Risen is really a fun game. Released in late 2009 for PC audiences and later for XBOX 360 audiences, it offered what Piranha Bytes has always made famous, great RPGs with a story that draws you in. Risen is supposed to be a standalone game and not a continuation of their previous gothic series. However, fans of the Gothic series will quickly note that this is, in fact, the natural predecessor to Gothic 3 that Forsaken Gods could never be, let alone Gothic 4 Arcania, both of which were developed by a different company.
Risen offers a fantastic amount of options to develop your character in different areas. However, the game is too short for you to become a true master of all traits. This forces you to choose a weapon class or mage discipline that you focus all of your experience points on. If you don’t focus, you will never be strong enough to finish the game. Luckily, as in almost all Piranha Bytes games, they have left some cheats so you can unlock all the abilities without cheating.
When I first started playing Risen, I was a bit surprised by the Prank spell. This spell causes the target to forget any past transgressions and become your friend again. This made sense in case you attacked the wrong person, but there were quite a few prank spells I just found lying around. It was then that I realized the point of the spell.
This is what you do. Join the Monastery. Almost finish Chapter One, exploring as much of the world as you can. Save all the swamp grass you can. Sell the swamp grass to the farmer on the dam next to the Don’s camp. Throw it on the ground. Steal it blind. Show him with the Prank spell and repeat. Once you’ve joined the Monastery you have an almost unlimited amount of prank spells and with the farmer paying you every time you sell him the same swamp grass over and over again, you’ll have plenty of money to spare. You should get around 300 experience points each time.