Well i'll try to be fair, it's a nice game but i was disapointed. I'll explain, it's a game with superb graphics, simple but nice story, adecuate game controls... but I was a huge fan of the Gothic universe... I loved to go jumping to the top of the world, collect materials find an adecuate location, learn from someone how to craft something and make stuff. I love to walk around, to explore, to go back in the map just for fun, to take care not to be seen when opening a chest in a house... All these thing i loved from the gothic universe were lost. simply lost. More awful I almost got trapped because i returned to a place i shouldn't have. (INFO-SPOILER. after being the sanctuary, in the old cave you find a path to the early areas... my advice NEVER try to go back to setarryf or the jungle, once passed the jump in the black mountains there is no return... literally, had to use previous saved game data to reverse that desicion).

Hope if there is any project related, they analize the comments from the community... still a fan but not so eager to see the next tittle.

when you want to buy this game because you are a fan of the original gothic series you may be disappointed as this is not a real gothic game imo. they have picked some characters from the predecessors put them in a 0815 rpg wrote gothic 4 on it and sell it to the ingenuous fan. if i would have payed more than 8 € i would have been realy pissed off.

first the pros:

graphics are nice with grass and bump mapping.

i had no bugs or crashes.

thats it.

the cons:

more or less short plain story and not very immersive.

the world (island) is large but as most parts of it are unwalkable. it is separated into small patches which are connected by small crossings (bridge, valley, cave) and often need to be unlocked first (by quests etc). so you are very limited where you can be and i rarely have gone back into a previous patch.

when you jump into water you die. when you jump on most rocks you slide as if you are not supposed to be there.

there are plenty of teleporters but each one is connected to another one (close) and not to everyone you unlocked. so when you need to go back (rare) you need to walk. pure inconvenience.

the story is not very thrilling, believable or fancy. it doesnt match into the complex and immersive gothic world.

the gameplay is not very challenging imo. you collect incredients fight monsters do some quests upgrade your character rinse repeat. no real decisions to make and no real freedom.

there are 4 collector quests where you shall collect items all over the world to get really good equipment. i picked a map of them as when you forget one you dont get anything out of them. and i dont have time to search the whole game world as most of them are really bad to find even with map. thats a timesink to stretch play time without content imo.

so when you look for a successor of gothic 1-3 you wont get it. you get a usual rpg with nice graphics and some familiar persons and concepts. i have the impression it has been developed for the casual gamer to extend the market.

dont get me wrong its a good game and you will have fun with it. but it does not satisfy the high expectations i have when i buy a gothic. so its a step backwards in many issues.

ArcaniA is not a terrible game by any stretch. It just doesn't live up to the Gothic Series. It does some things very well, graphics being one of them. The voice acting isn't bad IMO though I'm sure some would disagree with me. I'm enjoying playing it, though it's only a casual involvement and my expectations were quite low. Definitely worth the very discounted price I paid for it. I'll probably go back to it now and then but it will never be on my short list of favorite RPGs.

If the phrase standard or run of the mill offends you, don't get this game. It's not bad, it's actually quite good compared to Gothic III: Forsaken Gods but is it "ground breaking?" A "must play RPG?" An "best of the year?" No. But is it fun? Yes! It's the most action centered of the fours games but still RPG enough for us RPG people. If you are a die hard fun of Gothic I or II, don't think of this as Gothic 4 think of it as just another RPG with some Gothic references, you'll enjoy it much more this way. The game world is vast much like the past games with lots nooks to explore, one funny thing is much like the Witcher you can rob everyone blind without anyone even noticing, not even an "but Avatar is that virtuous?" two e-cookies if you get that joke. Graphically it's the best looking of the bunch and has Xbox 360 era of graphics (there's a 360 port in fact but the pc one looks better.) All and all, a good game if you don't hold it up to it's name, as for me, I really like this one, maybe more so than the others.

A reasonably entertaining game. Worth picking up if it is on sale.

The good: the graphics. Very nice attention to the natural world - the wind is particularly impressive. Faces are better, too (although the people in Arcania are not particularly beautiful).

True to the series, it is a seamless world (the only loading screens are for savegames or teleporting). There are some limits to where you can go, and seawater means instant death, so this is between Dragon Age and the Elder Scrolls in terms of how explorable the world is (though closer to the latter).

