Game News Gothic 3 looks pretty

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Gothic III

There are a whopping 4, count them, 4 new screenshots of Gothic 3 <a href="http://www.gothic3.com/index.php?do=097099116105111110061103097108108101114121038103097108108101114121061083099114101101110115104111116115038105109097103101061045049">up at the official site</a>. If you don't speak German, you might want to take a look at <a href="http://www.worldofgothic.com/gothic3/?go=screensg3&dir=gothic3">all the pretty pictures on World of Gothic</a>.
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You might also like to know that Gothic 3 will be one of Jowood's main games on show at E3 in L.A. this year.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blues News</A>

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Hopefully it won't get ignored by the press like it did last year.

EDIT: some of the faces remind me a lot of Oblivion. Is g3 using facegen?

 

[Kendar]

I go regularly on a site to have a look at what's going on, and each time an article is about Gothic 3 there, they bash it. This time, it says (among other things) "Gothic needs to improve the IA to compete with Oblivion". Last time, it was "they try to make a good RPG, but after playing the previous episode, we doubt it". Well, what did they say about this previous episode ? Simple : Gothic 2 has "an excellent scenario, a passionating world, but it is ugly". 8/20. While it is only one single site, I guess the main point is symbolized here.

I am seriously wondering where would Oblivion be now if it has been ugly, or at least not that pretty. I am not talking only about that site I mentionned, but everything. The media, the players (PC or Xbox), everything.

 

[vazquez595654]

Does anyone know if they are getting rid of the moving camera delay. Same problem in thief 3 and splinter cell sorta. When you press to the side, your character has to actually turn first before you move in the direction. That shit annoys the hell out of me. I never felt like I had full control of my character in any of those games.

 

[Dhruin]

It's a completely different engine and the whole control scheme has been replaced, so I doubt there will much relationship to specific past issues (although I'm not sure I recognise your complaint).

 

[aweigh]

He's talking about his own fucked up settings; none of those games had slow camara or laggy rotation.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Oooh building and statics cast shadows. How next next Gen! Bethesda take heed. Crappy PC's take heed too, time to upgrade if you didn't for Oblivion already...
Hmm, I'll have to convince my brother to ship me the original from Germany when it comes out.

 

[Dogar]

He's talking about his own fucked up settings; none of those games had slow camara or laggy rotation.

Hah, that's a good one. Can't speak for Splinter Cell, but Thief 3 was plagued with bad rotation. It's impossible to miss.

 

[Old Scratch]

Looking good, a bit fancier but very similar to the previous series. I never understood complaints against Gothic's graphics. I thought both of the first two games looked exceptional for their time; they had a great artistic quality to them and were techincally sound for a large, free-roaming, 3D world. I don't usually even mess with screenshots, but I remember spending a good bit of time posing The Guy in interesting looking areas I'd come across for screenshots.

The interface looks pretty shitty and unprofessional though. They could have at least made it a little more sleek and not so blocky and drab. I hope you can hide the inventory one too.

Hah, that's a good one. Can't speak for Splinter Cell, but Thief 3 was plagued with bad rotation. It's impossible to miss.

Honestly, I'm not sure what you're talking about for those games either. I just replayed Thief 3 a little while ago too.

 

[Hazelnut]

That looks really nice, I do hope that they don't skimp on the thought going into design decisions and game mechanics like Todd & co.

I'm not familiar with the first two games myself - I did briefly try G2 for a couple of nights but I couldn't get into it. A combination of getting my ass handed to me in combat and getting motion sickness from the movement of the camera. My preference is 1st person, but I couldn't stand the swaying at all.. it was less of a problem in 3rd, but still enough to put me off buying the game for myself. Odd because no other game has ever made me feel ill before or since. Even when I played for 10 hours straight!

Graphics seemed fine to me, and I only tried it last year...

I do hope they get the 1st person perspective right this time. I don't want the motion to be floating, but a small gentle bobbing motion really is sufficient. At no point do I want it to feel like I'm a ship on a choppy sea!!

