Gothic 3

[Bee]

I'm surprised no one has posted impressions yet since the previous games were pretty popular here. My copy should be here on Wednesday. I have read that there are some performance issues if you have an older system or less than 2 GB RAM. Looking forward to trying the game out. Anyone have a copy yet?

[hukarez]

Whoa, it's coming out this week? I thought it was for a November release!

This is interesting. I wonder if it'll run on my laptop okay... :confused:

(2 gigs of memory, along with a 7400 nVidia card...)

[Eaglesfan27]

I thought it wasn't coming out until November. We had another thread about the game a few days/week ago. I'm looking forward to it, and have more than enough memory that it should run well. :)

[Deattribution]

Ebgames has it listed at 11/13, did I miss something about an early release?

[sabotai]

IGN lists its release as Oct.27th (Oct. 13th in Europe)

Gamestop still has it as Nov. 13th (and the Europe release as Oct 13th.)

Did Bee order an import from Europe?

[Bee]

Sorry for the confusion, I'd forgotten the US version had a different release date. Yep, I got the UK version from gogamer.com. No difference between it and the US version other than release date from my understanding. In any case, I'll post impressions once I get a chance to play it tomorrow.

[sabotai]

I just got Gothic II Gold from Amazon today. I'll be firing that baby up and am looking forward to seeing how II compares to your impressions of III.

[Bee]

The game is supposed to be delivered tonight, but I just found out from the wife that I have other plans... :(

[Bee]

So far, I'm pretty pleased with the game. It runs pretty smooth on my system, but I do have a pretty high end system. I haven't had any crashes or anything. The only problem I've run into that I had seen reported was the boar issue, but even that wasn't as bad as I had read. The boars are way too tough, but with hit and run tactics and liberal use of healing potions I was able to deal with them. No other monsters I've run into so far has really felt unbalanced though. Graphics are good but not on the level of Oblivion. The storyline seems to be pretty decent so far. I like the combat controls a lot and the interface as a whole seems much better than Gothic 2. The quest log could use some work. I wish there was a way to replay conversations because a lot of information seems to be missing in the quest logs which mainly consists of 4-5 word explanations of what you're supposed to do. I've heard there are some problems with save files becoming corrupt, so I've been keeping a rolling save of 3 files going to avoid losing too much progress if I get a corruption but so far no problems.

[Bee]

I've been playing the game just about every night and having a blast. There are a lot of bugs and performance issues, but despite that the game is pretty entertaining.

Also, for those waiting on the US release, I saw on another board that they are probably going to delay the release a couple weeks until the game is patched again.

[Buccaneer]

I saw that too and am glad because that's the way Gothic 1 and 2 came to us nearly flawless. The only difference was that there were at least a 6 month lag between Euro release and US release. For example, they got Night of the Raven before we even got Gothic 1.

I also saw, for the first time, the minimum and recommended specs. Yikes. Looks like my 4 year old custom built PC ain't going to play this.

[Tigercat]

Are the requirements about the same as Oblivion? I can run Oblivion slightly above midlevel settings smoothly on my laptop, wonder if I stand a chance with this.

[Bee]

Are the requirements about the same as Oblivion? I can run Oblivion slightly above midlevel settings smoothly on my laptop, wonder if I stand a chance with this.


I've had more performance issues with this than with Oblivion, although Oblivion is (IMO) a much better looking game. I just think that they haven't done a very good job of optimizing Gothic 3.

Also while I think Oblivion is the better looking game, I think Gothic 3 is the more enjoyable game.

[Bee]

I saw that too and am glad because that's the way Gothic 1 and 2 came to us nearly flawless. The only difference was that there were at least a 6 month lag between Euro release and US release. For example, they got Night of the Raven before we even got Gothic 1.

I also saw, for the first time, the minimum and recommended specs. Yikes. Looks like my 4 year old custom built PC ain't going to play this.

Yep, I got my computer less than a year ago and have a pretty high end video card, 2 GB of RAM, etc and sometimes the game slows down on my system. There are some suggestions out there for optimizing the game, but I haven't tried them yet.

[hukarez]

Any further impressions so far, Bee?

[Galaril]

Anybody played the us release of this which is patched? I know the European patched game was still pretty bad.

[Capital]

Interested also in comments as I enjoyed Gothic 2 very much. I have read a few reviews...mostly mixed...it appears that the game is so close but just misses in a few areas.

[jbmagic]

Oblivion is the better game.

