[Dino]

I have a serious question:

what the hell??? In a PC magazine I bought yesterday there was a preview of Gothic 4 and the name surprised me a lot. It wasn't Gothic 4: Arcania, but Arcania: A Gothic Tale. which one is the true name?

[WernerTWC]

I have a serious question:

what the hell??? In a PC magazine I bought yesterday there was a preview of Gothic 4 and the name surprised me a lot. It wasn't Gothic 4: Arcania, but Arcania: A Gothic Tale. which one is the true name?

Afaik that will be the name for the north-american market, so both names are "correct".

Any news in that game mag about g4 we don't know yet?

[alyn26]

[QUOTE=WernerTWC;6680191]Afaik that will be the name for the north-american market, so both names are "correct".

[QUOTE]

AAAAH! That explains it all! Jowood wants to look "clean". Like the buggy,messy, infam G3 wasn't their work. As if Arcania was a whole new series. Intelligent. Very intelligent indeed...(no seriously, I'm not mocking JW or something.)

[Mikael Grizzly]

Uh, no, it's aimed at those who didn't play previous Gothics.

Not to mention that G3 was everything, except a bad game.

[Buckingham]

Not to mention that G3 was everything, except a bad game.

I totally agree...some people have a wrong opinion about this game

[Sweargen!]

I just read something on some game news page of some kind about 2 versions of the game possibly being made? One for Europe which will be made as they intended it to be made and a different one for North America? What? Clarification would be nice on this if it's possibly got any truth to it. As a person from North America, I don't want anything but what the game is supposed to be, not some alternate version or whatever.

That has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I hope it's not true.

[WernerTWC]

That has got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I hope it's not true.

I guess (from what i've read) it's only about a different color-palette, something like you can choose in the menu "darker" (europe) colors and brighter (NA) colors palette.

But yeah, ... i don't like such adjustable thingys in games in general,... imho it's the same with different difficulty settings (beginner, normal, hard),... the devs should balance it in one challenging way and that's it, ... you'd have to do this or that ingame to be able to challenge i.e. the next chapter or better enemys, ... the more it's adjustable the higher the chance for a not-so-balanced game.

And so it is IMHO with the colors, ... the devs should have a clear image in mind of what they wanna create,... a special and gothic-alike-looking world and not a world with candy-colors.

IMHO such options are only for devs whom don't wanna risk to go their own way and release their very own vision of what a game should be, ... sadly most devs these days wanna please as much people as possible (i.e. by adding a difficulty selection), ... it's understandable of course, ... but it makes the games so non-unique.

[Sweargen!]

Thank you Sir. That puts me at ease....sort of. Colors I can deal with.Game alterations due to political correctness or other such disasters which plague my puritan theocracy of a nation I can't live with.

[jimokalos]

EDL,PLZ give us more information.Will we be able to become allies of the nameless?

[EDL]

EDL,PLZ give us more information.

I will work on all the questions that were asked here first thing tomorrow morning.

-EDL

P.S. I will close the thread until I am done with the answers. As soon as I have them posted here, the thread will open again.

[EDL]

Hi,

OK, here you go. My work is done.

-EDL

Will the music be as good as the 3 previous gothic games?

Since everyone has a different taste when it comes to music, it is really hard to say: “Yes, the music will be as good as in Gothic 3”. What I can say is that we will put a lot of effort into the whole soundtrack and we’ll try to come up with a score that will satisfy you all. Sooner or later you will be able to hear the results of our work and we will explain, what exactly we did and how we did it.

How about stealth? Will G4 have stealth or stealth kills if yes make sure stealth kills are INSTANT not 4x more damage or any crap like that?

“Stealth” might be in as a skill but will surely not be overpowered in a bad way. It may be useful to sneak around and avoid certain monsters or enemies.

Will wounds be shown on body?

