It's a color scheme overlay, similar to what's seen in say Far Cry 1 with vibrant, cold, normal and cartoony, might be shader related as well as far as I'm aware but it just alters the color particularly saturation and brightness, maybe a few hue tweaks.
(Tonemapping so could be tied to shaders and HDR/bloom as well.)
EDIT: Game is OK so far but invisible barriers and strange conversations are somewhat annoying, can't swim either (Invisible barrier again.)
For example you can't go around the bridge a farmer stands on to progress and after talking to Gromar about a test to drive of a smuggler you tell your girl that you were tasked to drive of "npc-name" but you never got to know the name in the first place.
It's a OK game other than that, very adjustable as the initial option screens show so help stuff and the like can be disabled and the GFX options and control options are fairly extensive and easy to adjust.
(Not much to tweak outside of the game however but not needed that much.)
Also as a hint pick up everything and learn to handle combat by fighting the various farm animals a bit, particularly loot weapons and the like.
(Axe and pitchfork do pretty good damage, six and eight, compared to two that the cane you start with deal.)
Fastest found bug ever: As soon as you run the game it starts on your secondary monitor instead of your primary one...not a good sign as far as testing and bugs are concerned. If they missed this I can assume they didn't test other stuff thoroughly either.
Aren't invisible barriers normal in a demo? They probably just cut a portion of the main gameworld, so some kind of limitation must be present.
The invisible barriers mostly work to block off areas not yet unlocked, seems to me.
Yes, the US color scheme is somewhat offensive but I understand that many people here would want a more saturated and exaggerated graphical experience. But I don't think that's exclusive to the US. I have a feeling a lot of EU players will play it that way also.
Well, after playing the demo a bit I came to the conclusion that the game might not be bad. Performance is suprisingly good, it seems the high reqs were just for show. The graphics are nice, the atmosphere is good enough too. There are some drawbacks though, some of them quite big.
Firstly, the aformentioned invisible walls (and it's not only because of demo limitations, sometimes the game just forces you to go where it wants you and it does so in a slightly crude way - you can't cross a small stream if you won't use the bridge - connected to a quest giver - for example, even though it surely looks like it could be jumped over easily).
Also, you can steal all you like and no one gives a damn. Seems like it'll be easy to get rich fast. The interactivity is quite low too - not many usable things and there isn't that much stuff you can take either (outside of containers, I mean). You can lie down in some beds, actually (), you just can't sleep. It also didn't feel... gothic. It just doesn't have that strange, recognizable feel that games of that franchise (+Risen) have.
I have some serious doubts about character advancement too, esspecially magic. I mean, lack of trainers means yet another element missing out of the "Gothic feel", the way the game incorporated you into the world... that much, I was expecting. What I wasn't expecting is that the game has 12 spells total and ALL of them are different variants of attack spells. I really hope there's more stuff, just hidden outside of your skill book, but somehow... I doubt it. If it really is that way... then it means no summons, no sleep, no levitation, opening locks, no "forget", no utility spells or buffs at all. And it REALLY sucks, because it turns one character option into a fireball thrower and takes everything that was fun and rewarding out of Gothic's (sometimes frustrating) magic system. Bleh. Seems like Arcania won't be a game for those who like to play mages.
So far I'm enjoying the demo. It's nice. The user interface seems nicely implemented.
Couple things or bugs I've noted:
* There are areas (like at the end of the beach where the first trolls are killed) that are very difficult to get un-stuck from. Happened to me twice. Right clicking helped me get unstuck.
* Don't leave gold or any item in a chest that you will want to retrieve later. Once you leave the chest, it seems you can't get anything out of it again. They aren't permanently usable.
* I'm having graphical glitches in the sky. Seems to be something with the god beams (of light) and also the pre-dawn dark blue sky getting very pixelated.
Performance seems good on my 5870. CPU utilization is rather low on my q9550, one core is mostly utilized while the other three cores are at around 10%.
Alt-tabbing works well, but does leave one cpu core at 100% when in background.
Definitely worth trying for open world RPG fans. Well, so far it doesn't seem too open world, but not a corridor RPG either.
I agree with what most others said. Nice graphics, performance is very good for me on i7 860 and 295gtx on maximum. Combat is good, and overall seems like a good game. But it is definitely not the good old gothic.
Reminds me more of Divinity 2 than of anything else. Although Divinity 2 was very special in its own way.
What's separating this from excellence is that little something extra, in gothic it was incredible sense of immersion and great characters, in divinity it was great dungeons and exploration. I haven't played enough to see if this game has any of that, I'll wait for the release and see.
I'm hoping for a good story, fingers crossed. Or at least, good balancing (something rare is recent rpgs), so that items and money don't become worthless early in the game as you easily cut through anything in your path.
I am also surprised by the good optimisation, 1280X1024 ( my monitor's max res), everything on high or ultra and a high and smooth framerate on a 9800gt+athlon II X4
It may yet tun out to be a good game, but I doubt it'll be a good Gothic.