The bad: the game feels dumbed down, and is much more linear than the previous installment.

Even though the game is nominally open-ended, for each area, some obstacle keeps you there until you complete the main quest. There are very few quests that can be done in parallel, and very few choices to make in the game.

There are no limits to your inventory (carrying hundreds of iron ingots seems a little silly), so an auto-sort button, a la Dragon Age would have been nice.

It can be disabled, but there are sparkling butterflies highlighting every object worth picking up in-game.

The leveling system is dull, with few choices to make.

Overall, this is a much less sophisticated game than the previous ones. However, it has nice visuals and is reasonably fun.

An entertaining RPG ..It seems to have more in common with Dragon Age than it does with the Gothic series ... There is no doubt that the game has been consolfied making it better to play on a console. The graphics are very impressive..however you will need a monster of a machine to do it true justice. Despite these issues based on its own merits i feel that it is still worhty a play through..the story and characters are well defined albeit not as well as in the gothic series.

Since buying this, I have not been able to play it at all. I have a fairly new AMD Phenom 6 core system and a Radeon HD 6670 card, so I have a system that can run it. After having so much problems (even after applying all patches) I found lots of angry forum postings from people with a similar problem. So, if you have an AMD card just be wary as it evidently is never going to be patched by either JoWood or fixed by AMD with a driver patch, so you are gambling with your cash. And just for your general info, the demo will run okay on my system, but the full program doesn't, so go figure......

One of my favorite games of all time! The graphics are amazing and the character control is great. My only problems are the story fades as you reach the end and there is no benefit to having single handed weapons besides having a shield (which really doesn't do anything). However, I recommend this game to anyone who likes The Elder Scrolls series or any of the other Gothic games.

Arcania lacks a lot of what other RPGs have. It has a huge wolrd with many quests, but in the world there isnt much exploring to do and the quests dont have choices and the few choices there are have no consequenses. There is also no character customization. But it is still enjoyable as a game to play but it doesnt stand up to other RPGs.

It's quite obvious after playing Gothic 4 that it is no match for the Elder Scrolls series. Its flaws include a lack of character development, poor voice acting, a poor system of karma (no consequences for your actions) and no player freedom in terms of multiple directions for quests. On the other hand, you have a large and beautiful world that makes up for much of the game flaws.

I expected more from this game. I expected a good RPG in the Gothic III mold with deep character development, freedom of movement and an interesting plot. Instead it is a basic action orientated RPG with limited character development and a linear plot within a restricted environment.

Great graphics, poor voice acting and repetitive NPC character models.

Risen did a better job of creating a realistic world but in Arcania you can steal where-ever and when-ever you like without consequences. Your character also can carry as much as he likes including a fully working black smithy and alchemists work bench.

It is still a fun game and makes a good break from Two Worlds 2

ArcaniA is an action rpg set in the gothic universe, specifically on the small archipelago south of the main continent of Myrtana. The first section, which also acts as a tutorial, is set in a smaller island where the main charachter originally lives as a shepherd and revolves around him trying to win the hearth of his girlfriend and her father's favour. There you will also meet the first of the charachters taken from the gothic series (ie Diego). Once all the quests are completed, a misterious raiding party of paladins, belonging to the kingdom now ruled by the nameless hero of the previous games, attacks the village and kills everyone save the protagonist, which will then embark on a quest for vengeance.

Technical data

The game looks quite good and the sound department is also well made; it is reasonably bug-free, but very taxing on your system. A mid-level system will not be able to handle resolutions past 1280x960 and high details without significant slowdowns, and even a higher-end one will have occasional freezes and fps drops. Recent patches have helped reduce this effect, but not eliminated it completely.

The game

The game is a standard action RPG, with a combat system similar to the one already seen in gothic 3 with the addiction of a few "power moves" ,and encourages you to use a tactic of parry-and-counterattack based on the enemy's openings. Archery and magic are much more simple, as you simply have to aim and shoot or lock and cast the spell. The world is not very open, but rather divided into sections, unlockable by progressing in the main quest. Lots of secondary quests are also available ; these will help you obtain new equipment and experience , and are usually limited to "go there, kill 10 monsters, bring me the pelts" or "go there and bring a guy this thing", with a few variations. If you decide you want to complete every single quest, it will probably keep you playing for some 30+ hours.

Overral, I'd give this game a 3/5; The plot is very dull and monotonous, the charachters are plain, and the world, though varied and well designed, isn't particularly impressive. The action is probably the best part of the game; it's quick and resonably fun, especially against multiple enemies. Also, the few but important bugs can be very frustrating, and the lock-ups and fps drops can be a serious hamper during a fight.

Spoiler alert

Good - Graphics, Animations, AI

OK - Combat, 1st half of game FAIRLY open

Bad - No skill trainer, crafting in thin air (no alchemy tables, blacksmith anvils, etc) 2nd half of game was on a rail

Overall, I give this a 3 out of 5 stars.

Ok, so I don’t mind the new combat mechanics, and I actually find them quite enjoyable as somewhat of a hybrid between action hack and slash and the combat of open-world RPGs of the past. The game does seems to lead everyone to the inevitable jack of all trades category (mage,warrior, archer, thief), but that is a gripe I can live with.

I admit that I have been won over by the beauty of the world, particularly since the hotfix that eliminated the constant lag and jitters that plagued my early hours with the game. Sometimes I get to a cliff face, a tower top or the shore of a stormy beachfront and marvel and what a beautiful game these developers have created.

It is because of this beauty and what I believe is very significant potential that I am so disappointed by the developer’s choices on actual role playing and world exploration.

First off, one of the biggest appeals of the game to me were the statements made in developers interviews where the game would provide a large open world to go anywhere and do anything, etc. (e.g. Arcania: Gothic 4 Interview 1 on Gamespot.com – direct quotes “… it is a completely open world..”, “…you are pretty much running around going anywhere you want to go…kicking ass and taking names…”). Unfortunately, this is not an accurate depiction and it seems to go against the developers intentions. In fact, one of the key design concepts seems to be to artificially gate the world with often inexplicable (and to me story and role play breaking) obstacles.

One particularly bad example of this is on the second island when you want to get across the first bridge which is guarded by brigands. Despite the fact that you are attempting to gain entrance to the camp to fight the brigands and kill the tough-guy leader, you are not able to challenge the two idiotic guards at the gate blocking your entrance. Instead you are forced to follow a very specific quest objective in order to pass into the brigand camp, to then of course fight all of the brigands and the leader. If you were going to fight them all anyway, why did you need to follow the elaborate scheme to get the first two weak guards to let you in the camp in the first place you ask? Good question. Furthermore, the brigand camp is surrounded by a relatively small wooden fence, which should be easy to jump or climb over and, in fact, is possible except for being blocked by invisible walls. At one point I was using a rock as a jumping board and the sprint boost rune to run and leap over the fence. I jumped and was in the air flying at what had to be at least 2-3 meters over the top of the fence only to smack into an invisible wall and slide back down. To me, this isn’t my idea of fun role playing. I am just following exactly as the developer intended, going through preset motions to reach a new area. I can’t just kill the guards, I can’t climb or jump over a small wooden fence, I can’t bribe the guards, nothing but what I am told to do. This design element is just one example of what seems to permeate the entire world, which is a huge shame because I think it could have easily been avoided.

I also find it unsatisfying that the game marginalizes the main character (he is often disrespected, treated as a weakling, etc. by the other NPCs) and then when you do end up fighting these NPCs, they just yield during the end of the fight and that’s the end of it. What’s even worse is that the conflict is totally pre-determined and there is often no way to avoid it via dialogue, it is simply following the motions in which the developer intended. When I play a game like this, I don’t want to feel like I am watching a movie. Furthermore, it doesn’t appeal to me to play the role of a tough, conquering hero that lets every dirt bag, farmer, alchemist, guard, etc., badmouth me without as much as a smack to the face. Sure, I could understand and support that role if it was the “players” choice, but as a developer created stipulation, it really annoys me.

I understand that it may not be practical to design a game without a mostly linear main storyline, after all almost every RPG has one. What I believe to be a necessity for this category of game is to allow players to totally ignore it if they so choose, hopefully for as long as they choose. For a game like this to limit the areas I can explore until I specifically satisfy very specific quest objectives is extremely disappointing. It makes it even more egregious that the voice acting and dialog is often quite poor, and thus I really would have appreciated the ability to skip it for as long as I wanted. Perhaps when I went out and explored the world and learned more about it, I may have been more willing to bear the burden of having to converse with the army of morons. The developers obviously put a lot of work into building this large and beautiful world; why not let player characters explore it without having to follo

What a fool I have been! Please, please, if you loved the Gothic's series and Risen, stay clear from this horrible piece of... false advertisement!

