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.