Risen (2009)

An action RPG which plays much better on a PC

Nevertheless, I had a pretty good time with this back in the day

You play a nameless character, who after his ship is attacked and sunk by a creature, later learned to be a Titan, finds himself washed ashore an island

You explore and meet the various people who inhabit the island and then are given a choice as to which faction you wish to align with

Combat is the strong focus here, which is unfortunate because it's not something that the game does too well. You will get better as you gain experience and learn how to use the janky controls. You can use melee weapons or ranged

There are non combat skills that you can learn such as alchemy, lock picking, pickpocketing, smithing

I did really enjoy that you never have to pick a fixed class to play as. You really can build your character as you wish, although, the story does place some limitations. If you join up with the bandits, you can't learn magic like you could if you had hooked up with the mages. However, trainers abound and can help you to increase your skills

The graphics (for the time) and voice acting are good.

I had a merry old time playing this. Shame about the combat, but with a little practice it's not so off putting as to make you want to punch your fist through your computer screen

Wonderful, classic Piranha Bytes RPG.

After the fallout with their publisher JoWood, severely cutting Gothic 3's development time, they cut ties with them (and unfortunately the Gothic franchise) and set out to make a new game with the same style and design principles.

You, a nameless scrub, literally wash up on the beach of an island and choose a direction to go in. In classic PB fashion, simple rats and other basic monsters prove quite a challenge. The reward however, is that enemies don't respawn. Spend 30 minutes to kill a monster way above your level? Get rewarded with (comparatively) dope equipment and more area to explore.

In the early game you'll want to play smart: stick to main roads, avoid enemies that look too tough (because they are) and find sanctuary in a city. Once there, you'll find rather intricate quests that give you plenty of opportunities to double-cross, complete them before getting them, forcing you to live with your decisions, etc.

I'll end this with a "story" from my game: Near the beginning of the story, you'll come across a farm. People from the Inquisition will be doing simple busy-work, and when talked to, will warn the player of recruiters coming. Multiple times, you're warned that these people capture and forcefully convert those they find to their order. Me, loving my zealots, run into them head-on and... get captured. My next FIVE hours is spent in disciple robes, sweeping dormitories, selling weed on the DL, making connections, solving a murder mystery and developing my newly opened staff training. In ANY other game, you'd get a gameover or a "What are you doing?! Stay out of sight" type cutscene. And it was glorious.

Unfortunately, the final 6-ish hours are a real drag. You're forced to go back to areas you likely already explored, to take down magic barriers that were impassible until the final chapter. That being said, it's still absolutely worth playing.

Though it was a Gothic wannabe, it was quite epic. At 35 hours of game time (not considering the frequent reloads as a result of the high difficulty of the game), meeting the final boss was a major disappointment since he (it) sucked. But, the character development was substantial, there were a large number of interesting side-quests, choices actually mattered, and weren't based on a fairy tale moral code, the combat system, reminiscent of gothic 3, was quite awesome, and the story line was good enough. I wish it was longer. I got so engrossed in this game that I didn't sleep last night. Time to do that.

Actual Score: 3.5/5