Game News Everything you've ever wanted to know about Gothic 3

[KevinV12000]

For me the issue of voice-acting in Gothic II was not so much that it was bad acting, but that they hired about 6 guys, two of whom had very distinctive voices, to do all the acting. The result was that one of the lead NPCs (the big ol' Wizard dude with the tower..can't remember his name) kept popping up as a merchant or a guard, voice-wise. That does ruin immersion for me, but only if it is a main character. I have no problem with all the guards sounding more or less alike.

On translations, this is a HUGE issue. It really strikes me that so many European products, including major releases, suffer from poor translation. Surely someone at the American publishers could proof the dialog? Or perhaps the developers could run some lines of dialog by their American fans?

If you've played the Might and Magic: Dark Messiah demo, you know what I mean. Arkane Studiios is very good and they insist on English-only at their Lyon studios, so they know English. But that isn't enough.

I speak Spanish as a second language and, unless one is a genius, one just is never going to have the comfort level, the "that just doesn't sound right" instincts that a mother-tongue speaker has.

And when you hit one of these clunkers of a sentence, it just throws you off. Language is more important to people than most people realize.

 

[Claw]

On translations, this is a HUGE issue. It really strikes me that so many European products, including major releases, suffer from poor translation. Surely someone at the American publishers could proof the dialog? Or perhaps the developers could run some lines of dialog by their American fans?

Sure.. the moment American developers run some lines of dialogue by their European fans.
What is it you say, voice of reason? Developers don't normally do the translations themselves, unless they are Beth... I mean retarded? So it's really the American publisher's fault if the voice acting sucks in the first place? Do tell.
So, if you find fault with Gothic3's voice acting, you know where to go: Austin, Texas. Leave the developers alone.

Oh, and another thing while I'm at it. Who besides Americans speaks English? That's right, the English! And what are the English? Europeans, right! So what's the point of running the lines by American fans? None whatsoever.

 

[Jaesun]

For me the issue of voice-acting in Gothic II was not so much that it was bad acting, but that they hired about 6 guys, two of whom had very distinctive voices, to do all the acting. The result was that one of the lead NPCs (the big ol' Wizard dude with the tower..can't remember his name) kept popping up as a merchant or a guard, voice-wise. That does ruin immersion for me, but only if it is a main character. I have no problem with all the guards sounding more or less alike.

That's what broke my immersion in G2 as well. I just hope they can hire more than just 6 people for the American release of G3.

 

[Claw]

There is lots of new stuff on World of Gothic. Mostly the German part, though, from GC.

Here's a screenshot of the ingame map. KaiRo said the compass is about the size of Khorinis Island, i.e. Gothic2+Addon.

Oh, just spotted this thread full of links you might find interesting. There are images and - German - videos.
A little further down is a post with interface shots, in particular the character screen with perks, which I find both interesting and a little disturbing.

The version shown at GC shows a number of flaws, especially bad performance. The developers assure they're fixing the bugs and improving performance, naturally. Everyone who hoped for better performane than Oblivion is going to be disappointed however.
I am a little disappointed they didn't show any new original features, no visible advances in the AI or world interaction. They show lots of things we know from Gothic 1+2, like roasting meat, NPCs drawing their weapons when threatened, interacting with objects for the fun of it.

Some new information:
HUD compass
30-40 spells
you learn magic by collecting stone plates and scrolls with "ancient lore" and praying at altars to get spells
one-piece faction related armour, i.e. you need a certain reputation to get it
combat system features three different attacks - fast, normal and strong - depending on how long you press the mouse button
This supposedly also affects combos (right mouse button held while attacking)
jump-attack perk (Diablo2?)
archery using manual aiming
attributes: strength, hunting, ancient lore, smithing, thievery, alchemy, health, stamina and mana
perks are organized by governing attribute apparently, strength = combat and there are a few "miscellaneous" skills

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Wonder if those unique symbols for each place are part of some jump-gate or fast-travel system because if the game is as big as it should be, the player's gonna need it.

 

[Claw]

There will be travel runes again, according to KaiRo (who is one of the devs FYI).

By the way, it's been made clear in the CG presentation that all references to the "old controls" meant the Gothic2-controls using left mouse button to attack, right mouse button to block, with the hard lock you could activate with another button. There won't be a comeback of the original keyboard controls.

 

[Twinfalls]

Tee-hee, there's a location on the map called 'Ishtar'. But no 'Heaven's Gate' or 'Hudson Hawk'.

So no mounts?

 

[Micmu]

HUD compass

WhaaaAAA??!!!

It's just a plain old compass, right? They're not going the oblivious "follow the pointer and whack shit in between" route, are they?

