[Maladiq]

Indeed, they are from the alpha/prealpha version of gothic. Search youtube, you will find at least 2 in game videos.

[Michael Rüve]

browsing the internet... I found this http://img.neoseeker.com/view.php?en...8&imageid=3758

Ralf, can you tell us something about this place? I don't remember having seen it in Gothic.
And those silver heads (?) under the hearts (life) and magic?

As one can immediately see from the strange icons for health/mana in the lower left corner, these are from a very old version of Gothic 1. So the rest doen't mean anything. Could even be dummy landscape.

[Zocky]

Oh, forgot to ask one thing,

Will there be riddles in the Risen? Like those in Gothic 2: NOTR, where you have this ghost(forgot the name) to whom you must answear some riddles.

Would be cool if you are stuck in some place, and you must answear some riddle to someone, like ghost, or guardian, or something, and if you do not, your health is reduced a bit. And you only gets out if you answears all riddles correctly. Would be especially intresting for some side quests, i think that would make exploration a lot more intresting.

[Ralf]

Hi there!

In case you guys where wondering why my posts got so scarce lately:
My work on Risen ist almost done, and since I am working as a freelance-artist, I work more from my own studio in at the moment.

Sadly this means, I don´t allways have the latest news on the project, since I am not as closely involved as before.
But Quy has taken over the responsibility to answer your questions on a daily basis- so you will not have any further gaps between posting your questions and the answers provided by the PB staff. Also Michael is quite busy posting in this thread...
So please forgive me if I am just a spectator for a while and feel free to ask Quy all the stuff you want to know.

Cheers!

[foobar]

Ladies and Gentlemen, heeeeeere's Quyie!

Please give Quy a warm welcome for he has willingly accepted the burden to answer our questions beside his normal duties in the studio. I think you'll find that he is just as nice and polite as Ralf and will make an excellent successor. I'm sure he will tell you a bit about himself.

Of course, the old rules still apply. This thread is a special gift from Piranha Bytes we should cherish it and not fill it with idle chatter. Post only questions to PB here and try to keep them clear and not too long so that Quy can handle the amount of text in the little spare time he has for this thread.

Welcome, Quy!

[Quy]

Hi everyone,

and thank you for the nice introduction foobar.

I was surprised and sad either when Ralf told me, that he would quit. With his nature he got a lot of friends in the community.
But I was honored when Ralf asked me, if I could follow his footsteps.
I am looking forward to my new tasks, but I also need some time to grow into the function and to get an overview. Please have some patience with me.
Also excuse my failures in grammar and spelling, I am not really use to write in english any more. But I think this situation will change now.

A little abstract about myself.

My name ist Quy Hoang, I am 26 years old and round about one and a half years a Piranha.
I startet as an intern and happily I was employed three months later. Since then I am working as an 3D and 2D graphic artist for the level and character department.

I wish you a good start in the new week.

Kind regards,

Quy

[Maladiq]

Hello, Quy, it is nice to have you here. I Brought here all the questions that were not answered. Although a few seemed not so worthy of bothering someone's time (a few of them are mine) I let you decide which to answer. I wish you a pleasant time here in the forum with us.

And Ralph, no, you will not be forgotten, and certainly not forsaken

1. Can you tell us now, what kind of lockpicking mechanism will be in the game?
2. Are we going to be able to sell anything to anybody, or specific vendors buy only specific items?
3. What about the inventory, is it still unlimited?
4. Will there be difficulty levels at start? It would be nice, if harder levels would mean extra quests and content besides the more and stronger enemies.

Speculataions.

Hey Ralf,
I have a question regarding the quest log. Will we see a Gothic 1 type of journal or a quest log like in Gothic 3?

Hello everyone , I'd like to ask: is it will be possible to change between 1st and 3rd person view in Risen?
And I wonder is there anymore people from Lithuania, or it's only me and Powaz?

Sorry if this has already been asked, but there are 7 threads of questions to be searched.

