Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Welcome to my triple review! This started as a reply to another topic and it snowballed from there! Hopw you all enjoy it. I hope it helps people who cant decide between Risen, Dragon Knight Saga or Two Worlds 2.


Information

What i found was that Dragon Knight Saga was a lot more... cartoony than Risen or Two Worlds 2. The Publisher forced them to rush D2 out of the door before it was ready. When that publisher went bust the devs saw a chance to basically continue on D2 from where they left off. They then released Dragon Knight Saga which is what they wanted D2 to really be.

Anywho, in DKS you will be doing massive front flips off of 200 foot cliffs and landing on the ground below with no damage (Fall damage doesnt exist because your a dragon). You will be charging into groups of enemies if your melee and ripping them to shreds. You will be leaping off of chasams only to turn into a dragon and burn everyone around you.

TW2 is a lot more... realistic and traditional. I wouldnt say its realistic as its still in that fantasy world of Orcs & Elves. But it is a lot more traditional. Combat is slower, jumping is more sluggish, running actually tires you out. The actual setting just seems more close up and realiostic than DKS

Now, Risen. Here is what Gothic 4 really is. Thing is, after Gothic 3, Piranha bytes was fired from Jowood Productions. However, Jowood still owned the Gothic franchise. SO they set another developer on Gothic 4. Problem was Piranha bytes had already started work on Gothic 4! They decided to continue it and rename it "Risen". So thats what Risen is. It is the true Gothic 4.

It is a LOT more realistic than either DKS or TW2. It is not set in a traditional fantasy world. No Orcs, No Elves, No Dwarves. It is more of a survival RPG. To regain health you can get Potions but unless you purposly get captured by the White RObes then you will find them hard to find. So you have to hunt, skin animals and then cook their flesh over a fire. You can do jobs. You can be a miner, smith, cook, hunter, woodcutter,, jewler and many more. Anywho ive written anough about Risen so on to the points!


The Graphics

DKS looks decent but, un fortunatly it never wowed me. Everything is too zoomed out and when you do zoom in it all looks...meh. Im not saying its bad, its just...decent.

Tw2 easily looks the best of the 3. My only real complain is the blur effect on the world. Everything looks so damn blurry. I love the effect i just think its way too strong! Other than that it is a damn pretty game.

Risen is somewhere between the two. It looks amazing if it had been made in...oh say, 2008. But it wasnt. Its still got great graphics and the world looks very belivable. Its not very well optimzed though so you better have a decent PC!

The World

DKS wins out here. The world is massive and chock full of side quests and easter eggs. The only complaint i have is that, befgore you become a dragon, it is very slow running to and fro.

Tw2 has an...interesting thing about it. Half of the main island is reserved for Multiplayer. Why? Dont ask me. It would have made much more sense to make a whole new island for multiplayer, away from the Single player game. Im a Single Player...player. I dont really play multiplayer games. I dont want multiplayer in my singleplayer! Other than that the savannah is very bare and if you do come acorss a monster then you better run as it will likely kill you as soon as you engange it.

Risen's world is really good. It is totally free roam. When you kill monsters they dont respawn until the next chapter. Make of that what you will, i actually liked it as i felt i had an effect on the world. There are a decent amount of secrets and caves hidden. Risen is definetly a game that rewards exploring and running away if you cant handle an enemy.


Dialogue & Story

Well DKS has a truly epic story in my opinion. The dialogue is great too. Everyone has an english accent that sounds decent enough and everyone sounds pretty much unique. I suppose you arnt given much of a choice in options though. You can never get an option to piss someone off so its not as natural as it could be.