[Deattribution]

Oblivion is the better game.

Have you even played Gothic 3?

[jbmagic]

Have you even played Gothic 3?

Not yet. I have Played Gothic 1 and 2.

But I feel like Morrowind and Oblivion is more of a solid game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Not yet. I have Played Gothic 1 and 2.

But I feel like Morrowind and Oblivion is more of a solid game.


Nice to know that you are as informed as ever.

[Buccaneer]

I actually had to think about this, believe it or not.

I had some good sales on eBay the past couple of weeks and earned some money to build a new PC from the ground up (it had been 4+ years since I had done that). My new PC will exceed the rec specs for Gothic3 but I had to convince myself that I didn't do that because of wanting to play the game. If that was true, I may be disappointed.

What I did was to read the user reviews at rpgdot and amazon and pay attention to what some love about the game as well as what some hate about about it. Most agree (lovers and haters) that the world is huge and varied and immersive to be in. I think that's what sold it for me because more than anything about a game like this, I just being in world like that - wandering around, discovering unique places and just looking at the scenery.

There are complaints about the controls but if you recall, Gothic 1 was initially trashed because many complained about the UI/controls but in time, many got used to to where it became intuitive and in fact, when Gothic 2 came out, many chose the option to use the Gothic 1 controls (like I did). But in Gothic3, users and reviewers complain about mashing the left mouse button and winning everything. I normally play as a mage or a mage/ranger combo and really never liked close combat/swordfighting.

The other complaint is the storyline. I can't tell if it's too open-ended or if that the main storyline is weak (compared to the previous two versions).

I am getting the game for Christmas (amazon had it for $29.99) and it will take a few days (hopefully) to build my PC, so I guess I'll see what it'll be like.

[daedalus]

Speaking as someone who has never played any of the Gothic games but have read about it fairly frequently on here and OO, I don't think Gothic will ever really do too well amongst reviewers -- even while having its own strong fan base. The game is "too" open-ended for the typical gamers -- and certainly most reviewers -- to "like" initially. I think the game appeals more to those who wants to get the most out of the game WORLD they can -- looking everywhere and being immerse in the world -- and not so much to the goal-oriented get-to-the-end type of players. Just my $0.02.

[Buccaneer]

Speaking as someone who has never played any of the Gothic games but have read about it fairly frequently on here and OO, I don't think Gothic will ever really do too well amongst reviewers -- even while having its own strong fan base. The game is "too" open-ended for the typical gamers -- and certainly most reviewers -- to "like" initially. I think the game appeals more to those who wants to get the most out of the game WORLD they can -- looking everywhere and being immerse in the world -- and not so much to the goal-oriented get-to-the-end type of players. Just my $0.02.

Well said and I think your perception is right. I read the comments of the Gothic players and apart from the technical problems (i.e., few has a system that can run this properly), some feel that this version has been dumbed-down to appeal to a broader audience. They mention things like easier combat, less interactive NPCs, bigger but more boring world and a simpler quest/log model - but they all mention how great the soundtrack is. And then I just found out why....

I was looking in the wrong place.

Apparently, rpgdot (which was very active for Gothic 2) kind of died with Gothic 3. (Probably because the gamers there are the kind that you mentioned???) I wondered where everyone went until I found someplace else

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=160&langid=3

at www.worldofgothic.com (http://www.worldofgothic.com)

[Buccaneer]

The boys and I have been into playing this for 3 days now. We have it on High details and no performance problems. After roughly 16 hours of playing, we have covered maybe 2-3% of the game. It is so immense and very richly detailed. The graphics are better than anything I have ever seen in a game. The new combat is different and in most ways, better (I still face the wrong way too many time though). The biggest difference is that this now plays like many of the FP games - using the mouse and arrow keys at the same time. The story and quests are very immersive and everything else about the game, from the quest logs, to the trading/economics system and esp. the character development system are much, much better than before (i.e., easy to use and more depth). The game is huge and I would say that it will be well worth the time spent.

[Buccaneer]

I'm stoked. Brian (EaglesFan27) just got Gothic 3. My boys and I have put over 200 hours into this game and absolutely love it, and now I can finally talk Gothic with someone here.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm looking forward to it as well, my wife got me the game for Valentine's day.

[Buccaneer]

Forgot to mention to make sure to get the 1.12 update. There is a big difference between out-of-the-box and the latest update.

[Eaglesfan27]

Forgot to mention to make sure to get the 1.12 update. There is a big difference between out-of-the-box and the latest update.


