So, Arcania, Gothic 4

[Maigrets]

Well I've already paid for Divinity II via pre-order at EB Games and on Thursday they had no release date saying their vendors hadn't even received it for distribution. They've changed dates a couple of times on their website and now it says available. They were supposed to ring me on Friday but didn't, so I'll be ringing them on Monday to find out what's going on unless they call me first. Otherwise I'll go there and see if they've sorted it out. Had the same drama with Arcania and look how that turned out.. :wallbash:

 

I would appreciate your review of Divinity though since we both seem to like the same style in rpg's.

 

I have an Nvidia card and I didn't really notice the lack of AA in Risen to tell you the truth. Before the patch it used to have some stuttering in a lot of places, but it seems to have been fixed. I never had issues with it not remembering settings either. Luck of the draw I think sometimes with games and their "foibles." :turned:

 

For a creature that essentially should be a fragile thing despite their size, those moths are a real pain. The Tomb Moths aren't too bad but wait until you come across the Talon Moths if you haven't already. One tip: don't go to Harbour Town until you are told to otherwise you can't leave....well not by normal means anyway.

They will tell you that anyway depending on which entrance you use. There is a place where you can jump out if necessary, and get back in, but it will put you offside with the guards if you're seen.

[Marthos]

Thanks for the tip about Harbour Town, but think Risen is on a back burner for bit now :whistling:

 

 

So, The Dragon Knights, first impressions, I'll try to keep spoilers out of it.

 

Played for a few hours and well, I did buy the original Ego Draconis but was immediately pee'd off by the bugs and the crashing and the black screens etc, so took it back to the shop.

 

This however is thankfully different, there are a couple of flaws, one is a bit of a biggie which I'll get to in a minute or three, the game now feels more polished, finished if you like, as it should have been in the first place, I'm running on extreme settings (everything maxed out) and played for 5 hours straight and not one freeze, black screen or crash, seems as stable as a rock, yay :thumbsup:

 

Character gen is minimal with set choices for gender (obviously) face and hair but you do get a voice with your char and you can choose which style of speech you like best.

 

Graphics are better than the original and the game world seems an ok place to be, while this version seems better and has plenty of detail etc, its still no Crysis or Oblivion, so don't expect to much. There is ingame support for AF but they use their own version of AA, which sort of works and sort of doesn't, but its better than none at all. Enabling AA in the CCC has no effect in game, but maybe ATI might fix this in future, then again maybe they won't, so tell me if you get AA working with your Nvidia, if you do I'll build another rig and use Nvidia cards and then in future I'll be able to play whichever game on whichever rig suits it best, as you can probably tell, I like to have my cake and eat it.

 

The good news ? Yay, marvelous, wonderful and champion, voice actors that sound like their actually putting something into it, even a touch of humerous overacting which brought about a giggle or two which to me is far better than the usual flat monotony that seems almost the norm these days.

 

Already, I feel that I'm being drawn into the game and want find out whats round the next corner and thats how it should be, right now I'm waiting for my fatfest huge indian takeaway to arrive (just a Saturday treat, you understand), which I'm gonna throw down my neck as I'm itching to head for my gaming rig and get back into the game.

 

So far so good and I think you'll enjoy this one, but hangfire, there are a couple of issues, as I mentioned earlier.

 

The camera, its a bit of a prat, its third person only and mostly its ok till you try to look down at something, as you do the camera zooms out so you are looking down at the top of your head from about thirty feet up, so you struggle to see what you wanted to look down at anyway, maybe this will be useful in dragon form or maybe it won't, we will have to see and if thats why they've done it, it would be nice to be able to switch to a normal cam when you want to. Maybe a mod or an alteration on a file somewhere will alter this but haven't had a chance to get my snout through the game files yet.

 

Now they biggie, and its a bit of a burger, they've capped the frame rate to 30 fps, why ? they apparently had problems on lower spec rigs with stutter and loading lags so elimated them by using a 30 fps cap, how wonderful ! and facepalm while holding a building brick.

 

I can see where they're coming from but its too low, if you pan the camera round quickly, the game world comes round like a slide show, some of the NPC's can move pretty sharpish and when they do, they can actually disappear and reappear 2 feet away from where they were, I really can see this being a stinker when your flying in dragon form and moving at speed.

 

Hopefully this will be a line of script in an ini file somewhere and we'll be able to change it, fingers crossed because it needs to be changed.

 

So all in all, for a game downloaded on the day of its release, apart from those two issues its not doing too badly at all, a lot worse can be said for many games on the market even after patches, ( yes Bethesda, that was a dig).

 

My food has arrived so I'm off to get fat.

 

Regards, M.

