Overwritten.net
Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: MysterD on Thursday, August 23, 2007, 02:08:32 PM
-
NEWEST - 4-29-2011:
RPGWatch -> Arcania's NEW Patch released removes DRM-check. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13500)
Bluesnews -> Arcania: Fall of Setarrif delayed indefinitely. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=120014)
VE3D - Arcania: Fall Of Setarrif - Trailer. (http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/79262/Other/General/Trailer/Arcania-Fall-of-Setarrif)
VE3D - Arcania: Fall Of Setarrif - Info. (http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/59330/Arcania-Fall-of-Setarrif-Trailer)
NEWER - 10/24/2010:
REVIEWS:
Eurogamer -> All platforms - 4 (out of 10). (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-20-arcania-gothic-4-review)
OXM -> X360 Review - 7.5 (out of 10). (http://www.oxmonline.com/article/reviews/xbox-360/a-f/arcania-gothic-4)
Gamefocus -> X360 Review - 7.0 (out of 10) (http://www.gamefocus.ca/?nav=reviewCard&fid=9607)
GameShard -> PC Review - 7.0 (out of 10). (http://www.gameshard.net/arcania-gothic-4.html)
RPGCodex -> PC Review - No score, but it's a brutal review. (http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=211)
Gamefocus -> X360 Review - 7.0 (out of 10) (http://www.gamefocus.ca/?nav=reviewCard&fid=9607)
GameShard -> PC Review - 7.0 (out of 10). (http://www.gameshard.net/arcania-gothic-4.html)
Eurogamer -> All platforms - 4 (out of 10). (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-20-arcania-gothic-4-review)
OXM -> X360 Review - 7.5 (out of 10). (http://www.oxmonline.com/article/reviews/xbox-360/a-f/arcania-gothic-4)
HoldStartSelect.com -> PC Review - 6.5 stars (out of 10). (http://holdstartselect.com/pc-review-arcania-gothic-4/)
GameSpot - X360 Review - 5.0 (out of 10). (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/arcaniaagothictale/review.html)
RPGWatch -> PC review. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=165&ref=0&id=280)
PC Gamer -> PC Review - 76 (out of 100). (http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/10/13/arcania-gothic-4-review/)
RPGCodex -> PC Review - No score, but it's a brutal review. (http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=211)
OLDER:
Link/Info/News:
RPGWatch -> Some German retailers have let the game out early and Jowood has put activation servers up early. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11552#1)
Bluesnews -> USA Release date pushed back one week to Oct. 19th. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=114938)
GameSpot - X360 Review - 5.0 (out of 10). (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/arcaniaagothictale/review.html)
RPGWatch -> Arcania: Gothic 4 - unlocked in USA through DD services (Steam, D2D, etc). (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11610)
Steam Forums -> ThomJWD (of Jowood) says Retailers been selling Arcania early in USA. (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1512736)
Arcania Website -> Arcania: Gothic 4's PC system requirements have been updated. (http://www.arcania-game.com/?lang=en&ID=1840)
Youtube -> GameCom 2010 Trailer. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Qixy0yLI4)
PCG - Preview on Arcania: Gothic 4. (http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/07/09/first-look-arcania-gothic-4/)
So, JoWood announces who will be Spellbound Entertain to develop Gothic 4 for the PC and Consoles. (http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=80417)
Tiscali - Gothic 4: Arcania info revealed (http://games.tiscali.cz/news/news.asp?id=27245)
Tiscali - Lots of G4 Screenies (http://games.tiscali.cz/clanek/screen.asp?id=12822)
Preview of G4 from IGN (http://pc.ign.com/articles/874/874762p1.html)
Reviews are rolling in overseas...
RPGWatch -> Looks like first reviews (not in English) overseas for Arcania are coming in... (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=15903)
PS3 version ONLY delayed until 2011
Arcania PC and X360 still in October 2010; PS3 version delayed until Early 2011. (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/28/arcania-gothic-4-delayed-for-ps3-until-2011-xbox-360-pc-still/)
Arcania: Gothic 4 - Demo for PC and X360 is out now
RPGWatch -> All kinds of gamers' impressions on Arcania PC Demo in this thread. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11466)
Gamershell -> Arcania PC Demo - 1.7 GB download. (http://www.gamershell.com/download_63874.shtml)
Securom Information for Arcania: Gothic 4 - PC
Bluesnews -> Arcania: Gothic 4 - Securom DRM details. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=114352)
OWNet MyD Post -> DRM Details in less words. (http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=2625.msg92221#msg92221)
Desslock Is Testing The Game Out
My post on Desslock's comments on Arcania: G4's performance and its stiff requirements. (http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=2625.msg91615#msg91615)
RPGWatch -> Dreamcatcher Rep responds to Desslock on his issue w/ the game's performance. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1061023547#post1061023547)
RPGWatch -> Arcania: Gothic 4 Demo coming Sept 24th. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=15707)
E3 2010
Game Demo from GameSpot. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILfHwtps9w&feature=player_embedded)
VE3D - E3 2010 Trailer. (http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/70469/PC/Arcania-Gothic-IV/Trailer/E3-2010-Trailer)
-
Ooh, I believe they're the dudes who made Desperados: Wanted Dead or a Alive.
-
Info
Gothic 4: Arcania info revealed (http://games.tiscali.cz/news/news.asp?id=27245)
Gothic 4 Arcania first details (26.4.2008 15:15 - levis)
Few lucky subscribers have received the June issue of German PC Games magazine in advance and thanks to that, we've got the first details on Spellbound's upcoming RPG:
* Fully titled Gothic 4: Arcania (as opposed to the previous subtitle Genesis).
* Story set 10 years after the third title and located on various southern islands, each having different climate zones and its own flora & fauna.
* Same as in previous titles, there'll be a hidden place (temporarily blocked by a magical shield/barrier).
* Weather changes, full day and night cycle plus the ability to temporarily cast a spell and change the time of day (e.g. from day to night when you need to slip past guards unnoticed).
* Aside few NPCs from the previous title, some monsters will have a fresh look (however, trolls look the same as in Gothic III).
* With the ability to climb and ride on beasts.
* Aiming for continuity, developers have gone through fan wishes on the forums and are planning on integrating some of them.
* Fully DirectX 10 compatible with advanced shader technology: standing under a tree, not only light will be realistically dimmed, but looking up into the sky, you'll see the sun behind partially transparent leaves.
Gothic 4: Arcania for PC, X360 and PS3 hasn't got a release date yet, it'll be done "when it's done" and won't miss out on this year's Game Convention.
zdroj: PC Games magazine
-
Cool. It looks like a reworked Gothic 3 so far. I think story and gameplay are more important fo a Gothic game. I hope they pull it off alright.
-
Those screenshots are pretty.
But, yeah -- I hope Gothic 4 doesn't hurt out to be the mess G3 was.
It's a damn shame what happened to G3.
G3 still runs like junk w/ everything maxed-out, even w/ my new video card 8800 GT OC (tried it yesterday, figuring the game would run fine now) -- it'll be running fine easily over 30 frames, regardless of if there's a bunch of enemies or not on screen, but then the game every now and then for no reason will stutter to like 10 frames for a fee seconds. (Reminds me how in MW, every now and then, the game will stutter for a few secs -- they stomped that in a patch, though). Absolutely poor optimization by Piranha. A big "WTF?"
Oh, and they still need to re-work the load times. Geez Louise, the load times take around 1 minute and a half every damn time!
-
Preview of G4 from IGN (http://pc.ign.com/articles/874/874762p1.html)
This isn't news to JoWood and Spellbound, and one of their primary goals with Arcania is to make it more palatable for those on the western side of the Atlantic. The title change can be seen as part of that effort, an attempt to presumably separate in consumers' minds the fourth Gothic game from the third. Then there's also the fact that the Nameless Hero from Gothic 1 through 3 is no longer the protagonist. He's a king, and he's invaded the island of the new protagonist in an attempt to unite his kingdom.
