Gothic 3 on GoG for 5 bucks - worth it?

Eyeball · Dec 15, 2011

Five bucks at the moment - is it worth spending some of my Xmas vacation on? I've been told that it is godawful out of the box, but the community patch supposedly fixed a whole bunch of stuff and made it a halfway enjoyable game.

So, yay or nay? And if yay, what resources should I utilise to maximise my Gothicky experience?

Zergian · Dec 15, 2011

I think it's a great action RPG, with a huge, atmospheric world with lots to do. For example, one type of chest gives you certain items in a certain progression no matter which of the chests you open first, so that when you have found enough of those chests you get some super rare and useful thing, making looking for them an interesting "quest".

When I first played it, the feeling was something truly special. I don't know what it was, probably a combination of the graphics, music, and a sense of a gigantic open world to explore, that did it. It was wonderful, even with the infamous jerkiness, which I think is partly a display driver issue (some people with older machines report better performance; either way, you get used to it).

Have you read Vault Dweller's review? He gave it a fair amount of praise, and I agree that the game was much better than generally admitted already out of the box. With the community patch, it's a classic.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

The game is great with newest path, and new AI (prevents endless stun locking so you can't just left click enemies to death, the fight system is actually pretty good with that change).

And don't forget ini tweaks to remove lod:

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/th ... g-textures

Vegetation distance increase:

;VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_VeryHigh - 1000.0=min, 30000.0=max, 7500.0=default
;VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_High - 1000.0=min, 30000.0=max, 6500.0=default
;VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_Medium - 1000.0=min, 30000.0=max, 5000.0=default
;VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_Low - 1000.0=min, 30000.0=max, 4000.0=default
VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_VeryHigh=26000.0
VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_High=25000.0
VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_Medium=23500.0
VegetationViewRange.fViewDistance_Low=24500.0

And turn off the blurring shit special effect in video options.

commie · Dec 15, 2011

Yes, it's a great game with the CP. I played it with the old 1.60 CP and loved it. It's apparently improved further with the newest CP but I just don't have time to go through it again at the moment.

Totally worth it. One of the select group of games that I bought after already finishing it as a torrent.

Mortmal · Dec 15, 2011

It wasnt god awful out of the box. When it comes to the codex a game is either best of the decade or utter shit, theres some middle ground. Its a good action rpg with some faction choices, 40 hours or so of gaming, technically its still good looking in my opinion as far as hiking simulators go.5 bucks yes you should definitively get it.

CrazyLoon · Dec 15, 2011

Vanilla Gothic 3, with or without the community patch, is still an unfinished game. The quests are completely pointless and the main quest is derp. The game has no direction whatsoever, so I guess you could play it like Oblivion or Skyrim as a hiking simulator, an inferior one I might add, since the engine even more unoptimized than the already crappy gamebryo, that you'll probably end up being more frustrated with the crashes and stutters than the combat. If you are German or understand German, you might want to consider to wait until they release this guy here. I wouldn't expect it to be spectacular though, as you know fan made mods are mostly shit.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

What is frustrating about the combat? Oh you sucking at it I see.

What does it even mean that the quest are pointless?

All of the quest do make sense, and many of them can be done for one of the factions. There are some fed ex quest, but you can avoid most boring ones, there is plenty of content anyway.

MQ isn't derp, there isn't much of it but that doesn't make it derp.

torpid · Dec 15, 2011

For $5 yeah go for it and install the Community Patch, but the game is mediocre. Even with the CP combat is still iffy, and quests are very repetitive since you get variations of the same quests in every town. For the first few hours I was really into it and expecting great things but it gets dull pretty fast. A nice big world though, and no quest compasses or level-scaling. Basically a pretty but bland open-world game that isn't dumbed down.

Whatever you do, don't choose the Innos path in the Main Quest. It'll have you fighting hordes of orcs to liberate every town, and I really mean hordes. What makes it ridiculous is that only 2-3 enemies (depending on the difficulty level) can attack you at the same time, so you'll be surrounded by 20-30 orcs -- and I'm not exaggerating the numbers, hell it's probably more -- with you in the middle and only three of them actually fighting you. Side with Beliar or Xardas to avoid a tedious end game.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

torpid said:
Whatever you do, don't choose the Innos path in the Main Quest. It'll have you fighting hordes of orcs to liberate every town, and I really mean hordes. What makes it ridiculous is that only 2-3 enemies (depending on the difficulty level) can attack you at the same time, so you'll be surrounded by 20-30 orcs -- and I'm not exaggerating the numbers, hell it's probably more -- with you in the middle and only three of them actually fighting you. Side with Beliar or Xardas to avoid a tedious end game.

