Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - Preview @ 1Up

This is the first preview of Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods we've seen, with 1Up kicking up some brief impressions from GC.  They were underwhelmed and unimpressed when the demonstrator had trouble with the combat (after explaining it has been improved) but the demo was only 15 minutes, so hopefully there's hidden depth.  A sample:

What's new for Games Convention? I watched a short, 15-minute demo given by a frustratingly soft-spoken JoWood representative who explained where the expansion fits in the Gothic lore and how it will differ from Gothic 3. Fans of the series (which is especially popular in Germany and Russia) should be excited to learn that it continues the long-running story of the nameless hero who has been around since the original Gothic. Taking place two years after Gothic 3, the hero returns to the lands he helped unite and save to find that the nation has been split into a handful of smaller warring communities. Old friends and enemies from Gothic 3 now serve as mayors and leaders in these communities, adding a bit of nostalgic depth to the process of figuring out whom to side with.

The JoWood rep admitted that combat in Gothic 3 wasn't as accessible as it should have been; in his own words, most gamers would not be able to jump into the game unless they had played previous Gothic titles and were already invested in the universe. Trine has revamped the combat as much as is possible within the confines of the Gothic 3 engine, which it anticipates will lead to a smoother experience all around. Along with tweaked combat, the expansion, of course, contains the requisite new armor, weapons, enemies, and quests.