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TheMadGamer
High Emperor
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 487
Location: Southern California |
I finally beat Gothic!
I was so impressed by this game that I thought I’d review it for the fun of it and to provide some information about game play that might help those who are, ‘on the fence’ about playing Gothic to jump down off that fence and play the game!
I’m not a professional reviewer, I’m just a computer game player, so please don’t expect any kind of logical flow or even purpose to my rambling…
Non-Inventory Objects
This aspect of gameplay reminded me a lot of Ultima VII, The Black Gate. The level of interaction with non-inventory objects is not as good as Ultima VII, but there is enough of it to make the game very entertaining in this area, especially since no other games I know of have much of this kind of interaction since Ultima VII. For example, you can kill a monster that yields raw meat… you can then take that meat to a frying pan (which is a non-inventory object) and use that frying pan to cook the meat. You can use a variety of non-inventory objects in this manner… grinding wheels, buckets of water, anvils and so on. These things provide some of the little details that really make a game world come alive even though they do not contribute directly to anything about the game itself. But it’s these kinds of little details that help make the overall world seem so alive.
Inventory Objects:
There are a lot of objects you can pick up and carry… a huge variety actually. You can pick them up, carry them somewhere else, and drop them and they will remain there… which is something that I like in a game such as this. You can also transform one object into another. Such as the raw meat into cooked meat when you ‘use’ the raw meat on the frying pan. Cooked meat yields more of a healing bonus than raw meat. I find things like this to be very entertaining. While I didn’t really like the inventory system in Gothic, I did like the fact that your inventory had no limit. This surprised me because I do enjoy playing games where inventory management is important. However, I’m also a pack rat. And Gothic really catered to that aspect of my personality and I really enjoyed hoarding every little thing I could pick up.
World:
The world of Gothic is much like Ultima Ascension – a mostly seamless, single-world map with the exception of certain caves and crypts and so forth. But unlike Ultima Ascension, with even an average PC, you can play Gothic without it being so choppy like Ultima Ascension was. But like both games, what I like about this type of design is that it really makes the world come alive because you don’t detect ‘levels.’ For example, the ‘Old Mine’ is largely a spiraling decent to the bottom. When you’re at the top, you can look all the way down to the bottom and vice versa. I really enjoy this type of world environment. It also made other aspects of gameplay fun, such as sneaking… because indoor and outdoor environments shared the same world space. For example, when you enter a house in Morrowind (I love Morrowind, so please don’t pounce on me), a new map loads. Not so with Gothic… which makes some of the thieving aspects of gameplay much more compelling. A big ‘wow’ factor in this area with Gothic is when you climb to the top of the tower in the ‘Old Camp’ and get a great view of the colony… what an awesome sight… you can see so far away…
Sky/Whether
I had no idea how much a well-done sky can add depth to a game world until I played Gothic. You get all the typical stuff, such as the sun and moon arching across the sky as time passes, clouds, and the occasional rain storm. But another really pleasant surprise was the shooting stars you see at night. The first time I noticed the night sky full of the shooting stars it really made the game world come even more alive. It made you feel like you really are on a planet in a living breathing universe. Again, another little detail that added so much to the game’s overall ‘living and breathing’ feel. Oh, and the ‘dome’ storms were a very nice touch as well!
NPCs:
Well, if you’ve played Gothic, you know that Gothic has probably the best implementation of NPCs. There is a decent conversation tree system. And of course, the daily schedules carried out by the NPCs is far superior to any other CRPG out on the market today. They cook themselves breakfast, work on their huts in the afternoon, have conversations with one another, congregate at night, go to sleep, work in the fields and on and on… a really impressive thing to behold. Another nice aspect of Gothic in this area was also how NPCs would join you for short times, Either to lead you somewhere or be led by you somewhere. And in the later game, even fight along side with you.
Well, I’m gonna end my review here. If I think of anything else worth writing (or even if it’s not worth writing), I’ll add it in to this thread later.
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The Poster Previously Known As NeptiOfPovar |
Mon Aug 12, 2002 8:45 pm |
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot |
Thank you for the detailed review! 
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Jaz |
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Mon Aug 12, 2002 9:02 pm |
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XeroX
The MasterCopy
Joined: 13 Dec 2001
Posts: 7125
Location: The Netherlands |
Congratulations on beating Gothic, now follows the long wait for Gothic 2.
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Mon Aug 12, 2002 11:47 pm |
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TheMadGamer
High Emperor
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 487
Location: Southern California |
quote:
Originally posted by XeroX
Congratulations on beating Gothic, now follows the long wait for Gothic 2.
Yep now begins the long wait for G2... however, I think I'll hedge my time by replaying Gothic as a warrior this time... first time through finished as a water mage...
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The Poster Previously Known As NeptiOfPovar |
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Tue Aug 13, 2002 5:56 am |
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Max Killen
Exalted Potentate
Joined: 04 Dec 2001
Posts: 1112
Location: Why not Minot? |
Sounds like a cool game, think I'll try it |
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Tue Aug 13, 2002 11:29 am |
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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
Nice review of Gothic.
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Tue Aug 13, 2002 10:00 pm |
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Erb Duchenne
Slayer
Joined: 08 Jun 2002
Posts: 987
Location: malaysia |
What screen resolution did you play Gothic at?
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Erb Duchenne |
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Wed Aug 14, 2002 2:09 pm |
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TheMadGamer
High Emperor
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 487
Location: Southern California |
I played gothic at 1024 x 768 x 32
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The Poster Previously Known As NeptiOfPovar |
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Thu Aug 15, 2002 1:20 am |
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Xelis
High Emperor
Joined: 24 Jul 2002
Posts: 523
Location: Seattle, Washington |
Good!  |
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Thu Aug 15, 2002 1:32 am |
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