Gothic 4 delayed

[WabeWalker]

People were complaining about the demo being too 'easy'. I'm routinely being killed by blood flies, which are everywhere. I'm going through potions like crazy. It's bordering on frustration.

Too easy?

Not on the Gothic level it's not. Far from it.

 

[Derangel]

People were complaining about the demo being too 'easy'. I'm routinely being killed by blood flies, which are everywhere. I'm going through potions like crazy. It's bordering on frustration.

Too easy?

Not on the Gothic level it's not. Far from it.

There is an edit feature man, us it. No need to spam out posts.

Nice to see there is a harder difficulty, though I'll probably stick to a lower one simply so I can just have fun.

 

[WabeWalker]

I wasn't spamming posts. I was just updating my experiences with the game. If you want me to stop then I'll stop.

 

[Derangel]

I wasn't spamming posts. I was just updating my experiences with the game. If you want me to stop then I'll stop.

Just use the edit feature. You were getting close to spamming. Didn't want you to get yelled at by the mods if it got too bad.

 

[Parmenides]

Thanks Wabe. I did ask for updates. Blame me for the blog style update format

 

[Q-BZ]

Okay, I just started playing again.

You know the beginning of that cave area, where you have to kill six loam vermin, and then the queen - way more difficult on the Gothic difficult setting.

I'm dreading hitting that cave again. I hated fighting those creatures.

Too easy?

Not on the Gothic level it's not. Far from it.

Exactly what I was hoping for. Gothic difficulty is supposed to kick your ass by all accounts.

Again, what you're describing sounds hard to the point of being outright annoying and I suspect I personally wouldn't play the game at that level of difficulty myself.

Good. I'm glad to know the threshold can go that high. That means there's a greater chance that just about everyone is going to find that "sweet spot" for themselves.

Okay, so it doesn't work like that - once you defeat the queen you're out. The evil king, meanwhile, has destroyed your village. Now you go off on your quest for vengeance.

It really is kind of ironic that the "evil king" is your the main character the player uses in Gothic 3, is he not? Did I read that right?

That's going to be an interesting plot development.

Essentially, all that armor you get in the demo was just a feel for what's to come much later on. That's not how the actual game works. You don't acquire amazing armor and weaponry that easily. One kid over at Steam was laughing out loud about how, in the demo, he had gotten all this amazing armor in the space of ten minutes, and what a total joke the game was. The joke's on him. A demo is a demo. You can't 'review' a demo and assume that what you're doing is reviewing the game.

Good.

Are you off the rails once you get out of there? Any more invisible walls and such?


I was wondering about that, too: I remember thinking: "Gosh, I'm getting a nice haul here with fairly little effort pretty early on."



I agree with Jiminator: They probably should have not used the Gothic name but they did for obvious marketing and exposure. They should have just called it Arcania. From what I gather, and I haven't played the game myself, a lot of folks are saying this game borrows quite heavily from Fable 2 on a number of fronts. I've even seen a few people suggest that the game is basically a Fable 2 clone.


If you want REAL Gothic, or the closest thing to it in a new form, play Risen and wait for Risen 2 from Piranha Bytes is probably what it boils down to.

Overall, it sounds like this game is good on its own merits.

 

[Parmenides]

Important question, what does harder difficulty do? Does it mean Gothic difficulty just puts more hitpoints into your enemy? Or do they fight smarter?

Hitpoint bloat really takes the fun out of games.

 

[Q-BZ]

Important question, what does harder difficulty do? Does it mean Gothic difficulty just puts more hitpoints into your enemy? Or do they fight smarter?

Just for my recon...obviously not the last word on this...I got the idea that it really did beef up the AI but I'm not 100 percent sure.

 

[LeninGHOLA]

Important question, what does harder difficulty do? Does it mean Gothic difficulty just puts more hitpoints into your enemy? Or do they fight smarter?

Hitpoint bloat really takes the fun out of games.

Hitpoint bloat, damage upped, and faster enemy attacks. Overall the enemies are quicker. There are some youtube vids of people playing on Gothic setting.

 

[Q-BZ]

Hitpoint bloat, damage upped, and faster enemy attacks. Overall the enemies are quicker. There are some youtube vids of people playing on Gothic setting.

Looking at that: That's a butt kicking running with that difficulty and no cheats.

 

[WabeWalker]

Go for Gothic difficulty when you play this.

This is the only way you're going to feel your character growing more powerful. You're SUPPOSED to get killed ten times by blood flies in the first half hour on the big island. You have to learn how to deal with that.

They're a nightmare at first, but then you level up, and they become gradually easier tom defeat. This is what role playing games are all about.

If you don't play on Gothic, then I suspect you won't even feel like you're playing an RPG, which is precisely what some of the reviewers have said.

