Gothic 3

Infobox VG
title = Gothic 3


developer = flagicon|EU Piranha Bytes
publisher = flagicon|EU JoWooD
flagicon|EU Deep Silver
flagicon|United States Aspyr Media
distributor = flagicon|EU Koch Media [http://www.kochmedia.de/haendler/shop/public/ECD008149M.jsf] [http://www.kochmedia.co.uk/?rid=2633397091386737039029368]
flagicon|United States Navarre Corporation [http://www.navarre.com/prodhome.aspx?ItemNumber=2207807&Prod=software]
engine = Genome Engine with Emotion FX 2 character animation, SpeedTree foliage, and PhysX for physics simulation
version = 1.12 (December 21, 2006) unofficial (Community Patch) - 1.6 (February 7, 2008)
released = flagicon|EU October 13, 2006
flagicon|Japan November 1, 2006
flagicon|Australia November 2, 2006
flagicon|Poland November 3, 2006
flagicon|Canada November 20, 2006
flagicon|United States November 20, 2006
flagicon|Taiwan June 15, 2007

genre = Action role-playing
modes = Single-player
ratings = ESRB: T
PEGI: 16+
USK: 12+
platforms = Microsoft Windows
media = DVD
requirements = Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP1, Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP 64
minimum 512 MB System RAM
2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4, Athlon XP or equivalent processor
128MB DirectX compatible video card
DirectX 9.0c
8x DVD-ROM drive
4.6 GB free hard disk space
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Keyboard and Mouse
input = Keyboard and mouse

"Gothic 3" is a fantasy-themed role-playing game for Windows from the German game developer Piranha Bytes. It is the sequel to "Gothic II". Although widely available in English, the native release of the game is German. The game was released throughout the European Union on October 13 2006 and became available throughout North America starting November 20 2006. Although the US version is rated T (for teens), the version released in North America carries exactly the same gameplay content as those released internationally. The North American release incorporates two patches that appeared after the initial UK edition.

A "Collector's Edition" was also released containing bonus collectible material. JoWooD has officially announced an expansion for "Gothic 3", entitled "Forsaken Gods", to be released in Q4 2008.cite web |url= http://www.jowood.com/?lang=en&site=1&iid=12834 |title= Expansion for Gothic 3 |accessdate=2008-04-15 |format= HTML |work= JoWood Official Website]

tory

Prologue

The first part of Gothic tells the story of The Nameless Hero, a man thrust into the events of a penal colony. The colony takes the form of a natural landscape encased in a large magical shield known as The Barrier, much like an impenetrable dome. Over the course of the story, The Nameless Hero becomes acquainted with several characters, the most notable of which are Diego, Lee, Cor Angar, Lester, Gorn, Lares, Milten, and Xardas. Some of these characters are connected with the various factions of the game, which include the "Old Camp", the "New Camp" and the "Swamp Camp". Also connected with these factions are the water and fire mages, of which Xardas is an outcast. Xardas, a necromancer, plays a central part to the survival and advancement of the character. Ultimately, he galvanizes the character toward the ultimate goal of stopping the summoning of a beast known as "The Sleeper", but the entrance was guarded by a camp of orcs. The hero was helped by an orc shaman named Ur-Shak, who made an artifact that would prevent the orcs from attacking him. The Nameless Hero banishes "The Sleeper" at the cost of nearly losing his own life.

The second part of Gothic sees The Nameless Hero resurrected by Xardas into a new setting. Now located outside the city of Khorinis, he is asked by Xardas to investigate a new evil that threatens Khorinis and the surrounding lands. Over the course of the story, The Nameless Hero reconnects with old friends from the first chapter while adjusting to changes in the faction structure. With the penal colony and its barrier a thing of the past, the surrounding lands have been invaded by orcs. Factions now consist of the "Militia/Paladins" of Khorinis, the "Fire Novices/Fire Mages", and the "Mercenaries/Dragon Hunters". Water mages also make a return. Having discovered the source of the evil threatening Khorinis, our hero assembles a crew of trusted friends and sails to a nearby island. There he battles a large undead dragon, completing the central quest of the chapter. The chapter closes with the hero and his allies sailing away from the island.
Gothic 2 also has an expansion called Night of the Raven.In the expansion, the Hero faced many new dangers and a new unexplored world. The Water Mages played an important role in the expansion. There was a new faction known as the Ring of Water, who had the same relationship to the Water Mages as the Paladins do to the Fire Mages. The main antagonist was Raven, who was second-in-command to Gomez, leader of the Old Camp, in the first game. Raven wanted to command the armies of Beliar, the evil one of the 3 gods, along with a new powerful weapon known as the Claw of Beliar.

