Gothic Review

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            Gothic

Review by Old Rooster March 2002

Gothic, a European-developed RPG/adventure/action single-player epic journey, elicits a range of descriptive phrases—incredible character interaction, eerie A.I., sprawling game world, complex and involving story, difficult control scheme, extreme length, lack of initial orientation and direction.

Most of these descriptors would be superlatives; some refer to warts and minor to medium flaws (idiosyncrasies?) in an otherwise remarkable game.

“I Have a Letter for the High Mage”

You, the player and hero, are literally dropped into the Barrier, an otherworldly prison about the size of a county, being run by the inmates. With little background, you are simply instructed by a helping hand to find the Castle in the Old Camp, be wary along the way, and deliver an important sealed letter. Simple enough, isn’t it?

But what is the Old Camp, and where are you? Gothic takes place in the land of Myrtana, a society engaged in a bitter war with Orks. Precious materials needed for the war effort have been enclosed within a protective shield called the Barrier. Unfortunately, the Mages who created the shield have been inadvertently trapped inside, along with the resident prison population. A barter-oriented and fractionalized society has evolved among the convicts, who have taken over life inside the Barrier.

Indeed, there are three distinct societies. The Old Camp consists of the original revolters, who generally accept the fact of the Barrier and have set up an uneasy trade of ore for goods/services with the King. Separating from them was a smaller group, termed the New Camp, dedicated to trying to blow up the Barrier in order to get free. And, finally, some religious extremists formed the Brotherhood—a sect growing a hallucinogenic weed, fostering visions, developing and selling magical scrolls, and praying the Barrier will come down. Tension among these three groups runs high, with even the original Mages splitting into Old and New camps.

How Is Gothic Set up and Managed?

Although installing and running fairly well on my system, which is just above the minimum specs, it’s clear that one should look to recommended specs, or higher, as the best way to go with this game. I was able to play it but did experience considerable slowdowns and CD accessing, as well as having to turn the graphics down to a minimal level—800×600, 16-bit. Gothic takes about 700 MB of hard drive space, not bad by today’s gigabyte+ standards.

Gothic’s manual is sparse, perhaps deliberately so. The Barrier is described, as are character types, weapons, skills and talents. Keyboard commands are outlined, and here is where we encounter the most controversial and criticized aspect of Gothic—the controls. No doubt about it; they are different! Third-person movement (with finely done following camera) enables mouse-look for direction and 360-degree panning, but that’s all the mousing you can do. Left and right mouse buttons mean nothing, even with menu selections.  Instead, you have two-key combinations for virtually everything you desire. Ctrl+arrow up is used to perform actions (pick up, speak, open doors), while Ctrl+arrows are used for combat and spell casting.  It’s initially a bit discombobulating, even angering to some. But, if I may use this analogy: it’s as if Helga gave me a new BMW with manual instead of automatic transmission. I may not be used to it and may have a learning curve, but it’s still a BMW and will drive excellently once I get it going. So, too, with Gothic; give it time, it’s well worth it!

A special note: The primary web site dealing with Gothic is run by the good folks at RPGDot.com, specifically at this link. Dedicated players have gone to extraordinary lengths to answer questions and generally embellish your gaming experience.  Even very useful maps of the Barrier are available, as well as hints and other kinds of advice. Using this site is a needed component of playing and living with Gothic. I wish all such fan sites, or even gaming homepages, had this level of depth and helpfulness.

How Does Gothic Look and Sound?

As mentioned, I could only minimally run this game on my system.  Nevertheless, the depth and richness of the world was still in colorful evidence, despite the resolution being set to 800×600 or even 640×480.  Storms, as well as day/night cycles, enrich the huge landscape.  With my rig, Gothic isn’t as pretty or as fluid as games using the Quake 3 engine, but I’m sure more powerful systems, able to run the available 1280×1024, 32-bit option, will provide quite a higher-level graphical experience.

Since the game is conversationally driven, the most important aural concern relates to the acting and translations from the original German. With very few exceptions, the work is finely done, contributing to the believability of your experience in Myrtana. Subtitles are available, if you wish to turn off the sound. Ambient sounds (crickets at night, etc.) are satisfactory, and the mood-sensitive music is excellent.

“Don’t You Have a Plan of Where You Want to Go?” —Tagalong Helper

Initially, Gothic plays more like an adventure than an RPG.  Your character is a tabula rasa who, upon arrival to the Old Camp, is equipped with little but a pickaxe. Considerable time needs to be spent building inventory and skills, especially since you are initially quite defenseless.

So your tasks become twofold: discover more about the Barrier, and perform a few odd jobs to build your “character.”  It is in the discovery and building process that Gothic reveals its gameplay distinctiveness. Conversations, responses, decisions, alliances—all become pivotal in your journey. Multiple paths may be taken, as well as “personalities” assumed. Character building isn’t done by selecting from a bunch of stats at the beginning, but rather is a dynamic process running the course of the game.  From the broad decision of which group (Camp) to join, to other possibilities, Gothic offers multiple paths and different endings. The choice of Warrior or Wizard, and variations in between, is yours to make along your journey (the direction of which is also yours to make!).

As you may imagine, Gothic is potentially a very long game, claimed by the developers to have over 100 hours of play possibility.  I can well believe it. After about 40 hours, at a point I guessed was halfway, I became determined to move quickly to some kind of conclusion in order to pen this review. This took another 25 hours of play, even with advice from RPGDot.com. I’ll be reentering the Barrier as soon as we’re done here, in order to make some different choices, explore, and go other directions. The story outcome, at least with my ending, was rather weak; but it’s the process, the joy of the journey itself, that is key to Gothic’s fun.

“If You Want to Join the Camp, You Need People to Speak up for You!” —Sly

Having just joined FFC, I knew the wisdom of this advice! But this is a game, isn’t it? Even more than The Sims, Myrtana seems populated by NPCs (nonplayable characters) with personalities and even agendas. It’s not only critical to take notes during direct conversational trees, but also helpful to listen and learn from background dialogues among Castle guards, for example. You may overhear this kind of exchange: “There must be something true about that.” “But, I thought it was cleared up ages ago.”  “No, that wasn’t very clever.” “Yeah, it’s the same old story every time.” If these stimulate your curiosity, you can approach one of more of the NPCs to expand. Of course, depending on your loyalties and status, they may or may not be friendly and receptive. When you do have occasion for combat, the control difficulty initially rears its ugly head, but not in such a way as to be a serious detriment to the fun of the game. Indeed, those action-deprived readers will be pleased to discover that combat can often be avoided and occurs rarely. When it does, it’s not so bad—especially if you have taken skill training and are properly equipped. Run, don’t walk, when near creatures in the game’s beginning!

“If You Want to Join, You’ll Have to Earn Some Brownie Points” —Diego

Much as we may expect of a prison world society, the NPCs in Myrtana are wary, skeptical, sometimes unfriendly. Loyalty is critical, and it affects your status, skill development, and ultimately your quest. If you choose smart-ass comments (my natural inclination), you’ll get responses like: “Hey, this guy’s funny; I don’t like funny guys,” followed by a sound thrashing (but not killing, at least from guards and prisoners). Further, NPCs remember what’s occurred, they talk to others about it, and your reputation follows you! That almost bears repeating, since this “aliveness” of the NPCs is the single most remarkable technical accomplishment of Gothic. You’ll have comments made to you like this: “There’s Throws over there; you’ve already met him,” as well as references to previous conversations and whether you impressed that NPC as friendly or hostile. I diddled about with this, during my first 40 hours, went back to save games, selecting different NPC encounters and conversation tree choices—every time with a differing outcome. Other games claiming to give “two different branches or solutions” to a story pale in comparison to Gothic, with its complexity and almost infinite variation.  Although there are endings, and some necessary funneling, Gothic is still the least linear story game I’ve ever played. It’s the nearest, in my experience, that a single-player game has come to rivaling the depth and complexities of an MMORPG such as EverQuest.

Is Gothic Fun and Recommended?

If you’ve plowed through my wordiness above, that’s clearly a rhetorical question. Yes, indeed, Gothic is fun and recommended—as a Gold Star, Creme de la Creme, must-have, essential purchase.

With a novel, large and intricate set of societies, coupled with excellent graphics and sound, as well as the best A.I. this side of Black & White, Gothic becomes one of the most immersive and believable single-play adventure/RPGs ever. The story (teen rated) is gritty, rather dark, not really uplifting—it is a prison society, after all. But this is a game where the intricacies and marvels of the journey (the “who,” more than the “what” or even “where”), regardless of outcome, are well worth the price of admission. Try it out.

Games Gothic Brought to Mind

  • Black & White—for the learning quality of the A.I.
  • Omikron—for the attempt to create a living, believable world.
  • Baldur’s Gate II—for the sheer length of the story.
  • Outcast—for the initial strangeness and ambiguity of direction.
  • The Sims—for the lifelike interactions of NPCs.

What I Liked the Most

The socially large and complex world; the A.I. and consequences of interactions with NPCs; the quality (even at a reduced level) of the graphics.

What I Liked the Least

Controls take some getting used to; the game is demanding on my system; the story is dark and gloomy. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Piranha Bytes Publisher: Xicat Interactive Release Date: Fall 2001 (U.S. version 108j)

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

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System Requirements

PII 400 (PIII 600 recommended) 128 MB RAM (192 MB recommended) 16 MB 3D video card (32 MB recommended) 700 MB free hard disk space

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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17 Responses to First Impressions: Heavy Rain

  • Toger

    I hate QTEs, but Heavy Rain is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for me to push the button. I don’t even own a PS3, but I plan on buying the game anyway. I do have a good friend who’ll let me play at his house. Of course, I’ll have to drive 100 miles, one way, through the snow to get to his house. His chat-happy birds will cheerfully chirp thereby completely disrupting any atmosphere, but I can play.

  • David

    What!?  Heavy Rain is full of QTEs?  I totally did not see that coming.

    The whole dad experience thing sounds intriguing.  I’m already getting odd looks from my girlfriend for exclaiming over cute kids on the bus or at the mall, something like what you described might send my biological clock over the edge.

  • Lewis B

    My sentiments exactly David!

    Mat has been playing the Heavy Rain demo for a while now, and although he admits he is intrigued by the story, he does constantly complain about the control method.

    R2 + Analogue stick to run? *scoff*

  • Gregg B

    @Lew: DEMO?! PS3 DEMO?! *runs off to PS3*

    That sounds like the Batman: Arkham Asylum controls – Crazy Bonkers Design. The sort of design that puts pull handles on push doors.

    @Steerpike: “I despise children. They are disgusting and annoying. They knock things over. They interfere with everything. They’re not useful until they’re at least 13, when you can get them to mow the lawn and stuff. But you can pay a service to do that for just a few hundred bucks a year and the service won’t vomit on you, shit in its diapers, grow up to resent you, or otherwise suck. Don’t flame me and don’t post comments to the contrary: kids are repulsive. Why anyone would want them is beyond my feeble imaginings.”

    HAHAhahaha- I er, – hahahaha – you’re as outspoken as me about demon spawn children.

  • Lewis B

    Yeah its been on the internet for weeks and weeks Greggi.  I think you have to do a couple of online puzzles etc to get the appropriate code or something.

    Search on Kotaku, they first ran with it IIRC.

  • Mat

    The puzzle code was for early access before it hit the PSN Store. It’s been available to all since last week.

    Regarding the demo, it took me around 3 or 4 attempts at it to appreciate it. First time around I couldn’t have been more dissapointed by it, but after the 3rd or 4th I decided I wanted to stick with it. I don’t think the demo is a particularly great example of what the game supposedly does best either – choice. I also HATE the control scheme and some of the voice acting is so wooden. Creating an immersive, realistic game is fine but having characters stumbling into tables and fridges because of the ham fisted controls, and listening to French voice actors impersonate Americans does remove that realism a little!

    Still, I rushed out to buy it this morning and will rush home from work to play it in about an hour!

  • xtal

    @ Toger: I don’t own a PS3 either, and it’s not like Heavy Rain seems to be “that” game which makes you run out and buy one– like Bioshock made me run out and get a 360– and it’s also not like this game looks groundbreaking in any way, because it really doesn’t. It’s just got me curious…and people tend to do crazy things the week after they get their yearly bonus. Soooooo yeah, who knows; maybe I’ll own a PS3 soon, but like hell I would admit that it was for Heavy Rain. Psh. I’d tell people it was because I wanted to watch BSG on blu-ray; though anyone who knows me would see right through that lie since I am an avid non-format-upgrader: I’ll switch my BSG collection from DVD to blu-ray the day I upgrade my copy of Jurassic Park from VHS to DVD. (Hint: never)

  • Toger

    @xtal: I’m in no hurry to upgrade my meagre DVD collection to blu-ray either, but I have to say the movies I’ve watched on my friend’s PS3 are absolutely stunning. Blade Runner was simply breath-taking in blu-ray and it made me want a PS3. I don’t think Heavy Rain will be a system seller for me, but I’m betting the game from the Ico team will.

  • xtal

    A game from the Ico team, you say? Hmmm. I’ve been making rounds on Kijiji and Craigslist looking for a copy of Ico (eBay prices are so shudder-inducing) for a few days now. I really need to play that game after my experience with the indescribable Shadow of the Colossus.

    It’s good to know they haven’t died some Interplay-esque death in the meantime.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Nope, they’re a small team that works within Sony. Fumito Ueda is the lead and he’s got like ten or so people who’ve worked with him on all his games. Sony pretty much lets them do what they want.

    The Last Guardian is the game that’s coming up from them. It looks more like Ico and less like Shadow of the Colossus to me, which is to say it appears to be focused on platform elements. If I didn’t already have a PS3, it’d be the game that sells it.

  • Gregg B

    @Toger: Ooh, Blade Runner on Blu-ray, gorgeous in all its gorgeosity. In 5.1 it sounds incredible too.

    I bought my PS3 for Team Ico’s unnamed-at-the-time game, Heavy Rain (back when it was just a teaser), LittleBig Planet (yes, yes, I know), Dead Space and Motor Storm: Pacific Rift which sort of pushed me off the fence.

  • Toger

    Gregg, oh yes. The surround sound was spectacular. Did I mention my friend’s HDTV is 72″ (obscene, isn’t it)? It’s like being at a high-class theatre: better food, pauses for bathroom breaks and no one talking through the movie.

    Is Trine up on PSN, yet? If so, that might be my tipping point: Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and Trine.

  • Gregg B

    *spits tea out, despite not drinking any*

    O_O

    72″?! I’m speechless. I can only imagine how awesome that is. Size does matter.

    Not so sure about Trine… hang on. I think it is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I think it is too, Toger. I’ll check.

    To be honest, though, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the purchase even if Trine’s not there yet. I’ve been way happier with my PS3 than with my 360. Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted, Folklore, even little games like Flower – I’ve had more concentrated fun with the PS3 than with Microsoft’s console, which tends to gather dust for months between game releases.

    72″???? I thought size didn’t matter!

  • Toger

    Size doesn’t matter. 😀

    In my friend’s defense, it was a great deal: opened box, itty-bitty scratch on the case, not a dead pixel to be seen and it was less $$ than the 60″ he originally wanted.

    Thanks for checking guys. I’ve played a tiny bit of Uncharted, but I’m horrible at the combat. Flower intrigues me. As does Demon’s Souls, but I know that game will crush my soul.

  • Gregg B

    There were certain moments in Flower where it just totally succeeded in conveying a feeling that I can’t say I’ve had in many other games, usually when rushing across a field through the grass or through a canyon or just skimming a pond, but it was never anything to do with collecting bloody petals or fulfilling some rudimentary puzzle. I think my problem with it was that it felt like it was trying to be this deeply emotional piece but in the end there seemed to be too many concessions to being a game rather than just running with the emotive side of the experience. One thing I am sure about though, is the trophies. Don’t get me started on the fucking trophies…

    One of my favourite little games on the PS3 is Everyday Shooter. It’s got a brilliant soundtrack that suits its raw visual style and I love how each level requires a certain tactic or strategy to survive it. It’s a very satisfying game in small bursts.

  • Hanover

    Unfortunately Cage mucked up the ending yet again.  The problem is that the mechanic of the game forced them to have to cheat in order to prevent spoiling the mystery of the game.

    There is also a red herring that makes no sense and is obviously put there to misdirect the player.

    90% of the game is awesome, the last 10% while not as bad as the indigo prophecy, is still sloppy.

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