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Gothic 3 interview from World of Gothic
World of Gothic's meditate has conducted an interview with Piranha Bytes Kai 'KaiRo' Rosenkranz and Michael Rueve. The original German version is to be found here, and meditate was kind enough to grant us permission to publish it on English on GothicDot! World of Gothic: Hello KaiRo, it has been quite so time since our last interview, almost one year. Can we be nosy again? KaiRo: You are nosy anyway, whether you're allowed or not :-). World of Gothic: How far into development are you? As we can take from your website, there won't be another addon, so you are putting all your efforts into Gothic III? KaiRo: That's exactly what we are doing. There won't be another addon by us and works on Gothic III have drawn anyone's full attention. World of Gothic: Does teh team still consist of the same people KaiRo: Nothing has changed. World of Gothic: Is the story done already or are you still looking for inspiration? KaiRo: The story is not finished yet, but the frame plot is. Story and game design accompany each other, and we are progressing greatly regarding game design at the moment. Inspiration for certain plots will be ok at a later time, when we have to fill the frame plot with content. But that won't happen anytime soon. Michael Rueve: What Kai wants to tell us is: We are first developing the setting (the world), then the story. World of Gothic: A lot of people suggest dungeons, which are extremely hard, but not necessary for the main plot. Will there be such a thing? KaiRo: That is not decided yet. At this time, we cannot tell such details regarding the content anyway, as anything can change and we don't want to make empty promises. World of Gothic: Can you tell something about the planned size of the gaming world compared to Gothic II? KaiRo: Larger. About thaaaat big. World of Gothic: Are you thinking about mounts at all, or is the technical realization too complex and therefore unlikely? KaiRo: Mounts are a complex topic, if included properly in a game. Time will tell, if it makes sense from both a technical and a gameplay point of view. World of Gothic: Word from Michael Hoge is (correct me if I'm wrong), that in Gothic III, the hero doesn't have to start and learn everything from scratch. Can you vaguely tell us anything about that? KaiRo: As you explicitely allow us to vagueley talk about that: We don't intend the player to have to enter the gaming world as an absolute beginner. But if you hope for a superhero from the beginning, think again. The player has a certain reputation and can defend himself properly, but to live up to his task, he still needs to develop his skills :-). World of Gothic: Will you take over the skill system from the first two Gothic games or offer an all new charcater development to the player? KaiRo: Only a very few things will remain the same. There will be changes in almost any aspect, including character development. However, we won't change the transparency and discrete use of numbers and stats. World of Gothic: As for the engine: There's a lot of discussion on all fan forums. Far Cry's graphic engine seems to be everybody's darling so far. Can you enlighten us regarding this topic, as you haven't made a statement yet, which engine you will use for Gothic III. KaiRo: Large parts of the engine will be developed by us, as the requirements to the technology are too special for a ready-made engine to fulfill them. So it is not important, which enginge will partly make it into our game, as you wouldn't recognize it anyway World of Gothic: Will the engine you will use for Gothic III be licensed or will you just use parts of a purchased engine? How much is selfmade, how much premade? KaiRo: There are licensed components, but the main part in developed by us. World of Gothic: Did you know about the Gothic I revival that is happening these days? Because there are no comparable games, many gamers play Gothic I again. What about a small addon for Gothic I? KaiRo: We are of course happy to learn that to shorten the waiting time for Gothic III gamers will play its predecessors again. I mean, there are a lot of other games on the market. However, in my opinion, it makes little sense to put more developing effort into a title, which is more than two years old, especially if we could progress development of Gothic III during that time. That's also the reason, whe rejected any offer to do a second addon of Gothic II, and the same arguments go for Gothic I especially. World of Gothic: If you re-play Gothic II or I, you surely recognize the style and teh melodies of the music. Will that stay the same? KaiRo: Thanks. Regarding music, which is my contribution to the games, some very promising thing are about to happen, which may lead to a further improvement. If I can make my vision of music reality, a lot of things will change and improve. Of course, I want to keep the recognition, and I will also recycle the original Gothic I theme :-). World of Gothic: It would be somehow special and a nice thing, if you could add a music CD with the game's score. Did you think