Thanks for the advice - I'll be sure to grab the update. I will probably wait until tomorrow to dive in as I don't like starting new games when I'm tired, but I'm reading the manual tonight.

[Shepp]

I noticed that the 1.6 version of this was released yesterday. I have been wanting to try this game for a while but I heard the previous verisons have needed several patches before the bigger bugs were squashed. Is anyone still playing this and have most of the bugs been worked out?

[Calis]

I'll probably fire it up again here soon when I get the time.

I thought it ran relatively bug free with the last patch. There are still glitches, and there always will be, but I found it to be pretty stable.

I haven't put the time in it I should, it is a pretty drastic turn from the first two imo, but not in a bad way. I'd recommend it.

[Buccaneer]

Got done playing this all the way through for the 4th times last month. This was with 1.5.2. Never really had problems but like I told Brian (EaglesFan27), you have to be patient (I get kicked out about 4-5 per day of playing). Supposedly 1.6 improves that. This is my 2nd current all-time favorite game, the world is simply vast, full and amazing. If any of you need any help or advice, let me know. Brian can attest to the loads of advice I have been giving.

[Calis]

Wow, I'm going to fire it up tonight, if it's Bucc's favorite of the series I really need to dive into it more. It didn't quite grab me immediately like the 2nd one did, and to a lesser extent the first, but I did like the vibe..I think I got stuck very early, with a quest at the first town I believe to kill some starving wolves, several groups..and I killed several groups, but I have searched high and low for the last group and couldn't find them. Eventually I just took a break and haven't gone back. I needed to that quest or one other(finding someone's goods on the beach there at the beginning) to get my reputation high enough to meet the Orcs and move onwards at the first town, but I was having no luck.

I think I might fire it up now and give it another try though.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeah, I had some stability problems which caused me to shelve it in the past, but with the 1.6 patch, I'm going to give this another try tomorrow. Also, I definitely can attest to the fact that Buccaneer has offered a huge amount of tips, advice, etc about the game. He has helped me get through several parts of the game where I needed a hint on a quest. I really enjoyed Gothic 2, so if the patch can fix my stability issues, I'm fairly certain I'll play through this one as well.

[Buccaneer]

Lol. Maybe Brian can tell you a story about those wolves.

One of the ways I can help is that I have links to maps that show where things are (including those wolves).

It is a different game than G1/G2, less linear but in same ways, easier. But the many variety of towns, places and landscapes are beyond belief. The fourth time through, I discovered areas that I had never been to before (to do some missions) and that was cool.

[Buccaneer]

Remember about performance. When you load up a saved game, it takes about a minute or so (depending on your system) for all the objects to get loaded. During that time, it will be quite laggy. Just be patient. Also, save often (use quick save frequently). I never go more than 5-10 minutes without saving. You will get kicked out, so just reload and get back into it.

[Calis]

Oh yeah I'd love a link to a map with that if there's not too many spoilers on them. I don't want to see too much, but I'm all for a little help at this point. :)

Just from the bit I've played and reading though, it really seems like they went out in this 3rd version to show The Elder Scrolls series how it's done. You have really varied landscape, and it seems like there is always something of interest you run across, and more importantly your actions actually effect the world, rather than people being oblivious to it. That's the biggest thing I'm excited about.

Ok, fine..I'm downloading the patch and I'll probably be playing the game the entire evening if it's stable. :)

[Buccaneer]

Aww, don't spoil this thread by mentioned Oblivion. :) You spend 5 minutes walking away from Ardea and you find more things (creatures, items, plants, etc.) than in ALL of the landscapes of Oblivion. When you start out (esp. after getting doing the thing in Ardea), pick up EVERYTHING. Slowly and methodically cover the lands.

Calis, here's a sample:
http://home.comcast.net/~ouray2/images/wolves.jpg

[Eaglesfan27]

Those F!$!%% Wolves. I spent HOURS looking for the last group. Not once, but twice. The first time I never found the last group and just assumed it was a bug. The second time, Buccaneer helped me out with a map which only pointed out the location of those wolves. Not only did I finish that quest, but I discovered this cool little sub-area that I didn't know existed that was quite scenic and had some nice treasure.

[Buccaneer]

Which is why is pays to be very methodical and unhurried, you never know what is behind a rock, tree and nooks. What till you guys get to Nordmar, that will rock your socks (by far the most challenging land I have ever experienced in all of my years of playing 3D FPS games).

