I've been travelling for 25 hours, and now I'm in Utah. There's snow, and buildings made from wood. Why do I tell you this? Because I'm knackered and want to have a little moan. Pity me. Weep for me. Tell me you love me.
Cheery news, however: 1) there's a big pot of coffee right next to me. 2) Gothic creators Piranha Bytes might be getting their original franchise/universe back, having had to hand over the rights to erstwhile publisher JoWood some time ago.
]]>'Bittersweet' covers this news, I suppose. Arcania: Gothic 4 was a picturesque but depressingly stupid RPG, and one I couldn't bear to finish despite a lingering hope that at some point it would suddenly open up and improve. None of this was the fault of series creators Piranha Bytes, who lost the rights in a spat with publisher JoWood, but fortunately went off to make the far more interesting Risen instead.
Nonetheless, Arcania was deemed successful enough to warrant a standalone expansion, Fall of Setarrif, which promised 10 more hours of monster-bothering and a bit more variety. It sounded quite literally "okay." We shall never know for sure - Setariff has indeed fallen. And in a really weird way.
]]>PC gaming truth machine Blues News reports that Fall of Setarrif, the standalone expansion for ArcaniA - Gothic 4 has both a trailer (which you'll find below) and a new site, bearing a new release date. March 25th! It's like Christmas in March, except a slightly underwhelming Christmas where all the food is a bit cold. Anyway, March 25th- that's barely enough time to get the game and finish it! You may be better off reading if Alec's impressions of Gothic 4.
]]>JoWood have announced that ArcaniA is to received a standalone expansion, called Fall of Setarrif, on March 25th. In it you can play a new character, or you can import your character from the original game. The new campaign is reportedly ten hours long, so it's significantly smaller than the main game - and so we can perhaps expect a budget price tag on this? TBC!
]]>Fantasy RPG Gothic 4 is out! I played it a bunch, hoping it would be another Risen. Is it? Well...
It says 'Impressions' at the top instead of 'Wot I Think' because I'm either a coward or a man of honour, depending on your particular take on the old time-to-valid-opinion formula. Of course, I do have superhuman critical prescience. Show me 10 minutes of your game, a screenshot, the box art - hell, even just the first letter of its title, and I'll be able to instantly recount its probable Metacritic rating within 2 per cent.* I already know what I would score World of Warcraft 2, Half-Life 3 and Respawn Studios' unannounced first project.** I'm just that damned good.***
But you lot don't trust me, do you?
]]>Hold onto your hat/kettle helmet/spangenhelm! Gothic 4, aka ArcaniaA: Gothic 4, has been released on European direct download sites. North Americans will have to wait until the 19th (EDIT: Turns out NA residents can get it now on GamersGate), and I'm not sure about the rest of the world. As I type this I am imagining some furious Mexican RPS fan throwing his morning tequila sour out of the window. So it goes.
Cautious readers should know that Alec's Wot I Think of Gothic 4 will be with us shortly, and that there's a demo out. Impulsive, spendthrift readers can probably decide whether they want Gothic 4 based on the latest trailer, which can be found below.
]]>The relaunch of the Gothic series, ArcaniA: Gothic 4, is out in about three weeks. Created by German team Spellbound, after former developers Piranha Bytes split acrimoniously from publishers JoWood in 2007, it's an attempt to continue the hardcore fantasy series in a way more optionally accessible to newcomers. (E.g. you can still play it like a loony, or you can switch on the comforts of a compass, etc). A demo has been released to give you a taste of all this.
]]>So, Gothic 4 trailer, then? I'm ten seconds into this before the voice-over mentions - without any visible trace of irony - "an island under attack by an ancient evil". I can imagine the debate in the Spellbound office - "Isn't this completely clichéd nonsense?" "No - you see, this is an island under attack from an ancient evil. Not a land, country, world, etc, etc. We're actually the new Planescape Torment we're being that original" "Wait... how big is this island? Because a lot of islands are tiny. Are we talking Australia or are we talking the Isle of Man? Some Islands would be threatened by the average rowdy stag-do." "Stop worrying! We're golden! And we're called ArcaniA! That's some original typography right there, man."
]]>It's been a while since I've remembered there's a Gothic 4 coming. But no, not Gothic 4. It's ArcaniA: A Gothic Tale we were told in 2008. Except, um, now it seems to be ArcaniA: Gothic 4. Not developed by previous Gothic devs, Piranha Bytes (who of course made last year's Risen), it's instead coming from Spellbound. It was delayed last year when JoWood announced they wanted to make some significant improvements and put lots more money in. Now it seems to be re-emerging with a couple of new in-game trailers.
]]>Gamespot reported some peculiar Gothic 4 news this weekend. Not least that it's no longer called Gothic 4.
The series, while huge in mainland Europe, hasn't managed similar success in the UK, and hasn't really managed to break North America at all. In an attempt to address this, and hopefully relaunch the franchise for the Anglos, it's to be called, Arcania: A Gothic Tale. More strangely, the US and European versions of the game are going to be different colours.
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