Game News THQ Nordic Showcase 2022: Gothic Remake and Jagged Alliance 3

[Old One]

It can't possibly be Gothic 1 unless it has slave girls obediently scrubbing the floor in the castle.

 

[Outlander]

The minecrawlers are hilariously bad.

The glowing red eyes are p. shit. They're there so the player can easily spot them from afar.

 

[Ismaul]

The minecrawlers are hilariously bad.

The glowing red eyes are p. shit. They're there so the player can easily spot them from afar.

Not only that, but the bouncy movement animation is straight out of a Disney movie. None of that scurrying rush for the kill, instead, springy legs go boing!

These devs have no idea what they're doing. And let's not talk about the overuse of bloom like it's 2005 again.

 

[BanEvader]

THQ Nordic (who aren't even THQ to begin with) provide me with not much hope. They've turned whatever they've touched to shit.

ELEX and Desperados III are fine.

Elex needed more polishing, particularly on its animations. They are worse than Gothic 2's released 15 years ago.

>the game isn't like Gothic waaaaaah
>the game is too much like Gothic waaaaah
The clunkiness of animations is a feature, not a bug. It serves as a normie repellent.

 

[Zeriel]

Well, the visuals of the Gothic remake looks competently done, but the lack of gameplay videos don't inspire much confidence... Maybe a bit too "hi-def" and polished for my taste, but I guess they're targeting a newer generation. It's a bit on the generic side for me personally, and I'm perfectly fine with G2 level visuals if the game is otherwise good.

I just realised I can't be "objective" about remakes of this game anymore as I'm quite attached to the original blocky early 3D graphics. I don't really like the DX11 renderer for the same reason (ignoring the fact that it's buggy). Another thing, the Gothics will never be the same without Kai Rosenkrantz's excellent soundtrack, and I very much doubt that they will "license" it, modernise it or whatever. That guy has an instantly recognisable style and his music is a non-negotiable part of the "Gothic atmosphere" for me.

But no matter how it will turn out, I will play it. It will be an interesting or at least educational experience either way.

At least we can be sure that there will be meatbugs...

The whole idea of "remaking" it with brand new everything in the first place is flawed.

It's like remaking BG2 and having none of the iconic voiceovers. It just can't, won't, and doesn't work. The only way I could see this being a success is if they had taken the approach of using all the old "creative" assets like music/voice-over and just replaced all the textures/graphics and did a UI/polish pass, but presented the exact same game otherwise.

It's reminscient of "remaking" the Mona Lisa otherwise, or that fucking mural of Christ on a church wall. All you're gonna do is end up pissing everyone off.

 

[Ismaul]

The clunkiness of animations is a feature, not a bug. It serves as a normie repellent.

With that logic you'd end up rolling in shit to escape the normies. And in doing so, end up exactly where the normies are.

Quality isn't something we should denigrate, even if it's just graphical.

 

[BanEvader]

The clunkiness of animations is a feature, not a bug. It serves as a normie repellent.

With that logic you'd end up rolling in shit to escape the normies. And in doing so, end up exactly where the normies are.

Quality isn't something we should denigrate, even if it's just graphical.

Sure, but what is quality? I'd argue the combat in Gothic is good precisely because of the clunkiness, the awkwardness, the sluggishness of player movement and the general animations.
To argue otherwise is to argue for the superiority of Dark Souls games, and I hope you're not saying that.

 

[Ismaul]

The clunkiness of animations is a feature, not a bug. It serves as a normie repellent.

With that logic you'd end up rolling in shit to escape the normies. And in doing so, end up exactly where the normies are.

Quality isn't something we should denigrate, even if it's just graphical.

Sure, but what is quality? I'd argue the combat in Gothic is good precisely because of the clunkiness, the awkwardness, the sluggishness of player movement and the general animations.
To argue otherwise is to argue for the superiority of Dark Souls games, and I hope you're not saying that.

Haven't played Dark Souls so I don't get the comparison. But no, you got it all wrong.

Gothic's combat isn't good because it's clunky, awkward, and sluggish. It is good despite all that.