Plot

The third part opens with the Nameless Hero and his friends sailing to a new continent overrun with orcs, arriving in the Myrtana, the central region of the continent. The hero lost all his stuff from the previous game when his ship is stolen while he's onshore with Milten, Diego, Gorn, and Lester. Presumably this is the source of the orc invasion that was launched on Khorinis during the second chapter. These lands have no physical connection to Khorinis or the ruins of the penal colony. In these mountainous forests the orcs have enslaved the human kingdom with only a few free humans living in the nearly uninhabitable icy northlands of Nordmar and the southern desert of Varant. The hero must decide whether to join the rebellion and stay true to the deposed human king, serve the Orcish usurpers in their quest to topple the last remaining human stronghold, or choose a path that serves his own ends. Throughout the story, he is accompanied by a number of NPCs, some of whom are old friends. While this chapter brings forward friends from the previous title (Xardas, Diego, Milten, Gorn, Lester, and Vatras) it also introduces two new major characters; King Rhobar the Second (Who ultimately was responsible for sending the Nameless Hero to the penal colony in the first game) and Zuben. While the king has a strong past as a bold leader, he now faces a near defeat; his fame on the decline. Zuben leads the Hashishin that inhabit the southern region of Varant."Gothic 3" manual (all versions).]

Gameplay

The player must complete quests and slay wild animals and monsters to earn experience and improve skills. The game is reputation centric allowing the player to side with the Orcs or Humans or a little of both within the quest and faction systems, or just battle it out. The player is able to take advantage of missons to allow either side to take over towns. Dialog changes according to in-game actions and behavior. The game places a special focus on the interactivity of the environment. The game claimed to employ an unusual combat system which emphasizes carefully timed combinations of strikes, requiring the player to read the body language of attacking opponents. However, in practice, many players found the combat system lacking such unique features and have been known to describe it as a "button mashing clickfest." This was due to the fact that the most successful strategy during combat seems to be to just click the left mouse button as quickly as you can, if you time it right at the beginning you are able to defeat any enemy with relative ease. The controls have been altered slightly with a stronger focus on action. Navigation and combat are more mouse-centric, with each mouse button having a different combat action. The Nameless Hero can also now wield dual weapons or use a shield. [If the difficulty of the game is set as *Hard* then mere button-mashing wont work. Correct calculation about the opponent's move will be necessary.]

Reception

Prior to its release in early October 2006, Gothic 3 was nominated as the best game of E3 by IGN. Since the release, most concerns have centered around bugs.

Technical

Engine

Gothic 3 is powered by a custom engine called the Genome engine; it supports Pixel Shader 3.0, has a multithreaded design and includes dynamic lighting (including self-shadowing). Physics simulation is provided by Ageia's PhysX physics engine. It also uses IDV's SpeedTreeRT tree and plant software, Bink Video Technology from RAD Game Tools for the cutscenes, as well as the FMOD Sound System from Firelight Technologies for sound playback."Gothic 3" manual (all versions).]

ystem Requirements

Although the minimum system requirements consist of a 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 and 512 MB System RAM, a 3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor with 1.5 GB of System RAM or more is far more suited to the task. Recommended video cards include an ATI X1600, Nvidia GeForce 6800 series or better if possible."Gothic 3" manual (all versions).]

The following chart lists the supported video cards as found in the Gothic 3 manuals for both the UK edition of the game"Gothic 3" manual (UK version).] and the updated North American edition"Gothic 3" manual (North American version).] . Although not directly referenced in the manual, the Nvidia GeForce 5200le, 5200, 5500, 7600, and ATI Radeon 9600 series also appear to be supported. The game doesn't run on Intel GMA series. The game can run on many other untested systems but you may experience poor performance.

