Overwritten.net
Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: MysterD on Thursday, October 12, 2006, 08:29:07 PM
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Update -> 12-6-2010:
Gothic 3 joins GOG and is $9.99 - patched up to Community Patch 1.6. (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/gothic_3)
For those who are curious, Community Patch 1.74 (http://www.worldofgothic.com/dl/?go=dlfile&fileid=166) is the newest version of the G3 Community Patches.
OLDER:
Gothic 3: Enhanced Edition
Gothic 3 - Community Patch 1.74 released. (http://www.bluesnews.com/s/111157/gothic-3-community-patch)
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Gothic 3 (Vanilla) -> REVIEWS
US Reviews:
7.6 from GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/gothic3/review.html?page=1&sid=6162673&part=rss&tag=gs_pc&subj=6162673)
5 from 1Up (out of 10) -- owwie! (http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3155631)
4.9 from IGN....major freakin' OUCH! (http://pc.ign.com/articles/747/747903p1.html)
1½ stars from GameSpy (out of 5 stars)....VERY OUCH (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/gothic-iii/747441p1.html)
Euro Version Reviews:
9.0 (out of 10) from HonestGamers (http://www.honestgamers.com/systems/content.php?console_id=13&review_id=5166&game_id=22368)
88% from PixelRage of Romania (http://www.pixelrage.ro/articles/Gothic-3-English-Review/266,0.html)
86 from Playfuls.com (out of 100) (http://www.playfuls.com/gamespace_70_review_7831_Gothic_3.html)
8.5 from ComputersAndVideoGames (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=147535)
85 from Computer Games of Romania (http://www.computergames.ro/en/games/viewitem/id/302/name/gothic-3/section/review.html)
8.1 from Jolt UK (http://www.jolt.co.uk/index.php?articleid=7336)
8.0 from Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=68848)
79 from DriverHeaven (out of 100) (http://www.driverheaven.net/gamingreviews/gothic_3/)
7.5 from GamersHell.com (http://www.gamershell.com/pc/gothic_3/review.html)
7.0 from DarkZero (out of 10) (http://darkzero.co.uk/v4/games/review/732/gothic-iii/pc)
7.0 from GameSlave (http://www.gameslave.co.uk/content/gothic-3-review/)
7.0 from HookerGamers.com (http://www.hookedgamers.com/forwarder.html?http://www.hookedgamers.com/reviews/2006/11/gothic_3/)
2.0 from RewiredMind(out of 10) (http://www.rewiredmind.com/review/gothiciii)
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Ok, so I got to see a lot more of Gothic 3! A friend of mine actually got the UK version. After I showed him Gothic and Gothic 2 he got so psyched he just ordered it :P hehe
So, first impressions:
After installing the patch the game is not quite as buggy as previously indicated. It does have its little bugs, but so far there have been no crashes or any serious graphical issues. The game looks decent, though it can be a little on the heavy side, especially when the details are set to High. It usually jitters and stalls a bit when you first load it up, regardless of quality level, but then it smoothens out. Graphically it's an impressive improvement over its predecessors. I'm still hoping for a patch to improve overall performance.
The loading time is a bit of a drag, but you only have to load once. There are no loading sequences, although the game may hang for a few moments as you enter a new region. It's not that bad though. The world is reminiscent of Oblivion, but on a smaller scale.
The controls are not bad, definitely a vast improvement! The only issue I'm having with them is that the mouse camera controls are kinda sluggish. There's a lot of momentum when you move the mouse. It's not terrible, but I have to be very aware of how I move the mouse, and I have to sort of "pace" myself with the camera. It's most noticeable in the 1st person view; which brings me to "Hey, there's a 1st person view!" Pretty cool, it's a lot like Oblivion or Thief, and you can see your limbs.
The interface is clearly better than before, and the new inventory is a Godsend! Overall I'm happy with it, but there is one teeny tiny little detail: the trade interface. When you trade it brings up 4 panels: Merchant's goods, your inventory, "Buy" panel, and "Sell" panel. The idea is that you can trade with the value of goods as well as gold. If you're trading goods and they don't equate the value of the goods you'd like there's a 'gold difference' button, which basically fills out the remaining equal value in gold. The only little thing you have to always keep in mind is that when you want to sell items DO NOT click TRADE until you've clicked the 'gold difference' button, otherwise you'll 'agree' to trade your goods with the merchant for nothing.
The sound is great, and the voice acting is not bad, though they have changed a lot of familiar voices. Basically everyone's voice is significantly deeper than the previous games, which works out really well for the player character (I think he sounded too wussy before). Oh, and I think Michael Gough's voice is in! He's the guy who did Cain in the Diablo games! I like his voice :P It's very reassuring ;D
There is one thing peculiar I've noticed about the voice acting though.. They seem to kinda mispronounce things, especially names. For example, there's one character called Javier which we all know sounds like "ha-vi-ehr" (it's a Latin name), but everyone in the game insists on pronouncing it "jay-vee-ir".. "Go look for Jay-vee-ir!" I kept looking for a guy called "Jay-vee-ir" (it was never spelled out for me, there were no subtitles/captions), and it took a bit to realize that "Javier" was "Jay-vee-ir".. I just thought it was weird.. It's like pronouncing Michael like "my-tshyle" it's weird.
All in all, it looks like a great game with a lot to offer. It still needs a bit pf patching here and there, but it looks good so far.
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There is one thing peculiar I've noticed about the voice acting though.. They seem to kinda mispronounce things, especially names. For example, there's one character called Javier which we all know sounds like "ha-vi-ehr" (it's a Latin name), but everyone in the game insists on pronouncing it "jay-vee-ir".. "Go look for Jay-vee-ir!" I kept looking for a guy called "Jay-vee-ir" (it was never spelled out for me, there were no subtitles/captions), and it took a bit to realize that "Javier" was "Jay-vee-ir".. I just thought it was weird.. It's like pronouncing Michael like "my-tshyle" it's weird.
That is funny.
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Maybe they were trying to be different and decided to pronounce Javier different. :P
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Maybe they were trying to be different and decided to pronounce Javier different. :P
Haha I guess, but that was just the first of many others LOL! I bumped into a guy who's name is spelled "Silas" (if anyone is familiar it is ponounced "Sahy-luhs" i.e. the albino monk in The Da Vinci Code) but he calls himself "See-lis".. I ask him about a guy called "Bufford" which they apparently pronounced "Byoo-ferd".. Geez I can't wait to meet "Manuel" or "Juan" who'll probably be "Man-yoo-wel" and "Joo-wan" It just sounds really weird haha! :P It's like a bunch of culture-deprived guys did the voice acting!
I don't know if I'll get over it, it just sounds funny almost everytime I hear them pronounce names :P
I've come to realize that Save/Load times can be frustrating considering how easy it is to die in Gothic 3. Saving takes about 10 seconds, so when I hit the quicksave key the game freezes for about 10 secs while it saves. Loading on the other hand takes about a minute. It doesn't sound like much, but when a single wolf (one of the weaker monsters) can potentially kill me because I hit 'attack' at the wrong moment, you can bet I'm reloading my saves a lot. It's pretty tedious, but I've seen worse.
Speaking of dying easily, one of the contributing factors is that pretty much all enemies will attack you in combo attacks. That's fine, but there are some monsters you cannot block or parry. The devs mentioned that the new combat system makes you look for openings in your opponents moves, so you can attack when they're most vulnerable (right before or right after an attack). That works very nicely with humanoid enemies (humans, orcs, goblins, etc.), but with certain monsters it's extremely difficult to see an opening or to even get one. For example the Minecrawlers; when they attack it's literally like a jackhammer coming at you, and I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but 1) you can't block it and 2) they can continuously attack you endlessly. The only way to take one out is to rush it and get as many hits as you can before it starts attacking; if it does start attacking and you're lucky enugh that it missed just run away and wait until it stops. It's weird and irritating especially compared to the minecrawlers from the previous games.
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So Xessive, is this the best Gothic so far?
I ain't played Gothic 3 yet, but I loved Gothic 1. Gothic 2 was good, but it was no Gothic 1 -- especially in the storyline and all.
Will there be an SDK for G3? Any clue???
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I'm liking it so far, there are plenty of side quests. I havenb't gotten far enough in the story to really know how good it is, but the prologue was pretty good. The intro shows you and some companions arriving at the mainland, which has been overrun by orcs. You're literally thrown right into the action when you start.
I like that your friends Diego, Gorn, Lester, and the fire mage (I can't remember his name, it starts with M) are with you.
My favourite Gothic is also the first one. In Gothic 3 the combat system definitely needs some tweaking. Either way this one may become my favourite Gothic.
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Now that I've played Gothic 3 a lot mroe I can say that yes it is bug ridden, and unbalanced. Most of the bugs are gameplay-related, and there are few technical bugs.
I am certain there's a memory leak though, the game stalls more the longer you play and the load times get longer. I also discovered that there's an error in the INI which limits the memory usage drastically.. Even lower than what "low" settings are supposed to be. I fixed that, but hopefully it will be addressed officially in a new patch.
The gameplay bugs really make the game frustrating at times. After going through the JoWood Gothic 3 forums (http://forum.jowood.com/forumdisplay.php?f=462) and the World of Gothic forums (http://www.worldofgothic.com/) I realized a number of bugs. The Mincrawler thing I was talking about earlier? That's a bug. And I also figured out why the hell I die too frickin' easily! Apparently the Armor values are insignificant. For every 10 points of armor you're wearing you only get 1 point toward defence. The armor I'm wearing gives me 10 against blades, 10 against impact, and 20 against "missiles" which basically means I only have 1 against blades, 1 against impact, and 2 against "missiles" (by the way the translation is pretty rudimentry, by "missiles" I think they meant "projectiles").
There are tons of other gameplay bugs, which will hopefully be addressed A.S.A.P. As it is the game feels more like a beta.
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Now that I've played Gothic 3 a lot mroe I can say that yes it is bug ridden, and unbalanced. Most of the bugs are gameplay-related, and there are few technical bugs.
Uh-oh....
I am certain there's a memory leak though, the game stalls more the longer you play and the load times get longer.
Not good.
I also discovered that there's an error in the INI which limits the memory usage drastically.. Even lower than what "low" settings are supposed to be. I fixed that, but hopefully it will be addressed officially in a new patch.
Was it hard for you to fix???? Or did you just change the value in the INI yourself?
The gameplay bugs really make the game frustrating at times. After going through the JoWood Gothic 3 forums (http://forum.jowood.com/forumdisplay.php?f=462) and the World of Gothic forums (http://www.worldofgothic.com/) I realized a number of bugs. The Mincrawler thing I was talking about earlier? That's a bug. And I also figured out why the hell I die too frickin' easily! Apparently the Armor values are insignificant. For every 10 points of armor you're wearing you only get 1 point toward defence. The armor I'm wearing gives me 10 against blades, 10 against impact, and 20 against "missiles" which basically means I only have 1 against blades, 1 against impact, and 2 against "missiles" (by the way the translation is pretty rudimentry, by "missiles" I think they meant "projectiles").
Whoa.......no wonder you are getting your ass handed to you. That sucks. They forgot the 10's part on the value! Bleh!!!
There are tons of other gameplay bugs, which will hopefully be addressed A.S.A.P. As it is the game feels more like a beta.
Like what? Quest bugs? Journal bugs???? Any nasty CTD's (crash to desktops)???
Games really have to stop being released in such a buggy state. -- especially such high-profile ones. Hopefully, the US Version retail box will be in a nice patched-up state, once it hits our shores....
Would you say this is buggier than Morrowind was out the box??? Morrowind was pretty buggy, out the box.....
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The INI issue was easy enough, I just adjusted the values myself. Basically the mem string for "High" (ResourceCache.u32SpeedTreeMaxMemUsage_High=100000) is missing a 0 at the end of it.. So do the "Medium" and "Low".. They've got the solution up on almost all the forums now.
Luckily I have yet to experience any crashes or CTD's.. Nothing major besides the memory leak. The gameplay bugs are all things like quest bugs, journal bugs, dialogue bugs (i.e. I clicked "Yes" but my character said "No"!!), and several other similar bugs.
