Arcania - Demo Released

[Dhruin]

Worthplaying has the Arcania demo, which weighs in at a hefty 1.8Gb. No doubt other sites will have it but it's late here, so I'll let you hit up your favourite sites and I'll update later with more mirrors.
More information.

 

[joxer]

First two mirrors are dead.
The US mirror gives something that is 90MB. Possibly a downloader of a sort.
Anyone else tried to download this?

EDIT:
the file on US mirror is erroneous.
german mirror#1 offers a file after a few refreshes, but the download is slow as hell (60KB/sec).

EDIT2:
More possible (and let's hope good and fast) mirrors:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_63874.shtml
http://computergames.ro/ro/downloads/viewitem/id/17918/name/arcania-gothic-4-demo.html
http://download.pcgames.de/download...=Gothic 4 Demo.zip&t=mirror&article_id=746003

 

[Brother None]

Try Gamer's hell, it's working for me.

The demo was supposed to be released tomorrow according to their old press releases, so was surprised to see it up myself.

 

[Kostas]

Let's get an impression thread running.I won't have enough time to play it so I'll need some insight from the members here.

 

[ikbenrichard]

Let's get an impression thread running.I won't have enough time to play it so I'll need some insight from the members here.

Same here.
Wondering how the graphics, voiceovers and RPG elements are

 

[kuki]

I am playing it right now on G73JH, core i7, 8gb ram and it runs superb at full settings and 1920x1080 resolution.

But gameplay?

I cannot walk?!??!
No first person look?!???!

damn that ruins it for me

 

[deimos]

Can't speak much for gameplay, so far it's looking all right to me. But it definitely runs smoothly with all settings on maximum, at 1920x1200 resolution. Setup: Core2Duo 3GHz, GTX275 and 4GB RAM. No hiccups or stuttering whatsoever, yet anyway.

edit; funky animations, the characters seem a bit stiff and the personal npc dialogue reminds me of Oblivion. But i'm not too picky with that, if it runs this smooth and actually delivers some good content which remains to be seen… But this time the quicksave actually is quick.

 

[bemushroomed]

Voice acting, graphics, interface - all good or very good. Performance is good even on a Intel C2D (heavily overclocked though) with most settings on high (only shadows and particles are on medium) around 30 FPS average which is very acceptable for this type of game.

Gameplay - if you like Fable you'll like it, if you don't mind invisible walls and that you can't jump off a cliff into the water etc you'll accept it better than someone who's been playing Bethesda's games and the previous Gothic games. Combat is as braindead as it gets.

Atmosphere - graphically it's great, but NPC's doesnt react like in the previous Gothics (think Bioware). The ability to dive or climb is gone, this kills the atmosphere for someone like me. The exploration just isnt as fun when you can't jump off a cliff and dive under the water or climb up where you like. That NPC's stand out day and night at the same spot doesnt help the least. They dont seem to react to monsters at least when it's not "expected", only if its scripted so the AI seems very very dull. This just doesnt feel like a Gothic game at all.

RPG elements - too early to tell.

It's really, really sad thay they've removed a few, but still so very important (for the atmosphere of the game), elements from the series

 

[Daroou]

I like it. There's good variety of scenery. The user interface is nicely done. Performance is good (q9550 and ATI 5870) on all high settings. Gameplay on normal difficulty is rather easy but I expect that from a console centric game. I presume the full game on "hardcore" and "Gothic" will be a real challenge.

I'd say the voice acting is OK but not fantastic either. The witch actress is kind of bad with her over-done cackling. G4 won't go down in the annals of great acting.

There are invisible walls to block quest-locked areas. That may not represent the full game's big island but I think the start/demo island will have them in the full game.

I've noticed a few glitches, but nothing major or game breaking and I presume they will be patched. I'd say the jumping and movement physics are better than Risen's and certainly G3's.

At one point a group of foes attack you, and they stick together and require some strategy to take down (normal difficulty obviously).

I like how the bow and spells work. They seem to have effect, unlike other games where they seem weak and useless. Chests can only be opened once so if you leave something inside after closing it, I think it's gone forever.

The loot system seems nice with all sorts of boni attached to the better items. Also the items are rendered very nicely.

I urge everyone not to take the demo as entirely representative of the full game. I see people on some forums not only spreading false information but then dismissing the game based on things that will probably improve in the full game, like the difficulty.

That's all for now....

 

[booboo]

I think the scenery is pretty "authentically gothic" ;-) I've only done 10 min or so (I'm *cough* working *cough* ... Runs perfectly smooth on my work machine
1680x1024, everything maxed out. Quad core 2.67GHz, 4 GB mem, GTX275. I'll try on my home machine (GTX480 + core 2 duo 2.6...wich is below their min spec) later.

Some of the voice acting is shite, but I can live with that. I assume the dialogue is not representative of the game - some is very short and dull. There are some annoying popping artifacts - with tufts of grass popping up 10 ft in front of you as you move (a la Two Worlds - ugh...) But the graphics are otherwise pretty damn good. I also noticed some wierd stilted motion in very distant NPC's - propbably some level of detail issue. Anyway, a lot of the graphical issues can be patched I suspect. I haven't played much of the demo - was walking around poking about ;-)

 

[Sergorn]

So THIS is the game supposed to bring PC gaming to his knees and requires a computer that cost millions of dollars.

I have
A Core 2 Duo E8400 3 Ghz
4 Gb of Ram
An ATI Raddeon HD 5770 1 Go

Except for the ATI which I bought six month ago (due to my 8800 GT friying), it's a 2.5 years PC.