[Eaglesfan27]

The tricky thing about them is that most of the groups are out in the open and it lulls you into a false sense of assuming that they will all be out in the open if you just search far and wide enough. In reality, the last group is hidden in a subtle way.

[Calis]

Ah, I just began my mountain climbing before seeing this. I figured ok, if they're close to the city and I can't see them, they must be above, so I began circling all the way around and searching. It looks like that is the way to go, thanks guy. I'm going to search for it now.

Yeah with the other groups being so easy I thought I was missing something right in front of me, and then assumed it was just a buggy quest and stopped playing. Oops.

[Calis]

Ok, so I'm an idiot.

I have no idea how I missed those the first time, I mean I searched that place time after time, and it uhh..seems so obvious now.

I actually would've missed it this time also, as I had gone all the way around and up way too high but accidentally slid down a cliff and ended up right next to them.

Thank God that's over.

[Buccaneer]

You guys are funny.

As you approach Cape Dun or any town, do all of the quests in and around town, to build up points. Remember, you can only liberate 2 Orcs-controlled towns before you will have problems doing stuff in town.

[korme]

What are the min. system requirements?

[Buccaneer]

What are the min. system requirements?

A lot. Remember, I built a new high-end system last year so I could play this game. Most of the problems people have been and are still having is trying to play this on a less-than-high system. Off the top of my head, I would say dual core, 2 gb ram and 256/512mb video. It really is worth playing this game on high details as I have been doing, but it still can easily be played on medium details.

[Calis]

Man I forgot how much I loved this series of games. I've just spent the last couple hours just wandering around the wilderness taking it all in, and mostly hunting deer and the occasional bigger beast. I've actually ended up quite a ways away from Cape Dun, so I should probably head back soon to work on liberation, but I'm trying to gain another couple levels before I do and see about upgrading my equipment.

I know most of the alchemical ingredients I pick up I should keep either for potions or quests later right? What about skins and teeth I get from hunting, should I keep those for quests further down the road or am I free to profit from them? So far I've only been selling equipment/armor/trinkets, and keeping the rest just in case.


As for requirements they are definitely high, I just built a new system and so was finally able to buy it here a few months back, and I'm still below where I should be. I think my graphics card is causing me some problems(GeForce 7900) I'm getting a lot of texture tearing, so I'll see a streak running from someone's arm to infinity, it's a bit odd, but I think that is the card rather than the game.

[Eaglesfan27]

The min specs per the box:

Pentium 4 2 GHZ or AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512 MB RAM, 128MB Video Ram, DVD-Rom Drive.

However, as Buc said, you are going to want much more than that to get an enjoyable experience.

[Buccaneer]

Calis, in the early game, you pick up everything so you can 1) sell or 2) use to heal, etc. If you go the route of making potions (always good if you play mage like I do), you can simply concentrate on those items for the potion. By the latter part of the early game, you won't need all the stuff laying around and can concentrate on the many chests and such.

I never put my points into hunting skills because they were always put into better things. By the mid-game, you should have a lot of gold and if you do a good job in hunting down and killing orcs, their swords and loot will go a long ways.

Also, one important thing. Armor is mainly for decoration. You can dress yourself in some very cool looking robes, armor, etc. but don't expect to be identified by such, nor would they offer noticeable difference in protection.

Have a plan of what you want to become and concentrate your points there. The exceptions are learning to make healing/mana potions and picking difficult locks (very important since there are more of those chests around than any others).

[Mustang]

Hmm.. might have to crack this game open finally and play it. (One of about 10 I haven't touched...)

[Calis]

Calis, in the early game, you pick up everything so you can 1) sell or 2) use to heal, etc. If you go the route of making potions (always good if you play mage like I do), you can simply concentrate on those items for the potion. By the latter part of the early game, you won't need all the stuff laying around and can concentrate on the many chests and such.

I never put my points into hunting skills because they were always put into better things. By the mid-game, you should have a lot of gold and if you do a good job in hunting down and killing orcs, their swords and loot will go a long ways.

Also, one important thing. Armor is mainly for decoration. You can dress yourself in some very cool looking robes, armor, etc. but don't expect to be identified by such, nor would they offer noticeable difference in protection.

Have a plan of what you want to become and concentrate your points there. The exceptions are learning to make healing/mana potions and picking difficult locks (very important since there are more of those chests around than any others).

Cool, thanks.

Well I've played quite a while last night and for a couple hours this morning and can say that I haven't had a crash yet, so that's good.

