Gothic 4: Arcania first impressions

[txa1265]

16 hours?? Are you serious?

Wow.. I had heard it was short, but that is truly pathetic for this type of game.

No wonder DudeNtheRoom evoked the name 'Fable' ...

 

[Dhruin]

I guess I should clarify, because our own review from Vox says 30 hours.

From Qt3...

"Is it really only 16 hours short or whatever the reviews said?"

"Played it through in one sitting, and yep, it is."

"15 hours and 30 minutes...so - not so long for an rpg "

From the JoWood official forums:

"Took me about 20 hours to complete"

Although one guy says..

"Playing it for 28h now. And I still have enough to do'

So...I guess I don't really know.

 

[mute]

I am on my 10th (I really don't know)! hour and i have just begin questing in Silverlake. I think if you utilize quick travelling, do the main quest and don't do anything else i feel it can be a short game. As most game can be.

If you roam around, exploring and do side quests its longer. Much longer. If you then don't have the questhelpers on you really need to explore to find the places you need to go to.

One plus for this game, so far, is that the quest information, the location description actually help. And you can play without the markers on. If you choose to.

I do not force this game to be long. I just play it as it comes along.

I am so far a big fan of this game.

EDIT: Just checked my playtime on steam! (It was 10 hour yesterday, now i am on my 12th).

EDIT2: Darn, this got messy. I actually don't know how much time i spent. Gah. Well... I am having fun.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Does anyone have any tips on how to defeat Knut the farmer?

*chuckles* Nice name !

Knut is an "original" (North-)Friesian name. This name has become kind of a cliché-name for people of north Germany.

 

[elkston]

*chuckles* Nice name !

Knut is an "original" (North-)Friesian name. This name has become kind of a cliché-name for people of north Germany.

My question was kind of a joke too. Guess nobody got it. In reality Knut is a push-over encounter from the starting "demo" area.

 

[Alistair]

I'm 20 hours in so far...

Gothic difficulty, no quest helpers, lots of exploration

It's not a great game, but it's got good points IMO.

 

[GothicGothicness]

I read a review in swedish paper... too funny not to share....

Unfortunately the graphics is quite bad, like in all the Gothic games, but when even the dialogue is boring there is no motivation for me to play..

1/5 stars.

 

[JemyM]

Unfortunately the graphics is quite bad, like in all the Gothic games

A bit off-topic, but reviews like that have done a lot to ruin the market. Arcania do not have animation like Assassin's Creed or look like Crysis, but to say it's "quite bad" makes me question if the reviewers demands aren't actually harmful. Arcania uses plenty of expensive technologies that most small scale developers would only be able to dream about. Asking for even more increases expectations to unreasonable levels that block out innovative teams since they cannot afford the basic requirements the reviewers ask for.

 

[KasperFauerby]

A bit off-topic, but reviews like that have done a lot to ruin the market. Arcania do not have animation like Assassin's Creed or look like Crysis, but to say it's "quite bad" makes me question if the reviewers demands aren't actually harmful. Arcania uses plenty of expensive technologies that most small scale developers would only be able to dream about. Asking for even more increases expectations to unreasonable levels that block out innovative teams since they cannot afford the basic requirements the reviewers ask for.

Yeah, spot on!

I've noticed that as well - especially the console reviewers tend to have completely unrealistic expectations about graphics these days. I've seen a X360 reviews calling the graphics in Arcania "poor" or even "horrible". I mean, come on - fair enough that you don't like the game. But the graphics are simply not horrible It was the same with Risen, and several other titles that they didn't like.

Being a dev myself I have a certain technical knowledge of what's inside their beloved consoles - and there *is* actually an upper limit to how much graphics fidelity they can handle

 

[HiddenX]

I like nice graphics, music and sounds, but to make a good game developers should concentrate on the gameplay, game-elements and story first.
If this works make a good user-interface.
If this works (and you still have money left) make some eye-candy.

 

[GothicGothicness]

A bit off-topic, but reviews like that have done a lot to ruin the market.

The same guy gave risen 4/5 though….. saying that the graphic had a nostalgic feel and there was a good game benief.. also it had very agreeable system requirements.

 

[Maylander]

You finished it in 2 days? How massive can it really be?

Probably took around 20 hours. The world is bigger than that of the original Gothic (probably bigger than the world of Risen or Gothic 2 as well), but like I said - you only need to visit and clear an area once, which means no running back and forth.

Completed it a 2nd time, this time with a mage. Significantly easier about 2/3rds of the game (the final 2/3rds), but harder the rest. I put every single skill point into the three spells (saved the points early until magic became available). I ended the game at level 29 and had maxed all magic skills except one, which I would've maxed if I had reached 30 (should be possible). Basically, maxing all spells is possible.

I might complete it a 3rd time, this time as a ranger, but I'm not sure yet. New Vegas is coming soon, so there might not be enough time.

Also, I checked out alternative paths this time - there are definitely consequences in the game.