To compare it with Morrowind, I'd say Morrowind had a majority of technical and graphical bugs, but fewer gameplay bugs.. Gothic 3 on the hand has a majority of gameplay bugs. They can be irritating, but the stuttering of the framerates is infuriating, especially when it happens in the middle of a fight!
Overall the game feels half-baked.. All that considered it still got some very good scores and ratings!
EDIT:
You know there's a bug when the game performance increases when you switch to High quality detail! I just switched to High just to see how much greater it would look, and the game actually runs better!
The memory leak is a real bitch though.. I can't stay in thge game for more than a ½ hour before it starts bogging down. And if I visit too many places, especially if I teleport a lot, it gets really heavy. It even takes about 4-5 minutes for the game to shutdown after I click QUIT. So, that's one issue they really need to put on the 'FIX NOW' list.
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GameSlave review added for Gothic 3 (Euro) at beginning of the thread.
And what an orchestra. If there's one area which Gothic 3 executes flawlessly it's in its soundtrack. A diverse array of pieces that include everything from a female singer to a choir, Gothic 3 is a joy to listen to from start to finish.
You know, The Gothic games have always had great soundtracks -- G1 and G2.
Xessive, do you feel the same about the music as GameSlave does on the Gothic 3 score???
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I feel the music in Gothic 3 is a big step forward from the previous games. When you're in the 'forest' environment the music is very reminiscent of Oblivion. At first the only music changes I noticed were town, wilderness, caves, and combat.. Then when I first arrived at the desert the music completely changed into something with an Arabic style and some female vocals! I instantly started paying more attention to the music every time I enter a enter a different environment. The music is very well done.
The combat music is helpful because it actually alerts me that something is trying to attack. There's only one part of the music I don't like, and it's kinda irritating. In the 'forest' music there's a part that starts to build up just like the combat music, it alerts me, I pull out my weapon and look around only to realize the music suddenly calms down. The music can get a little repetitious, but I don't mind it too much, and I'm grateful each region has it's own distinct sound.
Y'know, if they fix the bugs and the game performs really well you and Que would really like it! As it it stands the bugs interfere too much with the gameplay dynamic, and I'm trying really hard to ignore them and enjoy the game. The game performs beautifully in "Varant" the desert country.
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More Gothic 3 patch news, from RPGWatch (the new location for RPGDot):
http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=2430
Piranha Bytes Mike Hoge has posted some news about the next Gothic 3 patch in the World of Gothic boards.
According to Hoge most of the Piranhas have worked on the 2nd patch until last week, so it seems, patch #2 is likely to be released soon. The patch will include bugfixes of course, more finetuning and completely redesign the crossbow. PB also says, they need more time to finetune the close combat system, so that hints to another patch.
Source: World of Gothic
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Good.. good.
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DriverHeaven review added to top of the thread
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New patch v1.08 has been released!
Gothic 3 @ 3D Gamers (http://www.3dgamers.com/games/gothic3/downloads/)
Gothic III v1.08 Patch notes
24.10.2006
0. POSSIBLE EXPLOIT
===================
To avoid using the patches (same for 1.07) as an exploit:
- unequip all items
- save game
- apply patch
- load game
Otherwise equipment bonuses will be counted doubly after
reequipping.
I. TECHNICAL BUGFIXES
=====================
Build 1.08
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- Several crash bugs fixed
- Performance increased
- Combat AI for several monsters improved/simplified (e.g. boar)
- Lots of AI Fixes ( Murderer Reaction from party member fixed, AI comments improved)
- Sleeping NPC's AI reactions improved
- Camera Control: Inverting the X-axis is now saved
- Lensflare/Sun doesn't shine through mountains and buildings anymore
- Rhobar and Zuben are dead after defeating them
- Revolution mechanics improved
- Lester does now talk even when not sitting at the campfire
- Epilogue fixed
- "No mission success after 2 times "not enough gold" fixed
Build 1.07
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- Glowing vegetation bug in older shader versions has been fixed
- Several crashes and bugs related to the physics system have been fixed
- Flickering objects and invisible particle systems bugs (mostly fire) were fixed
- Some bugs were fixed which lead to the hero being invisible after loading
- Some bugs were fixed which lead to skeletons and golems disapperaing after death
- Z-Fighting bugs and alpha object order bugs were fixed, especially magic barrier vs. sky plane
- Several bugs with rendering objects under water were fixed
- An illumination crash bug on multicore systems was fixed
- Several bugs and optimizations relating the the dynamic music system were done
- A bug was fixed that lead to the damage value for modified weapons being not be displayed correctly
- The mouse cursor sometimes appeared at wrong positions. This was fixed.
- We fixed a bug where, after loading a save game, unique treasure chests would hand out the first item in the list again
- A bug in the soul travel spell was fixed (hero did not recognize that he has transformed back, resulting in an invincible state)
- The height of wade- and swim effects was adjusted
- A bug was fixed that calculated the fall damage (sometimes too low)
- Fixed a bug where skills granted by items would not be shown as enabled
- Fixed a bug where when running in fullscreen and using draw scale the GUI's mouse sensitivity would be reduced
- A crash was fixed that sometimes happened after casting the fire rain spell
- Several bugs related to the Pause mode and Quickload/Quicksave were fixed
- Several optimizations related to arrows were done
- Bugs related to following NPCs were fixed
- A bugs was fixed that reversed the order of tabs in the mission screen
II. CONTENT FIXES
=============
Build 1.08
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- Vak and Gonzales are now still there after a revolution
- There are now more weapons at traders and in chests
- Annoying NPCs from Faring arena removed
- Story and Missions in Al shedim improved. (Lester,Saturas,Wutras,etc...)
- Snorre's ancestor stone fixed
- All problems of Hogar and the southern Orcs fixed
- Ronar Trading fixed
- Less monsters/Orcs in Nordmar
- Vibald is now carrying explosive arrows
- Bogir dialog fixed
- Osmund dialog fixed
Build 1.07
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- Navigation problems in temples and Ishtar fixed
- Phil in Kap Dun now fights in Revolutions
- Fixed the Montera slaves that walked around the well and through the fire
- Turned around a chest near Vengard
- Fixed a problem with Daryl's Orcs
- Fixed Scavenger problem near Porgan
- Kamak doesn't care about the monsters anymore
- Fixed Peer's daily routine
- Remove wolf skin in Gamal's tent
- Fixed flying Orc in Vengard
- Arena Fighters in Silden have now collission
- NPCs now react to drawing the weapon in Silden
- Turned around a chest in Silden
- Destination point for Vengard stone moved
- Removed some healing plants in Myrtana
- Several plants with permanent effect werde added
- Seruk now stays in town after Revolution
- Removed some heavy smalltalk groups
- Kor Shach's navigation was adjusted
- Tippler's hut is now furnitured
- Flying objects after changing sectors were fixed
- Lukjan Overtime quest was fixed
- Sanford's letter mechanic was improved
- Tyler now goes to Trelis
- Cyrus now leaves the party mode
- Avogadro now goes to the farm after the quest succeeding
- Kelvin now goes to the temple
- Osko now goes to the farm
- Some dialog fixes with Flint in Faring were done
- The healing potion quest from Pranck is now solvable
- Spike was fixed
- Experience points in Kap Dun were adjusted
- Nemrok quest and reputation fixed
- Mojok dialog mechanic adjusted
- Bored guard dialog fixed
- Folleck dialog fixed
- Ali dialog fixed
- Gunock talks about Grok dialog mechanic fixed
- Sulfock dialog mechanic fixed
- Lares dialog fixed
- Sulfur was added to traders' treasuresets
- Antidote was added to traders' treasuresets
- Yepas has now the correct political alignment
- It's now easier to hit alligators
- It's now easier to hit the straw wolves near Montera
- Seruk's guild adjusted
- Traders have now more water
- Kamak's guild adjusted
- Map coordinates fixed
- Several recipes fixed
- Wenzel doesn't attack the orcs problem fixed
- Nasib's enclave fixed
- Staff and robe traders adjusted
- Stone tablets distribution improved
- Beds and chests at Nomad camps added
- Yasmin's und Alima's daily routine adjusted
- Navigation problems in Mora Sul fixed
- Hamid's daily routine adjusted
- Masil's daily routine adjusted
- Navigation zones in Al Shedim fixed
- Monster distribution in Al Shedim adjusted
- Quest mechanics in Al Shedim improved
- Dialog with Lester in desert fixed
- Fasim now invites you to the arena
- Reputation mechanic in Mora Sul improved
- Lukor dialog fixed
- Angar's guild changed, Party member added
- Several fixes in Ornarok's quest.
- Dialog problem with Yasmin fixed
- Ilja's amulet is now unique
- You can't buy a flame sword now
- Raw meat bugs were moved to the right inventory category
- You can buy more maps at traders
- Lukor quest fixed
- Ali's key fixed
III. CHANGES/ADDITIONS
======================
Build 1.08
----------
- Crossbow handling improved
Build 1.07
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- A sort order for skills was implemented
- Strings can now have UTF-16 format
- Character now won't slide if the ground entity has a volume < 3m3
- The HUD now automatically selects the smallest map that contains the player's position upon opening the map list
- A sort order for spells was implemented
- The sort order for consumables, artefacts and documents was improved
- Several Balancing values have been adjusted
- Summoned party members now defend the player
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That's it, Piranha....keep them patches coming.... :)
That would be great that once it hits the States, since it will be patched in the US box, that the game sheds most of the issues it had from the Euro Retail Version 1.0.
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GamePressure got their online Game Guide for G3 up. (http://guides.gamepressure.com/gothic3/)
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A nasty 2.0 from RewiredMind(out of 10) (http://www.rewiredmind.com/review/gothiciii)
Rating this game has never been easier. Stay the hell away from Gothic III. The amount of glitches in this game instantly ruins whatever experience it aimed to achieve. There are not enough patches in PC gaming history to sort this one out.
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The English language UK version of Gothic 3 is $34.90 on their 48 Hour Madness...then of course, you'd also pay for shipping, too... (http://www.gogamer.com/Gothic-3-Front-Page_stcVVproductId6127390VVcatId444710VVviewprod.htm)
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The English language UK version of Gothic 3 is $34.90 on their 48 Hour Madness...then of course, you'd also pay for shipping, too... (http://www.gogamer.com/Gothic-3-Front-Page_stcVVproductId6127390VVcatId444710VVviewprod.htm)
It would be more worthwhile to just wait for the US release. It'll have some much needed fixes as well!
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It would be more worthwhile to just wait for the US release. It'll have some much needed fixes as well!
Plus, US version retails new for $40, anyways -- which'll be out in like around 2 weeks, anyways.
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Gothic 3 gets patch 1.09 (http://www.gothic3.com/index.php?do=097099116105111110061108097110103117097103101038108097110103061101110103038112114101118112097103101061110101119115046112104112038112114101118115099101110101061)
Gothic 3 - Patch 1.09 OnlineGothic 3 - Patch 1.09 Online [PB] MR
This patch only addresses an issue that can lead to a crash when saving the game under special system configurations especially after playing for a longer time. No other changes to 1.08 have been made.
Patch 1.09 Changelog (http://download.piranha-bytes.com/gothic3/Changelog-109.txt)
Download Gothic 3 Patch 1.09 (62MB) (http://www.gothic3.com/index.php?do=097099116105111110061109101100105097)
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G3 interview w/ the Exec Producer of Aspyr (North America), Blaine Christine for the US Release of G3 coming up (http://gothic3.aspyr.com/default/news/14)
Exec Producer Blaine Christine Talks Gothic 3
Aspyr’s Blaine Christine talks about the North American launch of Gothic 3, which ships to stores next week.
Hi, Blaine.
Hi.
Nice hair.
Thanks.
Gothic 3 has been out in Europe for almost a month now. Now that the game is finally coming to North America, are gamers over here going to get something different than their European counterparts when they pick up a copy at the store?
Well first off, we just want to be clear that there is only one version of Gothic 3 worldwide. The core gameplay, graphics, etc. are the same whether you bought the game in Germany last month or will be purchasing it this month in the U.S. And, obviously, the North American version will have English text and great voice over recorded this past summer.
