Arcania - Walkthrough Videos @ Gametrailers

[Squeek]

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..

Well, we could really use a little cheering up over here at the moment, all things considered.

 

[Dhruin]

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.

Heh, so it's OK for you to pick an element and say you're worried but for everything else, it's just an early demo that we shouldn't pay attention to, right?

You know I've been around for a while - I know what E3 is all about. I'm just chatting on an RPG board about what I see. Nowhere have I said Arcania will be bad - it just doesn't look like a Gothic game so far.

The other thing is, games work best when developers commit to a concept. Don't have different colours: commit to your artistic vision. You can turn the quest markers off? Sure, but that means the gameplay was fundamentally designed to have quest markers - it will change the geography and the quest delivery because they expect quest markers. It won't be the same as Gothic, designed not to have these from the ground up.

Could I be wrong? Sure! But history says that when you hedge your bets (like, say, both RT and TB combat in Arcanum), both turn out bad.

Finally, the international market isn't listening. Gothic fans like us are the only ones talking about Arcania. I can't fault them for doing the same thing every other dev/pub does but here's a thought: maybe it makes sense to start by getting your core fanbase on side, because those people will evangelise your game, rather than marketing to a mainstream that doesn't care from the beginning.

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.

See above comment on quest markers. Besides, when you say "we haven't seen the quest structure" etc, what you are really saying is you like the graphics. Nice graphics are automatic these days and, no, I don't care - show me the AI and quest structure and then I might care.

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?)?

A feature article is rather different to some forum banter, no? My point isn't that Arcania is bad - it might be the best Two Worlds clone ever but it doesn't look like a Gothic game to me at this point. I can't go on what they haven't shown me.

 

[guenthar]

My comment on the combat looking better was mainly from a graphics point of view along with the feeling that this might have more variety of combat. It also seemed like the guy doing the video was using button combos to fight rather then just standard buttton mashing.

PS. I actually like button mashing rather then combos since my hands don't hurt as much doing that.

PPS. I found one thing they are changing that I don't like and that is the removal of skill trainers training your skills. That pretty much ruins the complex character advancement system of the other Gothic games.

 

[Wulf]

I agree with Dhruin's core fan-base comments.

Once the variables for players are implemented the diversities will begin.

A good example is the G3 enhanced 1.7 community patch, one player will have AAI switched on and another player switched off and for what end result when the storyline remains the same?
When playing G1 in my suburban computer room, somewhere on the other side of the world a mongolian yak shearer on his laptop in his tent would be playing the *exact same* storyline game without any diversity factor whatsoever.

Diversifying fodder, padding, filler, twiddly switches, go-faster difficulty sliders, chrome plated sticky tape all for what? - for the "casual" - "contemporary" gamer (Read: wider cash input audience.)

A developer who makes a high quality game with little or no variables will "key" with a fixed more hardcore audience set, they will get the ultimate undiluted game satisfaction, the word will spread to others, just as with G1. It can also "link" a more 'dedicated by intention' friendly contact developer to the serious dedicated gamer.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

AAI

[not serious] And the next thing will be an AAAI ?[/not serious]

 

[ToddMcF2002]

See above comment on quest markers. Besides, when you say "we haven't seen the quest structure" etc, what you are really saying is you like the graphics. Nice graphics are automatic these days and, no, I don't care - show me the AI and quest structure and then I might care.

I said "hand crafted" meaning it would appear the world has not been almost auto generated ala Oblivion. That was certainly a huge criticism of Oblivion. Yes the graphics are nice, but as you say that is an automatic. A hand crafted world is not.

 

[Moriendor]

Heh, so it's OK for you to pick an element and say you're worried but for everything else, it's just an early demo that we shouldn't pay attention to, right?

Nope. Look at the part I quoted. I quoted the part where you criticized the "arcade appearance" and I just thought it was odd to expect anything else from an E3 presentation. As for the rest of my comments I just tried to add a different angle and a slightly more positive view to balance out your doom & gloom approach.

Anyway, again: This was the first presentation of the game to an international audience. Showing the stuff that they did means that they might at least have a tiny chance to end up in the "what else" category of mainstream mags like PC Gamer etc.