 

[Q-BZ]

Go for Gothic difficulty when you play this.

This is the only way you're going to feel your character growing more powerful. You're SUPPOSED to get killed ten times by blood flies in the first half hour on the big island. You have to learn how to deal with that.

They're a nightmare at first, but then you level up, and they become gradually easier tom defeat. This is what role playing games are all about.

If you don't play on Gothic, then I suspect you won't even feel like you're playing an RPG, which is precisely what some of the reviewers have said.

Oh, ok, I won't wimp out. I'll try it when I get the game.

 

[piratepress]

Looking over the requirements, it has some pretty stout recomendations- 3GHz Core i7, 4GB RAM and a GTX 295. With my rig (in sig), and everything maxxed at 1680x1050, I'm averaging around 30-50 fps. Game looks gorgeous and because it's a slower RPG, and not an on-rails FPS, I don't notice the lower framerates. First Gothic game I've played and I love it, so now I'm wondering what I missed with the previous three?

 

[WabeWalker]

Last night, after about four hours of play I finally got my hands on a two handed sword. Super cool. The two hander is massive, and your character kind of half drags it across the ground behind him when it's unsheathed.

I also leveled up to a melée power up, the animation of which looks super cool for the two hander.

From here on in it's two handed swords all the way.

I'd say that it takes a while to get into this game. About five or six hours for me.

 

[Q-BZ]

Last night, after about four hours of play I finally got my hands on a two handed sword. Super cool. The two hander is massive, and your character kind of half drags it across the ground behind him when it's unsheathed.

I also leveled up to a melée power up, the animation of which looks super cool for the two hander.

From here on in it's two handed swords all the way.

LOL, I want to try that. I like in Gothic 3 where you can handle a sword in each hand and hack and slash, too. That's fun.

I'd say that it takes a while to get into this game. About five or six hours for me.

Slow start (demo area) and then it opens up? That's fine.

 

[WabeWalker]

Even after the demo area it takes a while for the game to grip you.

I experienced a bit of frustration on the big island having to defeat goblins and blood flies every twenty feet.

But you quickly clear out the areas, and begin to level up. The NPCs don't re-spawn, and you feel yourself growing stronger, which is when the RPGness begins to kick in.

Again, I believe that you have to play on the Gothic difficulty setting. You just won't feel any gratification if the fights are all so easy. You won't feel yourself getting more powerful. A little frustration early on means satisfaction much later on.

 

[SilverSliver]

The game is teeerrrriibbbllleeeee.

 

[Q-BZ]

The game is teeerrrriibbbllleeeee.

Why?

 

[Xenozx]

I love it. I am probably 5-10 hours in, and love it. If you played risen/gothic/oblivion this is more of the same. Its the same type of game, and you will enjoy it. It doesnt do anything super special, but it sticks to the genere like glue, and adds some nice battle elements, and pretty graphics to boot.

I wish I could get Nvidia AA functioning on this game, doesnt seem to work, no matter what setting i use. Whats funny is usually the nvidia control panel offers "OVERRIDE GAME SETTING" but for some reason i only get the "ENHANCE" option, and i have tried all the way up to 16x, and nothing changes.

Also, so far, magic is way under powered. I have level 2 of the fire bolt thing, and it barely does any damage. Like I can shoot all of them until my mana is empty on 1 guy, and he wont die from that, but 2-3 hits from my uber mace, will kill just about anything (playing normal diff setting).

Mini map is done very well, and better than most games IMO.

The sharts and idols and beliac artifacts.... You have to find 30 of each, and i assume once you find them all you will gain some special item or spell. Well the only problem is these are hidden all over the world, and the world is extremely massive. There is no way to find these spots on a map, you simply will come across them in your travels. You know what this tells me, its going to be a royal PITA to find them all....

Character models coulda been done a lot better IMO as well.

if you liked gothic/oblivion/risen, give this game a whirl, i promise you you wont be disapointed, it really isnt that bad at all.

 

[SilverSliver]

Why?

Voice acting and syncing, terrible. Cutscenes, terrible. Story line, terrible. Quests, terrible. Epic feeling? Not here. Terrible. Character progression, terrible. Heck, the first Oblivion was lightyears ahead of this.

 

[Derangel]

Voice acting and syncing, terrible. Cutscenes, terrible. Story line, terrible. Quests, terrible. Epic feeling? Not here. Terrible. Character progression, terrible. Heck, the first Oblivion was lightyears ahead of this.

First Oblivion? There has never been more than one Oblivion! Nice try at trolling though.

 

[SilverSliver]

First Oblivion? There has never been more than one Oblivion! Nice try at trolling though.