Some great news for the patient North American fans though. The extra time has allowed us to implement all of the fixes and changes that are included in the first two European patches. When you buy the North American version of Gothic 3, just load up and play.
So what kind of fixes and changes are we talking about?
Developer Piranha Bytes has made many improvements since the game first shipped in Europe. Melee combat with creatures has been tweaked so that wild boars will no longer dispatch the hero with ease and go on to ravage entire villages. For the spellcasters out there, many of the spells now scale in damage in relation to the Arcane Knowledge attribute, making spells such as Fireball useful all the way to the end of the game for extended face melting pleasure. These tweaks also make it easier to focus on magic even earlier in the game. Additionally, there have been many fixes to resolve minor issues found with some of the quests and game endings to ensure that players are properly rewarded for their efforts.
Now that we’ve got you cornered in your office, let’s talk more about the magic in the game. Usually in RPGs such as this, the magic user route is the most fun to take, what with all of the blowing things up and summoning of minions and such. Can you give us more detail on how you develop as a spell caster in the game, specifically early?
Developing your spell caster character is similar to a warrior or archer build, but instead of visiting trainers for new abilities you will be visiting shrines and mages. Due to the potency of magic you will probably find yourself resting a bit more often than a fighter would so that you can recharge your mana. But with some smart decision-making and the right equipment, you too will be able to last through long battles as fighters do.
Go into detail about “light” and “dark” mage routes.
First let’s clarify that spell casting in Gothic 3 is not reliant on a skill tree, but only your Ancient Knowledge attribute. That is to say that if you want to get the “Fire Rain” spell, you only need your Ancient Knowledge to be high enough. You don’t necessarily have to learn “Fireball” first.
With that said, building a “light” or “dark” mage is simply a matter of choosing the spells that you think fulfill that description. If you want to make a “dark mage” type of character, then you will pick up spells such as Army of Darkness, Summon Demon, and Poison—basically just about any of the spells from the god Beliar. If you want to make a “light mage” then you’ll probably take more spells from the god Innos such as Healing and Banish Evil.
How does playing as a more pure magic user change how you play the game, or which quest routes you take?
A pure magic user is going to play the game very differently from a more balanced character build. If all of your Learning Points are going into Ancient Knowledge, then that means you are going light on Strength. As such, a pure magic user will be spending a lot of effort and mana to keep enemies outside of striking range or even avoiding combat altogether with some magic trickery (which can be quite entertaining!)
If your character is completely invested in magic, then you will most certainly be avoiding the arena combat quests since magic isn’t allowed. However, you will find that those big area effect spells that you’ve worked so hard to obtain do a great job of taking out those strong enemies that you’d otherwise have to spend ages trading blows with.
What is your favorite end-game spell?
If you ever catch me laughing maniacally at my desk, it’s probably because I’m casting Meteor. Calling down a huge comet from the sky to land in the middle of your opponents and send them flying is incredibly satisfying!
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This looks like a very nice Journal System.
Xessive, do you like this Journal System G3 has...?
(http://www.hookedgamers.com/reviews/2006/11/gothic_3/image04.jpg)
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It looks nice enough, and from what I experienced it had good points but more bad points.
The good:
-The quests are categorized by town/camp.
-The map in the quest log can be sometimes more helpful than the world map (it actually displays camp locations).
The bad:
-There are no journal entries. When you select a quest it only shows the relevant dialogue in chronological order.
-The journal does not give you any useful information about your quests at all, besides a transcript of the dialogue which is often vague.
-It gives you no bearing as to how far or near the given quest would be from the its starting location. Sometimes it's right next to you, and sometimes it's far FAR away, like irrelevantly far. A small marker to show the general destination would have been extremely helpful. Needless to say it's very easy to get lost.
-It would have been nice to be able to sort the quests as well. They can pile up.
The journal was generally one of the most complained about features on the official boards. It's better than nothing, but it's not particularly good.
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It looks nice enough, and from what I experienced it had good points but more bad points.
The good:
-The quests are categorized by town/camp.
-The map in the quest log can be sometimes more helpful than the world map (it actually displays camp locations).
Very nice. :)
The bad:
-There are no journal entries. When you select a quest it only shows the relevant dialogue in chronological order.
-The journal does not give you any useful information about your quests at all, besides a transcript of the dialogue which is often vague
That's odd. It's cool that it shows dialogue, but it should also state what the player is to do next, like most PC RPG's like next to the dialogue....
-It gives you no bearing as to how far or near the given quest would be from the its starting location. Sometimes it's right next to you, and sometimes it's far FAR away, like irrelevantly far. A small marker to show the general destination would have been extremely helpful. Needless to say it's very easy to get lost.
Ick,
-It would have been nice to be able to sort the quests as well. They can pile up.
Ick again.
The journal was generally one of the most complained about features on the official boards. It's better than nothing, but it's not particularly good.
I hope there's plans of Piranha of uphauling it and modifying the Journal......
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Gothic 3 Impressions @ IGN (http://pc.ign.com/articles/746/746509p1.html)
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Looks like the next Gothic 3 patch is planned in 2-3 weeks, in EARLY December (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=2829)
According to posts in the Jowood and World of Players Forums, the next Gothic 3 patch is scheduled for early december (quote: in 2 -3 weeks) and will address at least the ambient sound bug, no more has been disclosed so far.
Source: Gamestar
Newsbit options: Comments (0) | Forward this newsbit | Link to this Newsbit
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IGN w/ a vicious review on this one (http://pc.ign.com/articles/747/747903p1.html)
Unfortunately, the quests themselves don't offer much variety, consisting mostly of fetch and kill quests. If you don't like a certain batch of quests, you can always move on to the next town. However, this means whenever you return to a town you'll have to deal with the game's quest log. Like many other aspects of Gothic III, the quest log stumbles around on the shaky wall dividing a game's drive to mimic reality and be user-friendly. While the log can be organized based on where a quest was obtained, the descriptions are woefully inadequate. Snippets of your conversation with the NPC are recorded, which many times provides little to no insight on what you're supposed to do. Even when an entire quest conversation had been recorded, the goal still could still be vague, which is where the "realism" part comes in. It makes sense for an NPC to not know where a specific cave is or where a plot-important NPC is holed up, and it's part of the fun of Gothic III to find out exactly what the deal is. Still, it's far too easy to forget what you were doing or where quest givers were in a certain area if you've been hacking around in other parts.
This sounds like the mess you were talking about, Xessive. Sheesh....
The nod towards game realism over user-friendliness continues with the placement of teleportation stones. These things can be picked up in every community and allow the player instantaneous travel to that area afterwards.
Cool.
While a few are easy to find, it eventually becomes a gigantic pain to nail all these down since they're tucked away in obscure locations. Sure, it may make sense that a teleportation stone may not be in an obvious place if it's a valuable item. After all, nobody leaves a diamond necklace sitting on their front stoop, right? Unfortunately it translates into an unnecessarily frustrating experience for the gamer to hunt them all down. In Geldern and Braga, for instance, we rooted around for over an hour before discovering the stones were being carried around by certain town dwellers. We only found this out by randomly knocking them out. In other communities, the stones are buried in random treasure chests, ensuring you'll waste large amounts of time.
You mean there isn't like a main quest find these stones?!?!!?
The game's need to stay true to realism is starkly contrasted by the combat, which proves strikingly shallow and glitchy. Just to give you an idea, we were able to slaughter the entire town of Trelis by repeatedly clicking the left mouse button to kill an opponent with sword swings, running and hiding behind a wall, and then repeating. Pressing and holding LMB allows for a power swing, parrying with a weapon or shield is accomplished by holding the RMB, and from there a quick strike can be initiated with a LMB click. Even with these options, nothing remains as effective as jamming LMB. The game automatically directs you to an opponent should there be a group around, and you can switch up targets if you like by turning your character around. While locked in, nobody else will attack you unless they're firing arrows or magic blasts. As a result, you can stand in a group, target one foe, and initiate a barrage of LMB strikes, taking down one opponent after another. A humanoid's general reaction is to block, a beast's general reaction is to back up. As long as you continue to hit LMB, you'll occasionally pierce their flesh with your weapon. Though this method proves amazingly effective, opponents humanoid and beast alike will occasionally unleash a practically unblockable series of attacks that more often than not kill your character. This seemed to be especially true of beasts. Either way, combat is reduced to a trivial affair where you jam LMB, run and heal, run back in, jam LMB, and win. If this game is trying to mimic how a real world functions, how does it fit that one man is able to take down an entire town by doing figure-eight's with a bladed weapon?
Damned if I know....
The combat runs into even more issues that pile on frustration. First, opponents can run through walls. Not every wall, mind you, but it occurred with surprising regularity. We saw NPCs run through solid rock, monsters move effortlessly through cave walls, and humanoids breeze right through stone ruins.
Ooooh......clipping....
They also seemed to get stuck at certain points. For instance, a large group of foes attempting to cross a bridge all got glued together somehow, jittering in a line as we waited patiently at the other end for an opponent to detach themselves. In some instances we saw groups of baddies freeze in place as we watched from a distance, only resuming their battle actions after we planted an arrow in the back of their necks. Some opponents didn't seem to realize they were being attacked, never drawing a weapon, others suddenly veered in totally wrong directions while pursuing us in combat, while others got stuck in ceilings yet still managed to continue the battle while only half-present in the room. The Nameless Hero gets stuck frequently as well. If there's any debris on a battlefield, you'll want to move to a different location. Even when stepping up on a small rock, the Nameless Hero gets stuck on its edge, incapable of moving forward without jumping off or performing an aggravating slide during which no other action is possible. Needless to say, this doesn't bode well if there's an enemy poised to chop at you.
Bleh!
While we wanted so badly wanted to become immersed in the world of Gothic III, there were yet even more issues that brought us screaming back to reality. If you attack an NPC in a town you're friendly with and choose not to perform a finishing stab once they've hit the ground, they'll completely forget you attacked them even if approached only 10 seconds later. They won't even mention the fact that you just randomly beat the crap out of them, instead offering up a standard greeting. This really breaks any kind of immersive qualities about Gothic III.
*raises eyebrow...*
Closing Comments
With the promise of a gigantic game world within which you're free to do whatever you want, Gothic III is certainly a tantalizing title. It's got the graphical backbone to support the immersive gameplay it aims to deliver, a strong character development system, and a great soundtrack. Unfortunately, there are far too many problems with Gothic III to maintain the immersion. In a game where the illusion of a dynamic, realistic world is so crucial to the experience, technical bugs and awkward design decisions do a marvelous job at hamstringing Gothic III's gameplay.
It's a shame the bugs still kill the game, after the patches and all.
It's still possible to wander aimlessly through forests and deserts engaging whatever challenges you happen upon, which can be entertaining, but you'll never be free from the terrifically awkward combat. It doesn't help that some quests flat out don't work, the game frequently crashes, and little besides the soundtrack is worth listening to. Gothic III gives you a giant world and plenty of choice, but is ultimately engulfed by its own aspirations of complexity.
Xessive, since you've played a lot of this by now, how is the combat, in your opinion???
Any better than past Gothic games? Or worse????
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There are things I like and dislike about the new combat system.
Good:
-Quick and easy mouse interface: left = attack, right = block.
-Some variety in your attacks based on combinations and how long you hold the attack button.
Bad:
-The lock-on system needs a bit of tweaking.
-Reach is a real issue. Almost all creatures can easily dodge any of my attacks.
-Some creatures seem to be impossible to hit; Trolls (frickin' huge titans) are extremely tedious to attack with any melee weapon; I land about 1 out of every 8 strikes for some odd reason.
-A lot of collision problems; my weapon clearly crosses through an enemy but it doesn't register as a hit.
There's no sense of impact when a hit lands. The only indication is a blood spatter accompanied by a subtle cut sound. It would make sense if I was using a Light Sabre, but as it is there's no sense of actual combat. It's the same when enemies attack me, my health just seems to drop without any immersive indication. That's Probably one of the reasons that death comes so easily, you don't really know you're dying or losing health unless you pay very close attention to the health bar.
