Been playing on and off for nigh a week now and while I was highly sceptical about the game given its recent coverage I feel greatly relieved that it does indeed have the feel of a Gothic - and of a 'complete' game as well - even though I have encountered my share of bugs. Balancing is certainly an issue, and so is AI, but the latter at least serves its purpose well enough. Combat seems to rely more on skill than on stats, and nearly every critter can spell my doom if I'm taken unawares or overwhelmed by numbers (that is, by more than one
). Yet, one on one, I can take on almost everything by leftclicking, as has been mentioned. Disappointingly, I have not yet found any tactical depth to combat beyond the basic slash, striking always first and as quickly as possible, and moving beyond the enemy's reach if in trouble.
Crashes are not an issue with my mid-spec system, and neither is performance. Bugs are abundant if you look for them, but I don't find them immersion-breaking.
Quests, world design and dialogues are all very well done, I feel, but world interactivity is somewhat lacking to me.
While I really like that reviewer from 4player.de (his writing is usually superb, and I I'm regularly amused by his columns), I do not understand the immense disappointment he seems to feel about the game. Still, he does have some points and reviews are intended to be subjective. If people'd just stop trying to add a number to everything. Oh, well...