gzsfrk
10-29-2010, 10:32 AM
<table width="100%" style="padding:2px; background-color: black"><tr><td>Arcania: Gothic 4 Review [PC]
Also on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developed by: Spellbound Entertainment (http://www.spellbound.de/)
Published by: JoWooD Entertainment (http://www.jowood.at/), Dreamcatcher Interactive (http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/)
You pay: $49.99 (PC); $59.99 (360/PS3)</td><td align="right"><img style="border:1px solid red;" src="http://evavhost.com/i/press/gzsfrk_head.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td>Release Date: PC/Xbox 360 - Oct. 12, 2010; PS3 - Oct. 19, 2010</td><td align=right>Matt 'gzsfrk' Williams</td></tr></table>
I’d like to check out your goods
Did you ever know someone in school or another social setting who, despite being awkward and just a bit “off”, was so convinced of and confident in their own coolness that they actually somehow managed to pull it off despite themselves? (Think Napoleon Dynamite.) That’s kind of the way it is with Arcania: Gothic 4. Sure, it may have shown up at the ARPG party wearing a taupe leisure suit and an over-giddy expression on its face. But when the music starts, watch out: the kid can dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAyTK6jF5o8).
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_01.jpg
For those not familiar with the series, Gothic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_(series)) is a fairly well-respected franchise amongst RPG enthusiasts. Sporting expansive open worlds, scads of quests, and plenty of loot, it’s a series that caters well to the Diablo set. While the first two games (Gothic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_(video_game)) & Gothic II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_II)) received generally positive reviews, the third game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_3) was widely criticized (http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/920920-gothic-3/index.html) for the plethora bugs which infested the initial release, and also for its sub-par English voice acting. Enter Arcania: Gothic 4; and I am happy to report that the problems with the game-breaking bugs from the previous title seem to have been adequately addressed. Unfortunately, it appears (or sounds) as though the same 80s Saturday morning cartoon voice-over cast from Gothic III have returned for an encore performance.
Before delving into the negatives, though, let’s talk about the game’s best feature: the gorgeous, expansive open world. Rather than using their own in-house engine as previous series developer Piranha Bytes had opted to do, newcomer to Gothic development Spellbound decided to license the Vision Engine 7 tech from 3D engine developer Trinigy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Engine). And dare I say, Spellbound got their money’s worth from the purchase. Indeed, you’ll notice a recurring theme in several of the screenshots I took which accompany this article: my character looking up at the horizon and off into the distance. The sweeping vistas in this game make it a joy to simply go exploring for the highest vantage point you can find, then pan the camera around taking in the beautiful medieval fantasy world that lies before you. There’s effective use of HDR lighting and the day/night cycle along with dynamic weather make the world seem organic and alive. There was also no noticeable drops in framerate on my system even though I played in windowed mode with all detail settings maxxed out.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_07.jpg
That’s not to say that the game is visual perfection. While the draw-distances for major features are fantastic, there’s a fair amount of foliage pop-in when running around. Additionally, every tree in the game appears to be seized by a non-stop epileptic fit--a needless animation that really detracts from what is otherwise the best outdoor scenery in a game since the original Far Cry. I likewise encountered several graphical glitches (see the screenshot), although nothing so bad or consistently recurring that would make me consider it to be a major flaw. The character models and animation vary from OK (humans) to above average (undead) to gorgeous (golems).