 

[Elwro]

By the way, it's been made clear in the CG presentation that all references to the "old controls" meant the Gothic2-controls using left mouse button to attack, right mouse button to block, with the hard lock you could activate with another button. There won't be a comeback of the original keyboard controls.

Fuck. I loved the old controls... didn't even touch the mouse for 70 hours.

 

[Gorath]

He confirmed what was clear for more than a year: the old controls are gone. The new (mouse) controls can be configured to be similar, but not identical.

Other news:
- Everybody without exception can be killed. Dead ends won´t happen because there´s either a second source for infos (books, etc.) and quest items are in the inventory.
- The world is even bigger than expected. Latest count is ~5 times the size of G2.
- The interaction density is even higher than in G2!

 

[Elwro]

He confirmed what was clear for more than a year: the old controls are gone. The new (mouse) controls can be configured to be similar, but not identical.

Too bad. But I can't understand why? Is the new fighting system much different from the previous one? Or was I just the only person on the planet enjoying the old controls?

Other news: *snip*

Friggin' awesome.

 

[Gorath]

They got too much flak for the controls since the first Gothic. This scared a lot of potential customers away, who didn´t want to give it a chance after reading for the 50th time how crappy the controls are. I also liked them, but a lot of superfluous, overworked reviewers didn´t play the games long enough to appreciate them.
Another problem was combat against multiple enemies. I don´t know how exactly it´s handled, but now you can hurt more than one enemy with a single blow. At least I´m pretty sure the combat will be more complex than Oblivion´s when you´ve ramped it up a bit.


It was also confirmed that you are strong enough to kill orcs in the beginning because that´s the first thing you have to do when you leave the ship.

 

[Elwro]

Another problem was combat against multiple enemies. I don´t know how exactly it´s handled, but now you can hurt more than one enemy with a single blow.

That's good to hear. I think that was my only complaint about the old combat system. I wonder if the hero will still "lock" on targets.

 

[suibhne]

I'm so stoked about this game. Even if it's only as good as 1 or 2, I'll be over the moon.

 

[Caligula]

I can't discuss this game without fainting from excitement.

 

[Claw]

I wonder if the hero will still "lock" on targets.

There will be a soft lock. I hope it works better than in Gothic 1+2. The one thing I regret is the apparent lack of a lock using archery and magic.

 

[Atrokkus]

Real huge chunk of info:


* more than 30 voice-actors [in one of the last previews was said above 60, only to correct that]

* who can handle the oblivion combat system will be able to handle this too [but from what was shown till now, it's much more complex]

* assassians are followers of Beliar

* you can help King Rohbar II [which means that he survives the intro]

* slaves and humans are both called "Morra" by the orcs [this sounds like slaves and humans are 2 different instances, to become "respected" by the orcs, you would must get the 3rd instance, like honorable (PoV of the orcs) warrior]

* you can fight with an equiped torch

* you don't have a button which gives you the old combat system, but the options will give you the opportunity to get close to it

* there is a realistic cloud-simulation, like the sky can cloud up or the sunshine is correct on them

* there are teleport-runes and teleport-possibilities, but only for areas you already visited [maybe there are only teleport-runes, maybe other teleport-possibilities, not sure]

* they were on a promo-tour in the US last week, each and every us-online-media-ambassador who saw g3 said: "wow, that's much better than oblivion"

* the discussion about a console-version is just arised, nothing is decided till now, some pll are looking now closer to the g3-engine to see if it is possible, if it's possible then further steps could be discussed [imho that sounds they are thinking about it very seriously]

* the island Khorinis is nearly that big (or a little bit bigger) than the compass on the already shown map

* in the shown demo-version it seems often that the game [moves] runs slowly, that's because a debug-modus is often activated, that debug-modus runs the game in half the speed, and it's often activated because of that it is assigned to the same key like the inventory or the char-screen

* they set value to the possibility to have from the story point of view a possible g4, the story finds a common line after the extro

* there will be maybe even dragons [with a grin on his face]

* here and there [sometimes but not often] there will be some monsters respawn [sounds like a soft-spawn which is made only to have not an empty world after killing everything]

* there are no chapters, but there are important events, those important events are not displayed as chapters [it sounds like that the chapters just "invisible"]

* the CE will include a cloth-map [former it was "only" a paper one]

 

[suibhne]

* they were on a promo-tour in the US last week, each and every us-online-media-ambassador who saw g3 said: "wow, that's much better than oblivion"

Better than the game of the century? Ha, I say. HA!

 

[Zomg]

Another problem was combat against multiple enemies. I don´t know how exactly it´s handled, but now you can hurt more than one enemy with a single blow.

I actually always liked that feature, since it emulates the real world focus on 1v1 combat. It's kind of a weak way to get there, but realistically fighting two people should be superlinearly more difficult than fighting one and then another separately. The beat 'em up convention of swinging a stick wildly around your head and killing fifty enemies might be interesting geometrically but it doesn't do much to make a veris sense or narrative of mortal combat.

