Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - First Screens Released
 

GamersHell has three screenshots up and also posts a press release from Jowood announcing the first screenshots for their add-on to Gothic 3, Forsaken Gods:
More information.

Now that's joke of the week! Or month, even… :)

I remember the game doing pretty well, especially in Germany…

mmm improved graphics? don't see them on the pics.
Don't need it either. Are there also new bug fixes?
I am interest anyhow but better graphs needs better spec :(

The game sold 350000 copies in its first two months, but I can't find any more recent sales figures.

There was a press release long ago saying they had hit 500 000.

I don't know, but I'm sure it has new bugs ^^

I didn't like G3 anyway, so I am not waiting for this expansion, but I hope they will at least try to fix all the fails in G3, and make a good storyline. Like good MotB expansion to not-so-good NWN2 ;)

I bet it will be stand-alone and use another engine. Otherwise JoWooD would have announced a long time ago that the G3 engine would be fixed completely.

Would it run a lot better then if it's on another engine ?

I don't think they will make new engine just for expansion.

They don't need to make a new one, they can just one (as in pay money for using one) …

Exactly. Taking a solid engine (maybe the one used for G4?) and recycling most graphics and sound assets could be the answer if they didn´t want to use Genome.

#1 Improved
 

Definately my number one improved in addon will be:

Improved combat system with new combat rules!! =D

After that, I even would bother to finish the original. I felt a bit bored and dissapointed by killing ~30 orcs in a single room by just slashing and rotating circle. After the battle was over, there was so much orc bodies, that I could have build a house from them… :p

I think it's obvious from the screenshots that it's the same engine. Nothing wrong with that, I just hope that they're still going to release a major patch for the original game.

if this in indeed an 'addon' why all the questions?
an addon by definition requires the original, uses the same engine, and is basically a patch in itself.

language is underated…

I think there have been a few games where they differentiated between add-on and expansion. An expansion meaning, expanding the game's content while using the original. An add-on meaning, a game based on the original but which was/is standalone.
That's why we're also talking about different engines …

actually i think you've got it completely backwards. true there are expansions that use existing content but there are also standalone expansions as well. addons are very rarely referred to and when they are they are ususally much smaller and sometimes free—hence while they would use the same engine as costs are less. expansions are rarely larger than the orginal but they are usually at least half the size of the original. if this gothic 3 'add-on' is only 20 hours it would certainly be foolish to call it an expansion.

for example lets take housing.
if your doing an expansion on your house, it could be an entire floor or wing, while an 'addon' to me gives the connotation of a room, garage, excetera. putting a little extra on the original while expanding is adding an entire new branch/wing. expanding implies future growth and direction like a new limb on a tree. an 'add-on' is an artificial addition which would be like graphting a new limb onto a tree, a move that would not imply future growth but a limited addition.

So you think you know what the JoWooD marketing thinks makes more commercial sense to sell as a Gothic 3 add-on? ;)

It uses a different engine, btw. According to JoWooD. So much about a normal add-on.

So, do I have it backwards or not ? I'm confused now … :(

"Add-on" and "expansion" are used as the publishers see fit. Whatever difference in meaning there may be, it got lost a long time ago. Similar terms are "add-in", "DLC" (= downloadable content) or "stand-alone add-on". The similarity is - in almost every case - more content for an existing game with only evolutionary technology update.

G3A looks unusual in this context. Another engine but only 15-20 hours, which is pretty short for an RPG.