'s are NOTORIOUS for that...
I actually liked Risen 1 better :D
Risen 1 is the best among the 3
Patched Gothic 3 rocksbeats em all.
AC4: Black Flag is the best pirate game. It is a petty it sucks as a AC game.
lmao
Funnily enough this is actually 100% true and I've talked about this before with my friends. i find it hilarious but also sad, because now you see the potential of a GOOD pirate game. if Ubisoft actually let one of their Dev teams make a fucking full on pirate game without the assassins creed IP it could be even better.
I don't always petty - but when I do - I petty well
IMO Black Flag may not be the best AC game - but, for my money, it is at least the most INTERESTING. I mean there are stand out moments in all the AC games but I played them once - was impressed - moved on. AC4 is the only one I've EVER come back to... well, AC and Rogue - but Rogue is a whole different kettle of fish that we'll leave for later.
I mean the characters in AC4 are all interesting - the entire CAST stands out. There's a lot to care about - there's a REASON to keep coming back for me... and maybe you're right - maybe it is Pirates - but I have to say, whatever it is, no other AC game has ever managed to copy it for me.
I find Ezio's storyline much more compelling not to mention the great puzzles AC2 has.
Taoma H that being the reason I said 'IMO' - that's what these movies are. IMO. Every single thing Joe has ever posted has been his opinion.
The Internet is chock-a-block of IMO. For myself I found Ezio kind of emotionless and flat. And if I wanted 'puzzles' I'd get out a puzzle - I want stories and adventuring and exploring and combat.
I probably wasn't the target audience with the first three games - and I DEFINITELY wasn't the target audience for the last few AC games :P I really couldn't care less about the AC storyline - hell, I played the first three out of order and didn't even finish the first one :P I enjoy AC4 and Rogue so much because they are good games. Which is what I was trying to say - it may not be the best AC game (whatever that means) but it is - for me - the most memorable and enjoyable.
this is still one of my favorite angry Joe reviews
Wtf, Risen 1 was one of the best games ever, like Gothic.
+KubissusPL LOL U A DUMPASS ITS SHIT!!!!!!
No
Gothic is Amazing Rpg world
Risen is shit
+KubissusPL Only on pc, the console port was garbage.
I immediately pushed the like button for the Little Shop of Horrors reference.
Still better than skull and bones…
True, but not saying much
just saw risen 3 as pre order.....fuck
The apocalypse is real!!
This gun be gud.
I'm excited for Risen 3, only because Joe will give it the "treatment"
Admittedly, Risen 2 is frustrating at times. It has it's flaws, and it's crashed on me a couple times while leaving one island to the next (Xbox 360) - but just like the first Risen, it is very rewarding after actually playing it for some time. I started actually gaining momentum after about 8 hours, same as with Risen 1. You basically start off as the washed up, drunken loser, formally known as the slayer of a fire titan. So the whole, "not knowing wtf you're doing" thing, kind of makes sense. At least that's what I took from it.
Throughout the game you slowly get better. I'm actually playing it now for the first time, and I've learned that leveling your "Cunning" first, is an absolute must. Once you're able to pickpocket and pick locks, you should then work on your "Toughness" and "Blades," while spending all of the "booty" you make, on learning new skills in between. After that, it's really just equalling out your other main attributes, and slowly building your character in every single skill - while focusing mainly on the ones that will benefit you in combat. Such as sword fighting, parrying, kicking, healing, blocking, and so on.
Further into the story, once you've become more efficient at thieving and fighting, Risen 2 drastically gets better. It's still challenging, but all of that tediousness begins to pay off, and the game becomes satisfying and rewarding. Especially when your equipment actually helps, you're no longer getting dogged in fights, and you're actually making progress. The storyline itself is entertaining, and even amusing. The pirate theme is indeed heavy in Risen 2, and at times is even comical.
At one point you'll even meet a foul-mouthed gnome. Who cusses more than your dad used to do, when you weren't holding the flashlight in the right place under the hood of his rusty old "project car." And said gnome even accompanies you out into the world, and shares with you on your adventures. You can have a trained monkey steal people's things, and open doors for you. Or you can have a parrot maliciously attack your enemies. Someone not cooperating? No worries! Steal some of their hair, and create a voodoo doll of them to take control of their body!
