Arcania - E3 Trailer, Video Interview

RPG Italia sends word of the official E3 trailer for Arcania, which offers around 1.5 minutes of footage and exposition and you can watch it here at Youtube. They also point out a GameSpot video interview from E3 with Dreamcatcher Producer Bryan Cook. The 3 minute or so video shows some footage and quite a bit of the character screens, though the quality of the image isn't great from the handheld cam. October 2010 is the release date for all systems.
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Looks like there will be some interesting character skills to choose from.

Looks cool. I hope there is an option to go full chase cam mode. Everything I've seen lately looks like it has a Two Worlds like combat camera. It's not bad and sure makes running away and luring enemies easier but I prefer the full chase cam from the Gothic series.

I like what I have been seeing so far. It is too early at this point but I am especially interested in the hardware demands — but aren't we all (?).

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I prefer the full chase cam from the Gothic series.

+1

Or if it's not that by default, at least include the option.

Looks Ok,still no signs of NPCs but it's a early build,oh wait..

The monster models looked great though,those Golems looked amazing.

I noticed that plants still sort of disappear when you get near them,not really in love with that feature.

Looks nice. Is it really possible to dive-roll jump like that will full armor on? I think not. My impression from this trailer is that the game is more action-focused. I hope there's more depth.

Originally Posted by Daroou
Looks nice. Is it really possible to dive-roll jump like that will full armor on? I think not.

Yes it is. The "Warrior's Manual" (TM) in-game clearly explains how you need to pour burning hot oil after wearing the armor to smoothen out the moves. That and it's a game, not a realistic "knight in the armor" simulator.

Gothic 3 still looked better, so did Risen (G4 in a new setting..). So if the visuals and art style is generic Oblivion crap then this game will be a pain to sit through. Oh and the dialogues/choices Gothic series gives you while playing better be there..

Still no long distance archery and no sneaking / thieving videos .
Yeah and what about the half body camera ?
I smell a Gothic scale fail here .

I have no idea what to expect of this game. The visuals are nice, but I also don't like the camera - although I assume one can get used to it.

Sickly green acidic vomit spewing from zombies mouths - well, there's something we didn't have in the gothics!

Originally Posted by Wulf
Sickly green acidic vomit spewing from zombies mouths - well, there's something we didn't have in the gothics!

I spotted that and was both repulsed and excited ;-) The roaring Golem wasn't half bad either!
The enemies in this game look great; I hope the combat has the depth to do them justice.

The trailer's narration is puzzling. All previous indications had been that the story was going to focus on Rhobar III's imminent invasion, but now it seems he may be but a distraction from the real enemy, this unspecified ancient evil. While having the Sleeper or the Undead Dragon return could make for an interesting twist if done well I'm hoping for an entirely new antagonist.

Also worth noting is that the trailer states "welcome to the world of Arcania", providing further evidence for the theory that Jowood is using the fame of the Gothic series as a starting point for launching an entirely new, unrelated series they have full control over (some rights currently have to be licensed from Piranha Bytes, including the Gothic trademark).

The camera puzzles me. They have previously shown an overhead camera, but the more recent footage seems to favour this strange floating camera, so it's not clear whether both are available or the camera angle has changed during development. It would be nice to have the chase camera as an option, but its omission wouldn't surprise me.

The golems look great (as do all the other creatures), but what troubles me is that the player can seemingly damage them with a normal battleaxe, whereas in the previous games they took little or no damage from anything but blunt weapons or magic (in the case of fire and ice golems the magic even had to be of the opposing element in order to hurt them). While it's remotely possible that they made this concession for the purposes of the E3 demo it's much more likely that this is yet another way in which Spellbound has watered down the gameplay.

The new rune system with cooldowns is an interesting step. If the runs have individual cooldowns rather than an overall one and don't consume mana that would open up the potential of chaining several effects together in rapid succession, something that was difficult in previous games without first building up a sizeable mana pool.

That narration voice is horrible… atrocious. If that's the final voice in the game consider is worth not playing.

Originally Posted by northreign
That narration voice is horrible… atrocious. If that's the final voice in the game consider is worth not playing.

In my opinion that's a really dumb reason not to play a game.

The giant caterpillar creature at 0:58 gives me the creeps.

The narration was pretty bad, but it's just an E3 trailer. I doubt that voice would be in the actual game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Cb0aUdfXU

There's some more ArcaniA E3 footage, this time from a dungeon.

My observations:

Pros/cons: I like the lighting. The physics are a little weird (sometimes bodies go flying in odd directions). Framerate isn't that good. Sound seems pretty thin (clank, clank, pew pew; enemies make no sounds). The mini-map and quest indicator makes it very clear where to go next. Not sure that's a good thing.

I have a feeling this game is being rushed to market, and we're going to be seeing a lot of "polish" issues.

Originally Posted by Anderson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Cb0aUdfXU

There's some more ArcaniA E3 footage, this time from a dungeon.

this dungeon must be a bad joke.
ultra straight, no diffrent hights, no hidden sectets, no traps, no riddles.

walk from entrance to the end, kill everything in your way, kill boss, loot, teleport home…

just like a WoW Dungeon.

Looks good so far. I guess the details will make or break it.

He was playing in God mode. Looks pretty good, sort of what Dungeon Lords promised to be. More like Two Worlds really.