Is Risen any good? (and KoA:Reckoning lawl)

[Angel]

I've basically gotten a bit desperate for an open-world RPG (although I still love my Bethesda games) and because it was less than a tenner, I just went and bought a copy of Risen for the PC.

When it first made an appearance (and I was solely a 360 player), it had dreadful reviews...but I have since seen some good things being said about the PC version.

Anyone played it? On any platform? And if so, is it any good or just a lot of pretty animation and no substance?

 

[Dark Drakan]

Havent played it myself but averaged 77% on PC so cant be all that bad.

 

[Angel]

Well it arrived this morning and so far, I'm really rather enjoying it. Of course, console commands are an absolute gift, but despite its age, it seems to still manage to look quite stunning. I also like that my character actually talks and there are options to choose from which affect the outcome of how the entire game-world develops and reacts.

That said, I'm only a little way in and it's pretty overwhelming for me when I first start an open-world style RPG because there seems to be so much to do...but I'm enjoying myself. If I was on the 360 with it, I can already guess what my endless frustrations would be - not least the shocking lag and screen tearing. Just for lulz I put the settings to what they would be if I was playing on the console. It was horrendous.

 

[Angel]

@Angel
Being overwhelmed with alot to do i consider a good thing.
I hate to have an open world game & run out of things to do lol.

Don't you have Skyrim ?
You did everything there ?

I adore Skyrim and have been thoroughly enjoying it on the PC but wanted something fresh to play with - Risen's infrastructure isn't very refined and quite clunky but I'm slowly getting the hang of things. Right now I'm cheating by being in god mode so I can get a feel for the place and work out what I want to do when I play properly...my main issue with it at the moment is the fact that there are no map markers so just because you have a quest it doesn't mean the map will give you any pointers. If you cannot recall the instructions given to you by others in the game then you have to re-read all of your conversations with characters in your journal which can be tedious.

Kind of glad I have god mode on though - managed to irritate an Ogre who happens to be several ranks above my level and quite hard to kill. I didn't even know Ogres could be part of a town guard...

 

[Angel]

@Angel
1. Something without Dragons trying to eat you huh lol.
2. You added cheats already ?
3. Ah, AngryJoe talked about the map in that video.
So the map isn't even as good as a map in the mall?
You know the ones.......YOU ARE HERE, lol.
4. Wait, you're causing trouble with the law already ? LOL You criminal you.

So Can you create your own character or is it a set person type people ?

1. No dragons...sad face

2. I like to play with the command console of games on my PC. Makes me feel special. But also, because I am a casual gamer and very very bad at it, I like the chance to get a good feel for a new game before I play it properly. This way I can test out which enemies are worth avoiding early on and which ones will make me feel like I'm Chuck Norris. God mode stops me rage-quitting - and as far as the guidebook goes for Risen, there is actually a little section devoted to FAQs and one of them is, "I keep dying really early on - what should I do?" The answer is pretty much paraphrased as, "sucks to be you". I dislike games that punish you hard at the beginning and so god mode is saving me right now.

3. You get a little gold arrow which is you. And that's your lot. Seriously. It's like if IKEA made maps - lots of little pictures that essentially make life harder rather than easier and you end up having to ask a professional for help.

4. All I did was steal from one chest. One. I couldn't remember the command key for sneaking and there was no one around at the time but I guess the game mechanics just "know" and send their best and brightest to come after you. I did manage to tell one guard a joke to make him stop hitting me...it worked and I left him laughing. Dunno what the joke was but it must have been good because 10 minutes later, I walked past the same place and he was still going.

This is where Risen misses a trick - it really does not possess the depth of customisation that you would expect from an RPG (bearing in mind I am only so far into the game and there could well be options later on that I don't know about yet). You have one character and it's male and pretty much has a blank slate as far as skills are concerned. You are automatically levelled up once you gain enough experience (it has a similar style to a JRPG in that the character information screen tells you how much XP you currently have out of the total required to level up) and it would appear your skills are improved according to how you have used them so far. You can artificially increase certain skills by finding a trainer and choosing a faction to be part of, but aside from putting on some different clothing, perhaps some enchanted jewellery and weaponry, there is little in terms of creativity for the player.

 

[Demi-fiend]

So... have you considered Kingdoms of Amalur?

 

[Angel]

So... have you considered Kingdoms of Amalur?

