I should start with stating that I am a huge fan of the Gothic series and to be honest I absolutely adored Gothic 3, a game that still somewhat divides the community, Take note however, DO NOT play this game without the community patch 1.74, and make sure to turn on alternative balancing and ai. I spent 130 hours on this game (so steam tells me) and I enjoyed every minute, the game world is huge, the graphics beautiful and colourful (although too colourful for a Gothic game). The game is also challenging, as a gothic game should be (again, as long as you use alternative ai and balancing). It's also without a shadow of a doubt the most 'open' game I've ever played. Now for the negatives, most notably, unpatched this game is a buggy mess. It quite literally launched unfinished. The story is that the publisher JoWood forced the devs Piranha Bytes to release the game while it was still in development, and it most certainly showed. The combat is also a bit iffy, but it does have it's charm in places, swords swing preposterously slow and without sound, enemies have strange attack patterns, and even when you level up to technically be able to take on two enemies at once, it can be awkward to fight them, as they sometimes give no chance to get in a swing. The story also isn't as developed as previous Gothic games (I'll also get back to that one) and finally my main gripe, and the community it seems. The atmosphere just simply isn't as heavy as the previously two games, and that will definitely sound trivial to someone who hasn't played the games, but the atmosphere was just so key to the Gothic games. Worry not though, I said I'd return to certain issues in the game and here goes. A mod is in development called the 'Gothic Community Story Project'. What is this witchcraft you say? it's a mod that seeks to improve pretty much every negative aspect of Gothic 3. First and foremost it seeks to better the atmosphere and give the game the 'Gothic' atmosphere which it so desperately needed (screenshots and video footage would definitely indicate success). It also aims to expand on the scant story of Gothic 3 (characters will have further dialogue, things will be explained in more detail, backstories expanded upon etc.). That's not all however, it also seeks to implement new weapon, chest, perk and magic systems, as well as adding new sounds and making the music more evenly distributed. Along with new characters (pirates make a return!) improved armours, new weapons + improvements to existing ones, and my personal favourite, the nameless hero will now have a ponytail! As much as that all sounded like an advertisement, I hope some people disillusioned with Gothic 3 will now give it the chance it truly deserved. 5/5 a gem of a game.
