Hmm, I’ve seen this sequence of game events somewhere before: shipwrecked up on a beach, where you find some similar washed up loot, then fight something with a stick, and meet a sexy lady. Egad! It seems that the opening sequence of Risen, the new fantasy RPG from former Gothic developers Pirhana Bytes (the new Gothic is being developed by Spellbound, and more on that another time) has happened before. Isn’t it… well isn’t it the start of Age Of Conan? And possibly another RPG I only faintly recall? Perhaps these games took their cue from the same issue of Fantasy Happenings Journal (For Fantasy Professionals), where ideas for fantasy adventures are free. Free to use. And reuse. And… there’s a three part developer walkthrough, and despite my de-Risen of the subject matter (oh, I’m that good) it’s worth taking a look. Whee!
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Railick: Gothic 3 is really a POS. There is too much grind, lousy combat, repetitive quests, behemoth HW requirements and so on. The Gothic vibe is present, but is simply buried under a lot of crap. Don’t bother with the game, alot of people didn’t finished the game.
Instead try Gothic I and then Gothic II – NOTR. Your rpg taste will be changed forever, cause none or few games have better atmosphere than Gothic. ;)
Wulf: I’m a fan of the original games, but I don’t want to be a blind fan of the series. My true and only real complain about Gothic 3 is the combat system. From all points of view and knowing PB – JoWood problems, I think G3 combat system is screaming bad designa and is worse than the one from Oblivion and way worse compared with the original games. I don’t think you can possibly have arguments in defending this issue, unless you are on the boar side :D
Therefore, I just want to say that you should use salt cause G3 combat system is very visible in Risen movies. And if is like this, it means that the game will simply not rise to the great quality level that both of us expect from the game. ;)
Looks like more gothic to me. Big world that i wanted to enjoy but couldn’t get past how HORRIBLE the combat was.
All the gothic games have drawn the same complaint from me. All they need to do is spend some time developing a half way decent combat system and the games would be great! Hell even just diablo clicky combat would be better than the jarring unreliable button mashing.
I had Gothic 1 and couldn’t get over the horrible controls, I baught Gothic 2 but couldn’t get it to work on my computer at all.
k4el, Railick: Guys, guys, you are pushing it..:)
Gothic I/II is basically the same combat system, raw in Gothic I and tweaked in Gothic II. It is true that is a little hard to master it, but once you get it, is pretty cool. Dodging and combos really had a purpose and is definitely not button mashing. Maybe that combat system is really not for you tastes as G3 is not for mine, but the system is really not horrible. Difficult, hard to learn, but rewarding in the end. In fact, fans of the original games want that system back, therefore at least some quality is to be found in that system. :)
Hell even just diablo clicky combat would be better than the jarring unreliable button mashing.
That’s not my experience at all. Gothic 1 and, particularly, Gothic 2’s combat system is quite tactical, for an action RPG. Button-mashing will get you absolutely nowhere. It’s all about timing, blocking, and knowing your enemy type.
In Gothic 1 I couldn’t figure out the controls they were so strange and foreign to me (I remember having to use the arrow keys for strange things when opening boxes ect I can’t really remember) IT felt so out of place compared to all the other games I’d played where you just highlight the box and hit E for example.
I don’t know how good Gothic 2 was as I said I coudln’t even get it to install and play. I got it because I read how good the game world was with the characters being very life like and having their own lives (The same thing Oblivion promised but did not deliver) Just walking around a set path isn’t really having your own life :P I think it’d be cool for once if the NPCS had to survive some how. Like they had to eat and drink and get older and die if they can’t eat. Farm for real and do jobs ect would be neat.
Hopefully this game will restore the reputation of Piranha Bytes after Gothic 3. I really loved Gothic 1 & 2, but number 3 was really buggy and unfinished. It also felt like they tried to copy Oblivion in many ways, which is not a good idea considering how that game turned out.
For you people complaining about the controls & combat in G1 and G2…not to sound condescending or anything, but for fucks sakes, they are hardly THAT difficult. Worst case scenario, read the control pages in the manual or something?
Yes because we all know Oblivion was a total financial failure. I mean I only played it for about 3 years straight and still have the collectors edition coin in my pocket right now, horrible game that was.
You know what I’d like to see in an RPG? Proper freedom in what you do. Something along the lines of mustering a group of men, pillaging a village, and then being able to inhabit it as some sort of bandit hideout or burn it and leave it in ruins.
And maybe then, the ruins begin to deteriorate over time, maybe some people try and rebuild it, maybe some creatures inhabit the ruins, that could make for some good procedurally generated dungeon fun.
You know what I’d like to see in an RPG? Proper freedom in what you do. Something along the lines of mustering a group of men, pillaging a village, and then being able to inhabit it as some sort of bandit hideout or burn it and leave it in ruins.
And maybe then, the ruins begin to deteriorate over time, maybe some people try and rebuild it, maybe some creatures inhabit the ruins, that could make for some good procedurally generated dungeon fun.
Oh, and being able to conquer the world. Being able to rule it and have to deal with people who are trying to overthrow you. And being able to issue quests you NPCs!
The combat actually looks a lot more like G1 & G2 combat, which is nice. It even has the style improvement, which made me fall in love with gothic 2 (more skill = advanced combat moves). I just hope dodging, blocking and such is implemented well. Otherwise, looks real pretty, except for the chick in the vids that looked like something akin to a lego character :P
He said taking the woman along was optional and would “change the game”… Surely if you put an unconscious woman on a beach directly in front of the player at the very start of the game then 100% of players will interact with her?
Looks alright though. I just hope I can actually play it, unlike the 5 frames per minute Gothic 3. To those hating on the animation: how many RPGs have fantastic animation? I saw nothing worse in those videos than what is, sadly, the standard for the genre.
I only played a bit of Gothic 1, had a series of unfortunate events, ending with the disc breaking. Gothic 3, the demo anyhow, stuttered too much. Now that I have updated my computer, I’m willing to give it another go.
I’m that much of a fan of completely linear RPG’s, so I’ve been putting it off. I want to make choices that somewhat affect the game world, not just aesthetically.
Don’t rule out Gothic II. III isn’t ‘better’, just different.
(And if you do go back to III, tweak the .ini so it draws some bloody scenery :)
@AndrewC
I just got lucky. Never encountered any major bugs in G3, and I played the first retail version. Loved the huge map and beautifully designed world. The grinding and samey quests never bothered me, there was lots of loot to find. Guess I’m just easily pleased.
Whatever faults it may have, it was damn nice to see a game trailer with fast mouselook and UI for a change. By far the thing that most invokes a PC gamer elitist rage in me is super slow turning speeds.
Deep Silver are hosting a Risen gamer day in the UK (central London) on the 26th September. If you fancy going you get to play the game, ask questions to be put to the developers, and a free goodie bag! Yay!
You can find out more details on the official Risen blog here:
http://risen.deepsilver.com/blog/pages/posts/risen-gamersrsquo-day-in-centralbr-london-on-26th-september.556.php
just like to sat got the game got to the fire titan and brought it back