Gothic 3 (PC Games, 2006)

Like the previous games, Gothic 3 places you in the role of the series' nameless hero, a soft-spoken adventurer who can eventually pursue one of three career paths: warrior, archer, or wizard. The game's story--which puts you in the middle of a nation enslaved by brutal orc oppressors--may seem a bit opaque to players who haven't played the previous games, but those who have will appreciate the references to characters and items from Gothic and Gothic II. Gothic 3 makes some real improvements over the previous games. For instance, though you're still expected to progress through most of the game by taking quests that are kept in a less-than-organized journal, the overall quest structure is much better defined and more cohesive. You'll find yourself taking on fewer long-term quests that require travel to many different areas and more short-term, local quests whenever you enter a new area. A lot of Gothic's real estate consists of wilderness broken up by small encampments led by a powerful chieftain character. The world of Gothic is huge and the game is quite long, so you can still wander all over the place and get lost if you care to, though if you wander too far, you may be ambushed by tough monsters that will make short work of you. In addition, the combat and control schemes in Gothic 3 have been revamped to be much more accessible and to make more intuitive sense. Gothic 3 uses a simpler "one-click-performs-one-swing" system that makes combat a lot easier to get into, though parrying attacks with a shield doesn't seem as effective as simply dodging backward, which gives the game's melee combat a stick-and-move rhythm that requires you to dodge back from your enemies and weave in to swing your sword. Even Gothic 3's audio is pretty good. Much of the game's music is subdued but suitably symphonic, and it changes dynamically and appropriately, depending on where your character is and whether you're in battle. The game also has a lot of spoken voice dialogue, and while it isn't great, it mostly gets the job done. Unfortunately, just like its predecessors, Gothic 3 was released in a buggy state with some notable technical problems, including a tendency for the game to briefly hiccup between frames of animation, depending on how powerful your computer is. Gothic 3 still has issues with polygon clipping--you'll still see both enemies and your characters getting "stuck" on geometry in the gameworld, and you'll occasionally see characters clip right through walls, especially when provoked to attack. 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.

I had to close my eyes and delete it completely from my comp, because it sucked me in.... got an addiction.
Needs a lot of RAM, not very stable.
Great playing experience, was too much for me, same as oblivion, kills all free time..
Not very balanced in classes, but always enough skill points. saves and loads take some time.
But there ar many positive sides, quests are good, huge world, nice views around, freeeeeeeeedom... feels good.

Even when, in the description says the box is cosmetically defective, it wasnt.
Or at least it want that bad. Super fast shipping and excellent value. As for the game itself it is trully a master piece. True, it has plenty of bugs and is nowhere perfect, even patched, but is worth it. If you are an rpg fan wou need to have this game.

Pros: the game has potiental, and a story that could keep you involved depending on the person. The music sounds awesome, but you can just buy the soundtrack with out this game.

Cons: the skipping and memory leaks cause this game to be unbearable. I have a decent gaming rig and I still can not play it on any of my computers in my house on max settings. Even at medium setting it skips too much. This game is only recomended to the few that can stand it.

I bought this game because I stumbled upon it at a bargain bin, but I did not buy it so I bought it here and the game does not desrve a price tag . . . people should pay you to take it away.

I like Rpg Pc games and this is the type I seek, Gothic 2 was very good and I hope this follows suit.

I wrote a rave review about Gothic II after beating in a week, however Gothic 3 I have not finished after owning for about a month. I barely even got started. So this might not be a very detailed review, but the only reason I'm writing it is because Gothic 3 is fairly disappointing. I am just tired of dying so easily, and reloading my game constantly. The animals and monsters seem like they're bugged because they will sometimes attack real fast in succession and kill you quickly, or you can manage to time it so they never hit you once. It got to the point where I died so many times, I finally lost interest and haven't played in a few weeks. Gothic II also has a rough start where you need to save often, but that only lasts about an hour or two until you get to town. Gothic 3 kind of has you out in the wilderness with a rebel camp as your safe haven in the first part.
Gothic 2 was a whee bit more linear in a good way. It encouraged you to explore the scenery, but it did it in a way that you couldn't really get too lost. Gothic 3, however is a much less linear landscape, and you get lost faster.
Also, I've been an IT profesisonal since about 1999, and I usually assume it's user error when I see people complain that a game crashes. Well, this is the first time in a LONG time I'm saying this game crashes. I'm on an 8800GTS 640 meg with Windows XP SP2, and when you close this game, it often crashes. I patched the game with the latest patch right after I installed it. It's not a major problem, because it's only when you leave the game.
Anyway, I'm just not as impressed or addicted as I was with Gothic II.

This game isnt fininshed. THe latest patch just fixes a few of many bugs in this game. I am a Fan of GOthic2 plus addon and thought they would do alot better job. I honestly think 2 is better, it was more fun and enjoyeable. This one however i am at level 43 and a wolf lvl 1 still kills me if I come up to it in melee combat. You cant make posion all with a couple of skills. SOme of the fixes have been attended to. But unless you have time to kill and a good computer I wouldn't waste your time. need at least 1.5 gigs of ram to play this game and a solid 256 video card. Graphics is good but the music is annoying. But still worth buying!