Gothic 4 my a#$, this is a piece of junk of RPG for which I wasted $40... I have read some mixed reviews online, trying to justifying the existence of this game. If you want a game with no soul, no purpose, boring like hell, which stripped off all the wonderful details that made Gothic wonderful, please go ahead and by this game. If you like RPGs that are not just a slide-show, do not even try.

Once again, I don't mind if developers decide to put in the market games like this one, what I do mind is the false advertisement which lured me in: Gothic 4!

I pre-order this game when I was 'under the influence' of Risen, I had so much fun with that one, and I said to myself: "Well, Arcania will be certainly a worthy successor....". What a fool! Not even close. Well, I guess I have learned my lesson, next time I will make sure to wait for the demo or reviews before I buy any game, it is so very disappointing that there are no moral standards anymore. Just put Gothic 4 and we will make some extra-bucks, right?

This was a major dissapointment.

Beeing a huge fan of gothic 3 i must say that they have taken a step back. Off course the graphics are better, but that is about the only place this game is better than its predecessor.

People considering buying this should look at Gothic 3 instead.

Arcania is a reasonable action-rpg of the Diablo-like kind. The graphics and world are superb, it's almost bug free and the fighting system is good. It's also very free with magic loot.

However Arcania is not a true Gothic. There is no free roam, it's highly linear, very easy, simple and lacks the gameplay depth of it's namesake. For example the crafting can be done anywhere and lacks significant utility.

Overall Arcania is a light rpg which can provide a few hours of fun until the tedium of it digs in.

As Gregs4163 stated it delivers a lot of ingredients for a solid and good RPG. As i am neither very far into the game i still feel i wished a lot of things that are left out. Perhaps i am picky when it comes to what's served but i constantly feel it was more adult, immersive and better voice acted.

Entering a new area being greeted by a character that makes me tempted to stick a fork into my eye, crawl out of my skin and hang myself in it is never a good thing. I compare it to Dragon age origins and whilst i realise these are two different games made by two different companies, it is still two rpgs. Dragon age brought blood, gore and immersion.

It has also left out the old combat system which i find out right shite, but even with some flaws it delivers a solid and good rpg. I find myself wanting to play more. I recommend it to anyone who wants an adventure because you will surely get one.

Very unhappy with this one,yes it is an open world to some extent as long as you have unlocked the new areas,but there is nothing to do or gain by exploring.The quests are very generic go hear kill this many,collect this many ETC,There are about 5 different male and female faces in the whole game its like an inbreeding convention.Even the orcs have been inbreeding EVERY orc looks the same,same face same body,same clothes.

The game is full of thing that have not been finished beds fires,blacksmith all have things that you can do but have no real use like they was going to include it but then cut it out.The weather is a joke it looks great but it is clear blue sky then within 3 seconds it black and thundering then 7 seconds later the wet floor and rain are gone and its completely dry with clear blue skys.Same with the day/night cycle daylight 1 minute night time 10 mins later its doesnt gradually change it changes in seconds same as the weather.

I read it was an open world with around 30 to 60+ hours of gameplay but ive read of people doing all the quests and most side quests and finishing it in 15+ hours,i realy wanted to like this as there havent been many realy good RPG's this year but apart from the great graphics its not got much going for it IMHA.

Very good game. Doesnt seem to be as buggy as the previous installment of gothic. Thats already a plus. Have only been playing for a short while though. Anyone familiar wirh Oblivion or the previous gothic series will feel right at home. Rather intensive on the graphics card though, so be warned.

So far it's living up to my expectations (about 8 hours in), large open world, great graphics & lighting and descent story. No major bugs to be found (so far)which is a good thing! The only two things that I wish it had were the option to play in first person as in the Elder Scroll games and or the ability to scroll zoom on your character (maybe in a patch), neither are deal breakers though and I can live without them. The voice acting is pretty good and the variety of creatures also are a big plus. Over all I give this game a solid 4 star rating and look forward to finishing all that it has to offer