Ooooh, that does sound interesting.
This is another change for the series, as it moves back to an island setting like in the first two games and away from the mainland featured in the third.
That's probably for the best -- G2 and G3 -- especially G3 -- was just too big for its own good. That game is still buggy as sin, so many years later.
I still think, by far, Gothic 1 was the best in the Gothic series, so far.
Brian Gladman, Dreamcatcher's global product marketing manager, filled us on some of the challenges of making a game for two markets, as well as switching developers. "You could take a blank disc and put it in a paper bag and put Gothic 4 on the bag and you'd sell half a million units in Germany," he said. "The passion for the Gothic universe is at that level…The attachment to Piranha Bytes in German-speaking countries would be akin to the attachment to a BioWare in North America."
Damn...
Too bad PB's Gothic games always turned out at the very least buggy -- and in G3's case, VERY VERY VERY VERY BUGGY.
"Anything that Piranha Bytes does is gold in Germany, whereas here it's irrelevant. The decision to go with a new developer for this one was not taken lightly but taken with an eye to really reaching out."
Okay.
Though you'll be playing as a new Nameless Hero, the overall structure of Arcania's gameplay will be similar to that of the previous franchise iterations. You'll still quest for factions and be able to make a significant impact on the game world. You'll still gain experience, level up, and get points that must be spent at special trainers to improve your skills. You'll be able to craft armor and weapons and partake in an expanded and more user-friendly alchemy system. While we didn't get to see any of the game's menus, Dreamcatcher representatives impressed on us that they were focusing on delivering a more organized, streamlined, and comprehensive system that should make traveling around the world, inventory management, and keeping track of quest goals easier on the player. If you're one of those who hate the game helping you along in any way, there'll apparently be ways to customize your experience as well. "One of the things we decided to do which wasn't in Gothic 3 was put in a much more robust questing system and map," said producer Jay Podilchuk. "If you chose the quest of your quest log it would highlight those areas [and] give you an update of how many things you had [collected] for that quest."
Makes sense.
Gladman elaborated on the more user-friendly approach. "That's one of those things that's more North American-centric. A map that hand-holds you through…which you can turn off if you want to." Both Gladman and Podilchuk went on to talk about how if players dislike any kind of UI or map assists it all can be turned off. It's called Gothic mode, apparently, and is being implemented for the hardcore German audience.
I'm glad that G4's Map -- which sounds like the arrow in Bioshock -- can be turned off. Very cool.
The user interface in the demo, which will probably be changed around quite a bit before the game's release, had an eight-slot skill bar in the bottom left hand corner; stamina, life, mana, and experience bars in the middle; and a combat overlay in the bottom right. We did get a little bit of play time with the combat system, but the small, forested demo area Dreamcatcher loaded up for us didn't allow for much. The two humanoid enemies standing around didn't really have any AI, so we were just running and freely swatting at them with a sword. Combat is still very much tied to stamina, with stronger swings eating larger chunks of your stamina bar, so you can't just sit there and plug away endlessly with powerful attacks. There'll be combos, parrying, and various kinds of special swings like flurries. A loose lock-on system is built in as well; it activates when you look at an enemy long enough for their name to be highlighted. While Dreamcatcher is saying they've made strides to improve the fighting, we can't really say anything at this point until we can fight against an active target.
Okay.
In the finished game players should expect to find most of the popular Gothic enemies like lurkers, trolls, dragons, with the remaining orc population hanging around as well. Players will still be able to hunt more traditional types of animals to skin and collect teeth from for the trade portion of the game, in addition to picking flora for alchemy.
Good.
As for the interface and managing all these reagents, Podilchuk filled us in on how Spellbound is putting things together. "At this point we're now looking at WoW's [interface], where they've worked in so many things that people are so accustomed to having but we're trying to figure out ways to make them more playable…to take the tediousness out of the trade aspect of the game but still keep it in there for the players that love it."
Okay.
He went on to describe crafting, saying in Arcanium it's possible to switch in and out weapon components, such as hilts and blades, to achieve special effects, letting you better hold onto swords you like rather than tossing the whole thing out for a new one. He also spoke about the possibility of reordering your character statistics, indicating something along the lines of the ability in World of Warcraft to pay a fee to reshuffle talent points. The notion of permanence in single-player RPGs has always been prominent; forcing you to consider carefully decisions made as you know it might bite you in the ass later on, and there'll be no easy recourse. While Podilchuk didn't say exactly how this kind of statistical redistribution aspect might be incorporated, he did maintain it to be an aspect still in consideration.
You know, in RPG's, I never really ever used the "reshuffle my points" thing. I usually stuck w/ what I chose. I never even touched the one in say Titan Quest.
What do you guys think of such a feature?
Gladman says he's very aware of how these types of changes could affect the hardcore Gothic player base. "It's always a challenge when you're working with an established IP [intellectual property] in maintaining the expectations that come along with that IP while still moving it forward at the same time…There was a lot of things with Gothic that are very Gothic-esque and as long as we maintain those, we should be alright."
We can say little tweaks are being made to ensure combat feels less sluggish. Quaffing potions, for example, no longer requires your character to put away his weapons and enter a lengthy drinking animation that more often than not gives your attackers time to interrupt. It's not going to be Diablo-quick, but the system will speed up the process significantly.
Cool.
As mentioned with regards to the title change, Arcania will make magic a more significant element of combat. Unfortunately we didn't actually get to actually see any spells, just a hand-held glowing orb used to show off some of the game's lighting effects. According to the demo representatives, Arcania's Nameless Hero will have the power to change the weather, alter night and day, and blast out fireballs among other things.
I remember Shivering Isles had the "change the weather skill." Cool.
Altering day and night spells sounds interesting.
"However you try to play the game, we're going to try to come up with a system of magic that accentuates that play," said Podilchuk. "If you want to be a battlemage we're going to have your buff spells and your weapon spells and stuff like that…If you want to play it as an archer then you'll want to have a system like druid-type where you can control plants and animals."
Sounds like the usual assortment of RPG-stuff.
More interesting than that is the fact that Spellbound is now building in individual bits of equippable armor. In Arcania you won't be donning a single suit of protection, but instead be equipping yourself with many pieces which, hopefully, allows for more interesting customization options. "We're aiming really, really high for this. A real medieval layered armor system where you wear some sort of quilt, then chain mail, then plate armor."
Oooh, I like the sound of this -- sounds very Morrowind-like and Oblivion-like.
The developer is also toying with the idea of armor piece inscription, allowing you to decorate equipment and shields with faction heraldry. From the screens released it's clear some work is being put into authentic-looking weapon and armor designs. "In Austria there's this armory that has tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pieces of ancient medieval armor and the Spellbound team has been out there and photographed a lot of the stuff," said Gladman. Podilchuk added, "All the metal textures and stuff being used in game are actually coming off medieval weapons and stuff like that."
That sounds cool.
Those who played Gothic 3 will remember the questing structure through which they'd gain favor with one particular town and eventually be tasked with destroying another. This kind of system is being augmented in Arcanium according to Podilchuk. "I found in Gothic 3, you could pretty much do all the quests if you tried hard enough. They had that faction sort of thing but…it took me a couple of towns to realize what I was doing, which I found really frustrating. Not knowing what the consequences of my actions were, it wasn't communicated properly." From what was described, it sounds like the quest structures will be more intertwined, with quest lines that lead to more quest lines that work to illuminate the motivation or reasoning behind the original given quest, and more frequently tie into the overarching story. "Part of the frustrating part of Gothic 3 for me is there was so much to do and it wasn't tied together properly," said Podilchuk. "It didn't necessarily feel like I was doing a quest for the paladins or I was doing a quest for the orcs. Why would I be doing quests for the orcs?"
Okay.