Spoiler: Example

You can choose between the baron and the rebels in Stewark. The paths to "completing" the zone will be different depending on choice, as will the outcome.

In any case, I have a few questions for people who have completed it:

Spoiler: Unanswered questions

- Who is Lyrca? I know she's the blind witch, but her role is so significant I can't help shake the feeling that I've missed something. Is she the Ahn'Nosri or some such thing? Maybe she's in Forgotten Gods or whatever it's called?
- Is there a list or map online of all the pieces for the artifact items? I've never even been close to completing any of them. In fact, I don't think I've passed 10 out of 30 items yet.
- I picked up two Tears of Innos that were used to upgrade a weapon. Where did I get them? I can't remember picking them up, yet they were suddenly in my inventory.
- Who was the guy in the ending video? The king of Argaan along with Thorus and an orc (Ur-Shak perhaps)? It would seem that the king wants to use the Sleeper against Myrtana or some such thing, but I don't know - hard to tell from the video.
- I might add some more questions here in time.

 

[human_male]

I just ordered my copy for release in New Zealand on Friday (I'd preordered it then cancelled it based on some things I'd read about the demo). I'm worried it will suck, particularly the poor frame rate on the 360. But I just love games like this so I had to try it. I can always sell it on after.

 

[DudeNtheRoom]

How are you guys finishing in 20 hours??? I'm about 12 hours in and just got to the first real city in the same area with Otgars Farm. I haven't begun to explore it yet but I'm not using quest help and have it on normal.

 

[JDR13]

Anyone try it on "Gothic" difficulty yet? Just curious …

 

[RivianWitch]

I think the way the graphics look really depends on your system, to a large extent. I've more or less just started. I started with graphics on high, and for the first time with any game this specific system of mine struggled and sputtered.

Then I tried to set animated leaves and shadows off, and even though it is set to "off" in my settings, they didn't go away, so I set my settings right down to "low" and now I still have waving leaves and trees, glistening leaves and dancing shadows, but my textures look really crappy. I prefer my settings to be more customisable than this..

I'd rather have still foiliage and better textures and smoother performance, and less of motion-sickness when I run through the glistening landscape

 

[darkling]

Anyone try it on "Gothic" difficulty yet? Just curious …

The combat is the weakest point in the game and all the harder difficulty levels do is make the enemies hits do a lot more damage and have a lot more health. The AI is still slow, easy to predict and simple to defeat. On "Gothic" three hits from a rat in the starter area and you're toast and it takes a fair bit of pounding to take them down. It may sound like it makes the game harder but all I found it did was make the kinda mediocre combat incredibly tedious. The outcome was always a win but it took forever to get there. Regardless of difficulty, you will find and have LOTS of food and stuff to regain health instantly mid-combat and all 'Gothic' difficulty did was make me go through them faster (but I still never even came close to running out).

 

[TheMadGamer]

I've just completed the starting area. I really don't like the 'on rails' feel of the game so far. Everywhere that seems interesting to go I find I can't go there - that is really un-gothic-like.

The environments are interesting to look at, but the little nooks and crannies I find that amazingly are not inacceissble by an invisible barrier net nothing of note for the most part.

I do like the polish of the game, it runs smoothly, has a nice interface with a lot of feedback info, the quest log is well organized and so on.

I still feel like it's worth playing at this point.

 

[Dasale]

I had thrown it in trashcan of games to ignore, but reading this thread I noticed the flaws but also the qualities and overall that rise quite a lot my interest in this game.

Now the problem is, am I wanting a box version to keep it for a little collecting or is a Steam version will be enough and more handy? It's so awful that now when I think digital it's hard for me to think something else than Steam. I hope plenty players don't do like me to keep some balance.

 

[Dwagginz]

I'm a Gothic-virgin, and I've just cut my teeth on the demo of ArcaniA (I'm not far into it, though).

"Wow!" is all I can say. Visually, it's pretty impressive. It's rather nice musically, too. The quests so far have been pretty simple but they ease you into the game. The UI is also pretty good. It's simplistic and clear, like in Divinity 2. The combat, so far, seems a bit hack'n'slash-but-with-basic-tactics, i.e. if an enemy seems to charge up then dodge out of the way, use your bow to try to pick them off as they run to you and so forth.

That said, it's not without its flaws. It didn't tell me how to level up once I'd gotten enough experience, the lip-sync is pretty bad and it felt a little cumbersome at times. I was randomly given a bow and some arrows (Luckily it took a second to work out how to use them), which I think highlights another small flaw - If you're going to have a tutorial section, then make sure things are, well, covered. A lot of it, for me, has involved working it out for myself. I think I'd have liked the bow to be in first person/OTS camera mode, but I should be able to get used to it. I need to play around with the settings as it's really bumpy for me, but that's more an issue on my end than anything.

Overall, so far, it seems like another Divinity 2 in terms of how it feels - Flawed but with potential. I think I need to play on!

Notes: Playing on "Easy", High graphics settings (Which need tweaking) and with the European filter.