Well I have not played the game but a Review I have found tells a lot. And the huge negativity it gets from Gothic fans seems to be true also. Its ... who would have guessed that. Only Gothic in its name ~ for those which know Gotic will understand it, for those which do not know it, letz say its similar to Fallout 1/2 - Fallout 3 ... making a good RPG suddenly for the "casual" market.
I think this Review pretty much sums everything up.
Arcania Review - RPG Watch
The good pat it in it is that he tries to make a review from 3 points. One time from the "casual" player, from the "hardcore" (oh do I hate that word) RPG player and last but not least from a "Gothic" side of view. Its not surprise that it seems ArcaniA fails on both ends, the Hardcore RPG and Gothic RPG side. Letz be honest here, Gothic was never known for its great choice&consequences, it was pretty linear. But at least the world and characters have been always unique and the story was entertaining, exactly cause of the memorable characters. Gothic 3 with all of its bugs and to big ambitions from the start has caused some chaos but it seems to be "ok" now with the community patches. Arcania while trying to be a RPG also tries at the same time to make Gothic more "mainstream" and if you ask me it fails miserably as RPG, at least from what I can read. Its hard to comment on a game that you have not played but I have been undecided about to get it or not. Now I know that as one who likes good RPGs I hvae to pass this.
A few informations from the review:
In random order taken from pages of my notes:
The story is very linear with no meaningful choices or options along the way.
There is no way you could actually do anything other than succeed in ArcaniA -- the worst that happens is that you lose a fight and reload.
I discovered no choice in the entire game that would have a meaningful impact on the story. Most of the dialogue is just a single line for you to "choose" so the dialogue box is little more than a way to pace your reading.
Storyline linearity means that replayability is limited to trying the three specialties of mage, warrior, and ranger.
There are lots of "named" in the game -- but at best they are minibosses of no consequence. Most seemed to be just slightly stronger versions of the rest of the pack you were fighting.
Even with "Quest markers" turned off, you are pretty much led by the nose through quests, if compared to traditional RPGs. Targets are easy to find, dungeons usually are pretty clear in what direction to take, areas you should avoid are "locked," etc. The worst example of this was one time when you actually would have had to search a large area to find someone -- a mage cast a special spell that made bunches of swampweed glow along the path he took. When you approach the NPC who is the target of many quests, the game will go into an automatic cutscene so you cannot miss him.
Graphically weather and daytime changes are impressive, but they have no discernable impact on the story
Steal anything anytime. Take it right off the table where someone is sitting.
There are no consequences for taking anything in the game.
No need to have a lockpicking skill. All chests open in the first part of the story. After that you get a "special key" that lets you play a minigame to open any locked chests.
No hidden traps, only a couple visible traps, and no disarming in the game. I found just one instance where a trap could be disabled (by a lever if you were able to get through some fireballs).
Skills and spells were deeply reduced from G3.
There are no trainers. There are only eight major skills, including just three spells.
All attribute level-ups are automatic.
Fighting seems much easier, at least on normal. Arrows fly in a straight line. Targeting is "kind" for ranged and casting. As a mage I was able to die just twice in the first 3/4ths of the game. Fighting did become much harder in the final quarter of ArcaniA. There is no friendly fire and you cannot harm yourself with area spells. Other than burning, I did not find any other damage over time (like poison) that could affect you. Melee attackers seemed to come one at a time -- ranged attackers did fire at will. All mobs tether back to their starting point if you run far enough.
Crafting is a simple select-and-click if you found/bought the recipe and have collected the ingredients. Craft anywhere -- no workbenches or forges needed.
No needs for repair, rest, food. There are no limits to inventory quantity or weight.
Seems like this is again a game with "monologues" instead of "dialogues" labeled as RPG when in fact it is much closer to some adventure game ... good to know it at least as it saved me some money.
I think this Review pretty much sums everything up.
Arcania Review - RPG Watch
The good pat it in it is that he tries to make a review from 3 points. One time from the "casual" player, from the "hardcore" (oh do I hate that word) RPG player and last but not least from a "Gothic" side of view. Its not surprise that it seems ArcaniA fails on both ends, the Hardcore RPG and Gothic RPG side. Letz be honest here, Gothic was never known for its great choice&consequences, it was pretty linear. But at least the world and characters have been always unique and the story was entertaining, exactly cause of the memorable characters. Gothic 3 with all of its bugs and to big ambitions from the start has caused some chaos but it seems to be "ok" now with the community patches. Arcania while trying to be a RPG also tries at the same time to make Gothic more "mainstream" and if you ask me it fails miserably as RPG, at least from what I can read. Its hard to comment on a game that you have not played but I have been undecided about to get it or not. Now I know that as one who likes good RPGs I hvae to pass this.
A few informations from the review:
In random order taken from pages of my notes:
The story is very linear with no meaningful choices or options along the way.
There is no way you could actually do anything other than succeed in ArcaniA -- the worst that happens is that you lose a fight and reload.
I discovered no choice in the entire game that would have a meaningful impact on the story. Most of the dialogue is just a single line for you to "choose" so the dialogue box is little more than a way to pace your reading.
Storyline linearity means that replayability is limited to trying the three specialties of mage, warrior, and ranger.
There are lots of "named" in the game -- but at best they are minibosses of no consequence. Most seemed to be just slightly stronger versions of the rest of the pack you were fighting.
Even with "Quest markers" turned off, you are pretty much led by the nose through quests, if compared to traditional RPGs. Targets are easy to find, dungeons usually are pretty clear in what direction to take, areas you should avoid are "locked," etc. The worst example of this was one time when you actually would have had to search a large area to find someone -- a mage cast a special spell that made bunches of swampweed glow along the path he took. When you approach the NPC who is the target of many quests, the game will go into an automatic cutscene so you cannot miss him.
Graphically weather and daytime changes are impressive, but they have no discernable impact on the story
Steal anything anytime. Take it right off the table where someone is sitting.
There are no consequences for taking anything in the game.
No need to have a lockpicking skill. All chests open in the first part of the story. After that you get a "special key" that lets you play a minigame to open any locked chests.
No hidden traps, only a couple visible traps, and no disarming in the game. I found just one instance where a trap could be disabled (by a lever if you were able to get through some fireballs).
Skills and spells were deeply reduced from G3.
There are no trainers. There are only eight major skills, including just three spells.
All attribute level-ups are automatic.
Fighting seems much easier, at least on normal. Arrows fly in a straight line. Targeting is "kind" for ranged and casting. As a mage I was able to die just twice in the first 3/4ths of the game. Fighting did become much harder in the final quarter of ArcaniA. There is no friendly fire and you cannot harm yourself with area spells. Other than burning, I did not find any other damage over time (like poison) that could affect you. Melee attackers seemed to come one at a time -- ranged attackers did fire at will. All mobs tether back to their starting point if you run far enough.
Crafting is a simple select-and-click if you found/bought the recipe and have collected the ingredients. Craft anywhere -- no workbenches or forges needed.
No needs for repair, rest, food. There are no limits to inventory quantity or weight.
Seems like this is again a game with "monologues" instead of "dialogues" labeled as RPG when in fact it is much closer to some adventure game ... good to know it at least as it saved me some money.
