Has anyone played Gothic 4?

ToddMcF2002

ToddMcF2002

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I know we are all probably predisposed to dislike it because of all the Jowood / PB drama back in the day. I don't recall really liking the demo either but then again I had my own preconceptions coming off Gothic 2 & 3. So I'm pondering a fresh look so to speak. I watched a few German lets plays and it looks pretty good? Worth another look or no? It's $20 bucks on steam. Seems like a lot for a dispised title but hey I've got a ton of Steam credits at the moment
 
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Arcania's core design is Doom, Wolfenstein, Devil May Cry and recent Resident Evil 2 remake.
What does that mean? You'll complete it (not finish only, complete means doing everything possible) in one afternoon.

I'm not saying the game is not fun, it was to me. But that ain't no Gothic.
Skippit and wait till the price drops on 5 quid max.

If you have a mass of steam credits not sure where to invest I suggest going for VC1 and VC4 instead, both on discount currently. Also, I'm having enormous fun with Atom RPG, if you want something similar to FO1 and FO2, go for this one (I'll make some sort of hints/tips thread later). Assuming you want turnbased combat stuff and need games that noone can finish in one afternoon.
If you'd rather go for something with realtime combat, grab either Kindgom Come Deliverance or AC Odyssey (make sure you do not, under any circumstances, buy anything from stupid Ubi's Helix store). Also both of epic length, impossible to fastrun in a few minutes.
 
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If you're a gothic fan, i'd say stay away haha; managed to finish it some years ago, it is veeeeery liniar, terrible voice acting, story dont remember much. Quality wise is below average even if you've never played gothic before.
 
There were a few threads around here when it was released. I remember hammering into it pretty strongly given how awful the combat and treatment of classic Gothic NPCs was. Porco is dead on about the voice acting: The witch in the early game is hard to forget!

Amusingly enough I did buy the expansion Fall of Setariff to see if it improved anything when it was cheap on steam some years back, but never did get around to testing it out.
 
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Don't get me started on Elex. I really don't like that game. I've played Risen 1 and really enjoyed that. Felt like a proper PB title. I was turned off by the Pirate silliness of R2 & 3 but I own them. Sounds like I should save my credits and play my R2 & 3 backlog.
 
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Well then I must be the oddball on this forum as I enjoyed playing it. Yes I know it's different then PB's version but it provides entertainment, and a decent story.

Just play it with a mindset it's not a Gothic game. I also enjoyed playing every Risen game and Elex so our tastes in games are different ToddMcF2002.^^

Though I agree Arcania is linear and the voice acting isn't great.
 
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The "Lets Play" I was watching was in German so the voice acting isn't an issue. The game looks pretty decent to be honest. I'll wait for a sale and grab it.
 
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Couchpotato said:
Well them I must be the oddball on this forum as I enjoyed playing it. Yes I know it's different then PB's version but it provides entertainment, and a decent story.

Just play it with a mindset it's not a Gothic game. I also enjoyed playing every Risen game and Elex so our tastes in games are different ToddMcF2002.^^

Though I agree Arcania is Linear and the voice acting isn't great.
Click to expand...

agree with all of this, would have got better reviews if they hadn't called it Gothic
 
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ToddMcF2002 said:
I know we are all probably predisposed to dislike it because of all the Jowood / PB drama back in the day. I don't recall really liking the demo either but then again I had my own preconceptions coming off Gothic 2 & 3. So I'm pondering a fresh look so to speak. I watched a few German lets plays and it looks pretty good? Worth another look or no? It's $20 bucks on steam. Seems like a lot for a dispised title but hey I've got a ton of Steam credits at the moment
Click to expand...

I don't think we're predisposed to disliking it because of drama, I think we're predisposed to disliking it because it sucks. :)

And seriously, compared to PB's games it does suck. It really shouldn't even be called "Gothic 4". Interestingly enough, they actually dropped that subtitle for awhile and were calling it Arcania: A Gothic Tale, then they added the "Gothic 4" back on again at some point.

I wouldn't pay $20 for it though. It's one of those games that routinely goes on sale for less than $10.
 
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ELEX is OK. Not awesome but worth playing through.

Arcania… uhhh… OK, let me show you:

Acting designed to appeal to a 5 year old... that's about a quarter of a mile away... and Canadian, eh!
 
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Basically the ones who hate it probably expected it to be another PB Gothic and sorry to say it's not. It was a game made on a small budget by an inexperienced developer.
 
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Couchpotato said:
Basically the ones who hate it probably expected it to be another PB Gothic and sorry to say it's not. It was a game made on a small budget by an inexperienced developer.
Click to expand...

Hmm.. not really. The developer, Spellbound, had been around since the late 90s and had around 10 games under their belt at that point. Experience wasn't an issue, and I don't think the budget was either.

Imo, they just weren't the right studio for a Gothic sequel.
 
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Talking about Arcania actually made me curious enought to try it again, so I installed my Steam copy tonight and played for a few hours. It was the first time I've played it in at least 7-8 years.

It actually hasn't aged badly at least from a visual and sound standpoint. The environments are on par with Gothic 3 or at least close. Overall, I think it still looks decent. The music isn't bad either. It's not Kai Rosenkranz, but it fits the setting well.

The gameplay is where it fails though especially the combat. It has more of a hack & slash feel compared to the other games. Maybe it gets better after learning the right skills, but I was basically just spamming the LMB and rolling around.

It's also way too easy for a Gothic game. I was playing on the hardest difficulty level, which is amusingly called "Gothic", and only died once during the 3-4 quests I completed.

I have to admit though, it didn't seem as terrible as I remember. I'd have half a mind to run through it if my backlog wasn't so ridiculous right now.
 
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I actually agree. It's not terrible. It would have been a decent RPG if it wasn't a Gothic game, which comes with certain expectations.
 
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Glad you spun it up thanks for the impressions. I might give it a go after I finish PoE for a light snack. The archery looks pretty fun.
 
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JDR13 said:
I have to admit though, it didn't seem as terrible as I remember. I'd have half a mind to run through it if my backlog wasn't so ridiculous right now.
Click to expand...
JDR, I need to borrow that aghast stick figure guy from you for a sec...
 
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This game was a huge disappointment as a Gothic game. It was just okay as a cRPG. Near the end I remember getting impatient for it to be over. About a month later its expansion came out, I had no desire to play it though.
 
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Yes, I played it. At the time, it was mediocre but sort of fun - but we have to remember that very few alternatives existed.

In the current climate, it would be a very bad joke.
 
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