Risen 2 in my own opinion, is a hardcore RPG, that has to be given the upmost effort. But if like me you can't make yourself sit and play it for hours on end. It still rewards you little by little, with each time you save and come back later.
My own review:
3.7 out of 5 stars.
Also - I wholeheartedly agree that Two Worlds sucks complete, and total ass. And that Two Worlds 2 was light years better than it's predecessor. 😂
Is Joe ever going to review assassin's creed black flag? Assassin's creed wise it was a little iffy, but being a pirate in the game was awesome.
He said he didn't got a chance to get a review for black flag but is say he will be happy of that game it was good
Ok thank you.
William Hites He said it was by far the best Assassins creed game ever made in his live stream and that it was a mistake not reviewing it.
I watched this review like 5 times, its just that great, and I love Risen even more than R2, though I did break LMB playing it. Play it on PC, the atmosphere is something you compleatly forgot Joe. The music is incredible, makes you feel like you're ''Lost in Gothic''
wow, i was about to buy this on steam, but never mind now
It's on sale now, and totally worth it now !
*****
Honestly mate, if you enjoy RPG games you can't go wrong with it while it's on sale. If you like pirates your enjoyment will be much more since you get a lot of bang for a few bucks at the moment. I can't beat Joe's review but do take into account it has been about 2 years since it came out, they fixed quite a lot of bugs... No game is ever flawless, some people just review games on the surface without a lot of knowledge about how games are made, especially rpg games are crazy endeavor! For 4 or 5 bucks? You got to be kidding for still asking me to tell you how it is, you can't even have a proper meal at a decent restaurant for that money, so you see, get it while it's 80% off!
***** If you want a good pirate game, get Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag. Don't bother with Risen 2, it is complete shit and a waste of time and money.
***** You speak the truth, Peter
***** I don't think we can agree on that. For me Gothic 2 is a 9/10 even compared to Skyrim, not just because ''it was good for its time''. Despite that I enjoyed Gothic 3 and Risen to some extent, I think that Risen 2 is utter crap. They threw away the medieval fantasy setting completely, which doesn't make much sense, when you look at the story, the sidequests were boring and most of them included killing a number of monsters. The main story was mediocre at most and the characters, that you meet were all the same and not memorable at all. I played Gothic 1, when it came out and to this day I can remember Diego, Milten, Xardas and a lot of others. The only character I can remember from both Risen games is Inquisitor Mendoza.
come one joe.
a 4/10, it's not worthy of a low score. i would give it a 7/10
well this is his opinion, u can totally make ur own video review and give it your own score
i know it's his opinion, and i respect all of his reviews. i trust his reviews more than ign or gamespot. guess i disagree just a little with what his saying with this one. he more than likely is right about it.
Maby youre ign
***** Do you want to 1v1 me??? ILL QUICKSCOPE YOU M8!!
***** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
joe actually makes a pretty hilarious pirate
QTE Event? Quick Time Event Event?
This looks like it would have been good on ps2.
Joe: WHAT PIRATE CAN'T SWIM?!?
*pirate song plays and shows one piece*
Fox: lol
Is it just me that wants a HARDCORE pirate RPG?
LIKE A REAL RPG?! not some half arsed thing
tnecniw I totally do! With serious ship-to-ship combat with amazing strategy elements... sailing through islands, outgunned... does your ship have a shallower draft? Head for the shoals... is the enemy inexperienced enough to follow? Will he go around and try to head you off? You get to safety and cant see him anymore... which way do you exit? Send scouts onto the island to find out his position and take time to prep for battle make some repairs... but while you're doing this, he might be sending carrier pigeons to ask for reinforcements, so you've gotta act fast... will your scouts make it back in time? Maybe you have t abandon them which will reduce morale... I want different types of shot, crew management, fleet-forming (like clans), recruiting better crew-members, boarding, attacking ports, politics, spying to find ship routes and cargo, I could go on for hours haha sorry to ramble but yes, I want an awesome pirate game!
Define hardcore.
Well... that it isn't a hack anc slash at the sametime, like... think Dragon age origins style... BUT PIRATES!