It is good because animations portray character skill and improve with it. It is good because you can control every swing and be precise, and hitting is collision-based rather than a dice roll like TES shit. Timing is important, and predicting when the enemy strikes to be able to block is central. Etc.

Kind of retarded to list flaws as what makes something good.

 

[BanEvader]

It is good because animations portray character skill and improve with it. It is good because you can control every swing and be precise, and hitting is collision-based rather than a dice roll like TES shit. Timing is important, and predicting when the enemy strikes to be able to block is central. Etc.

And if it had smooth animations, I promise you, the combat wouldn't be nearly as satisfactory nor as memorable.
You should play Dark Souls btw, because it has everything you listed and it has top tier animations unlike Gothic.

 

[Ismaul]

And if it had smooth animations, I promise you, the combat wouldn't be nearly as satisfactory nor as memorable.

This I would dispute, but then again it all depends on what you mean by "smooth".

You should play Dark Souls btw, because it has everything you listed and it has top tier animations unlike Gothic.

It's on my list. Hopefully DS isn't purely combat-centric, cause that alone doesn't make a good RPG.

 

[BanEvader]

Hopefully DS isn't purely combat-centric

 

[rusty_shackleford]

gothic's combat involves pressing attack and shooting a ranged weapon at point blank range

...
you guys did use ranged weapons, right?

 

[Ismaul]

you guys did use ranged weapons, right?

Playing mainly ranged in PB games is kinda meh when melee is more developped, fun, and challenging.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

you guys did use ranged weapons, right?

Playing mainly ranged in PB games is kinda meh when melee is more developped, fun, and challenging.

only time melee is interesting is when you fight humanoids

 

[Ismaul]

only time melee is interesting is when you fight humanoids

Granted, it is much more interesting in those cases.

But vs animals it still is more challenging to melee, because you have to evade hits.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

only time melee is interesting is when you fight humanoids

Granted, it is much more interesting in those cases.

But vs animals it still is more challenging to melee, because you have to evade hits.

why evade when you can shoot?

 

[Ismaul]

why evade when you can shoot?

Why play at hard difficulty when you can play at easy?

 

[vota DC]

Jagged Alliance 3 is made by bulgarians? They hate romanians and depicting romanians as evil characters is very important: just look at Reuban and Deidranna.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

why evade when you can shoot?

Why play at hard difficulty when you can play at easy?

I agree that games should only have one difficulty level
designers shouldn't add features they don't want players to use

 

[Shadenuat]

I think it is an achievement that Gothic, already fairly brownish game with muddy greens and some sparks of color like magic or armor, in remake, seems even more colorless and bland due to modern shaders or whatever basically washing it all out turning things monochrome.

 

[Ismaul]

why evade when you can shoot?

Why play at hard difficulty when you can play at easy?

I agree that games should only have one difficulty level
designers shouldn't add features they don't want players to use

I just meant I like the challenge of melee in PB's games lol

The Gothics are clearly designed with melee in mind, with ranged/magic as a sideshow before enemies close in. ELEX did try to move away from that melee-centric design though.

 

[Rincewind]

Melee in Gothic is a lot of fun and there is a sense of danger to it for quite a while. But then I also enjoy obliterating enemies way over my level with arrows, standing on a ledge (I know...)

 

[Wizfall]

Too bad JA3 camera (not fixed angles, too zoom in) and maps (too small, no sense of distance) looks awful to me because otherwise it looks very good.
They get the JA vibes/humor very right IMO.

 

[Darkozric]

Too bad JA3 camera (not fixed angles, too zoom in) and maps (too small, no sense of distance) looks awful to me because otherwise it looks very good.
They get the JA vibes/humor very right IMO.

To be fair, JA1 also has zoomed-in view and it's good. Let's wait and see what they've got.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Too bad JA3 camera (not fixed angles, too zoom in) and maps (too small, no sense of distance) looks awful to me because otherwise it looks very good.
They get the JA vibes/humor very right IMO.

To be fair, JA1 also has zoomed-in view and it's good. Let's wait and see what they've got.

Well to be fair JA1 only had like... 300 pixels to work with so being zoomed in was sort of necessary.