@Frostmourne
OMG I WANT THAT!!!!!
That'll be my New champions of norrath.

@Angel, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning had a demo that was maybe an hour long but i don't know if it's still available however the demo is really great.
I soooo surely would've gotten this if i had fundage at the time.
Many of my friends still play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning today.

............Wow i want this, thanks for the reminder Frost.

I played the 360 demo some time ago and actually found it too tricky (as I said, I am so crap it's embarrassing to be acquainted with me). I cannot remember what it was precisely that got me raging but I think it was colour coded enemies? Is that right? Where you shouldn't really have a go at anything of a certain colour code and all I got attacked by was things that could kill me in moments. I really wanted to love it as well so if it is on PC, I might give it a go...although from what I have read so far, there is no console to open. There are some trainers though which so long as they have infinite health, I should be ok.

Sad, really, isn't it? :laugh:

 

[Demi-fiend]

I just play it on Easy. I'll play DMC3 DMD on Turbo once in a while, but I'm not usually so masochistic.

 

[Angel]

lol OMG Stop that.
You are no more crap then anyone else okay.
When you touch a controller it doesn't explode in your hands or runs away screaming right lol.

Every gamer wasn't born good at gaming from day1, it took practice & patience which i'm definitely sure you have patience, you have kids & work here so yea i think you have patience.
Don't of your skill as crap, think of it as you have a life lol.
LOL That's what me & my friend always say when we see someone who doesn't play as well.
We go, Yup they have a life.

2. You mean the Fruity Pebbles color characters ? lol .
Well i think, not sure but i think the further out you go the tougher they get.
Try finding an empty area & practice the attacks & spells for at least 30minutes.
You know, a place to freely swing your sword, that way there's no enemies attacking & you get a feel for everything without cheats

Haha! - well, you're more forgiving of casuals than most people I guess. I usually go with the excuse "the sun was in my eyes" when I do particularly badly lol.

2. I've found that so far I haven't died yet in Kingdoms and because I bought all the add-ons in one pack yesterday during the Steam sale, I have some insanely powerful weapons and armour which seem to really help me beat up everyone. I hate dealing with that troll during the intro/tutorial bit at the beginning though. He almost wiped me out.

@Angel
3. On the tricky side i thought the faith thing in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was tricky when trying the demo, i gotta get familiar with it.
But the things that can kill you in moments, just run i guess lol or if you have an Ai helper, use them as a distraction lol & remember you don't have to out run the monster, just out run the Ai helper.

4. .although from what I have read so far, there is no console to open.
What do you mean ?

5. No, you're a gamer, it happens

3. I am so guilty of leaving the AI to take the beatings. Was doing it all yesterday lol. Running does help though as you don't get fatigued, it would appear. I don't really get the whole fate/faith/purple gauge thing either so I tend not to use it. It's just more buttons for me to hold down at once which confuses me.

4. It's a console command - I haven't a clue what it really is, just that if the code exists to open it up, you can press F1 or the ` key and open up a little window on your game that lets you type in lines of code which allow you to cheat or use modes that the devs do during testing so that they don't die whilst trying out a level. It allows for things like item creation or health/magic bonuses etc. In Skyrim's case, for example, there are hundreds of commands from god mode to flying to running through walls. It can crash your game and corrupt your file, but they are fun to play around with.

5. Indeed it does. I love cheats so much though...

 

[Angel]

@Angel
1. lol That's good to.
Another good is There's a glare on the tv lol.

2. OMG You are so making me want it more lol.
Are you saving all your armor or are you selling most of it?

And there's a tutorial Troll. LOL AH OMG, does he hit you on the head if you don't learn something. lol

3. Oh no getting tired, so you can pull a elder scrolls thing & make something follow you into town & have the guards take em out?

Hmmm, i think the fate thingy could change who they are maybe????
Like turn someone good or evil maybe?

4. OH Okay.
This thingy ?

Spoiler

​

or use modes that the devs do during testing so that they don't die whilst trying out a level.
HAHA, OMG THERE YOU GO,
You can't say you're a worse gamer then a dev, have you seen how they play in some of these gameplay videos lol.

Oh wow they can corrupt your system, oh no thanks lol.

