Double U Tee Eff

I'll start with the fact that I absolutely LOVED Gothic and Gothic II. I purchased Gothic (4+ years ago?) because I was at my local game store and saw nothing that interested me but this unheard of game. I purchased it and thought it was the best RPG I had ever played.

I eagerly awaited Gothic II, delay after delay- I finally got it and loved the sequel more than the original.

Gothic III I just got today. I must say it is the first time I have not felt compelled to stay up all night and play.

FPS and crash issues aside:

Where are the hit sounds? I feel like I'm swinging at air every time I "hit" an enemy.

Why do I have an annoying Strobe Light effect if I look in certain directions? I think I'm going to have a seizure if that happens too many more times.

I compare combat in G3 (at this point) to the original Nintendo. Just tap as fast as you can and you will eventually hit your target. G3 took the style and grace that G1 and G2 combat had and tossed it out the window. I feel as though I will have to get my left mouse button insured if I plan on finishing this game.

Whats up with the balance? I cleared out an entire Orc camp with the "help" of Wenzel @ lvl 9, and immediately after I can barely even take on a single lizard?

Am I missing something? Not even blocking with a shield will prevent the lizards from killing me. I don't have a chance of stopping them when they start their attack. Six hits within 2 seconds and I'm dead with absolutely no chance of dodging, blocking or hitting them back.

Is this normal or am I too used to the balance of G1 and G2?

So far…I'm very disappointed….but I'm not giving up on it yet…

Did you install the latest patch (1.09)? They did fix some of the balance/stunlock issues with beasts. Also, it seems, like in all Gothics, that combat gets more involved and varied once you gain skill in it. Other than that, there are a lot of minor issues that are game-breaking to some, but only minor nuisances to others. Piranha Bytes will release a bunch of other patches to fix more things.

Some of your problems have been addressed in various threads here. Others, have been/will be dealt with in patches. The game is brilliant once you get into it!!

Originally Posted by -Jekyll
Where are the hit sounds? I feel like I'm swinging at air every time I "hit" an enemy.

That is confusing - I hear sounds when I hit, and certainly more appropriate than in Dark Messiah. When I hit an armored foe I get a 'clank', more of a 'pfft' when it is a soft beastie

Originally Posted by -Jekyll
Why do I have an annoying Strobe Light effect if I look in certain directions? I think I'm going to have a seizure if that happens too many more times.

Isn't that a known ATi bug with Gothic 3 and the 'post processing' setting turned to 'off'?

Yes it is!!

I hope you eventually find happiness … I just got myself 'in it' with a bunch of orcs … tough battle, but eventually worked my way out of it alive!

Your issues with the game are the same with mine. The "hit detection" on the melee system is extremely sloppy. It feels like the motion capture swinging animation takes precident over the physical connection. There is a minor spray of blood to indicate a hit but there is no feel of a hit.

I wonder if they will patch this - but I doubt it. The G1/G2 melee magic is lost.

I have all the same problems here, but I have not installed any of the patches past the initial patch available at release (i.e. not 1.08 or 1.09). Some people here are saying the combat will be "revised" with the next patch, others say "rebalanced". As it stands combat it terribly boring, even after skills are bought.

I do have hope though, the text for master of dual-wield claims that the PC gets a new special move after achieving that rank, however when I played it there was no difference between any of the dual-wield levels of mastery. As a matter of fact, dual wield and 1H were the same the whole way through save for an annoying knock-down bonus.

The shame is that I haven't seen any news regarding the release date and contents of the next patch. I thought it would be released around the US release date but that has come and gone and we are still without a new patch. Really though, it was purely speculation so nobody important dropped the ball there. If it's too much to bear just go play another game and come back to this after a few more patches are released, that’s what I’m doing.

On a different note, I take exception with the Nintendo comment. Punch Out took skill, button mashing doesn't even work on Glass Joe, and he's a pushover! Hell, Punch Out even had a special move that wasn't useless. Heh, remember the charged uppercut followed by the whistling sound as your opponent slowly hit the ground? Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face.

I'm taking a patch and see approach myself. I find it hard to believe I wont cave eventually but in its current state I'll pass. If melee sucks there is always the magic route though. How viable is that? Limited melee and magic?

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I'm taking a patch and see approach myself. I find it hard to believe I wont cave eventually but in its current state I'll pass. If melee sucks there is always the magic route though. How viable is that? Limited melee and magic?

I dunno - I'm trying to go my usual mage route. I have a staff, and it is definitely better than staff fighting in G2 in terms of usefulness, but I tend to think I'll soon have swords that are much more effective.

I just think that the Gothic games aren't for everyone - G1 & 2 weren't but a certain group really loves them. G3 certainly isn't either - but in a somewhat different way than the first two. I just wonder what people would think if performance and polish were a bit better.

It would make a difference.

It would be helpful if places like Actiontrip waited for the US release to review. Starting with the Euro version for a US release is a poor choice. I understand everyone wants to be first on the internet with a review but everyone already knows the buggy state of that release. Its irrelavent for the US market, its not the product (quality) they will be getting.

Originally Posted by txa1265
That is confusing - I hear sounds when I hit, and certainly more appropriate than in Dark Messiah. When I hit an armored foe I get a 'clank', more of a 'pfft' when it is a soft beastie

Isn't that a known ATi bug with Gothic 3 and the 'post processing' setting turned to 'off'?

Sorry txa1265, but I definitely have to disagree with you on that one. I'm playing Dark Messiah now, along with the Gothic 3 NA demo. I think the battle sounds in DM are excellent, and everyone I've talked to agrees. The way 2 swords can clash and grind together, the way a swords clanks off a shield etc.
Maybe you weren't getting the full sounds?

Not trying to say that Dark Messiah compares to the Gothic series overall of course

Originally Posted by JDR13
I think the battle sounds in DM are excellent, and everyone I've talked to agrees. The way 2 swords can clash and grind together, the way a swords clanks off a shield etc.

OK, what I said wasn't totally true … but I'll attribute it to the way I feel about DM in general "when it's good, it's very very good … when it's bad it's horrid"

So when it is steel on steel ,warrior to warrior swordplay - it is STELLAR! When you get the same types sounds fight spiders with a staff … not so much …

I think there may be a bug with certain setups that is preventing some people from hearing all of the sound effects in Gothic 3.

Joe Martin from Pro-G said …

"I've been playing the game for a fair while now and I've waged war in one awful duel after another. Each time I've lamented the lack of exciting, realistic sound effects as swords bounce silently off each other." *end quote*

I've got an Audigy 2 ZS card and all my games sound great, but I have to agree with the Pro-G review concerning the combat sounds in G3.

Other than combat, the game sounds incredible. I think I might like the music even more than Gothic 1&2.

Open the g3local.ini file located at your Gothic III\Ini folder. Set:

Sound.EffectVolume=255

You may also want to set:

Sound.AmbientVolume=255

"Isn't that a known ATi bug with Gothic 3"

Whaaa?
Really, I thought it was all graphic cards with Gothic 3?
At least when I was orginally release, iir or is this new info?

You can spare yourself the seizure if you look at this post in another thread.

Execellent news, thanks.

Thanks HiddenX for the fix and the 6.11 driver alert, haven't looked in Gothic 3 Tweaks for almost 2 weeks since I have been playing NWN 2, looks like I need to check it for updates.