Combat is really terrible, especially if you compare it to G1-G2. Is it even possible to die in this game? I mean i'm not even paying any attention in the combat, i just just click-click and havent been close to dying. Combat in the Gothic games is supposed to be very hard, from the begining :/ Oh, that ninja stylee rolling when you're evading, that will look very natural in full plate armor, lol...
NPC's doesnt react to monsters it seems, i dragged a goblin into town, the girlfriend didnt react.
NPC's stand at one place all day/night like in stupid Bioware games (well at least this game has day/night cycles)..
NPC's doesnt react when you hit them.
The invinsible barriers are unfortunately not just to block you off certain paths in the "demo area". You can walk to some places but can't come to the same place by jumping onto a small rock, or over a small fence and then to the area.
As expected its very disapointing, except for graphics which do look very nice (except for the leaves that disintegrates infront of you all the time). No buy. I'll wait for TW2 which certainly will be a lot nicer than this..
Last edited by vurt on Thu, 23rd Sep 2010 14:13; edited 1 time in total
for me. However I calculated this with a crypto tool I made a while a ago because I was too lazy to download anything. So I wouldn't put too much confidence in this lol (although i'd say it's correct)
Combat is really terrible, especially if you compare it to G1-G2. Is it even possible to die in this game? I mean i'm not even paying any attention in the combat, i just just click-click and havent been close to dying. Combat in the Gothic games is supposed to be very hard, from the begining :/ Oh, that ninja stylee rolling when you're evading, that will look very natural in full plate armor, lol...
Well this is probably in response to the heavy criticism of G3 which you had to hit a boar over 9000 times just to kill it, all the while hearing a "BWOAH" sounds repeatedly.
Well this is probably in response to the heavy criticism of G3 which you had to hit a boar over 9000 times just to kill it, all the while hearing a "BWOAH" sounds repeatedly.
yeah not really talking about G3, that's why i specifically said G1-G2. G3 had terrible combat. The reason why combat can't be like in G1-G2 is probably because the ADHD console people want to feel "über" from the very start..
I've played quite a bit of G3, but not much G2 (yet). So I can't compare it to the first Gothics very well. That said, I'm liking the combat enough to enjoy it. Once I got to the group of paladins I realized I needed to freeze them, then hack them with melee. The game didn't advise me either. I like that. I would have died if not for that improv...
The loot system seems nice, the scrolls are nice, the variety of scenery is good. This is a good RPG so far.
Vurt how far have you gone in the demo? The goblin combat is just the very first monster.. And the DEMO doesn't seem to have hard difficulty so don't say it's too easy based on medium setting (which is what derps will play the game on).
Last edited by LMLM on Thu, 23rd Sep 2010 14:38; edited 1 time in total
Dodging when the animals attacked worked quite nicely - it was all about learning the different patterns that the animals used and stringing dodge/attack accordingly.
Yeah, combat sucks. I'm not a big fan of Gothic 1&2 combat, you could win most fights just by repeteadly pressing left-right-left-right-s-left-right, but this is no better. The game is faaaar to easy. To be honest, I got a bit bored half-way through the demo, which is not a good sign. Also, magic seems to be absurdly weak damage-wise. Not even worth to be used as a damage source, only for the added effect.
It seems to be very linear and not very good when it comes to exploration (there are some places just itching for a cave, or just some stuff to take, yet there's none), but I'm still hoping it's just because of the demo/tutorial area. I hope area design will be better in full game, because as it is, there isn't much to do/find other then follow the main quest. The world's just kinda... empty. Risen had more possible exploring on the way to the first hut (where you left the broad acompanying you), then this demo has from start to the end.
As someone mentioned, the game reminds me a bit of Divinity 2 (probably because of graphics).
All in all, my first impression was better then the second one, after actually finishing the demo. It seems to be a mediocre game, a bit shallow and unrewarding. Perhaps full game will be better and deeper, or perhaps the story will keep me entertained. We'll see. So far, between the 2, I would place my money on 2W2, as the better open-ended fantasy RPG this fall.
Last edited by Aquma on Thu, 23rd Sep 2010 14:40; edited 1 time in total
Yeah I wasn't saying that it was skill (or even fun), just that it did have a logic of sorts. Melee combat in the end was pretty annoying - even after learning the ropes and being able to easily dispatch enemies. Learning magic and frying those damn pigs into bacon was OTOH so satisfying.
The game is faaaar to easy. To be honest, I got a bit bored half-way through the demo,
The demo has only the two easiest difficulties. The full game promises to have "Hard" and "Gothic" and will likely be the type of hardcore RPG challenge you want. It's a demo for christ's sake.
the performance for me generally is great (highest settings possible) on my gtx460 1gb and an old duo e6750 but i have a strange problem.The game runs 45fps + all the time but when i enter the so called village it drops to 25-28 which is kinda strange cuz i tried on lowest settings possible and the fps in the village was 27-30.Have no idea wheres the problem
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), you just can't sleep. It also didn't feel... gothic. It just doesn't have that strange, recognizable feel that games of that franchise (+Risen) have.
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