My other favorite feature of the game is that there are virtually NO loading screens. Similar to World of Warcraft, you can run from one end of the game’s continent to the other without stopping for so much as a gate opening sequence. Inside, outside, underground--it doesn’t matter. The only time the game cuts to a loading screen is when you use any of the teleports located around the gameworld, and even then the load time is brief. Given how impressive Gothic 4’s environment looks, that’s actually quite an accomplishment. Compared to games like the Fable series where you frequently hit the edge of a “zone” and the next section has to be loaded, the ability to actually run non-stop to any of the structures you can see in the distance really goes a long way towards drawing you into the world.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_glitchy.jpg
Where the game first falls short is, ironically enough, in the game department. The Gothic series has never been known to have a strong combat mechanic, and Arcania does little to change that perception. Battle controls are fairly simplistic (left-click to attack, right-click to block or evade), and monotony sets in pretty fast as you find a couple of good combos that work fairly early on (one for solo battles, another for crowd control situations) that you will likely stick with throughout most of the game. The biggest problem with the combat from my perspective is that, during a battle, you have to equip your attack modes to switch between melee, ranged, and magic. When titles such as Fable II do a of better job of combining all three into one fluid control scheme, Arcania really has no excuse for sticking with such a clunky implementation which makes chaining effective combos impractical at best and impossible at worst.
Gothic 4’s other main problem is how long it takes before things really hit their stride and the play transitions from tedious monotony to “Hey look at me in my plate armor and electric sword while I run around and pwn mobs!”. Your nameless character starts out as a lowly shepherd, but is forced to learn combat in order to avenge the loss of his island home. And wow is that vengeance ever a long time in coming. In total, it took me aroung 26 hours to complete the campaign on Normal difficulty. While I certainly did some exploring and collecting of ingredients for crafting, I didn’t lolly-gag and actually made consistent progress on the main quest-line throughout my playtime. But I was 10 hours into the campaign before it got to the point where I started having to force myself to stop playing for the night, as opposed to forcing myself to keep playing through the earlier sections just so I could finish the game. And while I was a bit disappointed by the final battle, it was still satisfying enough overall that I was a bit sad to see it come to an end. (Note that there is no way to continue playing around in the game world once you enter the end boss fight.)
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_23.jpg
Of course, I can’t NOT mention the game’s audio. While the music is very well done and sounds like it could have been pulled straight from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, the voice acting is... well... It ranges from tolerable to Two-Worlds-levels-of-bad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wl4nQ0Dt9g). And it’s not just the voice work; the writing itself frequently comes across as hackneyed or cliched, and there’s even a fair amount of grammatical errors in the subtitles. Having at least an English grad-student give the script a good once over would have been a prudent move. To be fair, though, the English dialog is a dub of the original German version which I’ve read is actually considered to be very good. Still, it is what it is, and if the English version of the game is what you’re going to be playing, then you may want to stretch your wincing muscles before diving in.
Other shortcomings of the game include that the skill tree is woefully small, crafting is mostly non-essential busy work (with the exception of creating health and other potions) as the best weapons and equipment are either boss drops or rewards, there's no character customization, and the story is overall by-the-numbers fantasy stuff. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah--the in-game teleport system is all but worthless. Each teleport disc only goes to one other teleport location. Why they couldn't have just let you teleport from one teleport to any of the others you've already activated is beyond me; it's not like you can't already run back to any previous area on the entire island anyway.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_11.jpg
So that’s Arcania: Gothic 4. It’s not the best ARPG I’ve played, but it’s probably the best looking, particularly the outside environments. Seeing as Diablo III isn’t going to be released until at least next year, Gothic 4 is a good tide-you-over title for fans of the genre. And honestly, if you’re at the school dance and can’t hook up with the prom queen, there’s no harm in settling for some other good-looking girl who's available, even if she's not too deep or smart or much of a conversationalist. Just hold a hushed finger (http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/511353/man-shushes-green-hd.html) up to her lips, get comfortable, and enjoy the view.
