PorkyThePaladin
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2013
- Messages
- 5,182
So I've been shitting on Gothic 3 since 2006, when it first did bad things to me. Obviously there is much that is wrong with this Piranha Bytes game, but I've never been able to get deep enough into it to see most of that, because 2 things always stopped me cold in my tracks. One was technical issues: those of you who bought it back in 2006 remember the kind of loading issues the game had. That has been pretty much negated with modern hardware and/or patches.
The other major thing was combat. I always felt like Gothic 1 and 2 (and Risen) did really awesome things with combat for their time. But in Gothic 3 the combat was utter shit. Not only were the improved animations with skill gain gone, but even the default animations looked like a drunk guy trying to cut through a net with a rolling pin. Everything was slow and clunky, gone were the timed blocks and cool combos of G1/2, and most of combat seemed relegated to button spam and stunlocks.
Since then, I've tried to get into Gothic 3 again and again, because the game underneath still felt fun in that Piranha Bytes way that no one else can replicate. But every single time, I would be wrecked by the combat system. Until now.
I think I finally figured out how to make it work. Not make it great or anything, mind you, but good enough to let me enjoy the rest of the game. So the key is to install Community Patch 1.75, then the update pack to it (which I was told about by our very own FEDSMOKER, https://www.worldofgothic.de/dl/download_523.htm ), and THEN (dramatic music playing), use shields.
Why shields you ask? Well, you see, Gothic 3 allows the following styles of combat:
- 1-handed
- 2-handed
- dual wield
- sword and shield
- archery
- magic
Archery is ok to use as backup, but I think it would be boring as the main style. Magic in PB games is always pretty boring, just spam spells. 2-handed and dual wield are badly implemented, because you cannot defend with them effectively, so the idea is to just use the range for the former and spins for the latter to overwhelm the enemy with attack spam. Pretty dull. And 1-handed is like a worse version of the above.
The main problem is this: community patch introduces timed blocks to the vanilla game, but enemies can use power attacks to strike through those. There is no good way to deal with power attacks, other than cheese. You can try to quick-jab the enemy to interrupt the power attack, but that will only work on scrubs, as higher enemies power attack ridiculously fast, not giving you a chance to do that. You can try to dance around the power attacks, but again, because of higher level enemies' speed, this will only work on scrubs, or if you use a long range weapon like a halberd, staying out of enemy's range. The latter is just boring.
So the beauty of shields, which I just found out via testing, is that they actually block power attacks (at least from most weapons, I think some might be able to cut through them). So now with Community Patch and shields, you can have a functional version of timed block and dynamic combat where you don't have to cheese the system.
I intend to play through the game now, like this, as long as this combat approach holds up. Playing on Hard, with Alternative AI and Altenative Balance both enabled. Pretty damn hard. Will let you know how it goes.
The other major thing was combat. I always felt like Gothic 1 and 2 (and Risen) did really awesome things with combat for their time. But in Gothic 3 the combat was utter shit. Not only were the improved animations with skill gain gone, but even the default animations looked like a drunk guy trying to cut through a net with a rolling pin. Everything was slow and clunky, gone were the timed blocks and cool combos of G1/2, and most of combat seemed relegated to button spam and stunlocks.
Since then, I've tried to get into Gothic 3 again and again, because the game underneath still felt fun in that Piranha Bytes way that no one else can replicate. But every single time, I would be wrecked by the combat system. Until now.
I think I finally figured out how to make it work. Not make it great or anything, mind you, but good enough to let me enjoy the rest of the game. So the key is to install Community Patch 1.75, then the update pack to it (which I was told about by our very own FEDSMOKER, https://www.worldofgothic.de/dl/download_523.htm ), and THEN (dramatic music playing), use shields.
Why shields you ask? Well, you see, Gothic 3 allows the following styles of combat:
- 1-handed
- 2-handed
- dual wield
- sword and shield
- archery
- magic
Archery is ok to use as backup, but I think it would be boring as the main style. Magic in PB games is always pretty boring, just spam spells. 2-handed and dual wield are badly implemented, because you cannot defend with them effectively, so the idea is to just use the range for the former and spins for the latter to overwhelm the enemy with attack spam. Pretty dull. And 1-handed is like a worse version of the above.
The main problem is this: community patch introduces timed blocks to the vanilla game, but enemies can use power attacks to strike through those. There is no good way to deal with power attacks, other than cheese. You can try to quick-jab the enemy to interrupt the power attack, but that will only work on scrubs, as higher enemies power attack ridiculously fast, not giving you a chance to do that. You can try to dance around the power attacks, but again, because of higher level enemies' speed, this will only work on scrubs, or if you use a long range weapon like a halberd, staying out of enemy's range. The latter is just boring.
So the beauty of shields, which I just found out via testing, is that they actually block power attacks (at least from most weapons, I think some might be able to cut through them). So now with Community Patch and shields, you can have a functional version of timed block and dynamic combat where you don't have to cheese the system.
I intend to play through the game now, like this, as long as this combat approach holds up. Playing on Hard, with Alternative AI and Altenative Balance both enabled. Pretty damn hard. Will let you know how it goes.
