Arcania: Gothic 4 Review Extravaganza
Arcania: Gothic 4 Review Extravaganza
Review - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Tue 19 October 2010, 10:23:35
Tags: Gothic 4: Arcania; JoWood ProductionsMore reviews for the best game in the Arcania series surfaced, let's have a look.
According to Gamespot Arcania has been dumbed down into a generic action role-playing game. 5/10.
Unlike its more interesting predecessors, Arcania: Gothic 4 is a commonplace action-RPG with boring quests, rudimentary controls, and dreary character development. All of these flaws make the game difficult to get emotionally involved in, which is the kiss of death for an epic RPG like this one that demands dozens of hours of commitment.
PC Gamer never had to adapt their combat strategy for instance, which resulted in 76/100, as everyone knows thinking hurts.
Arcania’s systems may be shallow, but I still became completely hooked. The game transitions effortlessly from open areas to claustrophobic dungeons, from mountain ranges to tightly packed towns. I fell easily into the rhythm of exploring, fighting off a mob, rounding the next corner and exploring some more. Arcania’s greatest strength is its comforting sense of rhythm and its gorgeous, gradually unravelling world. The expert pacing had me rocketing through the 15 hours or so it took to complete the main quest.
Gothic veterans may be left cold by this uncomplicated outing for the series, but for those looking for a good old-fashioned fantasy romp, Arcania has its charms. It’s predictable and shallow, with horrendous voice work, but if you go in expecting no surprises, there’s some incredibly addictive adventuring to be had.
RPS offer some impressions:
That didn’t happen because the game is awful (it’s not; if you want so absolute a qualifier, tell me a suitable term that lies perfectly between ‘awful’ and ‘ tolerable,’ and that’ll do the trick nicely), but because I felt like I was wasting my time. To be mediocre, to inspire no emotion – that’s the worst crime of all, most especially for a roleplaying game, something that’s supposed to inspire a feeling of adventure in an unknown land, a sense of otherness, place and purpose. I felt nothing. No care for anyone or anything – even the salt-tingle compulsion of levelling up and looting barely activated the hungry lizard-portion of my brain. I didn’t feel hate, anger or even contempt. I felt nothing.
Here’s what Gothic 4 is: it’s an MMORPG without the MMO. It’s mindless, time-consuming fetch quests, running along roads and skipping past characterless dialogue from characterless characters until they give you your next, fetch-based objective. Without a sense of being in a living world, the emptiness of such pursuits is inescapable.
Spotted at: GB
According to Gamespot Arcania has been dumbed down into a generic action role-playing game. 5/10.
Unlike its more interesting predecessors, Arcania: Gothic 4 is a commonplace action-RPG with boring quests, rudimentary controls, and dreary character development. All of these flaws make the game difficult to get emotionally involved in, which is the kiss of death for an epic RPG like this one that demands dozens of hours of commitment.
Arcania’s systems may be shallow, but I still became completely hooked. The game transitions effortlessly from open areas to claustrophobic dungeons, from mountain ranges to tightly packed towns. I fell easily into the rhythm of exploring, fighting off a mob, rounding the next corner and exploring some more. Arcania’s greatest strength is its comforting sense of rhythm and its gorgeous, gradually unravelling world. The expert pacing had me rocketing through the 15 hours or so it took to complete the main quest.
Gothic veterans may be left cold by this uncomplicated outing for the series, but for those looking for a good old-fashioned fantasy romp, Arcania has its charms. It’s predictable and shallow, with horrendous voice work, but if you go in expecting no surprises, there’s some incredibly addictive adventuring to be had.
That didn’t happen because the game is awful (it’s not; if you want so absolute a qualifier, tell me a suitable term that lies perfectly between ‘awful’ and ‘ tolerable,’ and that’ll do the trick nicely), but because I felt like I was wasting my time. To be mediocre, to inspire no emotion – that’s the worst crime of all, most especially for a roleplaying game, something that’s supposed to inspire a feeling of adventure in an unknown land, a sense of otherness, place and purpose. I felt nothing. No care for anyone or anything – even the salt-tingle compulsion of levelling up and looting barely activated the hungry lizard-portion of my brain. I didn’t feel hate, anger or even contempt. I felt nothing.
Here’s what Gothic 4 is: it’s an MMORPG without the MMO. It’s mindless, time-consuming fetch quests, running along roads and skipping past characterless dialogue from characterless characters until they give you your next, fetch-based objective. Without a sense of being in a living world, the emptiness of such pursuits is inescapable.
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