Mortismal Gaming looks back at Gothic 3:

Gothic 3 - First Impressions

Click4Gameplay reports on the community efforts around Gothic 3 to improve its playability and announces that a fix to the stuttering problem has finally been achieved thanks to the Parallel Universe Patch. He also explains the continued work going into the Community Story Project.

0:00 Hello there my RPG lovers :)
0:05 Parallel Universe Patch did the unthinkable
1:49 Sponsor Segment: Hero Wars
3:25 Community Story Project
11:18 Outro

[...]

A video showcasing the performance improvements:

C4G looks back at Gothic 3:

This is Why Gothic 3 was Way Ahead of its Time!

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A couple of strong reasons why Gothic 3 was ahead of its time.

C4G looks back at Gothic 3:

Gothic 3 - C4G Retrospective / Analysis | Worth Playing in 2021?

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sHuRuLuNi looks back at Gothic 3:

Gothic 3 - Uneducated Review - 13 years later

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A review of an RPG Legend, which was shunned at release, but with the help of the community turned into a jewel. Check my Uneducated Review of this Retro Masterpiece!

The promised v1.75 Community Patch (or Enhanced Edition according to their website) for Gothic 3 is now available from Mad Vulture Games. There are some nice new additions, including a modkit, although you'll need to start a new game:

You have to start a new game after the installation. Old savegames are not compatible.

There were several changes since the last official patch: Beside countless major and minor bug fixes, graphics and performance improvements there an “Alternative Balancing” and alternative A.I. was introduced with CP 1.70.

Compared to the previous patch (1.74) CP 1.75 offers widescreen support for the menues, new graphics options (like color grading or FXAA) and decreasing of stuttering by using a shader cache.

In addition to this the patch includes a ModKit, the Gothic 3 Genome Lite Edition. Using that ModKIt there are possibilities to change or create new game contents in a limited ways. There were also more possibilities added for modders. The new features and the ModKit are explained in the respective modder manual and editor guide.

Changelog here.

Looks like an update to the Gothic 3 Unofficial Community Patch will be out within days, offering improved animations and graphics effects. Here are the details via Dark Side of Gaming and head over for the full changelog:

Mad Vulture Games, descendants of the Community Patch Team for Gothic 3, have released the changelog of their upcoming 1.75 Unofficial Community Patch v1.75 for the third part of the Gothic series. This new update comes with dynamic shader caching to reduce stuttering, improved shadows quality, improved animations and Bloom / HDR effects, native support for FXAA, and texture adjustments. This update will be rolled out in the coming days and you can find below its entire changelog. Enjoy!

Thanks, Vurt!

Frozen Fireball writes that Gothic 3 is now available on GOG. The text says this version is "patched and updated", though I'm unsure if that includes the Community Patch.

The release of a v1.74 Community Patch for Gothic 3 slipped past us, so thanks to Kostaz for writing.  Details in this thread at World of Gothic:

- ATI/AMD driver bug: Workaround for missing shadows on Radeon 4000/5000 series graphics cards.
+ Improved specular light.
- Shadow problem at ambience mushrooms in Nordmar on 7xxx nVidia graphics cards fixed.
- Problem in czech installer version fixed.
- Quest "Debt and debility" with Ilja fixed.
+ Screen noise (optional). (Picture - click here)
+ Grass reacts to the hero's steps.
+ Visual feedback when the hero ist poisoned or has low life energy (optional).(Video - click here)
- Hunter merchants will pay twice the price for dark snapper leather again.
- Some minor bug fixes and improvements.
+ Improved Bloom/HDR. (pictures Bloom+HDR (click), HDR Blueshift (click), Sun (click))
+ Improved water. (Picture - click here)

[...]

Mirrors

- Download WoG (description)

- CD Projekt

- AtomicGamer

The Community Patch Team released another not so small update. The change list is a nice read:

Framework
- Texture/Shadow/Light flickering eliminated (occured on ATI 4xxx serie cards).
- Bug corrected where audio system always cached out sound even if property said "no".
- Some minor bug fixes and improvements.
+ Added czech manual to installer.
- Modding manuals updated.

Graphics
+ HDR Rendering.
+ Soft particles.
+ Improved bloom effect.
+ Leaf subsurface scattering (only with activated Rim Lighting and Shader 3.0).
+ Heat haze. (At minimum Shader 2.0. Always on, exception: few fire places, because the world has not been recompiled).
- Terrain shadows on faraway trees corrected.
- Some texture/material changes.

Dialogs
- Saturas now also hands out his key when the hero talks to him the first time ever after exploring Al Shedim.
+ Some info file parameters added.
+ "Storyhelper" (sh) has more detailed dialog options to increase or decrease reputation.
- Some speech outputs in russian game version corrected.
- The hero now drinks the bottle of booze he gets from Flint.
- Tippler, Hjalte and Garik now drink booze at adequate points of the conversations, Hjalte also eats some meat.
- If Ugolf tells the hero about Tjalf's chest, there's an additional small piece of dialog available after looting the chest.
- Dialog with Masil after cancellation of the quest "Debt and debility" corrected.
+ Subtitles are available now when the hero reads out what he finds at bookstands and stone tablets.

Quests
+ Some quest file parameters added.

Ingame menus
- Icons of cudgel, heavy branch, Nordmarian sword, recipe for mana potion, recipe for Nordmarian sword, recipe for El Bastardo, Meteor and the perk "Take animal skins" corrected or improved, resp.

Items
- It's not possible anymore to get Lester's, Ilja's and Yussuf's temple key and Masil's promissory notes twice.

NPC behaviour
+ New "political" alignment PAL_Pirate. (Not actually in use yet.)
+ NPCs now can react aggressive on armor of other "political" fractions. (Not actually in use yet.)

Perks and magic
+ New scroll "Group Hypnosis".
+ New function "MagicSummonCompanion" for new kinds of summoned companions. (Not actually in use yet.)

Strings
- Some errors in German texts corrected.
- Some errors in Italian texts corrected.

Only with AI switch turned on:
- Whirlwind attacks with two-handed weapons can now be blocked completely.
- A strong hit with two swords will break through a block.

The following fixes will only become effective when a new game is started, but not in already existing save games:
- Sigmor's chest is no "weapon chest" anymore (error from CP 1.70).
- El Bastardo corrected.
- Krush Irmak afflicts damage again

Thanks, Sigmarsson!

Despite previous claims, a new Gothic 3 Community Patch has been announced, adding more features.  From the World of Gothic thread:

Announcing Community Patch 1.73

Surprise! there will be one more Community Patch.
The original reason for this was to offer the modders somewhat more and to add some tools which should help modders with their work. Still in the meantime the modkit for G3 and G3FG has been announced, we decided not to include any tools anymore.

Some of us have had a good mind to change some things which couldn't create anymore in previous CP 1.7x versions.

Release: estimated in September
Patch: Full-Patch only, NO Update-Patch

Changelog:

• + HDR Rendering.
• + Improved bloom effect.
• - Bug corrected where audio system always cached out sound even if property said "no".
• + Some Info/Quest commands added.
• - Saturas now also hands out his key when the hero first talks to him after exploring Al Shedim.
• - Texture/Shadow/Light flickering (usually occurs on ATI HD4xxx serie cards) eliminated.
• + Leaf subsurface scattering (only with activated Rim Lighting and Shader 3.0)
• + Heat haze (at minimum Shader 2.0; always on; exception: few fire places because of recompiling the world).
• - Mana recipe icon corrected.- Faraway trees project terrain shadows corrected.

The Gothic 3 Community Patch Team has released a combined v1.70 + 1.71 file.  They've called it v1.72 (880Mb) but to be clear, this changes nothing other than adding the hotfix together with the main patch, so this is only for new adopters.

A hot fix has been released for Gothic III's Community Patch, taking it to v1.71.  Here's the announcement from the official forums:

Hotfix for Community Patch 1.70

After about 4 weeks of work we present you a hotfix, which resolves some mayor and some minor issues. With this our work on Gothic 3 has now come to an end.

You can simply install the hotfix and continue using your saved games. But community patch 1.70 is needed. If you have installed modifications then save your g3 installation before you install the hotfix.
We hope, everything is at wish now.

If you miss your savegames after installing the patch then switch on the AB again. Your savegame are there then.


Download Mirrors (more mirrors coming soon)

JoWooD (check sum) (temporarily not available)
Gothic 3 Community Patch Team Site
PiranhaClub
World of Gothic
Piranha Fanart-Portal

Head over the changelog.

The long wait is over! A list with a gazillion mirrors, including a torrent, and the change log explaining the more than 1000 changes can be found at WoG. A direct link to a nice pdf manual for CP 1.7 is here (right click, save as).

The Community Patch Team announced last year that CP 1.7 will be the last one.

Thanks, Kostaz! :)

Ooh, getting close now. The Gothic 3 Community Patch v1.7 countdown thread at World of Gothic has two new additions.  Number three sees a sample from the changelog:

[Extract]Savegames
+ To reduce errors when loading and saving savegames, the game will check if enough RAM is free. Otherwise loading/saving will be refused.
+ To reduce savegame errors, a temporary savegame is used to save data, and then the desired savegame will be overwritten.
+ Separation of the savegames (CP 1.70 without alternative balancing / CP 1.70 with alternative balancing / before CP 1.70).
+ The savegame number is displayed in the load and save menu.
- Exploit by quicksave while reading a stone tablet resolved.
- Defective savegames with a size of 0 Byte can't be loaded.
- Quickload key deactivated while talking to or trading with a NPC.

[Extract]Items
- The recipe for antidote has a new composition.
- Recipes for poison and special arrows revised.
- Gold value for special arrows revised.

[Exctract]Mixed Topics
- "One hit kill bug" during large battles fxed.
- Respawn reactivated and corrected.
+ “Take all” to plunder NPCs and chests works by pressing a key (Default: “Z”).
+ The spell "Transfer disease" now has an effect on NPCs: It will slow down their combat moves.
+ Crossbar added to window near Karrypto.
- The hero's shadow is not headless anymore in first person mode.
- Stamina exploit when sprinting while looking back removed.

[Exctract]Framework
- Menu bar in marvin mode is available again.
- Mouse pointer in marvin mode can be moved under Vista 64.
+ VSync can be (de-)activated via the video menu. (Only works when VSync is selected as "controlled by application" in the driver's menu.)
- VSync does not slow down the loading of savegames anymore.

...and #2 is a manual for modders:

This time we have something for the modders. The following small manual explains some small inventions we implemented for you. We hope that they'll be useful.
Chapter 2 contains technical information about two new aspects that regards potentially every player.

As you see, this countdown turns out to be more technical.

Grab the manual here or head over.

Thanks, Kostaz!

Kostaz writes the Gothic 3 CP Patch v1.7 Countdown has reached #4.  Here's the post:

Alternative A.I. Part 2

The game mode of alternative AI delivers two large changes, besides a few smaller ones:

1. The changes in the AI (Artificial Intelligence):
To cover up a little for the proverbial stupidity of the computer opponents (and also the companions), the complete reaction scheme in melee is newly defined depending on the situation.

2. Changes to the fighting system:
More specific: To make the game more tactical, the importance of blocking has been increased. With activated alternative AI it is possible for the hero and almost every opponent who is carrying a weapon, to block any attack with a weapon without suffering any damage. Blocking is therefore time limited, such that now one has to choose, which strike to block.

As result we hope that the tactic "spamclicking" will only be worthwhile now in very few cases


For better understanding:
In general NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) always try to attack the opponent from the side, to decrease the chance that these step aside or block. When they act in a group, the one who has the focus of the adversary will act mainly defensive and block alot, will keep the adversary busy though, while the others run around the adversary until they are no longer fully in his field of view and then attack.

NPCs with weapons often try, when possible, to take out their opponent for a short time with a strong hew or a stab attack. When one is wounded by a stab, one stumbles shortly, and this time is mostly used to hit the opponent to the deck with a powerfull blow.

Mages who are pushed into melee, act completely defensive and try to leave the fight again when they step back and the opponent is not aware; they will mainly block and only attack when it will be successful. This way they should be involved in melee only shortly during group battles and most of the time be able to use magic.

Animals and monsters fail the option to block and therefore use two different tactics, combined by chance.
On the one hand they always act defensively and stay just outside the reach of the opponents weapon: the opponent makes a strike, they retreat backwards -if possible- or to the side and when the opponent takes back his weapon, they they storm forwards and try to wound him quickly with a bite.
On the other hand in between the monsters gladly use an aggressive tactic -only against ranged attackers- in which they try get in attack range of the opponent as fast as possible, jumping back if this one tries to kill them, wound them and then quickly retreat.

Together this leads to having to have a good timing against creatures to defeat them.

World of Gothic has posted the third part of their Gothic 3 Community Patch interview:

In the course of the year my expectations were surpassed by far. The patch brings Gothic 3 forward with a giant step. An extreme amount of bugs was removed. And especially the latest changes are a real update compared to the relative small Patch 1.60. Finally the game can be played meeting allmost no plain mistakes – a dream. I only say: Combat system, opponent behaviour, logic, game world, AI.
Author Jörg Luibl from German web magazine 4Players.de once wrote in 2006: “Apart from the fact that we don’t test a game after a game has been patched: I’m not going to play it any more.” Maybe at some time they should reconsider. ;-)

Thanks, Kostaz!

