Gothic 3 Preview

Yahoo! Games has whipped up a two-page preview of Gothic 3, after spending some firsthand time with a recent press build of Pirahna Bytes’ RPG.

The magic system isn’t quite as open ended as the skill system. There are three gods and if you want to cast spells, you’ll have to commit to one of them, at the exclusion of the other two. Each god has its own arsenal of 12 to 15 unique spells. Choose among an evil god with traditional damaging spells, a good god with healing and buff spells, and an elemental god with ice and water attacks.

We were able to play around with a pretty cool animal transformation spell to disguise our character as the target creature. We were also able to try a summoning spell with a slightly tricky timing gimmick; if you don’t cast it just right, the summoned creature won’t be very friendly. We were pleased to discover a modicum of realism in the spellcasting: to recover mana, you can’t just rest for an hour in the middle of a perilous dungeon. Instead, you have to rest at safe spots, or use potions.