Stop the bs, you can't just let yourself get surrounded, you would end up with Orcs attacking from different sides. Freeing the cities is pretty fun I had reloaded few times just do it couple of times.

Cowboy Moment · Dec 15, 2011

It's really good if you can get over the combat, which is still kind of meh even with the CP. It has, imo, one of the best realized sandbox worlds ever. A lot of small things just come together to make it really believable and genuine. There's not much of a narrative, but there are multiple factions that actually matter and allow you to influence the world in a significant way. Quests often have multiple solutions and C&C, and usually influence your reputation with the factions. The game isn't dumbed down at all, has no level scaling or anything even resembling a quest compass.

For $5 it's definitely worth it.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

Anybody complaining about the combat in G3 /w CP /w alternative AI on, and alternative balancing on can describe what is wrong with the combat? I had never seen any constructive critique of it, just combat sucks lolz.

Now there are exploits that you should avoid:
-eating/drinking from inventory cancels the animation - exploit.
-you can out sprint enemies, and shoot them from far - exploit.
-enemies can't jump or climb on anything -easy to exploit
-using spring to shoot the enemies from far - exploit.

Health is also to cheap, get your char to about 400 health to not have ridiculous HP.

If you do that then the combat is good.

Metro · Dec 15, 2011

Even with the CP and alternate AI the melee combat still revolves around stun locking, albeit the ability to do that is limited. The game itself feels like a single player mmo. The scope of the game was ambitious but they ultimately failed in execution. There's a lot of space for space sake. Exploration isn't really a factor given randomized chests... honestly I can't list all my complaints again as I've done it too many times. Is it worth $5? Sure, I guess, I just wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Oh, someone mentioned the Innos path... reason it's terrible is just the sheer NUMBER of orcs and Hashisin you have to kill. It's moronic. Liberating towns is a nice idea in theory but, again, in execution it's extremely tedious and boring. Everything about this game comes back to that: an idea/design decision was good in the concept stage but just crashed and burned when it came to implementation.

CrunchyHemorrhoids · Dec 15, 2011

There's a demo for gothic 3, figure it out for yourself.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

Metro said:
Even with the CP and alternate AI the melee combat still revolves around stun locking, albeit the ability to do that is limited.

No it doesn't, stun lock is unreliable as you can get easily countered, and you will get hit by somebody else often when left clicking on somebody to stun lock him. The combat revolves around finding right timing to attack, and around not letting yourself get surrounded.

Metro said:
The game itself feels like a single player mmo.

With plenty of quest that changes something in the gameworld? With quest where you take over the cities, it was nicely done in Varant where you get allot of help, in Myrtana you must kill most Orcs yourself but many Nomads fight with you so you don't have to kill all that many Orcs/Assasins yourself.

Metro said:
The scope of the game was ambitious but they ultimately failed in execution. There's a lot of space for space sake. Exploration isn't really a factor given randomized chests...

I would prefer all to be hand placed, but:
-only some are
- don't reload to get what you want.
-the special chest content depend on how many you had already opened so it isn't actually randomized, and it is worth to discover as many as you can of them.

bhlaab · Dec 15, 2011

5 bucks yes

taxalot · Dec 15, 2011

My main gripe with Gothic 3 was the absolute absence of women and boobs. Seriously, what the fuck. I can get this in Gothic 1, it was a prison after all. Gothic 2? Well, okay, the place is basically a military outpost. Gothic 3? Jesus... what do I fap to while playing the game ?

Mangoose · Dec 15, 2011

Worth it for $5.

Satan · Dec 15, 2011

not really. it's pretty boring and silly. buying a hamburger is a better way to spend $5.

torpid · Dec 15, 2011

Kraszu said:
torpid said:

Whatever you do, don't choose the Innos path in the Main Quest. It'll have you fighting hordes of orcs to liberate every town, and I really mean hordes. What makes it ridiculous is that only 2-3 enemies (depending on the difficulty level) can attack you at the same time, so you'll be surrounded by 20-30 orcs -- and I'm not exaggerating the numbers, hell it's probably more -- with you in the middle and only three of them actually fighting you. Side with Beliar or Xardas to avoid a tedious end game.

Click to expand...

Stop the bs, you can't just let yourself get surrounded, you would end up with Orcs attacking from different sides. Freeing the cities is pretty fun I had reloaded few times just do it couple of times.