Like seriously: what is a hardcore pirate RPG? Are we looking for one where you can catch VD from rape, have all your teeth rot out because you drank too much rum, and die of thirst in a gibbet because you were busted for rolling into port?
one of the best joe's videos ever hahaha
fun and anger
Try Sonic Riders or Mindjack XD
Micheal Taylor lol. You know it is a bad game if playing it makes you sick
Jerricrocko Phd Haaa, this guy gets it XD
I know you were good friends with zeitgeistreview, do you know what happened to him? His reviews were good.
Lol I looked at it on steam and omg It was rated a positive hahahaha XD AngryJoe you got a lot of enemies
20:10 - Sorry, Joe, but most pirates actually could not swim those days.
Risen 3 is in development xD
people think this game is comparable with dark souls
dark souls has interesting features which make it hard
Gothic3 > Risen > Gothic2 > Gothic > Risen 2 > "Gothic"4 (I refuse to name it Gothic)
Gothic 3 is even worse than Risen 1 or 2.
Spirea Spirae It might not have aged well but I definitely remember it as one of the best RPG games ever.
All the Gothics are better than Risen in my opinion (not Arcania, it fucking sucks)
Stan Nicolae
hmm..perhaps you're right... Gothic 2 might deserve the first place, It's an amazing game.
I just have personal memories that affect my view of Gothic3 ...and I relly enjoyed Risen resently...
You are not a true gothic fan. Gothic 3 is the worst in the whole series. Gothic 3 is the cheesiest modern graphics RPG I played. Rainbow coloured mushrooms, meek mild music and ORCS THAT DANCE LIKE 5-year old girlies!? Xardas was depersonalized into some corporatised style rag that sucks up to the player, for which I had to put him out of his misery in Gothic 3, but mostly because I hold him responsible for solving the mess he made of Myrtana that made me play the game. Xardas came back to haunt me in Gothic 4 as some kind of raging humanist...
I think Joe never got the fact that Piranha Bytes is a PC developer and the Xbox 360 version of Risen (1) wasn't even developed by them. Give it a go on the PC and the game is really a lot of fun!
But I guess there's a reason why the Risen predecessors, the Gothic games, are hardly known in the USA. You don't get rewards/achievements shoved up your ass for playing the first few minutes. Progression is slow at first and punishing. You're not a badass, you're a weakling who has to pick fights that are actually winable while avoiding bigger enemies. It takes hours until you get your first piece of armor and a decent weapon, magic is almost unavailable until you join the mages or buy a few scrolls. You really have to muscle through the first few hours until it really clicks.
The games are far more popular in Europe, specifically Germany and Eastern Europa, like Russia and Poland. I personally think the developers made a mistake when they tried releasing their games on consoles and reaching more players. Their games just aren't mass compatible like mainstream horseshit like CoD.
oh my god bro he just showed me 21 minutes of pure shit. why would I want to buy this game? FUCK this game and FUCK you thinking if we don't like it we're all about "mainstream horseshit" aka COD Whilst I don't like COD I can say that they and battlefield are the current heavy hitters of their respective fields for a reason. People like them; that's how it gets "mainstream". All in all I consider COD and Battlefield to be no more than FIFA and NFL just with guns ( I really don't like those games either, but I understand theres not a lot of room to evolve in a modern day sports game, same way theres not a lot you can do or explain to a modern society about modern warfare other than a horrid attempt at realism ( ARMA series; it's good but all bullshit) and an arcade focused game like COD or Battlefield; same way nobody plays those sports management realistic sims; and prefer the arcade games like Fifa.
@Corristo89...You do realize he did this one on the PC, right? At the beginning, he said that he decided to review this one on the PC AND NOT THE XBOX 360.
Corristo89 If the game can't make me kick someone early and for free, then it's a bad game. And ffs how can you miss a shot at point blank range?
This is the stupidest comment ive seen yet.
"People dont like our game so it must be the fault of those stinky lazy americans who need rewards!!! Its not like anyone in our glorious soviet corrupt motherland plays videogames to have fun!"