Why was the design of the trolls changed in g3? They looked horrible compared to the g1&2 trolls, which were just beautiful to watch. The new ones looked like potatoes

I have a good question to Ralf: Since Risen will have a mediterranean feel, differing from the teutonic feel of the Gothic, I wonder if the usable plants, fruits, drinks and meals will be more mediterranean. I'm not by any means an expert of the mediterranean flora and cuisine, I think you know what I mean. Mediterranean means basically olive and grapes (and therefor wine).

True. But rum grog was "invented" in modern times. Pirates existed before Punic wars, but no grog. Not that I didn't enjoyed it in G2Addon

Ralf, what do you like most about Risen?

Piranha bytes, can you please answer this question:
Will you optimize Risen as much as possible (in terms of performance), so it won't be like Gothic 3 (it uses waay to high system requirements compared to similar games), Assasins creed and Oblivion? Please take example from Valve and Creative assembly. They optimize their games very well. Hell, I play Rome Total War (high settings) with a notebook from 2002.

Will we ever be able to fly in a Piranha Bytes game?

Like when you transform into a bloodfly, you should be able to soar above the forests and point and laugh at the orcs grunting angrily below you. Perhaps do a drive-by-sting or two.. I don't know, it's just something I've felt would fit so well with (for example) Gothic 3's world.

That is a vey nice suggestion I would love to do that (although there will be no orcs

And speaking of critters, will we see stupid things like little fluffy bunnies (like in g3) and if yes, will we be able to transform into them?

Will we see the uglier cousin of the meatbug somewhere in the game?


EDIT:

Will we see messes in the game? (As in mess= A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common; especially, persons in the military or naval service who eat at the same table.) That would bring realism to the game, when all the military gathers to a building to eat.

It seems Risen will try to recreate Gothic atmosphere again. My question abot the story:
Is it possible to make an overarching story as something like Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion thing - where the same hero reincarnates (or exists in) different Universes? In Gothic Nameless did his thing in G1-G3 and dissapeared (forget about G3FG crap), and then in Risen it is kind of the same guy, who again saves the day, and them he may move to some other world in a next game, and so on. No need for any strong connections with Gothic, just may be some speech patterns, or dreams.
I know I desperately do not want to allow classical Gothic dissapear. It is an old game, and it looses fans. If to connect Risen with Gothic in some way would be great.

I'm interested, from a "project support software" point of view, if you could disclose what kinds of groupware are you using internally? And what about CASE tools?

@Powaz: there's no benefit in education?

Will you be able to trade anything to any merchenant? That was so unrealistic, selling stuff to anyone. I would like to be able to sell food only to food dealers, weapons to weapons dealers etc.Also stolen things like a gold chalice would be easily traced by the law enforcement, so you would need an underground dealer. It would be nice if during a quest you would have to steal something from someon then sell it, after you sell the stolen stuff to a regular luxury dealer, the guy would turn you in.

I may have asked this, if i did, sorry.

But i was thinking about special martial arts, like ninjitsu in Risen like games. Or something similar. I always thought Sect camp in g1 had a perfect look and eviroment for something like that. I could just imagen them as kungfu masters.
But since way difrent then regular, heavy armored knights fighting, as ninjitsu would be much more about agility and speed, i do wonder, what do you think, would something like that even work in game like Risen or Gothic? I think it would be cool, because you could base appearance and behaviour (like sect camp) around these guys. Like, this sect camp, just that they would remind you a bit of shaolin masters for example, they would have this distinct behavior and culture.
So, do you think there is any possibility something like that would work? Especially since knights and kungfu/ninjitsu masters have completly difrent fighting style, how would those two then fight together(but then again, that would be fun, to have choice to choose so difrent fighting styles). I think it would be cool, but it would be probably be big pain in teh back to balance both styles. What do you think (pb)?

1. we see that goblins have several bags carried with them. will these bags shiver separately while the golbin runs, like what we saw in G4; or are them simply "linked together"?

2. when the hero is using epee as his weapon, will he use more thrust attacks rather than swing ones?

just two minor questions, hope they can be answered.

