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Korzen
Forsaken
Joined: 02 Nov 2002
Posts: 3673
Location: The User Groups Section. |
But it works only for about 10 seconds os it isn't so helpfull  |
Sun Dec 22, 2002 6:30 pm |
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Daedalus
High Emperor
Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Posts: 2516
Location: Estonia |
oh i see thats like if u smoke that Ziggarete and u will be like whole minute stoned  |
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Sun Dec 22, 2002 7:59 pm |
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ixo
Village Dweller
Joined: 24 Dec 2002
Posts: 7
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| personal review of G2 demo |
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When I saw Gothic 1 reviewed in a magazine, it scored something like 60%.
PCGAMER said it was a failed RPG, all sorts of negative things were mentioned and brushed it away as surely as the developers must have felt at the time - their masterpiece was going the way of dust.
Gothic 1, in my experience, was an incredible RPG. No doubt about that. The depth and scope of this game coupled with an unusual german design, set the tone for an RPG I have never encountered before - Morrowind in my eyes was a disaster during that initiation.
I just found out today that Gothic 2 was available to download (372Mb) and sure enough, I downloaded it.
Ran the setup, installed nicely. Then started the demo. The anticipation was unbelievable. I think I was half expecting disaster. The other part was almost a knowing that it was going to be anything but well above normal standard.
The graphics in Gothic 2 aren't much different from Gothic 1. Infact, I'd say it just runs better - the engine feels incredibly refined using DX7. I have a Athlon XP2600, GF4/4400, 512Mb (Corsair 3500) and the Epox nForce2. A FSB of 166, makes this game move so smoothly (and you can cap the MAXFPS to 60 in the ini file, and that's all you need) at high resolutions and the full enchalada. Even with 8x Anisotropic (and this is HIGHLY recommended), the feeling of depth in the game goes beyond that of Gothic 1. Not a huge amount, but enough to make you think, "wow, those textures are impressively realistic".
Models don't look that different.
Scenery and buildings have that "in place" feel which I didn't get with Gothic 1.
The sky also has a feeling of height and air about it that improves on the dreary flatness of Gothic 1. It also looks recognisably like a real sky.
Added together, it feels like there is a moving and living breathing space in the game.
Sound is nothing special. But I can detect a better cast of sounds than Gothic 1 had.
First person. For me a missing first person exploration aspect to Gothic 1 always had me wondering that it would improve a part of the game. Now first person is available, I think it doesn't really make that much difference. Saying that, I'm glad it's there. I can see why it didn't make it in Gothic 1. The textures were poor. In Gothic 2, there's no such thing as a poor texture.
I'm very disappointed to see that the animation in the game has not improved. Although there is significant improvement in the game engine, it does not transfer to the models. Textures are good, but the animation is poor. Without decent animation, it detracts from the environments detail and authenticity.
The interface where you view what you have found. The graphics for each item is still poor. There should have been fine detail in what you find and what you buy. Maybe I'm just being picky. Whenever I find something in Gothic. All I see is a very poor representation of it.
Spot effects. Well, I've seen many. The worst is the water. The best is the sparks on the Smith's grinding stone. Spot effects in Gothic 2 will still be always average. It's DX7. Not DX8.
Saying that, I hope Gothic 3 is DX8 only.
Final thoughts.
I think Gothic 2 is going to only be Gothic with an engine improvement. If there is going to be any improvement not seen in the demo, it would have to be model animation and authenticity in their movements. A rat moves like a wolf, a wolf moves like a snapper and a snapper looks like a rat with a close shave etc etc.
I think we all know where the effort has gone however. And because we all know what that means, as Gothic fans, I can certainly say this:
Gothic 2 is mightily impressive. It's impressive enough for me to go out and buy it as soon as it hits the UK. I don't care what the hell faults are with it. Because as long as there is a community keeping it going, things like this tend to get better and sometimes, sometimes, they can go far above what they intended to be.
It also means that when it IS better than Gothic 1, then Gothic 3 will come about, and as long as they make a leap of faith with a DX8 engine (why not Unreal's) it won't surprise me if one day, this outfit who made Gothic come to life, they become THE rpg developer of the year.
Whatever that year may be.
Ixos. |
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Tue Dec 24, 2002 2:40 am |
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hoyp
High Emperor
Joined: 02 Oct 2002
Posts: 501
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| Re: personal review of G2 demo |
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quote:
Originally posted by ixo
I think we all know where the effort has gone.