TW2 is the same. With some american accents thrown into the mix this time as well. Personally i prefer british accents in a Fantasy RPG but the American voice acters did a very good job. The story in TW2 is...errm Not amazing, but not bad either. I havnt got too far, but it continues straight after Two Worlds 1 and thats a big mistake. TW1 is generally considered throughout the general public to be a "bad" game. Hence why not many people will play it. That will leave a lot of people, including myself, feeling confused at the start

Now, this is where Risen shines. Not so much story, i think DKS wins out in Story, but in Dialogue, Risen wins by a country mile. Everything feels natural. The voice acters are all british and are from everywhere. So we have a bit of Newcastle, a bit of Devon, a bit of London, a bit of Soctland, a bit of Wales, the list goes on and on. I love this, i think it adds a real diversity to the characters. The voice acting is very well done (apart form the main character who sounds a bit like Ewen Mcgreggor doing a british accent when he has just got up from an all night drinking session).


Combat

Now, DKS's combat is a bit cartoony. Its very stylish and it looks good to watch and do. As i said it is cartoony though. You'll jump into a group of foes, mash left click while spamming whirlwind and have done with it. You can combine though which i LOVED. For example, i could be a pure of heart melee knight with a few fire spells. Or i could be a powerful Wizard with some badass archery to back me up. The combinations are endless.

Tw2 combat is depressing. Its depressing because it COULD have been amazing. Counters, blocks, parrys, dodges everything was here. Then why the hell can you win by just mashing the left mouse button on 90% of the fights? Maybe throw in a Block Breaker or a dodge once in a while but its still just "Mash left button to win". So very sad. The magic system is very good though. However it takes a lot of reading and concentration (Perhaps thats a good thing) to be a Mage. You can create your own spells from cards. As an example i could have a frost missle by swapping out the fire part of my missile spell.

Risen's combat is...skill based. Overall i think it has the best combat of the three. You level up by going to trainers throughout the world and paying to learn skills and stats. I love this. At first i hated it but its so much more ralistic and immersive than just pressing "C" and spending some points! You still level up and when you level up you get "Learning Points" and a base increase to your stats (+1 at level 3 but +10 at level 15 for example). Learning Points are used, as well as gold, to learn new moves (How to parry, how to perform lateral blows ect.) and to increase your stats. COmbat is very skill based as in. At first you'll suck. Really badly. Then as you get a hang for it and start getting into the groove, you will be unstoppable. I like it


Summery

Well. I love all 3 RPGs. All 3 are some of the best ARPGs you can buy and you should own them all. However, if you had to buy 1 and 1 only...save up the cash and buy both DKS and Risen. I just cannot decide between those two. Tw2 is very good, but as i said, if your strapped for cash then just get either Risen, DKS or both.

Last edited by Billop; 06/12/10 12:25 PM.
Joined: Nov 2010
O
stranger
Offline
stranger
O
Joined: Nov 2010
can't expect a honest review since this is the official forum of
Dragon Knight Saga.!
I think it's better to put your review on gamespot or ign.

Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Well it is an honest review. Im not saying DKS is the best game ever, far from it. I actually prefer Risen slightly. But theres no denying DKS is an amazing RPG.

Joined: Dec 2010
stranger
Offline
stranger
Joined: Dec 2010
looks good to me. I was considering getting Two Worlds 2, still undecided though.

May consider it after I end divinity 2


i7-4930K w/ 16GB DDR3RAM
GForce GTX780 @ 1920x1080
Linux! (when possible)
Joined: Sep 2009
R
stranger
Offline
stranger
R
Joined: Sep 2009
Haha saw this exact same review from you over in the Two Worlds 2 forum just 2 mins ago, but overall I havn't played Risen, and TW2 isnt even out yet so I guess Divinity 2 DKS is the winner for me smile

