Risen Impressions, Continued

Alec Meer continues his romp through the world of Risen, his sixth report entitled, and dealing with, “grinding” as he heads out of the Monestary and into the world of monster-slashing.

Well. that’s not entirely true. Though its world takes a ton of time to travel across, Risen is a surprisingly small game in a lot of ways for instance, the limited selection of armour. Similarly, there aren’t that many different skills to learn. I mean, there are plenty -alchemy, smithing, sneaking, pickpocketing, acrobatics (falling damage decrease), lockpicking, swords, staffs, axes, bows and a few different magics (some of which my character, as a mage/warrior hybrid, doesn’t have acess to) but they’re easy enough to come by and so tightly bound into the overall fabric of the game that it seems entirely feasible to learn them all.

And that’s why I find myself grinding. I don’t like feeling like I’m missing out on something, so I’m roaming the land looking for minor quests and anything I can kill, just in the hope of levelling up so I can earn 10 more precious Learning Points. 5 learning points gets me an upgrade in a crafty or stealthy discipline or a strength, dexterity or mana boost, while 10 buys me a significant upgrade to my sword, staff, axe or bow prowess, or to my new Magic Bullet, Fireball or Frost spells. Must level must level must level must level.