1. Yeah, used that excuse before too

2. I'm actually selling off anything I don't need for my class - so stuff that would suit a Tank or a Rogue is making me rich right now. I keep all my mage gear and once I've upgraded it to something more awesome, I sell my cast-offs. Main reason being that you have a limit weight of 70 and that never changes - you don't become slow like in Bethesda games but you cannot pick anything else up until you get rid of stuff or purchase more "backpacks" from sellers which will increase your inventory space. I think at some point you can purchase property so I'm hoping that will come with storage options to save me money on backpacks.

The troll is the last tricky-ish mandatory enemy you come across before escaping the area you originally start in. He's Yellow level, which isn't that high at all, but he is big and quick and likes to body-slam you. It's supposed to help you make use of all the techniques you are supposed to have learnt prior to that stage of the tutorial level...only in my case it made me panic and throw fireballs until it died. Which took a long time.

3. Don't know if you can enchant an enemy to follow you and get battered by someone else, but the AI is dumb and whilst it will copy you in terms of sneak mode or getting your weapon out, it goes into free-will mode when there are enemies close enough to you and kicks off on everything. Which is kind of annoying when you are hoping to avoid a confrontation. I might have to Amalur-Wiki the fate thing because to be honest I still don't really understand it.

4. That's the skill/abilities map - but you are right on the second part. It's the thingy that lets you use the modes that the devs use when trying stuff out. When using it in Skyrim, for example, I can go superfast, fly, be utterly invincible and walk through walls - but the corrupting can happen when graphics fail to render properly due to circumventing the normal parameters of gameplay. You can fall through the floor into nothingness or enemies stop reacting properly...it can be game-breaking sometimes so it's worth saving very frequently.

@Angel
5. I use to use cheats maybe in the PS2 era but not now because cheats instantly turn off the auto save function, & besides i like doing things on my own.

PS2 when i did use cheats it was for stuff like hidden cheat items like extra clothes, weapons, or a character. A cheat was the only way to get certain things in some games.
You still had the in game unlockables but the hidden cheat items were the extra extra.

I am actually finding that cheats can make a game less fun for me if it's a game I know well and can play to a degree without needing help. I mean, take The Sims. Once you have the Rosebud cheat, the whole "going to work, earning your luxuries" becomes kind of boring and pointless. Similarly with being able to soft-delete your Sim so you can re-fill their status bars before reinstating them to Play mode - it's fun, don't get me wrong, but ultimately you're missing out on the Sims experience as a whole.

I still like the challenge of levelling up in an RPG so I never artificially raise my level - similarly, I tend to turn god mode on and off, depending on my current level and the enemy I am facing. The Dragonborn DLC did my head in on the 360 because of the Lurkers and those weird things in Hermaeus (sp?) Mora's realm - I kept on dying and therefore missing out on finding out what would happen if I actually finished those parts of the game. Once I had the PC version and god mode enabled, I was able to complete the DLC and not feel dissatisfied with the outcome.

 

[Angel]

@VampireWicked - Oblivion is, like, my first love. I will never ever forget it, get bored of it or hear anything bad said about it lol. Love that game to pieces and have done everything possible to do in it, as well as all the add-ons and expansions. It just...wow.

I'm not sure how much a backpack increases your inventory - my guess would be another 70 because the original one lets you hold 70. Still haven't found a vendor who sells them yet.

So far, if an enemy comes at and I run, there seems to be an unseen boundary that makes them give up after a certain distance. Those that do follow a bit further can be lead into the path of other enemies and then they kind of start on each other which can give you some time to escape. So far, the guards and townspeople don't even seem to notice when an enemy starts causing trouble in a town or settlement unless it's part of a side-quest. If you start killing innocents, however, the people do react accordingly.

Really pleased with myself at the moment - I killed an orange-level boss and only died once. And that was because the AI who was meant to help out as part of the story glitched and wouldn't move the first time around. I love how in KoA, you get those cinematics which introduce a new enemy or boss - along with scary music. And then you have, like, a split second to get into position before whatever it is comes charging at you...normally with a giant weapon raised at your head.

 

[Angel]

@Angel
Have you ever used the level glitches ? lol.
It was a glitch where you could increase alot of abilities, including the power of your spells.
Spells that would be impossible to perform, spells you if lucky could cast once.

You could create spells that had increase radius & damage & lasting effect.

