ArcaniA: Gothic 4 DRM system revealed

/gets into his panzer.

Well thats it time to invade:mad:

Why don't we get really cool things with our rpg games:(
 
/gets into his panzer.

Well thats it time to invade:mad:

Why don't we get really cool things with our rpg games:(

We do, occasionally.

I hope we get something snazzy here... But no info just yet so... meh :(

/spits on SecuRom. WTF did they have to use that horrible crap >.<'
 
I wonder if I should rather pick this up on console... hmm. I guess it all depends on the reviews on console. At least that way I can skip any DRM issues.
 
no gothic boxers ? :mad:

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The Polish get a frikkin' tankard in their collector's edition :mad: And all for R430!!!!
 
I played Gothic 3 and bought it, sure the game had some bugs, a lot of bugs xD, but it was a decent game.

I for one enjoyed it and hope Gothic 4: Arcania will be even better and that the DRM system doesn't screw up the game like Ubisoft does with their DRM system.
 
An excellent post from one of the members on the JoWood community forums, regarding his impressions of the demo, with whom I fully agree:

Prokroustis said:
You may merge this or whatever, but, seriously? Is this the outcome of 3 years' effort and getting feedback from the community? I am infuriated at least, for letting them put the word gothic in the title.

Just finished playing the demo, hard difficulty, all settings on high, experimented on the optional helpers and stuff, turned most of them off, and here's what this outrage looks like, in no particular order.


  • Characters are at best uninteresting, most times annoying, with absolutely no character at all.
  • NPC's are immortal, you can't damage them in any way.
  • Lip sync and facial animations are a joke.
  • Quest related coversations auto initiate when you're close enough, no matter what you do. On the top of that, there is some sort of loading time when you enter a dialogue so it resets you to a preset place you must be standing.
  • Can't swim at all. Invisible barriers at roomsize ponds.
  • Combat is an absolute letdown. Its not only a clickfest with no strategy required whatsoever, but along with some other outrageous aspects it becomes more worthless than any game's I've played. (Played on hard, removing any armour/equipment and using low level weapons by the end of the demo to fight the "strong" enemies, wouldn't die even if I tried...)
  • Like Gothic 3, you can't initiate a dialogue with every NPC: what's even worse, the dialogues you can have, have absolutely no options besides taking a quest forward.
  • Crafting can be done anywhere by opening the equivalent screen, alchemy benchs and anvils are just decorative.
  • You can drink potions and other items with healing properties in the midst of a battle, without putting away your weapons or any animation taking place, making it ridiculously easy to spam the hotkey number you have assigned to such an item whenever you are low on health.
  • Enemies such as wolves are incredibly slow, you can take any number of them with a bow just backing up.
  • There is health regeneration that exists even before you get a level, and it only gets worse with better equipment granding you additional regeneration, making the chance that you actually die during combat incredibly small. (nonexistend combined with the other combat related aspects.)
  • Quests like fetch x number of items found only in a specific area are even more annoying with the fact that there is exactly the said number of items there and not more, meaning if you miss one, a long trip back to the begining awaits you.
  • Voice acting is subpar at best, and at certain cases (like that specific old witch) unimaginably annoying.
  • The world design is far far away from open world standards or Gothic 1,2 and 3 worlds. All areas are surrounded by natural barriers, cut off from the rest of the world, ideal but for an extremely linear game.
  • Interaction with environmental objects like beds, alchemy benches, anvils etc is purely decorative and serve no purpose anymore.
  • NPC's don't give a beep if you're looting their house or walking past them with your weapon drawn.

I tried hard not to use curse words, and believe me, I started it with every good intention and hope of liking it. You may say its just the demo, the main game will be different, but let me tell you, how much different can it be? From what I've seen, its just an engine with lovely graphics that someone tried to make a Gothic out of it and failed miserably. Needless to say, I'm not buying nor playing it.
Source

Very sad to see something like this done to a series I love. For comedic relief, should anyone decide to download the demo (link right at the bottom; yes it's in English), feel free to fire a couple of arrows into NPC's heads. It's pretty humorous when they just stand there with an arrow sticking out of their skulls.

Or better yet, marvel at how you can grill a chunk of meat without the need for a fireplace, or that you can use a bed for absolutely no reason whatsoever (no healing, no passage of time).

I can't believe how they've turned this game into WoW... It's not even the cheap Oblivion knock-off I feared they'd turn it into. It's way, way worse.

They really should've marketed it under a different name. Calling it Gothic was a huge mistake.
 
:( oh well this makes me sad:mad:

Yup... Me too. *shrug* More money for me to put towards something more worthwhile (Old Republic, Deus Ex, Risen 2).

Fank thuck Fallout: New Vegas is coming out next month (I have the CE on pre-order). Another month without something awesome to add to my collection and I'd go stark.
 
This seems to be indicative of making something mainstream.

I am tired of stepping lightly around this idea:

Once something is aimed at the masses (who by default are retarded, lazy, just plain gormless), this is generally the end result. I have seen it with many other games, FFXIII recently comes to mind. All is designed in the aid of instant gratification for people who act like they are not lazy. They use excuses like they are just too busy so they don't have the time to work something out... shame, then stop playing indepth complicated games! Gone are the days of WORKING SHIT OUT FOR YOURSELF. Gaming (RPG's specifically), are all becoming World of MoronCraft, and oh how the masses love it!
 
This seems to be indicative of making something mainstream.

I am tired of stepping lightly around this idea:

Once something is aimed at the masses (who by default are retarded, lazy, just plain gormless), this is generally the end result. I have seen it with many other games, FFXIII recently comes to mind. All is designed in the aid of instant gratification for people who act like they are not lazy. They use excuses like they are just too busy so they don't have the time to work something out... shame, then stop playing indepth complicated games! Gone are the days of WORKING SHIT OUT FOR YOURSELF. Gaming (RPG's specifically), are all becoming World of MoronCraft, and oh how the masses love it!

Well in this day and age video games companies only care for money. I remember back in the 90s how games did not hold your hand. No hints just play. Myst was one of them lol. Even the action games where harder than today's games. I hate the health regenerating nonsense. I loved the feeling of near death while battling against monsters and you only have 5 health points left. But what are the original gamers going to do?
 
Not to derail too much, but I feel a good medium would be just that. I certainly love some of the convenience of today's games, but honestly, they have gone too far in many cases.

I agree with you Tsar, I love those situations in older action games where I had low-low health, no health packs or the like, and a hard fight till I could may find some healing. Funny how I ALWAYS managed to make it past those points, but man was it exhilarating when I did! Now you just find a corner / cover, wait, heal, WIN! But maybe I am oversimplifying the new healing systems used today, since it can be challenging, IF designed right.

Back on topic, I plan to still get this since some opinions may not gel with mine, and while I will find holes in the experience I might still have a degree of enjoyment. Now onto the console vs. PC versions... Hell, I think going PC for the Community Patches that are likely to get made is the best idea. Perhaps longterm dedicated Gothic fans will rework some of the issues making it more of a classic Gothic experience.
 
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