It's past time we revisited the Countdown to the Gothic 3 v1.7 Community Patch, so it's timely that Constantine writes in to point out item #5 - Alternative AI, Part 1:

Alternative A.I. Part 1

- New game mode with the aim to make the melee fights more appealing and tactical (How? That is for later...)

- Can be (de)activated independent of both difficulty level and Alternative Balancing

- Can be turned on or off at any time (even in a running game). Only in the middle of a fight it can lead to erroneous or senseless actions of the opponents

- The mode is activated through a switch in the difficulty menu

- The switch is, following the name "alternative", initially turned off after installation


"As with Alternative Balancing, depending on the difficulty level one, two, or three adversaries can attack the hero at the same time": for the difficulty level "Easy" the opponents still attack alone, with "Medium" maximum two and with "Hard" in groups of three together at a time (see countdown 6).

A second page to World of Gothic's interview with the Gothic 3 Community Patch team is now up.  This part deals with the difficulties they faced, despite having the source code.

World of Gothic speaks to a slew of contributors to the Gothic 3 Community Patch, mostly asking about the development itself: 

How were the candidates for the team evaluated? Did you have many members right from the start or did the Team grow bit by bit?

Glockenbeat: We wrote to more people than finally found themselves back in the Team. As described above, they all had to endure a hard time first: deprivation of food, getting beaten up, electrical shocks and South-Eastern torture methods were part of a daily program they were subjected to. Only the toughest survived….

Just kidding. But of course we had to search for people who were qualified for the Team, and of course that meant that a large part of the Community had to be excluded. We had to sift them based on their motivation, availability, knowledge of technical issues, and so on.
When looking around one recognises quickly what each candidate is capable of. Thus the core of the Team was built up quickly.
And, as can be expected during such a long time, the size of the Team fluctuated a little, with people coming and going.

But above all: The motivation of the candidates was decisive, and not the knowledge of programming languages or similar stuff.

Kostaz let us know World of Gothic has details about the upcoming final Community Patch for Gothic 3, including a teaser.

List of all known information about the Patch 1.70 until now:

• Estimated release date in march (when there will be no heavy problems again)
• Size: between 800-1000MB
• Contain all previous patch versions, including Patch 1.12
• Patch can installed over each version (but it is recommendable to make a complete new Gothic 3 installation)
• installed modifications must delete (or make a backup) before installing the patch because modifications will be not compatible with the Patch 1.70
• Patch is for all languages
• Begin a new game is a must
• Savegames from version 1.60 and before are not compatible and will be not shown in the menu
• around 700 changelog entries (with every small changes and world changes there are several thousands bugfixes)
• Sword sound, weather sounds
• Alternative Balancing (changes at items like weapons, armors, perks, magic etc.); can be switched on/off but after that restart the game; this balancing replaces not the original fight system but it is only alternative
• Hero can attack by 1-3 enemies in melee fight at the same time (depend on the difficulty); work only with activated alternave balancing
• new AI (new melee fight system); can also be switched on/off; opponents are much smarter and better
• increase performance (depend of the computer of the player)

• Release of Humanforce's quest package at the same time (first in German, also in English I believe)

A new mini teaser for Gothic 3 Community Patch 1.7 has been released. It showcases a couple of environment sounds.

Expect the final patch for Gothic 3 early next year.

The Community-Patch-Team released a teaser for the upcoming Gothic 3 v1.7 patch. A couple of novelties can be seen in the short movie. The two most obvious ones: Weapon sounds have been added and multiple opponents attack simultaneously.
CP 1.7 will be the final patch for Gothic 3.

Gamebanshee's Sue York has done an in-depth review  of JoWooD and Piranha Bytes' Gothic 3,  playing with the latest v1.6 community patch installed.  The overall score is 7.8/10. It's a lengthy review, and hard to quote without spoliers so here's just a small sample:

 Both reputation and character development are gained by completing quests. As with many RPGs, a number of the game’s side quests are mundane - even simplistic - such as hunting and trading, fetching and carrying. Those which are more challenging involve the recruitment of other characters, sometimes to form a group. Here the trick is to survive and keep your partner(s) alive whilst they charge into the fray. The best approach to quests of this nature is arguably to clear the way first, allowing for the safe passage of group members to the point where their skills are needed for completion of the quest. It is not necessary to complete all of the side quests, so the player can select those which appeal. Furthermore, the epic nature of the game is reflected in how long it takes to build reputation.

Didn't see this coming but...

JoWooD announces official Gothic 3 Add-On

Liezen, Austria, April 14th 2008; JoWooD Productions announces the official Add-On for the award winning roleplaying game Gothic 3. Gothic 3 – Forsaken Gods will answer many open questions and guarantee a seamless step to Gothic 4. Once more you take on the role of the nameless Hero and again you have to raise your sword in anger to save the world of Gothic. On your journey you will meet old friends – but be careful, some old alliances may not have lasted the test of time….

JoWood is working on the expansion and the feedback from fans is extremely important to the developer of Gothic 3 - Forsaken Gods. The game designer and developer are studying the Gothic message boards each day and will incorporate as many of the fan-wishes as possible while working on the extension.

The release of Gothic 3 - Forsaken Gods is planned for Q4 2008. Further information will follow soon!

The latest patch for Gothic 3 has been released and includes fixes by both the community and Spellbound Software. This patch brings the game to version 1.6. It's available at The Patches Scrolls, GamersHell, Atomic Gamer, and Filefront.

Here's a lnk to the changelog as posted in the Patches Scrolls forum.

JoWooD announced that a new official (!) patch for Gothic 3 is on the way. The CPT and Spellbound are working on it cooperatively. While the former concentrates on scripting, balancing and gameplay, the latter is working on general stability, crash prevention and overhauled and optimized memory management. Expect it early next year.

A long temporary fix list labeled "Gothic 3 v1.6 Patch status 20.12.2007" can be found in our comment thread.  

The latest unofficial Gothic 3 Community Patch file has been replaced to address a couple of minor inconveniences. Please check the CP 1.5.2 newsbit for more infos.

The busy as a bee community team released their new Unofficial Gothic 3 Community Patch today. v1.5.2's fix list is short - but in this case size does not matter:

Changes for Community Patch 1.5.2:

• Deactivation of the copy protection
• (no disk check -> improved load times)
• (includes Microsoft VC++ Redistributable SP1)
• (fixed: Universe Edition -> forced windowed mode due to typo in ge3.ini)
• (now includes correct ge3.ini from CP 1.5.0)
• (automatically uninstalls older CPs)

The compatiblity list is also worth a look:

Compatible language versions:
German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Chinese (simple), Chinese (traditional), Universe Edition, Gamesload, download versions, (probably every G3 version worldwide)

This means CP 1.5.2 is compatible to the Gothic Universe bundle!

JoWooD has greenlit the deactivation of the copy protection for this one and all later Community Patches to make the work of the community team easier. Now all compatility issues caused by Community Patches, copy protection or a mix of both should be a thing of the past.
Kudos to JoWooD and the community team!

Edit: The patch file has been updated two times. First to include a Microsoft update and then again to replace the ge3.ini with the one included in CP 1.5.0.
I´ve added the underlined infos. They´re even more unofficial than the unoffical community patch. ;)

Sergey dropped us a line to say v1.5 of the Unofficial Community Patch for Gothic 3 has been released.  The changelog is extensive and too long to post but here are the highlights and head over for the full details:

• – The river and ocean sounds
• – Ingame time display with graphics
• – adjusting the depth of field-effect in the options menu
• – Quicksaves with time mark
• – Roast meatbug meat at a campfire
• – New random loading screens
• – As well as a slight optimization of the memory usage
• For all the other fixes, see the CP 1.5 Changelog

A new community patch for Gothic 3 has been released.  Here is the changelog for this v1.4 unofficial update:

Gothic 3 Community Patch v1.4
23.07.2007

I. Community Patch v1.4
=======================

- One can learn "Make poison" bugfree.
+ One can learn "Master thief". (Soundless dialog)
- Artifacts of Adanos cannot be sold.
+ Milten gives the teleporterstone for the Monastery.
- Censoring of nude women removed.
- The game can also be ended when Zuben is already long dead.
- When Orknarok accompanies the hero, he will not be attacked by the Nomads and vice versa.
- Orknarok leaves the party, once the requirements therefore are met.
- One cannot get Shakyors Druidstone twice.
+ Mort leads one when needed for a second time to the Hammerclan, Fireclan or to the entrance of the mine.
- Hogar does not kill the hero for the quest "Duel with Hogar".
+ The quest "Delivery to Nordmar" unlocked. (Soundless dialog)
- One can speak with Dargoth about the "Fifth temple", once prerequired knowledge has been obtained.
- Lisk gives only final comments about the liberation of the mine when he has taken part in it.
- One can say to Xardas "I have the five artifacts of Adanos" only when one has them.
- Asaru is teacher for martial arts, when one assures him to help him.
+ Tyler says "Where to now? To Trelis, or what?", before one attacks Trelis together.
- Effects of "Black Rhobar" corrected.
+ Two comments from Dan and Goose unlocked.
- Information for the quest "Just a fallen..." noted in the questlog.
- Some inconsistencies in the dialogdata resolved.
- Sulfock gives experience "Kill the threatening Snapper in front of the Sulphurmine".
- For the quest "Sell the skin to Gnar for 500 gold pieces" one can give Wilson 500 gold.
- The spiked cutchel has a goldvalue of 150, instead of 4500 gold.
- One cannot interrupt Lee during his teleport by means of a dialog.
- Iljas Vaze, Shadowscepter and Chalice of the Watertraders are ordened properly in the inventory.
- For the quest "Covert operations" one needs the amulet of Ilja.
- One cannot drink empty bottles and viles.
- The Krush Irmak deals damage.
- Kamak and the Orcs with the excavation form one party.
+ Dialog of Xardas unlocked.
- Murak does not react like a slave after the liberation of Bakaresh.
+ Additional dialog options for Kan unlocked.
- One can follow certain dialogs still after the relevant NPCs are dead.
- The quest "Free Kliff from the Orcs on the farm" can always be ended.
- One cannot say to Kliff "You are free now", when he already knows it.
- Georg is promoted to Paladin when giving the blessed Fire Chalice.
- When one attacks Sugut or his camp with the Nomads, one will be treated as a normal assassin.

 Thanks JDR13 on the forums and Dark Savant.

Hello.  It didn't take JoWood long to use their Gothic 3 rights.  Here is press release:

Gothic 3 - The Beginning Officially Announced

Liezen, Austria, July 23rd 2007: JoWooD Productions Software AG and digital infrastructure provider, VeriSign, are happy to announce „Gothic 3 – The Beginning“ for mobile systems. The popular role playing game will be ready for mobile gamers at the beginning of 2008. HandyGames™, with their extensive experience in programming mobile phone games, have been chosen to develop Gothic – The Beginning. We are looking forward to delivering another great Gothic Story to gamers around the world. Have a look at the first known features:

Features:

- Visit various locations in Khorinis and Tirith

- Chat with NPCs to find clues in your adventure and trade with merchants to gain the best equipment for your journey

- Fight against hundreds of monsters and develop your skills to be able to use stronger arm our and weapons

- Learn how to use long banned magic to gain enough power to accomplish your tasks

- Find valuable treasures and pieces of equipment or take them from your conquered enemies

- Pry locks and chests open to find rare treasures

- Auto-save feature at checkpoints throughout the game allows players to continue their adventure at any time

Developer: HandyGames
Release: Q1 2008

About JoWooD Productions Software AG

JoWooD Productions Software AG (ATXPrime: JWD) is listed in the Prime Market segment of the Vienna stock exchange. JoWooD is a leading publisher of computer- and videogames, releasing international acclaimed, high-quality titles for all existing and future gaming systems. JoWooD games are distributed worldwide by an efficient net of distribution partners.

Visit http://corporate.jowood.com for more information.

About HandyGames™:

HandyGames™ is one of the leadin g independent developers of games for mobile phones. The company has offices in Giebelstadt, Germany and in Bucharest, Romania and has its very own international distribution network. The company was founded in 2000 by Markus Kassulke, Christopher Kassulke and Udo Bausewein, has more than 35 employees and plans to expand further.

The huge and diverse variety of products, which all excel by high quality, consists of downloadable and pre-installed games, as well as applications and games for the mobile Internet. HandyGames™ has developed top sellers such as Townsmen or Flitzer.

The company’s longtime success is reflected in close co-operations with producers of mobile phones and network operators, as well as in the many international prizes it has won.

More information at: www.handy-games.com.

The first international Gothic fan patch is available now. You can find download and changelog in the JoWooD forum.

The unofficial Gothic 3 community patch has been updated. V1.2 includes 48 bug fixes. A download link and English instructions can be found in the official forum . A full English release will be considered for v1.3 ...

