I did not have time to subside passions on Divinity: Original Sin, And on the agenda already Risen 3: Titan Lords. It is unlikely that the creation Piranha bytes it will linger here for a long time, but it is impossible to pay attention to the continuation of one of the popular RPG. In addition, the developers promised to return to the roots and revive the same “Gothic”.
They ordered freedom?
The beginning is alarming: the protagonist, in complete uniforms of the crab island caves crazy along the corridors, crumbles like a circular saw, everything that moves. A similar start reminded Arcania: Gothic 4, which involuntarily led to the most bad forebodings. But soon everything falls in its place: a certain demon kills the hero, a familiar to the second part of his sister Patti arranges a funeral to his brother, the character’s corpse rot for two weeks … After which the native of the dead man lives, and then something more or less reminiscent of Gothic.
After the plot seed Risen 3 He releases the player to the will, where a familiar atmosphere reigns: clumsy animation of characters, sluggish fights, predictable opponents with the intellect of a banana. Ghost “Gothic” makes itself felt in formal little things: the main character carefully hides his name, and his primary task is to join one of three fractions. You immediately understand that for the sixth time you will go through the same game. Too many, even for once a masterpiece.
However, the intriguing tie and dozens of exciting side quests make it take a time. The main goal is to find a vile demon and return the stolen soul – is certainly set. But she is indistinguishable behind a huge number of events that fall on the hero’s head and have nothing to do with the plot.
Five islands are located on the global map, open immediately, without any reservations. Where to start the adventure is a personal matter, but be sure that wherever you go, any area will meet you not one dozen quests. Each NPC is ready to throw you a job, in each house there is a book with information about hidden treasures, and in each cave there is a secret.
The locations are actually small, but Piranha bytes I squeezed out a maximum of each square meter. The game engine does not allow developers to be scattered with space, as it does Bethesda, Therefore, all places are located close here. On the one hand, compactness makes the universe Risen “Toy”, on the other hand, creates a high concentration of events that does not allow to relax.
As for the external appearance of local landscapes, the game often gives out rather spectacular views. However, upon closer examination, multiple graphic flaws become clearly visible. Иногда от обилия света и пестроты цветов приходится чуть ли не щурить глаза. Terrible facial expressions, clumsy movements of characters – all this is a legacy “Gothic” proudly reached today.
Take my soul
The search for the soul of the protagonist unfold against the backdrop of the story of three titans that have been lushed on the “pseudocary” islands. However, the archipelago is overcome by another attack that migrated to Titan Lords straight from TES4: Oblivion. Portals to another world are open everywhere, from where all kinds of evil spirits come out of the conquistoric purposes. The authors decided to combine the settings of the previous parts: Pirate atmosphere Dark Waters preserved, but she is now adjacent to the medieval color of the original. Magicians, pirates, knights, shamans of Wood, hunters for demons, the demons themselves-the developers created a curious, but too diverse alloy from different ideas, which is why what is happening looks unconvincing.
The plot part was never a strong side of creations Piranha bytes, But the script Risen 3, intriguing from the very beginning, will present several surprises. Side instructions are also spelled out with particular care, of which there are a great many. Yes, some of them boils down to the primitive “gather the crop in the garden” or “strangling a dozen spiders in that cave”, but most of the tasks are original and suggest several options for solving the problem that are most often divided into “bad” and “kind”.
IN Titan Lords a simple system of reputation has been implemented, which has no effect on the attitude of the world towards the hero. For the methods of solving problems we have chosen, we either lose our soul glasses or acquire them. For example, having discovered the natives sentenced to the death of a pirate-player in the camp, we can promise to put in a word for him in front of him. You can do so and save the guy. Or mock a loser, demand a board, and then undress him naked and force him to dance. And finally, to “please” the poor as the news that the shaman of the tribe did not succumb to our beliefs, and Pirate is waiting for inevitable death.
