Why is Gothic 2 considered much better than Risen?

[Jvegi]

I never had issues with later chapters of Gothics. I think they provide a refreshing change of pace. The final dungeon in Gothic 1 is awesome. The one at the end of G2 much less so, but it's short and far from painful.

Can't compare to Risen. Never got to deep into it. I should though.

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

I didn't think Risen 3 was all bad. At least they brought back swimming which added to the exploration. It was completely retarded that you couldn't swim in Risen 1-2 especially considering how often you were around water.

The problem is that Risen 3 just feels kind of generic, and it's too long for its own good. The endgame drags even worse than PB's other titles. It would have benefited from being about 20-30% shorter imo.

Gameplay aside. I wanted to jump off a building due to how bad the writing is in Risen3. It's a fckn travstey, it's genuinly terrible. If you ignore Risen3, then Risen1 is a decent game that got a small expansion pack called Risen2 and ends decently enough. I rather it be that than ever acknowledge the existance of Risen3.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Nah. ELEX was good at it.

Truth. Elex factions are better than risen

 

[Cryomancer]

Risen 1 is Gothic 2 without all epic spells and weapons that we love, without the same exploration and quest design. Risen 1 is a good game but is the same thing of G2 but worse

• Same 3 factions. Don = Onar farm, Inquisitor = Paladins and Magicians are fire worshipers in both games
• Same circle based magic but with "seals" and there are far less spells to learn, no spell like army of darkness. You can only have one summon
• Same attributes
• Same athmosphere

 

[JarlFrank]

Risen was shit because of the shit ending minigame. until the end it was not so bad. Note also that Risen was basically the next Gothic, as the Gothic name was sold by PB to another company after Gothic 3 - for Gothic 4, that was reviewed as the worst shit evar on Codex, so I didn't ever even try it.

There is no Gothic 4

Only Arcania

 

[Serious_Business]

These posts from new members that question Codex culture are cute, they force us to go back to our previous judgements that perhaps generated questionable evidences that become dogmatic in the group, but in the end they tend to be quite tedious, they just show the unwillingness of the new member to observe and learn the culture they are trying to insert themselves in. I suppose the tactic of this thread is less predictable and obnoxious than some asshole barging in and screaming that X classic game is shit, thinking that they're unraveling some hidden ugly truth, but it is still annoying to be asked how to judge a subject. There isn't going to be a guideline for this shit, and you can make up your own opinion as you go along, but don't step in willingly in ignorance, even if you think that shows openness - make your research or some shit ; it's obvious that G2 with the expansion is a much more finely tuned and rich experience than Risen, no one ever even argued this before and you already know that you're not figuring out anything new

 

[typical user]

These posts from new members that question Codex culture are cute, they force us to go back to our previous judgements that perhaps generated questionable evidences that become dogmatic in the group, but in the end they tend to be quite tedious, they just show the unwillingness of the new member to observe and learn the culture they are trying to insert themselves in. I suppose the tactic of this thread is less predictable and obnoxious than some asshole barging in and screaming that X classic game is shit, thinking that they're unraveling some hidden ugly truth, but it is still annoying to be asked how to judge a subject. There isn't going to be a guideline for this shit, and you can make up your own opinion as you go along, but don't step in willingly in ignorance, even if you think that shows openness - make your research or some shit ; it's obvious that G2 with the expansion is a much more finely tuned and rich experience than Risen, no one ever even argued this before and you already know that you're not figuring out anything new

Maybe they are Polygon fuckwits who try to gather material for another of their stupid articles.

 

[Arryosha]

These posts from new members that question Codex culture are cute, they force us to go back to our previous judgements that perhaps generated questionable evidences that become dogmatic in the group, but in the end they tend to be quite tedious, they just show the unwillingness of the new member to observe and learn the culture they are trying to insert themselves in. I suppose the tactic of this thread is less predictable and obnoxious than some asshole barging in and screaming that X classic game is shit, thinking that they're unraveling some hidden ugly truth, but it is still annoying to be asked how to judge a subject. There isn't going to be a guideline for this shit, and you can make up your own opinion as you go along, but don't step in willingly in ignorance, even if you think that shows openness - make your research or some shit ; it's obvious that G2 with the expansion is a much more finely tuned and rich experience than Risen, no one ever even argued this before and you already know that you're not figuring out anything new

Actually, I wrote the post because every argument I had encountered for thinking the one is much better than the other seemed weak. I was hoping to provoke some interesting discussion by explaining why I thought so, which is what I figured the forum is for, and which is what seemed to me to happen. Why would you want to shut that discussion or a new member down? Because it annoys you? Lol! Talk about sensitive!

 

[anvi]

Every PB game ever nosedives in quality in the latter areas

And in the start, and middle.

 

[Crichton]

It seems to be the consensus view on and off the Codex that while Risen is decent--even good--it does not come close to the greatness of Gothic 1 and 2. This is evidenced by the fact that Risen doesn't even make it on the most recent Codex ranking.

I agree with the familiar criticisms of Risen, but to me those criticisms either apply roughly equally to Gothic 2 or are balanced out by other things that Risen does better. At best, I think Gothic 2 just edges out Risen.

I'm not dead set on that view. In fact, I assume I must be missing something. I'll just mention three of the most common criticisms of Risen and explain why, to me, they don't seem to justify the common view.

