Ragnar said:
Well…from what I have been reading, it’s a lot more than just “some people”. I would say “most people”.
Really, this is an exaggeration. I've read both tons of people that are saying that they love the game and people that say they hate it. The same was true for Oblivion, which release I followed as closely as Gothic 3's. I'm not sure if this is a trend or if it's always been this way, but there will be a lot of people screaming about how they hate stuff in every case. I've already compared it to the Lord of the Rings movies and puritists that decried the transition from the book.
There really aren't any hard numbers on what percentages "hate" the game versus the ones that "love" the game. The opinions are skewed in any case; those that are "disgusted" by it and "love it to bits" are both extreme in their views. Most people just want to try a nice game and have an average opinion of it. Just like any other game.
If a game is poorly designed or rushed to market…especially when comparing it to its predecessors…who is at fault? Certainly Not the consumers!! The only power a consumer has over a product…is with the all mighty dollar. If a product is bad and everyone goes out and buys it anyway…then what incentive is there for the producers of said product, to make a better product.
Such a capitalist remark. Trust the Americans to come forward with that one! Me, I bought it because I wanted the game. I took a gamble, but it was a present for myself. I don't think of "my dollars" as a reward for the developers or publishers, but because I wanted to buy myself something nice. And I got it, too. While not flawless, it did provide me with my money's worth-- even more so than Oblivion, which I put down after some 15 hours of play. I do intend to pick that one up, though.
On the other hand, of course I hope that the developers and publishers have the best of intentions and they same love of the Gothic franchise as I and many others do. I have no reason to believe that all they care about is money. Of course, money is always an object when you need to invest tons of it in such a huge project.
If the system is not what people expect or of poor design…again comparing it to its predecessors…then what good is it. Quantity does not make up for poor quality.
I read many people's opinions about the combat system. It seems so-so to a lot of them, mostly because of some balance problems or bugs, but the basics seem to be all right. The thing is, most people
hated the combat of the previous Gothics; it's one of the reason that it didn't do that well in the grand scheme of things. Of course, I loved it to death as did many other fans, but one of the biggest complaints by
most people was the controls and the combat system. So what were they to do? Cater to the minority? The new system surely isn't as mainstream as most new games and while it may have its flaws, I do believe that it has much more potential than most people give it credit for.
I have done a lot of reading on peoples comments and views of G3 and the masses are not happy.
Again, I've read both sides of the coin. When Oblivion came out, their forums were flooded with people that complained about various aspects of the game. Even so, it became a huge hit. So who are these masses that are not happy about anything? There are many people that do enjoy it, but who are the most vocal? You should take a look at some of the MMORPG communities.
i hardly think the sword fighting in gothic 1 and 2 is what made the game.
Maybe in and of itself…no. But it certainly played a major role. So much so that it sparked major discussions in the forum in one form or another.
Mostly because it was a controversial combat system. It was a huge learning curve and even then, many people never got to like it. Only a smart portion, relatively, of the fans grew to like it. Even a lot of the Gothic fans admit they didn't like the controls or combat system. I read a lot of people's opinions that said they liked the game a lot, if not for the crappy combat. To me, it was perfect, especially when mapped to a gamepad, but that doesn't mean most people liked the way it worked.
If you read “most” of the threads concerning this issue, then you would not be making this statement.
Again I will say that "most" is not accurate. From what I've read, it's about 50/50. As controversial as the original games.