Gothic (game series)
| Gothic | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| developer |
 Piranha Bytes Mad Vulture Games Spellbound Entertainment THQ Nordic Barcelona
 |
| Publisher |
Shoebox JoWooD Deep Silver CD Project Dreamcatcher THQ Nordic  
|
| First title | Gothic (2001) |
| Last title | Arcania - Gothic 4 (2010) |
| Platform (s) | Windows , mobile phone |
| Genre (s) | Action role playing game , computer role playing game |
The Gothic series is a series of action role-playing games with a fantasy scenario. There are currently four parts with several add-ons and a mobile game. The majority of the games is in switchable ego or third-person perspective and real-time running off event, by keyboard and mouse or joystick controlled. Taken together, the Gothic 1-4 series sold over three million times and is one of the most successful German computer game productions ever. Parts 1 to 3 of Piranha Bytes were released exclusively for Windows PCs , there is also a mobile phone offshoot called Gothic 3: The Beginning . In addition to the PC, Arcania was also released on Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 . In December 2019 THQ Nordic released a prototype of a remake of the first Gothic part developed by THQ Nordic Barcelona .
Development history
| 2001 - | - Gothic | |
| 2002 - | - Gothic II | |
| 2003 - | - The Night of the Raven (add-on) | |
| 2004 - | ||
| 2005 - | ||
| 2006 - | - Gothic 3 | |
| 2007 - | ||
| 2008 - | - Götterdämmerung (add-on) | |
| 2009 - | ||
| 2010 - | - Arcania - Gothic 4 | |
| 2011 - | - Fall of Setarrif (add-on) | |
| 2012 - |
Gothic (2001), Gothic II (2002) and its add-on Die Nacht des Raben (2003) and Gothic 3 (2006) were created by Piranha Bytes and published by Shoebox (first part) and JoWooD .
Dispute over Gothic 3
Due to a dispute between the developer Piranha Bytes and the publisher Jowood at the end of the Gothic 3 development process, the two separated. Another patch and editor in development were not completed, Gothic 3 remained in a very buggy state. Most of the bugs have been fixed in a community patch.
As a result of the dispute, Piranha Bytes developed another game series with three parts so far, which shows clear parallels to the Gothic series. Risen , Risen 2 and Risen 3 were sometimes even made with Gothic dubbing voices. The Risen parts are also very popular. According to a report from GameStar , Risen 2 alone is said to have appeared with a circulation of one million copies. Following the Risen series, Piranha Bytes developed the science-fantasy role-playing game ELEX , which also has parallels to Gothic .
Gothic 3 further development by the community
The former right-wing publisher Jowood therefore enabled developers from the fan base to develop semi-official community patches via access to the source code in order to fix the remaining serious problems and deficiencies. Over many years of voluntary work, the fan community developed several community patch versions, which were provisionally completed in April 2012 with version 1.75 (1.48 GB, the largest patch so far). Substantial improvements and corrections have been made to the game, making the game playable years after its initial release. After the mostly technical corrections of the Community Patch Project, content-related gaps and inconsistencies in the story and atmosphere to the previous Gothic parts are to be fixed by the Community Story Project (CSP), but a release date has not been set.
Gothic 3 add-ons
An add-on linked to the third part called Götterdämmerung , developed by the Indian studio Trine Games , was released in 2008. Like the main game, however, it was considered very buggy, only when the development was handed over to Mad Vulture Games , one of the fan development community emerged company, a largely bugfixed version could be created with an Enhanced Edition of the add-on. In contrast to the Night of the Raven add-on in Gothic 2, Götterdämmerung is a so-called standalone add-on, i.e. it can be used without the main game.
In addition, a mobile phone adaptation of Gothic 3 called The Beginning was created by HandyGames , which was released in January 2008.
Arcania - Gothic 4
After separating from Piranha Bytes, Jowood commissioned the development studio Spellbound Entertainment to develop the fourth part of the series, Arcania - Gothic 4 . Due to the bankruptcy of the publisher JoWooD, the de facto finished add-on Fall of Setarrif for Arcania was only released after about a year, on October 25, 2011.
Location of trademark rights
Piranha Bytes, which remained without development rights in the Gothic universe in 2007, continued to develop Gothic-style games in 2009 with the Risen series. According to Piranha Bytes itself, however, all rights to the Gothic brand were returned in 2012, as these were only given to Jowood for a limited time.
According to a statement by JoWooD employee Stefan Berger in May 2011, the company JoWooD only had contracts for the publication of Gothic 4 and add-on, while the rights for Gothic 5 and other parts were with Piranha Bytes.
“There are contracts that are valid that the company can still publish JoWooD Gothic 4 and Add On, as well as market the existing products for a certain period of time. [...] A Gothic 5 and other versions belong to the developer Piranha Bytes, but this was agreed several years ago, so nothing new from the bankruptcy of the Jowood company. This topic has never been so widely spread and officially published. "
Nevertheless, at least in February 2012 no further Gothic game by Piranha Bytes was planned.
On May 22, 2019, the Swedish group THQ Nordic , which had already taken over the insolvent publisher JoWooD in 2011, announced the purchase of the developer studio Piranha Bytes including the trademark rights to Gothic.
On December 13, 2019, THQ Nordic surprisingly published a prototype for a remake of the first Gothic part. The remake is said to be under development by the Spanish developer THQ Nordic Barcelona, with further development depending on the reactions of the players to the demo. The producer of the remake is Reinhard Pollice, who already produced Arcania - Gothic 4 .
Special features of the Gothic games
The Gothic games are characterized by the following features:
- The background of the heroes remains a mystery; their names and past are little known.
- Many of the quests can be solved in different ways.
- Unlike in most role-playing games, you don't commit to a character class before the game. You always start the story with the same character and in the course of the game you can decide whether you want to develop into a close-range fighter or a magician.
- The interactivity of the player with his environment is of particular importance . The player can use many items, such as shrines, a grindstone or a saucepan. Sometimes this is used to carry out activities, such as turning a grill skewer, only for the mood and without a special purpose.
- The game world has a particularly lively effect thanks to detailed social structures and hierarchies in the camps and guilds, as well as the recurring daily activities of the NSCs .
- Due to the fixed guild selection during the first two series parts and the resulting special missions for the guild, the replay value of the respective games is high.
- In the combat system, in close combat with a better talent value, combinations of blows are possible that are more effective and have a shorter time sequence than the individual blows.
- The tone in the game worlds is usually quite rough, but sometimes changes to humorous or devout.
- In the third part in particular, dialogues through irony , satire and other humorous stylistic devices are a mirror of human weaknesses.
- The games in the series do not build directly on each other in terms of plot, but there is a certain recognition through recurring activities and individual story elements. The hero is also surrounded by returning friends and enemies, as well as a returning tribe of creatures and animals.
- The graphic implementation is characterized by a varied color scheme of detail and by successful distant views.
- Like the graphic, the acoustic design is also very complex, conveying a mood that is adapted to the respective landscape. This is generated, among other things, by the music of the composer Kai Rosenkranz. But the excellent work of the German voice actors also contributes to this.
- Members of the Community World of Gothic (WoG) have contributed to the success of the series with voluntary, basically voluntary , high achievements ( bug and community patches as well as mods ).
The game world
The gods
The world of Gothic is ruled by three deities: Innos , Adanos and Beliar . While Innos stands for order, fire and light and Beliar for chaos and darkness, Adanos, the god of water, ensures the balance between the two sides.
While the gods only play a role in the first two parts of the game through their earthly representatives and the possibility of praying for their favor at shrines, in Gothic 3 they themselves come into action.
The sect camp from the first part worships another "god" (the sleeper) who should free them from the colony. This turned out to be a particularly powerful arch demon of Beliar.
Khorinis Island
The island of Khorinis , on which the plot of the first two parts of the game is set, belongs to the Kingdom of Myrtana . For his war against the orcs it is of strategic importance because of the abundant deposits of magical ore , because the ore is required for the production of magical swords. In order to accelerate the reduction in the mines, king went Rhobar II. Over to all prisoners of the empire to Khorinis deported to her there for ore mining zwangszuverpflichten. The port city of the same name is located on the coast of the island. This is the main base of the paladins in Gothic 2 . There are a few farms near the town that are tributary to the town. In the middle of the island there is an old Innos monastery, in which the order of the fire magicians lives. In the south of the island is the farm of the large farmer and some small farms that he leases. There is a tavern at the crossroads between the monastery, the large farmers and the port city. In the east of the island there is a dense forest, which is usually avoided by the residents.
The Valley of Mines - The Colony (Gothic)
The ore mines are located in the southwest of the island. During the first part of the series, the entire valley of the mine is surrounded by a huge magical dome, the barrier , which is permeable from the outside to the inside, but vice versa is impermeable to living beings within the barrier.