http://evavhost.com/public/35n.gif
<table width="100%" style=" padding:2px"><tr><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_good.jpg The game’s outdoor environments are gorgeous Seamless game world means you’ll spend more time exploring and virtually no time staring at splash loading screens There’s a lot of game here; legitimately at least 20 hours of gameplay even if you just do all the quests and ignore crafting and exploration</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_bad.jpg Gameplay is both simplistic and tedious; battles can get monotonous and boring after while Takes way too long before things pick up and you get drawn into the story The English voice acting ranges from weak to atrociously bad</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_ugly.jpg There's a witch early on whose voice made me want to pull a Van Gogh on my ears.</td></tr></table>
Also on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Developed by: Spellbound Entertainment (http://www.spellbound.de/)
Published by: JoWooD Entertainment (http://www.jowood.at/), Dreamcatcher Interactive (http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/)
You pay: $49.99 (PC); $59.99 (360/PS3)</td><td align="right"><img style="border:1px solid red;" src="http://evavhost.com/i/press/gzsfrk_head.jpg"></td></tr><tr><td>Release Date: PC/Xbox 360 - Oct. 12, 2010; PS3 - Oct. 19, 2010</td><td align=right>Matt 'gzsfrk' Williams</td></tr></table>
I’d like to check out your goods
Did you ever know someone in school or another social setting who, despite being awkward and just a bit “off”, was so convinced of and confident in their own coolness that they actually somehow managed to pull it off despite themselves? (Think Napoleon Dynamite.) That’s kind of the way it is with Arcania: Gothic 4. Sure, it may have shown up at the ARPG party wearing a taupe leisure suit and an over-giddy expression on its face. But when the music starts, watch out: the kid can dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAyTK6jF5o8).
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_01.jpg
For those not familiar with the series, Gothic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_(series)) is a fairly well-respected franchise amongst RPG enthusiasts. Sporting expansive open worlds, scads of quests, and plenty of loot, it’s a series that caters well to the Diablo set. While the first two games (Gothic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_(video_game)) & Gothic II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_II)) received generally positive reviews, the third game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_3) was widely criticized (http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/920920-gothic-3/index.html) for the plethora bugs which infested the initial release, and also for its sub-par English voice acting. Enter Arcania: Gothic 4; and I am happy to report that the problems with the game-breaking bugs from the previous title seem to have been adequately addressed. Unfortunately, it appears (or sounds) as though the same 80s Saturday morning cartoon voice-over cast from Gothic III have returned for an encore performance.
Before delving into the negatives, though, let’s talk about the game’s best feature: the gorgeous, expansive open world. Rather than using their own in-house engine as previous series developer Piranha Bytes had opted to do, newcomer to Gothic development Spellbound decided to license the Vision Engine 7 tech from 3D engine developer Trinigy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Engine). And dare I say, Spellbound got their money’s worth from the purchase. Indeed, you’ll notice a recurring theme in several of the screenshots I took which accompany this article: my character looking up at the horizon and off into the distance. The sweeping vistas in this game make it a joy to simply go exploring for the highest vantage point you can find, then pan the camera around taking in the beautiful medieval fantasy world that lies before you. There’s effective use of HDR lighting and the day/night cycle along with dynamic weather make the world seem organic and alive. There was also no noticeable drops in framerate on my system even though I played in windowed mode with all detail settings maxxed out.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_07.jpg
That’s not to say that the game is visual perfection. While the draw-distances for major features are fantastic, there’s a fair amount of foliage pop-in when running around. Additionally, every tree in the game appears to be seized by a non-stop epileptic fit--a needless animation that really detracts from what is otherwise the best outdoor scenery in a game since the original Far Cry. I likewise encountered several graphical glitches (see the screenshot), although nothing so bad or consistently recurring that would make me consider it to be a major flaw. The character models and animation vary from OK (humans) to above average (undead) to gorgeous (golems).
My other favorite feature of the game is that there are virtually NO loading screens. Similar to World of Warcraft, you can run from one end of the game’s continent to the other without stopping for so much as a gate opening sequence. Inside, outside, underground--it doesn’t matter. The only time the game cuts to a loading screen is when you use any of the teleports located around the gameworld, and even then the load time is brief. Given how impressive Gothic 4’s environment looks, that’s actually quite an accomplishment. Compared to games like the Fable series where you frequently hit the edge of a “zone” and the next section has to be loaded, the ability to actually run non-stop to any of the structures you can see in the distance really goes a long way towards drawing you into the world.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_glitchy.jpg
Where the game first falls short is, ironically enough, in the game department. The Gothic series has never been known to have a strong combat mechanic, and Arcania does little to change that perception. Battle controls are fairly simplistic (left-click to attack, right-click to block or evade), and monotony sets in pretty fast as you find a couple of good combos that work fairly early on (one for solo battles, another for crowd control situations) that you will likely stick with throughout most of the game. The biggest problem with the combat from my perspective is that, during a battle, you have to equip your attack modes to switch between melee, ranged, and magic. When titles such as Fable II do a of better job of combining all three into one fluid control scheme, Arcania really has no excuse for sticking with such a clunky implementation which makes chaining effective combos impractical at best and impossible at worst.