First, Risen's main quest takes a nose dive in the second half. It's anticlimactic and feels rushed. This is certainly the case. But while Gothic 2's main quest doesn't seem anticlimactic or rushed, it never seemed all that great either. I found Risen's main quest and story to be in some ways more interesting and compelling.

...

But as I said, I assume I must be missing something, and I'd be happy to know what. Or I'm irrational. For what it's worth, I think Gothic 1 is better than both games, and maybe that is part of the explanation for my view. Thanks in advance for the replies.

There's a general problem with the 2nd half of the main quest but I think the real nasty taste in people's mouth comes from the mandatory final equipment set and final battle with the DDR elements from falling tiles and whatnot. I never completed the final battle; I just watched the ending cutscene on youtube. I'm not a huge fan of G2's final battle but at least your character got to stay in his faction armor and fight as he was accustomed.

 

[DalekFlay]

A Gothic 2 replay is high on my to-do list. It's been like 10 years, whenever it first came out on GOG. I liked Risen a lot, but I do have fonder memories of Gothic 2. Who knows how much of that is history bias.

Gothic 3 is the one I'm really interested to compare things to. I was one of the many who played that for 10ish hours at launch and bounced off of it hard due to bugs. It kept having memory errors and crashing, among other things. Playing that again with the fan patch is also high on my list.

 

[JDR13]

A Gothic 2 replay is high on my to-do list. It's been like 10 years, whenever it first came out on GOG. I liked Risen a lot, but I do have fonder memories of Gothic 2. Who knows how much of that is history bias.

Gothic 3 is the one I'm really interested to compare things to. I was one of the many who played that for 10ish hours at launch and bounced off of it hard due to bugs. It kept having memory errors and crashing, among other things. Playing that again with the fan patch is also high on my list.

Gothic 2 has aged really well imo. I always have the first 2 Gothics installed, and I'll boot them up once in awhile just to run around the game world and listen to those incredible soundtracks. Gothic 1 still looks great with just a basic texture pack installed.

I'm not as enthusiastic about Gothic 3. Even with the fan patch, it doesn't feel like a complete game a lot of the time.

 

[Sykar]

Because it is.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I never played Gothic 3, but other than that I enjoyed all PB games overall, although in case of Risen 2 and Elex it was what I would call a "close call".

I don't think G2 is MUCH better than Risen 1, but it is better. Risen 1 has definitely the best UI and controls in all PB games, by quite a distance and that actually means a lot to me.

 

[Quillon]

If Risen and Gothic are comparable, Gothic must be a shit game.

Spoiler

just like Elex

 

[janior]

Risen is boring uninspired garbage compared to Gothic 2.

 

[adddeed]

Risen > Elex > Gothic 2 > Risen 2 > Gothic 1 > Risen 3 > Gothic 3

 

[JarlFrank]

Gothic 2 > Gothic > ELEX!! > Risen > Gothic 3 > Risen 2 > Risen 3

 

[Bigg Boss]

I haven't played any of them.

 

[Peachcurl]

Gothic 2 > Gothic > ELEX!! > Risen > Gothic 3 > Risen 2 > Risen 3

I know there's reasons not to mention them at all, but still...

all of them > Arcania > Forsaken Gods

 

[Cryomancer]

all of them > Arcania > Forsaken Gods

And the remake. I hated everything about it

• I hated the high level of handholding
• I hated that "hur dur consequenceless explosions" in the trade zone that nobody cares
• I hated the slow unimmersive combat completely dissociated from the game world
• I hated that potions insta transfer to your belly without a drinking animation
• I hated the dialog wheels
• I hated the graphics and most important the post processing and armor design
• I hated the consolized UI
• I hated the invisible walls
• (...)
• I hated the game so much that rage quieted after the first battle. A singlw Wolf who can tear a lv 0 guy apart on any Gothic game taking so long to kill me and being bullet spongees

All gothic games(G1/G2/G3) are on the top RPG of all time from RPG codex https://rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=11193

 

[luj1]

I haven't played any of them.

Good.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

It has already been said, but it's the atmosphere, the story and the world that make Gothic 2 distinctly better than Risen.

I like Risen 1 and even Risen 2, it has it's charm. Nothing compared to Gothic though. In Gothic the world itself draws you in, Risen feels run off the mill in comparison.

Now Risen 3, that's a travesty. Bloody disgusting!

I didn't think Risen 3 was all bad. At least they brought back swimming which added to the exploration. It was completely retarded that you couldn't swim in Risen 1-2 especially considering how often you were around water.

The problem is that Risen 3 just feels kind of generic, and it's too long for its own good. The endgame drags even worse than PB's other titles. It would have benefited from being about 20-30% shorter imo.

I felt like Risen 3 was way less generic than Risen 1 and 2.
Overall, Risen 1 might still be the better gaem overall, but when it comes to the feel of it, Risen 3 was the one Risen that at least tried to emulate the atmosphere of the Gothic series, and quite successfully so I think (in some areas that is, Calador for example).

 

[JDR13]

I felt like Risen 3 was way less generic than Risen 1 and 2.

Then you would probably be in a small minority.

 

[Elex]

Gothic 2 > Gothic > ELEX!! > Risen > Gothic 3 > Risen 2 > Risen 3

risen 3 is better than risen 2.