Let's face it: Especially in the US why would they be retarded enough to sport the "Gothic" flag or to even begin to try to explain to people why ArcaniA is a Gothic game? That would be absolutely plain retarded of them. Regarding the reviews that Gothic got in the US it'd be like "Hey, remember when we made this really, really shitty game called Gothic. Well, consider yourselves lucky, folks, cuz here is the even shittier sequel!!!" .
So actually given the track record of the Gothic series in the US I think that they tried really hard fully on purpose to hide the fact that this game is a Gothic game.

You know, I fully agree that it doesn't look very Gothic-like from this particular presentation but given the event and the audience it was shown to I'm willing to keep an open mind until I have seen the GamesCom presentations when the game is shown in its home market. If it still looks like that then I will join the dark side and pour all my hatred over JoWooD and Spellbound .

Finally, the international market isn't listening. Gothic fans like us are the only ones talking about Arcania.

I guess you probably typed this before the E3 articles on GameSpot and IGN were released but there it is... someone is listening.
I have to say that I am surprised that the game got that much coverage from those mainstream sites. I was definitely expecting it to end up in a "E3... what else" sort of blurb.

I can't fault them for doing the same thing every other dev/pub does but here's a thought: maybe it makes sense to start by getting your core fanbase on side, because those people will evangelise your game, rather than marketing to a mainstream that doesn't care from the beginning.

Question is if it's worth it with the international community after the poor sales performance of the Gothics. Here in Germany they are quite active in catering to the community. Members of Spellbound regularly post at WoG and the infamous JoWooD community "manipulator" (as Gorath so eloquently put it ) Johann "CrazyIvan" Ertl is a very busy bee, too.
Anyway, let us maybe look at it this way in regards to the small number of international fans: Sure, they might risk losing a few thousand hardcore Gothic fans but on the other hand they might be able to sell the game to a multiple of that number by marketing the game to the mainstream.
Let's look at the footage for a moment and completely forget about the fact that this is supposed to be a Gothic game. Well, I do think that the game looks quite appealing and with the HUD features, quest markers etc. being a toggle it would definitely make my watch list.

A feature article is rather different to some forum banter, no? My point isn't that Arcania is bad - it might be the best Two Worlds clone ever but it doesn't look like a Gothic game to me at this point. I can't go on what they haven't shown me.

Well at GamesCom we will probably be told why this is the best GOTHIC game ever and why and how and where this game is totally GOTHIC and nothing but GOTHIC until we have GOTHIC coming out our ears . And then it'll be up to us all to filter the PR crap and find out if it's somewhere in the middle between what was shown at E3 and GamesCom or if it's leaning more towards one side or the other.
Personally, I think that some disappointments are inevitable. PB has streamlined some aspects of Risen as well to make the game work on consoles and to make the game more accessible. They all need to make compromises these days. Let's just hope for the best and let's keep in mind that Gothic 2 is a whooping seven years old. They just don't make 'em like that anymore...

 

[Sir_Brennus]

Even with the ugly color scheme of the US version and the alpha status problems, this game looks so much more promising than Risen.

This is a piece of honest work and it makes me proud that the Gothic series will make a great comeback after the years of shame and lies that lie behind us.

 

[Dhruin]

Obviously I just don't get it (at least not yet)...why does it look so promising?

 

[txa1265]

Obviously I just don't get it (at least not yet)...why does it look so promising?

Because we love Gothic and are blindly hopeful this will capture that feeling again?

 

[Dhruin]

Well, yeah...but then, wouldn't Risen be the obvious choice? Why does Arcania look better than Risen on the back of the (very) little we've seen so far?

 

[JDR13]

I would have to say that, head to head, Risen looks to be the better of the two so far.

 

[Dagon]

Yep Arcania has better graphics, but over all I like Risen much more.

 

[txa1265]

Well, yeah...but then, wouldn't Risen be the obvious choice? Why does Arcania look better than Risen on the back of the (very) little we've seen so far?

I agree - just trying to postulate an answer to your question ...

 

[Gorath]

We cannot even say which game has the better graphics because no up-to-date video of Risen has been made available at the E3.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Looks like two (almost) twins fighting over the same cake ... The cake is the audience ...