Arcania: A Gothic Tale

[HoonDing]

and finally many of the enemies seem lobotomised in that their attacks are languid and ponderous. You can strafe-shot wolves to death here - now compare that with Risen / Gothic wolves.

It wasn't better in Risen or Gothic. It's unrealistic fighting generic animals that will dodge almost all your incoming blows and if you do manage to get a hit in, taking about 1% from their health while the animal (regardless whether it's a vulture, hedgehog or a giant gorilla) will kill you in one hit.

 

Melee combat is terrible in almost all action RPGs, which is why I usually go for archery/magic. I only enjoy it in the Witcher & Two Worlds. Oblivion ruined it with the level scaling.

[Guest Slinky]

Melee combat is terrible in almost all action RPGs, which is why I usually go for archery/magic. I only enjoy it in the Witcher & Two Worlds. Oblivion ruined it with the level scaling.

 

Huh, never seen anyone praise TW's combat before. Just finished it for the second time earlier today and the combat is still the only thing in the game I don't really like.

 

I wish someone would get a huge brainstorm someday and make a Witcher style RPG with Severance's combat, I would piss so much honey that the local bees would assasinate me.

[Lexx]

Combat in Risen was good. You needed some tactic and it wasn't the ultimate click orgy.

[HoonDing]

It's probably easy to include combos & special moves like Prince of Persia: Warrior Within & Severance, but then it would be even harder to pretend that they're still RPGs.

[Solthanos]

As someone who spends just a few hours per week playing games, I enjoyed the demo for this game. It didn't seem like a travesty once the minimap, quest indicators, and sparkly arrows over people's heads were turned off, for sure, and combat/gameplay with a 360 controller felt a lot visceral and rewarding than hitting a pre-planned sequence of number keys.

 

We don't see that too often on the PC anymore, at least not when you rule out console ports. Sure, the voice acting is a bit awkward and the customization options are underwhelming, but at least it lets you swing around big glowing hammers. I'd prefer it if you could simply punch and kick giant monsters to death, but this is fun too.

 

That being said, I'm downloading the Risen demo to see what all the fuss is about.

[LadyCrimson]

That being said, I'm downloading the Risen demo to see what all the fuss is about.

Heh, I just bought Risen from BestBuy, for much the same reason. It's one I've looked at on the shelf for a while now, but couldn't decide. Why not.

[Labadal]

It's just an assumption, but I think you'll find Risen to be better than Arcania.

[Tigranes]

Any 2-hour portion of Risen, even its railroaded Tomb Raider finale, is vastly superior to anything shown in the Arcania demo.

 

Apart from the famous stunlock in the original Gothic 3, which was retarded, the combat in G3/Risen was vastly superior - everything about it works to ensure that you are a lethal threat to your enemies but they are a lethal threat to you. You kill 20 skeletons then go on autopilot for 2 skellies, they can kill you. You have to work in each and every battle but if you do, then you can overcome most challenges.

 

In Arcania demo you simply ignore what the enemies do and mash the attack key, then when they do their stupid glowy-sword charge-up you roll away and repeat.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm finding the combat in Risen kind of awkward, altho it didn't take me too long to become used to it enough to not die as much. But I don't like it when games have combat moves where the animation doesn't stop even when the creature dies, so my chr. is still flailing away for a few seconds over a corpse.

 

Other than that, so far so good. Might be a little more rpg (talk talk talk talk) than I like these days but that's not a fault of the game, just me. Like the openness and that night lasts a really long time (dark! it's dark!) and can't wait to start mining ore!

[Tigranes]

MIning skill takes a good while to pick up... but exploring is still very very fun in Risen. Just expect to die... but in such a small island there are a LOT of things hidden.

[HoonDing]

Fighter/mage is awesome in Risen, just as it was in Gothic 3. Freeze lizardmen & ash beasts, then chop them up. Makes the entire game a breeze.

 

About Arcania however:

 

 

Who's the woman next to King Nameless Hero? I recognize the rest, which makes me fear it's someone ported over from Forsaken Gods. Anyone played this expansion?

[Lexx]

I wonder this as well. Never saw that woman before.

[Tigranes]

That's true. Maybe it's your wife. As long as it's their new character, why not? Women dont' look that bad in Arcania, at least. (i.e. Male models with boobs)

[HoonDing]

The Nameless Hero actually had a male thief companion in the Gothics as well... who knows, maybe that one went "Edwina" in Forsaken Gods.

[Oner]

Diego? Isn't he the one on the left?

[HoonDing]

His name was Lares.

[Lexx]

But they haven't been such big buddies like the other four (Diego, Milton, etc.)

[WorstUsernameEver]

Reviews

[Hassat Hunter]

Yeah, the second one was the one I read...

[mkreku]

Reviews

Well, this sounds promising:

 

"Final verdict: Arcania is a slap in the face of Gothic- and RPG fans, but does offer an enjoyable Hack&Slash experience in a good looking world."

 

Or not.

[Bendu]

30 Minutes Gameplay Video. Part 1 and Part 2. Looks very boring.

[WorstUsernameEver]

30 Minutes Gameplay Video. Part 1 and Part 2. Looks very boring.

 

Runs very choppily on that rig. Wonder what the specs are. To be fair to Arcania, Gothic would look boring too shown like that. Still, considering the reviews it'll probably be ****.

[Tigranes]

Honestly, based on the videos and playing the demo, the experience is more like Oblivion than Gothic. Or rather, the mechanics of Oblivion infused with Action RPG mechanics (which, actually, I consider a plus for this type), wearing the colours of Gothic. But then, I enjoyed my first playthrough of Oblivion...still don't know whether to get.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Honestly, based on the videos and playing the demo, the experience is more like Oblivion than Gothic. Or rather, the mechanics of Oblivion infused with Action RPG mechanics (which, actually, I consider a plus for this type), wearing the colours of Gothic. But then, I enjoyed my first playthrough of Oblivion...still don't know whether to get.

 

Just take into account that according to many reviews story, quests and exploration are inferior to Oblivion.

[LadyCrimson]

30 Minutes Gameplay Video. Part 1 and Part 2. Looks very boring.

 

Runs very choppily on that rig. Wonder what the specs are. To be fair to Arcania, Gothic would look boring too shown like that. Still, considering the reviews it'll probably be ****.

Not good enough for both playing & recording, apparently. Haha. Altho, there's also a lot of horizontal jerk (vs. lag-chop) that feels more like the too-fast mouse spin giving the sensation of missed frames.

Couldn't understand a word, but the guy in the turtleneck is rather handsome.

 

Just take into account that according to many reviews story, quests and exploration are inferior to Oblivion.

All the lines I've read about how it just gets worse after the demo-areas/few hours doesn't build confidence for me. The demo was enough to show me that it might be an ok romp on a rainy day, but I didn't find it very immersive - that "just one more quest/level" feeling - which prevents me from caring too much about getting it right away.