... which will possibly be the first patch released by the community team officially supported by JoWooD. The Assistant Community Manager Glockenbeat published a lengthy statement clarifying JoWooD´s position regarding fan patches. An official English translation is not available. You can find the full German version in this forum thread .
Here´s a brief summary:

• JoWooD founds a team of community members to make fan patches.
• It will be lead by ACM Glockenbeat.
• The members have to sign an NDA. After that they will gain access to the Gothic 3 source code.
• They won´t be put under pressure. All work they do is voluntary.
  
• The project has a "not very small" budget.
• At another place in the forum Community Manager Johann Ertl wrote that JoWooD will not take legal action against those who reverse engineer Gothic 3 to create bug fixes or mods.

While PB was not able or willing to fix their own game, the fans can! The first fan patch for Gothic 3 has been released and fixes the Feuerkelch Bug (could be named goblet of fire bug in English game versions) - head over to PC Games for more details. Looks like Gothic 3 is becoming another Vampire-like item for fan patches...

While it is only a small part of the press release Piranha Bytes has issued today about the end of the cooperation with JoWood, it seems to confirm, that there'll be no more patch for Gothic 3 now, which is good enough for a separate newsbit in my opinion:

Piranha Bytes können den von der Community vielfach geäußerten Wünschen nach inhaltlichen Veränderungen im Rahmen eines Patches nicht mehr nachkommen.

Es war angedacht, diesen Patch als Nebenprodukt während der Entwicklung eines AddOns oder eines weiteren Teiles (sowohl als Beigabe zu diesen Produkten als auch als free Download) zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Which means, that PB cannot ...well, Gorath translated this part earlier two newsbits below...

 JoWooD reacted quickly to the public pressure. Today their CM Johann Ertl issued the following German statement:

Werte Fans, Spieler, Forenleser,

natürlich haben auch wir die Spekulationen und Gerüchte gelesen, die eine Einstellung des Patch-Supportes für Gothic 3 in den Raum stellen. Wir wollen hier unmissverständlich klar stellen, dass dies soweit es JoWooD angeht natürlich nur pure Spekulation ist und wir ein solches "Canceln des Supports" bzw "Verzicht auf weitere(n) Patch(es) weder planen, noch ohne Konsequenzen in Kauf nehmen würden. Wir bitten um Verständnis, dass während laufender Verhandlungen zwischen zweier Unternehmen keine der Firmen über deren Verlauf öffentlich sprechen kann / darf, aber dies sollte natürlich nichts mit dem Patch für Gothic 3 zu tun haben. Im Gegenteil, wir werden alles daran setzen dass endlich wieder qualitativ höchstmögliche und natürlich kostenlose Patches für euch zur Verfügung stehen.

Euer JoWooD Team

Assistant CM Glockenbeat posted the following translation in the English Gothic 3 forum:

Dear Fans, Gamers, Readers,

Of course we heard of the rumors and specs saying that JoWooD cancelled any patch-support for Gothic 3. We want to clarify unmistakably that from JoWooD's point of view these are only rumors and we neither thought about "Cancelling patch-support" nor "Abandonment of any future plans about upcoming patch(es)" nor will we accept such ideas without any consequences.
We ask you to understand that while two companies are into negotiations both of them can't and are not allowed to talk about the progress, but this should of course not concern the patch.

It's even quite the contrary ! We're doing our best to deliver high-quality patches in future again which are for free of course !

Your JoWooD-Team

Please note that the second quote is no official statement by JoWood, it´s only an official translation by their community management team to keep their international customers in the loop. Naturally the original German piece is slightly more advanced in the art of saying nothing and implying everything. An accurate, lossless translation would have been a complicated task. Glockenbeat´s post  is close enough, we´ll leave it to our German readers to sort out the subtle differences in the comments.

5 months after a rushed out xmas-patch the promised big patch to fix all problems in Gothic 3 is still not available and the only news about it was from late march 2007 when Kai Rosenkranz claimed it is confirmed. Now there new rumors on the World of Gothic & JoWood boards that a new patch (or Mod Kit) will never see the light of day. Also, a report on PC Games draws the same conclusion from recent posts of PB Art Director Ralf Marczinczik. Let's wait for an official statement from JoWood or PB...

Addendum by Gorath:
The latest official statement, made by JoWooD community manager Johann Ertl in the JoWooD forum on May 11th, is (transl.):

[...] What I know 100% [sure], I gladly pass on - and this is at the moment: "The patch will come", but I´ve already said that often enough.

We haven't seen a Gothic 3 review for a little while but one has now popped up at The Entertainment Deport. The score is 6/10 and here's the summary:

Ultimately, the amount of enjoyment someone will receive from Gothic 3 is directly proportional to how much they take to the environment and atmosphere. While the title is not unique in its’ technical and design limitations, it is equally lacking distinction in terms of its presentation and polish. It boasts an impressive landscape that chugs on the highest graphical settings, and there are far more fetch quests than faction intrigue to be found within. The world is very open-ended, but incredibly frustrating combat sequences and speedy animals make exploring an exercise in clenched teeth. Ultimately, it seems like there’s just too much pain to endure for far too little in return. Yes, there are any number of games with technical flaws and design holes that have become cult classics because an indescribable combination of sights, sounds and experiences keeps them locked into playing. And yes, the series clearly has a hold on many gamers, and is apparently tremendously popular in Germany, where gamers rush to buy the soundtrack. But enough time spent with the Nameless Hero will leave many people wondering why anyone would go to such lengths.

Piranha Bytes´ music wizard Kai Rosenkranz posted a few infos about the next patch in the official forum, followed by a further clarification.

Of course the posts are in German. Here´s a short summary and a few points based on other sources mixed in:

• Is the patch confirmed? Yes.
• ETA: Unknown. PB / JoWooD will only announce it when they are sure to ship on time.
  
• KaiRo said they´re running into considerable problems in various areas while developing the patch.
  
• Is it free of charge? Yes. Additional distribution methods are under consideration, for example including it on the next project´s DVD, but the usual free download options will definitely be made available.
• Will the patch make it necessary to start over? No definite infos about this, but PB is evaluating it.
• Size: Unconfirmed, although it seems safe to expect the dimension to be GB rather than MB.
• Reason: "Changes to story / logic / world data / 3D data lead to a size explosion [of the patch]" (transl.)
• The technical problems are solved (status -> patch 1.12). Therefor PB prefers to work on a well thought out solution instead of rushing the patch out the door.
• Months ago PB has made clear they are well aware they can only ship a patch of this size once.
  

JoWooD & Deep Silver announced the latest sales numbers for Piranha Bytes´ RPG Gothic 3. Here´s the PR minus the company drivel and the general game info all of our readers know:

Liezen, Austria / Planegg, Germany; 9th of March: Gothic 3 hits the roof! More than 500.000 copies of the famous RPG were sold [the German PR implies they´re talking about sell-through, not sell-in; ed.], placing Gothic 3 among the most successful german [sic!] RPGs ever.

„Gothic 3 turns into a very successful long seller, just as the precursors did. Every week we`re curious about the incoming charts, showing sales of both Collector`s and standard edition at a stable and high level“, comments Johannes Natterer, Senior Marketing Manager JoWooD Productions. „Our high expectations are still outnumbered and Gothic 3 is finally on its way to become a known and beloved brand even outside the German speaking territories“.

„We are proud to be part of such a world wide and remarkable success together with our Partner JoWooD Productions“, states Martin Metzler, PR Manager Koch Media. „And all that is achieved with a production made in Germany, proofing that German studios can take on the international competition.“

World of Gothic has a translation of an interview originally in Czech for Gothicz.net.  The conversation is with Piranha Bytes' Project Director Bjorn Pankratz and covers some general topics:

GCZ: Did you plan on Gothic being a triology from the beginning of the series?

BP: No, not at all. But after Gothic 1 and at the beginning of the second game, the term "triology" was just a thought, as things went on. Nevertheless, we still aren't stopping.

Due to time contraints we´ve had to skip a couple of Gothic 3 news over the last weeks. This post brings you up-to-date on the latest developments.

• Piranha Bytes released a Fansite-Kit last week. It includes graphics, buttons, fonts and more useful gizmos to create your own Gothic 3 site. Important: you must place a clearly visible copyright notice on your site. These things are usually placed at the very bottom of the main page. Details in the kit.
  
• The next patch has been officially confirmed - ETA unclear.
• An editor will be released. Don´t expect it anytime soon though. More like "late autumn" or so. Rumors it would be bundled with the next patch have proven false.
• It goes without saying that Piranha Bytes is not working on the inevitable add-on until the co-publishers Deep Silver and JoWooD confirm they´re working on the inevitable add-on. So for now they´re busy developing their next project in the Gothic universe, seemingly based on the same technology.
  The when and what are pure speculation. An add-on this Christmas or a stand-alone add-on next Christmas sounds possible.
• Gothic 2 Gold will be on the cover disk of the next PC Action . So if you have access to this German print mag it´s good opportunity to get G2 and Die Nacht des Raben for cheap.
• Another German print mag, PC Powerplay, posted an update to their highly critical Gothic 3 review . They think a lot of things have improved over the last few months, earning Gothic 3 v1.12 another 12%. This makes the final score a far less disastrous 79%.
• An Autumn texture pack for Gothic 3 can be found on WoG. It replaces tree, grass and surface textures.
  
• World of Gothic´s 2nd hint book hit the shelves a short time ago through publisher Data Becker. Their work on Gothic 2 seems to have been quite a success if they´ve decided to tackle such a mammoth task again. Of course the new volume "Gameguide zu Gothic 3 " deals with Gothic 3. A lot of substance (288 pages!) and a fair price obviously make it the first choice for German gamers who prefer printed informations.
  
• A few weeks after their Christmas interview with PB WoG posted another one based upon their studio visit. It primarily deals with the complex decisions PB had to make during the development process, and how they see them in hindsight. Very interesting, open answers by PB. I think I´ve seen a rough translation somewhere, but I can´t remember the link.
  Thanks, Ragon! :)
• BlackHole´s excellent Gothic 3 Tuning Utility has been updated to v1.45. It´s available in German, English and Italian. We´ve mirrored it here .

A pretty balanced review of Gothic 3 is up at G4 with a score of 3/5. Lambasted for the bugginess and praised for the overall design, here's one of the positive bits:

We’ve read for months just how mind-blowing Oblivion is, so here’s something--Gothic 3 may be even better. After you’ve played Oblivion for a dozen hours, I dare you not to notice how Bethesda’s magnum opus starts frittering away depth for breadth. Oblivion may be visually jaw-dropping and gi-normous, but once you’ve scoped a few of its dungeons, churches, taverns, guilds, forests, and hellish alternate dimensions, you’ve pretty much done them all.

Gothic 3 on the other hand maintains a handcrafted distinctness that’s stitched into every last inch of its capacious go-anywhere game spaces, from the overhanging pine-draped cliff tops sheltering decrepit strongholds, to the vast honeycombed grottoes concealing an ostensible ecology of subterranean critters. Imagine a more deliberate, less random version of Oblivion without the beautiful but often empty-headed characters and look-alike locations and you’re glimpsing Gothic 3.

GamesFirst has an curious (though short) review of Gothic 3 but despite the obligatory mention of Oblivion, they've eschewed a comparison with the two in favour of a pairing with World of Warcraft.  The score is 4/5 and here's a snip:

Gothic 3 has the feel of World of Warcraft. It's one of those games that draws a dedicated community, where beating the game is a labor of love. But it also has a similar look to it - there's even the horde and the alliance, even though they aren't called that. Your character, the nameless hero from Gothic 1 and Gothic 2, starts out neutral when he comes to the main land where the game takes place, but he can choose to support the humans (WoW's Alliance) or the orcs (WoW's Horde) or even a neutral third party (WoW's, uh, Tinkerer's Union). He also fights against trolls and other WoW-ish monsters. Heck the game is even made up of three different zones: the forest, desert and tundra.

Game Chronicles has kicked up a review of Gothic 3 with a score of 6.9/10. It's a reasonably balanced article, although not everyone will agree with all the points:

Rounding out my complaints is the game’s idiotic level design. Wander into a wilderness area and you’ll encounter a wolf, boar, or other nasty critter every five feet. There are also no appropriate boundaries between newbie and extremely dangerous areas – in one “starter” cavern I fought my way past the goblins at the entrance only to find myself face to face with a dragon just a short distance down the main tunnel. Some critics have praised Gothic for “creating such a realistic world where dangers lurk around every corner,” but in my mind the developers needed to tone down the explorable areas and make sure your low-level characters aren’t facing dragons at level 5.

World of Gothic has a collection of concept art they received during a recent visit to Piranha Bytes, presumably from the initial production of Gothic 3.

