CVGames preview
Gothic 3 aims to be an expansive RPG that improves upon its two predecessors in every way. The hallmark Gothic series is nonlinear gameplay. In that, Gothic 3 remains the same. The game is set on a much larger land mass than the previous two games. Orcs are dominating humans. People who aren’t enslaved have gathered into a few different groups hiding in remote locations, some attempting a resistance movement against the orcish oppressors.
Playing as a human character, you might think that your job is to save the human race, but that’s not necessarily the case. Developer Piranha Bytes promises clear objectives though the adventure will be nonlinear and open-ended. You can choose what you want to do, but hopefully, you shouldn’t be wandering aimlessly. If you want to get sidetracked, there will be plenty of things to do, but if you want to continue advancing the story, you’ll know what to do. Of course, you’ll have to make some of your own decisions first though. Various objectives will be set in opposition to each other. Even if you’re comfortable choosing a side, it still won’t always be clear what the “best” or “right” thing is to do. You can choose to help the orcs totally conquer the humans, selling out your fellow man but securing your own place of power in the world. Or of course, you can aid the human rebellion to take back the land. There will be multiple paths that fall somewhere in between.
The story will unfold differently depending on the choices you make. Perhaps more interestingly, the gameplay will change too. The large game world is filled with hundreds of orc and human characters that all have their own routines and agendas. They will react differently to you based on what you have done previously in the game and this is going to affect what options are available to you in the future. So you may really become involved with a particular faction, or you might a more independent adventurer. Ultimately, you’ll influence the storyline and the game’s ending.
Being an RPG game, character development is nonlinear as well. When you first create your character, you’ll choose details about how he looks, but you won’t have to lock him into a specific class or profession. Instead, you’ll pick up various specialties as you play through the game. You’ll be able to train with various experts across the land to become more proficient and specialized with particular skills. As far as customization, you can do all of the things you’d expect from a large RPG. You can shop for, earn, and find weapons, armor, and a variety of other items. The type of weapons you have can significantly affect your fighting styles and strategies. You can also study magic and learn a large variety of spells with a variety of effects including spells used for attack.
Gothic 3’s combat system is action based. You’ll mainly use the mouse for control. Though there is an auto aim feature that helps you connect your attacks, this is not the kind of RPG where you tell your character what to do and then watch him do it. The combat takes place in real-time from a third-person perspective, and you’ll need to execute moves with both timing and strategy to be successful. The melee combat can vary greatly depending on your weapons and abilities. For instance, you might fight with two swords, a sword and shield, or a battle axe. You can also use magic during combat, which drastically changes the game. You’ve got more straightforward magic, like a fire attack, but you might employ a variety of other effects on yourself or the enemy. Enemies will have challenging AI. They’ll attempt to attack you from the back and sides, and they’ll try to surround you. However, you will learn a variety of moves that should allow you to deal with most situations. The combat in Gothic 3 is very much like an action game, and that’s one of the aspects I really appreciate. Provided that the enemy design remains challenging and diverse throughout the game, it should keep the game exciting.
One of the cool things about combat goes back to the nonlinear gameplay and the importance of consequences. When fighting humans or orcs (as opposed to animals), you can always defeat them without killing them. At that point, you’ll be able to choose whether or not you want to perform the killing blow or to let them live, battered as they are. This can have really important effects on your interactions with other characters. If you kill a certain enemy, you could gain favor with certain characters which might open up a new gameplay path. On the other hand, you’ll probably anger other characters in the process. Depending on the situation, it will affect your reputation too. Townsfolk may become scare when you visit and not be as helpful as they might have been because of your past deeds. On the other hand, sparing an enemy’s life will alter the characters’ opinions in other ways.
Piranha Bytes is addressing shortcomings of the previous two games to make the series even more accessible. The interface is lighter and more intuitive, letting players stay in the action without getting bogged down by clunky menus and buttons. There are lots of technical upgrades too. Piranha Bytes seems proud of the improved character AI which is hugely important to the nonlinear gameplay. Characters react to the player realistically. If you walk into a castle with a big axe drawn, characters may look tense and refuse to talk to you. A guard may tell you to put your weapon away. If you ignore them, they might assume your hostile and attack. Characters might also react to the way you’re dressed or some action they just witnessed. It’s also worth noting that all character dialogue is presented with full voice acting.
The game also features streaming environments. There is no loading after the initial boot-up of the game. The graphics are pretty nice too. Gothic 3 will feature HDR lighting, shadowing and parallax mapping. Texture detail seems pretty good and there is plenty of vegetation in the outdoor areas. There’s also day/night and weather system. Again, time of day and weather can affect what a particular character is doing, or what is going on in a town at a particular time, so these things do impact the gameplay.
You can also interact with most objects that you see. Interaction can be as simple as picking an item up, but there are useful things you can do with several items. For instance, you can find pieces of food and then cook them over a fire to create a nutritional meal. You can find various ingredients to make food or even magical items with.
The Gothic series has quite a following already, and with the improvements made for this new sequel, Piranha Bytes hopes to draw more players into its universe. The action based combat combined with the involving nonlinear storyline could do just that. Aspyr is targeted Gothic 3’s release for sometime this fall on PC.
CVG Report Card
·Gothic 3
·Platform: PC
·Developer: Piranha Bytes
·Publisher: Aspyr
·1 Player Game
·Genre: Role Playing Game
·Release Date: Fall 2006