The old combat style had a unique and strict structure. According to the forums, a lot of people want the old system back; even though it's a little more clunky it was way more reliable, and everyone's used to it. It had more of a "duelling" feel to it, and you had to be a little tactical about your moves. The new system is claimed to be clever, but it's just another "bash your mouse button!" They set it so you time your button clicks rather than timing your opponent as in the old system.
In the old system, the timing had to do with waiting for an opening then attacking (wait for your opponent to attack, just before or right after he attacks he's wide open). In the new system the only timing they focused on is your clicks; you have to click at the end of each consecutive attack in order to complete a combo. This is no guarantee of a successful attack, it usually just means you'll look slightly cooler. I think this was supposed to prevent players from just bashing their mouse button, but it doesn't work. Trying to complete a combo leaves you open to receive a flurry of attacks, and bashing your mouse button actually ends up being the superior tactic.
The game has no support for stealthy players. The stealth options they have are practically useless for attacking or ambushing; they're just for stealing and hunting. To compensate I had fun with the ranged attacks, and I loved using the bow, pretty slow though. The crossbow was way too slow, but handy if you're far enough.
Eventually I got bored of Gothic 3.. I got bored of waiting for the "newer" patch.. I stopped playing it.. Uninstalled.. Went back to Oblivion.
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5 from 1Up (out of 10) -- Matt Peckham scorches Gothic 3 namely for its combat and bugs galore. (http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3155631)
Gothic 3
There's a hole in my RPG, dear Liza, dear Liza.
Platform: PC
Publisher: Aspyr
Developer: Piranha Bytes
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending Genre: RPG
by Matt Peckham 12/04/2006
This review appears in the March issue of Games For Windows: The Official Magazine.
Every RPG has its hook. Some are practically orbital, trading depth to trace the contours of entire continents. Others might as well be fantasy sports leagues for all their buckets of exotic info. Gothic 3 is the culmination of a third approach that renders midsized environments in painstaking detail while keeping its mechanics simple and unpretentious. I definitely heart the latter, so it's a pity to report that Gothic 3 was released too soon, with too many glitches to warrant a recommendation unless you're supremely patient and own a sturdy desk -- because when Gothic 3 chokes, you will pound it.
Ouch.....my hands....
Gothic 3 picks up where Gothic 2 left off, and continues the saga of the nameless hero who broke out of a magical prison and eventually slew an undead dragon. Fresh out of the frying pan (Khorinis, the island setting of the last two games), you disembark on the mainland in time to grapple with an inferno: Orcs have overrun the continent, enslaving most of the human population...and only the capital's holding out. As a free-roaming mercenary, you can join with the orcs, side with the humans, or pass the buck entirely to follow a mysterious third path.
Ok.
Most of the questing between times boils down to the usual RPG chores. Kill some stuff to help a village; collect a bunch of stuff for a mage; defeat something to get five animal hides for a guy who tells you how to enter a building where another guy asks you to do more or less the same thing. Still, you have to admire the fidelity here. Gothic 3 wears "old school" like a Boy Scout badge, and that's terrific news if you're into this sort of thing.
Sweet. :)
Bugs...why'd it have to be bugs?
Other kinds of fidelity are less admirable, and Gothic fans who put up with the last two games' foibles probably won't be shocked to hear that Gothic 3's troubles come in two familiar flavors: loopy design choices and out-and-out bugs. The European version's been available for months, but even the patched U.S. version (up to v1.09 already -- yikes) still has the creepy-crawlies. Loading or saving games sometimes elicits "out of memory" crashes. A few quests can't be finished because the game won't acknowledge that you completed them.
Ick!!!
Overlong quest descriptions in your journal get truncated and -- this isn't so much a bug as a missing feature -- NPCs no longer come a-running when you bust into their homes. Sleep in their beds, pilfer their goods...it's like paradise for newbie thieves or something.
What fun is that?!?!?!!?
I want at least some challenge....
Maybe in another patch....
More weirdness: Some NPCs get stuck against crates and jitter in place or fall through objects, and the text names over their heads are some kind of fugly font that looks glued in.
Yuck.
You're also denied a crosshair reticule, which means constantly stumbling over items or bodies you're trying to target. Visual effects like lens flare (cameras in medieval times, guys?) render everywhere, including straight through mountains and inside caves. And on high-end systems, the game pitches and heaves for several seconds as on-the-fly scenery loads, like film hitching in a crappy projector. None of these by themselves are showstoppers, but taken together they certainly scuff up the chrome.
Bleh.
It's the goofy combat, though, that's most off-putting. By holding different buttons on the keyboard in conjunction with variably timed mouse clicks, you can punch, jump-attack, parry, cast spells, loose arcing quarrels and arrows, and pull off killing blows. It all sounds wonderful in theory; in practice, the game's creatures and human enemies only seem to know two moves: "lunge" or "back-up-really-really-fast." Which means you're either clicking like mad to keep your backpedaling opponents at bay, or falling over (much too frequently) when they score a hit. It's tough to actually lose a battle if you click fast enough, because you're constantly stunning your opponents. In short, a combat system meant to be tactically plush comes off instead as shallow and monotonous.
A long and winding road
Nine patches in, Gothic 3 has a long road to hoe before rating "close enough for government work." Try it if you're hardcore and even-tempered. But yep, here we go again -- closing with another "until it's adequately patched, caveat emptor."
You know, it's a damn shame another Gothic series game, again, has to be plagued w/ bugs. I waited a while on G1 and G2 b/c of this, now it looks like I'll probably do the same w/ G3.
I'm glad NWN2 came out in a better state than G3, but at least its issues were minor. Thankfully, 1.03 fixed most of my whines and moans w/ NWN2 -- would've been nice if it ran like that out-of-the-box. ;)
Sounds like G3 still needs A LOT of work, on the patching side. Damn shame.
I'm gettin' tired of games being released too early -- especially if it is to just make that X-Mas rush.
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Gothic 3 patched to Version 1.12 now, which is around 63 MB (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=134847)
Here's again the overview of fixes:
- Fixed ambient sound bug
- Sound occlusion improved
- Several physics and character movement bugs fixed
- Inventory exploit fixed
- Camera behaviour improved
- Several mission logs fixed
- Several small quest bugs fixed
- NPCs don't die as quickly as before when fighting monsters. This helps party members to survive.
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Bioware's very own Ray Muzyka seems to be addicted to Gothic 3 right now.... (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=155828)
CVG: What for you was the highlight of the videogame world last year, and which title released in 2006 would you say most pushed videogame boundaries?
Ray Muzyka: Focusing on PC games (since that's the focus of this story!) there were a number of solid titles last past year - Company of Heroes, Oblivion, Medieval 2, Half-Life 2 Episode One, Neverwinter Nights 2, Prey, Gothic 3 (Gothic 3 is my current PC addiction - it's quite good and definitely worth checking out, a few minor issues aside) and many others.
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D you've been following this for a while. I definitely want to buy Gothic 3. Should I get the Euro or US version?
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D you've been following this for a while. I definitely want to buy Gothic 3. Should I get the Euro or US version?
Though, the US Version is patched up further than the Euro. Both are on DVD.
Either way, both US and Euro take the SAME patches. Euro version came out earlier in the middle of 2006, US came out w/ a patches behind it in Nov. 2006.
I'd get whatever's cheaper. Either way, you're going to have to patch it up big time!
Personally, I'd wait until you can get it for like $20 or less -- that's what I plan to do.
It's s'posed to still need A LOT of patching, even in its current state w/ the latest patch. :(
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The US version hasn't been censored in any way has it? I don't really care for nudity but I want the game in its original form.
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The US version hasn't been censored in any way has it? I don't really care for nudity but I want the game in its original form.
This is somewhere earlier in this thread, actually....hehe.
To make it easy for you, so you ain't got to look all throughout this huge-ass thread, I'll link you to the page w/ the info on it and quote it. :)
Yes, both versions are the same, pretty much... (http://gothic3.aspyr.com/default/news/14)
[Whomever interviews her]: Gothic 3 has been out in Europe for almost a month now. Now that the game is finally coming to North America, are gamers over here going to get something different than their European counterparts when they pick up a copy at the store?
Blaine Christine: Well first off, we just want to be clear that there is only one version of Gothic 3 worldwide. The core gameplay, graphics, etc. are the same whether you bought the game in Germany last month or will be purchasing it this month in the U.S. And, obviously, the North American version will have English text and great voice over recorded this past summer.
Some great news for the patient North American fans though. The extra time has allowed us to implement all of the fixes and changes that are included in the first two European patches. When you buy the North American version of Gothic 3, just load up and play.
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So the American one has the better voice acting? Definitely getting the US version then, even though I just saw a UK one going for $4. :(
edit:
http://www.rpgdot.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2541936&sid=6f08be132ab885b81ee9c29b2bed4f76
We´ve exchanged several emails with Aspyr to clear up some rumors and misunderstandings circulating about the North American Gothic 3. The official site has also been updated. Here´s the summary:
Release date
The date given on Aspyr´s site (Nov 13th) is not final: "We have not made an announcement on an official release date. The date you see on our site is a good bookmark though. As soon as we can lock down an official date we'll let you know."
ESRB rating
"The ESRB gave the U.S. version of Gothic 3 a Teen (T) rating this week. A T rating clears Gothic 3 as suitable for ages 13 and older." (source: Gothic3.Aspyr.com)
Packaging & medium
The game will ship on DVD only "in an Amaray DVD case with a wrap that includes a flap."
Collector´s Edition
Not planned.
System requirements
The system requirements have been posted on the official site. Link see above.
Differences US <-> UK versions
Gameplay: "There will only be one version of Gothic 3 worldwide. I can't stress that enough. One version.[...]In-game content is identical."
cucumber: Will be modified to include Aspyr.
Intro: "I believe our intro movie will have some minor technical tweaks (taking advantage of the extra time), but this will be minor. Content of the movie will be the same. And obviously the intro movie does not affect gameplay."
Patches:
Here´s the full quote, since this sems to be main reason for the delay:
"It is true that the US version will ship later than the UK version. As such, the US version will ship with any updates and fixes available from the first Gothic 3 patch that will be released. Instead of downloading the first patch like the European gamers, US gamers will already have the updates in their retail copy when it ships. This bit of detail may be causing the confusion
and may be why some people think the US version will be "different." "
Translation and voice overs
"The UK and US versions will have the same translation and voice overs."
Cool I will take advantage of the UK version now.
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Where'd you see the UK version for $4???? :o
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On eBay. Unfortunately it went up to $20 haha.
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Wo0t! Double post! :P
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Has Pirahna Bytes patched this thing recently???
Been a while since they released a patch.
And they were banking out patches left and right for this thing....
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I think the latest patch was v1.12.. It was released on 21 December. I haven't seen anything since.
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I think the latest patch was v1.12.. It was released on 21 December. I haven't seen anything since.
I wonder if the rumored upcoming G3 expansion will be a patch itself, basically...???
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From RPGWatch, a bunch of notes on what's up w/ Gothic 3's future -- from patches, to possible expansions, to an SDK. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=3950)
Gothic 3 - News Collection
by Gorath, 20:20:45
Due to time contraints we´ve had to skip a couple of Gothic 3 news over the last weeks. This post brings you up-to-date on the latest developments.
* Piranha Bytes released a Fansite-Kit last week. It includes graphics, buttons, fonts and more useful gizmos to create your own Gothic 3 site. Important: you must place a clearly visible copyright notice on your site. These things are usually placed at the very bottom of the main page. Details in the kit.
* The next patch has been officially confirmed - ETA unclear.
* An editor will be released. Don´t expect it anytime soon though. More like "late autumn" or so. Rumors it would be bundled with the next patch have proven false.
* It goes without saying that Piranha Bytes is not working on the inevitable add-on until the co-publishers Deep Silver and JoWooD confirm they´re working on the inevitable add-on. So for now they´re busy developing their next project in the Gothic universe, seemingly based on the same technology.
The when and what are pure speculation. An add-on this Christmas or a stand-alone add-on next Christmas sounds possible.
