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Gothic 3 Review
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Manufacturer: Aspyr Media
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ESRB Rating: Teen
Platform(s): Windows
Release Date: November 13, 2006
Average Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $19.99
Online Sale Price: $11.79
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User Submitted Gothic 3 Reviews
Date: 2008-12-08
Its not even close to great
I have finally played this. With all of the bad reviews I avoided buying this. Then I got for free, so I am playing it. To put it as bluntly as I can, Gothic 3 is just not very good.
I'm running 2GB RAM and a NVidia GeForce 9800GTX 512MB. So if my system isn't up to snuff then the problems are in the programming, especially since this game is 2 years old. The first problem are the saving/loading times. Can you call it a Quick Save when it takes 30 seconds or longer to process it? And load times are horrendous. I haven't clocked them but 2 minutes has to be the minimum. Its a good thing that most of the game is easy, but it makes the few difficult areas unnecessarily frustrating since you play for a few seconds then wait 2-3 minutes for another shot.
Then comes the stuttering. The transition between areas is terrible, often locking the game up for several seconds as you cross the invisible barriers. Or it starts strobing after loading the new area. Everyone talked about how this was supposed to an Oblivion-killer, but I never ran into these problems with Oblivion and I have a 256MB Video Card and 512MB RAM back when I played it.
Then comes the lie of non-linear game play. It actually is quite linear. While you don't have to play the game in the same exact order every time, there are only 2 ways to play the game. Run across the whole map killing Orcs and animals, or complete the quests one at a time before being given a reason to move to the next map area. This is non-linear in the same way Fallout was non-linear. You have complete freedom of movement to anywhere on the map, but if you go in the wrong order either certain options are closed to you or your foes are more difficult than they should be. RPGs like Fallout 3 are getting closer to non-linear (of course Fallout 3 suffers many of the same other issues discussed for Gothic 3, so its not really a recommendation).
Dialog: this suffers the same problem that so many other foreign games suffer from. Instead of using a German that speaks/reads English, hire an American (or Canadian I guess) to interpret it from German. Here in America we have contractions (you are is you're, I am is I'm, etc.). Dialog without contractions is rigid & false sounding. I'm also not a big fan of dialog that takes you by the hand and explains everything like you are a 10-year old. And dialog is another place where the "non-linear gameplay" falls on its face. You have no real options in conversation. Sure you can choose the order you ask questions and make statements, but there are no choices on how to ask the questions or make the statements. I am asking the exact same question to the exact same NPC at the exact same point in the game as every other player.
Let's see, what's left? Oh yes, character generation and progression. First, there is no generation. Not even a choice of avatars or gender (not that I would play a woman). I am not a big fan of spending obscene amounts of money for progression. I haven't decided if they put too money in the game and use the progression system to control that (75 gold from a rebel agent for a worn-out weapon that only orcs can use? And I have 10 of them from one battle! But now I have to pay 2500 for a Tier 2 skill), or if they created the buy a level system and then overinflated the economics to account for it. Either way I don't like it.
The concept behind the progression system is good for cRPGs. Any time you have a game designed around a single character, you have to give the opportunity to have more than one area of expertise (finding a proper combination of combat, thieving and magic). But this was not innovated by Gothic 3, and this is not best interpretation of it either, so I the only credit I can give is that it exists here.
Finally the story line, the plot, and the heart of any RPG...there is none to speak of. Orcs have taken over and as a human you choose to help either the human rebels trying to take back their land or side with the evil orcs to destroy the rebellion. Gee, that's original. But at least they did it in a new and fresh way. No wait, they didn't. In fact, its about as typical as I have ever seen.
To summarize: Graphics - not even the best at its time of release, and down right plain by today's standards; Sound - nothing groundbreaking, dialog is poorly interpreted, and I turned the music all the way off after a few minutes; Story - played out, unoriginal, poorly executed; Programming - poor, unstable, sub par even in its day.
Date: 2008-11-23
Gothic3= Mr. Potential
Gothic 3 is the only one of the series I have played. Awesome RPG but it runs so rough and is so lacking in polish that it was a real chore to play. The core game play was lots of fun and the game environment is staggering in detail and scope. I thought it was a more interesting game than Oblivion, if only the game were as smooth and polished as Oblivion! The fact is this game is a victim of sloppy programing that allows way too many bugs and glitches with an overall performance that makes it a contender for the most half baked game ever shipped.
However, the game has seen several patches since release but none have been able to bring the shabby code up to AAA quality. I don't even know if that would be possible since the game is so deeply flawed. The game is playable but it takes patience and and a devoted gamer who is willing to overlook the games technical short comings and appreciate the games hidden potential.
Gothic 3 is a tough game to score because it depends on how much you are willing to forgive the technical issues and elevate the other aspects of the game. I am going to be generous and give it 4 stars.
Date: 2008-09-22
Could Have Been A Lot Better
I got the game recently and pulled in all the latest bug fixes and user updates. That being said, the game is still full of bugs. The story-killer for me is the major bug getting the fire chalice from that fallen paladin between the central region and the desert. Though I've enjoyed the game, and though the fire chalices are supposedly not necessary to finish it, I think this is a huge failure on the developer's part.
Most of the other bugs everyone is complaining about I haven't encountered. No one has got stuck in walls, and no items have disappeared out of my inventory. However, one time I boot it up and it does this strobe like flashing, the next time my character moves at super speed, so fast it's almost a blur, or sometimes both. Then there is the odd quest that I can't complete for no reason at all.
Despite all of this, I can say I've enjoyed this isometric view game more than any other I've played (I prefer first person). It has a wide open world, plenty of action, and the combat system is not overly complicated. I just happen to like the simple quests. I'd prefer not to have to use a clue book constantly to play the game and this game is easy enough that I can just go out, kill a bunch of monsters, pick up some great loot and complete lots of quests. I've not quite finished the game yet, but I've seen and done enough to say that I am not all that disappointed in it, outside of the bugs I've mentioned. Beats the heck out of the jerky camera and linear quests in Neverwinter Nights 2!
Sort of recommended.
Date: 2008-09-15
Still playing
I am still playing this game so I can only say that it is great entertainment. You can be a good guy or a bad guy. Play the way you feel and it changes the way the game is played. This is the best of the Gothic games, I cannot believe that anyone can create a place that is so vast. Great game.
Date: 2008-08-24
Excellent surprise !
This is a game that you lead and create who to serve a save. Later when the skills get better the games gets better. Tremendous variety of things to do. Like jumping from one mountain to another one. More later got to go... to be continue.... Nels
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