Preview IGN previews Gothic 3

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Gothic III; Piranha Bytes

<a href=http://www.ign.com>IGN</a> has posted a <a href=http://pc.ign.com/articles/722/722987p1.html>preview</a> of <a href=http://www.gothic3.com>Gothic 3</a>, a game that lately has become a symbol of everything Oblivion was not.
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<blockquote>Of particular interest to us is the amount of care Piranha Bytes is taking with developing the storyline past simple fantasy notions of saving the world from a great evil. While Mr. Noname, will push his way into the realm to confront the orc hordes currently occupying and enslaving humanity, players won't have to guide the hero on the obvious path of defeating and destroying the invaders. In fact, choices will be presented that not only supply the chance to help the orcs, <u>but they'll be presented in a way that will make the idea sound like the right and just one</u>. While there are plenty of games offering moral choices, there aren't a lot offering ambiguous ones such as this that could challenge the way players perceive the game world in general. <u>What looks evil at one point may actually look good towards the middle of the game.</u></blockquote>Music to my ears.
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<blockquote>Among the new stuff features added since the E3 demo were a couple of spells, the most interesting of which was a transformation spell. Once obtained, the spell can be cast to transform the main character into whatever is centered in the view screen whether that be a chicken (the chickens are deadly!) or a troll. The creature can then be used to infiltrate or attack enemy positions. Wading into an enemy camp as a troll should eventually be pretty fun. For now, the newly implemented spell isn't tuned to allow players to attack quite yet.</blockquote>Well, looks like Piranha Bytes developers are on the right track. Can't wait.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgdot.com">RPG Dot</A>

 

[Twinfalls]

Transforming into a wolf in Gothic 2 and romping around the place was monster shit fun.

 

[ad hominem]

Piranha Bytes employed near 30 voice actors to flesh out the roles of the characters in Gothic III as well so we won't have to hear the same four or five voices coming from different faces constantly.

Now is this actually a complaint that IGN had with Oblivion? I don't recall them saying anything about it when the game first came out.

At any rate, looks good. Stay the course...

 

[vazquez595654]

In many ways Gothic III looks like it has an opportunity to surpass Oblivion which was released earlier this year. There's a great deal of open-ended gameplay and non-essential dungeons to explore but the story campaign looks to be quite a bit more interesting.

What if Gothic III is better than Oblivion in every possible way, yet doesn't outsell Oblivion (in pc sales)? What do you do then?

 

[Bradylama]

Disgruntled editorials.

 

[vazquez595654]

Sorry, I meant from the perspective of a game company. It's like "Hey we just blew your game away in every possible way, but you guys still made more money than us. WTF?"

 

[Direwolf]

Then you join a doomsday cult and dedicate the rest of your life to wiping out humanity.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I'm pretty sure they are well aware that G3 won't sell even 50% of what Oblivion sold simply because G3 isn't:

a) made for consoles
b) made for retards

I guess that's the choice that some people make. They go for quality and are unwilling to fuck with that quality to make an extra buck. At least that's the impression I've got from talking to Kai.

Edit: Come to think about it, I can't see the difference between A and B. Oh well...

 

[Mr. Teatime]

Well the gothic series is not without its problems either. The controls have been godwaful in both 1 and 2, and there's some stupid AI conversations that happen most of the time NPCs interact. So whilst they like focusing on quality, they still have a way to improve.

 

[Vault Dweller]

True, the Gothic games aint perfect, and frankly, the controls aren't the biggest problem. However, these games had a certain quality, and it's nice to see that the developers are sticking and improving what made those games well loved, unlike Bethesda's tops who are always willing to fuck the fans if there is a bigger market within the reach.

 

[Bradylama]

The critical praise and fanbase would be enough for me to keep the faith. I'd much rather have a fanbase like the guys here at the codex instead of the mouthbreathers at you know where.

 

[Elwro]

I hope my newly upgraded uber-pc will be able to handle all the choices and consequences.

And yeah, the Gothic games have their flaws, but the list of advantages is imo much longer. I've already praised them sky high on this forum, so I'll just say that PB really seem to display much attention for detail.


(All dungeons suck, though, if you're into that.)

 

[Cycloptis]

This is going to be my first Gothic game, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

 

[Mr. Teatime]

Well I admired the concept and ideas in the games, but I could never play them to completion. Gothic 1 I got reasonably far in but in the end got kind of bored and the unfriendly controls and interface just served to keep me from playing it again.