I've always been big on hunting in the Gothic games, I'm not entirely sure why and I don't think it's that great of a deal, but it always sort of fit my idea of the character as a survivalist out there foraging around. I've been focusing on going up the Sword tree, and am up to Master Swordsman there and then I went up the hunting tree to get enough points to get the Dual-wielding skill which I have now, but I haven't ran across anyone who can teach it yet. I imagine I'll have to get further into the game before I can find a teacher for that. I plan on going a pretty much straight physical route with no magic and just basic alchemy, and enough thievery/lockpicks to be able to get all the goodies. I can also see myself playing 4-5 more times with other builds. :)

The more I play the more I think this will probably end up being my favorite of the series. I'm nearly ready to liberate my 2nd town, but I'm doing a last run through to make sure I've finished every possible quest.

[Buccaneer]

That is impressive. Do I assume the 2nd town is Montera?

Getting dual will be much later in the game.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've also been crash free in the last few hours that I've been playing. However, my previous crash issues were generally later in the game.

[Calis]

Yeah, Montera..but to be honest I've wandered over to several of the other towns. I have cleared a pretty huge swath through there, but I'm steering clear of doing quests in the town until I finish.

I know you said it gets hard to get into town after your 2nd liberation, so should I actually hold off on liberating and do the quests in some of the other towns or just go ahead and finish it? I'm a little more concerned with Montera, there's a lot of guys there to kill so I'm scouring the area making sure I find all the help I possibly can.

[Buccaneer]

Yes, you basically liberate Cape Dun and Montera for the gold and experience, which will carry you quite far into the game. But no more after that until the end of the game. Don't worry though, there are a billion things to kill outside of the towns, including many hordes of Orcs.

A hint on liberating Montera. Use the west gate for your advantage (making sure have cleared your back). The key is get them coming at you in one direction, if possible.

[Calis]

A hint on liberating Montera. Use the west gate for your advantage (making sure have cleared your back). The key is get them coming at you in one direction, if possible.

I read this too late.

I got everything setup and decided to try something different liberating Montera. One of the NPC's mentioned that if I killed the main Orc leader that would be the signal and the rebels would help me out, so I Thought instead of wading through the entire mass to get to the boss, I'll start the fight in the castle and kill him first, and then the rebels will storm in, and maybe things will be easier in the long run.

That was not the case.

The rebels never showed, and the informant who told me that never even raised a hand, he sat in his house in the middle of the town while a massacre was going on, in fact none of the rebels even showed up. I had some help from slaves, but the rebels wouldn't move from their spot. Almost makes me regret helping them. :)

It was a chore though, I obviously had to run off, but I did manage to take down the head Orc without dying, but I had to run like hell after that. Then came a lot of sniping orcs, and trying to pull singles and fleeing back to the bands of rebels. It took a long time, but I actually managed to pull it off without dying which I was pretty surprised with, but I suppose maybe I was exploiting the AI there. I'll take it though. I did decide that I need to start putting some more points in bow skills though. I only had the lower level of the bow skill and I was doing some serious damage with the bow, moreso even than my sword..and with a bow that gives me the big game hunting ability I was one shotting a lot of the critters out in the forest, which felt nice after all the troubles I had before. It could not however save me when I barreled through a portion of forest into 3 trolls, you really have to move carefully in this game, when you get impatient you pay for it. You can turn an easy fight into an easy death very quickly.

[Eaglesfan27]

Very impressive. The last time I played this game, I tried doing it that way and there was no way I could kill him and get away in time or even take out all of the guys around him. I had to use the method that Buc hints at (and actually wasn't successful with that before instability made me shelve the game.)

This run through with the game, I'm just heading to Montera now.

[Buccaneer]

My wife and I went out last night to celebrate our 12th so am now catching up. I can't believe that you would try to fight Montera from the inside out. Now that it couldn't be done but that certainly would be tough. Yikes.

Calis is right, patience is the key. There are things everywhere.

[Calis]

My wife and I went out last night to celebrate our 12th so am now catching up. I can't believe that you would try to fight Montera from the inside out. Now that it couldn't be done but that certainly would be tough. Yikes.

Calis is right, patience is the key. There are things everywhere.

Yeah it was a terrible idea in hindsight, but the rebel informant in the town there in town tells you to get in there and kill the Orc leader and then the rebels will help..but that ended up being a lie. I was hoping that it would trigger some big invasion, but that didn't happen.

