Arcania - Walkthrough Videos @ Gametrailers

[txa1265]

With all this negativity its amazing they bothered catering to the hardcore at all.

Thing is, like with Fallout 3, they *AREN'T* catering to the hardcore - they make overtures that seem that way, then go about adding stuff that they think will help it sell to console gamers based on features that are present in games that sell millions. Too often they fail to make the association that a single feature isn't what sells the game, but a cohesive set of features that satisfy a need, and certainly a solid build quality and good performance.

 

[Moriendor]

Sure. But if so, it displays a lack of understanding of the Gothic series. Overall, this had a distinctively "arcade" appearance (does anyone disagree?) and the Gothic series is known for "realism" - even down to not being able to quaff potions in the middle of combat.

Well, this is an E3 video and the first time that they are showing ArcaniA to an international audience. What did you expect?
I don't think that they are lacking understanding of the Gothic series but that they are driven by a desire (and the need) to turn ArcaniA into an international success. What better way to pique the interest of the international press than to show off arcadey WoW/MMO-style combat?
Like any and all E3 videos I would not take this video too seriously. It's just advertising is all it is.

I'm much more looking forward to presentations of the Euro version of the game where everything from HUD elements to loot bags to color/lighting is supposed to be different.

The only thing that really worried me in these vids was the talk about the five joinable factions. I hope that the guy just forgot to mention that you have to choose carefully who to side with.

Yep. But Gothic II had one unlockable area, right? The old territory? Otherwise, everything was completely open. We'll have to see but this sounds more constrained with seven unlockable areas.

Well, maybe they really meant seven chapters and that the world will be reset seven times (like the G2 world that got reset... five times, was it?). Who knows? Besides, the game has four islands to visit so that alone could be four "unlockable" areas and maybe there is a good reason why you can't travel to all four right from the start so that the constraints will not feel too artificial in the end.

I'm sure that we wil find out much much more at GamesCom when the game is being shown off in its core market.

 

[JDR13]

With all this negativity its amazing they bothered catering to the hardcore at all.

Er....it doesn't look like they did, simply judging by the video.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Er....it doesn't look like they did, simply judging by the video.

They talk about HUD removal, quest marker removal, target lock removal etc. All configurable to make the game more challenging. We havent even seen the quest structure, the AI in action or even a grasp on the level of difficulty or a single dialog tree. Everyone just assumes the worst, calls it Oblivion and bashes away. I just think it is sad. The Dev's have clearly done a ton of hand crafted work here, the world looks fantastic and nobody seems to care. Oh well.

 

[Alistair]

I love the way they have US/Euro approaches. I think I'd call them Action and Adventure or something. Right now it's a little like 'Because Americans are so stupid...'

 

[Gorath]

EU screens:

10
06


not officially posted:
08

 

[txa1265]

Everyone just assumes the worst, calls it Oblivion and bashes away. I just think it is sad. The Dev's have clearly done a ton of hand crafted work here, the world looks fantastic and nobody seems to care. Oh well.

When we constantly have folks talking about how they are making sure hardcore fans are satisfied and then turning out console action games like Oblivion, Two Worlds, Rise of the Argonauts and Fallout 3, then we see a video that looks like it was made to be Gothic meets Oblivion, it is hard for us not to be cynical ... we have to go primarily on what we see, since we know from the words of folks from Bethesda that they are effing liars ... oh, and then there is Forsaken Gods .

 

[JDR13]

Todd,
What part of "simply judging by the video" did you not understand?

 

[Alistair]

EU screens:
10
06
not officially posted:
08

That first one is nice. I wish all RPG designers would drop the shoulder pads. And make plate armour heavy... Having all armour types affect you the same way cuts away at the 'physics model' and the world's believability.

I wonder if the lower damage lock-on attacks could be a skill learned in-game. One of the notable things about combat progression in G1 was when you got better with a sword, you really did acquire a new skill - i.e. you learned to hold it properly

 

[Kostas]

I hope so but I don´t think so.

As I see it, Risen is the strongest candidate for the "decent one", btw.

If none of them is good can we safely assume that all hope is lost?

I'm with todd on this one some people are just too negative and while they have they're reasons I don't see how this is an Oblivion clone or something.
The EU version could really save the game.

 

[Gorath]

A lot of people here are way too negative.

As Mo said below, the E3 is about marketing to the masses. The publishers want to create hype to push Christmas pre-orders by retailers.

 

[Squeek]

Moriendor's post stood out for me too, but all the comments here have been good, I think.

 

[Gorath]

I meant the general tendency to criticise everything.

 

[TheMadGamer]

With all this negativity its amazing they bothered catering to the hardcore at all.

I agree. And didn't we all just beat up some writer in a recent news article linked here at RPGWatch where the author drew all these negative conclusions based on a few videos of Risen (or was it G4?)?

The reality is, US (this includes myself here) hardcore 'RPGers' represent the least amount of revenue for developers these days but we've got the biggest and loudest mouths. More often than not we are hypercritical of works still in development.

But for the record, the people on this forum are by far, and by a HUGE margin, better in the way of articulating themselves and not trolling. It's why this is pretty much the only RPG forum I visit anymore.

 

[northreign]

But for the record, the people on this forum are by far, and by a HUGE margin, better in the way of articulating themselves and not trolling.

Its a fun forum.

My problem is yeah they could pull off a good game but based on the videos I don't see how they will get it out this year and do that. Not hating on the game itself ...yet.

 

[Melvil]

I think it's safe to say that those video's have raised a few eyebrows and I think Dhruin's criticisms are fair. It looks like they thought about the different things that have sold well and garnered praise in recent RPG's and went with it from there.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

the E3 videos show the US color set

showing the Euro colors

Huh ? Two different colour sets for different markets ?

That's new to me.

Which area will get what kind of colours ?

And what does this tell about the devs or/and JoWood thinking about the target audiences ?

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Todd,
What part of "simply judging by the video" did you not understand?

I think I understand pretty clearly. My apologies for the free thought.

 

[Kostas]

This was announced from the beginning but I don't know if it's still valid.
The US market would get a version with more vivid and bright color while Europe would get something dark and gritty.
You can find some details in the early previews.

 

[Dajjer]

Very early days but that left me disappointed. Where was the AI? The combat looks like hack'n'slash with big floating XP numbers and flashing icons. Fire Mages in big trees? Big clumps of monsters that guards don't react to?

There was little sign of the realism of a Gothic world. Looks more like an arcade Two Worlds, at this stage.

To me it was pretty clear this was a presentation demo. At one point he had the guy jump 3 stories and the developers/narrator said, in the game, this would kill you. I understand the need to put something out there to get the masses/ media excited but going the route of arcady made the game seem like a me too demo. At this point I won't fault the game for a poor choice made (by who?) as far as what to showoff at this show.