Others say...

"I want my time back."
Gothic 3 is good visually, and has some good storylines. The close combat system is horrible -- if you do play, stick to ranged combat and/or magic. Some of the advancement is useless: I spent a lot of effort building my "smithing" ability, but I was never able to use it to any advantage. Some major abilities don't even work. My "two-sword-hero" character concept was DOA because the game requires you to be evil to advance in the primary abilities. In fact, "hero" is nearly out of the question, because the character must perform evil acts to complete even the "good-guy" story. The game has too many bugs to even begin to list them. In two places the story can be broken by the game engine deleting characters or items that you absolutely must have to complete the game. (I found two and I only played once!)
I'm a candidate for sensitivity training, and I was still insulted by the portrayal of women in this game. The only female actors that I encountered were pleasure slaves. I really thought we were past that years ago.
I feel obligated to give it two stars because I did play it through once before uninstalling it. I highly recommend skipping this one.

".ini modification essential"
This is an incredible game that cannot be played without doing your due dilligence and finding out exactly how to modify the Gothic 3 .ini file to suit your particular system. I spent at least 3 hours searching various sites and putting together a document that identified instructions for modifying the values of various configuration elements found in my Gothic 3 .ini file. Once I got it right, the game ran without a hiccup, and I was even able to get rid of the flashing light problem that plagues many people. I have a very mediocre system (Athlon XP 2200, 1.5 GB SDRAM, X800 256MB ATI card, 7200 RPM 150 MB HD, etc.), and out of the box, the game wouldn't even run at 800x600 with all the settings on low. I now run it at 1024x768 with most settings on medium and even a few on high, but mainly the .ini variations are where it's at. It's really unfortunate that the developers didn't do their homework and configure the game properly for the average machine like mine out of the box, and then allow folks to increase settings upward from there. With the settings I have, the game looks great, actually coming close to rivaling Oblivion on my system (which by the way, suffers from a similar problem, i.e. needing configuration adjustments, just not quite to the same extent).

In closing, if you buy this game now for 20 bucks, and are intelligent/experienced enough to go through the various sites that will guide you to the proper .ini settings, you'll get one heck of a great game at an incredible price.

Good luck!

H

"It's definitely not Oblivion..."
Personally, I'd say the combat system is the biggest difference. In some ways, the fact that no matter how powerful and high-level you are you can get killed by almost any enemy is a refreshing change from Oblivion, in which you can build up over 100% damage reflection by level 20 and sit back while your enemies bludgeon themselves to death.

But when I've just liberated a city from droves of evil orcs, and then get killed by one mangy wolf about 10 feet outside the gate...well, the frustration cannot be placed in normal words. And if it could, you'd all just die from sympathetic misery.

What makes it worse is that in many ways the game is fun. The scenery is terrific, the crafting system is not only novel but fun, and in many ways the NPCs behave more realistically than in Oblivion.

Unfortunately, these few high points are far outweighed by the poorer aspects of the game, which I will now elaborate upon.

1) As has been said, several times by me as well as in many other reviews of this game, fighting animals is a total farce. It seems that the armor bonuses against impact and blades and such have no effect whatsoever on claws and teeth. To repeat what I said above, a wolf can kill you in four hits at level 10. I am in no way exxaggerating in the least. If you want to call your game realistic, then make animal's attacks subject to the phsyical barriers presented by armor (unless, of course, Aspyr is assuming that a wolf which is maybe three feet from head to tail can reach up to attack the unarmored head of a guy who's probably close to six feet in height).

2) Drawing your weapon is infuriation. In several occasions, I have been engaged in combat with my weapon sheathed. I press space to unsheath it, but am struck before it comes out--so the character grunts and attempts to restart the motion. Not only can this go on until your character is killed without getting his weapon out of the sheath, but if you react as most gamers would and hit the unsheath-key again, he puts it away or stops drawing it even if he didn't have it out yet.