Eh guess I meant pre-mod Oblivion.

 

[WabeWalker]

There"s no level scaling in this game.

Rather, you enter these fairly large areas which you then proceed to clear out. In your first area, your goal is to cross a bridge so you can get to the next area - and then in that area your goal is to get a permit to pass into the third area.

You pretty much end up having to go everywhere within each area, but you can do it in almost any order, so the game is only linear in the sense that you're entering these huge areas one at a time.

As I said above, unless you play on the Gothic setting, you're pretty much wasting your time. You just won't feel any sense of accomplishment. I'm having to use my bow and my sword, and almost all fights are a struggle.

You had better make sure you level up properly. Also, F5 is your friend. I'm talking quick saves every two minutes.

Last night I completed the second area, and the local chief gave me my first set of armor. As in Risen, there are no shops that sell armor, nor can you loot it off dead people. You have to earn it the hard way. The result is that when you finally do get your new armor it feels special. I mean, seven or eight hours in, and only now have I dispensed with my starting outfit!

The good thing is that I can feel my character growing stronger. His bow is steadier now, he has a two handed sword, for which I leveled a power up and a combo, and now he has this armor on, which makes him look incredibly butch.

I'll be moving into the third area tonight.

 

[4saken]

There"s no level scaling in this game.

Rather, you enter these fairly large areas which you then proceed to clear out. In your first area, your goal is to cross a bridge so you can get to the next area - and then in that area your goal is to get a permit to pass into the third area.

You pretty much end up having to go everywhere within each area, but you can do it in almost any order, so the game is only linear in the sense that you're entering these huge areas one at a time.

As I said above, unless you play on the Gothic setting, you're pretty much wasting your time. You just won't feel any sense of accomplishment. I'm having to use my bow and my sword, and almost all fights are a struggle.

You had better make sure you level up properly. Also, F5 is your friend. I'm talking quick saves every two minutes.

Last night I completed the second area, and the local chief gave me my first set of armor. As in Risen, there are no shops that sell armor, nor can you loot it off dead people. You have to earn it the hard way. The result is that when you finally do get your new armor it feels special. I mean, seven or eight hours in, and only now have I dispensed with my starting outfit!

The good thing is that I can feel my character growing stronger. His bow is steadier now, he has a two handed sword, for which I leveled a power up and a combo, and now he has this armor on, which makes him look incredibly butch.

I'll be moving into the third area tonight.

Sounds like tedious exercise to me! Not fun.

 

[WabeWalker]

It is so far from tedious... this is what RPGers crave.

We love entering an area, and getting the tar beaten out of of us, and then going to other parts and fighting NPCs, and leveling up our character, and then returning and beating the tar out of the guys who previously beat the tar out of us.

There's nothing more satisfying in all of gaming when these elements flow together. This is why most of us hate level scaling - now THAT'S tedious.

... or endlessly shooting at people in COD... that's tedious... or playing the ridiculous Bad Company over and over again.

 

[Derangel]

It is so far from tedious... this is what RPGers crave.

We love entering an area, and getting the tar beaten out of of us, and then going to other parts and fighting NPCs, and leveling up our character, and then returning and beating the tar out of the guys who previously beat the tar out of us.

There's nothing more satisfying in all of gaming when these elements flow together. This is why most of us hate level scaling - now THAT'S tedious.

... or endlessly shooting at people in COD... that's tedious... or playing the ridiculous Bad Company over and over again.

Agreed. Its a very old school approach to the genre. Something you don't see often these days. I remember getting my ass kicked and dying in games like Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate 2, and so on all the time. Now days I mostly like to just relax and have fun, but if Gothic difficulty really calls back to that level of actual challenge I might just have to try it.

 

[Q-BZ]

It is so far from tedious... this is what RPGers crave.

We love entering an area, and getting the tar beaten out of of us, and then going to other parts and fighting NPCs, and leveling up our character, and then returning and beating the tar out of the guys who previously beat the tar out of us.

There's nothing more satisfying in all of gaming when these elements flow together. This is why most of us hate level scaling - now THAT'S tedious.

... or endlessly shooting at people in COD... that's tedious... or playing the ridiculous Bad Company over and over again.

Looking forward to it.

 

[LeninGHOLA]

Looking forward to it.

Stop looking forward to it and get it from Steam, now.

 

[dravisar]

I like it. It's linear as hell, much like stalker was with "zones" you enter in and out of, and which are blocked off until you complete storyline quests. I'm playing on normal and its just stupid easy, compared to Risen which was really difficult until you progressed through most of the game and geared up.