The barrier was built by twelve magicians and was originally intended to include only the castle and mines in the middle of the mine valley. They were supposed to prevent the prisoners from escaping. Due to the action of the sleeper , a powerful demon , however, it became many times larger than planned. The prisoners took advantage of the guards' inattention due to this surprising turn of events to take control of the barrier themselves. The prisoner Gomez then began to make demands on the king in exchange for ore. He had to agree and provide Gomez and the other prisoners with food, but also luxury goods and women.
After the barrier was created, the mage Xardas stepped out of the circle of fire, became a demon summoner and retired to a secluded tower. The remaining eleven fire and water magicians lived in the castle in the valley of mines. Together with some of the prisoners, the water mages left the castle and founded the New Camp , which from then on was in conflict with the Old Camp located in the castle . The water mages did not trade with the king, but collected the magical ore in order to make the barrier collapse by magical detonation. Another part of the prisoners founded the swamp camp to worship the sleeper, ignorant of his true form.
The valley of mines - after the fall of the barrier (Gothic II)
After the barrier fell, many convicts fled the valley of the mines and scattered across the island. However, the last cry of the sleeper brought a number of Beliar's creatures , including lizard people and four dragons, into the valley of mines. Because of these events, the ore deliveries did not materialize. This forced the king to send a ship expedition of paladins to Khorinis to get the ore mining going again. These can do nothing against the overwhelming number of enemies and can only hide in the castle of the mine valley and prevent the orcs from leaving the valley as far as possible.
At the same time, the large farmer Onar begins to rebel against the capital with the support of some former prisoners, so that there is a food shortage in it, as a result of which the public mood begins to escalate more and more.
Irdorath (Gothic II)
The halls of Irdorath is a summoning temple of Beliar in the game world of Gothic II, and functions, among other things, as the base of operations for the orcs. Beliar dilapidated paladins, so-called shadow lords, are also there. The temple is ruled by an undead dragon, an avatar of Beliar, who is also the final boss of Gothic II.
Jharkendar (Gothic II - The Night of the Raven)
Shortly before the beginning of the Gothic II plot, a portal was found in the north of the island, which leads to the lost city of Jharkendar in the north of the island. Jharkendar was the stronghold of an ancient and highly developed civilization whose society was based on the caste system . Ultimately, the city was destroyed by a huge tidal wave, which is said to have been triggered by the god Adanos . Only the temples were partially preserved because they were a little higher up. This catastrophe was preceded by a devastating civil war, which was triggered by a "divine artifact", a sword called "The Claw of Beliar". This weapon created envy, hatred and resentment between the castes, so that their members fought each other. The valley was sealed off by the last survivors of the war.
Over the centuries, an independent tropical microcosm developed there. The valley became home to roaming pirates and, after the fall of the barrier, thieves and guardsmen who fled the colony and were safe from royal troops due to the difficult accessibility of the valley. After the barrier fell, the pirates brought many convicts into the valley to trade with them. The convicts (who later became the bandits) founded a new camp in the swamp there under their leader Raven , Gomez's deputy from the first part, and began mining for gold in their own mine. Before the bandits came into enmity with the pirates, they used them to kidnap and enslave residents of the city and the island of Khorinis to Jharkendar.
The Continent (Gothic III)
The continent consists of three regions: the Middle Kingdom of Myrtana, the ice region of Nordmar and the desert region of Varant. Upon the arrival of the hero, the orcs have conquered Myrtana and enslaved the people of the kingdom. Only the capital of the empire, Vengard, in which King Rhobar II reigns, withstands through a magical impermeable dome. Nordmar is the region where the orcs have the weakest position, as the inhabitants put up fierce resistance. Assassins, allied with the orcs, rule the desert empire of Varant. The orcs promised them a rich reward in the form of gold for their support.
Commercial win
The Gothic game series is one of the most successful German computer game productions. For 100,000 copies sold, Gothic II received a gold award from the now dissolved Association of Entertainment Software Germany (VUD). However, the success is largely limited to the German-speaking area and Eastern Europe. In the Western European and American games market, at least the first two parts were a pure niche.
Modding
For Gothic and Gothic II there are a number of modifications that expand the main game or enable complete, new adventures as well as an extensive and active modding community. There is currently no official modkit for Gothic 3 , but tools developed by fans that have already produced some modifications.
various
- In the Gothic games there are a number of so-called Easter Eggs , some of which can only be viewed using cheats. This includes weapons, armor, clothing, monsters, non-player characters (NPCs), and items. Skilled players can use cheats to get to "secret places" that could not be reached without cheats. Some Easter Eggs can also be found if you look specifically for them. For example, at a certain point in the second part you can climb over an actually insurmountable wooden wall and find a sign from a certain "Mighty Alien Dwarf" there. The developers have immortalized themselves in their games in several places: In the first part, for example, they projected the letters KSO in stars onto the night sky. In Gothic II, gravestones labeled with their names were positioned in a cemetery. In the third part of the series, a PB was modeled in the rock, and there is an object on a tower in the capital that can only be reached with the "Marvin" mode.
