First Archimpressions: Risen 2: Dark Waters

 Wow. Not the good kind.

 This game is terrible. And maybe, sorta, kinda fun... ish. I mean, I did spend 3-4 hours in front of the TV playing this game, but I was wishing to turn it off the whole time. But I didn't. Here's the thing, this game is incredibly vexing. Frustrating as it gets. And not the good kind. If I wanted to play Dark Souls, I would. Worst part is, there is NOTHING you can do to enhance your odds of winning a battle, you just mash X and hope for the best, hope you don't get parried much, or countered much, hope you get the opponent stun-locked and what have you. I restarted a fight 3 times before I got it, and I changed NOTHING in between each approach, I just mashed X.
 Oh, and why don't I use skills? They are expensive. You know what else is expensive? Equipment. You can't buy both, money is just too damn hard to get. And the cherry on top? This early in the game, 3:10 hours in(More, since I had to restart countless times) they are giving me quests that require the use of skills I need to buy. With money I can't possibly get. These skills cost, on average, 1000 gold. I earn 200 gold, at most, with each quest. Selling loot is worthless, the most valuable items you can get are pearls, that sell at 50 gold. At least healing items are easy to come by.
 I spent 2:41 hours on Medium before deciding "Eff this" and lowering the difficulty to easy. I still can't get money, but at least I don't get mauled to death so easily. And the partner? They are useless, at least she can take damage for me when facing more than one enemy. And she usually gets lost, which means you need to go back to find her and see how she got stuck on the environment. I hope there's a way to "summon" partners, as if I didn't notice she was gone, I'd probably lose her for ever. Heck, now that I triggered Steelbeard's event, I'm on my own, hope the jungle fellas don't shred me to pieces as they gang up on me.
 And the graphics? There's lots of pop-in. And sometimes the game tries to look cool with Slomo... except that the main character's head looks a bit detached from the neck, resulting in hilarity. On the flip side, the dialogue is fantastic and the voice acting ain't half bad. But while a story can carry a low-budget film, it can't carry bad gameplay.
 This game sucks. But it's kinda fun. Maybe. Sorta? Perhaps? Mayhaps.