This game is fun to a certain extent, however, if you have been spoiled with high quality RPGSs (like Gothic 2) this might leave you a bit disappointed. I'm quite sure that I would have enjoyed this game much more I hadn't played Gothic 2 a few years before it. With that mindset in mind (lower your expectations) this game can be fun, but to me it was never appealing enough to replay it - unlike Gothic 2 where I spent at least 500 hours playing it and I feel I would still love it after all the time spent on it.
It`s the last game of the series and honestly not the best. Bugs, lags, shattered plot without memorable characters and overhelmingly feeling of nothingness in this big world and finally a terrible melee combat (trust me, if you want to play with melee build dont try shitty 1h swords or shields, use 2h weapons with long range). So, my litany of fails is quite long but I really like this game. The best thnig is music and atmosphere of Myrtana, Northmar, Varant and freedom of roaming between them. This game could be great but it`s not. You can clearly see it when you enter to towns, a tons of fedex quests and nothing plot-friendly or interacting with this great universe. Overall i truly recommend this game. It could be a masterpiece but nonetheless you get a solid atmospheric title with your best friends from previous parts of the game and you can make a final decision about destiny of Nameless Hero.
If you would want to be completely unbiased: Gothic 3 still has so many flaws that keep it from being perfect that it could only really get 4 stars.
However I will, as always, give the fifth one for what I believe it can gain if someone really takes a personal liking to the game and sees how ahead of it's time the game actual was - and partly still is.
I can't even describe how well designed the core mechanics to realize a virtual world actually are. Sure, they have aged a lot, never were too in-depth. But in the context of what you can do, how npcs behave and react in all their details - and how you can affect them and the world is actually quite well done even for todays standards.
The game itself is... I think calling it a singleplayer mmo does fit a lot. You can explore, collect, quest, talk, fight very, very much - all to get that sweet progress and reward. It is pretty run-of-the-mill, but the world building and npc dialogues still make it charming and enjoyable. But of course that is a point that is quite a matter of taste. In the same vein a lot of the feature could be praised for existing in a well-served fashion, albeit being used fairly surface-level. There are also some things you may enjoy for what they are, but all in all will objectively be rather "meh" - like the battle system.
Now, I guess every review has to mention how, yes, the game was a disaster back in 2006 (still somehow played through it), but has been patched to be a proper game with some neat qol even.
If there are still bugs or more content you want, you can google for that, as well.
Still, the game will always feel a bit rushed or unfinished at parts, the latter mostly in terms of scrapped locations - it can be improved as mentioned above, but you may always notice it at some points.
That being said, I can't really praise enough how the game still manages to perform so good with what there is. Albeit being a bit aged by now, you certainly can have a lot of fun with it, still.
This really should be one of the greatest RPGs ever made. The world is absolutely beautiful (better than anything in the Elder Scrolls series), the plot line is very immersive, and the faction idea brilliantly set up. It's a game you really want to finish and keep exploring,
But,
Believe what everybody says.
It is horrendously (for me personally, unacceptably) buggy.
It has THE worst map in any RPG game in history. Seriously, the map is useless. Which can make finding things you've already been to a dozen times still very difficult, even in the late game. The frustration caused by this is immense, and it's a baffling oversight by the game developers.
The combat mechanics are AWFUL. You'll still be swinging merrily at a creature nowhere near you while a creature quickly pegging down your life is ignored (despite best attempts to change the view to it).
This should be such an amazing game, but it's faults end up outweighing it's positives, especially as the game wears on and you just become exhausted on searching on forums for bug issues and how to find locations (seriously, nobody in this kingdom has come across the concept of marking something on your map?! Go and kill the monster outside the town? Fine. WHERE THE #$#* IS IT!).
Seriously, despite 3 stars, I would probably say don't bother, especially if like me you don't have a great deal of patience for blindingly obvious flaws in game design.