* On a related note, Gothic 2 Gold will be on the cover disk of the next PC Action . So if you have access to this German print mag it´s good opportunity to get G2 and Die Nacht des Raben for cheap.
* An Autumn texture pack for Gothic 3 can be found on WoG. It replaces tree, grass and surface textures.
More to come in a few hours.
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This is an English translation of the latest interview w/ Pirahna Bytes and Gothicz.net (http://worldofgothic.com/)
Björn Pankratz, project director of Piranha Bytes, accepted to take an interview with the people from gothicz.net
The interview is originaly in czech but thanks to dark-cz-klaw we also have a translated in our forums ;-)
Quote:
Gothicz.net: Hello Bjorn. May you please introduce yourself? How is your job at PB and how does your daily job look like?
Bjorn Pankratz: My name is Bjorn Pankratz and at PB I'm the main project director and game designer. Some of my projects are Gothic, Gothic 2, the addon, and Gothic 3. My small workplace in Essen is a little complex. Some of my jobs are managing, composing dialogues and quests, guaranteeing quality, gamedesign, and others. Most of my time I spend by my work desk, just like most of the other boys who have this job.
GCZ: What is your favorite game, music, movie/film, woman/women, beer pub and food?
BP: My favorite game was System Shock 2 in Coop mode. I'm a fan of EBM and industrial music, I like dark music. I love to watch fantasy and sci-fi movies, so one of my favorites is Lord of the Rings. Women? Well. YES, I love women...most of them. Weekends I often walk for conversations in my city here in Germany. I love eating a loaf of bread with cheese buttered on it. That is my elixir.
Ooooh...System Shock 2. That's good stuff.
I need to play that one some more, speaking of which...
GCZ: How long did the production of Gothic 3 take and what is your favorite feature in that game?
BP: We worked on that game for 3 years of 19. In my opinion, the best feature is the enormous free world filled with real-like beasts and people.
Sweet.
GCZ: Gothic 3 got a lot of rewards for best game of the year, best game design and best soundtrack. On our fansite, the game got 84%. Satisfied?
BP: Yes, I am very satisfied. We didn't really expect such support for Gothic 3, after the release of Goldmaster. We apologize, we had to release the game by the deadline. I hope, that with the newest patch, the game runs on your systems better.
I'm sure everyone hopes it'll run EVEN better w/ the next patch planned to come whenever it comes, too. :P
GCZ: How would you end the never-ending arguments on Gothic 3 v.s. Oblivion?
BP: Oblivion is a great game. End of conversation.
Can't argue that one.
GCZ: Did you plan on Gothic being a triology from the beginning of the series?
BP: No, not at all. But after Gothic 1 and at the beginning of the second game, the term "triology" was just a thought, as things went on. Nevertheless, we still aren't stopping.
Gothic 3 expansion maybe???
Gothic 4 maybe....?
Gothic MMO???
GCZ: Where'd you leave your hair? You look like a bandit... :)
BP: My hair is gone, just like my childhood. But I still have a lust for playing games.
GCZ: Many people work for Piranha Bytes. Who is the biggest lazy guy on the team?
BP: At the moment, there are 16 of us and a dog named Sammy. The laziest one is of course him.
LOL.
GCZ: Everyone wants to know, what is going to be after Gothic 3. And I don't have "next patch" in mind...
BP: That isn't really clear yet. Of course it\'s going to be something about the world of Gothic, that is clear.
Hmmmmmmmmm....
GCZ: I heard, that you work on other RPG fantasy projects...
BP: Really? I didn't.
Heh.
GCZ: Do you want to say something to the fans?
BP: Yes, thank you all for the great support, especially through rough times, which in the past has never happened. Next time we'll be better. Thank you.
Bjorn Pankratz
(Project Director, Game-Design)
Okay....
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Gothic 3 sells over 500,000 copies worldwide -- despite its bugs, lack or recent patches, and all... (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=4159)
JoWooD & Deep Silver announced the latest sales numbers for Piranha Bytes´ RPG Gothic 3. Here´s the PR minus the company drivel and the general game info all of our readers know:
Liezen, Austria / Planegg, Germany; 9th of March: Gothic 3 hits the roof! More than 500.000 copies of the famous RPG were sold [the German PR implies they´re talking about sell-through, not sell-in; ed.], placing Gothic 3 among the most successful german [sic!] RPGs ever.
„Gothic 3 turns into a very successful long seller, just as the precursors did. Every week we`re curious about the incoming charts, showing sales of both Collector`s and standard edition at a stable and high level“, comments Johannes Natterer, Senior Marketing Manager JoWooD Productions. „Our high expectations are still outnumbered and Gothic 3 is finally on its way to become a known and beloved brand even outside the German speaking territories“.
„We are proud to be part of such a world wide and remarkable success together with our Partner JoWooD Productions“, states Martin Metzler, PR Manager Koch Media. „And all that is achieved with a production made in Germany, proofing that German studios can take on the international competition.“
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Someone released an Interactive Map Mod for Gothic III, which isn't in English yet.
English translation version is in the works, BTW. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=140093)
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Someone released an Interactive Map Mod for Gothic III, which isn't in English yet.
English translation version is in the works, BTW. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=140093)
Not bad, now if we can get it in-game! Still it's pretty handy.
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Not bad, now if we can get it in-game! Still it's pretty handy.
Oh, it's not in-game?!?!!?
I thought it was....
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Oh, it's not in-game?!?!!?
I thought it was....
Hehe no, it's just like the interactive Map of Cyrodiil for Oblivion. It's just a map application you cna use to spot objects, characters, landmarks, etc. It is useful, just not very practical.
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Gothic 3 Patch Info.
Patch will be HUGE in size; possibly approximately ONE GB or more. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1585)
Gothic 3 - Patch News
by Gorath, 18:16
Piranha Bytes´ music wizard Kai Rosenkranz posted a few infos about the next patch in the official forum (http://forum.jowood.de/showpost.php?p=2029746&postcount=1558), followed by a further clarification (http://forum.jowood.de/showpost.php?p=2029790&postcount=1570).
Of course the posts are in German. Here´s a short summary and a few points based on other sources mixed in:
* Is the patch confirmed? Yes.
* ETA: Unknown. PB / JoWooD will only announce it when they are sure to ship on time.
* KaiRo said they´re running into considerable problems in various areas while developing the patch.
* Is it free of charge? Yes. Additional distribution methods are under consideration, for example including it on the next project´s DVD, but the usual free download options will definitely be made available.
* Will the patch make it necessary to start over? No definite infos about this, but PB is evaluating it.
* Size: Unconfirmed, although it seems safe to expect the dimension to be GB rather than MB.
* Reason: "Changes to story / logic / world data / 3D data lead to a size explosion [of the patch]" (transl.)
* The technical problems are solved (status -> patch 1.12). Therefor PB prefers to work on a well thought out solution instead of rushing the patch out the door.
* Months ago PB has made clear they are well aware they can only ship a patch of this size once.
If you add up 2+2 it´s not unlikely PB could be pulling a Bethesda and ship the patch a few days before the "next project" everybody thinks he knows what it is hits the shelves.
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D, it never ceases to amaze me what you consider news. I've never even heard of Gothic, and here you are commenting on the filesize of a patch for this game. I mean yeah, it's a gig. That's a big patch. But its for some game named Gothic 3.
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Gothic's not an unheard-of game. The first one generated quite a lot of buzz with the RPG crowd. Unfortunately, when both sequels turned out just as buggy, heads stopped turning. I have the first 2.
I think the problem isn't that D occasionally reports news that's lame (we've all done that), it's that he sometimes reports news about games that only he or possibly one other person actually care about. Gothic 3 qualifies. A patch that size would be interesting news if this were indeed a game anyone other than D and X cared about.
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D, it never ceases to amaze me what you consider news. I've never even heard of Gothic, and here you are commenting on the filesize of a patch for this game. I mean yeah, it's a gig. That's a big patch.
Well, there's a lot to this post. I thought it could make a hell of a discussion out of this -- popular game or not, b/c I think there is A LOT to discuss; especially w/ some of it including the state of PC gaming. I will throw a lot of my 2 cents on this one.
Yes, it'll be around probably ONE GIG. ONE GIG. That is an insane size for a PATCH for a game. It'll take a while for most people to download -- cable connection or not. I don't think I've EVER seen a patch that size. Someone please name another game w/ a patch that big. That is one reason why I think it's worth mentioning -- it's pretty much unheard of, right now.
I think it's going to be interesting to see how Piranha is going to distribute this -- especially for 56k modem users, since there has to be a good handful still living in the world today. I will also bet Piranha will place the patch on their upcoming "next project," which is rumored to be an expansion for Gothic 3, since Kai of Piranha says it is possible. I also wouldn't be surprised if Gothic 3 is re-released on disc, w/ the patch included on the game disc.
I am glad Piranha's commitment is still to this very game, which many feel is still quite broken and quite buggy. It should be, as it is considered a very extremely messy game, by many. Many also love this game, despite the bugs. So, yeah -- that is saying a lot, if people love it and still try to play it, despite issues. Many are waiting for the issues to be fixed. It deserves to be placed in a much better state and condition -- wouldn't you say? Shit, I would...especially if I purchased the damn thing.
Hell, Piranha could've packed it in and did no more patches. They could've scrapped it all and just began work on Gothic 4, instead of patching this thing. Hell, they could've just decided to patch here and there, like most companies do. No, they're going crazy and gonna try to kill most issues -- good luck to them. Hell, they could've just worked on the expansion and force the expansion to be the Gothic 3 patch (so that you'd have to go buy the expansion) -- but no, Gothic 3: Original Campaign will get patched, as well. As it should be. There are just too many PC games where even after the games done being officially patched, it still might need some work put behind it to resolve some issues still -- just look at modders/fans, who dedicate themselves to unofficially patching games, like w/ say Bloodlines. Even after Troika wound up closed, shouldn't some workers at Activision be patching some of the issues that still remained left unresolved in Vampire: Bloodlines. Look at Anachronox, which got unofficially patched -- Que was the one telling me before that this game REALLY needed it.
Also, this kind of news of such a big patch coming should be a wake up call to both developers and publishers -- DON'T AGREE TO PUSH GAMES TOO FAST OUT THE DOOR. This way, we won't have this issues arise in the future. Haven't we seen enuff PC games -- especially last year, even triple-A titles like say Splinter Cell: Double Agent PC, GRAW PC, R6: Vegas, NWN 2 -- get pushed out the door too early???? That doesn't include many of the not-so-triple-A titles that were released in crappy states, either. This doesn't help sales, that just hurts sales. And it hurts PC gaming itself, in general, too -- it makes PC gaming look bad. How Gothic 3 STILL sold 500,000 copies across the world is amazing, despite its reputation as being one of the most notorious and buggiest games ever made since Daggerfall -- so, yes, Gothic is a well-known game, across the world (probably more so in Europe when in comparison w/ the USA) to sell some 500,000 copies globally.
But its for some game named Gothic 3.
And yet, this news could've rang true and possibly been for some beloved series of yours where the game turned out technically a mess....I doubt you'd want to hear a game you love is getting a ONE GIG PATCH on one hand (b/c that is a huge patch and will take forever to download!), yet you'll glad on another hand (about time they fixed your game!).
Oh, BTW, Gothic 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_3) is a non-linear action-RPG by German company Pirahna Bytes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha_Bytes) As far as I'm concerned, Gothic 1 is their masterpiece (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_%28computer_game%29) and is one of the most underrated non-linear action RPG's.
You like non-linear action-RPG's???? I'd suggest you go find Gothic 1, myself -- it's probably dirt cheap, these days; oh, and it's all patched up, too. And so is Gothic 2 (on the cheap factor, in which it often includes the expansion, if you find Gothic 2: Gold Edition), in which the game is unfortunately is not as great as the original. G2's a good one, especially once it was all patched up and all.
Gothic's not an unheard-of game. The first one generated quite a lot of buzz with the RPG crowd. Unfortunately, when both sequels turned out just as buggy, heads stopped turning. I have the first 2.
G3 didn't sell 500,000 copies for no reason....