If you seriously think a game should be limited in release because its not "mainstream compatible" aKa badly thought out, then the game has problems. And there you go calling CoD shit too. Such generic, pointless comparisions and complaints that offer nothing constructive
The animation look exactly like Gothic 3
20:50 One Piece!! :D
Amen Joe.
Risen 2 is lazy work done by a horrible writer and features really bad visuals.
Risen and Risen 2 are not Gothic 2: Night of the Raven. That's a fact and PB needs to move it's ass.
4\10 seems to be right.
Its because of COD that a lot of games these days suck.
Destiny
Aliens Colonial Marines
Duke Nukem Forever, The list goes on forever.
+Pertlight And Friends! so true
Stop blaming Cod for everything,blame the developers.
+Pertlight And Friends!, STOP BLAMING COD! Jeez...
***** cod is cancer , really fun to play tho (for a few days)
+Pertlight And Friends! Why COD? I blame consumerism and fanboys.
I actually loved this game.I loved the difficulty it presented.
AA game looks like it was made in 2005
Love you
HeyyDivine i wove you too
I've gotten onboard the weird cycle of watching this review more often than I should
It is so damn funny lol
Sure Risen 2 could've been a lot better, but a 4/10? Really??
I personally liked this game (and its predecessor) quite a bit. It's immersive and atmospheric, and it has loads of great dialogue and funny moments. The combat could use a lot more polish, as would all the other gameplay aspects, but a 4/10 sounds to me like some serious disappointment; there are a lot of games quite a bit worse than risen 2 (*cough* both dragon ages *cough* skyrim *cough*), that have received a lot more positive reviews. Risen 2 isn't a perfect game, but it sure as hell deserves more than a 4/10.
I suspect that this game gets a bad rap because its european, and it doesn't try to kiss the players ass at every opportunity like the more popular games. In fact, the game treats the player character rather badly, and I suspect that most players just can't handle that, but that's the main thing I like about this game; it arouses genuine feelings towards certain characters. I actually cared about some of them, and in these days that is saying a lot.
Everyone can see the faults of this game, that's not a big surprise since they're quite glaring. What I am amazed is that so few people can see the good in this game, the memorable characters like Patty, Steelbeard, Jaffar, Bones, Slayne, or the incredibly beautiful maps and amazing music. Sure the combat sucks and there's too much of it, but that's true for almost every single rpg in existence. Anyone remember battling with the damn camera in Dragon Age: Origins? The "tactics" of the game consisted of one AoE disable spell and a couple AoE damage spells, and most of the time that was it. Controlling your characters was one hell of a hassle, especially since you had to turn off the utterly idiotic AI, and besides a few exceptions the characters were rather bland, boring and generic. In DA2 the protagonist at least had some personality. In skyrim there isn't a single fucking character worth remembering, not a single quest that went beyond "I would've laughed at this if I was a teenager" - quality, and the game tries to place it's tongue so deep inside the player's asshole that it gets rather uncomfortable. And the combat sucked; slash slice hack heal slash slice dead.
EDIT: sry about the rant, couldn't help myself.
I agree that Risen 2 isn't terrible but the fact that you bashed Skyrim so hard destroys any credibility you have.
ThaneDukeHeineken
So you're one of those guys who think skyrim is great just because the general consensus believes it to be great. Let me just ask you a question: *in what way is skyrim better than let's say risen 2?* A simple question, and unless you can come up with real arguments (dude, it's skyrim isn't going to cut it here), then it's your credibility that is destroyed here.
Just because my stance about skyrim isn't a popular one, doesn't mean I'm not right.
Here's one way. The world is much more diverse and accessible. Most of the Risen 2 islands look very similar whereas Skyrim has tundra, forest, the Dwarven ruins. Not to mention the hundreds of buildings in Skyrim.
Here's another. There are many more weapons and weapon types (archery, staffs, conjured weapons.)
I find Skyrim to be much more immersive and Skyrim has tonnes more content than Risen 2.
khatack And those are not all of the reasons.
khatack And don't assume I only like it because other people do. I have at least 300 hours playing it over several different characters.