In an interesting twist, we might also see the inclusion of special housing for the Nameless Hero. It isn't in the game right now, but the idea is floating around at Spellbound to include a place where the player can always retreat for rest, for storage, and for crafting purposes. "In Gothic you have these stations," said Podilchuk, "your alchemy stands…blacksmithing one…and we've come up with a fletching table where you can sit, put your bow down and restring it with whatever you find. The next natural progression was why can't we have this? We called it the fortress of solitude idea. This place where you could gather your good stuff and have a place to relax."
Cool. I really liked in Oblivion, that could buy houses and locations -- and store lots of junk (you don't want to sell) there.
As for how the game looks, we can say the demo stage was quite pretty, though not exactly on par with some of the screens released. It uses Trinigy's Vision Engine, and the style appears similar to previous Gothic games. The demo stage featured plenty of trees covered in leaves that swayed in the wind, and changed color depending on the intensity of light hitting them. Mornings came along with a pink sky, shadows moved across the ground as day progressed, and there was a very naturalistic, organic quality to the overall look. A wooden cabin sat in the middle of the demo's small forested area, with logs and debris scattered around out front, a thatched roof, and a dirty interior with a rickety ladder leading up to an attic.
Cool.
No word on the new Nameless Hero's character model yet because it hasn't actually been finished. The protagonist we saw was actually a placeholder graphic of the old Nameless Hero, so we can't say if the new guy will continue the tradition of unflinching devotion to traditional goatees.
Okay.
To better target the different North American and European audiences, there will also be some way to alter the overall graphical style. In the demo it was simply two buttons labeled Europe and North America. With the Europe button clicked the game took on more somber, darker tones. The game appeared lighter and more vibrant under the North American filter.
A way to change the graphical stuff b/t NA and Euro filters graphically?
Ummm....why??
That just sounds.....odd....
There'll also be extras like procedural cloth and fur animations, straw swaying in the wind, and other effects built on middleware that hasn't yet been announced.
Once the entirety of the new island is available for exploration upon the game's release, we're told it'll be slightly small than the land mass in Gothic 3. Dreamcatcher representative commented that there'll be easier ways to move through the world, though didn't specify exactly what they meant.
Maybe some sort of fast travelling thing like Oblivion?
By horse?
By magical teleportation portals like Two Worlds?
There will still be different climate zones including desert, snow, forest, and large underground areas filled with molten lava. Since weather will play a larger part in this game and the skies can be manipulated by the player, you'll be able to do neat tricks like instigate a torrential downpour, triggering guard NPCs to take shelter in houses and giving you a clear avenue past a guard post or into a town.
That's very interesting, hehe.
As for how lengthy an experience players should expect, "We're aiming at 60 to 80 hours. It's the full epic RPG," said Podilchuk. "We're not looking at something of the Fable variety here."
Nice!!!
Make it long and of course good -- and of course, keep the bugs out -- and I'll come looking for it.
-
Gothic 4: Arcania preview on GameSpot. (http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/gothic4/news.html?sid=6191191)
A lot of the same was already said on IGN, but I'll throw down some different or additional info.
Arcania picks up ten years after the events of Gothic 3. The Nameless Hero from the original games has vanquished the orcs from the land and has ascended to the throne. But as the king, our former hero has become consumed with power and is no longer held in favor by much of the population, including the Witches of Fate that started him on his noble journey in the first place. Betrayed, the witches find a new Nameless Hero, most likely a humble fisherman, and charge him with righting the wrongs of the new king. Of course, being a Gothic game, you can do pretty much whatever you want, be it join the king, overthrow him, convince him to change his evil ways, or set up shop as a mercenary and mind your own business.
Cool.
Arcadia will be packaged under Microsoft’s Games for Windows brand and we wouldn’t be surprised to see at least an Xbox 360 version as Dreamcatcher used an Xbox 360 wired controller during our demo. Of course, that’s more than a year away, and at this point we are just excited to see the promise of Arcadia in action. Much like Gothic 3, the game shows potential. But will it deliver? We’ll know more later this year.
If G4's working on a X360 Controller on the PC, I'll bet you there'll likely be a 360 version eventually.
-
Boy, this game gone through some name changes.
First, Gothic 4: Genesis.
Then, Gothic 4: Arcania.
Now, it'll be known as...
Arcania: A Gothic Tale. (http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=8784)
On the Gothic IV Name Change [May 20, 2008, 09:11 am ET] - 35 Comments
The Arcania: A Gothic Tale First on GameSpot is a preview of the game formerly known as Gothic IV that got mentioned last night, but it seems appropriate to focus on the part that explains the name change for the North American edition of the RPG series:
The Gothic franchise has forever been defined by free-roaming open-world gameplay, sweeping story and settings, and bugs. Lots of bugs. Publisher DreamCatcher freely admits that Gothic 3 was a great game in theory but an unplayable mess in execution. So former developer Piranha Bytes is gone, replaced by Spellbound Entertainment in the hope that fans of the epic role-playing game genre will eventually see Gothic in the same bright light as Oblivion. Spellbound's next project is Arcania: A Gothic Tale.
The name change serves two purposes. First, it hints at a world rich in magic and fantasy. Second, and completely from a marketing perspective, it helps give the Gothic franchise a fresh start in North America, where it has failed to gain significant popularity. And gaining popularity in the good old US-of-A is goal one for DreamCatcher. The team invested months of research into the differences between European and American gaming preferences, so much so that there will be two different color palettes for Arcania: North American (bright and beautiful) and European (muted and gritty). Truth be told, we didn't notice much of a difference when DreamCatcher stopped by our office to show off a very early build of Arcania, but you have to admire the attention to detail.
-
A projected date has been set for Q4 2009 for this one (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=301394)
-
Leaked video of a very early-build of Arcania: A Gothic Tale from GC 2008. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSyCf3bVuNc)
And yes, JoWood has confirmed it is footage from the game. (http://forum.jowood.com/showpost.php?p=2375078&postcount=77)
-
Arcania: A Gothic Tale's minimum system requirements have been revealed. (http://www.arcania-game.com/?lang=en&ID=1840)
Platforms: TBA
Developer: Spellbound Entertainment AG
Publisher: JoWooD Productions Software AG
Genre: Fantasy-Action-RPG
Release date: Winter 2009/2010
PC Minimum Requirements
* Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista
* Direct X Version: DirectX 9.0c or higher
* Hard Disk Space: 10 GB + 600 MB virtual memory
* DVD Drive: 6x DVD ROM Drive
* Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHZ, AMD Athlon 3500+
* RAM: 1 GB (Windows® XP), 1,5 GB (Windows® Vista)
* Graphics Accelerator: ATI 1800XT, Shader Model 3, 256 MB
Nvidia 6800, Shader Model 3, 256 MB
* Sound Card: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
-
Impressions
RPGGamer.com has impressions on Arcania: A Gothic Tale (AKA Gothic 4) from E3 2009. (http://www.rpgamer.com/event/e3-2009/impressions/gothic4imp.html)
Also, Gaming Excellence has their E3 2009 Impressions on Arcania: A Gothic Tale, as well. (http://www.gamingexcellence.com/pc/games/2210/p20090603.shtml)
Here's GameSpot's impressions from E3 2009 on Arcania (http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6211629/arcania-a-gothic-tale-hands-on)
Next, IGN's impressions from E3 2009 on Arcania (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/991/991767p1.html)
Gameplay Videos
GameTrailers.com E3 2009 Game Dev Walkthrough - Part 1 (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-arcania/51098)
GameTrailers.com E3 2009 Game Dev Walkthrough - Part 2 (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-arcania/51096)
GameTrailers.com E3 2009 - Firemage Demo (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-arcania/51209)
-
GamingNexus has a preview on Arcania (http://gamingnexus.com/FullNews/E3-2009-Arcania-A-Gothic-Tale-Impressions/Item12825.aspx)
Another big change is that the game is being developed for the PC as well as for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. During our demo the presenter used an Xbox 360 controller hooked to a PC to show the game so I don’t expect there to be much of an issue with the controls if you decide to go that route.
Hardcore gamers will stick with the standard keyboard and mouse but the game is very playable with the controller.
