A great game riddled with a "bad" engine and many bugs
My favorite games are Suikoden 1 & 2, FFT, and the many FFT clones minus the Disgaea series which I thought was too comical and childish. But all of those games are dead and the strategy-rpg genre is dead too. In a lot of ways I am like a man without a country, a gamer without a game. There is very little money to be made by catering to me I guess.
Well that is why I like Gothic 3. It is unfortunate that there are as many bugs as there are. I have tried playing it with the latest patch at the date of this review and yet I still get issues that will likely never be solved. I admit that I am disappointed and wish it was easier because apparently this is really difficult for them.
There are so many stable yet bad games and the great ones always seem to be unstable. Oblivion didn't do it for me, I hated it and I hate most other games that are released these days. Nothing compares to the games I grew up on playing for days and days in my cold dark basement in front of the television while sitting back on the recliner.
I suppose it started when I started buying games that I would finish after 20 hours. Since that point I have watched the self destruction of the gaming industry as they swallow themselves making bad decision after bad decision with no clear "good" decisions in sight.
I even lost my beloved Tactical-RPG genre and the vast quantity of decent games that were released in my day. I grew up with that so naturally I expect that still today.
I say this because I feel that Gothic 3 has not failed in that regard. Gothic 3 is a game that is not written based on a fantasy novel so it relies a lot on character interaction with the world. This is done very well and a perfect blend of sandbox gameplay pairs with a good straight story to provide a truly epic gaming experience that I feel is very much required.
If the developers of Gothic 3 began with this intention, in this way they are successful, but unfortunately the game is also plagued with issues that, in order to enjoy this game properly, must be addressed. Gothic 3, however, was not held firm to the hype that Oblivion set for itself, and by so doing sealed it's own demise because when you set the bar that high, the only way to go from there is Down, Down and Down.
But Gothic 3 did not suffer from any of those expectations. It did not try to push out more than it could ever possibly hope to deliver. The only set back really was all the problems with the game, and some better choices made next time will certainly remedy that.
I really feel like Jowood has a good reputation for empathy in their games that most other companies definitively fall short of. They have had a rough time with bad developers but they are aware of it. It is a shame that this bump has wasted so much money for both us the customers and themselves as well.
But that said I feel like this depth is required. This is not the gaming industry that I grew up with, a lot of those developers of that day and age are now fired or retired and they will never come back ever again, for one reason or another.
This very well may be all we get, at least for now. I can't say for sure what the future may hold but I think if better choices are made and if developers and Jowood have a little bit more patience, then they can take these great ideas and push them further than anyone could ever imagine.
The excellence is something that others could potentially look up to. There is a gap to replace industry mongers like EA where their reputation leaves them no where to go but down, and if the right choices are made then someone like Jowood could easily fall right into place by offering the people exactly what they have asked for; a quality & stable single player RPG experience.
All this said, Gothic 3 is not too modifiable. A lot of games would have been flagged for that too but I can count the complaints about that on 1 hand because of the depth and quality that is already present, most notably because Jowood made the good choice not to spend millions of dollars on graphics and voice-overs.
Play to your base, Jowood, and you will make it through.
I really wanted to give this game a better score because it's such an awesome game, but the bugs force my hand and I must rate it a 6.5.
If I could ever play this game without having to list all the things I must be aware of that may make me crash, I would rate this game a big fat 10, absolutely flawless.
I have nothing else to say.