RPGWatch Feature: Arcania Review

[joxer]

Just finished the game.
As I've suspected, it was fun, but... There is no way I'm replaying it although I haven't found all collectable beliar/innos/adanos items.
Overall impression? This game is miles away from any epic RPGs some of us, if not all, love. It may be used when you're really really bored and you have nothing else to do... But then again... You can do that also with Sims.

Comparing this with Risen really isn't fair.
While it doesn't have gamestopper bugs like Risen did (at least I haven't found such ones), it is still not polished completely (some items can't be picked up, you can gather XP on decision quests before you accept the one decision from possible 3, AI is broken so you can kill many mobs just by spamming chain lightning from distance, you can get in the prison with paladins area before you receive a quest for that, you don't need to buy anything anywhere at all, swamp temple ruins quest appears before you reach the swamp and are confused what is the questgiver talking about, etc etc).
Dunno, but Risen really held me interested and I've replayed it already. This game... It does have a story and it does have quests and everything unfolds... But somehow everything feels empty, not just the landscape. This game lacks of sauce.

 

[CraigBee]

The Camera is the Problem for me

The camera is the problem for me. It ruins the feel and immersion of the game.

When playing good RGP games I enjoy, such as Risen, when I move the mouse right or left, my character turns right or left accordingly. I am controlling the character. I am the character.

In Arcania, when I move the mouse right or left, the camera angle changes right or left accordingly. I am controlling the camera. I am the camera in the game. I would much rather be the character.

 

[JDR13]

While it doesn't have gamestopper bugs like Risen did

Risen had gamestopper bugs?


@CraigBee - I also despise the camera in Arcania, especially the auto zoom out during combat.

 

[Tragos]

Risen had gamestopper bugs?

My game stuck twice is 1st chapter , i mean i could talk to anyone but without progressing .

 

[fragonard]

I never had a single bug in my two plays but I've heard some have had several. My observation from the official forums is that some of the quests are not very robustly designed. In other words, if you approach them in ways not anticipated by the devs, they'll break.

 

[tolknaz]

Now, that i have finally tried the full game, not only the demo i can say, that in my opinion this review is nothing but apologetic tripe. Coloured glasses my hairy butt, this game is NOT a Gothic game, NOT an RPG and to add insult to injury NOT an open world game either (as Jowood still claims by the way).

 

[skavenhorde]

I take it you didn't read the part for "classic RPGers or Gothic Lovers?"

Overall for Classic RPGers: Hardcore RPGers will want to pass on this. Even less-than-hardcore RPGers like myself will want to consider this title mainly if you can afford the purchase for casual play when time is limited for a more immersive RPG.

Overall for Gothic lovers: there is very little similarity between G4 and the prior Gothics in the essentials of gameplay. You would do well to think of ArcaniA as a whole new game, and not as G4 at all.

He told you to pass on it or try thinking of it as a whole new game. Did you listen? I guess not. Did you come back to whine and moan how the review is tripe? Yes, yes you did.

 

[tolknaz]

The thing is Jowood tried to pitch us a pear for apple. Instead of calling jowood out on this, the reviewer spends time praising the pear for its pear like qualities. Might as well start doing this in all the reviews and rename the site to action adventure watch if you're at it.
Edit: as for calling the review tripe, in my opinion parts of it are. How else can you call something, that claims for instance, that the dungeons in this game are well designed? Where are puzzles? Where are secret doors? Where are traps? Where are several ways to the same spot?

 

[kalniel]

The thing is Jowood tried to pitch us a pear for apple. Instead of calling jowood out on this, the reviewer spends time praising the pear for its pear like qualities.

Jowood pitched:

Combat system: An intuitive system that offers a gradual learning curve
Storyline
Accessibility: The amenable story, an Intuitive interface and controls, lock on targets and a sophisticated hint system.
Action
Hero development
A completely open world.

(from the Steam page)

Is that so far off what they delivered? Seems about right, especially the parts about gradual learning curve and accessibility.

 

[tolknaz]

Jowood pitched:

Combat system: An intuitive system that offers a gradual learning curve
Storyline
Accessibility: The amenable story, an Intuitive interface and controls, lock on targets and a sophisticated hint system.
Action
Hero development
A completely open world.

(from the Steam page)

Is that so far off what they delivered? Seems about right, especially the parts about gradual learning curve and accessibility.

STORYLINE: A deep, strong story embedded in the successful Gothic universe franchise accompanied by highly diversified side quests. And most can be solved in different ways.

A COMPLETELY OPEN WORLD: Enjoy the complete freedom & the almost unlimited options known from the Gothic series.

At least these two promised "features", out of six that are used to describe the game on every digital download page are complete and utter lies. Not even half thruths, but simply lies. And hardly any reviewer even touches this. Why?

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

the reviewer spends time praising the pear for its pear like qualities.

If you go into a grocery shop, wouldn't you buy pears for their pear-like qualities, too ?

You know, this part of the sentence sounds [to me] as if one shouldn't praise a pear for its pear-like qualities.

I wonder, for what kind of qualities should a pear be praised for, then ?

I believe that yes, it makes at least some kind of sense to say "this fruit isn't for you, if you want a certain kind of fruit." Or "if you want a fruit that tastes hearty, then this isn't the right fruit for you, because it just doesn't taste like this. Take a different fruit instead."