That is amazing, despite its reputation for BUGS GALORE. There has to be something about that game, to still sell 500K and people talk about how great the game is, despite its technical set-backs.
I think the problem isn't that D occasionally reports news that's lame (we've all done that), it's that he sometimes reports news about games that only he or possibly one other person actually care about. Gothic 3 qualifies. A patch that size would be interesting news if this were indeed a game anyone other than D and X cared about.
I'm sure if I made a post that some amazingly popular American-made game that was extremely loved but had major technical issues suddenly will get news to happen to get a ONE GIG PATCH, maybe gamers would respond. Yeah, maybe if it was something like a GTA, WoW, Battlefield game, C&C game, or something....yeah, maybe people would actually care then....
But, you know what???? It'll happen. With the way publishers and developers are, these days and age -- kicking games out the door too early and supporting games w/ patches for often too short of a game's actual life, it's bound to occur. It's bound to happen to a triple-A title, that it'll get a ridiculous patch-size. Just give it some time....it's getting to be plain sad....and I see this trend continuing, especially after seeing a handful of last year's fiascos...
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This thread was only updated, it isn't even a new thread.
Gothic 3 is actually the best selling game in most of Europe including its country of origin, Germany. It is a insanely popular game. I am surprised that you haven't heard of it Scottws.
I ordered the European version of the game BTW.
I think the problem isn't that D occasionally reports news that's lame (we've all done that), it's that he sometimes reports news about games that only he or possibly one other person actually care about. Gothic 3 qualifies. A patch that size would be interesting news if this were indeed a game anyone other than D and X cared about.
Why is that a problem? I understand your point of only three people being interested in a game if our boards had a hundred people, but even if three people are interested in a thread, that's three out of seven that actually visit and post regularly. It is a pretty big percentage. I'll be honest, I've been considering taking a break from the forums for a while now purely because no one else seems to want to post. These past few weeks have been particularly slow with hardly anyone making an effort to keep things going.
I have to admit, threads like this: http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=1747.0 ....are pretty useless, but I don't see the harm in updating an ongoing thread or three people discussing neverwinter nights 2 to the length of seven pages.
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I never said there was a problem. I just meant sometimes that's why people are like "Why has this been posted?" I have no issue with anything, was just pointing that out.
And you shouldn't be surprised. Scott hates nothing more than he hates non-linear RPGs, from what I gather. And while Gothic is huge in Europe, it doesn't exactly have a gigantic following in the US.
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No I know there isn't a problem. I just wish we had our website going and new people coming. I also wish I knew something about web designing.
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I dunno', place seems busy enough to me.
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I have to admit, threads like this: http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=1747.0 ....are pretty useless, but I don't see the harm in updating an ongoing thread or three people discussing neverwinter nights 2 to the length of seven pages.
It won't be so useless, once I update that thread w/ whatever the hell Recoil eventually decided to reveal as their next game. :P
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haha D.
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Hehe I'm with you MyD! I got yo' back man!
The huge patch size will be a bit of a cencern for me now that my connection is averaging 51 Kb/s.. Yes it is now slower than a 56k dial-up connection. Frickin' cheap-ass DSL in this new city, and I don't have any options because of the location of the villa I moved into. Crap! I can just barely check my e-mail and this board.
It takes me two days to download a single 174MB episode of anything. This sucks!
Anyway, this patch upcoming is great news! I really admire the way these guys are supporting their game! Other devs/publishers can certainly learn from them!
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Hehe I'm with you MyD! I got yo' back man!
Thanks, man! :)
The huge patch size will be a bit of a cencern for me now that my connection is averaging 51 Kb/s.. Yes it is now slower than a 56k dial-up connection. Frickin' cheap-ass DSL in this new city, and I don't have any options because of the location of the villa I moved into. Crap! I can just barely check my e-mail and this board.
It takes me two days to download a single 174MB episode of anything. This sucks!
Oh, man....that does suck. :(
From what Kai of Piranha said, it looks like the PATCH will likely -- b/c it's so damn huge -- come also shipped on Piranha's "Next Project," which is good news for those wanting to pick that up. Many do believe that is the (yet to be announced) Gothic 3 Expansion. There were rumors flippin' before Gothic 3 dropped that they were already working on an expansion pack!! It's as if PB knew the game was goin' to be buggy as sin and was forced by the publishers to drop the game, heh! So, yuh -- you might want to pick up whatever their "next project" is, especially if you can get it damn cheap (like $20 or less or so)!
Y'know, I wouldn't be surprised if they re-release Gothic 3 on DVD w/ the patch equipped on the disc. I wouldn't be surprised if they released say a G3: Gold Edition w/ G3 + Expansion, as well. Hell, they re-released G2 w/ a Gold Edition, since it finally came w/ the NOTR Expansion. I do wish they sold NOTR separately, since I already own G2.
Anyway, this patch upcoming is great news! I really admire the way these guys are supporting their game! Other devs/publishers can certainly learn from them!
Amen to that, X.
Obsidian is another one. They really do seem to support their products, well after they release their buggy game -- just look at what they are doing w/ NWN2, adding features and new stuff in patches and listen to what the fans want; such as when they added the new extra toolbars that fans requested. Y'know, it's annoying that these companies are known for making buggy games, but at least they support their games well after their release; unlike some OTHER companies. Though, Blizzard are the Gods of that -- amazingly, SC was still gettin' patched at the end of last year!!! I wouldn't be surprised if they patch it for Vista, knowing them; hehe.
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Isn't 51 pretty decent? With dial up you get about 4.5 right?
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Isn't 51 pretty decent? With dial up you get about 4.5 right?
Not for DSL; and X has DSL! DSL should be around 140 kbps or more, at least.
Yuh, 56k dial up was around 4.5 kbps, for me.
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I'm saying 51 Kilo bits per sec, not kilobytes! So it averages out to around 3-6 KB/s.. On any given day my download speed is around 3 KB/s.. I wouldn't complain if it was 50 at all! Hell I'd be content with 30! Today it seems stuck around 1.2 KB/s.. It took about 3 minutes just to see this post.
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What the hell! That must be frustrating. Get dialup! Connect your PC to your phone line and get dial up till you find a decent DSL.
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I'd do that, except there's no phone line in my room at all. All the rooms have CAT slots (Ethernet) instead of phone jacks. Luckily I have a cell phone, but connecting to the net through would be more expensive than making a call.
I'll figure something out eventually.
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hehe surfing the net on a cell is far more tedious.
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Please, let this be just a rumor...
Rumor has it that the Gothic 3 approximate ONE GB patch might not make the light of day. (http://rpgwatch.com/#5046)
Gothic 3 - Rumor: Gothic 3 Uber-Patch cancelled
by Garrett, 09:59:16
5 months after a rushed out xmas-patch the promised big patch to fix all problems in Gothic 3 is still not available and the only news about it was from late march 2007 when Kai Rosenkranz claimed it is confirmed. Now there new rumors on the World of Gothic (in German) (http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?t=213338&page=32) & JoWood boards (http://forum.jowood.de/showthread.php?t=134907&page=203) that a new patch (or Mod Kit) will never see the light of day. Also, a report on PC Games (in German, BTW) (http://www.pcgames.de/?article_id=601710) draws the same conclusion from recent posts of PB Art Director Ralf Marczinczik. Let's wait for an official statement from JoWood or PB...
The German links, you can always Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/) them, if you want to get an idea of what is being said, unless you can speak German.
EDIT -- May 20, 2007, around 7:10 Eastern Time:
Addendum by Gorath:
The latest official statement, made by JoWooD community manager Johann Ertl in the JoWooD forum on May 11th, is (transl.):
[...] What I know 100% [sure], I gladly pass on - and this is at the moment: "The patch will come", but I´ve already said that often enough.
The PC Games´ newsbit is spreading like a wildfire on German gaming sites. Hopefully it will put enough pressure on the publisher and developer side to clarify the situation.
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Even though I'm not playing G3 anymore I hope the patch does make it. The game deserves to be fixed. There's a lot in there, and the bugs it has are the major obstacle, so I think it needs a chance.
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Holy shit, guys...
Let the war b/t PB and Jowood begin...
News #1:
PB and Jowood split ways. They can't agree on anything right now, in regards to the upcoming Gothic 3 patch. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=5069)
Piranha Bytes and JoWooD to go separate ways
Essen, May 22 - 2007 After the final termination of negotiations over a continuation of the Gothic series, Piranha Bytes are forced to move in other directions. Which titles are to be published under the Gothic brand in the nearer future is totally unclear at this point in time.
The negotiations which were held since November 2006 did not lead to an acceptable result for any of the parties involved.
Piranha Bytes can not meet the demands of the community by releasing a major patch with content-related changes. The original idea was to develop this patch as a side-project along with an add-on or a further title (and to provide the patch as a free download as well as to include it with the boxes of said products)
News #2:
PB releases a press release saying that they will not support Gothic 3 anymore. So, don't expect any Gothic 3 patches from PB.
SIDE NOTE: If there will be actually anymore G3 patches, it'll probably come from Jowood -- given what their press release says they are unhappy w/ PB not meeting the Gothic community's demands for a new patch for Gothic 3. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=5072)
News #3:
Jowood owns the rights to Gothic IP-brand, BTW....
...So, Gothic 4 was just announced!
Right now, JoWood is looking for a developer for the next Gothic 4, which has just been announced for both the PC and consoles. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=5070)
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This is all too crazy for words. What the hell?
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This is from Gothic 3's boards.
This is from an employee of Jowood's PR.
This is from before the announcement of PB and Jowood splitting ways.
This pretty much confirms that JoWood does likely plan on patching Gothic 3, with PB or without PB.... (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=142752)
About the next patch
Dear Fans, Gamers, Readers,
Of course we heard of the rumors and specs saying that JoWooD cancelled any patch-support for Gothic 3. We want to clarify unmistakably that from JoWooD's point of view these are only rumors and we neither thought about "Cancelling patch-support" nor "Abandonment of any future plans about upcoming patch(es)" nor will we accept such ideas without any consequences.
We ask you to understand that while two companies are into negotiations both of them can't and are not allowed to talk about the progress, but this should of course not concern the patch.
It's even quite the contrary ! We're doing our best to deliver high-quality patches in future again which are for free of course !
Your JoWooD-Team
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Wing dang doodle!
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Wing dang doodle!
Yeah, this is all madness.
I understand that this is PB's baby and all -- but of course, Jowood owns the rights to Gothic and all. So, it sucks that PB won't have *their* franchise anymore. PB's made every Gothic quite buggy out the box -- and Gothic 3 seems to be the biggest criminal of all their Gothic games. And now, well, seems like they're paying for it -- as they have been in talks w/ Jowood since Nov. 2006 on what to do w/ the patching Gothic 3 situation. There's even been rumors flying around that PB wanted a good sum of money from Jowood, to do this "uber-patch" and all since it'll be such an overhaul of the game and its actual code -- take that rumor for a grain of salt, for what that's worth and all.
I hope Jowood don't destroy this franchise, on one hand -- and try to "streamline it" a la Deus Ex: IW. On another hand, I hope Jowood selects a developer that won't make such a freakin' bug-riddled game. The Gothic games really don't deserve to be buggy as hell out the box -- nor does any other game, for that matter.
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This thread (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=142980) has an article from PCGames Online, in which they speak w/ someone from JoWood on this ordeal.
The original interview's in German (http://www.pcgames.de/?article_id=601973), so someone was kind enuff to translate it to the best of their ability into English.
JoWood Productions
This is what JoWood has to say about the Divorce with Piranha Bytes
23.05.2007 - On May 22 publisher JoWood and developer Pluto 13 / Piranha Bytes went their separate ways. What lead to this? Background and future plans come from an interview with Stefan Berger, head of production management with JoWood.
PC Games:
From where this separation of ways? What was decisive factor? What will be the consequences of this divorce?
Berger:
Since many months there were negotiations about a Gothic 3 Addon and Gothic 4. In the end no compromise could be made about the budget for the Gothic 3 Addon, on the other hand for Gothic 4 a compromise could not be found on general jurisdictional reasons. The separation has only one consequence, that Pluto 13 will not be working on the production or development of any of the existing Gothic titles anymore.
