It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
Gothic seriesGothic 3 (original version): Questions before purchasing(33 posts)(33 posts)
(33 posts)
Pages:
1
2
3
This is my favourite topic
Posted April 18, 2014
With Gothic 3 on sale I'm considering picking it up. For the record, I haven't played any of previous Gothic games.

My primary questions are:

1. Does the game have a good story and about how many hours will it take to complete the game?

2. Is the control scheme well thought out or is it a pain to use?

3. What was changed in the community patch?

4. Is the blood and gore kept to a minimum?

Thank you in advance for your answers.
Post edited April 18, 2014 by auroraparadox
Posted April 18, 2014
1) Story is pretty meh. It ties things together well enough, but exploration is what really drives things in this game, so you'll need to decide if that's enough to do it for you. As for length, if you're thorough you're probably looking at around 60-80 hours, although it can also be completed much faster than that if you skip a lot of the optional stuff.

2) Control scheme is pretty straightforward (in contrast to the first two Gothic games). Melee combat can take a bit of practice to get good at, but that's pretty much part of the game.

3) Numerous bug fixes, balance fixes (skill costs, enemy stats, item stats, etc), much better enemy AI (optional).

4) Yes. Blood is very minimal and gore is pretty much non-existent.
Posted April 18, 2014
avatar
DarrkPhoenix: 1) Story is pretty meh. It ties things together well enough, but exploration is what really drives things in this game, so you'll need to decide if that's enough to do it for you. As for length, if you're thorough you're probably looking at around 60-80 hours, although it can also be completed much faster than that if you skip a lot of the optional stuff.

2) Control scheme is pretty straightforward (in contrast to the first two Gothic games). Melee combat can take a bit of practice to get good at, but that's pretty much part of the game.

3) Numerous bug fixes, balance fixes (skill costs, enemy stats, item stats, etc), much better enemy AI (optional).

4) Yes. Blood is very minimal and gore is pretty much non-existent.
Thank you for your response DarrkPhoenix.

What variant of the community patch would you recommend for a new player?
Posted April 18, 2014
The community patch is already included in the default install, so you only need to worry about the options that can then be set when starting a new game. The primary options the CP introduced that can be changed are alternative balancing (toggled on the main game menu) and alternative AI (toggled in the difficulty sub-menu). Alternative balancing changes the skill system with respect to how many skill points skills cost and similar adjustments. In the base game you tend to end up swimming in skill points and don't have to be particularly picky about how you spend them, while with alternative balancing you have to be a bit more judicious and specialize more. I'd personally recommend using alternative balancing, as otherwise you tend to become overpowered by just the mid-game, while with it there's still a feeling of character progression through most of the game. Alternative balancing is the only option that can't be changed mid-game.

Alternative AI changes enemy combat behavior, making combat more difficult and enemies much less exploitable. In the base game most humanoid opponents could be defeated by constant attacking, while with alternative AI you have to use a much wider array of tactics to fight effectively. I'd personally recommend using it even for a beginner, but it can be turned on and off at any time, so try it out and if you find the combat too difficult then you can switch it off (however, the game starts off with a pretty big fight, so you might want to leave it off for this otherwise things can be very overwhelming for a beginner).
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
DarrkPhoenix: The community patch is already included in the default install, so you only need to worry about the options that can then be set when starting a new game. The primary options the CP introduced that can be changed are alternative balancing (toggled on the main game menu) and alternative AI (toggled in the difficulty sub-menu). Alternative balancing changes the skill system with respect to how many skill points skills cost and similar adjustments. In the base game you tend to end up swimming in skill points and don't have to be particularly picky about how you spend them, while with alternative balancing you have to be a bit more judicious and specialize more. I'd personally recommend using alternative balancing, as otherwise you tend to become overpowered by just the mid-game, while with it there's still a feeling of character progression through most of the game. Alternative balancing is the only option that can't be changed mid-game.

Alternative AI changes enemy combat behavior, making combat more difficult and enemies much less exploitable. In the base game most humanoid opponents could be defeated by constant attacking, while with alternative AI you have to use a much wider array of tactics to fight effectively. I'd personally recommend using it even for a beginner, but it can be turned on and off at any time, so try it out and if you find the combat too difficult then you can switch it off (however, the game starts off with a pretty big fight, so you might want to leave it off for this otherwise things can be very overwhelming for a beginner).
Thanks for the advice. I need to double check but I believe I read somewhere that the community patch currently integrated into the game isn't the latest version.
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
auroraparadox: Thanks for the advice. I need to double check but I believe I read somewhere that the community patch currently integrated into the game isn't the latest version.
That's correct. The GOG version uses CP 1.74, while the most recent version is CP 1.75. Most of the changes are fairly minor, and the changelog can be found . Download locations for the 1.75 patch can be found [url=http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/threads/1140053-Gothic-3-Patch-1-75-release]here.
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
auroraparadox: Thanks for the advice. I need to double check but I believe I read somewhere that the community patch currently integrated into the game isn't the latest version.
avatar
DarrkPhoenix: That's correct. The GOG version uses CP 1.74, while the most recent version is CP 1.75. Most of the changes are fairly minor, and the changelog can be found . Download locations for the 1.75 patch can be found [url=http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/threads/1140053-Gothic-3-Patch-1-75-release]here.
Thank you for clarifying DarrkPhoenix. I'll download the latest version.