 

[tolknaz]

I wonder, for what kind of qualities should a pear be praised for, then ?

Praising the pear is all well and dandy. That is, if you wanted a pear all along. If you wanted an apple, the salesman sold you an apple, and you discovered only at home, that it is instead a pear, then praising the pear is in my opinion apologetic. Not to mention that it isn't particularily constructive as you don't give the poor salesman a chance to learn from his mistake.

 

[redman5427]

@CraigBee - I also despise the camera in Arcania, especially the auto zoom out during combat.

I downloaded a little fix from World of Gothic that took care of that little problem for me. I still miss my scroll wheel

 

[Corwin]

I would have thought that the point of a review was to inform you that before you go into the store to buy, that they only have pears available as apples are out of season!!

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Praising the pear is all well and dandy. That is, if you wanted a pear all along. If you wanted an apple, the salesman sold you an apple, and you discovered only at home, that it is instead a pear, then praising the pear is in my opinion apologetic. Not to mention that it isn't particularily constructive as you don't give the poor salesman a chance to learn from his mistake.

Sorry, but I think this review, as well as about a dozen others, were very clear on this aspect. The review says clearly that it has qualities as a light action RPG, but fails as a Gothic game. Many reviews RPGwatch reported on in the news say exactly the same. Its the reason why I am not buying this game, at least not until It is very cheap or I don't have anything else to play (probably never). If you managed to not get the fact that it is very much different from PB's Gothics from all this information than that, frankly, is your problem.

 

[JDR13]

I downloaded a little fix from World of Gothic that took care of that little problem for me. I still miss my scroll wheel

Link?

What does the fix do exactly? Just keep you zoomed in during combat?

 

[Myrthos]

Praising the pear is all well and dandy. That is, if you wanted a pear all along. If you wanted an apple, the salesman sold you an apple, and you discovered only at home, that it is instead a pear, then praising the pear is in my opinion apologetic. Not to mention that it isn't particularily constructive as you don't give the poor salesman a chance to learn from his mistake.

From the start of the review:

A review of the game most people expected to see, as the successor to Gothic 3 in the spirit of a classic RPG, would find ArcaniA to be a very disappointing release. It is a greatly simplified, linear story with few choices and limited replayability. Much of the core of the Gothic series has been removed — Gothic 3 lovers will be especially disappointed. Classic RPGers (like me) will be very worried if this level of simplification is the new direction for all RPGs.

That sounds very clear to me. For some reason you read this review and decided this was a game you wanted to play, coming to the conclusion the reviewer was correct about warning you and start attacking him on not bashing Jowood.
Or you bought the game first, read the review afterwards, seeing that the reviewer give enough warning signs, but apparantly failed to bash Jowood enough.

 

[oliverh72]

Well... I just returned this for credit to Electronics Boutique. I got 14 hours out of it... and I could take no more.

The funny thing is, the endless, linear, boring fetch quests that pretty much killed it for me also seemed to bore the hero. There's several points in the game where he mentions how ridiculous it's all getting, with everyone wanting him to run around the countryside for them. That's exactly how I felt.

I played it on the 360. The only saving grace of the game is the reasonably fun loot and the combat system. The trouble is, the devs are stupid. Or they think we are. Or something.

Here's the problem. I'm 14 hours in. Level 18. In Blackwater, which I think is a few hours from the end of the game. And in the chests I'm finding in this region, I'm getting one-handed swords that do 9 damage. WTF? This is when I should be finding good stuff, that makes me humm and haww, trying to decide what to use. Not this crap.

And then there's the combat. Which for the majority of the game, is decent. But I think at this stage, they just ran out of ideas. I've got an armor rating of 180, and as a melee character, I'm wearing all plate, with a shield. But the combat just gets ridiculously boring in this region. The problem is they just throw MORE stuff at you. 5 or 6 monsters at once. Which isn't fun.. it just becomes an exercise in circle strafing, rolling, and potion management. So dull.

...and that was the end of me. I couldn't take another 4 or 5 hours of it. I'd give it a 5 out of 10. I was hoping for something that at least gave me a reason to keep going.. but this really doesn't. If you can find it for $9.99 in a bargain bin, I'd say go for it. My cumulative cost (after trading it back in) was $35. So about $25 too much. My own fault, so I'll just take it as a learning experience.

 

[redman5427]

http://www.mediafire.com/?n75584zbz2j6871

Yes, it stops that auto-zoom out

 

[Pessimeister]

Solid review that does its best to retain a balanced perspective. Well done.

However, the game took me 20 hours to finish and I was glad to be rid of it by the end to be honest.

This is a limp wristed, heavily watered down hackneyed action Gothic clone that does not deserve the secondary moniker. The character system for instance was so weak, that I didn't feel the need to spend a single skill point until the final fight in the game on hard difficulty. Exploration is by and large linear, with the world almost screaming "we're sending you down this path only" rather than having the wonderful open world dynamic that Gothic is famous for. Having areas cut off to the player from the beginning is simply a misunderstanding of one of the series' great features. There's token nods to characters and monsters (who fall pitifully and no longer have the 'tread warily' feeling about them) from the originals, but it's all rather forgettable unfortunately. Risen was in every way superior for me and I'll be looking towards the second game with reticent hope.

I'm also having much more fun with Drakensang at the moment, despite its generic saccharine qualities.