Interesting.
PC Games:
How will Gothic 3 continue now? Will there still be patches?
Berger:
We do our best and work on high speed on it, so we can deliver as fast as possible a patch to the fans. We ask for understanding though, that it might take a little longer due to these circumstances, we're working to find the best possible replacement for Pluto 13, and not want to let you down with the patches in the case that we would pick up the wrong development team. At the moment we're trying to find out if Pluto 13 is required to deliver any patches according to law. In any case we don't want to keep the fans waiting.
Hmmmmmm...That's interesting.
I figured that if JoWood owns the IP rights, they can patch it.
PC Games:
How are things now for the Gothic 3 Addon?
Berger:
Right when the development team is complete will the realisation of a Gothic 3 Addon be evaluated. In any case it should be known that JoWood is interested in the making of an Addon.
Wow.
So, we knew Gothic 3 was likely having an add-on from Pluto 13.....but, is it possible now someone else might finish it, since JoWood owns the rights to Gothic IP??!?!? Or will the add-on be something new entirely???
PC Games:
Who has the rights to the Gothic series; or how are they divided?
Berger:
The overall rights for the existing Gothic series, with the exception of Gothic 1, are lawfully with JoWood..
Wait, so who owns the original Gothic 1?
PB???
PC Games:
Do you believe, that Gothic 4 without the help of Piranha Bytes will be successful?
Berger:
Gothic is Gothic and Gothic is successful. The success of a game is not solely in the development. However it will be, Gothic will also without Pluto 13 or JoWood achieve success. In the machine Gothic there is only one thing that cannot be exchanged or replaced by something equal or better and that is Gothic itself.
Okay.
PC Games:
Why do you plan a Console version? Until now Gothic was released solely for the PC.
Berger:
Discussions for a console version have been going on for quite some time already and why should one not make a beloved and wellknown brand available for the console players?
(Sebastian Thöing, translated by Timo Kuip)
I remember when there were plans of Gothic 2 coming to that Phantom....hehe....
It does make sense to bring to to the consoles, of course -- but I hope that in the process of trying to do so, they don't streamline the game like say a DX: IW turned out.
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And the waters get muddier b/t JoWood and Pluto 13, as it is actually uncertain now who owns what....
So, it looks like, Jowood owns some of the Gothic IP stuff, while Pluto 13 owns some other Gothic IP stuff.
This looks almost as crazy as where Sierra owns the FEAR brand franchise name, but Monolith owns all the "content" of the FEAR IP (characters, storyline, objects, etc etc.) (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?p=29701#post29701)
As expected the drama continues and situation gets more and more obscure. Dozens of German websites post about Gothic´s uncertain future and Piranha Bytes remains almost silent, watching the situation while JoWooD pushes forward.
Who owns the Gothic brand?
This important question cannot be answered conclusively yet. The "arguments" were exchanged in the following chronological order:
* Piranha Bytes / Pluto 13 talks about "our brand Gothic" in the text accompanying their divorce announcement.
* JoWooD creates facts by announcing Gothic 4.
* Michael Rüve, Piranha Bytes´ / Pluto 13´s managing director, clarifies in the World of Gothic forum: "We have not sold the rights to the Gothic brand. Especially not in the last few months to make some quick cash [...].
JoWooD indeed has certain rights in the Gothic brand which among other things might allow them to develop a Gothic 4."
* Today Stefan Berger, JoWooD´s head of product manager, says in an interview with PC Games: "All rights to the existing Gothic series, with the exception of Gothic 1, are contractually in possession of JoWooD."
The problem is that the meaning of the term "Gothic brand" isn´t defined in any of the sources. Are they talking about the name, the world or the characters? What about the source code, tools and engine? Is there a legal difference between a Gothic 3 add-on, Gothic 4, interpreted as the sequel to Gothic 3, and later Gothic games?
Of course we could make a check list and find out that the seemingly contradicting statements aren´t really mutually exclusive - but can it really be so simple?
Other links
* In 4Players.de´s sharp-tongued opinion piece Good Night, Gothic the author calls JoWooD´s Gothic 4 announcement "reality satire" and then settles his accounts with both Piranha Bytes and JoWooD.
* Extrem-Players.de recapitulates the events and takes a look into the future in When Two Quarrel, the Third Suffers . They think both parties will run into problems.
* Print mag PC Games.de has a special with 5 articles, including the interview mentioned above and histories for both companies.
* DemoNews.de published a reserved but very informative column titled Gothic: A Nameless Hero´s Inglorious Exit.
More information.
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This game just arrived today at my house, from Amazon.
Yay!!!
EDIT, first impressions -- w/ Patch 1.12 installed
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First thing's first -- this game looks great at its defaults, but runs like junk at its default. Had to turn down and off a bunch of settings -- and the resolution down to 800x600, to make it still look and run ½ way decent. Runs better than Neverwinter 2, actually....oddly enough....
Long gameloads, quickloads, saves, and quicksaves -- must take about 1 minute, for any of those.
Best Gothic controls ever -- period. Finally, it supports mouselook in the way it should've been, back around Gothic 2 for combat and all. And now, we can zoom into first person and out to third person; or switch w/ the hit of a hotkey.
Oh, the Intro video and the first battle sequence at The Starting Camp was awesome.
I'll need to give G3 some more time, to give my take on many of the other things the game has to offer -- such as bugs, issues, and all of that stuff.
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Sweet! Soon we'll be able to discuss the game in detail! :D
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So far, I like it quite a bit. I noticed a performance boost for this game, w/ the newest NVidia drivers; so, that's a start.
My biggest complaint, so far -- the "white-flickering" of the entire gamescreen that occurs, at times when moving around and when stuff is goin' on.
WTF is that all about?!?!?!?
Other than that, I like what's going on w/ this, so far.
Just don't hope I hit any vicious bugs or anything....
Made my way to The Slaver Camp.
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Here's Pirahna Bytes speaking on the ordeal w/ Gothic IP. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1962)
World of Gothic has some revealing quotes from both sides of the Gothic split that appear to show Piranha Bytes has ceded the future of Gothic entirely to JoWood. Here's a snip from their latest newsbit:
For JoWooD's CEO Albert Seidl it is all perfectly clear. In an interview with Börse-Express.com last Friday, he claims the rights to Gothic 4 complete with all derivatives and possible sequels for his company. He also stated to be in close contact with a good and qualified developing studio. He just not mentioned its name.
Today in our forum, Piranha Bytes' art director Ralf Marczinczik referred all fans to direct their questions about the future of Gothic 4, any AddOn or patches straight at JoWooD. Piranha Bytes is "no longer working with the brand" and therefore not in a position to answer any of those questions.
Here's the full post from Ralf on WoG's English board:
Hello to everybody here in the english speaking community!
Sorry that we (from the studio) can´t regulary post here. (Big thanks to Christopher Weckwerth, who is constantly engaged here)
As some of you know, we answer questions quite regulary on the German side of the Forum- but for some reason we rarely post here (even though, most of us are quite fluent in English).
(Maybe I get Kai to check in more regulary too...?)
You propably know allready that the publisher of the Gothic Games, JoWood, and the Studio parted a while ago. Sad story- and I am sure you read the news in the trades.
Any questions you might have about the future of Gothic IV, any AddOn or patches, please contact the publisher via their homepage. It´s not that we don´t want to answer your questions, but all those answers can only be given by JoWood, since we are not longer working with the brand.
And yes- we are not too happy about it too, but the step was necessary to protect our studio.
I hope you understand...
Piranha Bytes itself is still very much alive and of course we are working- allthough, it might take a little while until you will get any official announcements about WHAT we are doing at the moment.
Thanks anyway for your encouragement and welcome criticism about the split.
Best regards
__________________
Ralf Marczinczik
Artdirector
Piranha Bytes
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And here's the latest from JoWood, on the current future of the Gothic IP brand name.
This is quite interesting, actually.
This is in regards to future Gothic games; namely Gothic 4, a Gothic 4 Expansion, and Gothic 5. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=5257)
JoWooD responded to an inquiry by print mag GameStar for a reaction to Pluto 13 / Piranha Bytes´ latest statement on the Gothic rights controversy.
Here is a brief summary. Please note that the legal terms used by JoWooD cannot be translated easily due to the lack of exact dictionary entries. It´s more than likely their German and / or Austrian meaning is different to that in your home country. I am not a lawyer. Please take the whole newsbit with a grain of salt.
JoWooDs´ writes:
* JoWooD currently holds the exclusive usage rights for the "Gothic" brand. (1)
* After the failure of the negotiations with Pluto 13 only JoWooD is allowed to produce the game Gothic 4 with another development studio and publish it worldwide.
* Pluto 13 is not authorized to develop and release a Gothic game at the present time.
* JoWooD owns the exclusive worldwide publishing right for conversions of Gothic 3 or Gothic 4 to other platforms.
* JoWooD owns the exclusive worldwide publishing rights for Gothic 4 add-ons [plural; ed.]. Pluto 13 "will receive the first option" (*) to develop the add-on [singular; ed.] for JoWooD.
* "With regard to a possible Gothic 5 Pluto 13 potentially has certain rights." (**) "But at any rate JoWooD has at least a first option right (*) and a last option right (**) to publish this game worldwide , too." (2)
Furthermore JoWooD refused to comment on the Gothic 3 add-on.
Comments and analysis:
(*) The terms "the first option" and "first option right" are not defined. They can mean, for example, the right of first (good faith) negotiation(s) about a development contract, or the right of first refusal. The former is relatively weak while the latter is strong because it usually requires a detailed offer for the other party to decide about. It´s not even clear both terms have identical meaning.
(**) "Last option right" sounds like the right of last refusal, also known as "matching right" in response to the best offer by a 3rd party.
(1) "Currently" does not mean indefinitely. It´s possible JoWooDs´ Gothic rights will expire sooner or later. "Usage rights" are not necessarily the rights to the brand itself. This sounds like Pluto 13 owns the Gothic brand and JoWooD can use it exclusively.
(2) Now it seems the situation is reversed. JoWooD has "at least" the two options, "Erstoptions- und Letztoptionsrecht" in the original source, and Pluto 13 "potentially has certain rights" on a possible Gothic 5. This implies that (a) Pluto 13 generally holds all rights for Gothic 5 and (b) it´s Pluto 13´ s decision whether or not a Gothic 5 will be made. JoWooD on the other hand is protected by the explained options, which will give them a good shot at the worldwide publishing rights for Gothic 5.
Source: Gamestar
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I thought this might be of interest!
Community Patch v1.4 (http://forum.jowood.com/showpost.php?p=2120924&postcount=1)
Here's the changelog (http://snorre.jowood.de/~community/Gothic3/Gothic_3_Community_Patch_v1.4_English.txt).
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As far as I know, JoWood ain't patching the game, anymore.
They are letting the Community do it.
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Yep, which is pretty shizzy of them. This patch actually convinced me to reinstall G3! Now I can finally finish it!
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Community Patch 1.5
Community Patch 1.5 let loose. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=148814)
ChangeLog
ChangeLog is here -- and it's EXTENSIVE. (http://snorre.jowood.de/~community/Gothic3/Gothic_3_Community_Patch_v1.5_English.txt)
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Sorry for the unannounced revival:
If you'd like a complete compilation of the Gothic games then Gothic Universe (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/puzzle/gothicuniverse/index.html) will very likely interest you.
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Well, here's some good news (http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=83469) that can ever come from any new patch: The game's COPY PROTECTION has been actually removed (with Patch 1.5.2).
New Community Patch Version 1.5.2 released.
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Even more good official news.
OFFICIAL PATCH coming next year! (http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3490)
Basically, the Community Patch Team and Spellbound (who are also are working on Gothic 4) are working together on a BRAND NEW Official Patch.
Here's so far, what is what has been fixed so far w/ the V1.6 they are working on.
Gothic 3 v1.6 Patch status 20.12.2007
Community Patch Team Fixes
- The Hero's death will not cause a Quest failed-message anymore.
- Frozen NPCs and creatures will unfreeze after a while in any case.
- Rune and Zapotek do not attack anymore when the player picks up ham or wood for a quest.