I created a spell that has max
poison
fire
lightning
ice
Paralyze
on target & me, i'd set the attack radius to either 25, 50, or 100ft
spell duration was 20seconds.
Then magic absorption on me so the destruction spells i attacked myself with would be absorbed & refill my magic.

lol I had others like jumping 50ft in the air, i didn't do infinite water breathing because that stopped me from completing a quest.
I could walk on water for hrs.
lol I created powerful spells, & the game adjusted to.

Oh i did the item duplication thing too, but for arrows & scrolls.

2. 70 is alot right ?
I mean how much space does 1 item occupy ?

1. The only thing I used to take real advantage of in Oblivion was the scroll glitch where you could create many many items from essentially three initial purchases. I would buy three scrolls for about 7 septims each and then another 2 for a similar price and then spam the glitch until I had hundreds of scrolls to play with. Then I would select high-value items and duplicate them for selling - used it for alchemical ingredients too, although once my game crashed because I spawned 440 cabbages in the street and they just started flinging themselves all over the place.

2. It's a pretty good amount, considering you start off with that and it doesn't increase as you level up. It roughly works out as one item per carry point, although I think certain items such as herbs etc take a little more before adding to the weight overall. I recently managed to get myself a house actually so I'm storing all my crap in the chest there to free up space in my inventory.

@Angel
3. So you can set enemies against each other, sit & watch, take out the weaken winner & grab pick pocket both corpses. Sweet lol.

You can kill important people by accident right ?

4. Really pleased with myself at the moment - I killed an orange-level boss and only died once.
WOOHOO GREAT JOB ANGEL!
Do you gain alot of goods ?

LOL oh yea the terrifying cinematics.
Where the giant mean scary boss comes out like he's going to eat you.
lol I love those.

3. I don't know about whether you can kill important people - I think it may not be an option but I'm not sure? Might test it out later lol

4. I'm even more pleased now - killed another orange-level boss today (who also teleports) and didn't die once. Starting to see more random enemies at that level now so whilst I know I can kill them if I have to, I'm still spamming the sprint button to get out of the way :laugh:

The loot was incredible - enchanted weapons, over 3000 gold coins, an entire mage outfit and some jewellery I sold for a tidy profit.

Oh my gosh, some new monster appeared today and I literally screamed out loud like a small child - even if they aren't that tough, the graphics make them look quite scary to look at :laugh:

 

[Angel]

Health items do seem to carry weight but not much so you can get away with having lots and it doesn't weigh you down too much. At any one time I try to have 10-20 health potions in my backpack.

Managed to kill the new monster - but currently have taken a break from the game because I am trying to fight off about 4 of these super-fast strong monster thingies who don't give you a chance to get up from being knocked over before they knock you again. Stupidly I went into this place without enough health potions and now I'm dying all the time. And they aren't even the boss fight that's coming up later - they're like a taster session of what's to come! Managed to kill a two-headed Jottun Priest earlier though (massive, orange-level ogre thingies with HUGE hammers) but the quick enemies are the worst. These particular monsters I am struggling with now can actually circumvent my defence shield which can stop every other enemy except them. Which is a nuisance.

You can have a primary and secondary weapon and can switch between the two mid-combat, which is handy. So if you have a weapon which deals out fire damage, for example, and your enemy is resistant to that then you can just hit a button and switch to your secondary weapon to finish the enemy off. Currently both my weapon options are chakrams but they do different things - one focusses on elemental damage and the other on piercing and health damage. When they prove less effective, I have 5 spells of varying strength locked into the numpad and I just hit any number between 1 and 5 to unleash my arcane mastery. Or, in my case, a fairly weak fireball :laugh:

If you can get it, get it. It's so much fun! It hasn't got quite the open-worldness of a Bethesda game but it has the charm and beauty of the Fable series and I think kind of lies somewhere between the two RPG franchises. I would recommend increasing speech skills as early as possible though - when you are still quite a weak character you can get into all sorts of bother with enemies who could crush you in moments. When you can enter into conversation with them, there is nearly always a persuasion option which can be the difference between life and death for your character. The conversation wheel works a lot like Mass Effect and there are nice, nasty and indifferent responses to be made in most situations.

EDIT: hahaha - just realised, this was a thread about Risen and now it's all about KoA :laugh:

 

[Demi-fiend]

@VampireWicked - Oblivion is, like, my first love.

