Gothic 3 - Review @ RPG Codex

RPG Codex has posted their review of Gothic 3. The text spends quite a bit of time dealing with the factional aspects and here's a snip:

When you arrive into a new town, usually controlled by either the orcs or hashashins, you need to prove yourself first by completing different quests that the town folks will offer you. Each quest gives you some XPs and raises the local disposition. Once the town's disposition hits 75%, you are allowed to see the town's "upper management". The upper management is usually bloodthirsty and wants you to kill those who oppose them. Such quests (and a certain minor ones) raise the overall disposition with the entire faction. Once the overall disposition hits 75%, which would mean that you've almost eliminated the rebels and effectively closed the alternative career path, you are allowed to meet the orcish war leader.

You are given a lot of freedom, and you don't have to complete all the missions to get the disposition to 75%. The town missions are usually worth 85-95% (maybe even 100% - I’m not sure I found all quests) of the disposition, so you can pick what fits your character the most and ignore what you don’t like.

More information.

At present, the most detailed and comprehensive review for Gothic III. Great job by Vault Dweller.

Yes very good. Managed to skip over the worst spoilers too

Finally someone centers on the faction aspect of the game.
That was the feature I was most hopeful for and it is sad
(but not unexpected) That most reviewers seem to disregard
it, consumed in harassing graphics (which when tweaked coupled
with a strong system are better than modified O's imho) and
performance (admittedly horrible, coupled with the bug deluge no
less) and the woeful balance (by far the worst issue with the game
but fixable… someday ?).

Though it is a bit early to say (Havent spend more than ~20 hours
with the game, then stopped ,still waiting for the blasted combat
rebalancing patch simply because I would hate to have close combat
to change on me completely mid game). I think I have to agree with
most things he notes (more so than his O review, though he was 80%
there too and just fell to some unjustified nitpicking towards the end imo).

Also a lot of positive views from the people at the codex in general from
what I can see. Refreshing to see, after all the constant bellyaching (most
probably justified for one reason or another but still…) you can find almost
exclussively on other forums…

The 'Gothic vs. Oblivion' section alone was worth the price of admission

As a reviewer, he has a duty to readers be reasonably correct with his game info' - take this piece of his quote…..

[Once the overall disposition hits 75%, which would mean that you've almost eliminated the rebels and effectively closed the alternative career path, you are allowed to meet the orcish war leader.]

Absolutely not so, i have quite a number of towns "on hold" at the 100% stage and building up others slowly and nicely, no rebels killed, no orcs killed, in fact..no killing, it is the way of the "true eternal wanderer" as per the books. If the reviewer just cannot grasp the divine intentions of the storyline through his own gaming ignorance then they should stop reviewing and leave it to others that can vouch the outcome.

I'd like to make a few smart comments about VD being a fanboi and didn't he realise the game sucks etc, but I won't, since as usual, he did a good job!! However, my one major criticism would be that he failed to mention the magic system, which to me is always important!! Bottom line- anyone who likes and enjoys the Gothic series, can't be ALL bad!!

Wulf
My take is that number your quoting is the Overall Faction number (he is refering to at that point) Not the local Town Rep, which I think you are suggesting, correct?

I would definalty have to say one of the best if not the best reviews I have read, certianly in the top 5.

Very good review. Probably few mistakes and few unecessary spoilers…

Originally Posted by Wulf
As a reviewer, he has a duty to readers be reasonably correct with his game info' - take this piece of his quote…..

[Once the overall disposition hits 75%, which would mean that you've almost eliminated the rebels and effectively closed the alternative career path, you are allowed to meet the orcish war leader.]

Absolutely not so, i have quite a number of towns "on hold" at the 100% stage and building up others slowly and nicely, no rebels killed, no orcs killed, in fact..no killing, it is the way of the "true eternal wanderer" as per the books. If the reviewer just cannot grasp the divine intentions of the storyline through his own gaming ignorance then they should stop reviewing and leave it to others that can vouch the outcome.

"Once the OVERALL disposition hits 75%…" Not the local disposition, which you could easily get to 100%, but the overall disposition with a faction.

Originally Posted by Corwin
However, my one major criticism would be that he failed to mention the magic system, which to me is always important!!

I agree, it is a flaw that leaves the review incomplete, but I didn't have time to play as a mage.
…
Thanks for the positive comments, folks.

Originally Posted by VDweller
"Once the OVERALL disposition hits 75%…" Not the local disposition, which you could easily get to 100%, but the overall disposition with a faction.

That was my assumption, thanks for confirming.

Originally Posted by VDweller
I agree, it is a flaw that leaves the review incomplete, but I didn't have time to play as a mage.

I'm playing as a mage and will report when I'm done, but unfortunately I can't see myself finishing up before our trip for Thanksgiving long weekend … so it will be next week or so before I can write my review(s).

I agree with this review: Gothic 3 = make your OWN story - choose YOUR way, much more than Gothic 1, Gothic 2 and of course Oblivion.

The game mechanics need more fine tuning - some bugs must be fixed (ambient sound), so a solid 80% is ok. I'll add 10% if everything is fixed.

Good review. Finally a reviewer who takes the game seriously.

Strangely, I enjoy both Oblivion AND Gothic 3 at the same time. Guess I'm a mutant of some sort.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
Strangely, I enjoy both Oblivion AND Gothic 3 at the same time. Guess I'm a mutant of some sort.

I think many of us do, but some of us feel it was quite over-rated.

Nice review. Made me think about picking up the game eventually and giving it a try. Though I should play Gothic 2 first …

As previously mentioned - the G3 VS Oblivion part was great, made me chuckle when I read about Oblivions wall-staring inhabitans.

I read some comments though, it seems he had no idea what strengthening potions are, hence why his endurance bar is always grey. Took me a while to figure that out too, really helps out.

Oh, and don't get me wrong, Oblivion is a good game and all, Gothic 3 is just better, has a higher replayvalue, and gets accurate or below accurate scores while Oblivion gets scores it simply doesn't deserve. There's just something about how a fairly mediocre game is being labelled "the best RPG ever" that really gets on my nerves.

hmm rpgcodex says my IP address is banned. I guess because of my ISPs proxy server. Guess I will have to wait till google caches it.

Wait 6 months… The price will drop, the product will be patched & people will have mods out for it.

Never will I understand the logic of getting any software zero-day for full retail price.

Best g3 review so far

Originally Posted by Nonymous
Wait 6 months… The price will drop, the product will be patched & people will have mods out for it.

Never will I understand the logic of getting any software zero-day for full retail price.

You understand that the most revenue from a single player game is made on the sales in the first several weeks? So if a game deserves it, is good, you like and would like to support the publisher as to continue making games you like, you should buy on day one?