I didn't actually end up fighting from the inside out, I started in the inside, and then ran far far away, then returned and started clearing it out starting with the farms to the side of town and things went relatively smoothly from there.

I'll gladly not liberate anymore towns for a while. :) Although it did get me setup money-wise for the foreseeable future.

[Buccaneer]

Remember, Gothic (esp. 3) is more of an action-adventure RPG (I play it strictly as an a-a game since I don't role play or get into that at all). It is basically you-against-the-world. Occassionally you will get a buddy to help but most all NPC are too weak to kill anything but won't be killed themselves. I use them just like I use summonings (like a Demon or something) - to distract a tough foe so I can shoot some fireballs or something at them.

One thing I forgot about liberating Montera/towns, make sure you look at all of the chests and pick up EVERYTHING that is not nailed down, apart from all of the weapons and loot off of the bodies. Then go to the rebel leader that wants that town liberated to get the points. Soon after that, the rebels will come to take over the town and you will have lost your chance to steal anything (i.e., will be accused of theft).

I hope all of you are religiously doing the Arena fights everywhere. Nothing in the game gets you more points easier. I have fought over 100 arena battles and not lost one except in Cape Dun where it is very easy to step outside the boundaries. I am not a swordfighter but that's just the way the game is - just like you saw when you fought the Orcs in Ardea at the beginning.

[Buccaneer]

Part of Brian's recent PM had this quote, "Exploring new lands is the most fun."

To me, that is 90% of the game. I would have been content if they gave me this world and not do anything in it except travel around. That's how much love this world and its variety. Fortunately, unlike Oblivion, Gothic does fill up that world so exploring does become an adventure.

The lands of Myrtana reminds me Colorado and California, so much at home in that place. And then you get into Varant and it is what you expect from a wide open desert (where, admittedly, the towns themselves are best parts). Then there's Normar. Oh man, nothing in the game will prepare you for that.

[BYU 14]

This has kind of piqued my interest....Is the combat the same style as Oblivion?

[Buccaneer]

This has kind of piqued my interest....Is the combat the same style as Oblivion?

Yes, just mashing the left/right buttons. If you play mage, you just hold the buttons down a little longer. Oblivion may give you more variety of weapons but I found that they did not do any difference. There are 3 mage spells that I used in Gothic, depending in the situation. I used just 1 the whole time in Oblivion. It is more simpler combat system, which has garnered a lot of criticism from Gothic vets (i.e., dumbed-down) but some of those people wanted to roleplay more. Both games, as well as others, are using scaled combat, which is good or bad or indifferent.

[Calis]

Part of Brian's recent PM had this quote, "Exploring new lands is the most fun."

To me, that is 90% of the game. I would have been content if they gave me this world and not do anything in it except travel around. That's how much love this world and its variety. Fortunately, unlike Oblivion, Gothic does fill up that world so exploring does become an adventure.

The lands of Myrtana reminds me Colorado and California, so much at home in that place. And then you get into Varant and it is what you expect from a wide open desert (where, admittedly, the towns themselves are best parts). Then there's Normar. Oh man, nothing in the game will prepare you for that.

Well it's Saturday, I'm done with my homework..there's an ice storm coming, all of this equals up to a marathon session of Gothic 3. :)

I agree 100%, this is a game about exploration. The story is really secondary, and the combat while I enjoy it is nothing special, I just love walking around, seeing what's over the next hill or seeing if I can find a way to climb that mountain in the distance, check out that cave, etc...I'd love to see like a Mountain Man/Survivalish type game done with this..you just really get a feeling of being in a vast wilderness.

I did the quests in town to open up the pass to Normar(I think that's the same place, the big are up North), and your talk about it makes me really want to go through, but I have so much to do before I get there, so I'm making myself wait. Excited to see it though.

Progress is going good though, I'm right now trying to defeat the demon that controls the one town, and my first attempt did not go well..I might have to go back to this one.

[Calis]

Well this one surprised me. I was talking to a friend about horrible interfaces and control schemes and that of course reminded me of Gothic 1 so I did some searching to send some links on it and noticed that there is an expansion to the 3rd game in the works which I had no idea about.

http://www.gamingshogun.com/Article/1407/Gothic_III_Expansion_Announced

Not much in the way of details but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out. I'm still playing this one occasionally, but moving through it very slowly. Here in a couple weeks I should have a lot more time to delve into it. My goals for the summer are to finish this one up and finish The Witcher when the mini-expansion comes out for it.

