Gothic Preview

The war against the Orcs has been lost. If defeat is not enough, the King, in his ruthless quest to gather ore for his arsenal, has made his own men prisoners: Any man guilty of a crime, no matter how petty, is seized as prisoner and forced to work in the mines of Khorinis. With little or no compensation and endless nights and days of backbreaking toil, it doesn’t take long before revolt looms on the horizon.

From even the first days of the King’s edict, there are endless attempts to escape the mining colonies. In an effort to stop these desertions, the King gathers the twelve most powerful mages in the realm in hopes to construct an impenetrable barrier to enclose the mining colony and keep the miners permanently in their prisons. Unfortunately for the mages, the spell goes awry, covering a much greater territory than they intended and trapping even the mages and guards inside the barrier – a barrier where the living can enter, but never leave. Chaos reigns, and the prisoners kill all guards and others who stand in their way – with the exception of the mages whom they dared not touch. But even the great power of the mages is not enough to keep the lands free from the control of the prisoner’s camps.

Forced to negotiate with the rogue prison colony, the King offers the prisoners whatever goods they desire in exchange for the ore he requires. Factions develop in the colony – each faction forming their own “camp” with their own goals, ways of functioning, and their own society.

Now it is your turn to enter the colony. You are given a missive that must be delivered to one of the mages in the colony, but you are to keep your message a secret – at the peril of your very life. Shoved roughly into the barrier after being given your mission you are greeted by a band of less-than-friendly prisoners whom you are to learn from the old camp. From here, your journey begins.

Gothic is a blend of action, adventure, and light RPG. Set in a post-apocalyptic like fantasy world, Gothic seems at first glance mostly an action title with some light RPG (no number crunching or intensive stat manipulation) elements. However, you quickly learn that very much of what happens to you in Gothic will depend on character interaction, discussion, and decision-making.

For example, you start the victim of bullying from some members of the more aggressive “new camp.” After they leave you for more interesting game, you are greeted my a more helpful member of the “old camp,” who offers you some advice on where you might find weapons, as well as some other useful advice for your journey. You’ll spend a few moments getting used to the control system which includes a simultaneous mouse click/directional button combination to do many important things like pick items up and to fight. It might seem a little awkward at first, but they’ve done a good job in making the game playable with as few keys to learn as possible. The game includes a full set of alternative control configurations if you are not comfortable with the first set, as well as some moderately generous customization options for everything from graphics to sound. Saves are available at any point during your journey – always a plus. Inventory is conveniently divided into categories and items are fairly easily accessible.

Weapons, health recovery items, and other useful items (such as ore), will be collected into an inventory as you go along. You can also buy and sell items from merchants, while meat and other saleable items can be garnered from animals you kill. (Speaking of animals/monsters:  Gothic’s AI system, judging from the portion I was able to try out, goes the extra step in adding more realistic behaviors to AI, making their behavior feel more natural than mechanical.)  Most everything comes at a price here – including loyalties and other tips essential to your survival.

After mastering the controls, you then need to master the “politics” of Gothic. It’s up to you to decide if you will ally with the (relatively speaking) orderly “old camp,” the more aggressive and less lawful “new camp,” or the third camp which is run by a variety of religious fanatics. No matter which road you choose, one thing is certain – you MUST have allies to tough this place out. There are A LOT of people to talk to in Gothic, this isn’t just a run-n-gun kind of game. Each and every person you talk to will have an effect on the course of your progress through the game. Luckily for you, all the essential information and goals you may acquire is carefully collected in your journal. It’s quite easy to go from having nothing to do to having a lot of “places to go and people to see.”

The detail of the graphics and Gothic are adjustable depending on the capabilities of your machine. The graphics are intensive enough to warrant such controls as the action can get a little slow on older systems if you don’t turn down the detail. The highlight of the graphics and visuals in Gothic is the way even the way of the look of the game changes as you progress. Not only does this apply to the transitions from day to night, but also to the way your character moves and looks as your build up skills and game time. Another pleasant surprise? The score and voices of Gothic are obviously the results of an extraordinary amount of attention. Voice acting must have been determined by nothing less than auditions – I can’t recall a game with such animated and varied voice acting. The score was also of a high caliber, a refreshing change to titles that often overlook such a potentially game enriching factor.

All in all, Gothic is well rounded gaming experience in all aspects. It’s got very strong elements of action and adventure with enough RPG – eluding a simple description and creating a new category all it’s own. With evident attention to the visual, the mechanical, the audio, gameplay, and storyline; Gothic should shape up to be a game that is not only an immersive experience, but also a game which truly makes an original impression on the gaming world.