Confession time! Gothic and Gothic II (minus its Night of the Raven expansion pack) are the only two games I’m familiar with in the series, and even then, I’ve never played either one to completion. I’m sure Gothic II would have sucked me in a bit more had the add-on not taken a couple of years to be localized into English, but unfortunately I’ll probably never know at this point. I realize that probably makes some of you shake your head at me in disgust, but there are just too many other games vying for my time these days.
Despite not being all that familiar with the franchise, Arcania: Gothic 4 was one of several games that I definitely wanted to check out at this year’s E3. When I stopped by the booth, DreamCatcher producer Bryan Cook treated me to a brief demonstration, and then he set me loose on a playable build of the game. You’ve probably already read a dozen articles covering the hands-off demonstration, so I’ll do my best to spotlight the lesser known information that I gathered during the 15 minutes or so of hands-on time that I nabbed.
Character creation is pretty simplistic, as there are no races or classes to pick from. In fact, you’re not even allowed to play as a female protagonist. Beyond that, there are eight skill trees to allocate points to, including Mettle (melee attacks, melee power, stamina regeneration), Discipline (melee combos, health, melee power), Vigour (shield attacks, health, stamina), Precision (ranged attacks, mana, ranged power), Stealth (flanking/backstab attacks, health, ranged power), Zeal (fire-based spells, magic power, mana regeneration), Serenity (cold-based spells, mana, mana regeneration), and Dominance (electricity-based spells, magic power, mana). Three skill points are gained with each character level increase, and a total of sixteen points can be spent within each skill tree. Each skill point increase requires an equal number of levels, however, so you won’t max out any of your skill trees until at least level 16.
For each point that you allocate to a skill tree, you’ll gain small percentage bonuses to primary character statistics (such as mana and mana regeneration, as listed above). Additionally, abilities are unlocked at particular increments, depending on the skill tree. For example, allocating four points into the Discipline tree unlocks the “Rain of Blows” combo attack, thirteen points into Stealth unlocks the “Ambush” ability, and sixteen points into Dominance unlocks the “Storm of Torment” spell.
The initial section of the game takes place on a tutorial island called Feschyr, though the second island, Argaan, will house a vast majority of the game’s content. There are six unique cultures that we’ll be dealing with in the game (the fishing village at Feschyr, the trappers that inhabit the area around the Cleave Maiden tavern, Tooshoo, Stewark, Setariff, and Thorniara), and each one features its own set of beliefs, attitudes, and equipment. Navigating the game’s two islands is aided by a minimap and quest markers, though both aids can be turned off if you prefer to explore on your own volition. Exploration seems to work pretty seamlessly in the game, too, since there are absolutely no loading screens (aside from when you move between the two islands). However, despite being labeled as an “open world” RPG, I’d actually call it a “gated world”. Not far into the game, you’ll discover that higher level areas are inaccessible until you’ve unlocked them via the main quest or side quests. The areas that were available for me to explore seemed pretty interesting, though, as there are quite a few unique points of interest, a variety of different creatures to kill, some sweet-looking “dynamic” weather effects to stare at, and various mining deposits and plants to harvest for crafting.
Combat has been “streamlined” (an RPG enthusiast’s favorite buzzword), with the game’s combos being pulled off with various combinations of three buttons and abilities being triggered with up to eight player-selected quickslots. More powerful attacks can be performed by holding down the necessary button and watching as a number of red dots begin to glow in succession. When all of the dots are lit up, your charged melee/ranged/spell attack is at maximum power. Bow/crossbow and spell attacks have to be aimed at an opponent with a thumbstick or mouselook, though you can lock onto an enemy with the press of another button (a trigger on the Xbox 360, for example) to make precise aiming much easier. Each attack drains a certain amount of your character’s stamina, though stamina regenerates by default, and you can increase its regeneration rate by allocating points to certain skill trees or by wearing certain equipment. Health does not regenerate by default, though I’m told that some items are imbued with health regeneration properties. Eating food, using bandages, or quaffing a healing potion will also restore lost health.
The crafting system is broken up into two sections within your journal – “equipment” and “alchemy & food”. Unfortunately, the press demo I was playing didn’t have any crafting recipes available, but I was assured that there are “a lot” of items that can be crafted as long as you’ve learned the appropriate recipe from a scroll. Speaking of items, Bryan told me that there are over 100 weapons in the game (which seems a bit low for an RPG), and these are broken up among one-handed melee weapons, two-handed melee weapons, bows, and crossbows. There are also 3-4 unique sets of armor for each of the game’s six cultures, though armor is only comprised of two pieces – the suit itself is one piece, and then you can pair a helmet with it. There are also shields, bracers, necklaces, and rings, and all of these items can obviously sport various magical effects. For example, my character was wielding a two-handed sword called the Storm Sword of the Obsidian Guard, and it had a 25% chance to both paralyze and inflict 90 extra points of damage on each successful hit.
In addition to keeping track of all your crafting recipes, the game’s journal system also records all pertinent information about your current and completed quests. A bestiary section is also included, though this only gets fleshed out as you encounter each creature type. For example, killing a “Shore Slime” along the beach will add a “Coastal Goo” entry to your bestiary. Such an entry features a 3D animation of the creature and a brief description of it. Other creatures I encountered were a Snapper, a Swampshark, and a Lizard, and all of these had separate entries within the bestiary.
And that’s about everything I could digest during my brief time with the game. The game certainly shows promise in some areas, but it’s tough to tell how the final product will turn out in such a limited amount of time. In particular, the combat animations seemed a bit rough on the Xbox 360 build I was playing and the console-friendly feel of the game makes me think that the PC controls are going to suffer. Hopefully Spellbound takes the remaining few months to continue polishing the game so that Arcania: Gothic 4 is the AAA release they want it to be.
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