Yes, it has some flaws, but you know, it scratches a certain itch.
Gothic 4 is a role-playing game that suffers from "comparison-itis". No, this is not a deep RPG filled with characters and meaningful dialog choices, and it really should not be compared to such. If you want to feel the emotional pull of a great story, this isn't your game. But if you want to bash monsters, explore neat places, and get cool loot, you'll probably enjoy this game. It's kind of old-school, really (I'm 44, so old-school is a somewhat meaningful statement.)
Here's what I like about the game:
- Third person combat that's fun. Yes, it's somewhat easy combat, but somehow, it stays fun. You can use weapons (both light and heavy), bows, and magic (or any combination of such.)
- Character development isn't bad at all - you can specialize in a few things, or be a jack of all trades. Wanna be a tank? Sure. A Ranger-type? Yup. A Mage? No problem. A little bit of tank/mage (or some other combination)? Go for it. It's all viable.
- I LOVE the "no GPS" map. It's so refreshing to have someone say "you can find the cave southeast of the western tower" and you kind of have to figure out where that is. It's not that hard, but it's a nice change from the "autolock gps" of modern RPG's.
- Loot is good - juuuust enough to keep you wanting to play a little more.
- HUGE map, and no loading screens - go right from a field to a cave to a house to a castle. Neat.
- Lots of crafting / potions / etc. Some decent "collectable" type quests (find 30 runes, which are scattered all over, etc)
- Interface is decent - nice quickslots, inventory is simple, spells/swords easy to change/etc.
Here are a few words to address some of the shortcomings.
- Yea, it's a little herky-jerky at times. Nothing too bad, but it's not silky smooth, either. I can live with it.
- Graphics are "Oblivion-lite"... maybe 90% of what Olblivion gave us. As someone who remembers when your onscreen charcater was an "x", the graphics are fine for me.
- Indeed, it's not a deep, moving story. The NPC's are generic, the quests are generic, the voices are generic, etc. Still, there's enough "story" to keep you moving forward.
Again, add up the above, and you get a simple "I like it".