deathshadow on 20/10/2010 at 08:36
Just thought I'd share my reaction. I'm a longtime fan of the Gothic series (despite every game not reaching it's best until years after the release due to patches, both official and unofficial) which started when I found out one of my favorite bands, "In Extremo" was in the original.
Having BLOWN through Arcania in about six hours I honest to god feel just as ripped off as I did with Deadly Shadows for a number of the same reasons.
Much like TDS, I think if it had been released as a completely unrelated title I'd be fine with it, but between the dumbed down for console dipshit gameplay and 'choke points' in the levels it's a wreck. I'm sure for people who've never played the series they won't see anything wrong with it -- but long time fans are in for a HUGE letdown.
When I compare it to TDS I'm not kidding on a lot of counts -- fist in the face text sizes meant for use on low res TV's? Check. "loot glint"? Got that even on crafting flora that you can see 500 yards away (and they used cutesy glowing butterflies for those!)... Flat trajectory arrows that fly at lightspeed and you'd have to be a retard to miss with? Got that too..
But it gets worse from there... Seeking out trainers to learn skills? NOWHERE to be found you just skill up. Needing to be at a anvil to craft weapons, alchemist benches for potions and cauldrons for recipes? Learning from the books on lecterns? That's all gone too...
Well, kind-of. The animations to do it WERE made for the game, you can even turn them on in the settings as "non-gameplay items" or some such... They wrote the animations and code to do them and then didn't make them part of the gameplay?!? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Worse though is the total lack of free roaming given choke points more akin to a GTA Vice City than a Gothic game. For the most part on the main mission they shove two fingers up your nose and drag you around by it -- they've taken what should be a free-roaming open ended game and turned it absurdly linear that even just up and 'ends' with one of the lamest cliffhangers/sequel setups ever. Worse, I blew through it so fast because at several of the 'choke points' you can't go back to the old areas, meaning you can end up with half the side missions in your log but unable to be completed. (Well that's just **** great!)
Worst is the movies which often seem rushed and it's almost like they skip over or left on the cutting room floor the parts that would make them make sense. On the whole you end up going "wait, what?" after most every cutscene/movie. I'm HOPING it's just bad translation from Eurotrash to Engrish like the rest of the dialog, but I have the feeling someone thought that mixing Stanley Kubrick with Ed Wood was a good idea...
Another great game series ruined by consolitus... and that's the only thing I can figure on a lot of the 'dumbed down' bits is once again they are catering to the crappy handheld controller button-masher crowd.
Talk about a release in DESPERATE need of a "community edition" patch... Though in that way I guess it truly is a Gothic game -- only this time instead of needing help to just make it stable/crash free, it needs patching to turn it into the game it's supposed to be restoring content and/or finishing the game. Kind of like "Vampire:Bloodlines" or "The Witcher" I get the impression there's a lot of 'content' under the hood that's just not in the released gameplay.
Could have been worse though, I could have been playing "Fanboys of Honor" where the crappy 5.56 M-4 is the uber-kill super weapon and anything with a 7.62 you have to empty a clip to kill one person...
Koki on 20/10/2010 at 08:41
Quote Posted by deathshadow
But it gets worse from there... Seeking out trainers to learn skills? NOWHERE to be found you just skill up.
About god damn time.
deathshadow on 20/10/2010 at 10:45
Wasn't on the first page of general gaming when I looked, didn't come up when I searched. All I got on the search was one thread over two years old, and another that's not been posted in since april.
Ooops, actually that is the one that came up on the search, I just didn't think it was still active since it was started in 2007. My bad.
Jason Moyer on 20/10/2010 at 19:14
If it's as good as Deadly Shadows, I may have to pick it up. I hated the first 3 Gothics, and this looks just as bad, but the TDS comparison piques my interest.
mothra on 20/10/2010 at 19:15
The Witcher has no cut content, Vampires sure does.
deathshadow on 23/10/2010 at 16:18
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
If it's as good as Deadly Shadows, I may have to pick it up. I hated the first 3 Gothics, and this looks just as bad, but the TDS comparison piques my interest.
It wasn't meant as a compliment to it.
Xenith on 23/10/2010 at 16:24
1) Unrelated to Jason's post; Not everybody thinks Deadly Shadows sucks.
2) Yes, Gothic 4 has absolutely nothing against it's predecessors and I hate myself for buying this garbage.
edit:
and a minor 3) Look at the date of the last post in a thread to determine if said thread is dead or not.
van HellSing on 23/10/2010 at 17:18
Quote Posted by mothra
The Witcher has no cut content
Why yes it has. The most obvious instance is the De Vries' Extract.
When Triss sends you to get Alvin from the hospital and gives you the De Vries' extract which is supposed to help you while escorting him. The extract allows you to see invisible monsters. There are no invisible monsters in the game whatsoever, and the expected escort quest for Alvin doesn't happen.