So many risen apologists here. People, 20 hours of leveling up and learning the proper skills to not hate the game and somewhat enjoy some parts in the last little bit isn't worth it. The pirate theme was done badly, (look at AC4 for pirates done well) and the combat isn't as immersive and thought provoking as risen fanboys claim. It is mostly just tedious and the AI is so bad. The quest menu sucks and so does a lot of other aspects of the RPG element. The graphics are pretty sub par and the level design isn't anything special. The boss fights are lackluster and your average enemy is either incredibly easy, annoyingly difficult, unrealistic, glitchy, or boring. Risen and it's sequel and risen 3 are all sub par games, and you have no right to say things like "Joe your opinion is wrong dont do risen reviews anymore" on a review, which involves people's OPINIONS ON THE GAME. Rant over
Im sick of people saying an OPINION is wrong. now if they are stating it as fact it may or may not. but honestly, he's not wrong.
I recently played Risen 1 and 2, as someone who played Gothic back in the day i knew what to expect here. Risen 1 is petty much the Gothic, in Risen 2 they slaped a Pirate theme on it, but whiout actually being a pirate focused game. I ended up enjoying Risen 1 and 2. The combat is trash until you learn some things, what is expensive. But, as you can go with a companion most of the time, it is actually not that hard. The hardest part is when Patty meets her father at the start and leaves you alone whiout a companion on the first island. That was a mistake.
But the worst to me is Risen 3, but not because of the gameplay, i went there expecting to continue the story of the main character and Patty, and i find myself playing the never heard off, Patty half brother, with no explanation as to what happened to the Nameless hero and why he does not longer travels with Patty. I hated that. What worse, it looks to me as if the plot was designed for the nameless hero and changed later in development.
Please make an ELEX Review.
Angry Joe the Drunkin' pirate lol. I love his angry reviews and even better when he's drunk.
Just buy this game to learn how to kick i bought this shit and i learned how to kick best game ever :}
(not really)
Honestly, I think the hate is a little intense of this game. I for the first time played both risen games this year. Yes, the first one was rough, it was empty and clunky. Put I could still see they truly did make an attempt with the story and tried to make some quests that would be fun. The dialogue and quips were honestly what really shined for me. The main character is very quick with a joke and that shows even more in the second game. Again the combat is different and a bit difficult. But they truely did try to build from the first game, using what characters they most loved. The Dynamic between Patty and the MC is super fun and adventurous to me. And theres this sense of respect and honor with the druid. They tried to make unique creatures to the world and give it lore. Even though the cutscenes were nothing to brag about, they really tried to make the story parts shines. I loved the action figure part. Another fun part was a mudcrab slaying quest where they were referred to as "Horrors in a halfshell". What sucks is that all the companions are super fun with dialogue, but you can only bring one and the game does not really show off that dialogue except when doing quests, which you can only do once. I guess for all of it's flaws, I can still forgive Risen. Because there truely was an effort into making a fun story with a piraty feel. Which is sadly far more than we've been getting with recent games. Sea of Thieves has become Live Play which means being punished for not being an active player at all times. Skull and Bones has been delayed after showing itself to be an absolute disaster and insult to Assassins Creed Blackflag. And any other game they've tried to make pirate style has just utterly failed. Hell, the only fun pirate game with a story out atm is Return to Monkey Island. Which I find hard to call a game and as it's more so a narrative driven puzzle. I think the point I'm trying to make is, this game is more of a pirate game than most. It's not the best. But it's not the worst. I wouldn't call it mediocre, but certainly not for everyone. It was fun for me. And that's more than I've been getting of late with games. Be that from Microtransactions galore, a battlepass, early access that's never finished or just bad game design in general with no effort put into the stories. Getting harder to have fun gaming every year. So when it's comes to games like the Risen Series. I think it's worth a single playthrough. But definitely not a repeat haha.
i did like risen games, 1 and 3 mostly. I know most people would disagree , but in my opinion they are some of the most hardcore rpg games out there. Yes there are stupid stuff, and stuff that make no sense but the "learn to swim" mechanics are just unique for me. The absurdity and disorientation are stuff you either like or hate, but as a dnd player for years, and in addition of the bottlenecks in the game i grew to love it.. The fact that there are 3 games out there means something ya know
+sizorblade i liked all of them, but risen 3 was my favorite, improved combat, more variety in world design, great characters and replay-value. Risen 2 you can play 2 times and you've seen everything, sorry
So you well like this shit over skyrim
Did not say that, i just said i do apreciate these games and the efford that went to them
+sizorblade You think a lot like me. Altough I only got Risen 2, I'm 5 hours into it and... honestly... i quite enjoy it. Despite being a fan of Joe and his opinions, I actually like the game so far (and the conversations are pretty damn funny), so.. I guess I should give the first and the third ones a shot as well, right?