What? Did you just say that PB isn't trying hard enough? |
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Tue Dec 24, 2002 9:10 pm |
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Bigpapa
Stranger from north
Joined: 22 Oct 2001
Posts: 930
Location: Strange place. |
Here is what i think:
PB has done another great job, and hey, they have done many improvements to the game itself as well as for its graphics, but i like more about playable and well done game than just a candy graphics, so maybe in Gothic3 we will see more for graphic but hoping same time that it's not going to be a cost of a story itself. I'm impressed and same time happy about this game and i'm going to get it as soon as it hits to stores here or in Sweden (<- dear neighbor country  ) Hooray PB and thank you, demo was enough to impress me 
_________________
I'll be back... |
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Tue Dec 24, 2002 10:09 pm |
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Daedalus
High Emperor
Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Posts: 2516
Location: Estonia |
hehe i would be happy if gothic 3 would be on the same engine cos the game really looks nice and all that matters is the storyline and great views from some mountain or sth like that i liked gothic 2 very much and gothic 1 was also veeery cool i just think why didnt the devs put Riceschnapps in G2 |
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Wed Dec 25, 2002 1:33 am |
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SirDeity
Gothic's Loyal Hero
Joined: 14 Jan 2002
Posts: 602
Location: Maine, USA |
No riceshnapps?? noooo! lol I hate it when they remove stuff. They should be adding stuff, not a combination of both. We fell in love with Gothic 1, any missing elements or items in Gothic 2 will be heartbreaking, no matter how insignificant. |
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Wed Dec 25, 2002 7:59 am |
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ixo
Village Dweller
Joined: 24 Dec 2002
Posts: 7
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I bought myself a pair of Grado SR60s (£80).
These are headphones if no one has a clue what the heck I am talking about.
They are also the BEST GODDAMN EARPHONES I HAVE EVER HAD (wa-aaay beyond even Sennheiser).
Playing the G2 demo, the open and airy sound effects look to have been taken from PBs sound recordist literally from outside, in the great outdoors (and I'll be damned if I can't hear clearly the reverbrating and distant thunder of a jet airplane overhead).
The Grado SR60 is THAT detailed.
You'll never known what the heck I am saying until you get these cans. The Grado SR60 will blow your mind inside out.
It don't half make G1 even more immersive. |
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Wed Dec 25, 2002 8:48 pm |
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Daedalus
High Emperor
Joined: 04 Jan 2002
Posts: 2516
Location: Estonia |
indeed probably but they cost pretty much heheh 80 euro ouch |
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Wed Dec 25, 2002 11:30 pm |
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ixo
Village Dweller
Joined: 24 Dec 2002
Posts: 7
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level 4, leather armour, 2 big swords (50/60, 75/75) and a x-bow (45/45) - gained a numner of skills
found hidden beaches, hidden coves, there is a sewer complex under the harbour, I've heard a Kraken cry out in the deep ocean, there is a lighthouse (well, it looks like one), walked over a huge arch of rock in the sea, found buried chests in the sand I can't open, shipwrecks - underwater and floating, big fish, stingrays (yup stingrays!), huge swells, seaweed, coral reefs
and more much more
and I've still got ten different routes to try out
I always wondered what the heck 400Mb of demo was when I first started out
well there it was
a 3Gb game is going to give us a bloody heart attack
BRING IT ON!
:lol
Gothic 2 is going to break records I think
it is AWESOME |
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Thu Dec 26, 2002 1:53 pm |
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GhanBuriGhan
Noble Knight
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 208
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This is now more a second-impression post, I am 2/3 through the game now with two different characters (Mage and Paladin).
Gothic 2 is great, no doubt about it. Its one of the few games I can play together with my girlfriend (we take turns) because its almost as much fun to watch as to play yourself. The real strong points are the moody, realistic landscape, the gritty setting and dialogue (along with the rather adult humor). The story isn't particularly stellar but solid and interesting.
There are some truly amazing moments in this game, e.g. coming upon the ritual at the circle of the sun at night was absolutely breathtaking. Quests in both guilds I joined are fun and varied. Its cool to meet the friends from part one again.
