Gothic 3 - Alternative Balancing?

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WabeWalker

Supreme [H]ardness
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Gothic 3 arrived in the mail yesterday and last night I installed it (early impression after playing for literally just five minutes is that it feels like, and even looks like, a very early beta version of Risen.... I wasn't too impressed quite honestly... and by the way, I bought Gothic 3 because of Risen). But nevertheless I haven't even started yet, so my first impression is meaningless.

I immediately installed the 1.73 Community Patch - and right away I noticed an option that wasn't there before.

Alternative Balancing.

What is it? Should I enable it?
 
Here's the gist of it:

"The Alternative Balancing makes abilities and skills to crave more learning points and gold. Once a player's skill level on for example strength reaches over 250 it will require extra gold and learning points to learn more. It also balances the armor and weapons stats. The alternative A.I makes the game a bit tougher and harder. When you have it on Easy, only one enemy can attack you at the same time. On medium, only two, and hard only three. It won't help to just spam left click. It requires tactics and timing."

I enabled it during my playthrough and since I never played without the AB, I can't comment on effect of the changes in terms of difficulty. The game's still plenty easy to beat, given that you can get the hang of the horrible combat system.
 
Yes enable it.

It changes combat so the opponent will have a chance to attack back, leveling, leveling requirements, and graphic improvements. I believe it changes selling and buying from shops as well. And of course works out some bugs, however I still had probs with learning some skills.

It's worth it.

Note: If you start a game without the Alternative Balancing on, and then decide to turn it on. That game won't be transferable. You will have to start a new game.
 
Hmm, I'm not sure if I like the sound of that.

I like a tough fight, but not when it's frustratingly tough. Ah well, I guess I'd better man up and switch on the Alternative Balancing. I hate it when a new game like this arrives and you install it... and all you want to do is go back and play the other game that made you want to buy this one.

In this case I have a strong desire to return to Risen.

I'm going to soldier on though. Like I said, I only played for five minutes last night. Right now, everything I play is just a diversion for Dragon Age.
 
Also, holy crap, the game stutters a bit at 1920x1080 on a Core i7 - GTX 275 setup - I wasn't expecting that.

Is this a RAM issue perhaps? I got the same thing with Risen. I only have 3GB of dual-triple channel memory, but I was told that for gaming on VISTA 64 3 gigs was enough.
 
Fighting is easy unless you enable it. It still however is fairly easy. Everything that was changed was changed for the best too. So don't worry about it making it worse ;)

It's an ok game. Got to get into and such. Make sure you save tons though. I unfortunately am an experienced dyer. F5 is quicksave, and F9 is quickload, jtlyk.

Enjoy!

Gothic 3 is what made Risen a fun game ;)
 
I play at 1680 x 1050 with a 260gtx (max settings). Once I installed the alternative balancing update, the game always stutters for a minute or two, and then is fine for the rest of the game play. I'm not sure what causes that.

6 gigs is never a bad thing. You'll probably be fine with 3 gigs with the majority of games, but 6 gigs would be to your advantage.
 
Funny, I thought I should play Gothic after enjoying Risen as well. Is the leveling/gear more in-depth than Risen? That's my only real complaint is how limited the stat/leveling system feels in Risen, and the small amount of available gear, but they're very minor gripes.
 
I've only played the demo of Risen, however from what I did play Risen felt like the upgraded version of Gothic 3. It was different but essentially the same. Leveling is a little different. Armor in Gothic 3 takes a long time to get due to needing a lot of cash and a good reputation. So don't expect to get the best stuff right away. The story line of Gothic 3 is ok, could be better. Its repetitive at times.

Tbh, if you would've played Gothic 3 first, and then played Risen would've made you appreciate Risen way more. Playing Risen and then Gothic 3 will probably leave you feeling slightly disappointed, but dont let that discourage you. It still is a fun game.
 
Spewn said:
Funny, I thought I should play Gothic after enjoying Risen as well. Is the leveling/gear more in-depth than Risen? That's my only real complaint is how limited the stat/leveling system feels in Risen, and the small amount of available gear, but they're very minor gripes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those were my grips about Risen as well.
 
IIRC the Gothic 3 world is much larger than the island in Risen so you have that to look forward to.

I also enjoyed the different environments in G3; green plains/forests in the beginning, arid desert ruins in the middle, and snow covered mountain/hills towards the latter part of the game. I would have enjoyed a bit more variation from the tropical island setting in Risen but considering it's probably half as long as Gothic 3 (at least in my experience) it makes sense.
 
Longer, bigger, more varied environments...sounds pretty good so far. Maybe I'll have to give it a shot...
 
Spewn said:
Longer, bigger, more varied environments...sounds pretty good so far. Maybe I'll have to give it a shot...
Click to expand...

I bought the collector's edition for $15 at Amazon.ca. It arrived in the mail yesterday, and I was surprised that the game came in a really nice tin case. I got a paper map too, but surprisingly, no manual?

I also got the expansion pack DVD, and a 'making of' DVD, and a music DVD. So four DVDs in total.

I'm still not too sure about the game though - but I guess I'd better play for more than five minutes. I'll post my thoughts later on.
 
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