A simplistic RPG that will suit the lowest common dominator but enjoyable enough to keep you going until the end.
Graphics: 9
Sounds: 8
Value: 8 (large area to explore however too expensive to buy)
Tilt: 8 (I enjoyed it regardless of its flaws)
Actual score: 7.4
Arcania – Gothic 4 is the forth instalment of the Gothic series (no kidding) however the first for developers Spellbound Entertainment as the previous three gothic titles were from Piranha Bytes. The tale revolves around the nameless hero for unforseen circumstances drawn into battle against Rhobar III (for which was the nameless hero in Gothic 3) and his Myrtanian army. Rhobar's paladins invaded the small island of Feshyr (from where our Gothic 4 hero was born) and now heading towards the mainland.
Packaged as a RPG, Gothic 4 is a simplistic version of this type of genre. You'll get a stock character with no skill sets therefore the aim is for you to create a character to suit your playing style. That said the skill trees are build around the three typical archetypes being the mage, archer and the fighter. You can mix and mingle among the skill trees however the catch is there are only eight skills to choose from. Three belong to the 'caster' group (fire / cold / electric), two from the 'thief' class (stealth / precision) and three from the 'fighter' class (attacks / combos / shield attacks). Yet the game had some silly names for these skills (e.g. serenity = cold based spells).
So for my character I maxed out 'dominance' (electric) first followed by 'mettle' (melee) and then 'discipline' (combos). Near the end of the game I had other skill points allocated purely out of curiosity (cold and fire) but the three mentioned was my primary source. And my weapon of choice is a two-handed weapon. So you can say he's a fighter / mage that wields a big stick...and knows how to use it.
The game play is very easy to get use to. Left click to attack and right to defend / roll. I suggest practicing the roll early on as the early parts of the game it's alarmingly easy (even though I was playing at the second hardest difficulty level). Roughly though three quarters into the game you'll be rolling likes there's no tomorrow; especially in the final battle. You can also assign 'hot keys' to change your weapon / spells as there is no option to use the mouse scroll. Also the camera angle is fixed therefore out-of-combat you get the see your character up-close-and-personal yet in combat it pans out a bit. A bit arcane in my opinion however beggars can't be chooses.
Other activities includes crafting where you collect ingredients to make potions, food, weapons and armour however you'll need scrolls to craft certain items. So to craft is a matter of clicking on the right ingredients and press 'craft'. And there's no option to fail either. And if you select 'roleplaying' in the main menu your guy, where alerted can sit down, have a drink, smoke a 'water pipe' and so forth. It's nothing more than a gimmick however I quite like this feature.
Collecting gold is a worthless task as I rarely bought anything from any vendors yet done a lot of selling. However on the rare occasion I decided to buy some armour however as arcane as it sounds there's no option for item comparisons. So it's either you got a good memory or simply place all your items in the inventory for easy reference. Yet I gain most of my items from quests or if you are patient enough, search for 'hidden' chests. This is where you play a very simple minigame to unlock the chest. Other words a 'timing' game where you are required to click when the padlock hits the middle of the screen. If you fail just try again.
The game itself is deceptively large. There are about eight explorable regions however you cannot enter the next region unless you completed the main quest for that particular region. Yet for those experience points (XP) grabbers there are side quests that mainly consists of 'go collect x amounts…' or 'go kill y creature'. Yet the good news is that these side quests do tie in with the main story as the old saying goes 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. There's nothing wrong with that as people normally don't give out information for free. And thankfully so the developers also have a sense of humour as the main hero sometimes groan stating 'ok, ok who do I have to kill and where is it?' (or something similar to that effect). Yet there is one major disappointment is that there's one region that's locked out. For the life of me I thought I missed something altogether however once completed the game I searched the forums and yes this region is reserved for a DLC. Not a happy camper.
Graphically it's a beautiful game. Not the best looking however the world displayed what the developers were aiming for; that is 'gothic'; dark, gloomy and all that sort of stuff. It also promises weather effects; beautiful sunrises and sunsets, swaying trees and so forth. Sincerely it's an immersive game to say the least. However I'm not sure if it's my copy as I tend to spend more time travelling in the dark and the rain; man I tell you it rains all the time! By the time I finished the game I though the island will literally drown. Yet all the NPCs look like they have been hit with the ugly stick. I'm not sure why is that however I presume it's all about being 'gothic'. And the main character looks like a pretty boy (not so gothic). But the saving grace is that he's a bit of a smart a$$.
If you have a neat sound system Gothic 4 sounds ambience sounds are top notch. Right from the get go, you can hear the waves crashing, birds chirping, trees gently swaying in the wind and tonnes of raindrops. This is certainly the strongest point along with the terrific musical scores. Mainly orchestral, beautifully constructed and every composition fits well to any given situation. The voice acting won't win any awards though however it's not bad either. It's a shame though that the lip sync is out of wack though. Yet my favourite sounds is the one where when you kill a foe welding a heavy weapon, you can hear a great 'clank' when the weapon drops to the ground. Very satisfying!
As mentioned before, Gothic 4 is deceptively large. I think the developers were aiming for around twenty five hours of game play however I managed to clock around fifty. This is mainly due to exploring every nook and cranny trying to collect the three artefacts. These artefacts are broken into thirty pieces spread throughout the island that grants you 'special powers' once collected all. However I only managed to collect twenty five in one category and less in others. So I cannot tell you what these 'powers' are however I still managed to finish the game on the second hardest difficulty level (as there are four to choose from).
However due to the poor quest markers I felt the game time would reduce somewhat. Seriously you cannot remember 'turn left at the end of the road, then after five paces go north followed by the tall rock, spin 140 degrees…' you get the idea. Yet somehow the quest markers will appear once you have set foot in the area (thank god for that). I'm not sure if the developers think this is more realistic however for me it's more frustrating. And as far as replay goes, unless you want to complete the game with a different character style then there's not much else.
Upon the many press releases, developers Spellbound Entertainment took a different approach to Gothic 4 than its processors as they are trying to tap into the American market. So they came up with a simplistic RPG that will suit the lowest common dominator. So simple that any lower it will be just a point and click adventure game without the puzzles. Yet the saving grace is that the story is actually quite good (especially the orcs and their souls) and the quirky main character. Yet my main goal was playing a dude wielding a big weapon with great sound effects. I defiantly got what I want though.