That said I would like to point out a few points that have dissapointed me a little (this is hoping for Gothic 3 of course an is meant as constructive criticism)
- Its seems the scheduling of the NPCs is actually inferior to Gothic 1 - there seem to be many more NPCs always standing around in the same spot, day or night, rain or shine. I had expected Gothic 2 to actually be much more advanced in this area. The price for the bigger world and rapid development time?
- AI isnt quite as good as I first thought - its still too easy to fool NPCS and monsters into helplessness, e.g. by far reaching spells, pulling them out of a herd one by one, or luring them to jump from cliffs or buildings etc.
- there is a really nasty bug saving the world state when you move between the two worlds - it basically crashes the game when you try to change back to the world you came from. This happened twice in two independent games to me and basically invalidated these savegames and several hours of gameplay along with them. Support hasn't done anything for me yet (ma be the holidays of course). So save often and make backups of your savegames!
- Remember frying meat in Gothic 1? Well it seems it's become worse - you can still do it only 1 meat at a time (if I am wrong PLEASE tell me how to do all at once) but now the camera always "jumps back" before you can do the next one, so it takes even longer than in the first part. And there is no frying noise when you use the new hearths. A small point maybe, but still.
- Realism is somewhat lacking. I currently lug a truckload of heavy Ork axes around with me in addition to a few hundred herbs and potions... The guys I kill all have armor, but I can't take it from them. There are too many decorative items/containers/weapons/armors in the world that are completely non-interactive. While sitting in a chair and smoking the water-pipe are nice touches they seem out of place in a world that is lacking so much more basic ways of interaction.
- The journal entries are often extremely basic and don't record essential information about hints people give you, or what steps of the quest you have alredy completed. Makes it sometimes difficult to get back into the game if you havent played for a few days and dont remember everything. Also quest information is often rather vague, leading to a trial and error style of playing that I associate more with adventure games than with CRPG's. |
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Thu Jan 02, 2003 2:45 pm |
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elkston
High Emperor
Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 691
Location: North Carolina, USA |
I've only played the demo but noticed the "no frying sound" immediately. I dunno, it seems minor but I kinda miss that sound too.
quote:
Originally posted by GhanBuriGhan
- Remember frying meat in Gothic 1? Well it seems it's become worse - you can still do it only 1 meat at a time (if I am wrong PLEASE tell me how to do all at once) but now the camera always "jumps back" before you can do the next one, so it takes even longer than in the first part. And there is no frying noise when you use the new hearths. A small point maybe, but still.
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Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:13 pm |
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Sk'ar
Village Leader
Joined: 01 Jan 2003
Posts: 93
Location: Old Camp, mining valley of Khorinis |
You're all making Gothic 2 sound bad  . How about some more posotive notes !
-Texture detail is sooooooooo much richer and more colorfull, it makes a really imersive world.
-There have been improvements to IA. I have found that NPCs have much more of a "memory". Also, the NPCs react stronger to your actions. Like beating up that Gritta will cause her to report to Lord Andre. Also, from what I've heard, murder can result in trials and such... very neat.
-There's more of a variety of items in G2. To beat the first title in terms of diversity in objects is hard enough, but they did it!
-Magic using has been improved. Not as many loading periods and some powerfull spells!
-So many more things you can do! Alchemy, blacksmithing, etc...
-Overall the worlds more dynamic and 3x larger!
-And a lot more I'm sure!
Lets be positive! G2 is better than the first, and the first was great so we are in for an incredible gaming experience!
*FYI, I could be wrong on some points, as I live in the US, can speak some german, but I have not played all of the full version*
~Sk'ar
_________________
~Ranger of the forest~
And the search for intelligence life on Earth and in the universe continues... |
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Sun Jan 05, 2003 8:53 am |
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ghola
City Guard
Joined: 08 Oct 2002
Posts: 146
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GhanBuriGhan, I don't know where to begin nor where to end, but I disagree with just about everything you posted. Your criticism just doesn't seem to make sense to me (in conflict with playability and ahead of the state of hardware). Could you be more specific? What would you like to see? |
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Mon Jan 06, 2003 11:56 pm |
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Phoenix_666
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 48
Location: Where ever the wind takes me. |
Anyone wnat to say something about the fab four.
- Where are they, do they remember you and do they still help you sometimes etc.. ???
Anyone heard anything about the release date for it yet (in England and other places.)
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"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again." (Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time) |
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Thu Jan 09, 2003 2:28 pm |
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