Before the orchestra recordings of the G3 soundtrack which we were allowed to attend WoG had also the chance to talk with Mike Hoge about the gameplay, skills and the various perks in Gothic 3. Everything that follows are ideas explained by Mike Hoge. Of course we can’t tell how far they are already integrated into the gameplay or if they will be realised in a different way. After all it still takes some time until the game is finished.
Professions and Perks
It’s already known that the player can become a gladiator and gain honor and glory in orc arenas. Perhaps the advantage of this profession is an improvement in close combat fighting. In any case Piranha Bytes will pay more attention to integrating the individual professions into the gameplay in Gothic 3. In Gothic 2 there has been no influence on the further gameplay regardless of which profession you chose (like blacksmith through Harad or alchemist at Constantino) but in Gothic 3 the profession will have a real effect on the skills of one’s character. Mike took the profession of hunter as an example. In Gothic 2 the only advantages of being Bospers apprentice have been the better prices for skins. Mike explained us his ideas for the hunter in Gothic 3 in the following way: If the player has killed one of each species he could get the task from a hunter to shoot a very rare animal. After fullfilling this task he would not only have the respect of his employer but also an improvement in a skill, a so called perk, for example a kind of archery which is particularly effective or something comparable with that. (Attention! These are only examples which should explain how these perks will function. Maybe the hunter teaches our hero something completely different.) So the profession chosen has direct impact on the character’s skills who will be different to play dependent on the profession you choose. The player will be able to learn several professions so that we are able to create the character more individually.
Factions and Magicians
Another profession chooseable will be the magician. Besides the perks that are integrated into the gameplay there will be guilds (now called factions) that are different from those in Gothic 2. The principle is: Back to the roots! The individual factions will have a structure similar to the one of the first part especially regarding the choice wether to become a fighter or a magician inside the guild you chose. There won’t be one guild for magicians and a seperate one for fighters like in Gothic 2. So the case that a player who wants to play a warrior is forced to join a certain faction that represents an attitude he or she doesn’t agree with because it is the only guild for a warrior won’t occur. The possibility to change your character during the game is also similar to Gothic 1. So a char that is skilled for fighting will be able to learn magical skills too and this way the player can influence the development of his character in the course of the game. But the rough classification of the character is not the only thing with very fluent transitions: Concerning the applicability for the player the various types of magic won’t be separated. So a fire mage will again be able to use water magic and conjuration spells as well. Thus, Piranha Bytes wants to give the player as much freedom in gameplay as possible. The development of the character should not be lmited by a skill-tree that is divided strongly. This way they want to avoid that the player spoils his char by an unfavorable way of skilling.
Sword and Lance
It’s also new that the mastery of a skill won’t be stated in percentages, how we knew it from Gothic 2, any more. Instead you simply master a specific skill or not. Additionally a fighting skill for instance will be divided into several aspects of how to swing your sword and by improving these the general fighting skill will increase bit by bit. Mike mentioned fightig with two swords, fighting by using a shield and a sword or certain moves as possible examples. These will be things that can be learnt individually by investing some learning points. Like the above mentioned perks these seperated skills should enable the player to create a more individual character by providing the char with certain perks and by learning spezial skills.On the pinboards that have been set up we could see a concept drawing with several shields. Particularly interesting was one shield with a furrow in order to attach a lance. Aside we have senn a drawing showing the shield in action. It looks a lot like the hoplites of the greek ancient world who used a similar technique of combinig their lance with the shield. So besides fighting with shield and sword we could also fight with a lance and a shield if this concept is realised.
Special Moves and Animations
From Gothic and Gothic 2 we know the general course of fights. The character hits either left, right, top down or he blocks. The animations shown are always the same. For gothic 3 Piranha Bytes wants to increase the number of animations so that not every strike from the left is displayed with the same movements. Additionally there will be special moves with different animations. While we started in Gothic 2 holding a sword in two hands and then, with the advancement in skills, the animations got more fluent and elegant the animations in Gothic 3 will depend on the type of the move. So the more you have learnt the more different fighting animations are shown. Generally there will be big improvements concerning animations in the whole game. That will show for example in the gesturing of NPC’s during conversations. Now there should be gestures that really match to the sentences they say what will improve the authenticity of the world a lot. (Example: Saying the sentence “They came from over there” a NPC will point the right direction.) In Gothic 2 NPCs usually had more or less the same standard gestures.
