Piranha Bytes - Working On a New RPG

Risen 3 maybe, rumours says it will have more ship-based events

joxer said:

Awsome news.
I adore ALL of their stuff. They simply know how to design a game with no mobrespawns that'll keep you playing it for hours and instead of taking a break you just want to explore it a bit more. But you already knew that.

I wish PB had the marketing machinery and invested hundreds of millions into it like Bethesda did. If that happened, the world wouldn't be flooded with grinders today.
Too bad we didn't learn is who's the publisher for the new game. But whatever that game is, and whoever the publisher is, and even if I have to turn on Steam, Origin, uPlay and WindowsLive at the same time to be able to play it, that game is an instabuy for me.

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Um there absolutely are mob respawns in their games.

joxer is probably referring to random respawns, which don't exist in any Piranha Bytes game.

mogwins said:

Not a typing error, simply opinion. I found G3 quite bland compared to the first two games. Arcania was a step down again, agreed, but not of the same magnitude as G2 to G3.

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I think G3 is still better than a lot of open-world RPGs even if the atmosphere didn't match that of Gothic 1&2. By comparison, I couldn't even finish the first chapter of Arcania. It was that bad to me.

Gothic 3 was absolutely amazing in my opinion and an example of how a large, open world rpg should be. The scale and beautiful details of the world, characters, world interactions/behaviour/simulation, choices and consequences, factions, music, magic and melee systems and atmosphere are all done well and have not seen matched except by Fallout New Vegas (not size and music though).

G3 might look boring compared to Gothic 1 and 2 and risen because these have smaller areas with higher quest density and population, and hence easier to develop.

Comparing Arcania which is a linear action/rpg to Gothic 3 is beyond me!

Really, it's simple, watch:

Compared to Gothic 3, Arcania is poor, but the gulf in quality is not as large as between Gothic 2 and 3.

See? I barely broke a sweat.

That would have been pretty smooth had it been correct.

Hey, he didn't say anything about correct!

mogwins said:

Compared to Gothic 3, Arcania is poor, but the gulf in quality is not as large as between Gothic 2 and 3.

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So now Arcania out of the picture, the issue of quality is subjective and is up to debate that is not necessary. In general quality for very large open world games is difficult to quantify unless you have made few full playthroughs to make a proper assessment.

JDR13 said:

joxer is probably referring to random respawns, which don't exist in any Piranha Bytes game.

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Shackals are respawning in G3 desert, but you really don't notice it at all as it's not extreme like mobs in Skyrim. In other their games there is no such stuff.

And yes, I'm referring to endless mobrespawns, not harder mobs once-killed-permanently-dead connected to the story spawned at fixed points on each game chapter.

But some ppl obviously can't understand what am I talking about. They believe dodo still exists on Mauritius and will buy one as a pet as soon as possible.

Perhaps I should say it once again. I despise games where your character is the only mortal once-killed-dead-for-good and all other mobs are immortal and are brought back to life per game lead designer's decision. Did you ever hear me saying anything bad about guys at Obsidian? Yes you did. About who exactly? Only the lead designer who put mobrespawn grinding in the singleplayer game!

The other type of games I can't stand are crap-consoles-hardware-friendly where you can't save the game wherever you want to and where your inventory has limits. Which brings me back on topic. PB's games have no inventory limits.

Couchpotato said:

By the way I actually liked Arcania. The problem is it's just a bland average RPG. Just tell yourself it's not a Gothic game , and you will be fine.

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Yeah. me too.

I just looked at it as an RPG - I had no type of Gothic feel to it but I liked playing the game. It actually had me thinking about all the random killing I do in these types of games.

Arcania had this one set piece where you're approaching a castle that overlooks a very steep bluff. Just off to the road before the castle entrance are two goblins sitting on the cliff's edge and staring at the sunset. They appeared to be holding hands but I can't be certain. I could have went straight into the castle but instead I chose to confront them. They were easily slaughtered by me. But as I was walking back to the castle I was thinking what a jerk I was - they weren't bothering me at all. It bugged me for a long time, so about two days later I reset the game, entered the castle and left the love birds alone. Arcania was an average RPG, but I will give the game developers that gaming moment.

Id love for this to be a Gothic game in the vein of G2 NotR. But I'm just glad to hear that they are making an RPG. I've been wondering what's up with them for a while now.

Something that was very exciting and the player could feel this loose and playful approach, but this also led to exorbitant developing times and many many bugs. We fixed this, but we also parted from this sand box developing approach.

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To me it reads 'We got old, we no longer have the creative spirit, but love regular paychecks'. Can't blame them, really, but my hopes are gone.
Gothic 3 was in many ways a failure, and should have never been released in the state it was, but at least the problems were a result of too much ambition. I can respect that. Risen on the other hand was very small and playing-it-safe, not even comparing to Grotic 3, but to the previous games as well. That was disappointing, although understandable.
What isn't understandable that Risen 2 was just as cautious, with very limited content broken to islands, and very bland. I wasn't too excited by this news because of that, but reading this makes me certain I wont be buying their next game.

I liked G3 a great deal, warts and all. Arcania felt wrong, Gothic-wise. The travel was an abomination. I couldn't finish Risen and didn't bother with R2. There were some things in Risen I liked, but something was basically off for me. Can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe the combat, the character interactions, I just don't know. It was like a nice suit that didn't fit right. A pinch here, tight there, and rumply in the back.