The latest site to review Gothic 3 is GamePyre, in an oddly formatted 7 page review that awards the game a 65/100, hitting the game hard for the impact of bugs on fun, and notes:

This is a fun game once you get past the problems, though most gamers will be quickly turned off of this game due to the problems. Graphical issues are noticeable from the moment you start the game. A jumpy combat system will manage to get even the best of players killed in a simple fight from time to time. Enemies that appear out of no where will make many just decide to play another RPG, such as Neverwinter Nights 2, or Oblivion. Hopefully this game will be fixed in another patch or two, and will be better to play, but for now, it just feels tedious more often than fun. If you are a fan of the series it might be worth checking out, otherwise, my opinion is that this one isn’t worth the time. 

Belgian print mag PC Gameplay had a very detailed review of Piranha Bytes´ RPG in their november issue. Unfortunately we can´t post the whole thing. Especially the comparisons to Oblivion are an interesting read.
Here are a few translated excerpts:

The game world is full of life, something Gothic always had. The inhabitants have a job which can vary: woodcutter, blacksmith, shop owner. In the evening they are eating wild boar around a campfire and at night the all go to sleep. Even the animals have a daily routine: searching for a prey during day, sleeping at night. There is a lot of interaction with the surroundings, you can use a smith’s anvil, an alchemist bench or a pan at a campfire which gives a bonus to the food you carry in your inventory (which by the way is limitless). You do have tight behaviour rules you have to follow. Walking around with a unsheathed sword is considered hostile, walking into another man’s house is rude and stealing is out of the question. If you get caught, guards will be alerted and the person in question will never talk to you again. If you decide to give a human or orc the finishing blow you’d better make sure there are no witnesses [...]. In Gothic 3 you have a reputation which differs in each city and town. To get a better reputation you’ll need to get on the good side of a lot of important people by doing quests. If you address a person you’ll notice all dialogs are spoken, which is in contrast to Oblivion. Unfortunately the quests are often the same as the previous one (slit this throat, get that item). Oblivion preformed better on this part. Every quest had a short story, remember the painting, dream world or Dark Brotherhood quests? The quests in Gothic 3 are more of the same.

[...] This makes Gothic 3 a difficult game to rate. It’s the most accessible in the series, and performs in some areas better than Oblivion. Oblivion is what you get when you further develop Morrowind for the mainstream audience, and Gothic 3 is what you get when you further develop Morrowind for the RPG fanatic. Unfortunately, the Gothic 3 apple has a dirty worm in it. So what to do, I feel like beating up the publisher because they released the game to early, and give the developer a bonus because the gameplay is good. Ultimately we decided to deduct six point from the gameplay because of the bugs. If an all-solving-patch is ever released, the final score will get another six points. With those extra point Gothic 3 will ascend into the excellence regions beside Oblivion, were it actually belongs.

GamersInfo has kicked up a review of Gothic 3.  While there is no score as usual for this site, the author doesn't sound impressed - just as he wasn't impressed with Gothic 2:

Once again we have another in a series of Gothic rpgs. Developed by Piranha Bytes, Gothic 3 offers a bigger world then its former predecessor, Gothic 2. I was a bit jaded in trying out this rpg after playing and reviewing Gothic 2, which wasn’t a glowing one by any means. Withholding my reservations and pulling back my memories of the last one, I installed the game and began my journey into uncharted lands.

ToTheGame has done a review of Gothic 3 "since it has been out for a while" and gives it a 7/10 final assessment, noting much fun and much frustration:

The Gothic series of games, of which there are two so far, have always been a bit elusive of the mainstream RPG crowd. They are hard games and adding to being hard, also have had their large share of bugs and problems. The third offering from the German developer Piranha Bytes comes as some sort of a mixed bag; it can go from being incredibly annoying to being great fun in a very short time and vice versa. We've taken a closer look at the game now that it has been out for a little while and Piranha Bytes have had the time to release a few patches.

Game Helper has reviewed Gothic III and the review is now placed in the "OUCH" column with a paltry 2.3/10.00 score.

Eventually I try my hand at altering the .ini file, which controls the games resources and whatnot. I go online and find some troubleshooting hints and they help for a while, but the next night I’m still unable to play the game, with it stuttering itself to non existence at the low graphical settings. If my computer can’t run a game, it can’t run a game, this is the curse of PC gaming, but my computer should have been able to run this game! Memory leaks causing too many instances of desktop crashing is not a feature listed on the back of the box, but it should have been.

I apologize for this not being a review in the tradition of Gamehelper, but this sums up my playing experience of Gothic 3, 10 hours of total time, three nights wasted, all for about an hour and a half of game time. The rest was spent tweaking the files the game runs from. I’m not a programmer; I don’t know why I spent so much time reprogramming this game. Gothic 3 does not work right out of the box, it takes far too much tweaking, and there are too many other games for consumers to put up with this crap.

You may recall a German Gothic 3 interview at World of Gothic with KaiRo just before Christmas (story).  JoWood forum mod Glockenbeat has put together a translation for those of us linguistically challenged with the original German.  It's an interesting read and here's an excerpt:

Gothic 3's technology is based on a simple idea but which is part in every section of development: The player should have a maximum of freedom and the world should traceably react dynamically on every action he takes. We had the same goal in the other parts of the series, but our way to achieve it was another. We feigned the player's freedom with some tricks and simulated and programmed every single reaction of the world. This needs much time and effort and was the main cause of Gothic 1 being very linear after the first chapter. In Gothic 2 we invested even more work, but all in all there was a natural limit. In Gothic 3 we tried to implement the player's freedom directly as a gameplay feature and wanted the engine to react on every way of playing automatically. Special reactions on particular decisions still exist, but the majority of the consequences is calculated through algorithms in the engine instead of being alleged by us.

This new attempt brings some problems.

Gamers Temple has the latest review of Gothic 3. Slapping the game with a 54% rating, the reviewer sums it up with:

 

The potential is here for an enjoyable role playing experience, but the game simply needs a lot more work to reach that potential. The game code should have been optimized, the bugs tracked down and fixed, and more thought put into the interface and design before the game was released. As it stands, this game is simply more frustrating than it is fun.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 54%. The world of Gothic 3 is filled with bugs you can not slay.

World of Gothic has released a German interview with Pirahna Bytes' KaiRo, which delves into some of the reasons for the state of Gothic 3 and their current plans.  An English translation will be released in due course.

Based on a Google translation, KaiRo explains most of the team is still working on patches for G3, with only a small number working on the addon (and possibly future projects?).  The latest v1.12 patch was released as an interim based on community requests.

He goes on to explain their Genome engine was built from the ground up with certain AI capabilities to aid a non-linear and dynamic world but their inexperience with this approach created problems and complications.  They remain dedicated to this approach and hope to refine it in future projects.

In addition, several music tracks have been released.

Jowood has released the Gothic 3 sales figures: The title has sold over 350.000 copies so far, not including the the US figures.

According to this forum post at JoWooD by Assistant Community Manager, Glockenbeat, the v1.12 patch is now live on Thursday, December 21, 2006:

Hi Community !

After a short delay the patch 1.12 for Gothic 3 is now online.

Here's again the overview of fixes:

- Fixed ambient sound bug
- Sound occlusion improved
- Several physics and character movement bugs fixed
- Inventory exploit fixed
- Camera behaviour improved
- Several mission logs fixed
- Several small quest bugs fixed
- NPCs don't die as quickly as before when fighting monsters. This helps party members to survive.

Mirrors:
http://www.worldofgothic.de/dl/index...ds&file_id=262
http://www.extreme-players.de/download.php?id=11681 (several other mirrors listed)
http://gameswelt.de/pc/downloads/pat...?item_id=61898
http://www.aeonsx.de/downloads/patch...3_patch112.exe
http://rapidshare.com/files/8376126/...ch112.exe.html
http://www.worthdownloading.com/down...d=1219&id=9741

If you got any other mirror please send me a PM with the link.

Cheers,
Glockenbeat

An early release of the patch 1.12 on PB's Site has been buggy as WorldOfGothic reports. Also, the fix list does not address all the issues people were waiting for and PB promised to fix, so look out for more patches probably.

It seems the next Gothic 3 patch will be made available today. Here's the changelog of the upcoming patch 1.12:

• Fixed ambient sound bug
• Sound occlusion improved
• Several physics and character movement bugs fixed
• Inventory exploit fixed
• Camera behaviour improved

 
Thanks to Lethal Weapon, who sent this in. :)

Two reviews of Gothic 3 turned up over night. The first comes from Gameplay Monthly that scored the game "B-":

Definitely worth buying if you like RPGs. Will be much different than anything you've tried before if you're new to the Gothic series but it is definitely worth it. The problems with loads and lag probably won't be fixed--it seems like these are issues the games always have, you'll just have to live with it unfortunately. This is a great game that deserves your attention if you want some adventure in a grim and dark fantasy land.

After all is said and done, I’m left with the impression that Gothic 3 could have been an amazing game if at least another full year had been put into it’s development. However, even that estimate is cutting it close. I am at a complete loss as to how this game was given the green light to press and ship; it’s a beta build at best. That said, virtually every flaw is patchable; the most severe problems aren’t buried in the core of the play mechanics and thus can be fixed without having to start from scratch. If the developers give us some heavy handed code-bandages, I predict that one day this will be at the very least an enjoyable RPG, if not the epic and sprawling adventure it was supposed to be. As a viable alternative to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Gothic 3 fails utterly. As a solid follow-up to Gothic 2, it only fails insofar as the glitches are concerned. For now, I say avoid playing this until Piranha Bytes have had a chance to fix it. You’ll save more than just your hard-earned pennies; you’ll also save yourself a considerable amount of stress.

AceGamez has posted their rather epic review of Gothic 3 today. The mixed review awards the game a fairly high 8/10 score while also noting many problems and bugs, saying:

Ultimately I think that Gothic 3 is a niche game - it's not for the casual or action-gamer, but the hardcore RPG gamer, and it is the hardcore player who will see this diamond in the rough for what it truly is. Unlike the horrific launch of Dungeon Lords, which eventually revealed that there wasn't much of value beneath the buggy exterior, Gothic 3 has a tremendous world of role-play available for those willing to persevere - and I strongly recommend the game to players in this category, who also have the behemoth computer power needed to run the game in the first place. Sadly though, for most people, that means just stay away.

The latest site to review Gothic 3 is Game Industry News.  The score is 3.5/5 and here's the conclusion:

Unfortunately any praises given to Gothic 3 within this review are negated by The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Oblivion set the bar so extremely high for single player role-playing games that Gothic 3 regrettably can’t match it. While Oblivion suffered from an enormous catalog of bugs (almost all have since been fixed) the sheer incredible amount of immersion, freedom, exploration and addictiveness is something that Gothic 3 sadly lacks. If your decision boils down to purchasing Gothic 3 or Oblivion I absolutely recommend Oblivion.

All things considered as a fan of the Gothic series this third iteration is a welcomed addition. I highly recommend it for series fans. For everyone else the quirks and bugs will probably drive you mad. However if you can look past them then Gothic 3 could perhaps be a game to your liking.

Gothic 3 is the subject of Yahoo Games review today. Handing it a 3/5 star rating, the review says:

Gothic's also a gorgeous game, bringing this living world to your monitor with real class. Much of the landscape is wilderness, sure, but for wilderness it's packed with involving details. Picking out specific high points isn't easy, as the quality of Gothic's models and textures is consistently strong, but the hulking Orc models and the dense, detailed trees stand out.

Sad, then, that it's hamstrung by its poor performance. Having a wide-open world with no loading screens doesn't exactly count for much when the game freezes for seconds at a time as it loads in whatever beastie you're about to encounter. It's not shy about doing this during combat either. The cheesy lens-flare is out of place and unnecessary, and rather spoils the appeal of the game's pretty dawn scenes.

The latest Gothic 3 review comes from Gameworld Network.  The score is 68%, although certain points and the text suggest the author didn't play too far into the game:

For die hard RPG fans there's more to this game then I'm giving it credit for. Lot's of people will enjoy the storyline and the way the story unfolds for the character based on how they choose to play the game. If you can get over the quirks of the game and have a PC that can run it, you might find yourself immersed in the game. From what I've gathered through my second opinion crew, they have boasted that the game is quite fun once you get in to it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do it.

A new review of Gothic 3 is up at GamerDad. The score is 4/5, and the review finds the gem hidden in all of the problems:

The Gothic series of role-playing games for the PC are beloved by many for their excellent combination of combat and storytelling, but criticized for performance issues, a convoluted control scheme and punishing difficulty. Gothic 3 picks up where the excellent Gothic 2 Gold left off – your ship lands to discover that the Orcs have won the war and all of your past heroics are meaningless; you are left to once again make your way and discover your place in this new world order. Along the way you will discover a game that is all about the grey area between good and evil ... and full of performance and other problems that prevent this otherwise excellent experience from reaching the RPG stratosphere.

After many delays, the official soundtrack of Gothic 3 is finally available as of today. The CD/DVD combo is offering more tracks than the soundtrack in the game's limited edition and the DVD offers the same as the CD, but in 5.1 surround sound plus a making-of-video and more. The price is 15.95 Euro (incl p&p for Germany). To order or for details about p&p to other countries click here (english info in the middle of the site or by clicking here).

