Pushed by a greedy publisher, the german developer studio Pyranha Bytes tried to finish working on Gothic 3, the epic RPG game, in the second half of 2006. The publisher, Jowood, wanted to release the game at any cost. This of course resulted in one of the bigger catastrophes in the gaming world - Gothic 3 was a pure bug fest (you really gotta hate this kind of publishers).

 

Not even months, and several patches after the release, were players able to really enjoy the world of Gothic. The project was simply too huge, and too rushed. It was a big letdown for many gothic fans who had fanatically waited for the game. Years were needed, and the work of the gothic community, who worked on patching everything up to finally have Gothic 3 as it was always supposed to be. With the release of the latest patch (1.73) which brings many new features incl. HDR lighting, Alternative Balancing and a modified NPC AI, we decided to embark on the Mainland Myrtana once again.

 

 

For all of those whom we lost at "Gothic 3, the epic RPG game": Gothic 3 is an RPG of the "rough" nature. It is an adventure of a nameless hero, in a rough world filled with Orks, Monsters, Rebells and Assassines.

 

As a side note: We installed Gothic 3 with the Community Patch 1.73, including Quest Pack 4 (german synchro) and the Autumn Patch (makes that flower power look of Myrtana more grim).

 

Uppon embarking, first we notice the very much improved Graphics: HDR and bloom effects, Shader 3.0 effects, textures and modelling were all improved. You will still need a moderately powerful machine for this though, the main component being RAM. You really need a lot of RAM, otherwise you will get a jerky play, since Gothic 3 uses streaming technology (it continually loads the world into memory, there are no "loading screens").

 

 

Right at the beginning we notice changes due to Alternative Balancing and modified AI (which are both optional by the way). Of course there are no more God Damn Boars from Hell³ which were infamous for striking you continuously until you were dead meat, without you even having the chance to block. Several other bugs like flying trees (no joke) etc. are also gone.

 

In general, the game seems much more smooth. This time, it really was a pleasure playing (we still are), and it shows just how good gothic games can be. One feels sorry that games of this magnitude are being substituted with dumbed down versions, optimized for consoles. This is the case with the, basically, sequel to Gothic 3 - Risen. In Risen, which was released recently, the world is a lot smaller, and not so "rough". Thank you consoles, once again ...

 

For any of you, who like many of us, skipped Gothic 3 at the time of release because of the whole bug story, now is the best time to get the game. It only costs a few bucks, and it will keep you playing for days.

 

You can buy Gothic 3 under these respective links: