Arcania - E3 Hands-On @ GameStar

GameStar had the opportunity to play Arcania: Gothic 4 at the E3. They made a 7.40 minute long video showing dungeon exploration. Older vids didn't show dungeons.
More information.

Interesting vid.

The fuzzy interface stuff can be disabled according to the devs.

Originally Posted by Gorath
GameStar had the opportunity to play Arcania: Gothic 4 at the E3. They made a 7.40 minute long video showing dungeon exploration. Older vids didn't show dungeons.

The video you linked to actually is an older vid from June 17 and while it was not posted as news back then it was linked to by Anderson in this thread where quite a few links to similar footage were posted as well (that dungeon seemed to be part of their standard E3 demo… it was also in the Gametrailers videos).

Yes, that dungeon looked already boring last week. Haven't changed my mind, especially if I take into account that this was their "showcase" dungeon.

I can't say I was very impressed by that video, I hope that it isn't representative of the general design of the dungeons. It was just a series of linear corridors and rooms to fight in, a far cry from Risen's excellent dungeons. And like Gothic 3 it looked like there was too much combat, I don't like fighting hordes of enemies.

I'm not going to judge it too harshly from just one video, but from what little I've seen it's looking more like the next Gauntlet than the next Gothic.

The way those skeletons' legs move is so unnatural. They don't stick to the ground but sort of float. This game looks like an action-rpg more than a real rpg. I remember the high resolution weapon/shield renders of this game from a couple years ago and they looked fantastic but this video doesn't remind me in the slightest of what those renders implied (a real RPG).

Originally Posted by Daroou
This game looks like an action-rpg more than a real rpg.

Well most people would say the first 3 Gothics were action-RPGs, but they were some of the best ever. This game might end up being an epic failure compared to it's predecessors. Hopefully it's not…

The Gothics were NOT action rpg's. Many of the paths to game completion or more specifically 'quest' completion could be achieved without killing (combat action) - the word 'action' is being applied too loosely and too liberally. If the only way to complete quests was via combat action, then yes, they would qualify for arpg distinction.
I reached ch-5 in G1 often, without any combat killing. In G3 i went from Ardea to Xardas in Nordmar (1st main quest) without any combat or killing (to name a few, there are many more) therefore they cannot qualify as arpg's. The 'arpg' label must be only applied to games where progression can *only* or mostly be completed by action/combat with no other alternative role playing method, eg: Diablo etc'.

That's not how I've understood the term action/RPG, I always thought it just referred to the type of combat, not the quantity. After all, there are plenty of turn-based RPGs that are almost nothing but combat, yet nobody calls those action/RPGs.

Action/RPG = RPG that requires some manual dexterity and reflexes, like Gothic.

I love how everyone has different definitions of "action RPG."

I can't make one determination or another based on this video. The dungeons in G1 through G3 seem similar to what is shown in this video. Worst thing I could say I guess is this looks like more of the same. I'm more interested in the overworld part of the game (exploring/questing) anyway.

World of Gothic is linking to two more Arcania videos today:

- tvgry.pl (Polish commentary)
- GottGame.com (English commentary)

Both are quite interesting to watch since both videos seem to be covering some new territory/dungeon. What's interesting in the Polish video is that at around the ~3:00 minute mark we get a glimpse at the options menu including all the helpers and messages that can be toggled on/off. We can also see the difficulty settings which are… Easy —> Normal —> Hard —> Gothic .

Thanks for those links Mo'

In the options menu -> Roleplay activities available……my oh my!. action or role play? - what will they think of next?

I don't know. From all the videos I've seen, I can picture a solid game coming out but still.. it's not Gothic.
Not at all.

WOO! YAY! HUZZAH!


*watches videos*


WTF?

Originally Posted by WorstUsernameEver
I don't know. From all the videos I've seen, I can picture a solid game coming out but still.. it's not Gothic.
Not at all.

That's right. It was never meant to be, never will be. Spellbound have always made it clear that they are making a game in the Gothic setting but that they are not going to try to copy PB's unique style.
So if anyone is interested in a (potentially good) game in the Gothic setting then it might be worth keeping an eye on Arcania. On the other hand if you want a Gothic game then you need to wait for news on RPB 2 (the project PB is currently working on).

RPB2 has that been confirmed?

Risen's combat system was superb, but Gothic 4's combat seems terrible. I think 'button mashing' will be the keywords for G4's combat system while Risen's combat system requires tactics and right timing.

Originally Posted by PrinceOfDeath
RPB2 has that been confirmed?

Not officially yet, no, but it is well known from the World of Risen forums that PB is working on a new role-playing game and all that "RPB" ever meant (before it was revealed to be Risen) was "Rollenspiel Piranha Bytes" which I don't think I need to translate.

So they are definitely working on RPB 2 but we don't know exactly what it is. We know that it is not a Risen expansion. That much has been confirmed by Deep Silver. If you read between the lines of what various members of PB have posted then it must be Risen 2 but until it's 100% confirmed it could be any new or old RPG (series), too, of course.

I got the impression from some of PB members' comments that Deep Silver's silly top secret policy is getting on their nerves as well since it would be much easier for them [PB] to communicate with the community if they [DS] would just let the cat outta the bag and confirm Risen 2 already (which it is with a likelihood of hmmm… well… 99.7% would be my guess ).

Originally Posted by Moriendor
it would be much easier for them [PB] to communicate with the community if they [DS] would just let the cat outta the bag and confirm Risen 2 already (which it is with a likelihood of hmmm… well… 99.7% would be my guess ).

No complaints here if that's the case, I really enjoyed Risen.

Hopefully they'll keep the chapters a bit more consistent for the sequel, and have a much better endgame as well.