The full feature list from the english site reads as follows:

Original soundtrack for Gothic 3. This edition contains far more than the CD-only track shipped with Gothic's Collector's Edition.

• Audio CD + Video DVD
• CD contains 24 Tracks (same as Collector's Edition) plus several additional tracks. Various artists (among them the original composer Kai Rosenkranz and German band Corvus Corax) have selected themes from the game and created new original tracks based on these.
• DVD contains the complete Soundtrack mixed in surround, (e.g. for playing in 5.1 Home Cinemas).
• A Making-Of-Video show how Gothic 3's music was created (video is German).
• Also included are "Soundscapes", specially arranged combinations of sound and music (again in 5.1 surround) to be used as background for pen&paper roleplaying sessions. They are named: "Myrtana Day", "Myrtana Night", "Forest Day", "Forest Night", "Dungeon", "City", "Varant" und "Northmar".
• "Musical Journey" arranges various titles on a Gothic 3 map to their locations in the game.
• "From scribble to final mix"-Section

The latest review of Gothic 3 is up at GameZilla.  The rating is "Not Recommended", with the main complaint being combat:

Although the role playing elements work well and the story has plenty of potential, the action part of it is terrible. It’s bad enough to significantly reduce the desire to play all together. My primary compliant is attacking an enemy. Not only is it difficult to tell if you made contact, but the motion lacks any feel that you hit something solid. Other issues like repetitive side missions and the game crashing on occasion make it challenging to appreciate the world created and really dig in and explore it.

GamingExcellence has just published their review of Gothic 3, giving it an above average score of 6.6. They sighted the visuals and audio as the game's high points, while sighting the presentation as its lowest:

The stuttering gameplay makes this game feel unfinished, not to mention the extreme presence of bugs. The interface, save for the questlog, is much improved over previous iterations though, as is the control scheme.

1Up has posted their review of Gothic 3 and this same review will apparently appear in the March edition of Games for Windows.  Written by Matt Peckham (of NWN2 fame) the score is 5/10 and the short text has limited room for real gameplay discussion.  Here's the intro:

 Every RPG has its hook. Some are practically orbital, trading depth to trace the contours of entire continents. Others might as well be fantasy sports leagues for all their buckets of exotic info. Gothic 3 is the culmination of a third approach that renders midsized environments in painstaking detail while keeping its mechanics simple and unpretentious. I definitely heart the latter, so it's a pity to report that Gothic 3 was released too soon, with too many glitches to warrant a recommendation unless you're supremely patient and own a sturdy desk -- because when Gothic 3 chokes, you will pound it.

Game Zone has posted a review of Gothic 3. With a fairly reasonable 7.7 score, the reviewer said:

Defeating creatures and completing quests will gain you experience points, which in turn can be converted over to skill points. They are the same typical skills that games of this type all have so there is nothing unexpected here, what was nice though, is when you find new weapons or items, it is clearly shown whether or not you possess the adequate skill to wield it. You can hold on to it until you improve enough, or you can sell it to one of the many traders that are all over the game for gold. In fact, I would like to thank the developers for coming up with a simple yet effective trading system. Nothing worse then an overblown trading system.

The game is rated T for teens, and I think it should be noted that there is quite a bit of blood and violence, fighting against humans will result in you winning without making a final killing blow, you can choose to execute that final blow, but chances are you won't make any friends by doing so. Of course, there are some instances where it is completely necessary. When it comes to fighting monsters, this feature simply does not exist. Apparently in the middle ages you can kill wolves to the point of extinction and no one will give a crap, but kill the wrong human even if you are defending yourself, then all sorts of problems could come your way. The game possess some complications that others do not.

Gamespot , in a departure from most NA reviews, has posted a fairly 'middle of the road' review of Gothic 3. Handing G3 a 7.6 ('good') rating, reviewer Andrew Park states:

 

Gothic 3 is also a great-looking game that has detailed character models and interior environments and beautiful outdoor vistas, especially if you have a higher-end computer system and can get away with turning the game's graphics settings up. The game's good-looking graphics go a long way toward making the game seem like an epic adventure in a huge, sprawling world, even if the flat dialogue and issues with characters getting stuck on things sometimes detracts from it.

 

All things considered, it's unfortunate that the game shipped with its technical problems, and that it shipped in the same year as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, since it's almost impossible to avoid comparing the two. Gothic 3 doesn't have Oblivion's huge breadth and might not look quite as impressive just because of that difference in scale, but it does offer a fairly well put-together story in its set of linked quests, as well as plenty of freedom to roam. To enjoy the game, you'll need a high-end computer, time and patience, and tolerance for a brisk challenge--but if you have all these things, Gothic 3 could be what you're looking for.

The latest Gothic 3 review comes from Atomic Gamer, with a score of 61%.  Here's a snip on "the biggest RPG tragedy I've seen in years":

I'm going to start this review off with kind of an odd statement: Gothic 3 is one of the best games that you shouldn't play.

Now that I've gotten that over with, let's discuss why. Gothic 3 is an RPG sequel by German developer Piranha Bytes and Austrian publisher JoWood, and it includes a huge, open world, plenty of items, skills, spells, and abilities, excellent graphics, and multiple paths through the game along with multiple endings. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it's also got a boatload of bugs and issues regarding combat, quests, NPC issues, frame rates, crashes, and AI that will make almost any gamer want to smash your keyboard in half at one point or another during this game's forty-plus-hour ride.

Gamers Europe has posted a review of Gothic 3 chock full of odd statements and metaphors.  The score is 7/10 and here's a snip:

Gothic 3 as an RPG is a fair contribution to a crowded genre where a few notable games shine brightly. One of these is a game called The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Both are RPG games with similar ideas. Gothic 3 alludes to competing with Oblivion, but it is beaten in sheer scope and completeness. As I mentioned of Jowood, parts of Gothic 3 are quite obviously unfinished, most notably some of the towns in the desert where details trail off like an old coot telling a rambling story that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Or something like that. There can be a lengthy debate about which game is better but I’ll save us all time and say that Oblivion wins on panache. Everything about it is just somehow slightly better. If I had to pick the tie breaker, it’d be the memory leaks issuing forth from Gothic 3. Although Piranha Bytes developers such as Carsten say these are due to be fixed, my belief is that such a high level of community involvement is unprofessional. By all means, appoint a community representative to voice concerns to the development team, but don’t waste valuable time posting in forums when there is a job to be done.

A fairly short review of Gothic 3 that is scant of real gameplay details can be found at Fragland.  The score is 74.5% and here's a snip:

In the beginning you indeed mostly have to fight Orcs, but further on in the game you can choose for yourself wether you continue to help the rebels or rather want to work together with the Orcs to gain some of their power. Your choices eventually lead to different endings. As it should be, you’ll have fun with this game for quite some time.

In another review bound to produce some "ouch" responses, IGN has slapped Gothic III with a 4.9/10.00 ("poor") rating. Citing presentation and gameplay issues, the reviewer said:

With the promise of a gigantic game world within which you're free to do whatever you want, Gothic III is certainly a tantalizing title. It's got the graphical backbone to support the immersive gameplay it aims to deliver, a strong character development system, and a great soundtrack. Unfortunately, there are far too many problems with Gothic III to maintain the immersion. In a game where the illusion of a dynamic, realistic world is so crucial to the experience, technical bugs and awkward design decisions do a marvelous job at hamstringing Gothic III's gameplay. It's still possible to wander aimlessly through forests and deserts engaging whatever challenges you happen upon, which can be entertaining, but you'll never be free from the terrifically awkward combat. It doesn't help that some quests flat out don't work, the game frequently crashes, and little besides the soundtrack is worth listening to. Gothic III gives you a giant world and plenty of choice, but is ultimately engulfed by its own aspirations of complexity.

Games Radar is the latest US site with a Gothic 3 review and the result is 6/10 - here's a snip:

For now, only the hardest of hardcore RPG enthusiasts who make up the bulk of Gothic 3's US fan base should consider picking up this title if their system can handle it. You can expect more post-release patches from Piranha Bytes as they continue to work on improving the technical issues in Gothic 3. But at this moment, we found Gothic 3 to be more frustrating than fun as we saved, loaded, and crashed our way through this epic, yet tedious title.

After a string of negative Gothic 3 reviews, a very positive one has popped up at Softpedia.  The score is 9/10 and here's an excerpt:

First of all you should keep in mind that every action has repercussions and news travel very fast. Thus by helping a rebel camp (to liberate a city occupied by orcs or just providing them with the much needed supplies) you increase your reputation with the entire rebel faction. Just as well you can make yourself known to the orcs, the rangers, the hashishin, the nomads and also to the northern people in Nordmar. Depending on your reputation within a certain faction the hero gets minor favors (as to be allowed to visit high ranking people of that faction). The same thing – acknowledgement of the hero’s deeds – goes for visiting the chiefs of a city. You do a good job for the people, they respect you a little more and once you reach a high level of trust (usually 75%) you get to talk to the big boss.

Gamespy has posted a review of Gothic 3 and assigned it a paltry one and a half stars out of a possible five (a 'poor' rating).

In the end, the greatest tragedy of Gothic 3 is that there are actual moments when what might have been comes peeping through the digital detritus. The basic design of the game is quite sound and if Piranha Bytes could clean the game up, it might end up becoming a classic. As it stands now, my nightmarish trip through the world of Gothic 3 made me want to send my disc on a one-way trip into an incinerator. Here's hoping Gothic 4 turns out better, because this one's a complete miss.

According to posts in the Jowood and World of Players Forums, the next Gothic 3 patch is scheduled for early december (quote: in 2 -3 weeks) and will address at least the ambient sound bug, no more has been disclosed so far.

The "Dead Alfs" site has reviewed Gothic III and scored it an anemic 55%:

I wish I could apologise for my apparently harsh views by holding up the fact I'm not a normal RPG fan as an excuse for this rant. But in fact it's only a reason to think that Oblivion was a one-off and for the casual RPG-er, the only choice.

If the RPG elements are your main requirement, the management of your skills, abilities and inventory, then this game is as good as any other, perhaps. My only regret is that the trailers for this made it appear more like an experience than the chore that it is, and I allowed my marketing cynicism to fall for a moment and believed it.

For dedicated genre fans only.

RPG Codex has posted their review of Gothic 3.  The text spends quite a bit of time dealing with the factional aspects and here's a snip:

When you arrive into a new town, usually controlled by either the orcs or hashashins, you need to prove yourself first by completing different quests that the town folks will offer you. Each quest gives you some XPs and raises the local disposition. Once the town's disposition hits 75%, you are allowed to see the town's "upper management". The upper management is usually bloodthirsty and wants you to kill those who oppose them. Such quests (and a certain minor ones) raise the overall disposition with the entire faction. Once the overall disposition hits 75%, which would mean that you've almost eliminated the rebels and effectively closed the alternative career path, you are allowed to meet the orcish war leader.

You are given a lot of freedom, and you don't have to complete all the missions to get the disposition to 75%. The town missions are usually worth 85-95% (maybe even 100% - I’m not sure I found all quests) of the disposition, so you can pick what fits your character the most and ignore what you don’t like.

PC IGN has posted their 'first impressions' of Gothic 3, the recent release in North America.

For anyone who hates having their hand held by a game's design, Gothic III seems like the game for you. We've put in around 20 hours so far, and have yet to run into anything that resembled a main narrative. The game kicks off in the small village of Ardea, gives you a vague quest to eliminate a villain named Xardas and directs you to a nearby rebel camp. It seems hordes of Orcs have descended upon Gothic III's human controlled cities and enslaved their populations. However, your goal isn't necessarily to free everyone, at least from what we can tell so far. From the rebel camp, you get bits and pieces of information regarding how to go about eliminating the Orc threat, but how exactly to proceed is left entirely up to you.

Pro-G has reviewed the Euro version of Gothic 3.  Saying that the state of the game "must be in breach of some trading standards law somewhere" after playing unpatched, the score is still 6/10 because of some addicting factors:

So, what have I listed up so far for Gothic 3? Terrible graphics, dialogue and narration, and a needlessly resource-hungry engine that renders a large amount of the game unplayable? Yep, check all those. But, ludicrous as it sounds, Gothic 3 has some strangely addictive and compelling qualities that I really have no explanation for. I've been playing the game for a fair while now and I've waged war in one awful duel after another. Each time I've lamented the lack of exciting, realistic sound effects as swords bounce silently off each other. Each time I've been in fear of another game crash or stutter-bug. Each time I've sworn that this is the last goddamn time I will try to kill a bandit in my life.

But each time I end up coming back for more. And I don't understand why. The game is obviously unfinished and badly made; it's the very type of game that developers shouldn't be allowed to release as, in my opinion, an unplayable game must be in breach of some trading standards law somewhere. It goes against the very nature of a game.

Worthplaying let us know they have a launch trailer for the NA release of Gothic 3 (57Mb).