 

[Crichton]

I actually always liked that feature, since it emulates the real world focus on 1v1 combat. It's kind of a weak way to get there, but realistically fighting two people should be superlinearly more difficult than fighting one and then another separately.

It really shouldn't be, "realistically". In G1 or G2, if you can beat two orcs at once, then one orc has absolutely no chance of defeating you. In real life, there are plenty of pairs of people that I could beat simply because two people that haven't trained together will mostly just get in each other's way. This doesn't mean I'm so much better than both of them that neither of them would have a chance against me. With a little luck, either of them might beat me 1 on 1, their chances are better together than fighting me singley, but real world fights are fairly short and fluid, unlike the garbage "lock-on" and "parry" systems of G1+2.

This can be agrevating to no end because you can swing with a melee weapon and have it pass right through someone because the game "locked on" to the asshole behind him. In real life, when you swing 15 pounds of two handed sword in a arc, everyone steps back. So a good swordsman can put his back to a wall and do some business. Try doing that with "stacking" enemies and "locking on" in G2.

 

[Paranoid Jack]

[puts on his graphics whore hat]

"wow, that's much better than oblivion"

As far as graphics go I would say Oblivious has better looking shininess and more realistic soil erosion. Though I must admit G3 doesn't look shabby either. So that leaves me to wonder what they meant by the "better than oblivion" statement.

I must assume they were talking about the lack of NPCs with multiple personality diarrhea mouth a.k.a. Radiant AI... which I am hoping G3 will do without or was able to make much more convincing. After all how can you stay immersed in a story-lite RPG when the voice actor's accent changes with every line?

 

[Vault Dweller]

* they were on a promo-tour in the US last week, each and every us-online-media-ambassador who saw g3 said: "wow, that's much better than oblivion"

Better than the game of the century? Ha, I say. HA!

 

[aries202]

HI

I'm looking forward to this game as many as us do.
However, the demos, trailers and such I have seen all focus on visuals and graphics. And they do look nice .

In the previews I've read the German developers talk about the game with passion etc. And this is fine, I think. I like the fact that in G3, you actually aren't allowed to do ALL quests in the game.

I also like the fact that you again start out a nobody, trying to win fortune and fame for yourself. However, I do not like the whole
unconscious thing where you have to deliver a final blow to your opponent - just to gain respect either from the humans, the slaves or the orcs.

I believe this takes the game in the direction of an FPS, where combat is used to gain respect, fortune and fame for yourself. It is very disturbing to me that this feature has been added in by the devs.
[I hope there will be an option to turn it off, at least].

My point is this:
You shouldn't be allowed to gain fame by consciusly killing someone that lies unconscious on the ground without the ability to defend themselves. This simply isn't fair, IMHO. (and, IMO, is a sellout to the action crowd...)

 

[Kraszu]

However, I do not like the whole
unconscious thing where you have to deliver a final blow to your opponent - just to gain respect either from the humans, the slaves or the orcs.

?? That was also in g & g2 you don't got respect for that it is just that striking down somebody is perspected differently then killing him. Allong mercenaries that is normal, nobody will attack you for that, killing is different matter.

 

[Gorath]

[puts on his graphics whore hat]

"wow, that's much better than oblivion"

As far as graphics go I would say Oblivious has better looking shininess and more realistic soil erosion. Though I must admit G3 doesn't look shabby either. So that leaves me to wonder what they meant by the "better than oblivion" statement.

I must assume they were talking about the lack of NPCs with multiple personality diarrhea mouth a.k.a. Radiant AI... which I am hoping G3 will do without or was able to make much more convincing. After all how can you stay immersed in a story-lite RPG when the voice actor's accent changes with every line?

Kai made that statement in the Q&A part of the presentation at the GC. Just imagine the situation: He is standing on stage in front of a large screen and 500 screaming Gothic fans are on the Deep Silver booth waiting for his answer to a question like "Will Gothic 3 be better than Oblivion?" G3 is the single most awaited game in Germany, across all genres. Of course such a show is not the right place to be calm and analytical. "No" was not an option. Everybody expected him to explain why G3 will be clearly better. So he used the example of their US press tour. It´s a good marketing hook because the US is Oblivion´s home territory. It sounds great, the audience bought it and he got through this part without insulting Bethesda.
Links to several videos can be found in our forum and in the news.

World design & NPCs will surely be better than in Oblivion, simply because they´re hand-made instead of more or less generated.
Whether or not the graphics as a whole will be better/equal/worse than Oblivion´s is hard to say before the release. But even if they are slightly weaker it´s compensated by the complete absence of loading breaks and an interface without consolitis.