3) Since when does being unskilled in the use of a certain weapon phsyically bar me from using it? "Oh no, I don't have enough skill points and so mysteriously a tiny force field has appeared around this Krush Varok, preventing me in any way from holding it or using it!" And this despite the claim that the game is "highly realistic". Oblivion's system is better--a lower skill in an area only affects how effectively you can use an item or weapon. Anyone can pick up a huge metal blade on a stick and swing it in vaguely the direction of the orc charging at you; strength and skill only determine the speed and damage done by attacks, the recovery time, and how quickly and effectively you can parry. If you folks at Aspyr are going to say your games are highly realistic, then take the time to MAKE them highly realistic.

4) Give us more learning points! Frankly, the tiny number of learning points granted after each level is utterly ridiculous. And so is the enormous cost of training! Training should cost 1 to 2 learning points for a +5 skill increase and only cost a full five for a new ability, and ALL training should have its price cut at least in half--why would ANYONE pay 100 gold coins to increase a skill by one point, when a single point makes virtually no perceptible difference?

5) In a way this is similar to 1), but it includes some other comments as well. As others have said, the 'stun-lock' effect induced when an enemy hits you once and then again before you have recovered from the first blow is the most infuriating point of the whole game. Not only do animals not suffer from this AT ALL (literally, an animal can hit you within .5 seconds of being hit itself, while your recovery time from one of THEIR blows is closer to 1.5 or 2 seconds) but humanoid NPCs suffer from this to a ridiculous extent, the player's character included. I would suggest that recoil time for humans, orcs, and the player be reduced to at LEAST that of an animal.

6) If an enemy hits my shield with blunt force, why the hell should it hurt me!? Does the shield have spikes on the back!? And why don't parrying animals get hurt when I strike them? Minecrawlers in particular are bad in this way--by blocking literally with their forearms, they take almost no damage whatsoever from repeated blows from a sword. This makes no sense whatsoever, especially when three or four hits on their body can kill them. Meanwhile, if they hit our armor-clad, shield-bearing hero, they can strike him with lightning fast speed (at some points as fast as twice every 1.5 seconds), pummeling him to death before he even gets a chance to make a single hit.

7) Make the game pause while menus are open. In real life, it doesn't take me five seconds to find a four-foot-long sword in my tiny backpack, during which the enemy closes to range and unleashes a flurry of attacks which start taking effect the instant I close the menu, before I have a chance to draw my sword or raise my shield. This is most annoying when the player is knocked out and must recover his weapon; in some instances the enemy may knock him out again before he can pick it up, and almost invariably he has no opportunity to either recover health or draw his weapon.

8) Reduce the time on most actions. A skilled warrior shouldn't take even a full second to draw his weapon and raise it. Drinking a potion shouldn't take three or four seconds, it should take one, especially if it's equipped to the so-called "quickbar" which would probably correspond to being hung from the hero's belt or something where it would be easily reachable.

9) Get some more variable music. In Oblivion, the fact that there aren't very many different scores is bearable because you don't spend nearly as much time running around in the wilderness. But in Gothic, distances between cities are often far greater, combat times are longer, and overall I get bored sick of the same two or three songs playing over and over and over and over again. In fact, just get BETTER music all around--I don't want to hear some kind of symphony while I'm fighting a wolf, I want to hear something that's dramatic and fast-tempo without being distracting. And I don't need to hear the soundtrack of some cheesy musical involving at best moderately attractive women dancing through absurdly verdant fields of flowers while I'm jogging between a couple of podunk little orc-infested towns. Save the full-orchestra overtures for epic battles; the atmosphere is utterly ruined by the fact that the same music plays while doing battle with a scrawny green-skinned goblin in a grubby loincloth as when overthrowing the orc regime over a whole town with only the help of an AI-challenged rebel or two.



10) Take away the guards' ESP! Even if they notice the stuff disappearing, how do they know who it was when they spend all day standing on the other side of town staring at a wall!? To some extent this is acceptable, but it's just ludicrous to have them come to the conclusion that it was me without gathering any evidence besides their own suspicions and the facts that things are missing.

11) Make the rebels more realistic; who in their right mind would send two or three guys to capture a town guarded by thirty or forty orcs?

