Gothic 3 - Gothic 3: Review @ GamersInfo

GamersInfo has kicked up a review of Gothic 3. While there is no score as usual for this site, the author doesn't sound impressed - just as he wsn't impressed with Gothic 2:

Once again we have another in a series of Gothic rpgs. Developed by Piranha Bytes, Gothic 3 offers a bigger world then its former predecessor, Gothic 2. I was a bit jaded in trying out this rpg after playing and reviewing Gothic 2, which wasn’t a glowing one by any means. Withholding my reservations and pulling back my memories of the last one, I installed the game and began my journey into uncharted lands.

More information.

I'm not going to slam the reviewer or anything - but how anyone could actually play through Gothic 2 and not be amazed is really beyond me. Then he goes on to review Gothic 3? Why?

"Losing your weapon after being knocked to the ground means scrabbling for something to use in your pack or putting an extra weapon in a quick-key to make sure you aren’t fighting with your bare fists."

Doesn't this ONLY happen in the 1st combat scene? The reviewer doesn't seem to have played more than 30 mins.

As for his Gothic 2 review - http://www.gamersinfo.net/index.php?art/id:672
"Inventory space is limited, requiring you to either drop or sell just to make room."

Sheesh…

How old is this guy? He sounds like a teenager.

Man, if you insert Ben Stein voice as you read the quote, you got yourself some comedy gold.

Once again we have another in a series of Gothic rpgs. Developed by Piranha Bytes, Gothic 3 offers a bigger world then its former predecessor, Gothic 2. I was a bit jaded in trying out this rpg after playing and reviewing Gothic 2, which wasn’t a glowing one by any means. Withholding my reservations and pulling back my memories of the last one, I installed the game and began my journey into uncharted lands.

Magic is still on the low end when the decision to use it or reserve your points for melee combat is better.

Hmmm, how come I've only played a mage and stopped with my fighter half way in the game. Maybe because the mage is lovely overpowered and sword-fighting unbalanced?!

The combat is frustrating with the wildlife being higher then your current levels.

Geesh, don't mindlessly run towards a pack of wolves.

Keyboard to mouse control can become a hair pulling adventure

This one, I really don't get. What else do you want, only mouse or only keyboard? This type of controls is very nice and intuitive.

And yet we have another reviewer who doesn't get the point. Oh wellm, maybe I'm just a fan.

Originally Posted by Dr. A
Doesn't this ONLY happen in the 1st combat scene? The reviewer doesn't seem to have played more than 30 mins.

No it happens right throughout the entire game, except for the most part you are fighting hostile(red) enemies which results in death as well as the weapon being knocked out of your hand.

I see. Thanks for the heads-up, bjon045

I still think the reviewer is an idiot however

"Beautiful scenes and complex interplay doesn’t help when you are looking for ease of play and non frustrating interactions." (from review)

easy and not frustrating… those teenagers nowadays :/ "mommy, mommy, there is a monster over here - Im scared!! :,,,o(…. I wannnaaaaa my oblivion - its so easy!! gothic bad, gothic bad!"

Sounds about right!!

"mom, mooom! Today I've learned something from my oblivion game mommy! It scales with me! When I grow it grows too !! Oh its soooo cool! Thank you mommy, I love you! ..gothic bad! =/ gothic BAAD!! gothic doesnt scale with me! :=< oblivion is my friend now, you know mommy!? We are scaling together and its so easy and cooollllll !! Take this gothic-not-my-scaling-friend crap away and bring me some more pizza - we love you moom, me and my friend oblivion!"

OK, we get it - Gothic games are *hard* and don't really care if you die! Most games aren't like that - and that is a tough lesson.

Magic is still on the low end when the decision to use it or reserve your points for melee combat is better.

Poor grammar aside (Editor … we need an Editor here!), he seems to be fixated on spending all of his points upping his melee skills, therefore magic is a convenience he cannot afford. Which tells me he didn't try playing at all as a mage.

In general I have no major issues with this - let's get real, Gothic 3 continues to be a hardcore game, and is therefore not so appealing to non-hardcore gamers. This reviewer claims to be a big RPG fan, but it seems unlikely that he is a fan of games that would make him salivate for this type of experience.

Oh Corwin - he did a Lazarus review as well.

The reviewer has some legit gripes.

Originally Posted by Sem
Geesh, don't mindlessly run towards a pack of wolves.

This one, I really don't get. What else do you want, only mouse or only keyboard? This type of controls is very nice and intuitive.

I am well into Gothic3 (level 30 something) and still normal wolves and jackals are more dangerous than a city full of melee orcs. I can easily handle almost any number of orcs without even getting hurt but a couple of wolves can sometimes still take me down. Gothic 2 handled this sort of thing MUCH better and the melee combat in Gothic 3 is a step backwards.

Oddly, killing a shadowbeast is less difficult than a wolf. This was very disappointing to me the first time I ran across a shadowbeast early in the game and killed it without it ever even hitting me. WTF? They were like the ultimate foes (except maybe trolls) in G2.

The mouse/keyboard interface is really badly designed. A good example is how you exit from screens. Press ESC and some screens will close as you would expect. On others nothing happens. On some others it highlights the Exit option and you then have to click the mouse. This was a problem in Gothic 2 as well and I cannot understand why they got it wrong yet again.

Another example of this is the "killing blow" maneuver. It sometimes takes 4 or 5 tries before you actually finish off the foe instead of sheathing your weapon.

Originally Posted by BillSeurer
Another example of this is the "killing blow" maneuver. It sometimes takes 4 or 5 tries before you actually finish off the foe instead of sheathing your weapon.

Either your timing is wrong and you make a different move, or two moves/options are combined to one key. I don't sheath my weapon with LMB nor RMB, so how can I sheath my weapon with a combination of LMB and RMB.

Originally Posted by Sem
Either your timing is wrong and you make a different move, or two moves/options are combined to one key. I don't sheath my weapon with LMB nor RMB, so how can I sheath my weapon with a combination of LMB and RMB.

Aim at downed foe so name is highlighted, hold RMB, click left. No changed keys/mouse settings from default. I tried it with two different mice even and get the same results.

" Oh Corwin - he did a Lazarus review as well. "

Thanks Mike, it's pretty lame. Not only does he repeat himself, but he couldn't even get the name of the original U5 correct. From reading it, it was OBVIOUS he had not played much of the game. I think they must have a competition there; the person who writes the review first gets it posted!!

Originally Posted by Corwin
" Oh Corwin - he did a Lazarus review as well. "

Thanks Mike, it's pretty lame. Not only does he repeat himself, but he couldn't even get the name of the original U5 correct. From reading it, it was OBVIOUS he had not played much of the game. I think they must have a competition there; the person who writes the review first gets it posted!!

I thought that his FastCrawl did a decent job of capturing it … but then it felt like he could have done it off of the demo - I got more info from Sammy and chamr's comments …

Which only reinforces my comment about getting the review done quickly in order to get it posted!! Reviewing a demo as if it were the whole game would certainly speed up the process!!

Well he could have actually been using walkthrough to get a idea of how the game story and gamplay goes and never actually playing the game, though since I haven't read his reviews I am not sure if this true, but certianly someone could attempt something like this.
I guess you guys would know since you have read his stuff and played the games he references.