[sabotai]

The lands of Myrtana reminds me Colorado and California, so much at home in that place. And then you get into Varant and it is what you expect from a wide open desert (where, admittedly, the towns themselves are best parts). Then there's Normar. Oh man, nothing in the game will prepare you for that.

That was probably my bigeest problem with Oblivion. There were two areas in Oblivion, essencially, the grasslands plus the grasslands with snow on top. I'll have to look into giving Gothic 3 a try (I have the 2nd one, but couldn't get into it.)

[Buccaneer]

That was probably my bigeest problem with Oblivion. There were two areas in Oblivion, essencially, the grasslands plus the grasslands with snow on top. I'll have to look into giving Gothic 3 a try (I have the 2nd one, but couldn't get into it.)

And not only that, they put nothing in that world. God I hated Oblivion.

I would recommend to give Gothic 3 a try, it's much more open-ended than Gothic 2, plus more action/adventure type game, not to mention a world that is 5x bigger (so varied and interesting that it boggles the mind). Brian (EaglesFan27) and I can help, if needed.

[Calis]

So a few weeks back I had a pretty massive PC crisis and ended up losing my Gothic 3 save which had me very deep into the game. Disappointing, but I still had the urge to see it through so I started it up again and having been playing through bits at a time.

Anyhow, I decided to try it this time siding with the Orcs. Anyone ever tried this? Bucc? I'm wondering if it really changes up the game much, or if it's basically the same for the most part. I tend to think it's the same for the most part except at the end you're destroying rebel camps instead of Orcs?

I'm actually finding it rather difficult to go this route, not from a gameplay standpoint but from a guilt one. It's odd, I'm not sure I've ever felt guilty playing an "evil" character in an RPG, or even something like Grand Theft Auto, but something about this smacks you pretty hard. I guess it's the fact you're selling out your entire race is a bit hard to swallow, and the fact a lot of the guys you've interacted with over several games.

Think I'll try focusing more on magic this go round as well, because I've never really done that in the Gothic games. I've always gone melee.

Still a blast exploring. I'm running into places in the beginning area I didn't see the first playthrough and I thought I was very thorough.

[Buccaneer]

Yes, the last time I played it through was siding with the Orcs - just for different gameplay. I think there were a few new quests in Myrtana but the biggest difference was instead of liberating the cities, I liberated the three rebel camps. That was certainly very different and interesting. Normar was the same since all Orcs were still hostile there. What really made the game different was Varant - where I did most of the Hashishan quests (including going into Ishtar for the first time). Much of that was new, even though one still have to do the temples stuff. But as far as guilt, I don't roleplay since I view games like strictly as an action/adventure game - clearly the best one I have ever played. I haven't caught up on news but I guess the expansion pack is still coming out later this year.

[Buccaneer]

Forget to add that what you have to do for Beliar at the end was very, very fun, probably the most intense and exciting moments in all of the times I've played.

[Calis]

Cool, thanks. Think I'll keep trying it that way. Sounds like there's more to it than I thought.

I believe the expansion is still coming, and I recently heard some news about the new game by these guys. Things have branched off, because the team that made the first three Gothics(Piranha Bytes) got the boot so are working on a new series, and the new Gothic is from a new group(I remember reading some hoopla about this one a while back because they're actually using different color palettes in the U.S. and Euro version.)

Looks like the Piranha Bytes game is called Risen. Not much info out on it yet, but it sounds like the world will be similar at least. I have heard no Elves and Dwarves so a similar non-Tolkienesque setting like the previous games, but no Orcs this time which is a pretty big switch.

Here's a FAQ (http://www.worldofrisen.de/?section=article&id=28) with some basic info.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks, I'll check it out sometime. Any game that is mostly humans is great for me. I knew Spellbound was working on the expansion, as they helped with the latest patch, along with the WOG community.

Good luck. Now if we can just get EF27 back into it...

[Eaglesfan27]

Thanks, I'll check it out sometime. Any game that is mostly humans is great for me. I knew Spellbound was working on the expansion, as they helped with the latest patch, along with the WOG community.

Good luck. Now if we can just get EF27 back into it...

I really did enjoy it, but just haven't been able to get back into it for some reason. I'll give it another try tomorrow, and see if it can capture me again.

[BrianD]

Has anybody had any issues with the game running in slow-motion? When I move the camera around everything moves slowly so I don't think I'm having a frame rate issue, but the actual combat and moving around seems like it is in slow-motion. My PC is about 6 months old and built pretty well.

