Piranha Bytes - Gothic Interview @ Gothicz.net

Czech Gothic fan site Gothicz.net published an English translation of their recent interview with Piranha Bytes co-founder Mike Hoge. Most questions deal with specific Gothic and G2 topics, with a little excursion of to the business side of things. Hoge explains a couple of loose ends and design decisions in PB's trademark no-nonsense style. Nothing really new, but it's a good read for fans.

Gothicz.net: As we know, the magic barrier in G1 was created by twelve magicians plus Xardas. In the Colony we can find precisely the same count of them, however the fire mage Milten came in to the Colony after the Barrier was created. So we are missing one fire mage. It seems to me quite impossible, that you would overlook this disharmony. So what happened to this unknown mage?

Mike: The Magic barrier was created by 12 magicians, Xardas being one of them! When Xardas left the old camp, there were only 5 Mages left.. So they took Milten as an apprentice, when he was thrown into the prison after the barrier had been created. There is a dialogue in the game where one of the mages gets the numbers wrong. I think it was Saturas… I noticed that error, fixed it and some ex-team member of mine "fixed" it back because he didn't understand the background. There is no missing mage. The guy just messed it up

On a sidenote, Mike says the Gothic rights will return to PB:

Mike: We get the rights to Gothic back when we have finished Risen 2. Why? Because we did only sell them to our ex-publisher for a certain amount of time

Wise move.

This is the first time somebody from Piranha Bytes officially clarifies the rights situation. It's more than welcome to finally have official word on it.
Risen 2 is expected in 2011.
More information.

So it's official now.

That means we could actually see a real Gothic 4? How cool.

Great news!

I guess this explains why Jowood was focusing on the "Arcania" part of the title and appears to be slowing phasing out the Gothic name out of the IP.

I wonder if this means they'll integrate Risen into the Gothic universe down the road

-Sergorn

Originally Posted by Sergorn
I wonder if this means they'll integrate Risen into the Gothic universe down the road

Yes, if they are stupid.

Originally Posted by bemushroomed
Great news!

No, no news at all. The first time we reported this was back in 2007.

The new angle is that now PB actually confirms it.

Interesting that only one of the original founders is still there. I wonder what skills left with the other three, if any.

nice he confirms that people enjoy having delusions about missing mages or templars in the case of gothic 3—peoples issues with not being able to give the 12th fire chalice away.
imagination is a terrible thing to waste—even worse to not have any in the first place

Originally Posted by Gorath
Yes, if they are stupid.

Would it really be stupid though ?

I mean, Risen could already pass for a loose sequel to the Gothic games as it is.

-Sergorn

Originally Posted by Sergorn
Would it really be stupid though ?

I mean, Risen could already pass for a loose sequel to the Gothic games as it is.

-Sergorn

When they have Gothic back they own 2 reasonably strong RPG brands. Merging them into one wouldn't make much sense. Two brands allows them to alternate between the two, or slowly cooking one game while the other is in full production, and it gives more safety in case one brand dies.

edit:
I just remembered that Deep Silver / Koch Media owns Risen. Another good reason to keep things separated.

Originally Posted by Gorath
When they have Gothic back they own 2 reasonably strong RPG brands. Merging them into one wouldn't make much sense. Two brands allows them to alternate between the two, or slowly cooking one game while the other is in full production, and it gives more safety in case one brand dies.

Oh yes - the day PB starts being able to deliver both Risen and Gothic games.. I would be in CRPG heaven

Maybe with two established IPs they could even scale up a bit (not too much, we would always want their core talent to work on all PB games) so there wouldn't necessarily have to be 3+ years between their releases..

Originally Posted by Gorath
When they have Gothic back they own 2 reasonably strong RPG brands. Merging them into one wouldn't make much sense. Two brands allows them to alternate between the two, or slowly cooking one game while the other is in full production, and it gives more safety in case one brand dies.

edit:
I just remembered that Deep Silver / Koch Media owns Risen. Another good reason to keep things separated.

This makes sense - but I'd have to wonder if PB would really have the manpower to handle both IPs at the same time.

It'd be a shame if PB gets the Gothic IP back and ends up not using it because they wouldn't have enough manpower to do both Risen and Gothic (and if Kosh Medie ownz Risen, I would assume they'd prefer PB to work on Risen instead of a new Gothic game)

-Sergorn

Get the party hats and confetti this is good news.
Now hopefully Risen 2 is better than all there other releases.

That is actually a very good read.
Very nice interview!

Aside from the introduction of a pirate theme in Risen 2, aren't the two franchises too similar (=not very distingishable from eachother) to really warrant one team working on both? Factions (Warrior, Thief and Mage) and game structure (chapters) are already very similar between Gothic I-II and Risen. And for Risen (I) the setting could have been in the World of Gothic. Why produce two similar franchises?

My guess is that going pirate (w. guns) is probably done in anticipation of down the line working (simultaniously with Risen) in the Gothic universe again. This way they'll have one franchise taking place in (a fantasy equivelant of) a later time period (15th-18th century) while Gothic takes place (technologically) in the middle-ages (11th-15th century).

Originally Posted by Sergorn
I wonder if this means they'll integrate Risen into the Gothic universe down the road

It looks more like they're developing Risen down another path, with the whole pirates and guns things, so that it is more distinct from Gothic as a franchise.

These guys were also responsible for gothic 3 so I'm not sure what to think we will get for a part 4.

Gothicz.net: Could you please make clear the connection between the Undead dragon from G2 and the Nameless hero?
Mike: The Nameless Hero is the Avatar of Adanos. The Undead Dragon is the Avatar of Beliar, carrying the "energy" of the sleeper.

This solves an argument that lasted for years.

About him confirming the rights situation, I'd like a new Gothic by PB as much as anyone but until they actually say that I'm not getting excited.

Originally Posted by Brother None
It looks more like they're developing Risen down another path, with the whole pirates and guns things, so that it is more distinct from Gothic as a franchise.

yes no pirates in my gothic please.