Risen Preview
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The island is divided into factions, and as the story evolves players join one, with the Inquisitor's Order opposed by the Bandits, lead by the charismatic Don and a cadre of mages. (The way you experience the story depends largely upon your choice of faction,) Rosenkrantz says, and faction choices aren't obviously wrong or right. (You don't really know who the bad guys are, you have to figure it out, and the more you uncover, the more you may reconsider your choice of sides,( cautions Rosenkrantz, promising great replay possibilities as all the dialogue is faction dependant.
The living island idea extends to the people on it, with an in-depth dialogue system and your actions determining NPC reactions. (This is not because we scripted it, it's because we provided our characters with possible actions that the simulated AI responds with,) claims Rosenkrantz. That can have a negative effect if you upset the island's inhabitants, but there's more than just the dialogue system to influence NPCs, and we saw the powerful Joke spell in action. Having killed a citizen during the demonstration, the developer used the spell to turn a key NPC round to help rather than shun them. (The AI reaction is that the character forgets whatever it was you did wrong. Later in the game you can use tactical spells like this to complete quests or balance out prior wrong doing.)
