Gothic IV Demo Impressions

Today I tried playing the recent demo of ArcaniA: Gothic IV, and found it a somewhat interesting experience. So, here are my impressions based on the short stint it gives you within the game.

The first thing to hit you upon starting ArcaniA (What's with the second capital "A", anyway? Did reality become like eXistenZ without me noticing?) are the beautiful and vibrant graphics.  It seems to me that certain studios could learn a thing or two from Spellbound Studios, because this has got to be one of the more attractive games I've seen in a while.  It looks pretty. There are some graphical issues like bushes disappearing when you get too close to them (yes, you did read that right), but the environments are pleasing to the eye and have a vibrant feel that you just don't get from the bleak or gritty atmosphere present in so many games.

For example, when I compare ArcaniA to the Dragon Age 2 shots that have been shown so far, I can't help but think that BioWare's next offering is going to feel a little bit drab.  And this isn't even anything to do with the model detail or the texture quality, I'm talking simply about the colour palette. The worry I have is that DA2 is going to feel like the original Quake did: using a computer that can show millions of colours to show every single shade of brown. Now, I know that I'm being unfair to Dragon Age 2 because I'm going on the only area of which screenshots have been shown, and there's most likely more colour diversity in the game as a whole. However, from a marketing point of view, I must confess I really can't understand why potential players haven't been shown more interesting scenery. If I had to pick between the two based on visual impression only, I know who would be winner...

Wasteland versus lush island. Not exactly a fair comparison.

Once I'd stopped staring at the scenery, I went into the local village to talk to the people. The character animations and subtitles within conversations quickly left something to be desired, because they didn't entirely match the words being spoken. Yes, that's right, the subtitles and the actual lines being spoken aren't the same. I'm not sure if this was the cause for the poor lip-syncing of the characters, but it was a bit of a weakness. Or maybe I've just been spoiled by AAA titles to expect good lip sync, but characters giving a full bellied laugh with their mouth closed just didn't quite work for me. They also called me shepherd, because apparently that's my profession. If people are saying "Shepherd", then I'm going to hear "Shepard" and expecting my character to be an awesome space soldier. Sorry ArcaniA, but Commander Shepard trumps a nameless sheep herder.

However, one thing I thought was excellent about the dialogue system was the way that certain dialogue options were treated. If an option would pursue a quest and move the story forward, as opposed to being purely for investigation, the dialogue line was presented in green. This way a player will never accidentally pursue dialogue at the expense of asking more questions and finding out more information should they so desire, but also, it allows a player to ignore all "extraneous" dialogue choices if they choose.  I imagine some RPG purists might argue against this mechanic, but I really think it's a excellent mechanism.  Much like Mass Effect's dialogue wheel placing its "investigation" nodes on the left hand side of the wheel, it allows players to get as much or little information with simple yet elegant UI design. I'd actually like to be able to implement coloured text like this in Dragon Age: Origins for The Shattered War.

A little touch a colour is a definite touch of class

Then we reach the game's combat, and I really don't know what to make of it here. It seemed interesting enough to begin with, a simple click-to-swing system. There seemed to be a slight speed increase if I timed my clicks "right", but I couldn't be certain. You can also right click with a direction to roll out of the way of enemy attacks, which is generally what you want to do when the enemy starts to light up with a fancy particle effect letting you know they're about to do a "super-special big attack". The problem is that this effect gives you so much warning it's ridiculous. If you thought you got a bit of warning with the lightning bolt markers in Batman: Arkham Asylum, then you've got years to react in ArcaniA. You can easily get in a few extra hits and still have time to get out of the way. If you get injured it's probably because you decided to go for that one last extra hit before dodging.

Before the end of the demo you did get access to some spells, which could either slow enemies, set them on fire, or electrocute (stun) them. This really didn't help the combat much at all, because it quickly became a trivial process of: Stun enemy, smack enemy with weapon, repeat until enemy death. Groups make this slightly more difficult, but it was still a fairly straightforward process to dispatch enemies, simply time consuming. It also seemed to be giving you more powerful weapons and enemies than would seem reasonable for how early it was in the game, but rather than endearing me to the trappings of being a mighty warrior, it made me feel like "high-end" combat would be tedious rather than exciting.

Super Saiyan Telegraphing Attack

Overall, the demo for ArcaniA: Gothic IV piqued my interest in the game, but I'm unsure whether it is worth a purchase. Unsurprisingly, they don't give away a lot of plot in the game, but I did get to find out that I'm an orphan apparently with some kind of latent power. Classic RPG cliches like that don't fill me with much hope for a gripping main plot. I can see the combat getting repetitive very quickly, and if a large portion of the gameplay is dull and uninteresting, then that doesn't really bode well for the game itself. But I still feel like I have some interest in the game because it's trying to do something that requires more interaction for player combat, it's the fourth installment in a series I've never played, and I'm an RPG fan. That said, I suppose I still have The Witcher to go back to. Plus, do I really need another distraction keeping me away from modding?