- The medieval rock group In Extremo has a virtual appearance as NSCs in the old camp of Gothic, where they perform the song Herr Mannelig sung on Nysvenska .
- The story content of Arcania , as well as the content of the Gothic 3 add-on Götterdämmerung and the mobile game version The Beginning , do not belong to the official canon of the game series, according to Piranha Bytes CEO Michael Rüve.
Web links
- Gothic series at MobyGames (English)
- World of Gothic - an extensive German fansite with current information and downloads, as well as a community
- Reference works for the Gothic series: Almanach and Mondgesänge (databases for all three parts) .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Piranha Bytes: Piranha Bytes and JoWood go their separate ways. (PDF) press release. May 22, 2007, accessed September 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Andre Linken: Risen 2: Dark Waters - first delivery of a million copies planned. In: GameStar . August 26, 2011, accessed September 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Jowood Forum on July 7, 2007: The Patch Project ( Memento from September 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ JoWood press release (December 20, 2007) Gothic 3 Patch - Release early 2008 ( Memento from January 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Rainer Schuldt: Gothic 3: Fan-Patch 1.6 released. In: Computerbild.de . February 8, 2008, accessed April 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Gothic 3 Community Patch v1.75. In: World of Gothic. Retrieved September 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Andreas Sebayang: Gothic 3 Community Patch should fix almost all bugs - More than 700 changes in the last community patch . Golem.de . March 23, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- ↑ Thilo Bayer: Gothic 3 Community Story Project - Update: comparison pictures and YouTube video. In: pcgameshardware.de . January 3, 2010, accessed on July 16, 2011 : “ After the fans of Gothic 3 have already improved the role-playing game with Community Patch 1.7, the modders are now working on the Community Story project. "
- ↑ Robert Purchese: Why Gothic dev Piranha dumped JoWooD - And what happens next for the Gothic IP. In: Eurogamer . May 5, 2011, accessed on December 17, 2012 (English): “ Currently, JoWooD has no more rights on developing any further Gothic titles, so the rights are back - they will be back I think next year. I don't have the contract here. Very soon the contract runs out and we will get the rights back. And we knew that from the start. "
- ↑ a b Petra Fröhlich: Jowood's Stefan Berger: "There is nothing to gloss over". In: PC Games . May 19, 2011, accessed August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ BuckGB: Risen 2: Dark Waters Interview. In: gamebanshee.com. February 17, 2012, accessed on December 17, 2012 (English): “ The Gothic brand still belongs to us, so we are free to develop another edition. There is no new Gothic game planned at the moment though. "
- ↑ THQ Nordic acquires legendary game studio Piranha Bytes. In: THQ Nordic. May 22, 2019, accessed on August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Andreas Bertits: Gothic: Remake announced, playable prototype published. In: PC Games . December 13, 2019, accessed December 14, 2019 .
- ↑ Michael Graf, Holger Harth: The Gothic Remake: Who is behind it and what should become of it? In: GameStar . December 13, 2019, accessed December 14, 2019 .
- ↑ Frank Maier: Arcania: Gothic 4 - PC demo before the release. In: GameStar . August 24, 2010, accessed December 14, 2019 .
- ^ Opinion on the imprecise dialogue of the "13th" magician
- ↑ Gamezone.de: VUD: Gold for Gothic 2
- ↑ Gothic3.net: List of some Gothic tools ( Memento from February 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Jowood Forum: A Modification of Gothic 3, The Quest Package ( Memento from February 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Adrian Froschauer: Just play against the grain. In: Spiegel Online . June 25, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Michael Rüve: Concentrated answers from the piranhas from question thread # 4. In: forum.worldofplayers.de. January 4, 2012, accessed July 4, 2019 .
Gothic (2001) | Gothic II (2002) | Gothic II: The Night of the Raven (2003) | Gothic 3 (2006) | Gothic 3: Götterdämmerung (2008) | Gothic 3: The Beginning (2008) | Arcania - Gothic 4 (2010) | Arcania - Fall of Setarrif (2011)