Arcania - Interview @ XboxMessiah

DArtagnan said:

I just find human beings interesting, and I've known this "I can't admit I'm wrong thing" about JDR for a while - since our first exchange more than a year ago. I just find it entertaining to watch the lengths he'll go to to avoid acknowledging certain things.

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DArtagnan,

I wonder if it's possible that you'll ever answer a question without trying to shift the blame to someone else, and being entirely hypocritical in the process.

DArtagnan said:

Oh, and while I don't see it myself - I guess I can never exclude the possibility that I'm the same way - as in being unable to admit I'm wrong. Fortunately, I've done it on forums a few times - but maybe it's too rare to shine through. In that sense, I might be learning about myself along the way

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At least it's a step in the right direction.

JDR

You're sweet

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By the way, did they ever get around to releasing that Xbox 360 version of TW?

I'm curious… have you even played The Witcher?

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Of course, I even started the Witcher wiki. And I don't see how Baldur's Gate-style backtracking is incompatible with the game's concept.

Ausir said:

Of course, I even started the Witcher wiki. And I don't see how Baldur's Gate-style backtracking is incompatible with the game's concept.

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Nobody ever said it was, although I find those two games to be an odd comparison.

Guys I'm not going to go read your pissing contest of who is right. It's rather boring and I can guess what you guys said. DA probably said something about he's right because he has a huge ego and a brain the size of Texas and JDR said how dumb he is and how he is amazed he can walk through a doorway with a head that big. That's probably about the gist of it.

I would like to know is this thread still about Arcania or about Baldur's Gate/Witcher? If it is about Baldur's/Witcher then I can only say how proud I am of you two. It takes real talent to derail threads to this magnitude. I've only managed to do it a few times. Well, probably more than just 'a few'

*sniff* keep up the good work.

skavenhorde said:

Guys I'm not going to go read your pissing contest of who is right. It's rather boring and I can guess what you guys said. DA probably said something about he's right because he has a huge ego and a brain the size of Texas and JDR said how dumb he is and how he is amazed he can walk through a doorway with a head that big. That's probably about the gist of it.

I would like to know is this thread still about Arcania or about Baldur's Gate/Witcher? If it is about Baldur's/Witcher then I can only say how proud I am of you two. It takes real talent to derail threads to this magnitude. I've only managed to do it a few times. Well, probably more than just 'a few'

*sniff* keep up the good work.

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Now, now

Methinks I smell some sarcasm

In any case - I don't really know what the thread is about now, but I think most of us agree that Arcania is less interesting overall than those other games mentioned.

Maybe just an itsy bit of sarcasm in that post. I still think there should be a sarcasm font. It would make forums much more interesting and clear.

Anyways, I felt left out. I wanted to get in on the fun too.

When they start posting more about Arcania then maybe it'll be more interesting, but so far there isn't much to go on. Are they that ashamed of their game? Did Jowood actually figure out that the developers were the real talent behind Gothic and they were just the middle man? Only time can tell.

skavenhorde said:

Maybe just an itsy bit of sarcasm in that post(I still think there should be a sarcasm font. It would make forums much more interesting and clear).

Anyways, I felt left out. I wanted to get in on the fun too.

When they start posting more about Arcania then maybe it'll be more interesting, but so far there isn't much to go on. Are they that ashamed of their game? Did Jowood actually figure out that the developers were the real talent behind Gothic and they were just the middle man? Only time will tell.

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I was honestly keeping an open mind until I heard about this region lock-out thing.

JoWood has failed us so profoundly and so often, that I have to leave them out of the equation entirely if I'm to retain any measure of hope.

The Guild, anyone?

Ausir said:

Of course, I even started the Witcher wiki. And I don't see how Baldur's Gate-style backtracking is incompatible with the game's concept.

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First Baldur´s Gate was very open ended but its main storyline was rather sparse (though good), with only few major plot points, so it worked well.
I don´t think it worked that well in the case of BG2, at least from roleplaying perspective, since its main quest felt urgent most of the time.

I think my favourite approach was that of the second Gothic with its filling old areas with new content after chapter transitions etc.

Anyway, since this is a Witcher discussion, I´d say excessive backtracking possibilities are sorta incompatible with game´s narrative concept.
Witcher´s storyline unveils in such manner that I almost never felt an urge to backtrack. The sole exception were the outskirts in whose case it felt somewhat unnatural even though the way story was designed there wouldn´t be much to do besides hunting the missed trophies.
And game felt sufficiently open ended in chapter 2 and 3 anyway.

P.S.: I´ve noticed handful of people trying to derail this thread with ArcaniA discussion to which I´d say that I won´t mind much its chapter/area approach if its story will be as good as Witcher´s. But frankly, that I highly doubt since game´s whole development seems to be extremely contrived to me. Plus the name. What kind of idiot puts a capital at the end of a name anyway?

DeepO said:

Plus the name. What kind of idiot puts a capital at the end of a name anyway?

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at these last few posts.

Question: How do you post large pics like that? I seem to only be able to do thumbnails.

Hotlinking with the [ img ] tag instead of attaching the pic to the post. Glad you liked it

(This thread was derailed already so I hope the powers that be don't mind.)

DArtagnan said:

Anyway, I forget that this affects other people - and I'll strive to keep it down.

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It really doesn't bug me, but it might be troublesome for others.

So...back to Arcania. Gothic's greatest strength was the density. The territory was smallish but packed with layers of content. The characters come through quite strongly because you live with and around Diego and co, which makes them more than quest dispenser kiosks.

If Arcania has to keep me moving to find content, that means it doesn't have the density of Gothic. I'm unlikely to get to know the NPCs, because they'll have been left behind in the last chapter. That isn't close to Gothic and sounds much more like every generic action/RPG. I don't expect much out of this.

Everytime I think ArcaniA might have something to interest me it takes a stick and beats me up.

Dhruin said:

So…back to Arcania. Gothic's greatest strength was the density. The territory was smallish but packed with layers of content. The characters come through quite strongly because you live with and around Diego and co, which makes them more than quest dispenser kiosks.

If Arcania has to keep me moving to find content, that means it doesn't have the density of Gothic. I'm unlikely to get to know the NPCs, because they'll have been left behind in the last chapter. That isn't close to Gothic and sounds much more like every generic action/RPG. I don't expect much out of this.

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I agree with all of that but the real killer for me is that the publisher is JoWood... I've learned my lesson. I doubt they ever will.

There was an article that mentioned Star Wars having a strength in introducing trivial characters and giving enough of a flavor to feel that they EXIST aside from their intersection with your story. I found this in the Gothics nicely in terms of things like Constantine and so on. It will be interesting to see how both Risen and ArcaniA do in those terms.

What's sounding rubbish about Arcania now?

I have to say even though I'm not hoping for anything other than a weak and sloppy version of Gothic 1 even that's right up my alley so I'll probably quite enjoy it.