Is Gothic 3 a good game?

Coming from someone who likes open world RPGs like Morrowind and Skyrim, but also less open RPGs like Divinity 2. Is Gothic 3 worth picking up cheap for the 360? How's the exploration? Is it rewarding? How are the quests? Is there lots of cool loot to pick up? Cool weapons and armor to use? Cool classes to be? Lots of RPG stats or not so much? General impressions are appreciated. Thanks.

Edit - I meant Arcania: Gothic 4, not Gothic 3.

no its a great game
but to my knowledge it was never released on console. if you are referring to gothic 4 or rather arcania, then the prior statement does not apply. gothic 3 has some of the best exploration though and if you in my opinion the only open world game visually that rivals skyrim is in fact gothic 3, and you even get a desert thrown in with the forests and mountains. gothic like other gothics and risen(s) is more or less a class less game that has a decent amount of stats and skills to learn and in my decent magic branches as well. though like other gothics it doesn't really cater to a pure mage player, though playing one is still possible.

There is no console version.
I wouldn't call G3 a great game, but it's pretty good now and no longer the buggy mess it was at release. With the Community Patches [fixed 1000+ minor issues and got the biggest problems under control] it's worth a try, especially for somebody who enjoys exploring huge worlds. Until last month G3 had the best world design of all 3D RPGs. At 5 bucks G3 is certainly worth a shot. If you're finished with the Elder Scrolls games, G3 is probably the closest thing available.

I think G3 is great but its not a good place to start the Gothics. If you can appreciate 1 and 2 (+NOTR) you'll get more out of G3.

Sorry, I thought Gothic 3 came out for the 360, but I was thinking of Arcania: Gothic 4. Is Gothic 4 a good game? I've heard that it's not.

Gothic 4 is not a good game the way Gothic 1 to 3 are good games. Gothic 4 is a good game in the sense that it doesn't have any serious technical flaws and has really nice graphics and generally good art design. It's easy to play and would be particularly good for people new to the genre who don't have hangups about awkward dialog due to poor translation (assuming you're playing in english). Gothic 4 is not a good game if you want an open world RPG, something with a fantastic story or something with amazing in depth combat. It's linear, poorly written, somewhat bland and generally the combat is super easy.

Since you're looking for something on the 360, try out Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga if you haven't yet.

There was a review (or link to a review) on RPGW which I am unable to find right now. The gist of it was that Gothic 4 is a good game for a casual gamer with no experience in RPGs and a bad game for Gothic fans and experienced RPG players.

Here is my rather lengthy Arcania review.

At the current prices (<$5) I would consider it an easy recommendation to buy … and then go back to Skyrim.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Sorry, I thought Gothic 3 came out for the 360, but I was thinking of Arcania: Gothic 4. Is Gothic 4 a good game? I've heard that it's not.

As zahratustra suggested, dig up our review. It tells you exactly what to expect.

Don't see Arcania as a part of the Gothic series. It had a different developer who was contracted to make the game much more casual friendly.
The one undeniable positive thing about Arcania is that it was technically at the upper end for Euro-RPGs, and it worked correctly out of the box.

I don't really remember how good or bad the XBox conversion was.

If you're waiting for the next "real" Gothic, wait for Risen 2 (April 2012). Ignore Risen 1's XBox conversion - it was crap, for various reasons which have been addressed for Risen 2. Risen for PC is a good game without serious flaws.

Originally Posted by txa1265
Here is my rather lengthy Arcania review.

At the current prices (<$5) I would consider it an easy recommendation to buy … and then go back to Skyrim.

I couldn't say it better. Bravo .

Originally Posted by Gorath
As zahratustra suggested, dig up our review. It tells you exactly what to expect.

Don't see Arcania as a part of the Gothic series. It had a different developer who was contracted to make the game much more casual friendly.
The one undeniable positive thing about Arcania is that it was technically at the upper end for Euro-RPGs, and it worked correctly out of the box.