ActionTrip has posted a review of Gothic 3, with a score of 79%.  They appear to have played the European version (based on references to patches) and criticise "a little too much exploration at times" and poor performance.  Still, the final result is a recommendation:

When you take the time to install the necessary updates and fixes, Gothic 3 becomes a highly involving action RPG with a variety of quests to complete, an endless number of unique-looking locations to explore and plenty of characters to interact with. Although you won't find a lot of character depth and the back-story certainly seems vague at the outset, there's still enough to reel you in. It's important to emphasize that Gothic 3 becomes progressively interesting after you've spent a few days immersed in its intriguing world of interactivity, exploration and combat. The open-ended world is teeming with foes to fight and treasures to discover. Furthermore, the game brings forth many new fighting styles, spells and other abilities to use during your adventures. Again, I definitely recommend you try the game, but I also stress that you're gonna need a solid rig as well as the latest release of the game. 

Gothic 3 is on its way to North American stores.  Here's Aspyr's announcement:

AUSTIN, Texas – November 14, 2006 – Aspyr Media announced today that its epic RPG Gothic 3 for the PC has shipped to retail stores in North America. Featuring a stunning, massive game world, a fascinating story, hundreds of quests and more than 40 hours of gameplay, Gothic 3 will keep RPG fans glued to their PCs for months to come.

Gothic 3 is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and carries a SRP of $39.99. To learn more about Gothic 3, and to enter for your chance to win a high-end gaming PC, go to gothic3.aspyr.com. Contest ends November 30.

Hooked Gamers has reviewed Gothic 3, awarding a score of 7/10.  Citing poor performance in particular, the recommendation is to wait for a few patches.  Here's the intro:

Before its European release last month, Gothic 3 was envisioned by many as the RPG that Oblivion should have been, the RPG that was touted as the last hope for hardcore RPG fans on the PC. Unfortunately, the crystal ball they used has several flaws, distorting reality. First and foremost, Oblivion was a fantastic game. Sure, it was hack-and-slash in some ways, but it was very much an RPG and a wonderful one at that. Another caveat is that there are once again enough RPGs coming out for PC, and the big RPG drought we starved through in the mid 90s does not seem to be repeating itself and there is no need for a 'last hope' kind of game. The last point where this vision clashes with reality has only become apparent since the release; Gothic 3 has got quite a few issues that keep it from reaching the same 'high' that Oblivion did earlier this year. Read on to find out what they are.

While comparing Gothic 3 to Oblivion is pretty much unavoidable, I will try not to do it too much. However, Gothic 3 is quite similar to Oblivion. Both have large, open worlds which the user can traverse and quest with almost complete freedom. The basic mechanics are pretty much the same as well so it is the storyline and the way that their worlds have been shaped and molded that sets the two games apart.

Aspyr let us know about an interview posted on their Gothic 3 subsite with executive producer Blaine Christine on the North Amercian launch:

So what kind of fixes and changes are we talking about?

Developer Piranha Bytes has made many improvements since the game first shipped in Europe. Melee combat with creatures has been tweaked so that wild boars will no longer dispatch the hero with ease and go on to ravage entire villages. For the spellcasters out there, many of the spells now scale in damage in relation to the Arcane Knowledge attribute, making spells such as Fireball useful all the way to the end of the game for extended face melting pleasure. These tweaks also make it easier to focus on magic even earlier in the game. Additionally, there have been many fixes to resolve minor issues found with some of the quests and game endings to ensure that players are properly rewarded for their efforts.

Without much ado: The Demo is out. You can grab the 1.1GB file here at Strategy Informer, more mirrors to follow. Thanks to DarNoor ;-)

Additional mirrors: Worthplaying wrote in with their mirror, as did GameGuru Mania.

WithinGames dropped us a line to point out their German review of Gothic 3.  The final result was "very good", although they pointed out it didn't receive an award because of a few questionable design choices, such as the combat and global reputation systems.

We just got word from Aspyr that there will be a demo for Gothic 3 coming this Friday, November 10th. According to the release:

Aspyr Media and JoWood Productions will release the North American demo for the highly anticipated PC RPG Gothic 3 on Friday, November 10. The demo includes the beginning area of the game, including the towns of Ardea and Kap Dun and the Rebel outpost Reddock, with all available quests, weapons, spells and NPCs. There will be no time limits imposed on players.

You can get more information at Aspyr's Gothic 3 Site

Piranha Bytes has released a v1.09 interim patch for Gothic 3 to deal with save games (62Mb):

This patch only addresses an issue that can lead to a crash when saving the game under special system configurations especially after playing for a longer time. No other changes to 1.08 have been made.

Strategy Informer has posted their review of Gothic 3, awarding a score of 7.8/10.  Let's go with the obligatory Oblivion reference for a snip:

Other titles such as Oblivion raise the challenge of opponents as you progress yourself, meaning all areas are accessible so not to limit the player. Gothic 3 goes with a more traditional approach, and one that also delivers a better sense of accomplishment, by limiting your movements until you progress enough. So while not all areas are safely passable, it means you’ve got to earn the skill to get in, pinch what you can and leave with your limbs intact. This to me is an indirect ‘pat-on-the-back’, “you’ve earned the right to explore that cave, so go plunder it already!”

A short Gothic 3 preview is up at Gamer Radar:

We also got a chance to experiment with the dark mage character build. After using the appropriately named "Army of Darkness" spell to summon a team of zombies and skeletons, we laid siege to a large Orc encampment. While our undead minions kept the Orc warriors at bay, we fried them to a crisp with the "Summon Lightning" spell which brought down some impressive white-hot bolts from above.

The latest Gothic 3 review comes from PixelRage and carries a score of 88%:

The Gothic universe is huge. The feeling of "crap, this is going to take forever to explore" is also accentuated by the fact you don't have a quick way of traveling around, such as a horse or similar beast of burden. Also, add the perpetuous hunt for information of any kind, which is basically the main thing a Gothic player does, regardless if he's level 2, or level 62. This is a good feature, as far as I'm concerned, because it forces me to explore. And you should see the quests: "My lord", says the quest giver, "some bandits are stealing our...stuff, please help us get rid of them. They're in the forest. Go east". And you're like "say what?". What do you mean, east !. "The monsters are raping my animals". "Ok, i'll help". "Great, the coastline is full of the beasts". Not even a hint, a vague pointer, anything. So you check out the map, and you slowly make your way towards the coastline. It's near the farm, so it sounds logical the location might be there. Or even worse, "The infidels have stolen my talisman, and now they're heading towards the next city. Please, bring my talisman back". And boy you got your work cut out for you. This system is, as I was previously saying, realistic, and adds to the overall feeling of the game, especially when, exploring, you bump into some pissed off beast, and then you'll be exploring the hard way, with the shift button squashed, watching your stamina bar decrease...and decrease...

Jolt kicked up a review of Gothic 3 last week that we overlooked. The score is 8.1/10 and here's a snip:

Now that’s ballsy. An RPG that comes out after Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and doesn’t try and rip off every idea it had. An RPG that, in fact, sticks two fingers up to the new genre definer and does its own thing, just like it always has. That’s half the appeal of the Gothic series: it does what it wants and people either love it or hate it for doing so.

Worthplaying has a preview of Gothic 3:

So why has Gothic been the red-headed stepchild to games like Morrowind and Oblivion? There's always been something missing in the previous offerings. The first Gothic had an absolutely horrible control scheme that most players despised, and it turned off anyone who might have otherwise picked it up and enjoyed it. Gothic 2 made efforts to remedy the mistakes of the past, but ultimately fell into the same trap with interface and control issues. Of course, it was still a solid game that at least proved that Gothic wasn't a fluke. Now, with the U.S. release of Gothic 3 imminent, have the issues of the past finally been resolved?

A review at RewiredMind has slammed Gothic 3, saying "There are not enough patches in PC gaming history to sort this one out".  The score is 2/10 and here's an early snip:

The story continues with the series’ unnamed hero, who returns to the mainland from the island of Khorinis to discover that orcs have slaughtered and enslaved the population. Not originality at its best. This ‘plot’ is spun for the entirety of the game, filled and padded by an immense amount of tedious side quests such as ‘collect this item’ or ‘kill that orc’. This is not helped along at all by the very wooden voice acting and stale character animations, not to mention the fact that every orc looks identical and even the human models are not particularly varied. Gothic III is an orthodox RPG but a very abysmal and repetitive one. Cliché is not strong enough a word. The recent release of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion puts Gothic III to absolute shame; since the former is by far the superior of the two and much more worthy of both your time and money. This is not simply down to the multitude of bugs Gothic III is plagued with, as it would still be a very poor game even when running at its full potential.

It might be worth noting some of the problems mentioned were fixed with the zero day patch.

GamePressure dropped us a line to point out their Gothic 3 guide - here are the details they sent along:

Gothic 3 free for all game guide, including:- over 600 quests list with quest names, quest types, experience rewards, fraction reputation bonuses, city reputation bonuses, attribute bonuses, time limits, objectives, pre-requisition quests, involved NPCs.- almost all NPCs list with their in game location

- map with marked and named important locations

ComputerGames.ro let us know they have published their review of Gothic 3, with a score of 85%:

In its current state, Gothic 3 is a game of contradictions. On one hand there are the bugs – graphical or gameplay related – which sometimes seriously affect the game experience. On the other, there are all the elements that contributed to the series success. Although it offers a minimum of 50 hours of playtime, depending on each player’s approach, Gothic 3 doesn’t get boring, even though it can get repetitive when considering the reputation system. If it weren’t for the bugs, crashes and long save / load times, it would have taken quite an effort to stop me from playing the game for 10 hours straight or more. As I said earlier on, sometimes you will feel that you’re playing either a beta or an unfinished version. A shame, it could have been the RPG, if not the game of the year. I can only hope that future patches will fix the more severe bugs and bring some much needed optimizations. Unfortunately, it seems that they won’t be released until the game is launched in the US, which might affect sales and the possibility of seeing a Gothic 4. But there’s still some time until then and there are already rumors about an add-on.

Also, DriverHeaven has a review with a score of 79%, although the text implies the review was written after limited play time:

Even with all the game faults, I decided for the purposes of this review to put in more time to ascertain if it improves. The extra hours have made me realize how beautiful this game actually is. I have not tested the medium or low settings in the game, but playing with everything maxed out is a sight to behold. The terrain is nothing short of amazing and on the whole the graphics look better than those in Oblivion. While there are some glitches that prevent it from looking perfect the sheer amount of details that can be seen on every object in the game is incredible. The shape of the terrain also makes the world more believable than the one found in Oblivion. Whereas Oblivion had forests and plains Gothic 3 features canyons, mountains, Niagara style waterfalls, deserts, snowy plains, lush forests and more. As if this wasn’t enough all of the world textures (ground, buildings, etc.) are normal-mapped to give them depth. The tradeoff is that the performance is somewhat lower than that of Oblivion, and the game becomes really ugly very quickly when scaling details down.

Gamespot has an official announcement from Aspyr Media regarding the NA release date for Gothic 3:

Aspyr today announced that Gothic would be shipping to North American retailers November 13, "ensuring that it lands on store shelves by November 20." Gothic 3 picks up the series saga, putting players in control of a nameless hero once more. This time, the hero's land is overrun with Orcs and it's up to the player to decide whether to throw in with the orcish hordes, rise up against them, or find some other resolution.

As reported at World of Gothic , The next patch for the European version of the game has been released, weighing in at 62MB and bringing the game to version 1.08. Of course, you can also get it from the Official Site :

I. TECHNICAL BUGFIXES
=====================

Build 1.08
----------
- Several crash bugs fixed
- Performance increased
- Combat AI for several monsters improved/simplified (e.g. boar)
- Lots of AI Fixes ( Murderer Reaction from party member fixed, AI comments improved)
- Sleeping NPC's AI reactions improved
- Camera Control: Inverting the X-axis is now saved
- Lensflare/Sun doesn't shine through mountains and buildings anymore
- Rhobar and Zuben are dead after defeating them
- Revolution mechanics improved
- Lester does now talk even when not sitting at the campfire
- Epilogue fixed
- "No mission success after 2 times "not enough gold" fixed

II. CONTENT FIXES
=============

Build 1.08
----------
- Vak and Gonzales are now still there after a revolution
- There are now more weapons at traders and in chests
- Annoying NPCs from Faring arena removed
- Story and Missions in Al shedim improved. (Lester,Saturas,Wutras,etc...)
- Snorre's ancestor stone fixed
- All problems of Hogar and the southern Orcs fixed
- Ronar Trading fixed
- Less monsters/Orcs in Nordmar
- Vibald is now carrying explosive arrows
- Bogir dialog fixed
- Osmund dialog fixed

III. CHANGES/ADDITIONS
======================

Build 1.08
----------
- Crossbow handling improved

Edit by Gorath:
The readme warns an exploit from the first patch hasn´t been fixed yet. There´s is simple workaround though. Make sure to unequip everything and create a new save before you apply the patch to avoid that stat boni are doubled.
A 3rd patch has been announced, no ETA yet.

Gamespot is showcasing another official trailer for Gothic 3. You can grab it at the link above. 

