One of the proclaimed weaknesses of Gothic 3 when compared with its predecessors (G1 + G2), was the simplistic nature of the quests, or in otherwords, the sheer volume of 'go there, kill them, get that' quests in the game. Indeed, due to the clever placing of some highly valuable objects in various secret and also not-so-secret locations, the course of the game and the decisions that are made can be hugely influenced by the fruits of exploration. The combination of loot driven kleptomania and danger lurking around every corner and in every nook n cranny of a masterfully crafted world, makes 'exploration' an absolute delight in this game.

In addition to the beautiful and captivating landscape, what Gothic 3 masters more so than any other game is providing for an interaction with the flora, fauna, and minerals of the world, in a way that the player is always on the look our for certain combinations of potentially character enhancing resources and facilities. Whilst the Gothic 3 towns/camps are indeed the main components of where the story unfolds, they blend seamlessly into the rest of the stunning, dark, but majestic world of Gothic 3, in which dozens of hours can be spent immersed in sheer exploration. Whilst the world of Gothic 3 may not be quite on the same scale as the world of Skyrim, it is nontheless massive and distinguishes itself head and shoulders above the world of Skyrim due to the fact that the Gothic 3 world is immensely interesting to explore as opposed to mainly serving as a Bethesda style space/time barrier between the cordoned off towns and dungeons. This blows every other single player RPG right out of the water bar none.Īlthough the graphics may not be as advanced as the graphics in more recent titles such as Skyrim, the world of Gothic 3 is somehow much more appealing to the eye than that of Skyrim, with the Gothic 3 world having a much more handcrafted quality to it, with huge attention having been paid to the tiniest of details. Gothic 3, running smooth as silk on a decent 2012 gaming PC, more or less bug free, with overhauled combat mechanics, is nothing less than a stunning work of electronic art. First thing to make clear, is the game which I am awarding a 9/10 for, is not the game as it was released back in 2006, but the game as it is now thanks to the Community Patch 1.75 and the Community Mod Pack 2.4. The largely negative reviews that this game received upon its release, were largely justifiable at the time due to the bug ridden train wreck of an unfinished game which Jowood decided to release. I am posting it here cos I have just had one of the most pleasurable gaming experiences of my life (I am 36 and have been beginning to think I am too old to enjoy gaming properly) with a pretty old RPG which was critically smashed upon its release:

Gothic 3 teleport stones