I have one last question. One of the younger members of my family has expressed interest in playing the game. Can you shed some light on why it was marked as including Sexual Themes?

EDIT: Why isn't version 1.75 of the CP listed on the official site for the patch?
Post edited April 19, 2014 by auroraparadox
Posted April 19, 2014
The official site is not really up-to-date, as you can see from the news. Most information can be found in the biggest community driven forum, called World of Gothic (German language), where all members of the team which created the Community Patch are active.
1.75 is the official and latest patch. do not worry.

There are a few references and dialogues containing sexual content, but nothing explicit, no actual acts or something like that. I think the game can be played by youngsters, no problem, the violence is kept to a minimum and so on. Here in Germany it is released for twelve year old kids.
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
auroraparadox: I have one last question. One of the younger members of my family has expressed interest in playing the game. Can you shed some light on why it was marked as including Sexual Themes?
The closest the game came to any sexual themes is a couple quests involving buying female slaves for a couple of men whose favor you're trying to earn, and even there there's no dialogue of a sexual or really even suggestive nature. It's actually rather funny that the game got marked as including sexual themes, as one of the criticisms of the game when it came out was that it was sexist by virtue of around 98% of the game's population being male, and all the female characters having only about 3 lines of dialogue between them (and pretty much not even given a second thought by anyone in the game).

Ultimately Gothic 3 is incredibly tame in terms of both sexual content and violence (the worst there is probably a few Shadowbeast lairs with blood spatters on the ground and skeletons strewn about), and should be perfectly fine for younger people to play (concerns of frustration and rage-quits aside).
Posted April 19, 2014
This game is an unoptimized mess even with the community patch. Don't buy it if you can't stand stuttering or choppy framerate.
I just did and I regret it. I get 35-55 fps on LOW settings with a 4 core 4ghz cpu, 4gb ram and r7 260x 1gb gpu.
Post edited April 19, 2014 by Arthandas
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
Arthandas: This game is an unoptimized mess even with the community patch. Don't buy it if you can't stand stuttering or choppy framerate.
I just did and I regret it. I get 35-55 fps on LOW settings with a 4 core 4ghz cpu, 4gb ram and r7 260x 1gb gpu.
I already purchased the game. I'll report back if I encounter similar results.
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
Arthandas: This game is an unoptimized mess even with the community patch. Don't buy it if you can't stand stuttering or choppy framerate.
I just did and I regret it. I get 35-55 fps on LOW settings with a 4 core 4ghz cpu, 4gb ram and r7 260x 1gb gpu.
I do not think it is a mess at all. Yes, there are a few stutters here and there, this is due to the huge open world Gothic 3 has to offer (they did not know their limit, obviously), which caused most of the bugs, to be honest.
My old system was quite similar to yours now, and I could play the game on high settings with 60 frames per second, so it seems you have another problem somewhere.
Posted April 19, 2014
avatar
Arthandas: This game is an unoptimized mess even with the community patch. Don't buy it if you can't stand stuttering or choppy framerate.
I just did and I regret it. I get 35-55 fps on LOW settings with a 4 core 4ghz cpu, 4gb ram and r7 260x 1gb gpu.
avatar
Urnoev: I do not think it is a mess at all. Yes, there are a few stutters here and there, this is due to the huge open world Gothic 3 has to offer (they did not know their limit, obviously), which caused most of the bugs, to be honest.
My old system was quite similar to yours now, and I could play the game on high settings with 60 frames per second, so it seems you have another problem somewhere.
I would agree with you if G3 wasn't the only game I'm having such problems with.
Posted April 20, 2014
My personal opinion: I would never suggest Gothic 3 for anyone's first Gothic game. Some people like it, some people think it's bad, but in either case you should play Gothic 1 and 2 first. Those two are the games that made the series famous.
Posted April 20, 2014
avatar
UniversalWolf: My personal opinion: I would never suggest Gothic 3 for anyone's first Gothic game. Some people like it, some people think it's bad, but in either case you should play Gothic 1 and 2 first. Those two are the games that made the series famous.
This.
Pages:
1
2
3
This is my favourite topic
Community
Gothic seriesGothic 3 (original version): Questions before purchasing(33 posts)(33 posts)
(33 posts)