EDIT - June 14th, 2009:
ArmChairEmpire.com has a short preview on Arcania: A Gothic Tale (http://www.armchairempire.com/Previews/multi-platform/arcania-gothic-tale.htm)
-
Delayed until 2010. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/jowood-delays-new-gothic-game)
-
New preview from HookedGamers. (http://www.hookedgamers.com/pc/arcania_a_gothic_tale/preview/article-621.html)
Ranged Combat
To distance Arcania's combat from Gothic 3's button mashing fest, Spellbound has implemented a lock-on system akin to the The Witcher's in certain ways. For ranged combat, locking on a target is simple and self-explanatory, though not always the best option - hitting a target outside of the lock-on system deals more damage.
Melee Combat
In terms of melee combat, the nameless hero's weapon will glow blue for a small period after a slash. Hitting the attack button during that time produces a chained attack, and players with quick enough reflexes can continue chaining attacks.
-
Interview on Arcania: Gothic 4. (http://www.hookedgamers.com/features/2010/05/15/kamaal_anwar_on_arcania_gothic_4.html)
-
IGN previews Arcania: Gothic 4. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/109/1090936p1.html)
The process of actually getting around the world has been made more painless than in Gothic games past. There are still teleportation stones, but they're conveniently located right outside of notable areas, such as the game's major cities and townships. Once activated, they can be used to quickly zoom from place to place. If you've just run through a deep mountain cave and need to swap out items or pick up some new quests, this should make things a little easier, and you don't have to go blindly rooting around towns to find stones tucked away in random locations like before.
Also, in terms of user friendliness, things like map icons and quest indicators will make world navigation more convenient, pinpointing where you're supposed to go. If that kind of hand-holding doesn't sit well with you, it's also possible to shut off UI assists to the point where the game is nearly HUD-less.
-
Arcania: Gothic 4 interview from CriticalGamer.co.uk. (http://www.criticalgamer.co.uk/2010/05/21/arcania-gothic-4-interview-2)
-
Desslock got Arcania: Gothic 4 early and talking about it on QT3 Forums.
And well....looks like its system requirements are VERY stiff. (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2358825&postcount=46)
O.k., I've been messing around a bit with Gothic 4 (PC) and this seems to be the best thread to post this in:
-- be warned: the PC system requirements that are circulating around the web, including on the wiki page, are badly understated -- the is a real hog, especially on in terms of CPU .
-- Here are the revised system specs (note that a Core2Duo CPU isn't sufficient, and 3 GB RAM is also required to "comfortably play the game." The video card requirements are more modest and should raise less issues:
Processor Min: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X4 2.2Ghz (or Tri-core like AMD Phenom X3)
Ram Min: 3GB
Video Card for minimum playability: Geforce 8800 GTX / ATI HD 2600 Pro
Video Card for best results: Geforce 280 GTX / ATI HD 4800 or higher
I will say the game is pretty - better looking than Risen. But I'm surprised the system requirements are so high, especially since it's also being released on consoles, so I thought I should warn early adopters to ensure they don't get burned if they don't have a sufficiently powerful PC.
More from Desslock. (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2359101&postcount=50)
Lamalo's higher end one might be ok if he doesn't mind regular choppiness, but my C2D 6700 (266 ghz) is unplayable, even paired with a high end GPU (Geforce GTX 285 1gb). Quadcore effective minimum, as I wrote above (those stats came from the publisher).
Even more from Desslock. (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2361756&postcount=88)
I just wanted to warn people that my system is probably still above average, especially the GPU, and the game isn't just "pretty slow" -- it's completely unplayable -- with a framerate in the single digits much of the time (even with all graphical details at their lowest). So don't gamble you can skirt by with a system (much) below the system requirements I posted above until you've heard feedback from people with comparable systems.
It seems really weird that the CPU requirement would be so high for a game that's also being released on consoles, which obviously have hardware that's 5 years old now. My PC rig was very high end a couple of years ago.
-
Damn, that's kinda crap. I'm betting the game is also really, really buggy.
-
Damn, that's kinda crap. I'm betting the game is also really, really buggy.
Hopefully, they can improve the performance before the game drops here in the USA - b/c the Gothic name has to already be tarnished like crazy after Gothic 3's technical fiasco - which I might add STILL could use some performance boosts, especially on its horrible load times.
But, yeah - how many copies will this Gothic 4 game sell w/ such high requirements? Probably not a lot, I'd guess. It's not like the Gothic name is a household name, either - it's pretty much followed by hardcore PC gamers.
I'm also curious how well the PC version of Gothic 4 will looks all pimped-out compared to the 360 version, as well. With requirements like that - I hope it looks amazing on PC's, if req's like that. I hope it's not a case of lazily ported to the PC.
We don't need another Gothic 3 on our hands AGAIN w/ Gothic 4...
-
I'm pretty sure Gothic 3 was only on PC, so it wasn't a lazy port (it wasn't a port at all), it was just poorly developed.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how Arcania pans out.
-
I'm pretty sure Gothic 3 was only on PC, so it wasn't a lazy port (it wasn't a port at all), it was just poorly developed.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how Arcania pans out.
Let me re-edit my post and make it clearer on what I meant...
Yeah, G3 is PC-only.
G4 is for PC and 360...
-
A Dreamcatcher Rep responds on RPGWatch about the issues Desslock is having w/ running the game. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1061023547#post1061023547)
We have to thank Desslock for bringing the issue of that particular Core 2 Duo CPU model to our attention. Do note that the requirements are in flux until we are happy with our final product, and only then would reliable requirements be available from us.
The issue Desslock encountered was touched upon during our compatibility tests and was not so much an issue of CPU performance but more an issue with that line of CPU’s and a jittering caused in game regardless of other game settings.
To clarify, the game does in fact run well on lower end systems than the requirements described to Desslock via e-mail, cpu included. However, to provide the best max settings experience with absolutely no issues we had provided those specs as a recommendation in hopes of improving his experience.
In the mean time we’ve been looking at the cause of the processor issue and any other fairly unreasonable hardware requirements while we near our final version of ArcaniA.
-
Arcania: Gothic 4's PC system requirements have been updated. (http://www.arcania-game.com/?lang=en&ID=1840)
PC Minimum Requirements
* OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / Windows 7
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon II x2 @ 2.8 GHz
* Memory: 2 GB RAM
* Graphics:GeForce 8800 GTX
* DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c or higher
* Hard Drive: 9 GB HDD Space
* Sound: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
PC Recommended Requirements
* OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / Windows 7
* Processor: Intel Core I7 @ 3 GHz / AMD Phenom II x4 @ 3 GHz
* Memory: 4 GB RAM
* Graphics: GeForce GTX 295
* DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c or higher
* Hard Drive: 9 GB HDD Space
* Sound: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
-
Bluesnews -> Arcania: Gothic 4 - Securom DRM Details. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=114352)
Released date check included;
Unlimited activations allowed;
ONLY THREE PC's simultaneously can run it;
NO disc needed to play;
NO constant Internet connection needed to play.
-
PC Gamer -> Arcania: Gothic 4 - Demo for PC is out. (http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/23/arcania-gothic-4-demo-is-out/)
-
Awesome, GamersHell link here (http://www.gamershell.com/download_63874.shtml). It's 1.7GB and GamersHell provides a torrent link as well as direct download!
-
Given what Desslock has said before about how poorly this game was performing for him, I'm gonna be curious to see how poorly or well this Demo will run for people....
-
Ok, I've played the demo for about an hour. I'm impressed and disappointed at the same time.
You start off as a nameless shepherd, therefore everyone refers to you as "Shepherd," quite possibly a wink at Mass Effect.
The performance is not great. The final game definitely needs some tuning. The game had SSAO (Ambient Occlusion) activated fullly by default, but even with that power-hungry option turned off the framerate didn't go up by much (a meager 5-6 frames gained). The performance does seem to improve as soon as I leave the village and enter the wilderness. The game is playable but it feels like it's pushing the limits of my system even though it's well beyond the recommended sys reqs. The undesirable performance is main issue in the game.