Gothic 2 had some performance issues with me, and again it was all rather clunky, plus much of the plot was ruined for me by the awful voice acting in some cases. With the expansion installed, the whole thing didn't make sense to me - the intro in the tower went something like "You have to stop this invading army! THERE ARE SOME MAGICAL DRAGONS WITH SOME ARTIFACTS! The orcs are thirsty for blood. THE PROPHET HAS RISEN! Begone."

And that was supposed to make sense as well... the games just didn't give me much incentive to play, even though I dig the whole indepth NPC schedules thing. So for me they haven't got it right for two games so far, hence I'm ambivalent about the third even though I want it to be great.

 

[Paranoid Jack]

I think some of the dialog in Gothic 2 (can't speak for the original, never bought it) suffered from poor translation issues. And yeah the game was not perfect due to controls and a few other things but like somebody else stated earlier... the pros outweighed the cons by far.

I posted earlier (or someplace else) how it took me three attempts over a years time to get into G2. I heard good things & bad but when I spotted it for $9.99 at a local game store I grabbed it. I love picking up old games that way and giving them a try. I got half a dozen I have yet to open or try out... but when you are talking five or ten dollar for a couple dozen hours worth of entertainment you can't go wrong.

As for G2, it took me three attempts to get past the awkward control scheme but after that I was hooked. I would guess I played it for fifty to a hundred hours before something else caught my eye. I am revisiting JA2UB at the moment and that game also took me several attempts to get past the learning curve. But once you have got past that hard outer shell the inside is well worth the effort.

For ten or twenty bucks you can't go wrong with G2. Not a perfect game but there has yet to be a "perfect game" that is everything to everybody. I can promise you G3 won't be that game either but it should be great fun either way. :wink:

 

[Direwolf]

I don't know if that's been mentioned yet, but the controls are not awkward. They just rely on your experience both in and outside the game. They get way smoother as you get into the game.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Never understood why people had these problems with the controls and interface. Yes it was different. But it took me 5 minutes to learn, and then I never looked back. Guess I'm flexible.

 

[Claw]

My take on it is that people confuse bugginess with awkwardness.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

True, the Gothic games aint perfect, and frankly, the controls aren't the biggest problem.

The controls are my biggest problem with the games. I might have picked up Gothic 2 if I hadn't hated the combat controls in the first one so much.

 

[Nedrah]

As you most likely are aware G2 has it's own controls, with the option to use G1 controls. Lots of people actually seem to think the G1 controls are superior, especially those that ended up mastering G1, of course. I played the german version of G2 and thought it was excellent - not perfect, yes. Then again aren't the "less than perfect" characteristics of a person often those that make them interesting? I had the german version, though. Lately I started replaying G2 Night of the Raven, english version. The game, especially the early Npcs, most definitely loses something in the process, yet I believe the translation is far from bad.

 

[Paranoid Jack]

Just left Best Buy a couple hours ago and they happened to have G2 Gold for $12.95. I almost bought it for the Night of the Raven expansion but changed my mind after picking up the box.

One question about G3 maybe somebody know for certain? I have read they slipped it into a 2007 release but most of the previews are still saying Fall 2006. Which is it?

 

[psycojester]

I played the German version of gothic 2 (with fan translation) with the english version of NOTR installed. I t really helped to show me how truely awful the english voice acting was.

The pirates in NOTR were so painful to listen to, who fucking decided on New Yorkers for pirates in a medival european world?

 

[deus]

But that was half the charm for me. It's not that the voice acting is bad; it's just incredibley out of place. It does suck that of the few fitting voices, pony-tail guy's, is being replaced by Crispin Freeman in G3.

 

[Gorath]

True, the Gothic games aint perfect, and frankly, the controls aren't the biggest problem.

The controls are my biggest problem with the games. I might have picked up Gothic 2 if I hadn't hated the combat controls in the first one so much.

G2 had both an improved version of Gothic´s controls and new combat controls. They could be toggled in the options. If you find G2 Gold for cheap it might be worth a gamble.
A good gamepad is reportedly the the best choice.

 

[Kenneybounces]

I guess you guys didn't hear about gothic 3's "genious!" gameplay design?

They're making creatures autolevel just like bethesda. =(