Creepy Pirate The first is the most well recieved (play it on pc, tough. The console version is full of box and bad textures) Risen 3 is very good imo. altough the start isn't that good, it gets better and better the further you get into the game (yes, alot better than risen 2. If you understand the fighting system, which joe did not.)
Angry Joe is brilliant as a pirate :)
i think the game is awesome, but i`m kind of biased because its my first rpg :P
i know this is late but try out Skyrim or Witcher 3 if you havent
I agree with Legoman775. You should try those if you like rpgs. And Dragons Dogma also a good rpg game.
I miss these kinds of reviews. Honestly, it feels Joe mostly reviews just AAA games these days. It says a lot that Joe didn’t give any 1/10 scores for 6 years(2017-2023).
"The inferior Xbox version"
Wish these kids would explain this, I played it on the 360 and PC, there is no friggin' difference!
I have the opposite opinion to Joe though, love all the Risen games
3:46: "Joe hasn't showered or shaved for days for this role" Okay Joe, not SHAVING for days would've convinced us enough, but we can't smell you through our computers, & another thing you missed: To stick to TRUE pirate history, you should've not BRUSHED YOUR TEETH for several days, because obviously, they didn't have toothbrushes or toothpaste back in the pirate age.
Henry Miller he should of had scurvy
Mairo San You realize that pirates literally had no way to bathe for days, as they were out at sea for sometimes weeks at a time?
Mairo San pirates weren't enthusiastic about that
Mairo San not really, to suggest they can just dip in the water all willy nilly is the same topic
Mairo San if they wanted to risk their lives to smell like salty sea water then i guess they didn't want to
The Angry Joe Show is no in full length, isn't it? Because Risen 1 was not full length on UA-cam...
Those are his old reviews.
I know that. That is why I am asking if it changed until now.
klonvomhaus Oh then yes.
Thanks...
I stuck with the game and ended up having fun playing it, but there's no denying the game has issues. Like Joe said, the early game is horrendous, thanks to the dumb "glory+gold" leveling up mechanic, augmented by the sheer difficulty of a lot of the enemies and the lack of available gold. Voodoo was dumb, and mostly useless. There was HUGE potential for a really cool set of voodoo skills...but in the end it was limited to making a few trinkets, potions, dolls that can control a few pre-set NPCs, and a few staves with limited power. Combat is repetitive, and firearms are frustrating as hell. Still, if you're willing to really, really, really grind, you'll eventually get over the hump and end up with enough gold, glory and good equipment to improve your character to the point where the game is enjoyable and easier.
I picked the path of muskeets and it was far more fun. Unlike pistols, muskeets are really powerful and help you deal with many dangerous enemies from afar.
I enjoyed this game actually...
Hipster nerd^^ 🤓
With all the reviews imagine how many crappy games joe owns
He probably throws them away afterwords, I know I would if this piece of shit was in my game cabinet.
AirForceGamer96 he threw duke nukem in the toilet and he returned sonic free riders to gamestop XD
Risen 2 + gotchic 1-3 are amazing games.
11 years later, this is still one of Joe's very best reviews. 🙂 Love ya Joe!
Screw this crap, buy AC4.
*****
Risen is crap. AC 4 is an amazing game. You're missing out.
Ive got more fun with this than with AC 4 tbh.. Maybe its because im German and I like the style of German RPGs but AC 4, apart of the sailing it sucks like AC 3.
AC 3 was far from a bad game unlike Risen 2.
Supporting smaller companies is fine and dandy.
As long as they show promise. This doesn't.
The Gothic franchise was great once upon a time. There is not a single spark from those games in Risen 2.
man, i fucking loved this game.
played it all the time, i dont understand your hate
lennart Fire Did you even watch the game?
lennart Fire I meant did you even watch the review and understand what he was saying?