Gothic 4’s other main problem is how long it takes before things really hit their stride and the play transitions from tedious monotony to “Hey look at me in my plate armor and electric sword while I run around and pwn mobs!”. Your nameless character starts out as a lowly shepherd, but is forced to learn combat in order to avenge the loss of his island home. And wow is that vengeance ever a long time in coming. In total, it took me aroung 26 hours to complete the campaign on Normal difficulty. While I certainly did some exploring and collecting of ingredients for crafting, I didn’t lolly-gag and actually made consistent progress on the main quest-line throughout my playtime. But I was 10 hours into the campaign before it got to the point where I started having to force myself to stop playing for the night, as opposed to forcing myself to keep playing through the earlier sections just so I could finish the game. And while I was a bit disappointed by the final battle, it was still satisfying enough overall that I was a bit sad to see it come to an end. (Note that there is no way to continue playing around in the game world once you enter the end boss fight.)
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_23.jpg
Of course, I can’t NOT mention the game’s audio. While the music is very well done and sounds like it could have been pulled straight from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, the voice acting is... well... It ranges from tolerable to Two-Worlds-levels-of-bad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wl4nQ0Dt9g). And it’s not just the voice work; the writing itself frequently comes across as hackneyed or cliched, and there’s even a fair amount of grammatical errors in the subtitles. Having at least an English grad-student give the script a good once over would have been a prudent move. To be fair, though, the English dialog is a dub of the original German version which I’ve read is actually considered to be very good. Still, it is what it is, and if the English version of the game is what you’re going to be playing, then you may want to stretch your wincing muscles before diving in.
Other shortcomings of the game include that the skill tree is woefully small, crafting is mostly non-essential busy work (with the exception of creating health and other potions) as the best weapons and equipment are either boss drops or rewards, there's no character customization, and the story is overall by-the-numbers fantasy stuff. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah--the in-game teleport system is all but worthless. Each teleport disc only goes to one other teleport location. Why they couldn't have just let you teleport from one teleport to any of the others you've already activated is beyond me; it's not like you can't already run back to any previous area on the entire island anyway.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/gothic_gameplay_11.jpg
So that’s Arcania: Gothic 4. It’s not the best ARPG I’ve played, but it’s probably the best looking, particularly the outside environments. Seeing as Diablo III isn’t going to be released until at least next year, Gothic 4 is a good tide-you-over title for fans of the genre. And honestly, if you’re at the school dance and can’t hook up with the prom queen, there’s no harm in settling for some other good-looking girl who's available, even if she's not too deep or smart or much of a conversationalist. Just hold a hushed finger (http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/511353/man-shushes-green-hd.html) up to her lips, get comfortable, and enjoy the view.
http://evavhost.com/public/35n.gif
<table width="100%" style=" padding:2px"><tr><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_good.jpg The game’s outdoor environments are gorgeous Seamless game world means you’ll spend more time exploring and virtually no time staring at splash loading screens There’s a lot of game here; legitimately at least 20 hours of gameplay even if you just do all the quests and ignore crafting and exploration</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_bad.jpg Gameplay is both simplistic and tedious; battles can get monotonous and boring after while Takes way too long before things pick up and you get drawn into the story The English voice acting ranges from weak to atrociously bad</td><td width=33% valign=top>http://evavhost.com/public/the_ugly.jpg There's a witch early on whose voice made me want to pull a Van Gogh on my ears.</td></tr></table>