Stop the lies, start the truths! r00fles

Seriously though, I remember it quite clearly, so no it's not bs. As for it being fun, we'll have to agree to disagree. The first town you liberate might be ok, but afterwards it's just tedious. If the combat had been better I wouldn't complain, but as it is they should've had you liberate only the capital to find the King -- it's suitably epic and would avoid you having to do it for every podunk town in Myrtana.

Kraszu said:
Metro said:

Even with the CP and alternate AI the melee combat still revolves around stun locking, albeit the ability to do that is limited.

Click to expand...

No it doesn't, stun lock is unreliable as you can get easily countered, and you will get hit by somebody else often when left clicking on somebody to stun lock him. The combat revolves around finding right timing to attack, and around not letting yourself get surrounded.

And that involved constantly walking backwards while striking opponents when they finish their attack animation. I don't even remember shields really working -- or at least most enemies had a lunging attack that still got through a block, so walk-backwards-and-hit was a better tactic.

taxalot said:
My main gripe with Gothic 3 was the absolute absence of women and boobs. Seriously, what the fuck. I can get this in Gothic 1, it was a prison after all. Gothic 2? Well, okay, the place is basically a military outpost. Gothic 3? Jesus... what do I fap to while playing the game ?

It's true, Gothic has always been a sausage fest. I think there are a few female commoners but otherwise it's all men. GOTY every Y for the "female equality in RPGs suck" crowd.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

torpid said:
Stop the lies, start the truths! r00fles

Seriously though, I remember it quite clearly, so no it's not bs. As for it being fun, we'll have to agree to disagree. The first town you liberate might be ok, but afterwards it's just tedious. If the combat had been better I wouldn't complain, but as it is they should've had you liberate only the capital to find the King -- it's suitably epic and would avoid you having to do it for every podunk town in Myrtana.

And that involved constantly walking backwards while striking opponents when they finish their attack animation. I don't even remember shields really working -- or at least most enemies had a lunging attack that still got through a block, so walk-backwards-and-hit was a better tactic.

So you agree that stun lock isn't reliable enough or you don't agree with that? In one response you stand in the middle, and kill enemies with stun lock in the other you are backing off to counter attack. Counter attacking wasn't as easy as you say it was, first of all walking back wouldn't get you out of range of many attacks, and secondly you had to find right spot to attack when 3 enemies were attacking you if you would just try to attack after dodging attack of one of them, then you would get hit by some other enemy getting right situation to attack wasn't that easy. You did need to block some of the special attacks, block only worked sometimes so you had to adopt what you were doing to the situation.

I am talking about alternative AI/balancing, and hard as that is how I was playing it. I also wasn't using the exploit of drinking/eating from inventory as that cancels the animations.

Mayday · Dec 15, 2011

Yeah, the combat is total bullshit, much worse than in the previous Gothic games, even after installing the CP.
Dodging is virtually impossible.
Fighting hundreds of orcs at once? Sure, they'll wait in line nicely.
And it has this ridiculous bug where your damage INCREASES with loss of stamina! I'm not even sure if the CP fixed that.
Armour makes almost no difference. A dumb goblin shaman will two-shot any character (no matter the level).

I tried it with the latest CP but uninstalled it after several minutes of gameplay.

And about boobs- G2 had plenty of women.

Metro · Dec 15, 2011

Best way to get an accurate read on a game: throw out the most positive review, throw out the most negative review, and weigh everything in between.

Kraszu · Dec 15, 2011

Mayday said:
Dodging is virtually impossible.

No.

Mayday said:
Fighting hundreds of orcs at once? Sure, they'll wait in line nicely.

Playing on easy or without alternative AI detected.

Mayday said:
Armour makes almost no difference. A dumb goblin shaman will two-shot any character (no matter the level).

Huh, armour decreases dmg taken from melee, and ranged not from magic.

Mayday · Dec 15, 2011

Kraszu said:
Mayday said:

Dodging is virtually impossible.

Click to expand...

No.

I may be getting this one wrong, ok.

Kraszu said:
Mayday said:

Fighting hundreds of orcs at once? Sure, they'll wait in line nicely.

Click to expand...

Playing on easy detected.

Nope.

Kraszu said:
Mayday said:

Armour makes almost no difference. A dumb goblin shaman will two-shot any character (no matter the level).

Click to expand...

Huh, armour decreases dmg taken from melee, and ranged not from magic.

Armour grants fire etc. resistance as well.

villain of the story · Dec 15, 2011

FFS, just get the TPB version, play for a couple hours and buy if you like to play it more.

Gothic 3 on GoG for 5 bucks - worth it?

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