Release and Distribution

The game is currently available throughout the European Union in English and German and was released on October 13. The North American version was released on November 20. The English edition from the UK was released as version 1.04. The North American version incorporated two patches (the first being 1.07) in its initial release at version 1.12. There is also a new official patch available (v1.6) with reduces the memory usage and fixes a long list of bugs.

Rating

In the UK, the PEGI rating board has assigned the game a 16+ rating. In Germany, the USK has rated it 12+. In the US and Canada, Gothic 3 is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB. The gameplay content is identical between each version released worldwide.

Other releases in the series

* "Gothic" (2001) - first in German and then in English.
* "Gothic II" (2002)
* "Gothic II: Die Nacht des Raben" (2003) - German release of the expansion, only.
* "Gothic II: Gold Edition" (2005) - the Gold box of the game including the original "Gothic II" as well as the first release of the English version of the expansion, entitled "".
* "Gothic: Collector's Edition" (2005) - compilation of "Gothic", "Gothic II" and "Gothic II: The Night of the Raven".
* "Gothic 3" (2006)
* "Gothic 3: Collector's Edition" (2006) - Limited version with lots of goodies.
* "Gothic Universe" (2007) - compilation featuring all the "Gothic" games to date.
* "" (2008) - mobile version of the game, developed by Handy-Games.
* "" (TBA) - expansion to "Gothic III".
* "" (TBA) - sequel currently being developed by a different producer, SpellBound.

Criticism

The game has received positive reviews for its open-ended world (with 3 possible endings), scenic beauty and original musical score. Although the game demands very high-end hardware, the pay-off is in the overall environment and story.

Review scores from critics as well as gamers differ highly per player. The reason for this could be the extent to which the reviewer takes the release bugs into account, often prompting the term "unpolished gem". JoWood has been accused of rushing the game, giving less time for play testing and optimization. While Piranha Bytes is no longer supporting the game since the franchise has been taken over by Spellbound Studios, Spellbound has released an official statement claiming that they will now support it.cite web |url= http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=146892 |title= New Publisher |accessdate=2007-09-03 |format= HTML |work= JoWood Forums]

The initial release of the game had several severe bugs. However, many bugs have been corrected by a number of both official and community-released patches.cite web |url=http://www.gothic3.com/index.php?do=097099116105111110061108097110103117097103101038108097110103061101110103038112114101118112097103101061110101119115046112104112038112114101118115099101110101061|title=Official Patches|accessdate=2007-09-03 |format=HTML |work=Gothic3 Official Website] cite web |url= http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=145851|title=Unofficial Patches|accessdate=2007-09-03 |format=HTML |work=JoWood Forums]

Gameplay was also criticized, with weaknesses including the mechanics of fighting. This rewarded fast and repeated key pressing rather than more skilful techniques. Some opponents encountered in the early part of the game were considered too powerful for the player's character to reasonably beat. Later patches have made these enemies easier to defeat by, for example, reducing the effect of "stun lock" or by reducing the damage needed to kill them.

The game's Austrian publisher, JoWooD, received criticism for their treatment of the fan community and press as well as forcing Piranha Bytes to have the game ready for sale before it was fully finished. They were accused of playing with the fans' high expectations, making promises about the final quality of the game which were perceived as fatuous by some, and threatening the publishers of less-than-favorable reviews with libel lawsuits and actions for injunction.

Part of the criticism was also directed at Piranha Bytes for stopping their support for Gothic 3, while they were in negotiations with JoWood regarding Gothic 4. This was seen as a bad business practice and as the main cause for the game developers and the publisher ceasing to work together. The fan community was forced to address the game's bugs for a while, until Spellbound Studios agreed to support the game.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.gothic3.com/index.php?do=097099116105111110061108097110103117097103101038108097110103061101110103038112114101118112097103101061115116097114116112097103101046112104112038112114101118115099101110101061 The Official Gothic 3 Website] at Piranha Bytes
* [http://almanach.worldofgothic.com/index.php/Main_Page Gothic Almanach - A Gothic series Wiki]
* [http://worldofgothic.com/ World of Gothic - fansite]