Pfft. I've been playing ES since Morrowind. I mean, I got killed, lost, and eventually gave up 'cause I had no idea what I was doing, but still --

Best part about that game imho, was that after I took the Personality Test, it gave me this title:

Witch Hunter.

Badass.

--------------------------

I also had the Judgement expansion or w/e that allowed me to join "The Brotherhood of Blablabla" and become a ninja. :ninja:

--------------------------
A Witch Hunter ninja.

And everyone's heads just exploded simultaneously. :greedy:

EDIT: hahaha - just realised, this was a thread about Risen and now it's all about KoA :laugh:

No, by all means, keep going.

 

[Demi-fiend]

@AngelFrostmourne
Me too, morrowind was my 1st elder scrolls title.
I think it was Oblivion i became a vampire werewolf hybrid lol. It turned out weird.

It's like that one part in Shrek 2 where they're naming their rescue squad and give it this big complicated name lol...

So... let's all morph into:

Werewolf Vampire Ninja Wraith Witch Hunters.

Or to simplify... Larry.

Get it? 'Cause it's the thing you'd least expect, right?

Ah, forget it.

 

[Angel]

Pfft. I've been playing ES since Morrowind. I mean, I got killed, lost, and eventually gave up 'cause I had no idea what I was doing, but still --

I tried Morrowind AFTER Oblivion and found it too different to get along with. Which was a real shame...but I just couldn't get the hang of things.

@Angel
1. Oh okay, well that's good.
Oh do the same item, like health potion A take up the same spot ?
If you had 26 health potion A, would there be 26 spots needed ?

2. Wow they're that harsh.
Maybe you could use a AOE (area of effect)spell.
Yea it sounds like you need something that covers large area.
A poison cloud, an explosion, flames?

3. lol I so want the chakrams.
And that's a good strategy, can you add different effects to the weapons or is it as is?
Well you can strengthen the fireball from leveling up intelligence ?

4. I definitely want it & i'll try finding it from wal-mart, Best-buy, somewhere.
A mini Fable/Skyrim lol, sounds awesome.
I played the demo & loved it.

A persuasion option, oh so like an elder scrolls of fable.

Do character reflect how you behave & conversation choices ?

5. lol Yea i see sorry, but i'm really enjoying it though
And reading this, you're a good gamer.

1. I'm not really sure...when I stop dying on this one bit, I'm going to empty my inventory at my house and then add things one by one and see how they affect my weight limit.

2. At the moment I don't have any of those spells to hand...but I have worked out that Fate thingy at last and if I can get my meter up high enough then I stand a good chance of killing or at least seriously damaging at least 4 of them at once by going into Reckoning mode.

3. It depends on the weapon. Some come with slots for upgrades like in Fable 2 and 3 and you can fashion your own upgrades at a Sagecrafting table. You collect shards and reagents from around the game world and then when you get to these tables you can just slot them together to make powerful enchantments which can then be used to augment your weapons and armour. Not all items have these slots though so sometimes you find it is better to wear something that appears to be worse than a fully-enchanted item but still has empty slots because once you fill them, they become more powerful. And if they don't, you can get more money for them at shops if you don't want them any more.

The fireballs can be strengthened but it takes time and you need to level up to do it. The skill tree is a bit simpler in terms of classes - you only have three to level up in as opposed to multiple ones like in Skyrim, but each node has lots of extras you can choose to increase. I have ice, fire and lightning at my disposal and every time I level up I try to spend my points on each one to ensure they are as equally strong as possible. All three are pretty powerful BUT you need time to charge up a really strong attack and if you are hit then it interrupts the process and staggers you, which means I rarely get to see the effects!

4. Persuasion is great - it just pops up as a third conversation option in the wheel and I have yet to see mine fail. Got me out of a lot of trouble, that has. The choices you make do affect characters but if you say no to helping out a character, they just say they will be here if you change your mind and then when you select them again, they give you the same speech from before. But if you opt to do something for someone and you happen upon them whilst running around, they will comment on how you need to get it sorted or that you ought to hurry up. If you do stuff for someone, their disposition is somewhat favourable towards you (unless they are single-purpose characters like one-off missions. In which case, you never see them again). There are some good/evil choices to make with certain people and situations. So far I've been fairly well-behaved but already I am planning to be evil next time around and not help this one village out...kind of want to see whether spiders really do take over the houses or not :laugh:

5. haha, it's my fault. I've gotten really stuck into this game and am currently boring EVERYONE irl about it. I just hope I can get past these monsters right now because it's going to get frustrating otherwise and I don't want to give up yet.

