Venetica - PS3 Version Coming to DACH

Dhruin

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News directly from dtp of a PS3 version of Venetica for German-speaking territories. Nope, no mention of an English version:
The bestselling RPG Venetica is coming to PlayStation®3
Hamburg, June 15th, 2010 – dtp entertainment is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the bestselling RPG Venetica on PlayStation®3. The game will be available on the 3rd of September 2010, initially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, at a price of €59.99.
Venetica is a visually stunning, action-RPG with an extraordinary and immersive storyline. Venetica mixes emotion and action in an intense and powerful setting.
A unique and vibrant game world full of surprises, set in the beautifully rendered city of Venice during the 16th Century, awaits players in this captivating adventure game.
Venetica is a cinematic RPG and offers players true-to-life visuals, subtle camera work, and spectacular cutscenes. The detailed cinematic sequences take players on a unique journey through the game world in a way that is unmatched in the RPG genre.
The games press has praised Venetica and highlighted its captivating atmosphere and unique design: "Venetica immediately takes the player under its spell - Deck 13 have crafted a game so intense, given the rush of events, that it will cause players jaws to drop" said stern.de. T-Online said: "The superb dialogue and cutscenes are enhanced by the amazing facial animations of the characters." The magazine Gamestar gave Venetica an award for its "realistic game world".
More information.
 
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I doubt they would.

Because - partly due to not-so-great marketing - the sales weren't that good - at least this is my very personal impression.

Plus, the game had in the beginning technical difficulties for not-so-high-end PCs.
 
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I also had the impression the sales were relatively low. Thus I'm so surprised there will be a PS3 conversion. Venetica was relatively cheap. Maybe it ran into the in the money over time.

Edit:
Venetica would be a good fit for the PS3 if they get the controls nailed.
 
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Dang it. I want to play this game (on consoles), but they won't release it in English.
 
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I'm playing the PC version of Venetica. It's a great Fable-like game. Light on dialogs, but heavy on story. Its graphical design is nice and atmosheric and it's combats are fast and enjoyable. Since there is no official english version I'm playing the pirated one i'm afraid, but if they will ever release it in english territory i will definitely buy it. I recommend to stay clear of the Xbox 360 version. It stutters heavily, has severe frame rate issues. Since Xbox 360 version is in this state, I don't have high hopes for the PS3 version.
It's a shame to not to release it the english version.
 
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stay clear of the Xbox 360 version. It stutters heavily, has severe frame rate issues.

all hope is lost ...
 
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heavy on story.
I disagree, I think that that's one of its biggest problems. There's not enough detail, not enough depth (when it comes to characters, main plot and setting).
 
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I like both story and writing.
 
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who cares about story and writing. How's the gameplay? Sometimes it seems like this is a movie review forum
 
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We've already had long discussions about the gameplay. Venetica has quite a lot of surprisingly explosive combat. The combat system is quite effective, IMHO. Reminded me a bit of this old viking game Rune.
 
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They're releasing a PS3 Version in Germany.
Yet there still to get it over to English shores and still haven't patched the X360 Version of Venetica which I was going to import.

Great work DTP.
I dont see much hope in a quality PS3 Version tbh.
 
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who cares about story and writing. How's the gameplay? Sometimes it seems like this is a movie review forum

No, it's an RPG forum. Story and writing are key elements of a good RPG, and the writing is arguably part of the gameplay. It certainly was in PS:T, for example.

I don't think any game would be as enjoyable as it could be without narrative elements. Even something like Fruit Ninja on iDevices wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable if you just swiped at groups of meaningless pixels that were thrown up into the slicing area. Same would go if you stripped away all the narrative elements in Angry Birds, or Plants versus Zombies. I mention those games because they don't really have a story at all, especially Fruit Ninja, but still a big part of the reasons that those games have been so succesful comes down to narrative elements.

Narrative elements are crucial to all games. In RPGs, the major narrative elements are plot, characters and writing. In addition, some of the gameplay elements that we hold dear, like choice and consequences, and the ability to role play a character of our own design, are inextricably wrapped up with plot and writing. Designing a plot that is compelling while still offering real choices to the player is not an easy thing to do.

So with the greatest respect, I have to wonder if someone who posted as you did is really on the right forum at all. It's clear from reading your post that you don't really put much value on quality writing, but many of us here do (most, I dare say).
 
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No, it's an RPG forum. Story and writing are key elements of a good RPG, and the writing is arguably part of the gameplay. It certainly was in PS:T, for example.

