Gothic 4 - Arcania : A Gothic Tale

http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=165&ref=0&id=280

Gothic Lovers -- A Major Disappointment

If Gothic 2 or 3 is on your list of top RPGs from the past and you are looking to ArcaniA to continue the Gothic series for you, then you only will be very disappointed if you try ArcaniA. The connection between ArcaniA and G3 is very thin. You will see many of your old friends (Gorn, Diego, etc.) and will share some of the previous backstory. But most of the rest of Gothic mechanics and interplay have been eliminated.

Linearity, theft, and exploration were covered above. Some of the other elements from Gothic (and other classic RPGs) eliminated include:

  • Crafting locations -- no need for alchemy tables, or forges. Just open your crafting window and click on what you want to make. If you have the supplies, it appears in your inventory.

  • Factions -- eliminated completely

  • Resting -- beds are for-show only

  • Skills -- far fewer options

  • Trainers -- eliminated. As you level up you get three points to distribute in any of the skills you choose. For trades, you collect or buy recipe scrolls to be used in your crafting window. A couple "trainers" are found in the game, but they merely have short quests to give you a scroll or two.

  • Lockpicking -- eliminated as a skill that you need to invest level-up points in. Chest opening is automatic for the first third of the game. After that most chests are still unlocked, and you play a minigame to open the rest (using a "special lockpick" you receive.

  • Repair and sharpen -- eliminated

  • Whetstones and lecterns -- eliminated

Overall for Gothic lovers: there is very little similarity between G4 and the prior Gothics in the essentials of gameplay. You would do well to think of ArcaniA as a whole new game, and not as G4 at all.
 
Am actually enjoying this game, totally different to the previous Gothic games, quite similar to Risen i think.

Not come across any bugs yet either.
 
Why does the performance of the final release suck !

The demo ran so smooth with absolutely no noticeable slow downs at all. But after installing the retail copy I'm so so disappointed :( loaded up fraps to see a horrible 20fps, noticeable frame skipping everywhere and just generally horrible performance. :(

I adjusted the video settings down to medium and it still didn't help ... gutted :(
 
Might be driver problem not having any problems on my ati 4870x2 all settings high apart From shadows which I put on med just to help out my aging card
 
dreigns said:
Might be driver problem not having any problems on my ati 4870x2 all settings high apart From shadows which I put on med just to help out my aging card
Click to expand...

This game uses Physx ^ and it's not a driver problem , there are TONS of posts regarding performance on the jowood forums , nforce forums and other places

Run's like arse here aswell , much worse than gothic 3 this is with patch!

EDIT : Some are even using the Demo exe just to get some performance back lol
 
I've got the latest drivers (10.9) so I went hunting on the official forums and found a patch for performance issues. Downloaded and installed ... gave me an extra 10fps but still skipping frames :( I think I will put this on hold until the next patch is released and according to the forums it should be in the next few weeks.
 
Well, had a look at my cpu while the game was running. Both cores at 100% ... this is where the issue lies then :) so Andyh could you have a look at your cpu and tell me if it's running at 100% or not ?

In game using fraps I can see I'm getting a steady 30-35 fps but it still skips all over the place, now I know this is due to the cpu being maxed out on my system.
 
SPARC said:
Well, had a look at my cpu while the game was running. Both cores at 100% ... this is where the issue lies then :) so Andyh could you have a look at your cpu and tell me if it's running at 100% or not ?

In game using fraps I can see I'm getting a steady 30-35 fps but it still skips all over the place, now I know this is due to the cpu being maxed out on my system.
Click to expand...

Will check tonight when i get home from work, i know last night though my cpu temps didnt get past 35 so it can't be under too much strain.
 
_Andyh_ said:
Will check tonight when i get home from work, i know last night though my cpu temps didnt get past 35 so it can't be under too much strain.
Click to expand...

95% on core 1 , 95% on core 2 , 50/60% on core 3 and 4 here

But with the performance it's currently unplayable. Laggy , Stuttery feels like i'm doing 10fps
 
19/20 fps in the village/towns
33-40 fps in the woods/grasslands
30-31 fps when it rains

But these frame rates were ok in the demo but the full game it's so damn jerky/stuttery and slow!
 
Yeah feels like I'm running at 10fps as well. Shame because I thought the demo was very good.

But even with 4 cores the game doesn't run well. Cheers for that info Neil79, guess we will just have to wait on another patch.
 
My impressions - unplayable.

I'm with Neil79 on this one. Hopefully a patch in the coming weeks can alleviate the performance issues quite a few people are having. But as it stands I can't play it, so I would suggest saving your cash for now.
 
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