Since we don’t aim to make a game for adults only we cannot go for an all out gore fest. I am sure you can understand our position here. But the combat animations will reflect what you are doing and how your opponent deals with that.

will magic system be based on pentagram (fire, water, earth, air,...)
or standard dark, light, fire , ice,...?
will magican move a litter more when making spell (not only open hand and throw)?
will there be double casting for higher stage?
will there be mastering system for magic as in gothis 2 or similary?
will there be better ultimate spells than in gothic 3 they were in some way let down, (rain and comet, gothic 2 had more unique two lines of energy together kill everything)?
will there be summoning weapons is more logical for magicans to summon weapons than to wear them exsept for light ones (staf)?
will there be enpowertment for weapons, similary as in gothic 3 for staf, but meby for all summoning weapons and it could eat mana for just using it?

All these questions are related to the magic system and it was said before that we will discuss magic later on during the development. Sorry, I fear you have to wait a little while.

will we be able to tame some animals if there will be riding system, some animals are much more interesting than hourse and faster?

Since I said that we discuss riding big time, we are also discussing what to ride and how. Let me say that IF riding makes it into the game you can be sure that you can interact with your mount. In different and many ways.

i hope you will keep third person game play?

Yes.

i hope you will keep unlimited inventory

Yes. But you might see it in a new style and with more options to sort the million things stored there.

Will u be free to go anywhere u want? Or there will be restrictioned areas??

You will be free to go anywhere you want, but it might not be wise to travel too far into the wilderness. Big bad mean monsters might lurk out there and make you wish you had never left home in the first place.

Will you be able to brew your own potions? Will the potions give you an exact amount of health or % of your HP?

Potion making, crafting and all that stuff will be discussed later in the development, when they are fully implemented. We have a design ready, but it needs to be proven internally before we comment.

Are we going to see new pics this summer?

I sure hope so.

Will there be small details that dosent have anything to do with anything?

Hmm, what do you mean? If we care about detail and nice world to look at in general? We sure do. There will be some eye candy just for the sake of it.

will there be cannons again?

We are not focusing on cannons right now. But who knows?

Will you be able to forge like in G1? wich wasnt so simple as just bashing the steel on a anvil.

Forging, like crafting and magic will be subject to future discussions.

will you be able to have "Fun"?

Hey, that’s a good one. Isn’t fun and excitement what every PC game should be about? We do everything to make that game as entertaining as possible and “fun” is a big part of it. There will be situations during the game where you might laugh a lot. But we don’t want to go too comical.

Will the paladins have the same armor as in g2?

New armor will be seen, but you might find some elements that you are used to from older games of the series.

Will there be mercanaries you can hire?

We have not taken the final decision here.

If you have Dragons will they be epic like in G2?

Well, IF there are dragons in the game you can be sure that they will play a major role and don’t hang out near every village. Dragons are always epic in nature, aren’t they?

Will you in the end of the story teleport to the destroyed island of Khorinis and find uritziel and then get the hell out of there, and then overthrow the king?

Hey! Do you really want me to spoil the end of the story? You can’t be serious. Millions of other Gothic-players would really hate you for this if I would tell you. Just play and see.

Will there be a ring of resurrection? so that when you die the ring will resurrect you shortly after. Uses: 1.

There will be a lot of magical stuff and such a ring might be the reward for a tougher quest. Who knows?

Will there be bosses along the campaign? like in G1 where the first boss like thing for me was that crazed novice.

Yes, we are planning on tough and hard enemies in certain quest, so yes, you could call them bosses.

What role will choices and consequences play in this game?

Wow, that question could be answered in many ways. Isn’t a whole RPG, like life, about choices and consequences? If you decide not to help that poor family that is asking you, you (and the family) have to live with the consequences that might also have an effect on your standing in that village for the rest of the game. We think stuff like that is very important and adds to the game.

Will most of the loot be hand placed, or random?

No random loot.

How evident will level scalling be?

Well, you start out weak and hopefully get better during the game. That’s what a RPG is all about, isn’t? How many levels? We are not sure yet but have a strong idea.

Will there be a karma system and will npc's react to different karma, clothing, aligment?

We have a concept reflecting this issue. It needs to give full proof however.

Will there be any "kewl" death animations based on the type of damage you're dealing ?

See above. We have to keep an eye on our audience and the rating that is appropriate to sell the game.

Will you bring back the good old Guild system allong with some subguilds ?

No comment on guilds in that stage.