On to what I liked from the demo. It does appear to be the most refined Gothic game yet. Visually, it is stunning. The lush foliage, the atmospheric lighting, the rich scenery, SPellbound have done a great job of making the world come alive. The textures are also much more detailed than its predecessors and the models are hi-poly and quite detailed. It was nice to Diego (a major NPC from the previous games) re-imagined, he's older now and you can see the details on his face and skin. The water effects are not spectacular but they're alright. Overall, in terms of visuals and sounds I like what Spellbound have done.
Regarding the gameplay and UI it's very clear that the game has been streamlined. It's not console-ized by any means, but it's certainly simpler and I can appreciate that. The UI is very clear, with readable fonts and immersed interactive highlighting, things glow when you can interact with them, very similar to Fable.
The combat is much simpler than before. It retains a lot of the same style but it's been refined to the basic click=attack, right=block, while blocking you can dodge. You can button-mash if you like but they've taken it further by adding a feature which can make well-timed attacks deadly. When you attack, there are moments when your weapon glows, attack at that moment and you can unleash a flurry combo. The combat basically feels like a cross between The Witcher and Fable. I'm very happy with it. Of course, with leveling-up you gain skill points which you can spend to learn new combat skills, ranged skills, and eventually magic abilities.
The one part of the gameplay I feel they've changed a lot is the freedom of movement. It could just be for the beginning area but there were a lot of places that were just unreachable. Doors would say "You can't enter this area now..." and occasionally I came across some invisible walls. The doors I was able to open later when the quests gave me the appropriate keys, but I hope the invisible walls were only for the sake of the demo. Also, navigating uneven terrain is awkward in AracaniA, invisible walls in certain areas and some objects are un-climbable. In the old Gothic games you could carefully jump and hop your way to the top of a house or any structure, but here it seems to have scripts to push the character back down. It's not a major issue but it was one of my combat tactics; climb to higher ground and range-attack. Anyway, I won't be able to determine how much of an issue it really is until I try out the full game.
The demo left me with a good taste, if not for the relatively poor framerates. I will definitely consider picking up in October but with contenders like Castlevania(PS3), Darksiders (PC) and a few others I'll likely take my time to make a good decision. Plus I gotta ration my cash flow this month!
-
@Xessive,
What resolution were you running Arcania Demo on?
And how low and how high can the resolution go?
I'd guess throwing the Arcania Demo at my PC - P4 single-core 3.2 Ghz HT, GF 8800 GT, 2 GB RAM, Win XP Home - just might blow-up my PC. :P
Does it run worse than say...GTA4 PC?
-
I hadn't payed any attention to this game, but the demo just went up on the Xbox Marketplace and it looks interesting, so I'm gonna check it out.
-
When I first started it up I went with 1920x1080.. The framerate was almost unbearable. It was technically playable but I was averaging 20-30fps. I brought it down to 1360x768 and that only earned me about an extra 10 frames (in the main village area, which is the heaviest apparently). I'd have to run FRAPS or something to get an accurate reading but judging by eye it's not a very smooth experience until I got outside the village area.
I wonder how the X360 demo will fair. Keep us posted, W7RE :)
-
Of course, with leveling-up you gain skill points which you can spend to learn new combat skills, ranged skills, and eventually magic abilities.
What's the stuff I'm reading on different forums that you don't see trainers anymore to level-up? :o That's one of the things I liked that (previous) Gothic games in the series did different than MOST games. It gave me a major reason to travel around and find different trainers to learn different skills. Often, that kind of traveling around led you into finding other areas and quests, while on the way.
The one part of the gameplay I feel they've changed a lot is the freedom of movement. It could just be for the beginning area but there were a lot of places that were just unreachable. Doors would say "You can't enter this area now..." and occasionally I came across some invisible walls. The doors I was able to open later when the quests gave me the appropriate keys, but I hope the invisible walls were only for the sake of the demo.
If those areas are hard-cored w/ specifically leveled enemies that are say WAY above your level and you can't enter that area b/c of that, I'd have NO PROBLEM w/ this. I really feel this way especially after playing Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, in which that game, especially in The Fjords, has areas ALL OVER THE PLACE that are way differently hard-coded and leveled. In Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, you can literally walk or fly (if you're a dragon) into an area WAY outside your level and get decimated big time - yes, even more so than the older Gothic games. There's no real warning or anything that you're even entering an area outside of your level until it's WAY too late.
Borderlands and Dungeon Siege 2 did hard-coding areas and enemies right - when you're set out to do a quest, it tells you what level you should be to take it on. If you take it on and it's above your level - well, that's your damn problem b/c you took on the challenge knowingly.
-
Yeah, there three things they changed completely: no trainers, you increase stats as you level up and at certain points you unlock new skills, kinda like Titan Quest. To craft items you just press the crafting button and it brings up the crafting menu, no need to go to an alchemist's table or use a blacksmith's tools. Also cooking can now be done from the crafting menu, you don't cook the classic Gothic way anymore. Oddly, all these world objects (alchemist table, blacksmith spinning wheel, and campfire) are available in the game and interactive but they're completely useless because the interactivity is just an meaningless animation. I find it weird that they chose to do that, especially since the objects are in the game and can be interacted with. It almost feels like cheating to be able to craft at any point whether I'm in a town or not.
However, to craft an item, potion, or cook a meal you need an instruction or recipe scroll to learn the recipe. After that you can craft/cook the item as many times as you have enough resources/ingredients for.
Before I forget, the game is available for pre-order from Impulse (http://www.impulsedriven.com/arcania) at a 15% discount.
-
Yeah, there three things they changed completely: no trainers, you increase stats as you level up and at certain points you unlock new skills, kinda like Titan Quest.
While it's a simpler concept and all - it does make me wonder why they scratched some of the stuff that made Gothic what it is, as this is really some of the stuff that made Gothic feel like a living, breathing gameworld and different from other games in the market.
Then again, the game is now subtitled "Gothic", instead of that title first - it's "Arcania", first and foremost. ;) They're just using the "Gothic" sub-title to try and rope Gothic gamers in. I have this funny feeling if there's another game in this series, it'll be called Arcania 2 - they'll drop the "Gothic" sub-title out of the mix, which probably would be for the best.
To craft items you just press the crafting button and it brings up the crafting menu, no need to go to an alchemist's table or use a blacksmith's tools. Also cooking can now be done from the crafting menu, you don't cook the classic Gothic way anymore. Oddly, all these world objects (alchemist table, blacksmith spinning wheel, and campfire) are available in the game and interactive but they're completely useless because the interactivity is just an meaningless animation. I find it weird that they chose to do that, especially since the objects are in the game and can be interacted with. It almost feels like cheating to be able to craft at any point whether I'm in a town or not.
Wait...that's odd - to have the objects in the gameworld AND be able to do Crafting while you're not even near any of these items.
Oddly enuff - you mean you don't even say have to have these "objects" in your Inventory to use them, while on the road? :o You just can do Craft, anyways? Wow, that's....odd. While, sure, that might sound ridiculous for a character to carry alchemists table or blacksmith tools in an Inventory - most "heroes" in a RPG game seem to carry 2 mansions worth of equipment anyways. :P Plus, Gothic characters didn't have weight limits in Inventory ever, anyways...Do Inventories have weight limits in Arcania?
-
So, I tried the Demo on my aging rig: P4 single-core 3.2 Ghz HT; GF 8800 GT; 2 GB RAM; Win XP Home - about an Hour into it already.
Running on 1024x768 here. I have most stuff turned down to Low; a few things on Medium; and some stuff off; 25% on the drawing distance. My framerates in town are around 15 frames, normally. Throw me into an open area w/ enemies or indoors - mid-20's to like 32 (max).
So far, everything is very-well presented - decent to good on the voice-acting; UI is absolutely excellent; graphics in dialogue cut-scene stylized sequences look great; and the story b/t "Shepherd" and Ivy so far is interesting.
The thing is - Gothic's lost some of its identity. I really already miss the PB Gothic time-schedule stuff. You know, people huddling together around fires; sitting together; sometimes you show-up while people are in mid-conversation; etc. It just seems like characters either like to walk around or stand-still, all the time - eh.
Arcania feels more streamlined w/out trainers concept: you basically just level-up your skills, as you hit a new level - like most RPG's. One thing I liked about PB's Gothic games (Gothic 1, G2 + expansion, G3), was how you leveled-up your skills. What you did was you went around the gameworld; found trainers; and they taught you skills. That element was different and very cool, if you ask me - and gave Gothic its very own identity.
This is the best combat's ever felt like in a Gothic game period - whether dealing out spells, in melee combat, or ranged bow-and-arrow combat. Everything feels right and on-the-money. Xessive pretty much covered what it feels like for melee already.
Now, ranged combat - you get an aiming-reticule (crosshair) on-screen when you equip a ranged combat move - magic or bow/arrow. When using a bow and arrow, the longer you hold the attack button down while aiming, the screen will charge up to how many extra blocks of damage it can do - once you let go, arrow flies.
So far, I like the Demo. It's a MUCH more polished and refined Gothic experience in many regards, despite unfortunately losing a little bit of the identity that PB made Gothic series famous for.
-
I just finished playing through the demo on Xbox 360. This is the first time I've ever played a Gothic game, and since I did it on console, I'm guessing my impressions won't be far off from what your typical console noob would have. Though I do have a history of PC gaming so I'm a little more patient and forgiving.
At first I was sort of unopinionated. It didn't seem great, and it didn't seem bad. By the end I was starting to get into it though, and starting to feel kind of like a badass as I was fighting tougher enemies and getting visible armor upgrades and more spells. The combat feels really simple and easy at first, but then by the time you get magic, things start feeling better. (I played it on normal, which was selected by default) I did think it was odd that I had to press my magic or bow button once to equip it and get a crosshair, and then again to fire. But I guess with a one button method, you'd be firing your first shot with no crosshair. (though with the bow you'd be charging up a shot, so it would work fine.) By the end of the game, I was still pretty much button mashing, but weaving in spells and dodges too. Some attacks I needed to get out of melee range or roll to the side (since a block wasn't enough), and I also figured out quickly that I could stunlock something by hitting it with lightning, doing a small melee combo, then hitting it with lightning again before it became unstunned.
Visually, the game is sort of a mixed bag. The environments look great, and the textures are nice too. Everything has nice high resolution textures it seems, which you don't always get on console games. The characters are not bad looking, but not amazing either, and the character animations are laughable in some spots. Especially the main character's lips. They don't open, they distort and stretch around. I don't think any effort went into lip syncing, but that's probably because of being translated from another language. You get the same thing in pretty much all Japanese games. I'm gonna guess the game is running at 720p or lower, and has little to no antialiasing going on. The high detail in the environments and textures results in some noticeable shimmering as you move around, and you lose a lot of detail in objects as you get further away from them.
The UI seems almost like it was designed by someone who hasn't played console games before. That's not to say it's bad, it's just strangely different visually than what I would expect. Like when you talk to someone and it gives you 2 dialog options, but they're in a box nearly the width of the screen and tall enough for 5 dialog options. Below that is another box with all 4 face buttons listen, and only the ones that have functions have text next to them. It just seems like a lot to have on screen when you're just displaying 2 lines of text and a single button prompt. Items and equipment can be mapped to the Dpad, which has 4 additional slots available if you hold the left bumper. (for 8 slots total) There are only 2 things I would say are clunky about the UI. Targetting an NPC or object in the world is odd. I want to point my camera at them, but the game wants me to point my character at them (does the game keep the camera fixed behind the character in PC? On Xbox, pressing the left analog stick moves the character in the direction you press, even if that means having the character running toward the camera.) The other thing is that I was wanting to be able to swap back and forth between a two-hander and a sword and shield, but found that I had to map both the 1 hander and the shield to buttons to swap to them. Then I needed a third mapping for the two-hander if I didn't want to enter the inventory to equip it. Oh, and there's a radial menu that comes up if you hit start. It has 5 options: skills & spells, map, crafting, quests, and inventory. Everything else about the UI was pretty much how you would expect it.
I didn't mess with the crafting, so I have no idea how any of that works.
I'm not gonna run right out and reserve it, but I'm much more impressed now than I was when I first started the demo. I honestly only downloaded it because I saw the demo up, then saw the discussion here. It does seem a little rough around the edges, but seems like something I could get into possibly. The small taste of equipment and skill upgrades could be something that would hold my attention for quite a while if it's done well in the full game.
Oh, and the color mode settings for European vs US. It's just called "tone map" in the settings, and I wasn't sure if it was talking about color or speech tone (like maybe the language would be different.) I didn't change it until I was in a cave, so I didn't notice the difference. Though someone did say "what's up?" to me right after I set it to US, and I thought it was definitely a language thing. But I changed it back and she said it again, haha. I started a new game and messed with it. Yea, the grass and trees are visibly bright green in US mode, vs a dull green in Eu mode.
-
The UI seems almost like it was designed by someone who hasn't played console games before. That's not to say it's bad, it's just strangely different visually than what I would expect. Like when you talk to someone and it gives you 2 dialog options, but they're in a box nearly the width of the screen and tall enough for 5 dialog options. Below that is another box with all 4 face buttons listen, and only the ones that have functions have text next to them. It just seems like a lot to have on screen when you're just displaying 2 lines of text and a single button prompt. Items and equipment can be mapped to the Dpad, which has 4 additional slots available if you hold the left bumper. (for 8 slots total) There are only 2 things I would say are clunky about the UI. Targetting an NPC or object in the world is odd. I want to point my camera at them, but the game wants me to point my character at them (does the game keep the camera fixed behind the character in PC? On Xbox, pressing the left analog stick moves the character in the direction you press, even if that means having the character running toward the camera.) The other thing is that I was wanting to be able to swap back and forth between a two-hander and a sword and shield, but found that I had to map both the 1 hander and the shield to buttons to swap to them. Then I needed a third mapping for the two-hander if I didn't want to enter the inventory to equip it. Oh, and there's a radial menu that comes up if you hit start. It has 5 options: skills & spells, map, crafting, quests, and inventory. Everything else about the UI was pretty much how you would expect it.
Keep in mind, I'm pretty much gonna talk about Arcania PC here, not 360...
Camera
No fixed-cam on the PC. The camera is completely unlocked - just like say Alpha Protocol. I have no problem w/ unlocked cams normally - b/c there's usually a key-button push to reset the cam directly behind the player, but unfortunately neither Arcania nor AP have such a keystroke. You'd think these modern games would've learned from say classics like Silent Hill on the old original Playstation, which did that "reset cam behind player keystroke" stuff like at least over 10 years ago!
Here's what I would say prefer...I do wish there was a button where you could say "Unlocked/Locked Cam Toggle Switch", where you could on-the-fly switch b/t having the cam locked behind the player and keeping the cam completely unlocked. Even a button to reset the cam behind the player would've been fine w/ me.
PC -> UI and Combat
About the UI on the PC version for the Inventory - I thought it was great. It sounds like it's much easier to navigate than your 360 control-pad - as it's very easy to navigate through the KB/mouse. This does makes sense, since Spellbound Entertainment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spellbound_Entertainment) has pretty much done mostly PC games.
Arcania PC Version has absolutely NO TARGETING system for combat. You use mouselook for your aiming - just swing your melee weapon or aim your projectile (spell or bow/arrow) and go. It works perfect here, if you've played plenty of 3rd person direct-action RPG's (Oblivion, Morrowind, Fable TLC, etc) or any other FPS style games.
You get a hotbar at the bottom. On 1024x768, you basically got 8 hot-keyed items you can put at the bottom of the screen - similar to what Gothic 3 had going on. Like G3 - this is basically where you really wanna put your weapons and spells you want to really switch b/t. It looks like this - pic courtesy of GameSpot:
(http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2010/138/reviews/939672_20100519_790screen002.jpg)
B/c of the way it looks, basically - I had weapons and potions on the left side of the bottom hotbar; magic on the right side.
Oh, and the color mode settings for European vs US. It's just called "tone map" in the settings, and I wasn't sure if it was talking about color or speech tone (like maybe the language would be different.) I didn't change it until I was in a cave, so I didn't notice the difference. Though someone did say "what's up?" to me right after I set it to US, and I thought it was definitely a language thing. But I changed it back and she said it again, haha. I started a new game and messed with it. Yea, the grass and trees are visibly bright green in US mode, vs a dull green in Eu mode.
Euro vs. American modes is all about the colors. Euro-look looks more gritty and grimy, like the previous Gothic games. American mode makes the game palette basically look more shiny. I'm used to gritty-looking Gothic games, given the dark-nature and style of the old games - so, yeah, I preferred the Euro-look for Arcania.
-
The targetting systems is really more of just a "highlight what's in front of you" type thing, and it seems more for talking to people and looting stuff. For combat I was pretty much switching my weapon and using the left stick to face where I wanted. Though there is a hold the left trigger to lock onto an enemy deal going on. The only problem with that is when you're facing multiple enemies, I'm not sure if there's a method in place to cycle targets. It feels pretty clumsy trying to hit multiple targets with frost/lightning to give yourself breathing room to beat someone down when you're trying to use either a lock on with no target cycle, or aim on the fly with you're right stick. (the aiming like that isn't quite like a console shooter, so it's a little cumbersome.)
-
The targetting systems is really more of just a "highlight what's in front of you" type thing, and it seems more for talking to people and looting stuff.
For combat I was pretty much switching my weapon and using the left stick to face where I wanted. Though there is a hold the left trigger to lock onto an enemy deal going on. The only problem with that is when you're facing multiple enemies, I'm not sure if there's a method in place to cycle targets.
It feels pretty clumsy trying to hit multiple targets with frost/lightning to give yourself breathing room to beat someone down when you're trying to use either a lock on with no target cycle, or aim on the fly with you're right stick. (the aiming like that isn't quite like a console shooter, so it's a little cumbersome.)
No cycling allowed in a console game w/ a targeting system sounds VERY silly to me. :o No wonder I do prefer free-form mouse-aiming for these kind of games...
I was never a big fan of targeting systems, but if a game is gonna have one and allow for you to cycle, there should be some-time allowed for cycling.
There should be an allowed pause there - even if they limit this for a few seconds allowed - so you can cycle to the enemy you want to, without crap going wrong w/ it accidentally targeting the wrong guy. This was one of the concerns I recall w/ Fable X360's targeting system on the consoles - and pretty much, free-aim w/ the mouse on Fable: TLC PC made the targeting system useless (in which a Targeting key was still there in PC version, just in case you wanted to use it - but you're better off w/ just mouselook-aiming).
The above could work or say have the game say go into a Bullettime-like slow-motion mode for a few seconds, as you switch targets...just to (barely) keep the action going, as you do your little cycling...
-
See, the targeting stuff made me think the PC games controlled like an FPS, possibly with the character always facing away from the camera. That's how it feels once you bring up the aiming reticle for the bow/magic. That's another thing, at that point if feels like a third person shooter with lock on. Imagine having a lock on in a typical shooter like Quake or something. It basically makes combat against 1 enemy ridiculously easy, because you can sidestep or roll to dodge ranged attacks and NEVER have your crosshair leave your target.
So basically, 1-2 enemies is cake because of the target lock on. Combat against more enemies can be a chore because suddenly you have to actually aim, which you're not in the habit of doing, and which also feels like it could use some tuning. (maybe some smoothing or acceleration would help)
-
See, the targeting stuff made me think the PC games controlled like an FPS, possibly with the character always facing away from the camera. That's how it feels once you bring up the aiming reticle for the bow/magic. That's another thing, at that point if feels like a third person shooter with lock on. Imagine having a lock on in a typical shooter like Quake or something. It basically makes combat against 1 enemy ridiculously easy, because you can sidestep or roll to dodge ranged attacks and NEVER have your crosshair leave your target.
Quake w/ a lock-on targetting key - yeah, that'd make that game WAY too easy.
So basically, 1-2 enemies is cake because of the target lock on. Combat against more enemies can be a chore because suddenly you have to actually aim, which you're not in the habit of doing, and which also feels like it could use some tuning. (maybe some smoothing or acceleration would help)
The mouselook combat here on Arcania PC works just fine - regardless of how many enemies to take on, b/c you're aiming freely. It's much better than Gothic 1 and 2's targeting system - b/c w/ multiple enemies, it was hard as hell. Gothic 3 PC was the first Gothic game w/ mouselook - and it worked fine. Arcania PC does an even better job on the mouselook combat.
Do you have a PC that can handle Arcania PC's stiff requirements? If so - why not give that version a try and see if you like the controls here. It's just...I dunno, it don't sound like from what you're saying, that Spellbound did a good job adapting things for Arcania X360 on the gamepad from the controls to the UI.
-
Not sure if I could run it. I guess I could get the demo and find out. I've got an Athlon 64 3200, 3.5GB DDR2, 512MB HD4850.
-
I just loaded it back up again to test and make sure. Yep, there's no way to switch your target without releasing the left trigger and then pulling it again, and then it just sort of grabs a target based on where you're looking. (which isn't too precise when facing groups.)
Then I slaughtered all the sheep, and my mom freaked out about it. On my first playthrough I killed a couple and she said "oh my good, is that blood?" and I told her it was sheep's blood, so she told me I'm supposed to protect them, not kill them. This time I killed all of them, and she asked what all that noise was with the sheep, and I told her I slaughtered them all because i didn't want to be a sheperd anymore.
-
Not sure if I could run it. I guess I could get the demo and find out. I've got an Athlon 64 3200, 3.5GB DDR2, 512MB HD4850.
That's better than my rig...
-
I just loaded it back up again to test and make sure. Yep, there's no way to switch your target without releasing the left trigger and then pulling it again, and then it just sort of grabs a target based on where you're looking. (which isn't too precise when facing groups.)
Then I slaughtered all the sheep, and my mom freaked out about it. On my first playthrough I killed a couple and she said "oh my good, is that blood?" and I told her it was sheep's blood, so she told me I'm supposed to protect them, not kill them. This time I killed all of them, and she asked what all that noise was with the sheep, and I told her I slaughtered them all because i didn't want to be a sheperd anymore.
Hahahaha! That really tickled me. :D
I played the demo tonight, twice. It's very pretty for 360. Although the framerate is not great (I'll guess 20 fps), it's very playable, and seems consistent. At first, some of what W7re criticized bothered me, but like him, I got so much into the game that I overlooked it. Yes, the facial animations are poor, and some of the voice work made me wince. But the overall package is damn good action RPG stuff. I'll defer to W7re's extensive descriptions. I think he's got all the details down pretty well. It remains to be seen if the final product is more polished, or is riddled with all the bugs some people seem to fear.
-
I probably sounded pretty harsh in my explanations. I did like the demo though, and would probably buy it if I didn't have a massive backlog already (including DA:O, which I expect is not too far off from what this game is, at least in style and setting)
-
RPGWatch -> Looks like first reviews (not in English) overseas for Arcania are coming in... (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=15903)
-
RPGWatch -> Looks like some German retailers have let the game out early and Jowood has put activation servers up early. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11552#1)
-
IGN -> Arcania: Gothic 4 - Reviews
PC Review -> 7.5. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/112/1127303p1.html)
X360 Review -> 7.0. (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1127292p1.html)
-
Not bad. The X360 version loses points for performance issues and visual inconsistencies but it's still essentially the same experience. I guess it's pretty much in line with its predecessors' ranks.
