Arcania - Review Flood #2

Gorath

Gorath

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This time also with English, French and Spanish test.

  • NowGamer surprisingly writes: "One of Gothic 4’s major problems is its adherence to the old-school setup – stats, quests, swords, magic and loads of exploring. [...] If old-school RPGs are your thing, Gothic 4 should be right up your street, but for everyone else there are infinitely better games out there that are far more worthy of your time." - 4.9/10 (XBox360)
    But Arcania got bashed in a dozen reviews because most of the old-school stuff was removed !? So how is it possible this reviewer still finds it?
  • HookedGamers condludes: "Maybe drudgery is too harsh. What Spellbound did, it did with polish. It executed the RPG genre's most basic mechanics well. Every object in the game is meticulously detailed and all the interfaces are easy to use. Not once did the game crash, and I never encountered a broken quest or even an errant pixel.
    But I also never encountered a memorable moment. I never experienced an epic battle or even felt challenged.[...]
    Sadly, the most interesting thing about ArcaniA: Gothic 4 is its tone maps." - 6.9/10
  • MeriStation says it's "Bueno" and gives 7/10.
  • JeuxVideo gives Arcania 11 out of 20.
  • GamesWelt.de - 55% (PC -> the article advises to add up to 10% for the release patch), 60% (XBox360)
  • Eurogamer.de - 6/10 (PC), 4/10 (Xbox360)
  • Technic3D - 86,50%
  • 360 Live! print mag - 8.1/10 (XBox360). For comparison: Fallout: New Vegas received 8.5/10.
  • Arcor - licensed from GameStar.de
  • GameplayGamers - No rating. The most beautiful RPG ever, quite fun to play, but still a disappointment due to many gameplay weaknesses. But: "I couldn't recommend a better RPG to inexperienced RPGers at the moment." (This sounds very positive in German. ; Ed.)
  • Golem.de - No rating. Good RPG-light, but those seeking a real challenge should look elsewhere.
More information.
 
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So someone wants Gothic without stats, quests(!), swords(?!?), magic (?!?) and exploring(!!!)? I heard Modern Warfare got pretty good reviews and very little stats.
 
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Dumb reviewers are dumb! More at 11.

Seriously, this game is not an oldschool RPG. Why does the gaming media have to be full of the stupidest people alive?
 
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Maybe NowGamer's reviewer is a lover of action, hack & slash RPGs ?
 
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Pretty impressive game engine and menu stuff though. I likes me a nice responsive UI. Shame it is all wasted a bit on this simple and fairly dull game (so far.)
 
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The engine is licensed. The Vision 7 engine by Trinigy.
 
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The reviewer from NowGamer has no knowledge about the former games, and proves it with every sentence ... other gems from this really short article:

But while perusing the info there’s something you should know about the Arcania series of games: they are universally considered to be rubbish. Gothic 4 doesn’t really buck this trend, but it at least has made a few changes that make this the best the series has ever been, but that’s not really saying much.
Click to expand...

For a start, the majority of stats and experience points are dished up between the most random abilities that only a long-term fan of the series would understand.
Click to expand...
 
Wow, that NowGamer reviewer really knows his stuff. I bow before his competence and unparalleled insight. Yes, I hated the exact same things in the Arcania demo. Too old school, that's Arcania's problem. Why couldn't they have dumbed it down a little? Oh, and why do we have to have things like quests and magic, after Gears of War proved that you can make an awesome RPG without it? Gears of War is my favorite RPG, by the way. It's even better than Halo. I think Arcania could have been a more betterer RPG-game if it too also had an awesome chainsaw as well.

Kay
 
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I cant stop laughing at the NowGamer review.The reviewer is obliviously a action game lover with no love for any rpgs.He is part of the majority on why games keep getting streamlined. I'm also doubting if he ever played a gothic game.
 
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Even if I agreed with NowGamer's review (since I haven't even played Arcania I don't know if I would think he's right or wrong with his assessments) I'm embarrassed for the writer for his lack of professionalism. The article reads like a whiny rant you'd see in some wow forum. Yet, I'm unsurprised as most reviews on the net are, how did he put it, 'rubbish.'
 
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Of those he has played.
 
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The Nowgamer reviewer is probably from New Jersey or lived there for an extended period of time.
 
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JDR13 said:
The comment by GameplayGamers also caught my attention.

"The most beautiful RPG ever"

Eh? :thinking:
Click to expand...
I don't think that's ridiculous. Arguable or course, but it has a lot of loveliness spread around...
 
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No wonder NowGamer review is surreal, it´s written by David Lynch!

As for the game´s looks, based on a demo, I´d say game´s visual strength lays mainly in dungeon areas. In exteriors, trees´ animation felt very artificial and I don´t remember seeing sky looking this bad in a game released in new millenium and that´s something that lowers the "beauty factor" big time in my book as it adds a very apparent visual inconsistency. Is there even proper night sky in the full game, aka with stars etc, or is it always just the washed out cloud texture?
 
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Opinions of people who haven't played the game are always interesting - keep 'em coming. Why not tell us about other games you haven't played?

G3 does look great, patched up and tweaked. It does also run at 15 fps on my machine :) Arcania must be at least double that. I'll have to check.
 
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So who do you think is giving an opinion that hasn't played it? Just curious. Also, what does fps have to do with visuals?
 
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Perhaps the poster directly above me who starts ' As for the game's looks, based on a demo'?
 
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