I thought it was releasing a couple more months down the road, but was surprised to see a few copies sitting on the shelf of Virgin Megastore recently.
Dunno if it’s the import version actually, it wasn’t in a mini-box, but rather in those awkward DVD cases that you usually notice budget games get stuffed in months after initial release.
I checked a few online retailers and it appears the US release is still set for 10/28. Even still I am debating snagging a copy of this now. Is there any reason to wait for the actual US version?(Assuming this isn’t some leaked early release?) Considering I am not a fan of Morrowind outside of the core design concept, would I really have much to enjoy in this series? It has gotten a lot of praise and I am feeling adventurous, but I could use some opinions or thoughts on the matter.
I think Piranha Bytes are going to be game dev superstars, if they can keep it together and hold the impetus. I hope they stay focused on CRPGs, because they have a great talent for it.
I’ve heard that Gothic deserves more comparisons to Ultima (specifically, my favorites, Ultima’s 5 through 7) than it did Morrowind. In other words, it was noticably less open-ended as far as quests go, so it was hard to lose sight of what you were ultimately supposed to be doing, but at the same time there’s an incredibly detailed world to explore at your own leisure.
Were the people saying such things lying, or is that an accurate comparison? Because if it’s true, then that makes me incredibly interested. Like, swimming-in-my-own-pools-of-drool excited about it.
Never having properly played any Ultima, I couldn’t tell you if it was an accurate comparison, but the description is valid of Gothic. You can approach things as you see fit, but it’s never overwhelming, not least because at the beginning you’re weak as a kitten, and straying off the beaten track can quickly get you into trouble.
Gothic 1 also reminded me of Fallout a lot, for its bleakness and fairly adult approach.
Were the people saying such things lying, or is that an accurate comparison? Because if it’s true, then that makes me incredibly interested. Like, swimming-in-my-own-pools-of-drool excited about it.
The upside of Morrowind is its downside at the same time. There’s a huge number of things to be done and characters all over the world, but many elements feel very generic. Gothic (I&II) is overall smaller and less openended but also feels a lot more ‘handcrafted’, which incluced both, characters and the world design. It’s also less dependent on stats. All characters are voiced. The battle system is different. Which all basically means that if you didn’t like Morrowind, that doesn’t mean Gothic will not be your cup of tea. Two different approaches. And, yeah, I’d say Gothic I closer to Ultima than Morrowind is (Ultima games are still larger and more complex overall though.) You should definitely give it a try. I wonder if Atari/Infogrames will release an English version of the demo when G2 comes out in NA.
Gothic 2, to me, is what Ultima 9 should have been. The experience is very much like Ultima 7, though a little less on the story/dialogue side. More focus on combat, and you pretty much run around alone. But just having a continuous complete world with lots of little detail is really really nice.
I have to say the battle/combat side of things in Gothic 2 is a lot more fun than Morrowind where tedium unfortunately sets in a bit. Why Morrowind didn’t copy the way arrows/archery worked in Thief/Thief 2 is a mystery to me.
The one thing that deters me from Gothic is that some people complained about the controls. I can’t stand getting used to strange schemes without the ability to configure them. I had a bad experience with Outcast (Not the starwars game). I was always hitting space bar to jump while in combat, and instead sprawled on the ground. Jumping was right mouse button. It had other annoying stuff like that. Ever since, when I see a demo with bad controls, I stay away from it.
I didn’t like Gothic I’s controls, until I got into a fight with three velociraptor thingies at once. Then, it all made sense, and even their pack tactics were a pleasure to defeat.
If anything was a big problem with the first, it was the later levels. I don’t think there was anything fun about those bloody endless catacombs. Having people physically react to your character’s growth never got old; neither did sneaking about at night assassinating people in their sleep.
(unless you modify the controls) Attacking involves holding down a key (CTRL) and hitting directions. Combined with the other button holding to hold target, it can get a bit overwhelming at first.
Once you get used to it, though, its really pretty nice. You can pull off a few different moves in combat, and I found melee entertaining right up until the end of the game. That said, even if you hate it, you can always go the mage path and avoid the melee combat.
I hated the controls at first, loved them by the endgame. The ability to string together neat combos was pretty fun. And the left-right-left-right-left-right room clearer, with a 2H sword, was a fantastic tool to use against orcs or other weak enemies.
