Oblivion

[Alneyan]

Cainehill said:
Hmm - Gothic 2 : You consider that ActionRPG a la Diablo, or what? I've been thinking about getting it, especially since I understand the gold version fixed a number of flaws.

Gothic II is kind of in the vein of the Elder Scrolls, at least at first glance. In Gothic you only play one character (either first person view or third person), it has its own skill system with crafting in particular, and it also focuses somewhat on guilds and the like. The game is relatively open-ended, at least in the way you can do things; its story is pretty much linear, near as I can tell.

That's about as far as the resemblance goes, though. Gothic II has a more subdued atmosphere, with less magic to go around than that other game, and a somewhat darker universe. I have found the world to be very engaging, in both town and countryside. Unlike in the Elder Scrolls, there are three classes with somewhat different paths, skills and quests, and your character level is actually relevant. The gameworld seems to be pretty much fixed; at least I know I got beaten up pretty quickly while strolling in some nasty places.

Gothic seems to do a relatively good job with the story and dialogue. I haven't seen any mention of Elves for starters (I haven't shed a tear for their sake). Dialogues don't go the Ultima VII style, but are instead of the "Pick the A, B or C line" variety. Characters aren't silent when you speak to them, unlike games coming from, say, Bioware. I know I mind commercial games without voice-acting very much these days; if all the game can do is show some pretty graphics, I'll do something else for my graphic needs and will stick to more textual-oriented games. Hmm, I digress.

The biggest problem I have with Gothic II is the German curse, though the game wasn't bit quite as bad as, say, the Anstoss series (most of them have not been released outside Germany, and the Anstoss games that have been translated were published under different games, just to make sure nobody can recognise them). It took the whole of two years for the add-on to be translated into English, thanks to a particularly talented publisher near as I know, and the game was released at a premium price (at least in France). $75 for a three-year old game, its add-on and their respective delays? Well, perhaps not then. Shame I don't understand German *very* well... hey PrinzMegaherz, will you marry me?

[Cainehill]

Heh. Whereas here, Gothic II Gold (in English) (with an expansion that fixed some problems) is currently less than $20, making it worth considering.

[Alneyan]

Bah, don't worry. All I need is some knowledge of German, and I'll be happy afterwards.

It's the same Gold version we have here... well, except that it is perhaps half-translated, and it's hard as hell to find a box. All major Internet sites I've found only offer Gothic II and (if I'm lucky) the add-on separately, for a total sum of... between 75€ and 85€, shipping not included. A little bit under $100 I guess. Amazon can import Gothic II without the add-on from the UK for €25, or the Gold version from Germany for a mere €15... a bargain, if you are on speaking terms with Goethe.

Did I mention the publisher who was supposed to distribute Gothic II (the initial release, which we obtained a few months before the US if memory serves) has gone bankrupt a few months after the release? Of course, they didn't make much of a show of advertising the game either.

[Morkilus]

What about gogamer.com? It doesn't say this version is German, and it's twenty bucks.

http://www.gogamer.com/cgi-bin/GoGam.../View/001GOT2G

[Alneyan]

I was under the impression that Gogamer only shipped to the US, Alaska and Hawaii, along with US military bases abroad (looking at their Shipping options page). I know several other notable websites turned me down, including Amazon.com after several tries ("nope, product only ships to the US and Canada. Please look up your local Amazon website, and so on and so forth").

Not that international orders are an option for me these days, unless I *really* want it. No international debit card (either in my possession or in the hands of anyone I know) and shipping fees, that sort of thing. There still are a few import shops, though it has been dwindling of late. I miss my Amiga days (that was only ten years ago), where I had no trouble buying games imported straight from the UK.

Have I been digressing again?

[OG_Gleep]

Well if you consider Oblivon an Action RPG, from what I understand as Alneyan said, the two games are in the same style. Gothic II if I remember right was given good reviews across the board, as was the recent gold edition.

I personally don't see either game as an action rpg ala diablo, dungeon siege, or NWN. From my memory, a lot of Oldschool RPGs were solo romps, but ya I too miss the party based systems.

Alexti, ya thats what I thought you ment, but for the purpose of the discussion the goal was to categorize the RPGs in their respective genre as while each took different approaches to it, they all shared the same goal ...deliver a compelling single player adventure through the use of the normal RPG tools. Even then my groupings probably would have been different (Pools of Raidence reminded me of BG for instance).

NT - ya I was referring to the main campaign. We did load up some of the modules, and I tried a couple of them myself once some of the big ones came out. I dunno, I just never liked the system. Create a new character specifically for the purpose of playing for 4 hours? Didn't see all that appealing to me.

[NTJedi]

OG_Gleep said:
NT - ya I was referring to the main campaign. We did load up some of the modules, and I tried a couple of them myself once some of the big ones came out. I dunno, I just never liked the system. Create a new character specifically for the purpose of playing for 4 hours? Didn't see all that appealing to me.

Well if you felt your character was advancing too quickly some modules are available which slow down the speed. You could identify a slower speed and combine 3 or 4 modules using the same character.
Also you could always try playing a DM while you have friends/relatives explore a module you downloaded. I personally found this to be very fun... just remember with great power comes great responsibility.

[PrinzMegaherz]

Alneyan said:
Bah, don't worry. All I need is some knowledge of German, and I'll be happy afterwards.

Interesting. I always thought that women need one man for money, one man to talk to and one man to have fun. I knew there was a fourth guy needed for speaking german.

Anyway, when I suggested to make a german translation of Dominions 3, everybody said "who would need that, everybody speaks english, it would not increase Illwinter's sales" and bla. Now you see how hard it can if there is an interesting game you would like to play in a language you do not understand. All games released in the german market have been translated, and while many people speak basic english, most won't understand the special terms used in Dom 3 regarding faith or mythology. I still think it would be a good idea to make the language at least moddable.

[PrinzMegaherz]

Alneyan said:
hey PrinzMegaherz, will you marry me?

Why not? It won't be long until we are all forced to convert to the Islam, so having a harem of my own won't be a problem.