Oh, forgot to ask one thing,

Will there be riddles in the Risen? Like those in Gothic 2: NOTR, where you have this ghost(forgot the name) to whom you must answear some riddles.

Would be cool if you are stuck in some place, and you must answear some riddle to someone, like ghost, or guardian, or something, and if you do not, your health is reduced a bit. And you only gets out if you answears all riddles correctly. Would be especially intresting for some side quests, i think that would make exploration a lot more intresting.

[Powaz]

Ralf, I hope you'll still come here from time to time to tell how you're doing. We'll miss you.

Now to much brighter stuff. Welcome, Quy, good to have you around. I hope you will learn to love us.

Oh, it seems you have a lot of work ahead of you.

[Kostaz]

Welcome Quy hope you'll like it here,take your time to adapt and have fun.

Would you mind sharing with us some info about the magic system?
As our skill in magic(mana?)grows will we see any new animations in old spells or faster casting times?

Farewell Ralf we will definitely miss you.

[catalinux]

We'll miss both Ralf and Jenny (but I'm already a great fan of comixfactory.de so I'll meet Ralf there!)

Hello Quy! Welcome to our Forum!
Q1. Have you played Gothic1?
Q2. Do you think Risen is more similar to Gothic 1 or Gothic 3?

[Maladiq]

Q1. Have you played Gothic1?

I bet my hat he did

[Maelthra]

Just stopped by to say Hi to Quy and HUGE thanks to Ralf for all his work here. Farewell Ralf Marczinczik

[Quy]

Good morning everyone,

and thank you all for the nice welcome.

And hey Maladiq, thank you for collecting all the open questions.

But you all have to excuse me, that I can't answer all your questions. Especially most of the ones about the gameplay and the story.
But I suppose that after the Role Play Concention in Cologne, where the public is able to play Risen for the first time, more informations about the gameplay will be published.

Can you tell us now, what kind of lockpicking mechanism will be in the game?

What I can tell you is that it is kind of a Minigame.

Why was the design of the trolls changed in g3? They looked horrible compared to the g1&2 trolls, which were just beautiful to watch. The new ones looked like potatoes

Sorry, I can't generelly answer questions to the Gothic Games. That is because I didn't work on them. I just can answer questions about Risen. I hope you don't mind.

Ralf, what do you like most about Risen?

Instead of Ralf, I will give you my opinion. It is very easy: what I like most about Risen are the gnomes. Let's face it, everybody in this company loves the gnomes. Their look, their animations and behavior, ... everything fits togehter.
But what I also really like: there is one idyllic spot, in the middle of a forest. If you'll see it later by yourselves, you will know what I mean.

Piranha bytes, can you please answer this question:
Will you optimize Risen as much as possible (in terms of performance), so it won't be like Gothic 3 (it uses waay to high system requirements compared to similar games), Assasins creed and Oblivion? Please take example from Valve and Creative assembly. They optimize their games very well. Hell, I play Rome Total War (high settings) with a notebook from 2002.

We are optimizing constantly. Nearly every day I hear someones saying: "Hey I have delete ... and optimized ..., and it is noticeable faster yet".
Pixel have already revealed in the german board, that you can enjoy Risen on a 600 - 800 Euro PC. He also wrote that the test system(Intel Quad Core processor and a NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GTS) can run the game at maximum detail, without any slowdowns (and the optimization of Risen isn't completed yet).

Will we ever be able to fly in a Piranha Bytes game?

Never say never.

I may have asked this, if i did, sorry.

But i was thinking about special martial arts, like ninjitsu in Risen like games. Or something similar. I always thought Sect camp in g1 had a perfect look and eviroment for something like that. I could just imagen them as kungfu masters.
But since way difrent then regular, heavy armored knights fighting, as ninjitsu would be much more about agility and speed, i do wonder, what do you think, would something like that even work in game like Risen or Gothic? I think it would be cool, because you could base appearance and behaviour (like sect camp) around these guys. Like, this sect camp, just that they would remind you a bit of shaolin masters for example, they would have this distinct behavior and culture.
So, do you think there is any possibility something like that would work? Especially since knights and kungfu/ninjitsu masters have completly difrent fighting style, how would those two then fight together(but then again, that would be fun, to have choice to choose so difrent fighting styles). I think it would be cool, but it would be probably be big pain in teh back to balance both styles. What do you think (pb)?