The story is weak, and I really despise the dialogue...I skip through most conversations and just read the quest descriptions. The game has some funny graphical glitches, including an obvious cone around your character where graphics transition from "far away" to close in. Also, if you alt tab, you get a fun flickering in all the shadows when you return. The faces and body animations are a few years behind current titles.

All that said, it's not an unimpressive game. I like the combat system, the design of the areas is well done and attractive, and so far, the game seems like it will be fairly long. I'm currently in the tree village, and have probably 8-10 hours in. I have a funny feeling like the game ends soon however, which would make it incredibly short for a true RPG.

 

[WabeWalker]

But why aren't you playing on Gothic difficulty? It's just not rewarding at all playing on any other setting. On Gothic, it's pretty much exactly like Risen. You can 'feel' your character getting stronger. After each fight, you pretty much have to quick save.

 

[Q-BZ]

Stop looking forward to it and get it from Steam, now.

Yay! Preload unlocked! Time to play!

 

[WabeWalker]

Just remember to play on the Gothic setting. Also, for fun, mix it up a bit between swords and bows. And remember, F5 is your friend.

 

[krameriffic]

Sounds like tedious exercise to me! Not fun.

That's the thing, it's not tedious on the other difficulty settings. You have to come to terms with the fact that the hardcore RPG crowd likes stuff that less than .001% of the people on this planet would ever like. Stuff that I liken to getting teeth pulled.

 

[Riddleofsteel]

The thing putting me off is the prospect of having to die repeatedly while I build my strength up. I know a challenge is good, but certain challenges just annoy me more than give me a sense of character progression.

Also, how are the controls? I've heard several times now that the PC controls are very poor. Some people even recommend the console version for the better controls even though it looks graphically inferior.

 

[Q-BZ]

The thing putting me off is the prospect of having to die repeatedly while I build my strength up. I know a challenge is good, but certain challenges just annoy me more than give me a sense of character progression.

Me, too. Thankfully you change difficulty on the fly any time you want.

Everyone will find a sweet spot here.

Also, how are the controls? I've heard several times now that the PC controls are very poor. Some people even recommend the console version for the better controls even though it looks graphically inferior.

Not true. Wabe is about the only person I've seen all giddy about using a controller on this thing.

IGN and the other review outlets confirm basically what most of us here have said that played the demo and now are playing this: KBM all the way.

 

[Riddleofsteel]

Me, too. Thankfully you change difficulty on the fly any time you want.

Everyone will find a sweet spot here.




Not true. Wabe is about the only person I've seen all giddy about using a controller on this thing.

IGN and the other review outlets confirm basically what most of us here have said that played the demo and now are playing this: KBM all the way.

Heh, well, I guess you'd have to read multiple forums to see several people saying it. I'll have to give the demo another try. It would crash on startup without fail even if I changed my sound device to 48khz.

 

[Xenozx]

There is a patch that enables multi core support, and seems to boost FPS by about 50%.

For Nvidia cards you can force FSAA with either Nvidia Nhancer or Inspector. Running 4x aa on my dual 480's and its pretty smooth. May try 8x tonight.

 

[Q-BZ]

Heh, well, I guess you'd have to read multiple forums to see several people saying it. I'll have to give the demo another try. It would crash on startup without fail even if I changed my sound device to 48khz.

Hmmm... I've seen a few complaints like that and I figured they were all sound related. I hope you can get this figured out.

 

[SilverSliver]

Guys what I love about the game is, even more so than every other RPG I have played, you are the bitch of absolutely everyone you meet. Here you are on an epic journey, and you are not crossing this fucking bridge until you do this for me. And to do that, you have to do this for some other guy, but before you can do that, you have to pick some fucking mushrooms or something else equally lame for another guy so he can make some foul beer and then you start climbing back down the ladder to do more lame stuff for everyone who has changed their mind prior. To cross a bridge. It's just awesome.

 

[Q-BZ]

Guys what I love about the game is, even more so than every other RPG I have played, you are the bitch of absolutely everyone you meet. Here you are on an epic journey, and you are not crossing this fucking bridge until you do this for me. And to do that, you have to do this for some other guy, but before you can do that, you have to pick some fucking mushrooms or something else equally lame for another guy so he can make some foul beer and then you start climbing back down the ladder to do more lame stuff for everyone who has changed their mind prior. To cross a bridge. It's just awesome.

^^ This is the kind of thing I'm not thrilled about, either, especially coming off an open free world like Risen or even its predecessor Gothic 3. In those games, you can go wherever you want, any way you want, any time you want, and basically do whatever the hell you want whenever you feel like it.

Risen is still a considerably better game than this. It's the real Gothic 4. Piranha Bytes did Risen and Gothic 3 and not this. It shows. I'm on the PB bandwagon all the way.

I like this game on its own merits but it does have some issues to quibble about.