-
Arcania has been released early in USA at Retail. (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1512736)
DD places like Steam, D2D, Gamersgate should have Arcania unlocked now (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11610) for USA gamers.
-
Stores here got it in a few days ago. I just got my hands on it and I can confirm that its performance is definitely better than the demo; I'm getting much better frames at higher resolutions. The rest of the game's qualities seems to be essentially the same, I'll confirm later.
-
Ok, so here's my experience so far..
In terms of performance, the game is inconsistent. That said, the game's lowest framerate is around towns and indoors. Surprisingly, the outdoors have the best framerate; whether I'm going into caves or scaling mountainsides, the performance is smooth. I've tried playing with the settings and nothing seems to noticeably affect the framerate in towns; I think it's a fundamental flaw in the game.
After finishing the prologue (Feshyr, the island from the demo), the story drops me off on the coast of a neighbouring land. This is where I begin to notice an issue that I would have never known from the demo (since the demo featured a very limited area with very limited character interaction); apparently all the NPC's (with the exception of the main story characters from previous Gothic games) are lazily repeated character models. Occasionally they change the headgear and clothing but they're just a bunch of clones. So that kinda sucks, especially that some of the NPC's are significant characters (kings, barons, etc.) and they all look exactly the same. That just really pulls me out of the experience and breaks the immersion.
Aside from those points, the game really feels like a Gothic game is how generic it is.
-
X, did you install the first patch that's now available?
-
X, did you install the first patch that's now available?
I just downloaded it (spotted it on patches-scrolls.de right after I posted). Some people on the forums are saying it did wonders but some others say it didn't change anything. I'll confirm soon.
Correction: the auto-updater already did the job for me... So apparently the performance improvement over the demo is what they were talking about. Yeah, so.. Not a huge improvement. Hopefully the next patch will actually have some substance.
-
I just downloaded it (spotted it on patches-scrolls.de right after I posted). Some people on the forums are saying it did wonders but some others say it didn't change anything. I'll confirm soon.
Correction: the auto-updater already did the job for me... So apparently the performance improvement over the demo is what they were talking about. Yeah, so.. Not a huge improvement. Hopefully the next patch will actually have some substance.
When does it try to auto-update? When you try to boot the game up?
Can you shut the auto-updating feature off?
-
When does it try to auto-update? When you try to boot the game up?
Can you shut the auto-updating feature off?
Yes, when you boot the game the auto-updater pops up. It only show sup when there's an update available because I haven't seen it since I installed the game. I think it's built right into the game exe because I can't find it anywhere in the game folder.
Basically it pops up only when it detects that an update is available and you have the choice to update or click "cancel" to play the current version.
-
4.0 from Eurogamer for all platforms.
Brutal review. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-20-arcania-gothic-4-review)
At one stage I was on the trail of two mages, the only characters in the world who could help me to reach an utterly crucial location. One key NPC on the trail demanded I head back into that awful bloody wobble-forest, which I'd already criss-crossed numerous, bilious times on other minor tasks, to find his lost hat.
Let me get this straight. I'm wearing more metal than a commercial airliner, there's fire dripping from my fingertips and I'm brandishing a polearm the size of a tree. I'm a walking war-god on a quest to save the world, and you're asking me to find... your lost hat?
How about I pull your head off? Then you won't need your hat.
LMAO! ;D
-
:D Hehe! Too bad about the game, though. The demo made it seem more promising.
-
:D Hehe! Too bad about the game, though. The demo made it seem more promising.
Hmm...maybe you got the hat, Cobra? :P
I actually liked the Arcania PC Demo - namely b/c the combat felt much improved. I'm gonna do like I do w/ most games - wait for the inevitable price-drop.
-
The game is so-so, I can understand what's likable about it but I can also empathize with anyone who flat-out hates it.
That particular "straw hat" quest is kind of an inside joke. The dialogue with the mage, Vultus, is sort of a play on the RPG structure. The main character asks something like "So you'll just give me th information I need? Ok, so my quest is complete? No running around fetching things? Fantastic!" Then Vultus can give you a quest to go fetch his "straw hat" by saying something like "Well, I'd really like you to get my hat from the ruins [etc.]..."
I've come across quite a few "nudge, nudge, wink wink" sort of quests. It's part of the game's charm, subtly breaking the fourth wall, but they can be pretty cheesy.
-
The game is so-so, I can understand what's likable about it but I can also empathize with anyone who flat-out hates it.
I can bet that the removal of all the RPG elements and immersion elements that made Gothic what it was and turning it into more of an ARPG is what might be aggravating most Gothic gamers.
Gothic fans - they probably should follow PB w/ the Risen series, not Spellbound.
I must admit that during the Arcania Demo - I really dug the much improved combat, UI, and graphics. I just didn't feel like it was a Gothic game - and they should just call the next game Arcania 2 and let it be its own thing entirely.
-
Jowood Forums -> Arcania: Gothic 4 - Fall of Setarrif [expansion] announced. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=174278)
Hi Community,
as i have taken response for Megalomaniacs community tasks, here the first news about the ArcaniA - gothic 4 Add On!
Spellbound Entertainment und JoWooD announce "ArcaniA: Gothic 4 – Fall of Setarrif":
A mysterious demon roams Argaan, focusing all his devastating powers on the destruction of the coastal city of Setariff. Unaware, the nameless Hero returns to the court for an audience with the now sane King Rhobar III, who tells him of the dire events which have befallen the land and the urgent need of a worthy champion.
For the first time gamers can play other famous characters from the Gothic series! Use the unique skills of your allies to meet the challenges ahead.
Players will also find new locations, including new cities, coastal regions, jungles and volcanic mountains.
-
VE3D - Arcania: Fall Of Setarrif - Trailer. (http://ve3d.ign.com/videos/79262/Other/General/Trailer/Arcania-Fall-of-Setarrif)
VE3D - Arcania: Fall Of Setarrif - Info. (http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/59330/Arcania-Fall-of-Setarrif-Trailer)
Arcania: Fall of Setarrif Trailer
Mar 02, 2011 at 6:40 AM - Jube - 4 Comments
JoWood has put out a German trailer for ArcaniA – Fall of Setarrif, a standalone add-on for ArcaniA: Gothic IV (?). Although the trailer is in German, there is very little talking and I reckon it's far more entertaining if you can't understand it.
A new threat casts its shadow over the Southern Isles. A mysterious demon, consumed by hatred, terrifies the population and pools his force against the coastal city of Setarrif. The dramatic situation exacerbates after a volcanic eruption in the mountains nearby. Thereupon the nameless hero joins forces with his strongest allies and courageously faces the new menace.
Especially exciting: The new adventure provides the possibility to experience the compelling storyline from a different character’s point of view for the very first time!
Features
* Standalone Add-On
* Experience and fight as your famous allies and use their unique skills
* Battle all new enemies & monsters
* New environments such as jungles, the volcanic mountains and the coastal regions
* Import your character from the main game or choose a predefined archetype.
-
Bluesnews -> Arcania: Fall of Setarrif delayed indefinitely. (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=120014)
ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif Legal Woes
[Mar 23, 2011, 5:15 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments
DreamCatcher and JoWooD announce an indefinite delay for ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif, indicating that this is due to "unclear and diverse legal positions" between themselves and the financiers of the standalone expansion for ArcaniA - Gothic 4. Here's word:
Toronto, ON: March 23rd 2011; DreamCatcher Games and JoWooD announce the delay of the add-on “ArcaniA – Fall of Setarrif.” The legal background of the official add-on to “ArcaniA - Gothic 4” is unclear and diverse legal positions with the BVT fund that financed the main game are present.
“It’s uncertain whether the game can be released onto the market in its current form”, explains Stefan Berger, Business Development Manager JoWooD, “Of course this must be investigated and settled before the release - unfortunately”.
Due to this fact JoWooD officially announces, that the release of the Add-On has been set on hold and will be delayed indefinitely for now.
-
RPGWatch -> Arcania's NEW Patch released removes DRM-check. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13500)