Arcania: Gothic 4

[brutalistu]

Get yer demo here:
http://www.pcgames.de/Arcania-Gothic-4-PC-206313/News/Arcania-Gothic-4-Exklusiver-Demo-Download-ab-sofort-hier-verfuegbar-746003/

[TimmY]

Praf jocul ) te pisi pe el de Gothic

[Bloodaxe]

Praf jocul ) te pisi pe el de Gothic

Best.Review.Ever.

Argumenteaza FFS.

[TimmY]

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?

I expected this to be bad but I completely underestimated how much it would suck.
This game fails on every single level. There are so many things wrong with it I don't know where to begin.

First off it's the movement. I don't have a problem with the jump animations like some people. What I DO have a problem though is the character getting stuck in every god damn piece of scenery. Not only that but the way he bounces off some of them makes me wonder is this is supposed to be a human being or a fucking pinball. Then there's the invisible walls. I'll put aside the fact that this was supposed to be a gothic game and putting invisible walls in a gothic game is pure blasphemy. But the fact that the game is trying to depict an open world and it hits you with the invisible walls at every single step makes the world feel artificial as hell. I mean really how the fuck can't I move forward here?

The way the character interacts with the environment is BY FAR and and without a doubt THE worse I have seen in any game. It should be used as an example in game development classes on how not to make a character move in a a game. I mean really, if I saw a bunch of rocks or some obstacles I had no idea if trying to jump would get me on the other side, if it would make me hit an invisible wall or just plain deflect me in some random direction.

And that's just the warm up.

The voice acting is horrendous. Add in the mix some of the worse lip-syncing possible and you'll feel like crying inside every time you see a piece of dialogue. The fact that it's very poorly written doesn't help either. Half way through the demo I was clicking my was so fast through the dialogue that my left mouse button started bleeding.

Then there's the sound. I'm not picky about this stuff but sometimes things are so bad that they hit you in the fucking head making you acknowledge the problem. The music was ok but it switched between tracks instantly at some points:
Oh, he's going up that tower - quickly switch to that epic track. Oh wait, he's going back down, use the previous track again - fade them god damn it, fade them. The concept is so old sound, so simple and yet so effective that sound designers and/or programmers should be fired for not using it in this day and age.

Then there was also the part where I was near diego's cavern. I thought to myself;

- Hmm, something is off, but what exactly? Oh yeah. I'm standing near a god damn waterfall yet it makes absolutely no sound whatsoever. I can hear the birds and other environmental noises but not the fucking waterfall when I'm standing right next to it? Ugghh.


Then there's the combat system. Now, gothic games were never famous for their combat but at least they nailed many other aspects. This doesn't. It tries to make the gameplay fun but unless your definition of fun is clicking 20 times and then dodging when the enemies make that "loook ouuutttt, I'm gonna hit you" slow as fuck animation then you might not find this fun. Sure, the difficulty level might have something to do with this but it's still rubbish and I fail to believe will be a significant improvement on harder dificulties.

Then there's the ranged combat. I got next to some deers and I took out my trusty bow. I took a shot ... and missed:

- What the fuck? I'm not that incompetent and the range isn't that big.

I took another shot and I missed again. FFFFUUUUU!!!!!!!!11!!!

My problem is that I was compensating for the gravity, for the curve trajectory that an arrow is supposed to follow. I guess I still had stuck gothic 3 in mind which made using the bow an absolute joy. But no, there's no curve trajectory here. The arrow travels in a straight line even at great distances. But I guess the game is aimed at people who only played 2 RPGs in their life: fallout 3 and mass effect.

Speaking of catering the game to the dumb masses the character moves fast as hell. Like he's speedy gonzales on steroids. Sure, when you got a big open world you want the character to get to his destination before he grows a beard but I still think there's such a thing as too fast, and that's the case here. In previous gothic games the character moved st somewhat of a normal speed, that allowed you to soak in more of the environments and the atmosphere. But this game seems like it was made for people with a short attention span.

On the other hand maybe they shouldn't have made it slower here since there is no atmosphere to soak in. The game feels artificial and bland as hell (despite some good design elements here and there).

Speaking of design what the hell is wrong with the UI? On one hand you have the normal inventory / status bar which looks really good and you can tell someone put a lot of effort into it ... and then you have the inventory / quest / dialogue UI which looks like something someone crafted in 5 minutes:

- Hey, where's that guy who did the design for the inventory bar?
- You fired him last week, don't you remember?
- Fuck! We're in big trouble then.
- What's the matter?
- We need to finish all the UI elements by the end of the day.
- I can do it.
- But you're a programmer.
- Well yeah, but I've used photoshop before. Plus, it's buttons and stuff. How hard can it be?
- Yeah, you're right I guess. Go nuts with it then.