about that? KaiRo: That will be decided, if it becomes clear, whether the music has the quality for a soundtrack CD. Also, the question is if such a CD will go with the original game already. I mean, producing a soundtrack CD is a lot of extra work, and as the music is among the last things that are finished during production, I can't do that as well. Michael Rueve: That question has been discussed a lot of times and I went on Kai's nerves more than once. For the so called 'Special Edition' [note from the editor: of Gothic II, available in German only], there was a little soundtrack CD already. It was technically impossible to make more then, but as we are heading for an all new technology now... World of Gothic: One question from most old-school RPGamers: Will there be a cloth map, as in old Ultima times...? KaiRo: We have to arrange that with JoWood. Given the size of the gaming world such a cloth map would be a sheet however and thus too large for the box :-). Seriously: That's not decided yet. World of Gothic: After the release of Gothic II, some people critizied the main story of the game, which followed the often used principle of a chosen one who stands between good and evil gods. This was not so enphasized in Gothic I, where a chosen one was merely mentioned, but that aspect was in the background. In Gothic II, you are confronted with this fact from the very beginning on, as only Innos' Chosen One can wear the amulet and it was clear, that this choosen one is the player. Two questions: Will Gothic III further develop this priciple or can we expect unexpected twists and turns in the plot? If no, will there be clarificaton about the motivation of the 'bad' side? For example, we didn't get, why the dragons wanted to destroy anything. KaiRo: "Clarification about the motivation of the gods" - well said - is the core topic of Gothic III. What is the war of the gods about? What's the whole shit about anyway? Of course, mundane things are in the foreground, as the orc invasion. There will be twists in the plot. By the way, did noone ever come to think of Xardas eventually holding back information? (We do not want to use the word "lies' here...) World of Gothic: To hard, to easy - feedback on the difficulty setting of Gothic II and the addon was manifold. Can you vaguely tell, if the player can eat a pizza when fighting monsters or if you need an extra pack of tissues to dry the tears of frustration? Michael Rueve: We already started with ideas for an adjustable difficulty setting. Otherwise you can't please anyone (you can't do that anyway, abut you know, what I mean...) World of Gothic: One of Gothic's main features is the extremely detailed and especially lively gaming world. It is fun, just to walk about idyllic meadows and watch a horde of wolves take on a scavenger. Will we still be able to enjoy this lively world in Gothic III? Will the world even be more detailed? KaiRo: Finally a question that I can easily answer, and this with a clear 'yes'. The lively gaming world has always been, as you mentioned it, an important aspect, and nothing will change that. Michael Rueve: The 'lively' gaming world is the main feature in Gothic in our opinion. Everything we are working on is heading towards this goal. World of Gothic: In Gothic I and II there was no difference, apart from different stats, whether you hit your enemy with a sword, an axe ar even a staff. Could this change in the sequel? And also a question or suggestion: Couldn't you improve the guild specific weapon by many uses? So that the player is forced to use the specific weapon? It was difficult to play as a mage, with weapons being so much more powerful and effective. KaiRo: Indeed we are planning something simlar, not exactly as you describe, as a 'guild' will move to another and less madantory meaning, but the merits of certain weapons will be highlighted in reasonable aspects. World of Gothic: What do you think of the mods available at World of Gothic? 'Die Bedrohung' [nore from the editor: means The Threat] and Dicurric? Did you play them? KaiRo: Whether we have played them? Hey, is it dark at night? We are enthusiastic about the Gothic mod scene, and we put a lot of effort in the development of the mod kits and will hear anyone who needs help with developing a mod. There will be no official 'support' of course, time is too limited for that. But we always will send out small tips and hints. Michael Rueve: In a few days (as soon as our lawyer finishes the licensing agreement) we will release an all new mod kit for Gothic 2 - Die Nacht des Raben. [note from the editor: has been released already, but requires the addon] World of Gothic: A sample from the new gameß A phrase? A word? A picture? KaiRo: Here is a word from the story document: 'and'. :-) Michael Rueve: Come on...here is a small preview of a character design, a work in progress of an orc killer scout from Nordmar... [note from the editor: click the above link on top of the interview to watch the image on the bottom of World of Gothic's side] World of Gothic: Many thanks for the interview. |
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