Joined: Nov 2010
O
stranger
Offline
stranger
O
Joined: Nov 2010
well I didn't say you made a biased review ,I said how people think.
it's doubt anyone come here to see a game review infact if you criticize the DKS you will be kicked
yea that's the reality most of official forum uses the communist ruling system so can't expect a democratic features.but I am pretty sure people will read your review in open mind in either gamespot or ign cause they are dedicated for every games not for a specific game list (paid for a good review is another story :P). as I think honesty Two Worlds 2 is a crap cause in Single Player mode u can't play in big island ,due to developers focus on both Single and Multiplayer it's doubt u can see a good single player gameplay, I only like Dragon Age Origins and Oblivion.
still I didn't finish the Divinity 2 DKS so I can't say it's good or bad but as I can see now
it's more hack and slash and story doesn't make sense it likes a story similar to Alice in Wonderland
u play and u got it will vanish from ur mind then.
but seriously Dragon Age got a cinematic gameplay and still I remember, its story mixed with every emotions that we have u feel it likes a real world incident.
as an example in one mission in RedCliff castle u need to decide who will be sacrificed either the child or the lady it's hard to decide since the decision will kill one of them ,who likes to kill a child :P ,and the graphics are much more better than everything ,nicely optimized I have a 9500gt 1GB graphic card u know obviously I can't play games like Crysis with high settings and even THis Divinity 2 show poor framrate with high settings it likes if u put all settings high in 1360*768
then frame rate goes to 18 to 20 in outside but in Dragon Age u can nicely get 25 to 30 frame rate even in huge war with maximum settings. the first thing developers need to remember is
keep the quality of their products but sadly most of them forget that.there should be a rating system for Quality of Games like rest of products in ISO.
ISO XXXXX:1/2/3
1 -means high quality ,well optimized codes according standard
2 -mid quality,well optimized codes,out of standard (if use gotoxy() in C++ probably those products belong to here)
3 -poorly optimized ,lot of unnecessary lines and selection structures,repetitive codes.

















Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Thing is thats not a good reviewers state of mind. You cant compare games. Are you reviewing DKS or are your eviewing Dragon Age? You should never compare. Poeple dont come to a review to read about a different game.

I have a 8800GTX and i can run DKS maxed at 60fps. A good graphics card means nothign without a good CPU to back it up.

Dragon Age was alright but the combat was painstakingly slow. Archery was also useless in it. DKs looks better than Drgaon Age in my opinion. Dragon Age was full of invisable walls.

Joined: Nov 2010
O
stranger
Offline
stranger
O
Joined: Nov 2010
I have a good CPU ,it's Dual Core 3.2GHz + nVidia 9500GT 1GB Graphic card
so obviously every game works fine on my system(except some games with higher settings)

it's possible to compare games in same generation that's a fact
it means without any troubles u can compare two RPG games and select most suitable game for urself
I was not comparing an action game with an adventure game cause it doesn't works.
but still u can select some features like Musics/Graphics/Story/Performance those things are universal factors.

Last edited by OpEnBsD; 06/12/10 02:06 PM.
Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Yes but if you wrote a review on Dragon Knight Saga and i came to read it, i dont give two shits about Dragon Age. I want to know about Dragon Knight Saga! I dont care how it stacks up, i just wantt o know what its like. Thats why i dont like comparing

Joined: Nov 2010
O
stranger
Offline
stranger
O
Joined: Nov 2010
huh.it's depend on the mental states of each person.

Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Originally Posted by Ryan84546
Haha saw this exact same review from you over in the Two Worlds 2 forum just 2 mins ago, but overall I havn't played Risen, and TW2 isnt even out yet so I guess Divinity 2 DKS is the winner for me smile
Two Worlds 2 is out everywhere except for the UK and some parts of the US.

Joined: Sep 2009
R
stranger
Offline
stranger
R
Joined: Sep 2009
Well I guess what I meant was its not out yet were I live, which is Australia.

Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Originally Posted by Ryan84546
Well I guess what I meant was its not out yet were I live, which is Australia.
Ah. Its a good game. You should try getting it from Steam or importing it.