Any one got any links to vids of gameplay? Especially any with 1st person..

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

First person has only ever been a "look around" tool for Gothic, not really a valid mode to play in, Just the other way round as for TES. We'll see if that changes, but I wouldn't count on it. I am surprised though that you go motion sickness even in 3rd, there was not really anything unusual about the camera movement that I remember.
What i really like is that they announced multiple endings for the main quest- something most developers seem to shy away from these days. Thats a welcome development in Gothic that were great action adventures to me, but somewhat lacking in the RPG department (which interstingly seems to put me at odds, once again, with the common notion here).

 

[Claw]

Gothic has always been primarily 3rd person, so no. There are videos on the linked site WoG. The video from E3 last year shows some combat.

Also, Gothic 2 looks great, anyone who says otherwise is retarded. Oblivion may have the edge with panorama views right now, but Gothic 2's forests are awesome.

 

[Elwro]

And first-person mode is the mode to play in when exploring forests. My marksman spent a lot of time this way.

 

[Hazelnut]

First person has only ever been a "look around" tool for Gothic, not really a valid mode to play in, Just the other way round as for TES. We'll see if that changes, but I wouldn't count on it. I am surprised though that you go motion sickness even in 3rd, there was not really anything unusual about the camera movement that I remember.

It's quite possible that I was still reeling from the 1st person effects. I also havn't played many 3rd person games at all - so it felt pretty alien anyway. I'm definitely interested in G3 though. I've loved 1st person since playing the ultima underworld games. :D

 

[Old Scratch]

Thats a welcome development in Gothic that were great action adventures to me, but somewhat lacking in the RPG department (which interstingly seems to put me at odds, once again, with the common notion here).

Probably not. I would consider the games true action-RPGs. They at least give you some freedom in the personality of your character through dialogue, alliance, and other choices. I doubt many around these parts would argue that it was a role-playing game though.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Also, Gothic 2 looks great, anyone who says otherwise is retarded. Oblivion may have the edge with panorama views right now, but Gothic 2's forests are awesome.

Hmm, isn't it another way around? Flora in Oblivion looks excellent while you don't try to look further than your nose but panoramic views are just godawfull. It's unbearable to look upon them even for people who don't give shit about graphics. Whereas in Gothic panoramic views are just awesome. Graphics are good for the time but most importantly, they're well balanced to look great overal,l not just showing off some stupid speedtree or something. Everyone who says they're immersed by Oblivions smeared off landscapes and popping/unpopping stalks of grass are just dull dull people.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I was just thinking...i never had a single crash in either gothics, for me they were very solid games.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

I was just thinking...i never had a single crash in either gothics, for me they were very solid games.

I had graphics glitches in Gothic one. And a very bad problem in Gothic 2 where the world file for Khorinis got corrupted and the game would crash when I wanted to return to the "new world". Their support never helped, but eventually I found a fanmade fix on the 'net. But it was one of the most aggravating bugs I ever encountered in any game.

 

[Claw]

Hmm, isn't it another way around? Flora in Oblivion looks excellent while you don't try to look further than your nose but panoramic views are just godawfull. It's unbearable to look upon them even for people who don't give shit about graphics. Whereas in Gothic panoramic views are just awesome.

Well, not quite. That I like Gothic 2's forests so much is a matter of style, not tech. When I said panoramic, I thought the ability to look down on the landscape stretching into the distance without fog obscuring the view. Reflecting water is also nice. While I recognize the LOD issues, I enjoyed the views in Oblivion. Maybe the fact that it doesn't even look terribly next-gen up close on my PC softens the impression.
Gothic 2 has some great scenery, but it feels more confined, and there are some ugly view limits in larger views. Still looks great, but just not as.. panoramic.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

The canyon (not the desert, the other one) in the Night of the Raven was one of the coolest bits of landscape design I have ever seen in a game. The TES landscapes, even Oblivion, suffer from the heightmap design. There is nothing like a bit of sheer overhanging rock to convey a sense of the dramatic.