A lengthy review of Gothic 3 is up at Playfuls.com with a score of 8.6/10 and rather curious stylings:

Extremely curios regarding the changes of structure, precisely the level its altered by Piranha Bytes operative manner, I set out to dissect the problem, making my way through intrigue and dialogues, with inherent pauses for the "wow!" kind of situations. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the expeditious beginnings, where the character is thrown in the fierce action's eddy, not ten seconds away from the loading screen contemplation. But in this case, despite the fact that the first moments fail in allowing a proper rest at the end of a presumable exhausting journey, the course of events doesn't have moments of "slumber", but flawlessly follows the resolution of the long war between humans and orcs, and the "new world order" that claims its rights.

Piranha Bytes Mike Hoge has posted some news about the next Gothic 3 patch in the World of Gothic boards.

According to Hoge most of the Piranhas have worked on the 2nd patch until last week, so it seems, patch #2 is likely to be released soon. The patch will include bugfixes of course, more finetuning and completely redesign the crossbow. PB also says, they need more time to finetune the close combat system, so that hints to another patch.

The latest UK site with a Gothic 3 review is gameSlave, who awarded 7/10.  They commend it as a solid RPG but lament the lack of polish:

Fighting in Gothic 3 has so much potential, but in the end falls a bit flat on its face. Sword fights are based on a real hit and block system, much like Oblivion. With a button for slashing, and another for parrying, the stage is set for some fluid duels. Power attacks can break through an enemies block, so you should have to plan your moves carefully. The only trouble is that it's far easier to just batter an Orc to death with a barrage of quick strikes than put any real consideration into a fight. And the enemy knows this too. If you're slow of the mark against a wild-boar, don't be surprised if you get stun-locked to death by a similar storm of strikes. It's a frustrating and somewhat dated combat system in this day and age. If I had to compare combat to anything, it would be more like Dynasty Warriors than any weighty RPG.

Two new English reviews of Gothic 3 have hit the 'net.  Let's start with TGSN, with a score of 8.5/10 and plenty of Oblivion references:

Oblivion, which I’m afraid is the inevitable comparison just as every modern free-roaming shooter gets compared to GTA, has a huge game world, varied environments, but relatively little going on in them. Gothic 3 however is four times the size of the underwhelmingly massed Gothic 2, and although it is still not as big as Oblivion, there is much more life, and indeed fun to be had in the wilderness. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not the wealth of dungeons, castles and caves that Oblivion has, but it’s the outside, the grass, the trees, and the wildlife that brings the game to the front of the pack.

Meanwhile, Dark Zero's critique scores 7/10 but starts with an interesting disclaimer:

First things first, DO NOT take any notice of the score given to this game. It’s one of the most pointless numbers that’s ever had the chance to exist, and it can’t be stressed enough how insignificant it is in this case. Seriously, just read the text rather than be an idiot and base your opinion of the game on a number selected almost at random. You’ll see what I mean.

Right then, now that that’s sorted, let’s get down to business. Gothic III, the third (obviously) game in a highly acclaimed series to date, is finally upon us, as the Unnamed Hero returns from the island of Khorinis to the mainland, where he finds that the orcs have invaded and enslaved most of the population. Working under their God-like reputation in Germany, granted upon them by their multitude of devoted fans there, Piranha Bytes have been busy crafting this next instalment with the weight of massive (so tempted to put damage here) expectation on their shoulders. You’d think the recent release of Oblivion, with all the success it brought, would perhaps tempt them to subtly mimic a few of the ideas in the hope of riding on the popularity spike left in its wake, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s obvious that this game was developed with pure intentions, unblemished from outside intrusions, simply because of its unique charm and character, and the way in which, when working properly, everything fits together so well, giving the feeling that it shouldn’t be any other way.

Piranha Bytes has noticed the Gothic 3 version shipping in jewelcases are missing the inlay and have produced a downloadable solution:

As we have noted (after release) the DVDs in both Collectors' and Standard Edition of Gothic 3 are bare of any inlays.
Therefore we decided to design and release two PDFs that can be printed at home - or at work, if your boss does not mind - and then be inserted into the jewel cases. One is for the Game DVD, the other for the additional DVD/CD case that contains soundtrack and making-of (present only in the Collector's Edition). Have fun.

Grab it here.

German site Technic3D has the latest Gothic 3 review we know of, with a score of 86.5%.

There's a new (German) interview at Krawall which gives news on the next patch and a possible add-on. Moriendor has translated the highlites and posted them in our Gothic Forum. Check it out here.

The first big English review of Gothic 3 is in with Eurogamer awarding a score of 8/10:

Gothic 3 goes some way to improve on that fighting system, but still hasn't quite got it right. On the default difficulty level (easy's a bit too easy), it's often grossly unfair: it's near impossible to successfully counter after you've been hit once, meaning the enemy can land a flurry of death-dealing blows before you even recover from the first. The ability to cope with groups by directing your swing helps, but it's not ideal. Initial weapons and armour are pretty weedy and all the promise of being able to string light and heavy attacks together amounts to nothing more than frantic button-bashing. And, bizarrely, it's far easier to kill a man than it is to kill a wolf. Something to remember in life in general as well, we feel.

But if combat's just a part of the experience, Piranha Bytes have thankfully countered that persistent gripe by making overall progression far easier and slicker than before. As well as being able to outrun any beastie before it chases you halfway across the map, more than before a good deal of quests won't even require you to unsheathe your weapon. Missions are generous and experience points are given out willy-nilly, sometimes just for talking to people. For that reason, you'll fair shoot through the early levels earning enough learning points and amassing cash to buy up the various stats and skills that make you a stronger person pretty early on. It's not as much of a chore anymore, but it's also balanced enough not to completely break the challenge.

Worthplaying has a newsbit about the apparent sales success of Gothic 3 in Germany and the UK:

After two days of sales, Gothic III and Gothic III Collector's Edition are sitting pretty atop Germany's media Control Charts, placing first and second, respectively. More than 100,000 copies were sold in the first weekend, making Gothic III the most successful game of the year in Germany. On the UK sales charts, Gothic III placed 4th. 

A site called HonestGamers has a presumably honest review of Gothic 3.
There is mention of bugs and stunlock but the advantages outweigh
the problems, with a final score of 9/10:

Within the folds of the orc camp, I found myself constantly having to fight my way through a number of arenas or see off roving bandits to prove my mettle as a handy combatant, gaining enough respect to rise through the ranks of warriors. Honour and riches were mine all on the strength of my blade but before I did this, I paid a visit to the rebel hideout, where I found I would need to clear a woodland area out of viscious boars that had plagued a small camp with nocturnal attacks. Feeling confident in returning to the ragtag resistance group with a few meaty carcasses, I trotted off to the forest and was promptly beaten senseless by the cranky critters. 

A gazillion Gothic 3 reviews have been posted on German sites since the release last Friday:

• Fan site World of Gothic has posted a thorough examination of the first 20 hours. They put all the positive and negative points in context. No score is given.
• gamona gives it a "Gold Award".
• The freenet = 4Players  reviewer continues his crusade against Gothic 3 (please refer to his late preview of the GC version when everybody was already discussing the recalled gold master) with an 68% score.
• Extreme Players is on the other end of the spectrum and thinks it deserves 9.3/10.
• Freemail provider GMX loves it. Despite its problems Gothic 3 is "an absolute top title".
• T-Online writes it´s a great RPG for experienced explorers but problematic for beginners.
• Onlinewelten says the unfinished balancing and the weak AI drag the game down. The rest is good to great. 83%.
• GBase.ch thinks it´s not a finished game. 7/10.
• DemoNews gives Gothic 3 84%. It´s very good but not more.
• Print mag PC Games raises the score for the patched 2nd gold master to 88%.
• Sister mag PC Action likes it too. 87%.
• And finally Gameswelt sees a lot of pros and cons. 81%.

A new German Gothic 3 review is up at GameCaptain.de, with a score of 83%.

The press embargo ends today, so expect reviews to appear all over the place soon. Eurogamer.de is the first site to publish a German language review of the retail version - without the patch announced for the release day.

They say they didn't find a single A-bug but a lot of smaller issues, which lead to the deduction of 1 point. The game itself is as good, deep and addictive as everybody expected, which makes it Oblivion's successor on the RPG throne. Rating: 9/10.

Other German sites posted more material: A new gameplay video has been posted on Gameswelt. It shows a lot of so far unknown locations, so beware of spoilers.

PC Games uploaded 23 new high-res screenshots in 2048 x 1536.

We've seen reports that Gothic 3 starts to reach end customers all over Europe. A few people in Scandinavia already received their Collector's Edition, while half the retail channel in the German speaking countries is already filled and waiting for somebody to break the street date. The more well known online shops shipped the game this morning, so it should arrive on Friday at latest.

Worthplaying has kicked up three apparently new Gothic 3 screens.

3D Gamers has a new Gothic 3 movie narrated by producer Michael Paeck:

There is a new movie trailer for Gothic 3, showing more of the imminent third-person fantasy action role-playing sequel by Piranha Bytes. This is another high-res walkthrough movie that demonstrates four minutes of combat-oriented gameplay footage from various areas in the game, again narrated by producer Micheal Paeck.

We've exchanged several emails with Aspyr to clear up some rumors and misunderstandings circulating about the North American Gothic 3. The official site has also been updated. Here's the summary:

• Release date
  The date given on Aspyr's site (Nov 13th) is not final: "We have not made an announcement on an official release date. The date you see on our site is a good bookmark though. As soon as we can lock down an official date we'll let you know."
• ESRB rating
  "The ESRB gave the U.S. version of Gothic 3 a Teen (T) rating this week. A T rating clears Gothic 3 as suitable for ages 13 and older." (source: Gothic3.Aspyr.com)
• Packaging & medium
  The game will ship on DVD only "in an Amaray DVD case with a wrap that includes a flap."
• Collector's Edition
  Not planned.
• System requirements
  The system requirements have been posted on the official site. Link see above.
• Differences US <-> UK versions
  
  • Gameplay: "There will only be one version of Gothic 3 worldwide. I can't stress that enough. One version.[...]In-game content is identical."
  • Credits:
  Will be modified to include Aspyr.
  • Intro: "I believe our intro movie will have some minor technical tweaks (taking advantage of the extra time), but this will be minor. Content of the movie will be the same. And obviously the intro movie does not affect gameplay."
• Patches:
  Here's the full quote, since this sems to be main reason for the delay:
  "It is true that the US version will ship later than the UK version. As such, the US version will ship with any updates and fixes available from the first Gothic 3 patch that will be released. Instead of downloading the first patch like the European gamers, US gamers will already have the updates in their retail copy when it ships. This bit of detail may be causing the confusion and may be why some people think the US version will be "different." "
• Translation and voice overs
  "The UK and US versions will have the same translation and voice overs."

The North American publisher Aspyr posted an interview about Gothic 3´s sound track on their official Gothic 3 site. Here´s an excerpt:

When you began to compose the music for Gothic 3, what were your goals?

I had three major goals. First I wanted to maintain the musical atmosphere I had established in the previous games of the series and make the music sound familiar and refreshingly innovative at the same time. Secondly I wanted to create a score that can take on big-time Hollywood soundtracks any time in terms of the emotional impact and the mere recording quality. Thirdly I wanted to blend the orchestral quality with the game’s interactive gaming experience. This means that the music changes according to the player’s actions without any audible transitions even though it was a linear orchestra recording in the first place.

Gothicz.net has various image from the Gothic 3 Collector's Edition's contents...

In Gothic 2, one of the toughest choices was your guild affiliation - would you become a Paladin, a Mercenary or a Mage? In Gothic 3 you can switch guild affiliations, so your decision isn't final - but this is not like in Oblivion, where you could have simultaneous membership in the 'Cheese Lovers' and 'Cheese Haters' guilds. The ability to join a guild - or to ally with a certain faction - is dependent upon your actions and how the group in question perceives you.

We were able to play around with a pretty cool animal transformation spell to disguise our character as the target creature. We were also able to try a summoning spell with a slightly tricky timing gimmick; if you don't cast it just right, the summoned creature won't be very friendly. We were pleased to discover a modicum of realism in the spellcasting: to recover mana, you can't just rest for an hour in the middle of a perilous dungeon. Instead, you have to rest at safe spots, or use potions.

Minimal: Windows 2000/XP/XP64 and 1 GB ram, Intel Pentium 4, AMD 2 Ghz or higher, 3D card with 128MB ram and shader model 1.4, DirectX 9.0, 4.6GB free disc space and DVD drive

Recommended: Windows 2000/XP/XP64 and 1,5 GB ram, Intel Pentium 4, AMD 3 Ghz or higher, 3D card ATI X1600, or GeForce 6800 or higher with 256MB ram, DirectX 9.0, 4.6GB free disc space a DVD drive

Gothic has a new crafting system that we were able to try at a smithy, which had stations such as a sharpening stone, an anvil, a forge, and a cooling bucket. To make an item, we had to work at each of these stations, processing raw materials and then refining them into weapons according to the character's skills. If you modify your skills with the right perks, you'll be able to create magical weapons. Of course, you'll need to find some magical ore. Crafting also works for more mundane goods. Campfires, for instance, are used to cook food.

