Where does Piranha Bytes stand among all time great studios?

[Cat Dude]

They gave us alternatives to FO3 and FO4 in the form of Risen and Elex. In my eyes, that's something to be admired and cherished. I don't consider them to be as objectively good as Obsidian or Black Isle or whatever, but man, I just love their games the same way people love From Software.

Piranha Bytes is basically the developer who makes flawed, unpolished games that are so charming and compelling that you somehow already threw 50 hours into them before realizing what happened.

Couldn't have put it better myself

People love FromSoft because Souls games are objectively good and widely praised by critics

 

[cvv]

You clearly weren't around in 2000 so you have no idea what the RPG landscape was back then. G1 was utterly revolutionary in more than one respect. Afaik the first RPG of this kind ever - 3rd person, single character, 3D engine.

You must be retarded if you really buy in this argument of yours. Diablo was released in what? 1997? How abut Morrowind? 2002? One year later? How many games had these features in the 90s?

Once more and slowly - 3rd person, single character, 3D engine.
But imma not call you retarded back. You're just very angry is all.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Once more and slowly - 3rd person, single character, 3D engine.
But imma not call you retarded back. You're just very angry is all.

The first big 3D success was Battlezone, a tank game released in 1980 that used vector graphics to create its work, much like Asteroids. While a simple game by modern standards, it was fiendishly complex for such an early example, offering the ability to go anywhere in an (admittedly featureless) world, hide from attacks and fight enemies.

Read about the evolution of 3D games.

3D sucks, by the way. Another feature of decline.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Gothic was never grindy.

Nigger, pleeeeeeease. Why do you think you have a big world to explore with tons of enemies to kill? Why do you have level requirements to proceed in the main quest? Why does the game allow you to become uberpowerful by indulging yourself in grinding? Why does the game allow you to kill NPCs left and right, and take their shit when nobody is looking? Do you seriously want to make the case that this is all a big coincidence? Apparently we have some grindingwhores in denial pretending they do something else over here.

 

[J_C]

Gothic was never grindy.

Nigger, pleeeeeeease. Why do you think you have a big world to explore with tons of enemies to kill? Why do you have level requirements to proceed in the main quest? Why does the game allow you to become uberpowerful by indulging yourself in grinding? Why does the game allow you to kill NPCs left and right, and take their shit when nobody is looking? Do you seriously want to make the case that this is all a big coincidence? Apparently we have some grindingwhores in denial pretending they do something else over here.

We clearly understand grinding in a different way. In your interpretation if there is a huge world where you can kill everything, it means it is grindy. For me, grindy means that you HAVE to kill trashmob after trashmob after trashmob to reach a high enough level to finish the game. In Gothic, it is not the case.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Even the most dedicated fans will acknowledge that the combat is trash.

nope

in fact gothic combat is p. great and also a good way of identifying scrublords who suffer from palsy

 

[JarlFrank]

Once more and slowly - 3rd person, single character, 3D engine.
But imma not call you retarded back. You're just very angry is all.

The first big 3D success was Battlezone, a tank game released in 1980 that used vector graphics to create its work, much like Asteroids. While a simple game by modern standards, it was fiendishly complex for such an early example, offering the ability to go anywhere in an (admittedly featureless) world, hide from attacks and fight enemies.

Read about the evolution of 3D games.

3D sucks, by the way. Another feature of decline.

3D RPG, man. At least cite Ultima Underworld if you wanna be taken seriously, rather than an early 3D non-RPG that didn't even have properly 3D environments.

And when it comes to exploration-focused single-character games, direct control 3D is the best you can do. The entire genre of immersive sims only works because of it. Sizeable 3D environments you have to explore with open eyes, looking up and down instead of merely left and right (good 3D level design makes use of all three dimensions). Games like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, Arx Fatalis, Gothic are pure fucking incline and if you claim the contrary you are simply wrong.

Gothic was never grindy.

Nigger, pleeeeeeease. Why do you think you have a big world to explore with tons of enemies to kill? Why do you have level requirements to proceed in the main quest? Why does the game allow you to become uberpowerful by indulging yourself in grinding? Why does the game allow you to kill NPCs left and right, and take their shit when nobody is looking? Do you seriously want to make the case that this is all a big coincidence? Apparently we have some grindingwhores in denial pretending they do something else over here.