- Quest items like barrels of fish, firewood, etc. disappear from the game when you delivered them to decrease the amount of unusable quest items in the inventory.
- NPCs in charge of relevant quest items do not retreat anymore after a city's liberation but keep fighting.
- The hero does not stab NPCs anymore when they already lost their last health points.
- NPCs who the player is asked to follow will walk to their designated destination instead of standing around after they get knocked down.
- Chests are now being closed after NPCs used them.
- When a ranger is being attacked by the player other rangers will approach to help him out.
- Krush Tarachs, spears and halberds dropped by NPCs are now worn.
- After the message Not enough reputation the amount of missing reputation will be shown as well.
- Tutorials may now be deactivated permanently
- NPCs retreating after a revolution will now die directly when you remove their last health points.
- Whetstones may now only be used after the player learned Hone blade.
- Dialog choices concerning part deliveries of goods referred to quests have been corrected.
- Dialogs concerning success or failure of a quest are now put into the questlog as well.
- Menus may now be closed pressing the menus button even if the player had magic equipped when opening them.
- You cannot challenge more than one NPC at the same time in the arena anymore.
- Whenever a Guru appears a log will be saved automatically.
- The chest name's colour now shows if already looted.
- Taking a Follow-Quest will automatically cancel any other active Follow-Quest.
- The Hero may sell Sanford out to Marik even if this results in a duel between the Hero and Sanford.
- Unnecessary Marlo dialog option continue has been removed.
- Dialogs concerning success or failure of a quest are now put into the questlog as well.
- Questlog entries for some quests added.
- Logic of dialogs with Folleck corrected.
- Kor-Shach does not appear as a teacher too early now.
- One sentence by Emet is now played.
- Porgan's dialog order has been corrected.
- Wrong armor values for the paladin's shield have been corrected.
- Snapper leather and fire lizard leather are now sorted in the inventory tab hides and hunter merchants will pay twice the price for them.
- Gold values of some ancestor stones have been corrected to 50 gold.
- Torches and burnt torches now have a buying value of 3 gold, selling value is 1 gold.
- Golden necklaces and rings are now sorted in the inventory tab valuables and thief merchants will pay twice the price for them. The value of necklaces has been adjusted to 250 gold.
- Wrong armor values for the light rebel armor have been corrected.
- Icons have been visually improved again
- Strafing speed of ogres and goblins has been adjusted.
- Female slaves do not wear weapons or shields anymore.
- The Orcs in Al Shedim now react to the death of one of them with aggressive behaviour even if the player already handed all five artifacts to one of the gods.
- Some orcs now sell orcish weapons as well as their standard equipment.
- Integrated rain-sand-snow storm sound effects
- fmodex improvements
- Updating fmodex to newer version
- Some internal improvements
Spellbound Fixes
- New memory manager implemented to improve performance and stability
- Error handling in memory pool improved
- Fixed memory allocation error when saving
- Memory is now freed correctly
- Improved memory allocation for memory streams in filesystemstreams
- Fixed a potential memory leak which would result when an insert operation fails
- Fixed memory leak which produces 84+20 bytes leaks for each savegame when entering the load screen
- Remaining memory impact during saveload reduced from 100MB in some cases to typically less than 1,5MB - thus increasing game stability significantly
- Fixed memory leak in game_script
- Fixed some potential memory leaks in scripts
- Several shader enhancements to improve memory usage
- Fixed several uninitialized memory reads (potentially resulting in unstable or unpredictable runtime behavior)
- Improvements to the memory logging system - giving more detailed protocols of memory allocation activities
- Improved caching
- Unload caches before game restart (further reduction on memory leaks while savingloading)
- Purged all regular caches before loading a savegame - further reducing the memory leak during saveload
- Fixed access violation exception on program termination - crash during exit
- Fixed a crash bug where entities were cached out even though they were still in use
- Fixed crash bug in physics and character controller - occurs potentially during main gameplay
- Fixed crash bug within entity manager - occurs potentially during main gameplay
- Fixed one crash bug when using teleport stone
- Changed control order for PrefetcherJob destruction to avoid deadlocks (and possible crashes)
- Fmodex.dll updated to version 4.10.01 (fixing potential freezes or crash)
- Changes to the filesystem for Fmodex to avoid file format errors
- Memory performance improvements in the mesh renderer
- Fixed some memory fragmentation for performance improvements
- Performance and memory improvements to the container templates
- Slight performance improvements in ThreadPool
- Reused vertexbuffer declarations in several locations
- Error handling in vertex processors improved
- Created vertex buffers in default pool instead of managed pool if managed pool fails
- Fixed memory overwrites in the shader module
- Fixed rendering of zero or less vertices
- Fixed DX9 issue complaining about different vertex stream strides for lightmap
- Fixed DX9 issue about impossible MIP filtering
- Various small cosmetic fixes for the world
- Some fixes to avoid playing sounds with empty filenames
- Fixed bug where objects could be off color
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OFFICIAL Patch 1.6 has been released. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=151286)
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Gothic 3 -- Community Patch Version 1.70 Plans
Some plans here for G3: Community Patch 1.70. (http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?t=557493)
List of all known information about the Patch 1.70 until now:
* Estimated release date in march (when there will be no heavy problems again)
* Size: between 800-1000MB
* Contain all previous patch versions, including Patch 1.12
* Patch can installed over each version (but it is recommendable to make a complete new Gothic 3 installation)
* installed modifications must delete (or make a backup) before installing the patch because modifications will be not compatible with the Patch 1.70
* Patch is for all languages
* Begin a new game is a must
* Savegames from version 1.60 and before are not compatible and will be not shown in the menu
* around 700 changelog entries (with every small changes and world changes there are several thousands bugfixes)
* Sword sound, weather sounds
* Alternative Balancing (changes at items like weapons, armors, perks, magic etc.); can be switched on/off but after that restart the game; this balancing replaces not the original fight system but it is only alternative
* Hero can attack by 1-3 enemies in melee fight at the same time (depend on the difficulty); work only with activated alternave balancing
* new AI (new melee fight system); can also be switched on/off; opponents are much smarter and better
* increase performance (depend of the computer of the player)
* Release of Humanforce's quest package at the same time (first in German, also in English I believe)
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Community Patch 1.7 released (for ALL version of Gothic 3)
Community Patch 1.7 released for Gothic 3.
880 MB file download. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=161922)
EXTENSIVE Change-Log
Here's one huge log with over 700 fixes, changes, additions, and etc listed. Read them here for yourself. VERY Extensive. (http://snorre.jowood.de/~community/Gothic3/CP_Changelog_en.txt)
New PDF Manual Released
New PDF Manual Released for Gothic 3 - Community Version 1.70 (http://snorre.jowood.de/~community/Gothic3/Advertise/CP_1_70_Manual.pdf)
Servers everywhere getting slammed.
Think I'll wait a bit for things to settle down, to see if I can get this...
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Quick Patch 1.70 Impressions
Leave it to The Community to fix a game the dev's shouldn't have screwed-up so much in the first place...
Whoa! Technical in-game performance is much better with this patch. Game looks better with more stuff turning on and now the game runs fine in 1024x768. AI is smarter and combat is more interesting with the Alternative AI settings cranked ON. Game is nowhere as unfair, as you won't have 20 monsters running after you at once trying to slay you -- since the game isn't easy as is, anyways; they'll just wait on you, if you got too many already attacking you. If you turn Alternative AI off, then it'll go back to the old way for you insane over-hardcore gamers that want to get slaughtered.
Good news is load times are better but...bad news is it is not by much, really....
Ummmm....why couldn't Gothic 3 have came out like this in the first place? ???
Okay, gonna go play a bit more with this patch installed and tinker with it -- and gonna have more impressions, too...
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More on Patch 1.70
Settings I got in on now.
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/ec294708ece83342668a540015b1659b641f1d55.jpg)
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/72ab281d656bee9d1aafd25844e2976001911a14.jpg)
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/d6c38266077a3a01b3d6fd10527f1664f587d0d3.jpg)
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/77bfacf305e71001b78dd3fd17f77a37c1d39d66.jpg)
Screenies.
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/5350b9b65365ca6ca66b7916fb78c7691204f846.jpg)
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/f19f908818f5ea3915a17c7458cd4f227fbc680d.jpg)
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/8c331d6a897ce8604c0f4317be15a9a267fca34f.jpg)
(http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/8434348edc431c92c757cf8c5eca6df19e834435.jpg)
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Community Patch 1.71 HotFix is out now
NOTE: You must have installed Com Patch 1.70 first
Find Com Patch 1.71 HotFix here! (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=161925)
Community Patch 1.72 (which basically only includes both 1.70 + 1.71 HotFix in one file)
Get it here! (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=162850)
Kill The Stuttering Issues Yourself - Font Tweak
For real, this has got to seem like the silliest way to fix the game's in-game performance I've ever seen (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?p=2224473#post2224473) -- and it freakin' works big time! Game barely stutters now!
1.You take the original "Gothic3.tff" file and rename it to "Gothic3_old.tff"
2.Download G2: NOTR's (weak and simple) font file "GII_-_Die_Nacht_des_Raben.ttf file" (http://www.worldofgothic.com/dl/?go=dlfile&fileid=71)
3.Move that NOTR font file right into your Gothic 3 Directory
4.Rename NOTR's font to "Gothic3.tff"
5.Boot the game and enjoy the lack of stuttering!
NOTE: It's also recommended you also do the font tweak procedure on Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods, as well...
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That's a weird bug! The font they created probably causes a rendering error.
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That's a weird bug! The font they created probably causes a rendering error.
It has reduced my stuttering quite a bit. I can tolerate this a little bit more than what it was.
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Community Patch 1.73 planned for September.
Here's what it will entail. (http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?t=659351)
Announcing Community Patch 1.73
Surprise! there will be one more Community Patch.
The original reason for this was to offer the modders somewhat more and to add some tools which should help modders with their work. Still in the meantime the modkit for G3 and G3FG has been announced, we decided not to include any tools anymore.
Some of us have had a good mind to change some things which couldn't create anymore in previous CP 1.7x versions.
Release: estimated in September
Patch: Full-Patch only, NO Update-Patch
Changelog:
* + HDR Rendering.
* + Improved bloom effect.
* - Bug corrected where audio system always cached out sound even if property said "no".
* + Some Info/Quest commands added.
* - Saturas now also hands out his key when the hero first talks to him after exploring Al Shedim.
* - Texture/Shadow/Light flickering (usually occurs on ATI HD4xxx serie cards) eliminated.
* + Leaf subsurface scattering (only with activated Rim Lighting and Shader 3.0)
* + Heat haze (at minimum Shader 2.0; always on; exception: few fire places because of recompiling the world).
* - Mana recipe icon corrected.
* - Faraway trees project terrain shadows corrected.
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Gothic 3 - Community Patch Version 1.73 Released. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=165652)
ATTENTION!
The patch can be installed on all g3 versions and is available for all languages.
It's only for original G3 game, not for Forsaken Gods.
The CP 1.73 contains all previous patches. So you need only this patch to update Gothic 3.
1.7x savegames are compatible with CP 1.73. Older savegames (1.60 or earlier) are not compatible.
If you have installed modifications then save it before installing the patch. The patch will delete all superfluously files during the installation. We can't guarantee that all modifications will work with the CP 1.73.
If you have installed the quest pack then you should install it again after the 1.73 installation.
And now here it is - the Gothic 3 Community Patch 1.73!
Data size: 913 MB
Compatibility: All Versions!
Here's the changelog, if you wanna see what has been changed w/ CP Version 1.73. (http://snorre.jowood.de/~community/Gothic3/CP_Changelog_en.txt)
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Jowood Forums -> Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - Enhanced Edition patch has been announced for Q4 2010. (http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=173479)
Same mod team that did G3 - Enhanced Edition is working on this FREE patch.
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Gothic 3 joins GOG and is $9.99 - patched up w/ Community Patch 1.6. (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/gothic_3)
For those who are curious, Community Patch 1.74 (http://www.worldofgothic.com/dl/?go=dlfile&fileid=166) is the newest version of the G3 Com Patches.