[jjacob]

Gothic 3 is the third part in a succesful RPG series (well, duh) and it's shaping up to be quite awesome from what I can tell. I haven't played Gothic or the sequel, but feel free to share your experiences. From what I've read it seems like it's a bit more DIY than most RPGs, in that you for example don't have an automap, but you can buy a map at local shops, you can't get all sorts of items at any given shop, so you'll have to make notes along with your handdrawn map about which store sells what. Atleast this was the case for the second installment, but I'm guessing they'll keep this approach for the third. I think I'm going to like the DIY aspect, as I found KOTOR to cater to the player a tad too much. Anyway, short fact sheet;

Gothic 3 - Updated Factsheet:

In the first two parts of Gothic, you fought along a hard way from being a prisoner to becoming the hero of Khorinis, the strategically important mining island. Now the time has come for you and your friends to discover and fight across the mainland of Myrtana.

The situation is desperate: The orcs have beaten King Rhobar's troops and are ruling the most important parts of Myrtana, enslaving the human population. Only the tricky inhabitants of the south and the wild barbarians of the icy north are holding against the orcish domination.

And there are rebels, lurking around in the shadows of Myrtana's forests and trying to fight a hit & run guerilla war. It's your choice if you want to join them or the orcs - but whatever you do, the destiny of Myrtana will depend on you!

• A totally new graphics engine creates the most realistic and fascinating in-game world possible: Myrtana awakens!
• Huge living and breathing environment reacting to the actions of the player and creating endless choices of interacting with the world and its population
• New fluid action-packed combat system with spectacular fighting styles, including 2-swords-fighting
• No linear levels - The Player defines the pace in which he advances through the game. Every action has ramifications for the world at large
• Countless side quests to choose from
• One of the best AI's ever provides hundreds of characters with realistic behavior reacting to your words and actions
• More than 50 different kinds of monsters and animals, together with countless humanoid friends & foes, contribute to a living world
• A totally class-free character development system gives you the chance to create the char of your dreams with the abilities of your choice!

And a short Gamespot First Look article;

Originally Posted by Gamespot

At the E3 show floor, publisher JoWood is showing off an early build of Gothic III, the latest installment in an open-ended computer role-playing series that has garnered a fiercely loyal following over the years. What we played was honestly quite rough and didn't give evidence to what we expect will be a deep and involving experience once it finally shapes up. However, between the brief hands-on time we got and the details recently released by JoWood, we do have a clearer sense of what sorts of features Gothic III will have in store.

Gothic III will take the action of the series over to a land that's been enslaved by orcs. Human survivors have fled to near-uninhabitable reaches, ranging from icy tundras to dusty deserts, and you find yourself in the middle of this conflict. Will you help the humans rise up against their oppressors? Or will you throw in with the orcs, saving your own skin by dooming the lives of others? Like its predecessors, Gothic III promises a completely nonlinear and open-ended gaming experience, both in terms of story and character development. A lack of rigid character classes means you'll be able to train your character in whatever combination of military might and arcane power suits you.

More than 50 different spells and 50 different creatures will be in the game, and Gothic III also touts a new combat system that will supposedly be easier to get into than the previous titles' fighting. Also, despite the game's completely nonlinear design, Gothic III promises to offer you clear objectives as far as the main story arc is concerned. Though the decisions will be yours to make, ideally you won't end up stumbling around, searching for what to do next. The world of the game should also come across as more realistic than ever thanks to complex artificial intelligence for non-player characters, who'll have their own agendas and won't just be found milling about, waiting for you to talk to them.

Frankly, we didn't see most of this in the build we played, which was clearly labeled pre-alpha (meaning that the game isn't yet feature-complete), and the game's lighting and shadowing effects were missing from the build. It did give a sense of Gothic III's lush world, and we also took a swing at the new combat system, but the playable version ultimately didn't yield much insight (other than that it will be possible to wield two swords simultaneously).

Gothic is one of the more ambitious RPG series of the past few years, so we're hopeful that this latest chapter in the story will come together to live up to and exceed the quality of its predecessors. Stay tuned to GameSpot for additional information on the game.

Some screenshots:




And a short (but very outdated) teaser trailer from E3 2005: click. If you're curious about the previous installments click here for the first and here for the second. Looks pretty awesome to me, even though it might not equal or surpass Oblivion. Set for release in September 2006.

[avatar_58]

After oblivion my next RPG series will be the gothic series.

Unfortunately, I find the foiliage used in this game and the textures to be very very harsh. For some reason it just doesn't look natural. The trees look like razor blades and I see an overuse of bumpmapping or something.

While it looks better than half of other games out there, they should work on making the grass/trees appear softer. Its just that when trying to approach photo realistic outdoor locations like oblivion and this game seem to be coming close to....they should avoid artificial looking trees.

