Renzatic on 14/10/2010 at 20:02
Play Gothic 1 & 2 and shut the fuck up. Never ask that question again. :mad:
Okay, serious time. I haven't played Gothic 4 yet. Dunno if I want to play it from what I'm hearing. But the biggest difference between the previous Gothics and the later Elder Scrolls is that the TES games try greatly to create a believable world, whereas the Gothic games succeed at it. Plus a whole bunch of other things the Gothics do alot better, like challenge, combat, exploration, and a bunch of other cool stuff. The only thing the games lack are the sheer size that Morrowind and Oblivion have, but I don't consider that a negative point, considering the smaller size of the world maps allow them to concentrate on the content of the world itself.
Vernon on 14/10/2010 at 21:32
yeah. I think that the thing Gothic (and by extension, Risen) has over TES games is the general feel of the game. It is consistent throughout; the aesthetic has a certain feel that isn't overblown. The crafting, cooking, alchemy and spellcrafting give a rustic feeling that the TES games just don't. It is a more hands-on world, where exploration could have you running into a couple of rats, or an enormous crazy black troll nightmare monster. I guess one of the main things is that these worlds don't really scale to you - you have to beat it through hard work, there is no instant gratification.
Also, combat is a joy and I know of few parallels. I think the Risen swordfighting system is possibly the best I've ever come across in this type of game (ACTION RPG TOT). I don't really know what I am trying to say, but these are really good games and Oblivion doesn't have a patch on them (couldn't get into the first Gothic tbh)
driver on 14/10/2010 at 23:59
Since the worlds in Gothic are smaller scale than in Oblivion, there's far more attention to detail. The landscapes, for example, are much better crafted as opposed to the rather bland mass-produced style in Oblivion (Green hills, green hills, green hills, green hills with trees...). The focus seemed to be more towards grittiness than breath-taking vistas (Though there were a few to be had) The first Gothic game had NPCs with day/night cycles, they'd move about camp, sit by the fire in the evening and then go to bed, in some ways it was better than the radiant system Oblivion used 6 years later.
Over all, the Gothic games boasted far more personality than the TES games. Though the rather clunky control system of the first is something of a barrier to entry. The second improved on that but it was still wasn't as pick-up-and-playable as, say, Morrowind or Oblivion.
I wouldn't say they were better or worse than the TES games, just different.
Papy on 15/10/2010 at 03:44
Quote Posted by Ulukai
Explain to me why this isn't Oblivion with slightly less scary looking people?
Oblivion is Disneyland. Everything in the world exists only for the player. The center of the game is the player, not the world. The goal of the game is to allow the player to do anything he feels like. On the other hand, Gothic is the real world. The player is put into the world and he must adapt or die. The player has some choices, but he can't do whatever he wants.
mothra on 15/10/2010 at 11:04
well said. Risen has the same feel (same devs), Arcania on the other hand. I already regret getting it. finished after 20 hours it was a shadow of the old gothics. They kept many things but relegated them to the sidelines, having no impact on gameplay or the way you interact with the world. ppl are up all night/day, sidequests are immensly boring, you are buff pretty soon, only a few big boss fights make troubles on hard and there you can still use the old "bait-hit-run" tactic. the fighting system is better but the consumables + skill tree are limited. The hero itself is a stupid dressman, the refreshing harshness of the old gothic dialogues is missing as well. the only positive thing is that you can turn off the helpers and questarrows in the options making it less look like a giant tutorial game.
bummer.
fetgalningen on 16/10/2010 at 08:36
Nothing that was not expected.
Malf on 16/10/2010 at 09:21
I'm glad I cancelled my pre-order of this now.
gunsmoke on 16/10/2010 at 12:47
Damn, and the demo was rather fun. too. :(
EvaUnit02 on 16/10/2010 at 15:07
@mothra
Is the game mod friendly? Do you reckon that the community will "improve" the game into something better in time?
mothra on 16/10/2010 at 17:00
sorry, don't know if it is. the assets are in normal zip-folders and there are some xml files scattered around that look like they control difficulty and gameworld. I assume it would be possible to activate crafting in the world, meaning you have to use anvils, alchemy tables, fires to craft but you can't do anything about the skill tree/quests without rewriting or recoding/adding animations I assume....
