Gothic 3 as an RPG is a fair contribution to a crowded genre (? - VD) where a few notable games shine brightly. One of these is a game called The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Both are RPG games with similar ideas. Gothic 3 alludes to competing with Oblivion, but it is beaten in sheer scope and completeness. As I mentioned of Jowood, parts of Gothic 3 are quite obviously unfinished, most notably some of the towns in the desert where details trail off like an old coot telling a rambling story that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Or something like that. There can be a lengthy debate about which game is better but I’ll save us all time and say that Oblivion wins on panache. Everything about it is just somehow slightly better. If I had to pick the tie breaker, it’d be the memory leaks issuing forth from Gothic 3. Although Piranha Bytes developers such as Carsten say these are due to be fixed, my belief is that such a high level of community involvement is unprofessional. By all means, appoint a community representative to voice concerns to the development team, but don’t waste valuable time posting in forums when there is a job to be done.

When Oblivion shipped it looked like a fine block of polished marble. Gothic 3 shipped looking like a slice of pizza on a Sunday, released into the world by its makers at a stage where it was only really half cooked. Many would regard such an offering with blatant indifference. Although it is gooey, grainy, raw and tasteless in places, a few minutes in the microwave fixes it right up.​