[Buccaneer]

Has anybody had any issues with the game running in slow-motion? When I move the camera around everything moves slowly so I don't think I'm having a frame rate issue, but the actual combat and moving around seems like it is in slow-motion. My PC is about 6 months old and built pretty well.

Because they designed the game without loading levels (e.g., seemless gameworld), there are some slow parts in places, as well as when you start playing. But for me, it only lasts no more than 30-60 seconds before it starts running normally. It's like they are loading all of the 3D objects upon load. I usually wait about a minute before doing anything. I don't recall but I think the last major patch addressed this.

[BrianD]

I applied the 1.6 community patch. I have also looked at the in-game font fix but haven't had a chance to try it yet. Post-patch, I played through the opening battle through to its end with no change speed. Slightly disappointing as I've heard many good things about the game and would love to get into it.

[Buccaneer]

I do think that the opening battle is optimized as I have never noticed any speed changes. I have played through this game four times - each about 60-100 hours (I think). There are a number of minor complaints but the fun and immensity far, far outweighs the annoyances. I hope you stick with it and ask if any questions.

[BrianD]

I'll try the many tweaks I've found and see if I can find something that works. Hopefully it will.

[Buccaneer]

It looks like the add-on, Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods will be out in a week or two. I was really hoping for a new land but not only will there be no new lands, the add-on is a stand-alone game existing solely in Myrtana, two years into the future (Nordmar and Varant will be off-limits). Bummer.

[Calis]

Did you pick this up yet Bucc? Any thoughts?

What little I heard was rather negative so curious what you thought.

[Buccaneer]

I did pick this up for Christmas and I know it's fairly bad. The outsourced it to a cheap Indian software company which knew nothing about the series (just a script that JoWood provided them). As typical, the initial release had lots of bugs and performance problems (characters talking to a stick, for example). All I am hoping for between now and Christmas is one good patch and two days worth of gameplay. Not expecting any more than that but not get even that.

But there are some positive things about it - a rebuilt Myrtana (esp. Venguard) and different series of quests, with familiar people in different roles.

[Calis]

This one snuck up on me. The spiritual successor to Gothic(Made by the same dev team, but they lost the Gothic license) is coming out this Friday here on Steam and supposedly in stores.

I hadn't done much reading on it, but on another forum I go to some people have review copies or got a hold of a copy early and are saying very positive things about it. A lot of comparisions to the first two Gothics are being made. Sounds like it is at least not a mess like Gothic 3 was at release.

I'll more than likely end up buying it this weekend to try out. These guys haven't failed me yet. They know how to make a world that's a blast to explore.

[Lonnie]

Yep, I saw the preview of Risen on Steam and thought it looked familiar. Then noticed it was made by Piranha Bytes and it clicked with me. I had no idea they had something new cooking. I doubt I'll buy it day one, but will check in on it after a week or so and see how the launch goes.

[Calis]

Very initial thoughts. I just bought it on Steam and have only played about an hour or so but I'm very impressed so far, at least compared to the traditional Piranha Bytes release. The game is running extremely smooth, it seems very well optimized. That is not usually the case, but this one is very nice. It looks pretty decent also, it's definitely not a top tier looking game but it's solid.

I get the feeling it's a little more focused like Gothic 1/2 than 3, which probably isn't a bad thing. The combat goes back to the Gothic 1 style of holding the mouse and pressing a direction. At least early on I think it's much more forgiving than the old games, but still pretty tough if you're not used to it.

From what I read this is a very good launch, and a solid game. I've seen some reviews that are pretty low, but those are reviewing the 360 version or are people that aren't going to like this game anyway. It's not a game that would appeal to everyone.

So far a very big thumbs up from me. I had forgotten just how much I love these games and the feeling the world and exploring it evokes. One of the few series that makes me feel like a kid again. Good thing the wife is working all weekend!

I'll give some more solid thoughts after I put more time in, but I think if you liked them in the past this one is shaping up to be good. Going to be weird without Orcs though.

[Buccaneer]

I got Risen for Christmas and just spent four very long days playing it (PC version of course). Risen was a great game with many challenging (and sometimes frustrating) quests - but they all made sense eventually. Also, the small world was great looking, in a Myrtana kind of way. For the most part, I would give this game a 8.5 but the final boss fight knocked the game down to a 7.5. All game long, I worked hard to becoming a powerful mage but all that was irrelevant in the end fight. So I gave up at that point, after a solid 30-40 hours of gameplay.