12) Allow players to salvage armor off of slain victims. I suppose its reasonable enough to assume that SOME of it gets damaged by your attacks, and that some is even rendered unusable and unrepairable, but I mean, come on! The armor that anyone in the game sells is all ridiculously expensive, so why wouldn't anyone want to salvage what they could from fallen foes?

That basically concludes my longwinded (but fully justified) rant on the failings of Gothic 3. My advice, in short? If you are a person who enjoys migraines, tear-inducing frustration, and banging your head against your monitor until it breaks and lacerates your scalp with shards of plastic, buy it and enjoy.

"What reality would be with magic and mythical beasts"
I deliberately came late to this game because this, like so many games, had obviously been prematurely released. I immediately downloaded the patch. In most ways that matter, the patches have fixed the problems that made this game unplayable early on. I normally couldn't care less about whether a game fails or succeeds. But this game is too good to miss for inveterate RPGers like me, and I want to see more, so here's my two cents.

This is an immersive game. I feel like I am riding on the shoulder of my character, shivering and sweating along with him. There is so much to explore. It is like wandering through a magical, European medieval reality. Here are many towns and villages, camps and caves, all with their own sensibilities and problems. I can count on the arenas to give me gold and reputation, but I always have to do more to prove my worth. Making the choice between orc and human dominance is never easy. This world is complex and multi-layered, and the game gives me an escape to an alternate reality.

Before G3, I loved OBLIVION. G3 is just as good, if not better. My sense of being inside G3 is much greater. This is not about graphics. It is about a world that is somehow more believable.
--The conversations are often stilted, but that is true in most of these games anyway. In G3, it is not what you promise so much as what you do that matters.
--The combat can be oddly frustrating: opponents stun you and that makes the first blow critically important. Fast-clicking the LMB has so far been the most effective means of winning melees, even though the character has several moves available if you can manage to time your mouse click combinations right. But that just means more and better planning is needed, including the use of ranged weapons and magic. The same was true in Oblivion.
--The missions are standard fare for RPGs. But they contribute to the larger struggle for power that is the story of the game. 'Go fetch' also means 'choose sides' or 'be clever'. In addition, much like Oblivion but unlike most other RPGs, you can roam and hunt treasure (and XP) to your hearts content.
--Leveling up is not automatic -- to improve you need to seek help. I liked how Oblivion made you better when you did something a lot ('experience'). In G3, you need to see an instructor to get better ('education'). Neither approach is perfect. Maybe the next great RPG will let you improve in both ways.

That's enough writing -- just go play (with the patch!).


"great game with great flaws"
This really is a truly great game, but it has some rather impressive flaws. For one, it requires patience. Great patience. Not so much for the game itself, but for all the bugs, and these bugs are going to vary depending on the system you're playing it on. You need a high-end system, but even then, there are going to be difficulties. My main issue is that using a Geforce grapics card seems to cause extreme fluctuations in the time cycles in the game. Thankfully, this doesn't actually affect the game (none of the quests are time sensitive), but I do have to frequently restart it. As I said, patience is required, and because of that, this game is not for everyone.
Now, for the good parts. This is a very detailed world with a great deal to occupy your time. Like the first two installments, there is something oddly realistic and addictive about this game. I really can't put my finger on it, but I find this "world" much more immersive than the Elder Scrolls one, which I also rather enjoy. True, the voice acting is mediocre, but it still feels real. Want to spend your time hunting deer, then do so. Want to steal from everyone in sight, so be it. Though there will be consquences. Want to be a noble warrior, fine. Want to side with the royalists, the orcs (rather well-fleshed out, as villains go), the nomads and water mages, the Hashishim, whatever. You have many choices, most of which will affect the game. You'll need to save often, of course.
The combat system actually is intuitive, though many find it otherwise. It's all about timing. If your gear is up to it, the graphics are gorgeous. Just watch your character's shadow.
A great game with great flaws. It needs to be stressed that patience is required to enjoy this game. I don't mean that condescendingly; just know what you want from a game. This one is great fun, but if bugs annoy you more than immersive gameplay thrills you, then you won't enjoy this.