Will you try to balance more the warrior/archer/mage classes thinking as if they would ever ipotetically fight each other they would have approximately same chances of winning? Do this by bringing back more protection over magic,or ways to deflect/completely resist a magic spell by using some skill like Resistance to Magic wich gives x% chance to resist.Mages are to powerfull in this game!

Balancing is one big, big issue during the later phases of the development. It is very much related to hard core testing of the game and its mechanics. We will put a lot of time into testing to make the game as challenging as possible independent of your character class.

Will you be able to talk to more people at once? something like this was tried in NOTR when you had to meet the Ring of Water...

We are thinking about something like this.

Will the combat system be based on human dexterity and cleverness, on anticipations and opponent mistakes or just clicking my finger to death?

This was answered before, so just a short statement: the combat system will be a mixture of your personal skill and the abilities of your character. No simple clicking.

Will you be able to learn new combos when you achive higher level of swordsmanship, also a new stance?

Your fighting abilities will definitely improve during the game and you will learn new stuff with almost every level you gain. What you will gain exactly is kinda part of the story and will not be revealed too early. I personally like it when I don’t know what I get with every new level. It feels like Christmas all the time.

Will there be finishing moves or stealth kills? If so please let them be swift and precise, not some spectacular unrealistic turning and spinning.

For “stealth” see above. For finishing moves see the comments above related to the rating. Finishing moves are a problem. See Age Of Conan for example. The finishing moves from the US Version did not make it into the German version. And that game has a rating of “18”. They were so violent that the developers decided to leave them out in Germany. You see, we don’t want to waste time for awesome finishing moves when knowing that they won’t make it into the final game.

Will the bigger battles be more realistic and be based on team work, not just one man butchering whole camps?

Every battle should be realistic. Large or small. We are working on it.

Will we be able to become allies of the nameless?

Haha. Nice try. This is a major plot point so no answer today.

[jimokalos]

Welcome back EDL!!!!Will it have chapters???

[Alea]

Welcome back EDL!!!!Will it have chapters???

they already said NOOOOOOOOOO; at least not like in g1&2, they call them chapters but they are not those chapters: like calling sweet something bitter

[Christos]

I guess we wont see anything impressive at E3 2008,but at E3 2009 if i am right.

[Alea]

I guess we wont see anything impressive at E3 2008,but at E3 2009 if i am right.

I think E3 is going to die, maybe we will better look at GC

[Dykunas]

So what rating is this game aiming for? Even G3 had finishing moves and was rated 16+ by pegi.... It's a bid sad that great games are being dumbed down for audiences of wider age range, while the largest part of gamers are now adults

[Hellbilly]

It's a bid sad that great games are being dumbed down for audiences of wider age range

I would hardly call excluding excessive gore "dumbing down". Especially in a game that is not Mortal Kombat, eg. where the gore is by no means the main attraction.

The sad thing is also that games that receive the highest ratings in the US are, from what I've heard, often refused by the biggest chains, thus drastically worsening distribution and decreasing sales, so publishers and devs are pretty much forced to try to get lower ratings. It's not right, but I can understand that the devs & publishers opt to follow suit instead of fighting a fight they won't win.

[Dykunas]

would hardly call excluding excessive gore "dumbing down"

It's not only gore, but also exclusion of sexual themes, "dirty language", "drugs" and so on. I agree that they aren't necessary, but if subtily and tastefuly done they can enhance the atmosphere of the game very much. When the devs are being limited with their creativity, some things in the game feel like forced or just corny.

[Hellbilly]

It's not only gore, but also exclusion of sexual themes, "dirty language", "drugs" and so on.

I'd still not call that "dumbing down"... it doesn't make the game dumber per se. Making it more "family-friendly"? Perhaps... and is that negative? Possibly.

[Shadow]

well if we want realistic game as posible so some curses and drugs(swamp weed) should be in
i dont think that all the NPC have so great maners and dont curse or talk Sh*t in any way
i had russian version of gothic 2 notr and they putted in some small curses
about finishing moves,they are realy unneccery in the game
ok they can put finishing stab when you knock you enemy down in fight like gothic 1-3 had
and id like to see stealth kill,i realy love stealth,killing people without getting cought realy cool,but not something serious and big,just some back stab or throut cut will be cool