What else? Hmm .. the graphics are nice but then again that's not much of a compliment for a game launched in Q4 2010. What the hell is up with the werewolf hands though?

And there are tons more of complaints to be had here
- the bland characters
- the generic and very few quests
- the lack of consequences to your actions (you can steal and do pretty much everything and the NPCs won't even notice)

but to be frank I already wasted more time on this game that it will ever be worth it.



If you are an RPG fan: pick up a random title released in the past few months. Chances are it will be infinitely better than this.

If you are a gothic fan who was disappointed by the demo: I feel your pain. But you knew it was coming.

If you are a gothic fan who actually enjoyed this and is considering buying it: slap yourself a couple of times, put the 50$ in an envelope, mail it to pyranha bytes saying "thank you for making this great franchise. Now, more than ever, I appreciate how good the gothic games were, hell, even the 3rd one. ps: really looking forward to risen 2"

If you, for any reason, pre-ordered this: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Uite tipu asta o cuprins cam tot mie imi e lene sa scriu atat.

[Zander]

Am testat jocul full. Arata prost rau si se misca execrabil pe un 4870, si asta nu cu setarile la maxim ci undeva pe la mijloc cu rezolutia minima. Ati tray tools imi arata ca as avea ~30 fps doar ca la cum se misca jocul: laggy, choppy si spiky ca dracu ai zice ca am sub 15fps.

Also, schimbarile de gameplay sunt de toata jena. Combat system prost rau, faptu ca te tot blochezi in landscape... si totul imi lasa impresia ca e dumbed down rau de tot.

Cat despre inceputul a'la Fable. Oh for fux sake!

I AM DISAPPOINT!

ce e drep o sa mai incerc dupa niste optimizari... dar prima impresie suge.

[yoshi]

Ati .....laggy, choppy si spiky ca dracu .....

that about sums it up

[Zander]

^ Nvidia fanboy detected!

[void]

Of. E gay, într-adevăr. Atât de mult am iubit Gothic I și II (chiar și III, cumva), încât am așteptat asta cu sufletul la gură, încă de când au apărut primele SS-uri. Ce dezamagire. FFS.

[Bloodaxe]

First good news in years:

Speculations on who really has the rights for the Gothic Series have made their way around since 2007 until 2011, when, Mike Hoge, co-founder of Piranha Bytes, Gothic's creator, stated that soon (after the release of their current game - Risen 2: Dark Waters) the rights for the series will return to Piranha Bytes, but avoided to mention if they will develop another game within the series.[4]

Later in 2011 it was confirmed by JoWooD Entertainment that they only had rights for the fourth game in the series and the expansion. As such, the rights will return to its former developer - Piranha Bytes.[5]

As with the Gothic rights returning to Piranha Bytes, Gothic and ArcaniA will split into different series, each with its own story and setting. Gothic will continue to be developed under the same trademark, and ArcaniA will be continuing the events from Fall of Setarrif - most probably it will remain a spin-off from the Gothic series. It is currently unknown if Piranha Bytes will develop another game within the Gothic series, while Nordic Games already announced that they have plans to continue with ArcaniA in the future

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_%28series%29#Future

Hopefully, Piranha Bytes o sa se prefaca ca ArcaniA (si Forsaken Gods, God, that was SO bad!) nu a existat si o sa continue seria in one way or the other.

[MuadDib]

Pirahna Bytes au luat-o razna din cate vad ( Risen 2 - pirates WTF ?! ). Sa speram ca vor face un G4 totusi ...

[Bloodaxe]

Tocmai am descoperit ce s-ar fi intamplat daca licenta Gothic nu ar fi ajuns inapoi la Piranha Bytes. Am gasit informatia asta (care nu pare foarte oficiala, but still) pe ceva site dar vad ca e de prin 2010.

Gothic 5: Aeternus will be coming spring 2012 for the PC and Xbox360.

Gothic 5: Aeternus will be a reboot of the Gothic series. The story will take place in the Mordrag world 500 years after the events in Gothic 4 and will be centered around humanity's desperate last stand against an alien invader from a different dimension. According to the official press release, the game will be open ended and there will also be a savegame export system, kind of like Mass Effect. Also, the old skill system from Gothic 3 will return, but more evolved. DreamCatcher has not yet disclosed the name of the producer, but they have stated that the game has been in production since August this year.

 . . .

Fucking reality check, man!

[MuadDib]

Doamne fereste O_o .

[yoshi]

last stand against an alien invader from a different dimension

SUDDENLY

[MuadDib]

Ar fi tare sa joci cu Giorgios