I don't think any game would be as enjoyable as it could be without narrative elements. Even something like Fruit Ninja on iDevices wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable if you just swiped at groups of meaningless pixels that were thrown up into the slicing area. Same would go if you stripped away all the narrative elements in Angry Birds, or Plants versus Zombies. I mention those games because they don't really have a story at all, especially Fruit Ninja, but still a big part of the reasons that those games have been so succesful comes down to narrative elements.

Narrative elements are crucial to all games. In RPGs, the major narrative elements are plot, characters and writing. In addition, some of the gameplay elements that we hold dear, like choice and consequences, and the ability to role play a character of our own design, are inextricably wrapped up with plot and writing. Designing a plot that is compelling while still offering real choices to the player is not an easy thing to do.

So with the greatest respect, I have to wonder if someone who posted as you did is really on the right forum at all. It's clear from reading your post that you don't really put much value on quality writing, but many of us here do (most, I dare say).
Yes, I agree story and narrative should be *mentioned*, but we are playing a game, gameplay should be the most important aspect in a review. A fun game with a bad story is still a fun game, and a boring game with a great story is still a boring game.
 
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If we agree that gameplay consists of everything you actually do in a game, then we can also agree that dialogues are a large part it (at least when it comes to rpgs). Bad dialogues wouldn't be that much of a problem if the game didn't put so much emphasis on them, so the combat is definitely not a match for, for instance, God of War.
 
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If we agree that gameplay consists of everything you actually do in a game, then we can also agree that dialogues are a large part it (at least when it comes to rpgs). Bad dialogues wouldn't be that much of a problem if the game didn't put so much emphasis on them, so the combat is definitely not a match for, for instance, God of War.

That's where I disagree. Gameplay to me is the actual gaming part, I'm talking about the battle systems (which, again, to me, is the core of the game… what makes a game a *game* and not a book) and everything supporting them. Classes, abilities, spells, items, equipment, tactics, strategy, resource planning and usage, etc. The rest are really just cut-scenes between battles.
That's why, when I read a review, I pretty much skip whatever they say about 'bad voice acting' or 'cliche stories'. It's not a movie! If I wanted a movie review I'd buy the TV Guide or something. Sure, they should be mentioned if they're bad or good, but it shouldn't be the focus of the review.
 
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A, nice, finally kind of a philosophical discuussion ! :) I like this ! :)

Traditionally, a game is considered a game as long as a "play" factor is in it.

Adding additional things like a "narrative" or at least a "story" is a relatively new invention. In fact, a video game is usually kind of a "bastard" : A mixture between "play" and "story".

So, if we discuss "what makes a game a game" or "how do we define a game, after all", we should always keep in mind that "play" is the nherent factor of any "game" that makes a game actually o be a game. As I wrote elsewhere, stripping he "play" factor off any "game" makes the "game" losing its inherent factor which defines a game as a game, after all.

Interesting is the point whether ADDING something to a "game" makes a "game" also lose its "defining factor" or not.
 
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If we agree that gameplay consists of everything you actually do in a game, then we can also agree that dialogues are a large part it (at least when it comes to rpgs). Bad dialogues wouldn't be that much of a problem if the game didn't put so much emphasis on them, so the combat is definitely not a match for, for instance, God of War.

If "gameplay consists of everything you do," does "everything you do" include things like listening, experiencing, feeling immersed (or any emotion), enjoying the environments, thinking about the characters, etc? Or does it just involve button-pushing?

To put it differently, does only active, mechanical input (button pressing) count as "gameplay," but all other "passive" forms of experience (some of which are not passive at all) do not?

I think the latter is the consensus, but I see things differently. As I am intellectually and emotionally engaged in a game (including in its plot and dialog), that engagement is also a part of "everything I do" when I'm gaming. I've always considered plot and dialog to be integral parts of a gameplay experience.
 
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If "gameplay consists of everything you do," does "everything you do" include things like listening, experiencing, feeling immersed (or any emotion), enjoying the environments, thinking about the characters, etc? Or does it just involve button-pushing?

To put it differently, does only active, mechanical input (button pressing) count as "gameplay," but all other "passive" forms of experience (some of which are not passive at all) do not?

I think the latter is the consensus, but I see things differently. As I am intellectually and emotionally engaged in a game (including in its plot and dialog), that engagement is also a part of "everything I do" when I'm gaming. I've always considered plot and dialog to be integral parts of a gameplay experience.

Again, I'm not saying they are not part of the game. My problem is that in the last few years, they seem to be the *focus* of the game. Almost as if they want to tell a story and leave actual gameplay as an afterthought, almost as a nuisance, a necessary evil. That is my concern. And game reviewers seem to follow this trend too.
 
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