• PC Games Online
  Made from the old Goldmaster they used for a ten page article in the upcoming issue of PC Games magazine (German).
  
• PC Games hardware
  Also the hardware section has a new load of pictures. Several of them are very interesting and certainly worth checking.

Gothic 3 not 'Gold' - development still in progress

On September 12th we have shipped a Goldmaster version of Gothic 3 for replication. However, due to several problems that got known only afterwards no production has taken place, instead we decided to create another, new goldmaster.
This new master is currently (Sep 21st) still being worked on!
Therefore, no one has had any access to the version that will start selling on October 13th in various European territories.
No testing (by external persons) of this version can have been done. All test results that have been published up to now are based on the scrapped goldmaster or in many cases on even older preview versions.

Unlike the previous series, where the hero was forced to join one of the existing factions in order to advance and follow the plot, in Gothic 3 the possibility of freelancing exists, making the experience more thrilling and at the same time staying true to the spirit of the game.

This new option is befitting the psychology of the main character who revealed many times through dialogue that he is not entirely keen on being very orthodox or true to the faction which he has joined. The number of the actual factions has grown considerably, every major region having at least one dominant faction besides the mercenaries, the paladins of the king or the mages.

For anyone who is hungry for a unique RPG experience in a truly immersive story and world, Gothic 3 provides the ultimate single player experience. One thing we did not touch on above is the huge replayability of the game. There are three different factions within the game that the player can choose to support and choosing each one provides a different gameplay experience. When you combine this with the open-ended character development, you can play through the game many times and have a different experience each time. Of course, I don't have enough time on my hands to do this since it is such a massive game, but for the hardcore gamer there is more than enough to keep you occupied for a very long time to come!

• a cloth map
• a soundtrack CD (see other newsbit nearby!)
• making of... book "The Art of Gothic 3"; ca. 98 pages in A5 format
• The Sleeper amulet, metal & leather
• Making of ... DVD

Exclusive Soundtrack for Gothic 3 Collector's Edition Liezen, Austria, 19th of September 2006 - A few weeks before the RPG hit Gothic 3 is being released, JoWooD Productions and Co-Publisher Deep Silver announce a great addition to the Collector`s Edition: The exclusive soundtrack, which will be available in the Collector`s Edition, provides some of the most exciting masterpieces in gaming scores, written by Kai Rosenkranz, the composer for Gothic 3, and performed by the "Bochumer Philharmoniker."

"The Collector`s Edition is a special way to say "thank you" to all our true fans out there, and it therefore should contain what the fans desire most; in all Gothic-related boards, the fans literally begged for the soundtrack to be included. In a last-minute-attempt we tried to add the soundtrack CDs to the already planned package - and we managed!", explains Johann Ertl, Community manager for JoWooD Productions.

The Gothic 3 Collector`s Edition will be released the same day as the regular version - on October 13th of this year.

• Gamona.de preview
  Gamona played a test-version that didn't contain all the features, things like the tutorial, intro, etc. were missing. Some of the things they discuss are the new group-attacks, especially convenient when fighting multiple orcs, the changeable difficulty level and the performance.
  
• Krawall preview and interview with producer Michael Paeck
  In the interview Krawall and Michael Paeck talk about the bugs and performance issues that were present in the GC-version. As for system requirements needed to play Gothic 3 without any problems Michael mentions a 3 GHz processor, 1.5 Gb Ram and a Geforce 7800GT.
• PC Gamer preview
  One of the very few American previews appeared in the PC Gamer magazine. You can read a summary in our forums.
• PC Games Hardware Tech interview
  PC Games Hardware interviewed Engine-Programmer Philipp Krause about the new engine, the lighting and shadows and more. You can find a summary of the German interview in our forums.

2006-09-12 - Gothic 3 has reached Goldmaster Status
At 02:20 this morning Gothic 3 has been shipped to Sony Austria for replication. This means that after more than three and a half years of time development has been finished. Gothic 3 is scheduled for release on October 13th in various European countries.

Gothic 3 producer, Micheal Paeck has taken some time out to
create a Video Walkthrough that shows the living world of Gothic 3. The
icy north, the green mainland and the hot desert are waiting to be
conquered.

World of Gothic: Will it be possible to deactivate the depth of field blurring effect?

Kai: This will definitely be possible. I for myself will probably play the game without this blurring effect because sometimes it is just beautiful to have a panoramic view of the most remote mountain tops. This feature is especially nice for creating screenshots. However, everyone who doesn't want this feature will be able to deactivate it.

• Przemek sends word he has 12 Gothic videos and 3 sets of pics he made at the GC on his site. Especially the photos taken at the Gothic camp are pretty interesting.
• Gamona released a 5 minute long interview with Kai Rosenkranz.
• Spieleflut published a preview.
• JoWooD-Fans uploaded 26 new screenshots and 2 artworks.
• WoG interviewed Kai at the GC.
• WoG also reposted their GC presentation video, now with English subtitles.

• Preview @ DemoNews
• Deep Silver blog updated
• Video @ AbsoluteGames.ru English, low quality.
• interview @ jeuxvideo French
• detailed preview @ WoG
• Preview @ GaMaxx.de
• English video at Gamestar.hu
• the medieval camp Official pics by JoWooD
• Preview @DaddelNews.de
• Preview @ GamePorts.de
• short video @ 4gamer.net no sound

The petition against undue copy protection techniques used with Gothic 3, an idea born within the German section of WorldofGothic some months ago and hosted and administered by the diligent folks at Mondgesaenge.de, collected some 7,242 subscriptions - was finally delivered to representatives of JoWooD Productions and Deep Silver, the publishers for Gothic 3 in Europe, at the current Leipzig Games Convention this Saturday.

WorldofGothic.de offers a video made at the occasion where Kai Rosenkranz, public liaison officer with Piranha Bytes, admits of having signed the petition himself. He calls the copy protection solution found for Gothic 3 a win/win-situation for all parties involved.

The dreaded StarForce programme has been abandoned by the publishers Deep Silver and JoWooD, which was one of the primary concerns of the many Gothic fans who participated in this movement. Gothic 3 now will be shipped with the newest version of SecuRom - a copy protection programme that was already used for Gothic 2. Whether this solution will prove beneficial to the buyers of Gothic 3 remains to be seen.

• A video, high-res screenshots and photos of the G3 presentation
• 2 LQ videos
• 4 screens, 3 videos
• World of Gothic screens. Spoiler alert - this link has a full world map with names.
• Screens at IGN
• Deep Silver booth video
• Paeck's Giga TV appearance yesterday evening. Found on WoG. (recommended by Moriendor)

• There will be around 550 different quests, of which 25 belong to the main story. It won't be possible to do all quests in one game, because a large part is only available when a certain group favours you.
• The hero will have 9 different attributes.
• There are about 70 different talents/perks in seven different professions:
  • Fighting (17)
  • Hunting (10)
  • Magic (11)
  • Forging/Smithing (5)
  • Thief skills (11)
  • Alchemy (7)
  • Other talents (6)
  The developers think it will be possible zto reach about level 30. For every level you'll get the usual 10 learning points and every skill or talents costs 5 LP.
• It'll take about 50 hours to finish the main story. For the rest of the quests you'll need another 100 hours.
• The player will spend about 60% of the time in the woods and fields of Myrtana. The other 40% will be spend in the desert area of Varant and the snowy planes of Nordmarr, about 20% each.
• There are around 1000 different items to be found in the entire world.
• For the 25.000 lines of dialog 62 different voice-actors were used. That is about 18 hours of spoken dialog.
• The zoom options of the camera range from first-person perspective to bird-eye view.
• The following system requirements are mentioned in the article:
  
  Minimum
  2 GHZ
  512MB Ram
  128 MB Graphics card
  
  Recommended
  3GHZ
  1024 MB Ram
  Geforce 6800

We were told by one of the developers that "rushing" through the game would require approximately 40 hours of gameplay, and if you take into account the sides that you can take in each encounter and quest, that amounts to a hefty amount of replayability. With its open-ended gameplay and strong similarities to Oblivion, it's clear that publisher Aspyr hopes that Gothic 3 is the next big single-player RPG for the PC. The game reminds us quite a bit of Oblivion, and of last year's Fable, as well. Gothic 3 doesn't seem to be going for the epic, apocalyptic story of Oblivion, though. Instead, it seems like it's going for a more immersive and intimate experience in a fantasy world. Gothic 3 is scheduled to ship later this year.

When I saw the game, no English voice acting was present, though the team apparently just finished the recording sessions a matter of days ago. Gothic and Gothic II took some flak in the past for less than pristine localization, so this time around the localization team has gone over the script with a fine tooth comb and hired some top shelf voiceover talent. Accomplished animation and video game voice actor Crispin Freeman voices the hero, and film and TV actor Ron Canada plays an unspecified role.

The Gothic 3 build I previewed definitely needed some work in the presentation department, with fluctuating framerates, some missing NPC AI, and so on. Still, the overall world and game systems seem very much on track. If Piranha Bytes can deliver on their ambitious goals, the company is likely to please existing Gothic fans as well as attract a substantial portion of the substantially growing open-world RPG audience.

In many ways Gothic III looks like it has an opportunity to surpass Oblivion which was released earlier this year. There's a great deal of open-ended gameplay and non-essential dungeons to explore but the story campaign looks to be quite a bit more interesting. We'll have to get a chance to sit down and play the game for an extended period before passing judgment, but we're certainly pleased by how the game is progressing. Look for more info to come down the pipe in the future and expect Gothic III to come out in North America sometime around November.

At this point, our few reservations about the game rest in the combat system and the translations. The version we were shown has an elaborate system in which players can use combinations of mouse buttons and special keyboard commands to perform specific moves and combinations. Unfortunately, while it's impossible to judge the system without extensive playtesting, the few minutes we had with it felt a bit mushy and random. There's also the issue of the game's voices and translations. Gothic III is heavy with spoken parts, and the version we were shown had both poor text translations and German voiceovers, either of which could badly damage this game. Aspyr took pains to assure us that it's taking enormous case with this process and have just recently completed rerecording all of the game's dialogue.

Folks, get the tents out of the cellar and prepare yourself for a very special Gothic 3 event: JoWooD and our German distributor Koch Media organize a big Gothic 3 Camp for up to 300 participants. A meadow on the exhibition site will be hired and turned into paradise for Gothic fans, including a medieval market, a Gothic 3 demo tent, a pool and numerous surprises. And all this absolutely for free! For more information check the registration page, just follow the link below. The registration period ends August 7th 2006, we look forward to seeing you.

The German voice recordings for Gothic 3 don't just breathe life into the game, it also causes smiles upon the faces of everybody involved. Although great concentration is demanded during the three-week marathon session in Frankfurt, Germany, the voice recordings mark an important moment in the creation of the game: the 'we're almost there'-phase. The mood is accordingly delighted.

Note: It seems these aren't new but I'll leave them here so anyone who hasn't seen the latest G3 screens can check them out in one go.

The developers clearly have a fetish for medieval arms and have gone to extreme lengths to motion-capture not just swords, but also weapons like pole arms and two-handed axes. We were treated to an arena battle with a fighter who dual-wielded twin swords; his whirling animations were already buttery smooth. The ballet of evisceration was controlled with a combination of right and left mouse clicks that made quick work of the opponent. However, with his vanquished foe now crumpled in a pool of blood, our champion still had the weighty choice of whether to finish him off or show mercy - kill off the wrong guy and you'll quickly have an entire village after your hide.

As a tribute to the growing number of medieval festivals in Europe, attracting millions of visitors, a dedicated "Guild 2" and "Gothic 3 mercenary band was hired. The "Outlaws from Zwieseleburg" taking their name from a 1000 year old fortified structure in Lower Austria, will fight, ride & promote both Gothic 3 and The Guild 2 at medieval events during the summer. Accompanied by JoWooDs Community Manager Ivan Ertlov, they will also provide the visitors with winning tickets for an amazing lottery, where they can win unique branded artifacts, re-enactement weekends and lots of Gohtic 3 / The Guild 2 merchandise.

If you kill someone in this game, it's because you want to. That's right, night owls and early risers in Gothic 3, when you fell a foe they're simply knocked to the ground or "fallen." Like characters in console RPGs, your enemies aren't dead at the end of a combat, just down. It's up to you to decide to walk away or to finish them off with a kill stroke. The Gothic series has always reached for the stars when it comes to giving its players the freedom to act. In its third iteration, Gothic will hopefully be a series that can deliver on its dreams.

In response to the Gothic 3 E3 Preview, it appears there's been a new development: Gothic 3's bestial line-up will not scale like Oblivion's. Creature balance will remain largely the same as it was in the 2 predecessors aside from one crucial aspect.

Posted by Aspyr Media

However certain key encounters *may* scale in order to facilitate balance within the gameplay.

Key encounters, referring to the boss fights, is in a revisional period right now and will likely scale to the specifications of the player character. I'd encourage this, in fact.