Hyuzen

The powers that you gain can have application outside of combat, which isn't something most RPGs can claim. The first game has a typical JRPG go leave your small town to save the world but if you play the second game they mess with that formula some.

Some of the bad guys are former friends from your town, I think they do a good job of making you invested in the quest. Some of the characters are generic (fire based guy is brash and loud!) and the main character doesn't speak, but can make various head motions at certain points. The history and setting of the world kind of makes up for some poor characters.

The Djinn are sort of like Pokemon, you can look around to try and find all the Djinn for everyone. Technically you can change characters Djinn around which would give them different powers, but I never really saw a good reason to give a character half of one type and half of another.

The dungeons (especially the lighthouses) have some good puzzle elements, they aren't completely easy to solve but they also aren't brutally tough, but it gives you something to do when advancing through the story beyond reaching the next floor in a dungeon.

The combat isn't too complicated, you only have 4 party members and each has pretty rigid role, unless you change around the Djinn. You pick your actions for your whole team and watch them play out, I think a speed stat maybe determines who goes when. My biggest complaint is if you target 1 enemy with 3 attacks and the first attack kills the enemy, the other two characters will just defend instead of attacking someone else.

Overall I think the game is pretty great, but playing the sequel is pretty much a must because they end the game on a cliffhanger. It clearly has caught your eye, despite your reservations of most JRPGs, so I say give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.

A shame that the 3rd game in the series wasn't very good...

And hey, that DLC was some of the best content in a game last generation.

Heh, shockingly.

I have a key for Borderlands 2, just the main game with no DLC

I would love a copy of Dark Souls!

@weegieanawrench: That's Patrick's new Social Justice Warrior badge, he tweeted about receiving it at GDC yesterday.

so far I'm liking Risen 2 a bit more than the first one. They both create such interesting worlds that beg to be explored, so I end up losing lots of time to just looking around every island. Plus risen 2 feels a bit more open with structure than the first.

I chose voodoo, no muskets for me. I got to control people's minds. For example, I got Mauregato to resign from his office by controlling him. I do sort of feel like combat isn't as engaging as the first, and the first was never all that good. I became a master with the polearm in the first, and in this I've so far been sticking with swords, but I'm interested in trying out some voodoo stuff. Since you can have a companion I'll keep Patty with me so I can voodoo people safely.

I agree that thievery was the way to go. I'd just sneak around into everyone's houses when I get to a new town and open everything. I told one dude where he could find a treasure chest, then quickly ran there and stole it before he could get it.

I am interested in where Risen 3 takes the series, so far it feels like they've improved most of the systems from the first game so hopefully that trajectory can continue.

@sterling: As someone who is friends with dirty song skippers, I can tell you that some people maybe didn't care/notice, but undoubtedly some did.

I'd be with a group, then someone would say something like 'hey you guys should check out this song', and 1 1/2 minutes later put on a different song that we all needed to hear. This would repeat for probably 4 or 5 songs.

There's a special kind of torment awaiting those song skippers. You better change your ways while you can!

This trailer had the opposite effect than I'm sure it intended. I've sure the gameplay will be solid, but the story is starting to look kinda generic.

Lone dude loses his daughter and goes on a tale of revenge? I guess I was hoping for something a little more inventive than that.

I know it's not a perfect comparison, because the 360 came out a year early, but does anyone know how this compares to global sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 in a similar time frame?

@iflippadaswitch: I wonder, if you've managed to avoid all the talk around mass effect 3, or if you've never really seen Bioware talk about the series, if you'll even be bothered by what happens. I've always felt that the series never offered decisions that really change the story, just decisions that slightly shape the world. Yet Bioware always talked about how your decisions would completely change the universe, so without that understanding I wonder if someone would be as upset about how the series turns out.