This is just my opinion of course....not sure if anyone can see what I mean. Its hard to describe.

[jjacob]

Seriously? I think they look fine, JoWood is using thesame tree rendering middleware as Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls, called Speed Tree. Also it's going to be the tree rendering middleware for all 360 games, and it sure looks a lot better than the trees in most games

Speed Tree.. tree in Unreal 3

[xtc2812]

All this recent hype with Gothic 3, inspired me to find it and give it a whirl (I have a slight interest with RPGs )

Apparently the major flaw people found were the controls..which was'nt so bad - but I eventually got over it. Combat might annoy a few people.

There is supposedly a superb story in this (I've not played a lot of it thus far).

Talking about it now makes me want to play more :|

Gothic 1 is pretty hard to find nowadays, After that I'll trek on to 2..then 3

[avatar_58]

I know its speedtree, but for some reason I don't know if its the lighting or the pixel shader....but it just looks very harsh. Compare it to a greeny-soft screenshot of oblivion.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Heh heh, shiny shiny trees.

[Kingzjester]

This looks sexy. The e3 demo last year was completely undercooked.

[Maquisard]

I skimmed the first post, and I just wanna know...do you get to bone anything?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Mares

I skimmed the first post, and I just wanna know...do you get to bone anything?

Erm, this isn't an adult personals site.

[Maquisard]

From what I've heard, you can bone a hooker in Gothic 2, but I was wondering whether this time you can pick and chose, direct the intercourse a little bit more, and so on. Maybe even not have to pay for it. Hey, I know free love's kinda out there, and most people don't do it that way, but it's just one of those alternative lifestyle things I'd like to see games explore a little bit more.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Mares

From what I've heard, you can bone a hooker in Gothic 2, but I was wondering whether this time you can pick and chose, direct the intercourse a little bit more, and so on. Maybe even not have to pay for it. Hey, I know free love's kinda out there, and most people don't do it that way, but it's just one of those alternative lifestyle things I'd like to see games explore a little bit more.

You can do that in some of the Ultima games....even have an affair with a guy's mistress.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Can you have an affair with a mistress's guy, though?

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Can you have an affair with a mistress's guy, though?

No, but if you play as a female avatar you can get some with a few guys.....and even some lesbo action. (I kid you not...ultima 7 has it all!)

[insane_cobra]

Are there any brooding teenagers in this one?

Haven't heard anything about it since the last year's, reportedly disappointing, E3 demo. Any updated previews out there? And it's not just the trees, all the textures look somehow strange and unconvincing to me. Hope they tweak their rendering engine.

On the other hand, I don't really care that much, I can only put aside enough time to play one epic RPG every year or so and I've always been a fan of TES series.

[Fop]

If they can flesh out the world a whole lot, come up with a decent story and actual personalities for characters, it could be pretty awesome. If they can't... well, the Gothic games were fun and are still fun to play, but I don't think I can forgive complete lack of effort on those departments on an rpg anymore. This goes for Oblivion too.

[eriq]

I've been following the Gothic games since part 1. I can definitely say they are some of the hands-down best RPGs I've played. I haven't had a chance to try the expansion for 2 yet, however. I am sure it's a blast.

Gothic 3 ... can't wait! SO MANY GAMES so little time!

[Ninja Dodo]

The addon is awesome... it really ties into the original game well too. It basically unlocks a whole other part of the island for you to explore where you get to steal from pirates, go undercover among bandits, discover a lost city and rescue people from slavery. It basically kicks ass. I played it in German, but you can apparently now get the English gold edition that includes the add on. I also hear they're rereleasing Gothic 1.

The landscape is like a character itself with caverns and valleys, dense forests and treacherous passes through vast mountain ranges, the NPCs feel like they actually think for themselves instead of existing merely to point you to the next side-quest and Orcs are portrayed not as dumb beasts but as a cunning, calculating force to be reckoned with. Gothic is more gritty and believable than many a fantasy setting and even has elements of social commentary taking the piss out of religious fanatics in a big way and stopping along the way to enjoy a spliff or two.

Gothic is an RPG with character.

[Karmillo]

Why have I never heard of this game series? It sounds great!

[jjacob]

Originally Posted by Karmillo

Why have I never heard of this game series? It sounds great!

Same here, I didn't find out about these series until I read the Gothic 3 preview on Gamespot I'm thinking about getting Gothic 2 Gold before I get this one in September, but on the other hand there are so many awesome (adventure) games coming out between now and then I doubt I'll have the time (or money) to spare, still I'm getting Gothic 3 without a doubt.

[Ninja Dodo]

Originally Posted by Karmillo

Why have I never heard of this game series? It sounds great!

Go here and here... oh and try the demo.