For me G3 with CP is a thing of gaming beauty. I can't think of a large open world rpg that beats it bar PB's own work all be it in the smaller more intricately designed worlds of G1 and G2 but the sheer ambition of G3 is breathtaking and the sad thing is the way it was released. Not simply because it kept people from playing it but because that word "ambition" became a bad thing in game development overnight because of it.

In the world of gaming when a developer fails on a project like this then the ambition and the scale of it is blamed and held up as a warning to all developers rather than talking about what could be done to make it work. To make it what it should have been. And so it becomes less and less likely that developers will show this kind of ambition again.

Oh yeah and the new game will be Risen 3 with more QTEs lets face it.

joxer said:

But some ppl obviously can't understand what am I talking about. They believe dodo still exists on Mauritius and will buy one as a pet as soon as possible.

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If you are trying to not be understood, it's a success. I suppose it's a way to make a group of elite and put yourself automatically in. Gnak gnak.

This is a very interesting and informative interview, despite the typos. Thanks!

BrianOConnell said:

For me G3 with CP is a thing of gaming beauty. I can't think of a large open world rpg that beats it bar PB's own work all be it in the smaller more intricately designed worlds of G1 and G2 but the sheer ambition of G3 is breathtaking and the sad thing is the way it was released. Not simply because it kept people from playing it but because that word "ambition" became a bad thing in game development overnight because of it…

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Just my opinion, I have multiple problem with G3:
- Many elements of the fights are ridiculous and last user patch I tried (gave up before the real last but it wasn't the first) solved nothing, this includes the stupid queues of enemies, the madness around wolves more dangerous than raptor and only that destroyed a lot of Gothic magic in G3.
- The gameplay is diluted, a lot in comparison with G2+NOTR, but it's a general comment too.
- I don't think that have the eyes bigger than the stomach is a good ambition. They planed a lot too big for their resources and budget and end with a diluted stuff, that's not an example to follow.
- And even the writing didn't work for me. I never felt credible this highlight about any human rebel or slave, and your character wandering freely. But also many little sub stories are just weird and pale. It's not awful stuff overall but it just didn't help me. Also the series has a realism approach (I don't mean credible but anti fantasy, anti imagination) I don't like at all and that brings nothing, no special mood, places that are very common. I can go over that as I did in G1 and G2 but then the game need strong other points that G3 hasn't.

Now ok there's worst than G3. I wonder how many players that played first G2+NOTR or G1 didn't get disappointed with G3, or really you need be a lover of big sizes.

Myself, I will never understand the passion for the size/length/duration. I will admit there's bottom limits but above it's just more not better. When I was less old I already never been a fan of big stuff that never end. With age time shrinks both objectively (not enough time) and subjectively (not sure why) so the bigger becomes more and more the too big.

Moreover an art of exploration design has been lost, and since many years bigger worlds involves more and more tedious, more fillers, more repetitions, and G3 is an example of this tendency even if I agree that on this point there's worse (but I have other problems with the game). I'm still waiting a big world that stun me as few did in past.

SpoonFULL said:

….
G3 might look boring compared to Gothic 1 and 2 and risen because these have smaller areas with higher quest density and population, and hence easier to develop.

Comparing Arcania which is a linear action/rpg to Gothic 3 is beyond me!

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Then how can you compare G3 with G2(+NOTR, without it G2 is weaker), I wonder how the last two couldn't look linear to you.

I don't think DAO is less linear, the hub has so few branches that it can't count. But ok I only played a little Arcania, but at least further than the crap introduction, and wondered why so much hate, but it wasn't great enough to motivate me try go over the hate hype.

joxer said:

Shackals are respawning in G3 desert, but you really don't notice it at all as it's not extreme like mobs in Skyrim. In other their games there is no such stuff.

And yes, I'm referring to endless mobrespawns, not harder mobs once-killed-permanently-dead connected to the story spawned at fixed points on each game chapter.

But some ppl obviously can't understand what am I talking about. They believe dodo still exists on Mauritius and will buy one as a pet as soon as possible.

Perhaps I should say it once again. I despise games where your character is the only mortal once-killed-dead-for-good and all other mobs are immortal and are brought back to life per game lead designer's decision. Did you ever hear me saying anything bad about guys at Obsidian? Yes you did. About who exactly? Only the lead designer who put mobrespawn grinding in the singleplayer game!

The other type of games I can't stand are crap-consoles-hardware-friendly where you can't save the game wherever you want to and where your inventory has limits. Which brings me back on topic. PB's games have no inventory limits.

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Wow, I actually agree with everything you said in this post, and I usually just shrug when I read your anti-respawn propaganda. But this I can relate to, well said. Except the inventory limits. To me it just feels weird when you can walk around carrying 53 broadswords and 5 sets of full armor. I prefer inventories limited by weight as long as they're reasonably generous (I can carry 5 broadswords and one set full armour, because I've got 18 Strength. That's really strong.)

I am just happy to hear that they are working on a new RPG, whether is is Risen 3, a true Gothic 4, or a new IP. I have really enjoyed their games, some more than others, but always had fun with them.