Joined: Nov 2010
Location: UK
member
Offline
member
Joined: Nov 2010
Location: UK
I bought Risen, but after a while I gave up on it. I found that for to long you are a wimp, were everything can bash you to death with a soggy shoelace, it gets boring. well


D2ED + More D2ED + A happy ending = A winner
Joined: Dec 2010
B
Billop Offline OP
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2010
Originally Posted by Paris
I bought Risen, but after a while I gave up on it. I found that for to long you are a wimp, were everything can bash you to death with a soggy shoelace, it gets boring. well
Well as i said, combat is skill based. At first you will suck, but as you keep playing it gets easier and funner. I would reccomend to do all the farm quests at the beggining for an easy 200 gold. When you find the sword at the end of the tutorial, dont talk to that guy outside the house. Take a left when you exit the house and keep going to reach a farm. After youve done all quests there DONT get taken to the town, go back to Jan by the house and continue as normal to the bandit camp.

You will be forced to choose between The Don's Bandits or The Order. If you wanna be a mage/ warrior-mage then you will need to side with the order. But if you want to be a swordfighter/hunter youll have to side with Don Estaban. Anyway, if you go to the town you are FORCED to choose after you have done a few missions. If you go to the bandit camp first you can do like 50 quests there and then, as part of the main story, you get taken to the town and can continue as normal.

Even if your planning on being a mage and joining the Order, id reccomend doing a few quests in the bandit camp for experiance, training and gold.

Joined: Nov 2010
S
apprentice
Offline
apprentice
S
Joined: Nov 2010
i like risen combat far more than tw2 which is already boring me. i like being able to time hits and evading attacks. tw2, imho, could have had a deeper combat if not for the no sidestep, backstep thing and, to a lesser extent, blocking reducing damage instead of risen's completely preventing damage.

also, risen's difficulty is more interesting to me as you dont easily get to 1 hit enemies after a little time. makes for better satisfaction when you finally get to that point where you stand a good chance of beating the thing which made you turn tail earlier.


Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands... - Isaiah 49:15-16
Joined: Aug 2009
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Aug 2009
Two Worlds 2 has a much deeper magic system than Risen, there's endless possibilities in spellcrafting whereas in Risen you only have Bullet, Fire & Ice crystal for offense.

I prefer melee in Two Worlds 2 as well, it may be a bit easy after a while but at least it's fluid unlike the clunky mess in Risen. And unlike melee in Divinity 2 and the first Two Worlds game at least this time it is not a complete clickfest... you need to block and use your skills.

As for graphics, Two Worlds 2 blows both Risen & Divinity 2 away. Risen has beautiful environments, but the character models are horrible.

Divinity 2 for me is best when it comes to dialogue, voice acting & overall quest design. Story is pretty weak in all three games... amusingly all three have absolutely abysmal endings.

Joined: Nov 2010
Location: UK
member
Offline
member
Joined: Nov 2010
Location: UK
You can't really have American accents in these type of games, it makes it feel corny, a little like a cheap B-film, it just doesn't work for me. Besides these are fantasy storys from long, long ago, when Americans were Indians. rpg002

Last edited by Paris; 07/12/10 03:08 PM.

D2ED + More D2ED + A happy ending = A winner
Joined: Nov 2009
journeyman
Offline
journeyman
Joined: Nov 2009
I think what makes a good story is incredibly subjective. Is one story better than another one because it is more complicated? Less complicated? Better structured? More original?
I personally believe a story can be overcomplicated, messy, not particularly original and still absolutely fantastic. Why? I don't know. All I know is that stories are ultimately about the personal experiences audiences have with them. I can't speak for the other games but I think Divinity II has a great story with some very interesting characters in it.


Experience the Witch Hunter Chronicles at https://whchronicles.wordpress.com !
Joined: Dec 2010
Location: Australia
T
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
T
Joined: Dec 2010
Location: Australia
Thanks for the heads up about Risen - I played the official "Gothic 4" and it was memorable only for its horrible voice acting (the screeching strains of "a stranger... here?!" will echo in my mind for a long time).

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Bvs, ForkTong, Larian_QA, Lar_q, Lynn, Macbeth, Raze 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5