Colin Burke i didnt watch it whole i just looked trough the video, like the racist part and so on
ok lennart Fire
Colin Burke well i also enjoyed the game, was a great challenge and very fun, i think it's just that joe sucks at these type of games.
that has to be the clumsiest QTE animation ever
Just finished the game for a second time and I still love it, and I remembered this video. Verry funny (especially the voodo pirate part and 12:20), but you're just not good at it dude. You say the combat is too easy (gets more advanced later) yet you complain you cannot win a fight...curious. And why were you not eating provisions or drinking grog to regain your health? Let's see how you win against an aligator just by spamming click, it just doesnt work, you have to dodge, regain your health, use your pistol or for humans other dirty tricks like sand (pocket sand sha sha), salt. To be fair Gothic1 and Gothic2's combat were shit too but people still loved it.
The monkey? You use it a lot in temples if you want extra lootr from places you cannot go to, or get through house windows or roof cracks to steal. Not necessary but fun. Of course people are going to kill it if you do it in the middle of the day and you get caught.
The parrot? Good to start a fight with a better opponent, you cant use it in the middle of the fight. Also you have the inventory bar, you put your pistol on a number, the parrot on another, the grog, and so on. You switch between them and use them fast. Come on now Joe.
"they're reusing faces, the graphics are shit" cant say otherwise but if you're having fun the graphics dont matter.
There is a risen 3 trailer out.... :( fml.
wow theres alot of risen fan bois disliking this video
Omg i died of laughter... that missed shot with the shotgun :)
One of the few videos I actually liked before finishing it. The intro killed it, 10/10.
Assassin's Creed rip-off.
i know this came out before Black Flag, but it still sucks
+Xenomorph Captain Vex muno it isnt believe ne. Some people like it other dont. Some rate it 8 out of 10 some say its a masterpiece, worth checking out in my opinion
MrCheckHammer
This was one of the worst gaming experiences I ever had...
I think, only we Germans can like Risen. :)
Am german. hate Risen. Combat system is the most boring, repetetive and frustrating thing in the world.
Even skyrims shitty ass one button combat was better.
I will stick to Fromsoft when it comes to hand to hand combat
Ich hab nur gesagt, dass nur Deutsche anscheinend Risen (1+2) mögen können (zu großen Teilen wegen der rauen Atmosphäre).
Ich habe nicht gesagt, dass alle Deutschen es mögen. ^^
Natürlich gibt es da welche, die Risen nicht mögen (auch wenn das für mich bei Risen 1 zumindest unvorstellbar ist, warum man es nicht mögen kann, aber jeder wie er will).
Qwertiopia Sagen wir Deutsche und Osteuropäer, dann passt es ^^
Smaloki okey. :D
Played all 3 Gothic games, liked them all. Played Risen 1 and liked it (not as much as Gothic game), but after Risen 2 Piranha Bytes died as game developers for me, they we ahead of their time with Gothic 1 and 2 , but since that time they are just standing in place, it is such a shame.
Risen did not rise to the challenge
A "QTE event" is like a "LCD display" xD
Play Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag. Handsdown best pirate game ever.
Is there only me, who actually doesn't like pirates?
Yes.
uh yeah
Honestly, I like medieval fantasy like Gothic, Skyrim, or Dragon Age much more than pirate stuff. I think an RPG set in ancient times might be good as well, but I haven't played any yet.
I like WW1/2 era most
I hate pirates.
Sounds like Risen was too hard for you
I miss the time when go did these videos more often where he would show off more gameplay even in the background. The font on the screen explaining stuff was good too. I feel like he barely ever does big game reviews like this as much.
So I guess you could say Risen 2 had incest sex with its father Risen and then the result was Raven's Cry: The mentally challenged rip off version of all of this. Until of course they renamed and re-released it with virtually no improvements.
Thoranzalar Vhazen very true.
i can show you how to kick...but for 200000 gold
TROLL FACE
One Piece Yay!!!
This pirate intro is one of the best ever Joe! :D
Risen and Risen 2 still rule on PC!