Gothic 3 - Review @ Gamespy

@GothicGothicness -- well put. (And with a handle like that, it's unlikely you'll be accused of being a brainless Oblivion fanboyette...)
 
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Among German fans there are *huge* discussions going on.

As Olnigg put it (every German RPG player should know him), the game is from a graphical point of view absolutely excellent, but on the other hand it is so much bug-infested that it could drive one mad or into crying - that such an excellent game was appearing to be so much unfinished ...
 
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It is very much on the low side for my taste, but the critizism itself is more than valid.

This may sound harsh, but here we go: The developers don't deserve such a low score, but the publisher does, and very much so. In fact, this could be a way to teach them a lesson: Don't do that again, in the end such a behaviour will put you out of business.

I am convinced the game was released that way just to save the Q3 earnings for JoWooD.
 
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I agree the criticism is valid, although the mouse bit takes up such a large amount of text and does seem to set up an exceptionally negative article. Despite its legion problems, the game is better than outlined.

It's also interesting that the mouse issue does not appear to have any sort of prominence in the community - I haven't seen reference of it here or any other forums I visit. It's hard to avoid the impression that Rausch made up his mind to belt the game from that moment on.
 
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I think the key point coming out here, is that this is a game designed more for fans of the genre who enjoying putting in the time and effort and therefore, it will never be as successful as Kindy games like Oblivion!!
 
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This may sound harsh, but here we go: The developers don't deserve such a low score, but the publisher does, and very much so. In fact, this could be a way to teach them a lesson: Don't do that again, in the end such a behaviour will put you out of business.

I am convinced the game was released that way just to save the Q3 earnings for JoWooD.

I bet it´s a much more complex topic. How much longer can you (afford to) fund a product if it´s already 12 months over schedule and the Christmas business is near?
Surely JoWooD needed the money, but you know how much ~50 people worldwide working on Gothic 3 cost every month. And don´t forget the marketing commitments which were focused on Oct. 13th.

As for the developer not deserving the flak:
It´s their 4th product in a row which ships with masses of bugs. Although on my machine it´s less buggy than any of its predecessors the game is obviously unfinished. PB should get their act together or the market will do it for them. They´ll get heavily punished when the first add-on comes out because masses of potential buyers will wait for feedback on bugs.
 
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Americans will never let any game be superior to their #1 loved trash Oblivion. I think we need to threaten no more cookies and Mcdonalds and maybe they will wake up :)

Harsh criticism of Gothic 3 hasn't come only from US reviewers. Criticism of Gothic 3 has been just as harsh and just as divided in Europe. Let's try to be fair and not ALWAYS assume that it has anything to do with nationality. And, for the record? I hated Oblivion.
 
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Well, IMHO Oblivion is a worse game than Gothic 3.... but it's much less buggy and it doesn't feel unfinished, neither does it has as many techincal problems. For the people who like a rogue style dungeon hack where all the dungeons looks the same, it's not half bad as a game and deserves a decent rating for it.
 
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Look, both G3 and Oblivion are very different games, which seem to appeal to very different players, so let's stop the bashing; neither are 'bad' games, we just prefer one to the other!!
 
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Gamespy is just crap... In their review of Oblivion (different reviewer though), they point out the same problems Gothic3 suffers from:

Heavy System Requirements
Unfortunately, all this advanced technology comes at a price -- high system specs. Never mind the minimum specs on the box. Those PCs may technically be able to "run" this game, but it's very possible they won't be able to truly play it. Even on our standard GameSpy gaming rigs (far from underpowered machines), I was forced to reduce my resolution and turn off some of the technical bells and whistles to get an acceptable frame rate.

Complaints of bugs
If there's a real deal-breaker within Oblivion, however, it's the bugs. Lots of 'em. The worst have been problems running the game at all using Nvidia's FX series of video cards, and random, unrepeatable crashes to the desktop. I've seen creatures sometimes float in mid-air and "pop" around rather than turning to attack. There were moments when NPCs got stuck on the landscape, NPC voices would completely change between lines, and quest flags didn't getting tripped. Programming text would sometimes pop up during conversations with NPCs saying things like "Subject Change." The game's animations cause characters to move, fight, and die like a poorly wired Animatronic exhibit at Disneyland. It does little for one's sense of immersion to have beautifully expressive faces when they're attached to bodies that jerk and start in ways no humanoid body ever would and occasionally fall through a wall and twitch while hung up on the world's geometry

Note the similarities
Pros
Huge, rich fantasy world to explore; Stunning graphics; spell-building and alchemy systems.

Cons
Bugs and technical issues; Poor character animations; AI limitations; console-style interface.

And in the end, Oblivion gets 4 out of 5
Despite the aforementioned issues (which are enough to give some pause), it's hard for me to resist recommending Oblivion to any RPG fan. Assuming one has a system with the muscle to run the game and the player is willing to accept some technical glitches, there simply isn't a better RPG experience available

Just seems like bias to me...:(
 
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Look, both G3 and Oblivion are very different games, which seem to appeal to very different players, so let's stop the bashing; neither are 'bad' games, we just prefer one to the other!!
No. Never compromise. Never surrender.
 
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The devs themselves say that they've done an awful job and should've done better. Everyone capable of the German language sgould read at least Olnigg's review or the German-language forums.

They just tested and built too many things, without doing the final assemblage.
The new engine, for example.

Personally, I'd say the publisher has been rushing a game out too early that was still being built by devs who didn't put enough efforts into correctly assembling the game. As a result, the bugs are in principle all "holes" in the puzzle that has the name "Gothic 3".
 
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This may sound harsh, but here we go: The developers don't deserve such a low score, but the publisher does, and very much so. In fact, this could be a way to teach them a lesson: Don't do that again, in the end such a behaviour will put you out of business.

I am convinced the game was released that way just to save the Q3 earnings for JoWooD.

Rendelius stated it perfectly. JoWood should do a search on the development debacle of Ultima IX so they can learn from this.
 
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Except that even patched and fixed and everything, Ultima IX was a piece of shit that insulted not just the series and its fans, but gamers in general. Gothic 3 is actually a very very good game beneath all the bugs (even if I've only gotten one desktop crash and some stuttering).
 
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i played ultima iv and v when they came out as a kid and when 2 games that shaped my life greatly. for some reason i never played VI or VII, as i didn't really play that many computer games at that age, bard's tale 1 and 2 were the only ones i had owned prior. but i did buy pagan when it came out and enjoyed that until the mountain king part. retried playing that game every couple of years but still got stuck. i actually enjoyed ultima ix though maybe it is because i never really knew the whole story of what happened between vi-viii. i'm sure i would have liked it better had it been like it was 'supposed to' but it did many things i had never seen before in a game and have enjoyed replaying it a few times. i do agree with you though "burroughs" that gothic 3 is a very very good game!

i've had the ultima collection since it came out but could never get ultima 6 to not move so fast...one of these days i should look up how to get it running.
 
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Use MoSlow or DosBox and turn the cycles down way low for optimal Ultima VI play.
 
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Or, wait for the U6 project to be finished. Try their M2 release for a taste, and obviously play Lazarus while you wait!! :)
 
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