 

[Dark Drakan]

I tried Morrowind AFTER Oblivion and found it too different to get along with. Which was a real shame...but I just couldn't get the hang of things.

I was unfortunately exactly the same and tried it AFTER Oblivion and just couldnt get used to it at all.

 

[Sieghart]

Morrowind was such a hassle to play when i first play it as literally there is no fast travel and i have to get back on foot to a village or something while sometimes poisoned because i have no potion for cure and Morrowind's world is just out of this world during those times especially during those times. I'm also used to playing linear and side scrolling games and playing something like Morrowind with that huge open world is simply mind blowing and tedious at the same time.

Hahaha good times good times. I have such fond memories of that game even though the first time i played it is when i was like 8 or 9 xD

 

[Angel]

@Angel
1. Okay cool.
Little things like health stuff won't be very heavy right.....OHHH can you enchant weapons & armor, & if so does that effect the weight ?

2. Oh that's cool.
The video said you can do certain things to increase regeneration speed to.
You have a bow & arrows ?

3. Oh that's way cool.
Can you change color of weapons & armor ?

Oh okay, so like if you have unwanted enchantments & crummy armor. You could put them together then sell it for a decent amount.

4. Does upgrading spells increase projectile speed for things like fireball ?

lol I friends that do that to. 1 point for each attribute with each level gained.
I usually increase offense first then defense after because i figure i'd rather quickly take out a strong enemy who's attacking me instead of slowly dying.
No need to block if i've killed it first lol.

Hmm.
Try a paralysing spell or freeze them or something that temporarily immobilizes them. Then charge up.

1. Enchantment doesn't seem to add to the weight of an item as far as I can tell. Just bought my first extra backpack for a painful 7k and it only adds 10 more to the weight limit! Extortion! When you view an item, there does not seem to be a weight attributed to it, only it's condition, value and damage potential.

2. I started with a bow and arrow set-up but I found it a little too inaccurate for me and had to keep blocking my own view of enemies in order to get a decent shot off. I haven't found out anything about regeneration yet but I have a bajillion regeneration potions on me at all times so I just drink those when things get sticky.

3. I think an enchantment may affect the hue of a weapon such as more orange for fire and silvery-blue for lightning and blue for ice etc, but the overall colour remains in its original state. Any item you don't want can be disintegrated if you have the right level of blacksmithing and you can use the components left over to create new items that you want. Or you can just sell them - it's up to you. There is a whole element of crafting where armour and weapons are concerned which puts Skyrim's crafting options to shame - you have so many varying components to work with and you have to unlock further levels to put together truly awesome stuff. It's pretty lenient to begin with and gives you the first two crafting slots for free so you can at least make a start.

4. Upgrading increases intensity, duration, distance, damage...you can combine attributes to ensure maximum damage too. I tend to ignore block altogether unless I am surrounded and there isn't much of a gap to kick off with. But I do use my teleport to get away from enemies at times - it's a lot like Assassin's Rush from Fable.

I don't have anything that paralyzes sadly but I've just increased my ice spell potential to slow enemies down for a few seconds - if they are close enough together then they can be hit as a group, I think.

@Angel
5. Persuasion huh, like give me money lol.
WAIT!!! Wasn't that in an elder scrolls game????
Where if you did something wrong you could persuade the guard or whatever to stop attacking, or bribe them.
I haven't played an elder scrolls game in awhile so i don't remember.
Oh so like doing deeds builds browny points with some. Nice.
Can rob people's houses ? lol.

Can you select good & bad deeds or is it be careful of how you speak to someone ?

LOL.
Tell me what happens.

5. No not at all, i'm really enjoying the talk about it. lol i do this alot in game stores. OMG i'd talk for hrs about random games.
I'd buy one & then stay talking for hrs lol.

Well i'm sure you'll get through it, just remember everything is beatable.
If you get to frustrated just stop for awhile & comeback when you're calm, that helps me.

