Yay! It's Oblivion by Germans!
But wait, Oblivion ended up stinking.
Apparently the Germans do it better.
Technically it's still got some major issues. Loading the game takes three minutes. There are frequent pauses in the game for no apparent reason (resource caching?). And my entire system runs slowly after I've played it, suggesting that it consumes disgusting quantities of memory. And this is a game made in 2006, so probably no machine could run it when it came out.
But the gameplay is functional, or at least broken in tolerable ways. And there's no encumbrance, so it's a pack rat's delight. The skill system and leveling up isn't a travesty like Oblivion. There's cool stuff to find all over. When you kill / collect it, it stays gone, which is a mixed blessing as it makes traversing some areas a little redundant. But it also helps with navigation as a barren area means you've been there before.
It's also pretty.
They used an out of focus effect on distant terrain to speed up draw time and give the game a some what more ethereal vibe. (You'll have to click through to the larger image to really see the effect.) This also goes well with the music. Which gives the game a nice feeling of adventure, but with a very relaxed pace. In fact, I haven't felt this way playing a game since Outcast, a Belgian action adventure game from 1999.
Here's a little night time exploring.
I generally only use torches indoors, where it's required. It's kind of a pain though, because I can't use torches and my bow at the same time, and the bow is the safest way to kill most enemies. Seriously, if a wolf starts attacking, it won't stop until you are dead. There's no blocking. There's no running. There's no counter. You just die. Did I mention that loading takes three minutes?
At first, I mostly took pot shots and ran away. Eventually I leveled up enough so that I can one shot normal wolves. One shotting is the equivalent of a stealth kill, so now I can wipe out a whole pack in relative safety. So even though I'd say the combat is fundamentally broken, it's basically worked out in the long run.
It feels a little wrong, though, hating on the indie games and liking something as glitchy and formulaic as Gothic 3. But it's like comfort food. Comfort food that will kick your ass if you're not careful, but still. There's always plants to pick, bad guys to fight, quests to run, skills to buy. And it's possible to level up and kick butt. Even playing with the Oscuro mod, Oblivion always felt like it was buffing up the monsters every time I leveled, making the game a pain at all times.
I wanted the experience I'm getting in Gothic 3. Some places I can just sweep through. And some places (generally with ogres or trolls or golems) I stay the heck out of, knowing that once I've leveled and geared up, I'll be back to beat them until candy comes out. It's as nature intended. :P
No comments:
Post a Comment