World of Gothic - English Site is Closing

Couchpotato

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Anyone who plays the Gothic and Risen games should be familiar with World of Gothic. Well today on the forums Moderator Tratos announced the site will be closing.
Dear users,

For quite some time already, activity on WoG.com has been minimal, and the English WoG-forums have also seen a steady decrease in activity. As much as it saddens us, the moderator team does not see this trend changing, especially with the uncertain future of the Gothic franchise. The administrators of World Of Players have been going through sites with little or no activity with the intent to archive some of those sites, and close their forums. It did not come as a surprise to us moderators that the English World of Gothic was on this list. It also did not take us a long time to reach a consensus on the fact that when the only way to "save" WoG-eng would be increased activity not only on the forums, but especially on the website, there really is no realistic way to do this.

I know many members of the English community have foreseen this coming, and that it as such won't come as a surprise to you. Others might have hoped for a resurrection or renaissance of the community (and the franchise), but those hopes were in vain. It's certainly with no small amount of sadness that we announce that WoG-eng will very soon come to its end; it is only a matter of days until the site will be archived, and the forum will remain open for a short while longer (until May, or so). After that, the forum will be closed.

Both the website and the forum discussions will still be available for reading, however there will be no new activity on them. The few english users that are active on the English World of Gothic forums can still communicate in Off-Topic English forums around the World of Players network (for example Pirate's Pawned Pegleg Pub in the World of Risen area) and for related Gothic Discussions, the German team has kindly stated that we are more than welcome to open english threads on that side.

Despite its steady decline in the past few years, there was a time when WoG-eng was a welcoming, vibrant and friendly gathering place for friends of this awesome RPG series. It was never a huge community, but in some way perhaps that was part of its strength and attraction; it was large enough for rich discussion, but still small enough for everyone to "know" everyone else. People have connected to other people and, in some cases, forged bonds of friendship that extent beyond the forum, and I'm sure many of us who've been here for years have fond memories of the forums. But all things come to an end. And this is the end of WoG-eng as we know it. Thank you for these years and for the fun times.

We encourage discussion of this decision, but wish to remind everyone to remain civil even if you feel angry or disappointed. So take this chance to decide together if you want there to be a future for the community after WoG-eng, and if so, in what form and where. It truly is entirely up to you whether the community disperses altogether, or continues to exist in any form.
More information.
 
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Um, not the whole site is closing, thank god.
 
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Um, not the whole site is closing, thank god.
I changed it to English site closing. Hope you know German or use a translator Joxer.;) The German site may be next though.
 
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That makes me sad - but I can certainly appreciate why they're doing it.
 
I don't consider it ruined - but maybe that's just me?
 
I still hope we'll see an enhanced Gothic 1 remake one day - made by PB.
 
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Me too HiddenX, with all the bugs gone and the other quests back in it... :)

That would be great. I'd love to play the game again. It would be nice to have a more non-linear experience after Chapter 1 too though. It's part of the reason I loved the game. Getting one camp to become stronger than the others and so on.

I liked the controls of the game better than G3 and Risen too. I liked the feeling of actually deciding the hits and what happened. Part of the reason why I found the Mount and Blade battles great too.
 
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Yes I would gladly pay for an enhancement graphic version of G1 and G2 just to have the excuse to play them again (though I think they're still worth playing with their old graphics).

However what I would really like is a new Gothic game in the vein of the two first. For me Risen was not a real alternative (played and finished the first but I was a bit bored just after some hours of game). Now that PB has the rights, and after some time since the release of Risen 2, perhaps there will be an announcement sometime soon. I think it would be stupid for them not to come back to Gothic now they can.

Anyone heard anything from PB after Risen 2?
 
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Not really.

Although there is "The bug me" thread in WoR where fans can ask questions and while Michael Rüve has been somewhat active there, he hasn't really said anything about their next project other than they are working with one. I don't have any idea if he is more talktative in german side of WoR, but I doubt it.

Two recent questions presented to pbs.
Q: Could you give us an approximate date as to when there will be any information available on the new project? (i.e. late summer or something like that)

A: No,.

Q: Uhm, guys, if by any absurd chance you are indeed working on a Gothic title, it would kinda be the time to say it since the English WoG is going bye bye. But I doubt you didn't know that. So, since publishers rarely decide to gamble with a new IP, and you didn't let at least the admins know about some future Gothic plans, I guess it is pretty much confirmed that we will have a Roleplaying Game by Piranha Bytes, part three.

A: Nice try - but in fact mere overinterpretation.
Whatever title we are working on - we'll certainly not have our hand forced in regard to the point in time details will be revealed. WoP is an independent site with admins that make independent decisions.
 
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Wasn't there a rumor going around about Risen 3 - Blazing Oceans or whatever that was called?
 
Wasn't there a rumor going around about Risen 3 - Blazing Oceans or whatever that was called?

Can't say I really enjoyed Risen 2, disappointing game for me. :(

Daniel.
 
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Yes I would gladly pay for an enhancement graphic version of G1 and G2 just to have the excuse to play them again (though I think they're still worth playing with their old graphics).

However what I would really like is a new Gothic game in the vein of the two first. For me Risen was not a real alternative (played and finished the first but I was a bit bored just after some hours of game). Now that PB has the rights, and after some time since the release of Risen 2, perhaps there will be an announcement sometime soon. I think it would be stupid for them not to come back to Gothic now they can.

Anyone heard anything from PB after Risen 2?

I'm playing Gothic 1 rights now. With all the options turned up to max it looks decent. I'd compare it to Drakan the Ancients Gates on PS2.
 
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I liked many things about Risen 2 - but it definitely had issues. My biggest issue was how most islands felt too similar and not as satisfying to explore as they should have been in a PB game. Also because it's completely counter to what you'd expect and what most of us would want from a PB game.

Secondly, the combat system was poorly balanced in clear favor of firearms.

That said, I think the rest of the game was very strong - and I think it's actually better than Risen - or at least as good overall.
 
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