5. Persuasion, as far as I know, has a certain amount of luck with guards but so far I haven't misbehaved enough to try it out. I cannot recall how it works in Elder Scrolls games though - probably because I never apologise :laugh:

Helping others makes you a decent person in their eyes and also can give you discounts if they own a shop or train in skills/repair items. Considering the cost of some of the items you can purchase (I saw one set of chakrams which I MUST HAVE but they cost 200k), a discount is nothing to be sniffed at.

Burglary is a weird one though - they have the "eye" system that Fable has so you know just how aware people are of your presence before you steal, but there are times when they just "know" you've stolen and come after you. Each item you wish to steal has a percentage next to it which indicates your chances of being caught - even if a guard or person is not around to witness the act, the higher the percentage, the higher the chance of you getting in trouble regardless of whether you are seen or not.

It's a bit of both, really - you can say nice/bad things or make more enquiries if you aren't sure of the response you wish to make yet. At other times, it's more of a case of treading carefully and seeing how people react to your conversation. When it's an unimportant NPC, your words have far less value than when you are speaking with a major player in the game world. The more powerful and important the character, the less chance your persuasion skills work too, although I just got out of taking on a very powerful sorceress earlier today due to persuasion. No doubt I'll meet her later on and it will be a case of fight or die...but for now I can safely grind up the levels until I am a decent challenger.

5. Yeah, I kind of ran out of the cave where I couldn't beat the monsters and did some other quests instead...having checked out the wikia for KoA, it looks like there are some pretty hard boss fights coming up soon which involve the hated QTE's. But I may just crack on with the DLC instead and see where that takes me. Basically, my plan right now involves visiting every single area that has an NPC with an exclamation mark above their head, accepting their side-quest and then doing them as and when I feel like it. I have also just joined a faction which is the equivalent of a Mage's Guild although now I'm wondering whether to go and sign up elsewhere instead. I don't even know if you CAN have multiple memberships...might need to check that out.

My gosh I love this game - before I realised I could escape the cave of death (as it shall be known until I beat the damn things), I was getting genuinely upset that, to my mind, the game was now broken because I couldn't get past that bit. But now I've run away like the coward I am laugh, I'm happy again. Coming across more and more higher-level bosses now so I must be doing something right.

 

[Angel]

@Angel
1. 7,000 ?
OMG, what are they made of silk lol.
I started the demo again & i didn't see a weight representation of each weapon either, i'll look more carefully though.
I did notice the slots available, 20/70.
My problem i kept picking up everything lol. I do trash anything i don't like or want so that freeing up space.

2. I found two other bows, i don't know if there's a 1st person view option when using it but i just stick with 3rd person view.
It has a lock-on so it's not bad & it lock-onto breakables as well.

The regeneration is for Fate, certain attacks will speed up regeneration if done.
Health doesn't regenerate, but there's healing spells right ?


3. Oh Okay. So no costume colors then but they'll show magical effects?

lol Yea i gotta remember to sell stuff & not trash it.


Wow, i'm like the sound of crafting.
It's like Sacred 2 which i'm waaay behind on lol.
Anyway Sacred2 you can add enchantments to weapons & armor too, but you need a blacksmith to.

@Angel
I really love Sacred2 but the only reason & the problem i haven't beaten it yet (had it for 2+ yrs) is the text is tiny because i have an SDTV, so it's hard to get into when i have trouble reading tiny text.

You said you can remove enchantments right ?

4. Sweet lol
And yea i saw the upgrading menu OMG, you understand it better than i do lol.
That's kinda why i don't get into pure RPGS because the menus read like bad stereo instructions lol.
Teleport ? COOL! lol.
I noticed you have a knock back ability if you block at the right time, so that's good.
Can i dual wield or is it set to only weapons that come in pares ?

Oh that's good, ice spells are a great paralysing substitution.

5. Yea i saw that when i rescued a little guy from a grizzly bear.
There's a percentage of persuasion working ? It told me 5% change of it working & it worked.

LOL. Ah so in elder scrolls you were like SUCKS TO BE YOU! lol.

200,000 ? Whoa!
Okay i'll start saving up whenever i get this

I like the eye system, & there's a percentage change of getting caught sounds like elder scrolls. I'm liking that because it's giving gamers something familiar to work with.
But them knowing no matter what really adds caution to it, like think twice.

So the green in conversations is a good choice or important choice ?

Hmm, so if you say the wrong thing then the fight begins. Okay i'm familiar with that. Some fights are optional by persuasion.

