Gothic 3

I love gog version, stable and comfortable

Gothic 3 doesn't do anything cool with its story, characters, or combat. and obviously there was a time(before the community patches) when G3 was barely playable, indeed unfinished. however... there is no RPG in history(probably not in the future either) which grants the player more freedom and meaningful choice than this. suffice it to say that in Gothic 3 you can randomly murder even the most important quest-givers in the entire game as soon as you are powerful enough. and you can go anywhere in the world as soon or as late as you want. certain very rare RPGs such as the first Fallouts give you an equal amount of freedom and choice, but nothing tops Gothic 3. although G3 lacks certain elements which some fans consider essential to the Gothic series, there are many really good things which are still intact: the realistic skill system with teachers, the organic, truly hand-crafted world design, awesome magic spells which put The Elder Scrolls to shame, a completely interactive, reactive world with advanced AI(better have a reason if you draw a weapon or cast magic in town!) dinosaurs, unlimited inventory space, and of course the charming personality of Nameless. I have to mention the graphics. Gothic 3, when patched and tweaked, at high settings on a good computer, is absolutely one of the most beautiful video games ever, and not just among RPGs. any type of game. G3 was one of the last AAA PC RPGs made specifically for PCs and not the Xbox 360. for example, Gothic 3's graphics are significantly better than Skyrim. and then there's the music. its done by the same(brilliant) composer as the first two Gothics, but G3's music is in a different style. its more dramatic, operatic, less subtle. it tends to hit you like a ton of lead, but if you're a fan of metal music(or opera music) you'll love it like I do. its the sort of soundtrack I'd actually listen to outside of the game. bottom line is: if I want good combat, I'll go play an Action game, or a full-blooded RPG where I control a party and make strategic decisions. not an Action-RPG like a Gothic. if I want a good storyline with characters I care about, I'll go play a JRPG. JRPGs are entirely focused on characters and story. above all else the reason PC-style WRPGs interest me is choice and freedom, and no game ever made me feel like my choices mattered, or made me feel as free as Gothic 3 does. I've put multiple 100s of hours into it, and I'll put 100s more too, because there's nothing else like it at all. in conclusion, I'll say Gothic 3 is not a masterpiece, but it is timeless, it is still relevant and always will be, because no developer has the guts to give the player any more freedom than G3 does. most of them give us much, much less. although many fans of the first two Gothics have little respect for G3, none can deny that Gothic 3 has never, will never be outdone in what it set out to do.

As a G1 & G2 fan I can confess: G3 Enhanced Edition is a great conclusion of Gothic saga! One thing to remember: you should play it with the tenets of Community Patch (Alternative Balancing and Alternate AI) turned ON. Why? As you read critical reviews of G3 bear in mind many of them were referring to G3 from the times BEFORE the Community Patch (CP), which essentially reworked all the problematic/irritating issues, thus fully polishing the game. With Alternative Balancing ON you cannot get all possible skills in one gameplay and - as a consequence - you have to focus (like in G2: for example I finished the game on level 73, first developing basic hunting skills and swordplay, then learning selected low-level spells, to finally learn the best spells and return to development of sword skills by the very end; I finished the game with a battle mage who relied on tools such as lesser summoning, fog and fire rain, occasionally whacking enemies with 1-handed sword and a shield). Another thing with alternate balancing is that you can learn the "highest" magical knowledge with ultra-powerful spells such as Fire Rain, Meteor, Army of Darkness only after you choose one of the Gods as your ally. So in principle you use them to conduct ethnic cleansing by the end of the game :) In turn Alternative AI, when ON, fixes the fighting system that ruined original gameplay. It makes physical confrontation more demanding and realistic, as the enemies can block effectively (whereas original G3 allowed for killing everyone simply thanks to mad mouse-clicking). Other great things to mention are: a very huge world, wonderful landscapes and great climate (the deer crossing your path under the moon, the snowy villages of the clans, the sleepy Cape Dun by night or the moaning ruins of Vengard... this is a work of art in itself), interesting subquests, great orchestral music by Kai Rosenkranz recorded in philharmonic hall of Prague and many other things. In sum: with Community Patch Gothic 3 is as cool as it should be. Get it an enjoy it!

When it comes to video games, I've been around the block a fair few times. The Gothic series are a group of games that I just keep coming back to when I require safe entertainment with little learning curves required. Playing Gothic 3 again is rather like slipping into an old comfortable pair of shoes; they may look slightly tatty to glance upon, but they are familiar and safe. For those of you venturing into these games for the first time, you may find the combat and movement controls a little daunting at first (evolution of games has spoilt us) but I urge you to persevere, as it is in it's story and atmosphere that Gothic games really excel. Gothic 3 really turned out to be, of all the series, the game closest to more modern games in it's beautiful graphics and easy combat mechanics. It is a game that I for one, will just keep coming back to for comfort... Grab it now while it's stupidly affordable! I actually already own the discs, but at this price coupled with the ease of GOG Galaxy... you'll be a fool not to give it some love.

Never played first or second game. To keep it short: exploration is fun (traversing could've been faster without depleting the stamina meter), music is excellent (truly!), visuals according to today standards mediocre to subpar (beautiful vistas in myrtana and nordmar, low poly low res textures in varant - human and animal models as well as the animations are awful even though they weren't going for realism = orcs do get a pass ; smooth travel without loading zones was impressive in 2006 and even today feels nice), everything else is bad (story, combat, skill tree, progression...). Worth the money on sale when's it down to below $3, not sure if it's worth the time. I replayed only because it came out when I was still in high school.