Risen 2 is really enjoyable and absorbing game when you're playing it in "proper way".

A lot of players (including me) was disgusted by not-intuitive (comparing to first Risen) combat system from very first minutes of game. There is some ways to make game more interesting and fun-serving as long as we won't develop our character enough.

First thing: Buy shotgun from guy near sugar cane field. Yes, it's really useful weapon. It shot's every 2 seconds and gives 60 damage. Boars and monkeys won't be pain in the ass anymore. You can kill with it absolutely anything in Ticaragua island- including Jaguars and Ghouls which will be out of your range in this stage of game. The most important thing is to develop proper tactic- this time the most suitable is simple "hit and run". Fire, retreat, fire again and retreat once more. Repeat for effect.
If enemy has only few HP you can switch weapons and hit him with swords. It's useful to learn "Strong hit" ability. You'll deal a lot more damage.

Second thing: It's a lot easier to explore island with Patty in your team. He can absrob a lot of damage from beasts, focuss their attention and at last- gave them quite a beating. Explore island without haste. If you're not sure about your abilities- don't go to reach pirate town in the north. Patty will meet Steelbeard and stay with him- you'll be alone for some time. I've made it wrong way- reached pirate settlement quite early and had to kill all those beasts remaining with my firearms.

Third: If you'll reach pirate settlement learn thief abilities like opening locks and pickpocketing. It's extremely useful and in farther parts of game when you'll get plenty of loot thanks to those. There is a lot of closed chests in the world- most of them gave you things such as goblets, gold nuggets or grog/rum etc. Some of them will give you plans of legendary weapons or special items boosting your stats and staying out of inventory in something like "cloud collection".

Fourth: Look for hidden treasures when you'll get proper quests. Try to obtain every treasure map you'll see. It's very valuable stashes hidden in some places on island. Especially at the beginning you'll get a lot of money for trainers and traders when you'll sold things found in those chests.

Fifth (Optional): This one bases on your own preference. Some people learning crafting and dirty tricks. As far as I see from my experience there is no point of learn crafting except smithing. When you'll get this you'll be able to reforge legendary weapon parts to really strong pieces of arms. I've made it at the end of Antigua and I think it was worth. I plundered almost everything what was able to plunder and some pieces of legendaries was in my backpack. Now I don't need to look after weapons.

Dirty tricks are different thing. They give you some advantages during fights. Sand or salt in the eyes and your enemy is blind for second or two. Extremely useful is KICK ability. You'll be able to throw away your enemies, hit them and throw away again. Repeat for effect.

Make screenshot of map of island you're currently playing and open paint. Mark closed chests, too strong enemies or other things you think you should remember. In you're current state you won't be able to open certaing chests, kill some creatures or reach some places because lack of key. After 6 hours you'll probably forget about those things because there is a lot of things to do in Risen 2 world.
I'm also marking areas where I've been to make sure any monster survived and any possible stash was found.

At the end. There is no ONE-GOOD Way to play Risen 2. This time I've made it and didn't uninstalled game after reaching first island. Fights were painful, I suffered lack of money and I wasn't able to leveling my character because lack of experience granted after killing animals. Then I've found shotgun, changed tactic a bit and I'm enjoying game even as good as first Risen.

Hope you'll find something helpful in this guide. Write comment if don't agree or have other point of view.