I see conversation are the only thing setup like persuasion.
Lock picking, & dispell, your skills comes in handy there too. You have a percentage of success in opening something without getting caught by a spell defense trap.
I almost died from opening a chest.

6. Well the QTEs might even it out for you maybe lol.
I killed the tutorial Troll on my 1st try YAY lol.
I like the dual daggers.

Is there a limit to unsolved quests you can pile up ?

And do you get anything special when joining factions, is there rank ?

1. Junking stuff only reduces your load if you destroy it - I though sticking it into Junk would do something but it doesn't. However, the Junk bag lets me sell everything I don't want in one hit without having to sell stuff individually. Which is so tedious for me. I recently purchased a second backpack and that cost me 6000 less so maybe it decreases in price? Or it could just be because I saved an entire city from being destroyed by an utter nutcase...

2. Yeah, I've not really figured out how I'm filling up my Fate meter, only that I am. I think when I do combos it fills up quicker? My health regenerates at 1 point per second but only because I am wearing every possible enchantment I can get my hands on. You can have one amulet and two rings so I am constantly swapping around my items to make sure I get the best deal :laugh:

3. Not noticed any real changes other than sparkly effects for Lightning, fiery glitter for Fire and misty iciness for Ice.

4. Dual-wielding isn't an option as far as I know but there are so so so many weapons which come in twos, it really doesn't become an issue. Ice and Lightning will paralyze an enemy for a short time and you can upgrade them to last longer. I have just invested in a special move which throws me out of danger whilst attacking an enemy with my chakrams. Kind of like a little jump backwards to avoid being smashed in the face by an angry Troll or whatever. Don't forget, if you can find the full set of a certain brand of armour, then you get some really sweet bonuses - that said, if you choose not to wear everything in the set, each item is kind of fail on its own.

5. If that was in the demo then only 5% would have worked simply because it was to give you a chance. Persuasion attempts only ever show up in the middle on the right hand side of the conversation wheel and are coloured green. Sometimes it's just information and other times it is a chance to change someone's mind about something. Don't even get me started on that Dispel stuff - I can't figure it out and so I just avoid all items covered in swirly purple magic mist. I got killed by one and cursed by another...if your skill isn't there, it's not even worth having a go. You don't increase a skill by using it like in Skyrim; you have to choose to upgrade it when you level up. So there is no numerical system involved in, say, lockpicking whereby you can't progress until you've got 40 points in it or whatever - the only time that comes into play is when you want to hit the master levels and then it forces you to be a higher-leveled character before you can use the final three upgrade slots.

6. Yay for troll-slaying! I used the daggers too, to be fair. Now as far as I can see, there is no limit on the number of side-quests you can accrue. In the DLC I have, there is a jobs board like you get in Dragon Age and it refills once you complete a job and make space for a new one. It's a good way to make money, although it can be tough to play out. There are even fun things like racing within a certain time frame around an area. A lot of them are fetch and carry type things but the rewards are pretty good. I currently have about 27 side-quests across two lands I haven't finished so the only downside is that my map is crammed with markers. The markers are either gold rings for an active quest or silver/white rings for ones you have accepted but haven't made primary. As far as I can tell there is no way of turning off the silver rings but at least if you happen to be nearby one of them during another quest, you can kill two birds with one stone.

I've just joined my first faction and there are levels to attain. I'm currently a Neophyte and then it goes up until you are something something magical words something. Think I picked a tricky faction to join, however, so I'm going to sit those quests on the back-burner for now and join a different one for a bit.

One thing I noticed only today, which I think is kind of cool, is when you have a character or something that requires you to follow it, you can control the speed. You know how in Oblivion and Skyrim you sometimes have to follow someone as part of a quest and they are SO SLOW you want to die? Well here, if you sprint, they speed up and if you slow down, so do they. I had to follow a weird green light today (as you do) and it even worked on that. Just cuts down the time spent walking painfully slowly across the map, I guess.

Oh, and one other thing - you get main quests, faction quests, side-quests and tasks. Tasks tend to be the really little things like "ooh, can you find me three books about cheese" or whatever but they are good little earners for cash, XP and bonuses. I'm currently finding 10 late library books (which essentially are Ye Olde Worlde Porn, apparently) and it takes me all over the map to find them. Dunno what I get for finding them all but I'm kind of hoping it'll be all the books...? :laugh: