While everyone else was playing the fourth Elder Scroll game, I was searching for a more satisfying RPG experience, and stumbled across Gothic 3. Sure, I had played Gothic 2 before, so the series was not new to me, but I never had my eyes on the third installment. At first I was immensely disappointed in this buggy mess of a game, and it took a good few hours before I actually got to enjoy it. The bugs are many, the animations are strange and choppy, and it has a real budget-feeling in pretty much every aspect. But once I did get past all that, I realized that this game was filled with satisfying gameplay, great music, much to explore, and a lot of good content. Come on, you can take over cities! I was sold. I like the factions, and I like the concept of taking sides - it makes for good replay-value. The environments, be it forests or deserts, looked stunning at times, back in 2006, and the music is great, even though a bit ill-fitting at times, and epic (to use an overused and annoying term). The overall story isn't the best, but I actually found it to be interesting enough, and I felt satisfied in the end. Even if you don't like it there's so much more to do anyway, you'll have your hands full. In short, once I passed the steep curve with bugs, strange mechanics, and the janky budget-feeling, I was entertained for helluva lot of hours. If you can get past it, you will too.