I don't really remember how good or bad the XBox conversion was.

If you're waiting for the next "real" Gothic, wait for Risen 2 (April 2012). Ignore Risen 1's XBox conversion - it was crap, for various reasons which have been addressed for Risen 2. Risen for PC is a good game without serious flaws.

I'm currently playing Risen 1 for the XBOX. And so far, so good! I don't see it as crap whatsoever. In fact, I've heard how ugly the game was on the 360, due to shitty textures and what not, and basically being stripped of graphical quality from the PC version. But I have to say, it still looks great to me. The sunset while watching a flock of birds fly off over the ocean, with that amazing music playing, was a beautiful sight to see.

I think I will try Arcania at some point, but in the near future I decided to go with Risen, plus there are just too many games coming out in the upcoming months that I want to play, so Arcania is going to be pushed to the back of the queue.

Risen is so much better than Arcania that it's not even fair to compare them.

Good to know JDR. I'm having a blast with Risen. Still at the bandit camp collecting the pieces of the sword, and it's just a really well made RPG. It's definitely unique in it's style of being a hand-made world with hand-placed encounters, no level scaling (that I've noticed anyway), hand-placed loot, etc. I love it.

Risen is very, very similar to Gothic 1 & 2. The only important difference is Risen's harmless interface. The early Gothics are even slightly deeper games than Risen.

Risen seems pretty deep so far. It's a little daunting actually, but I really like it. But if the Gothic games are similar to Risen, I can definitely see what people love about them. There is a certain "satisfying" quality about the hand-madeness of Risen. I can't quite put my finger on it. It feels very organic and real. Even opening my first locked chest and finding the goods inside was very cool. And it didn't feel like the contents were random. Even getting a set of armor isn't easy. This game has that certain *something* about it. It's not flashy, but it's deep and satisfying. Great game (so far).

Originally Posted by Fluent
I think I will try Arcania at some point, but in the near future I decided to go with Risen, plus there are just too many games coming out in the upcoming months that I want to play, so Arcania is going to be pushed to the back of the queue.

Dont waste money on Arcania. That game looks ok and is stable from a technical point of view, but gameplay and story are both utter crap. The game is so mediocre, repetitive, and predictable that it isnt funny.

I thought Risen was pretty good. I didn't last 20 minutes with Arcania. I never finished it, but Gothic 3 with the community patch is supposedly a great game.

Even with the latest patches you can see where Gothic 3 had the potential to be a great game but doesn't quite make it. I've played it 3 times now and it always starts off fun but I have to force myself to slog on through after about the half way mark.

Just go past the first couple of bandit camps and you will see the shear scale and might of Gothic 3. Just looking at the huge and varied landscapes, trees and physics in Gothic 3 is a joy. Not to mention the good combat and magic systems. But you have to have patience, you will not be able to kill dragons and mine crawlers as quickly as you wish in the first few camps and areas, nor have plenty of money to increase your skill and armour - it takes time - but what a wonderful time.

Sorry I keep going about Gothic 3, but compared to todays rpgs and action/adventure games it is a real advance. The quests are somewhat repetitive sometimes, but it does not matter because there are surprises and new stories everywhere. The exploration alone is wonderful, helped just by a map and directions given by quest givers (not markers).

I played it with the latest community patch with medium settings and it looks great and have not had any single crash yet after 150 hours of play.

Originally Posted by BillSeurer
Even with the latest patches you can see where Gothic 3 had the potential to be a great game but doesn't quite make it. I've played it 3 times now and it always starts off fun but I have to force myself to slog on through after about the half way mark.

Potential is the right word. G3 could have been one of the best crpgs ever imo if they hadn't borked the combat so badly. They also needed to do a better job of distributing worthwhile loot to make exploration more interesting. It seemed like 90% of the caves/dungeons had nothing of value.

You played through it 3 times though? I'm impressed.