Gothic doesn't have a very big world. Even Gothic 2, which is twice as big as the first game, has a comparatively small world even if you compare it to its contemporaries. It's much smaller than any Elder Scrolls game, smaller than all those "open world" shooters popular these days, smaller than isometric open world RPGs of the time (Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Fallout 2).

There are no random encounters in any of the Gothic games. Enemies don't respawn ever (only a couple of new enemies spawn upon the start of a new chapter - which is a pre-determined amount spawning in specific locations). You cannot grind in the Gothic games. The definition of grind is to engage in repetitive behavior to artificially raise your character level, usually by engaging in repeatable random encounters. If there are no repeatable random encounters, you cannot grind. Once you clear an area in Gothic, it stays cleared forever. If you want more XP you need to explore the world and find a new place filled with enemies to kill. Besides, early on in the game you probably want to avoid most combat because of how deadly it is to an underpowered character.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

in fact gothic combat is p. great

 

[Darth Roxor]

it is

what now punk

 

[Jaedar]

it is

what now punk

This is what happens when you do too much ELEX. You lose your emotions and also become stupid, which is why the ELEX dependent faction loses.

 

[J_C]

it is

what now punk

It is actually pretty fun IMO, I never understood the hate for it. Different than other games, but not bad at all.

 

[Danikas]

it is

what now punk

 

[JarlFrank]

It has clunky controls but it's fun, and I never had any issues with it when I first played it in the mid 00s.

 

[cvv]

it is

what now punk

It's only possible in the Russian version of the game, obviously.

 

[krilcebre]

Combat is fun, engaging and pretty damn punishing if you try to just spam buttons. Yeah it's clunky, but who fucking cares if it's fun?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Gothic 1/2 combat was revolutionary. All you idiots who played it first in 2019 need to understand that. Back in 2001-2004, action RPG combat involved spamming buttons (see Morrowind, Daggerfall, Ultima Underworld, Arx Fatalis). The Gothics made it skill based and far deeper with things like timed blocking, combos, and attack animations improving with character skill increase. The combat was mind blowingly good at the time.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

PB games are up there when it comes to open, hand crafted worlds and exploration that's genuinely rewarding and satisfying. They're also very unique in two aspects:

1. Crafting that's both fun to use and actually matters (neither of which is true in your average crpg despite all of them having crafting).
2. Good economy that doesn't utterly break down and crumble for a very long time in any given playthrough.

Finally, I always loved all the attention to details, like dialogue for skill learning or separate dialogues for each pickpocketing (which were also often pretty damn funny).

They declined heavily over time, but I still had decent, honest fun with every single one. Excluding G3, I never played it to this day.

 

[samuraigaiden]

Gothic 1 combat is miles ahead of all Elder Scrolls games and the Witcher.

Severance > Dark Souls > Gothic > Elder Scrolls > Witcher

 

[Falksi]

it is

 

[Ismaul]

PB stands on top of all others RPG studios.

Above Black Isle, Troika and Iron Tower.

Their games are that good. I fear nothing will ever come close to Gothic in my lifetime. Nothing has in almost 20 years already.

 

[DraQ]

3D sucks, by the way.

Ur mom does.

Wait, that actually came out pretty well.

 

[luj1]

I struggle to see anything worthwhile they made since the Gothics. Risen is bull shit.

ELEX feels janky, console UI, outdated graphics, bland factions and mediocre MMO-tier crap loot. Let's be real, if not for the drought, a 50€ consoletard RPG would have been shat on and torched.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Gothic is literally an Oblivion but with worse camera, graphics, art direction, controls, and gameplay.

 

[Alex]

Even the most dedicated fans will acknowledge that the combat is trash.

nope

in fact gothic combat is p. great and also a good way of identifying scrublords who suffer from palsy

Agreed.

Although if you are the kind of person that likes to play mages... the combat can get a bit tiring...

Edit:

Gothic is literally an Oblivion but with worse camera, graphics, art direction, controls, and gameplay.

Politician, we might never agree on anything. But still I can't help but admire you for roleplaying your user name so thorougly.

 

[Geckabor]

Gothic is literally an Oblivion but with worse camera, graphics, art direction, controls, and gameplay.

lurk more