To be honest with you, I like martial arts, but in my opinion it doesn't fit in a RPG like Risen or Gothic. The only RPG (where it does fit) which comes to my mind, was Jade Empire.

We'll miss both Ralf and Jenny (but I'm already a great fan of comixfactory.de so I'll meet Ralf there!)

Hello Quy! Welcome to our Forum!
Q1. Have you played Gothic1?
Q2. Do you think Risen is more similar to Gothic 1 or Gothic 3?

I bet my hat he did

You can keep your hat!

Q1. Yes I have played Gothic 1, and it is a great game. But I have to say, in contrast to Gothic 2 I didn't finish the game.
Q2. I would say it is more like Gothic 1. Two (in my opintion relevant) examples: Risen has chapters, the main quest is more important.




Quy

[paulcmnt]

Goodbye to Ralf and thank you for all your work, and welcome to Qui.

I also have a question. ATM I'm playing Mass Effect and I think it's a great game. I recently saw some news about the upcoming Mass Effect 2. The developers of this series said that in ME2 will will be able to use the saves from the first ME so that the game will know who died in the first part (you have to take a lot of decisions in this game, and some of your crew members might die based on your decisions).

I think BioWare had a fantastic idea with this approach. Do you think it is possible to make something similar with Risen and (hopefully) Risen 2?

[Maladiq]

And hey Maladiq, thank you for collecting all the open questions.

You are welcome

Quy, I read part of the Gameplay Magazine preview and there is something that bothered me? How is the reputation system going to be? Subtle like in G1 and 2 or that stupid numeric values like in g3? I don;t want to see "+1 reputation with the rebels" texts in the game. Characters should hint at how they feel about you, not tell you that they like you 34 % or some other stupid things like this

[catalinux]

But what I also really like: there is one idyllic spot, in the middle of a forest. If you'll see it later by yourselves, you will know what I mean.

If there is a wooden hut I'll stay there for the rest of my life!

Thanks for the answers, Quy. You made me dream about Risen. I'm thinking to fly to Köln!

@maladiq: "the developers didn’t want any flashy interface-elements" - sounds like we are back to Gothic 1 style

[iab]

Hi Quy,

a. have you started balancing? there are that many melee weapons in G3 stronger than Innos Zorn ... I hope this won't happen again.
b. can we see plate armor in Risen?

[aqwerty]

Hello Quy!

Are the riddles and traps in the dungeons repetitive or every trap is an individual?

I just don't like the "Minigames" feeling, i can understand it for lockpicks, but wouldn't like the traps and riddles to be repetitive.

Thank you for your time

[Kirov Class]

Thank you for answer, Quy.

Also, good work collecting the questions maladiq.

[Quy]

I hope you guys had a nice weekend. I could enjoy my one, but of course it was too short.

Hi Quy,

have you started balancing? there are that many melee weapons in G3 stronger than Innos Zorn ... I hope this won't happen again.

Yes we already have started the balancing a while ago. And don't worry, I don't think something similar will happen again.

Hello Quy!

Are the riddles and traps in the dungeons repetitive or every trap is an individual?

I just don't like the "Minigames" feeling, i can understand it for lockpicks, but wouldn't like the traps and riddles to be repetitive.

Thank you for your time

No, our traps and riddles don't have the "Minigames"-feeling as you described it.

Oh, forgot to ask one thing,

[COLOR="YellowGreen"]Will there be riddles in the Risen? Like those in Gothic 2: NOTR, where you have this ghost(forgot the name) to whom you must answear some riddles.

I am a great fan of adventure games myself. So I can tell you, that I am also happy about every riddle I can find in a game.

In Risen for example, I can remember one bigger quest that ends with a really nice riddle. So you can look forward to it.


Have a nice monday and a fresh start to your week!

Quy