And well Gothic IV runs *very* smootly - I have all details at maximum up to 1920x1080 and everything is very smooth, with no hint of a slowndown . Like most PC/360 games really

Seriously, I replayed Gothic 3 a few month ago on the very same computer, and I can *swear* it was not as smooth at this.

So basically sounds to me these configurations thing were overblown, even by Jowood because I'm still below the recommanded settings.

That or the final game DOES runs slower on account that the main land is bigger than the demo area (I guess it is possible, I mean I remember Ultima IX), but that would surprsie me to be to such extent

I haven't finished the demo yet, but in any case I'm liking a lot what I'm seeing - feels a lot like Gothic, while not being qutie the same, which is rather a good thing IMO.

-Sergorn

 

[bemushroomed]

There are invisible walls to block quest-locked areas.

Not only that, there are a lot of areas that you can walk to but can't take shortcuts to because of invisible barriers that hinders you to go there. I've managed to get stuck in mid-air because of invisible barriers when i jumped down from a place. It's like the whole place is made of a block and only paths decided by the devs has been carved out where the player can go, and at some places they've forgot to make a path and you'll jump into, or get stuck, in the "block".

 

[DArtagnan]

Played it for an hour or so…

It's "Gothic-lite".

Not bad at all, really.

Looks and runs great - with ZERO performance issues.

My greatest worry, so far, is that it's FAR too easy - but since it's a tutorial of sorts, it might just be in the beginning.

The bow, for instance, is VERY damaging, and you can just walk casually backwards fighting something like black wolves, and they can't hit you - and they're supposed to be dangerous. Even worse than in Oblivion.

Voice acting is mostly "average" with some pretty bad stuff, but I don't mind that much.

The "invisible barriers" aren't really that bad, and - in fact - many barriers are only mild blockades and you CAN jump into water from a cliff and into areas that seem unreachable. At least half the time, you can't WALK down a cliff, but you can jump. So - that doesn't bother me much.

The skill system is pretty good, but I worry about whether there are enough skills. If the demo represents everything, there's not going to be a lot to look forward to. About 2-4 skills per fighting style, and in one "tree" - I noticed 4 skills, but they were all the same thing with incremental improvements. Not exactly awe-inspiring.

But, it's an open world game with a good sense of exploration so far. More linear than Gothic, but I write that down to the demo being mostly a tutorial. I'd certainly be suprised if it doesn't open up later on.

I'm picking this up on release, regardless, but keep in mind that it's pretty much my favorite genre and favorite style of game.

Casual Gothic fans might want to stay away, and it's most DEFINITELY a streamlined accessible thing.

I'd call it a cross between Fable and Risen - at this point.

 

[Gokyabgu]

Earlier than I expected (25 Sempember). I'm going to download it right away. At last RPG season is opened.

 

[kuki]

I just played it again for an hour.

Game really looks beautiful and runs great! I am really happy about graphics and performance.

But I still cannot go over not having first person look for investigating thighs up-close. This braks immersion for me.

Second, character runs too fast. Damn, sometimes i get dizzy. I really hope they maybe implement walking into game later I like to walk in the city and not run...

Also gathering animation is just too fast.

But maybe it will be better in the game when it comes out.

 

[viderian]

It is good to read that runs pretty well. I will have to download this tonight and play.

 

[Daroou]

Second, character runs too fast. Damn, sometimes i get dizzy. I really hope they maybe implement walking into game later I like to walk in the city and not run…

Wield your weapon (lol) and you won't run so fast.

Yeah, the game is beautiful, except I can't force AA (ATI). There's no AA setting in game either.

Anyone found any secret areas? I guess I've seen the whole demo.

 

[Strafe]

runs well on my machine (Q8200;4Gb ram and GTX 465), but it feels dull… like an retarded version of Gothic
Risen was far better.
The only really good thing is that it runs better then Gothic 3

 

[Twotricks]

The game does not run great for me.

GeForce 8800 GT , 4gb ram.

But that was expected. (its time for upgrade i guess)
The game itself is no Gothic or Risen. But that does not mean its not a good RPG.
……

Ok finished the demo

UPDATED IMPRESSIONS

1.Had to run the game on lowest settings. And than to fiddle with options (setting all lowest is not the best) Got the game running ok. Not perfect but playable and nice looking.

2.Combat. Its not Gothic/Risen. But there is a "flow" and its quite fun when you get hang of it. ( Much better than gothic 3 combat , less good than Risen )

3.World is very Gothic/Risen like , but (might be because of demo) bit linear. Didnt have problems with invisible walls (i think others just encountered some geometry bugs) And no swimming , is explained in dialogue . Nice dungeons !

4.Voice acting is absolutely horrendous. They would be doing themselves a favor by either rerecording it, or even removing it completely.

5.Quests are usual run of the mill fetch quests (but again demo)


All in all i much enjoyed the game. It feels bit like gothic 3 but with better realised combat.

I will be picking it up on release (and hopefully upgrade the PC for it)

 

[WorstUsernameEver]

Downloaded the demo. Didn't get around to play it much. The performance are really good so far with all maxed out at 1440x900 (i7 + Ati 5850), but the combat doesn't really seem particularly convincing. Ambiance is pretty bad overall (zero reaction to me taking out my weapon, the game seems also to be full of untargetable villagers and such) and the feeling of openness and exploration of the previous Gothics seems lost.

Still, I'm willing to give it a chance, it may still be a decent action RPG on its own right, and continue the Gothic lore.