There are a lot of similar situations here. Bringing a distraught pirate, investigation of the murder of the governor of the island, providing assistance to a magician that turned into a skeleton – all this fills the world with the spirit of adventure. Play the atmosphere and dialogs. The “pirania” once reproached for dry conversations between the characters. Maybe before to some extent it was so, but Titan Lords achieved progress in this regard. In any phrase of the protagonist, the mood and attitude of the nameless to the interlocutor are guessed. Here the characters are drawn by light strokes, which are quite enough to set a tone for what is happening.
Sword or magic?
The character development system has remained the same
. For any actions, the nameless receives the so -called glory glasses that can be invested in various parameters – “dexterity”, “eloquence”, “close battle” and so on. You can learn new abilities from NPC for gold.
It is clear that the maximum amount of available experience is limited, so you should not spray to all skills. Growing a professional pinchimago-warrior will not work. It is more reasonable to initially choose a couple of branches of skills and move on them. Fortunately, the majority of quests allow variable passage: the right little thing can be stolen, taken from its owner by force or persuaded him to peacefully abandon her. Therefore, no one will remain in offense.
But no one forces you to limit any one type of weapon. The absence of classes allows you to educate a mage-mushketer or swordsman, not disdaining “fireballs”. It is not worth it to focus on one thing because Risen 3 able to please the tree of exotic skills, as well as spectacular methods of their connection in the battles.
At first glance, it may seem that the combat system has become more variable. The hero has two weapons slots. The first is intended for everything that can scratch and leave bruises: swords, clubs and so on. Guns and muskets adapt to here, from which you can water enemies with a shot. The second slot is intended exclusively for the “firearms” and crossbows, which can be delivered to the enemy additional problems during the fight.
The basis of fighting is a series of attacks. Several techniques can be connected to a chain if applied in series. In addition, there is a powerful blow, but its preparation takes the time during which the enemy can interrupt it.
Out of the frying pan into the fire
All this variety looks very attractive on paper, but in practice, when it comes to battles, its value comes down to zero. Three factors: primitive AI of enemies, the presence of allies in the protagonist and “cheat” rifts – put a cross on all attempts to “pirania” to captivate the user with new combat techniques.
IN Risen 3 The developers allowed us to create our own team. Friends of the nameless live on the ship, once going out with the captain on the assignment. A high level of survivability makes them indispensable and the main weapon throughout the game. While one of your immortal companions will diligently cut the enemy, you will become a kubarom to ride a battlefield and, not a hare of hands, take off the trophies from the defeated enemies and “Glory”.
During the performance of rifts, the nameless receives invulnerability. Neither magic nor physical attacks can apply it and units of damage. So the perfect way to pass the game falls into our hands. Resorting to him constantly, you also find the primitiveness of the intelligence of monsters. For example, you very quickly notice that the enemy that appears in the field of view will rush headlong on you, but after two attacks of your Sopartian, the enemy will switch to him with absolute probability. After that, you can enjoy the singing of birds and collecting berries, occasionally applying single blows on the back of the distracted enemy – no one will touch you.
All this causes irreparable damage to the balance and atmosphere of survival. Already in the early stages, you can destroy far from the weakest creatures like golems without losing health. Thus, from the very beginning, we are able to run the lion’s share of the map and get into well -protected places. It became extremely easy to play, and such “casuality”, of course, does not fit with the original concept Gothic And Risen.
Piranha bytes With a straight face and worthy of better use, perseverance continues to sing a song that has been covered in it more than ten years ago. And if the voice became at least a little better over time – no, the “piranhas” repeat the same purchases, continuing to fake in the same places. An attempt to spray is turned into a complete failure – together with the combat system, everything that could keep the series afloat: the atmosphere, balance and hardcore flies to hell with the combat system.
Pros: fascinating side quests;Big set of skills and weapons.
Cons: predictable AI of enemies;gross animation of characters;Disgusting combat system destroys balance and atmosphere.