 

 

 

Edit:

 

Ha ha yip, just been on the official forums and Larian are working on a fix for the framerate cap, they've taken notice of their customers and got to work to try to solve the issue, what more can you ask for ?

 

 

A review, its in french but google translate is your friend.

 

 

http://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0001/00013749-divinity-ii-the-dragon-knight-saga-test.htm

[Maigrets]

Well, that's good news. Hopefully I'll have it tomorrow and I can test it out. Larian seem to be a group who actually support their users from what I've read . Plus this game is $20 cheaper than Arcania and it has the original game remastered, plus the previous expansion and the new one included. What more can you ask for.

 

I found a post that translated that French review. Such high praise already and from players, not just sites with a vested interest.

http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=423845#Post423845

 

Very encouraging indeed.

 

I don't really care about character gen much. It's game play I'm interested in and as far as being 3rd person only, the Gothic series is the same and although you can use 1st person to a degree it's not optimal. Graphics don't worry me that much either, as long as I can run it. I had a look at the specs and I might have to use lower detail, but I don't have a choice at the moment. I'm going to need to replace my graphics card sooner rather than later anyway. Maybe I'll buy myself a Christmas present and get a new one. Everything else comes up to to spec.

 

Speaking of Gothic I found a retexture and game play re-balancing mod for Gothic 2:NOTR. I don't know if I'll play it again soon, but I've said that before and gone back again.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/gothic-2-notr-natures-fury/downloads/gothic-2-notr-natures-fury-v-1

 

Also if you're interested and you probably already know about it, but there's a big content addon for Gothic 3 which re-textures the whole game, adds new armour (faction related) weapons, new models, creature and monster re-textures, quests and much much more. Too much to list.

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?t=886288

 

I know many Gothic fans weren't very happy with G3, but I like it and with the Community Patch it's like a new game. At least it's closer to the true Gothic experience than the "other" game. With the patch it runs smooth as silk and is re-balanced. It's now closer to Gothic 2 which is what the CM team aimed for.

 

Besides that the Community Patch team are working on Forsaken Gods and are looking at a release in the next few weeks if not sooner. Forsaken Gods, what an appropriate name for such a terrible game.

The CM team have basically rewritten the whole game from the ground up. I bought is as a bargain bin purchase which is just as well because it was terrible. Another JoWood disaster. They outsourced it to an Indian developer called Trine and the game is so buggy it's unplayable, with missing quests, NPC's, different voices for the SAME actor, terrible frame rates and absolutely nothing to redeem it at all.

 

Info:

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?t=902795

 

 

EDIT: So, I have Divinity II DKS, and it's all that I expected. According to the games' own forum people are very happy. Atmospheric music, excellent dialogue and voices, great combat system and much more. The graphics aren't state of the art, but that's a minor consideration for me anyway. Beauty is only skin deep, it's what's beneath the pretty pictures that's important to me.

 

As far as the system requirements go I used one of those "Can I Play It" online check options which was basically full of crap. The setting they listed as necessary don't even exist in the game manual so that's extremely misleading for many people.

I can max out the game despite that it said I'd need to use medium settings and it runs perfectly smooth with no hitching or stutters. I doubt I'll need a performance patch since I don't see how it can run better than it is. :whistling: However, I will revise that later if things change in particular areas of the game.

 

I should mention that I use Windows XP and will continue to do so until MS and or the gaming industry no longer supports it. It's never failed me yet. :thumbsup:

[Marthos]

Hi Maigrets

 

Thanks for the links, will check em out when I get round to playing Riven after DKS.

 

Nice to see you got your copy of DKS, running mine on extreme settings but if you disable HDR and Screen Space AA in the game options you can force AA in your grapics cards settings, really tidies the game up somewhat and it didn't hit me on performance either.

 

Try disabling v-sync too, some slight screen tearing but game flows a lot smoother.

 

The patch for disabling the fps cap is up on the Larian support website, once installed you can edit the config files to suit your system / personal prefs which I think is a good idea and I think the devs have done pretty well to get it out as quickly as they have.

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy (for once), the game seems as stable as a rock, not one crash yet and the plot is deep enough to keep me interested.

 

Hope your enjoying it as much as I am.

[Maigrets]

Well if you can consider playing from 10pm until somewhere around 5:30am or so the next morning, continuously, (with a few short breaks to avoid pressure sores from sitting so long :laugh: ) and with no game issues whatsoever...the answer is yes, I love it. :thumbsup:

 

The only small gripe I have is the focus on interactive objects and positioning as you mentioned, but after awhile you get used to it.

 

I downloaded the patch and installed it, only because it has a couple of little fixes besides the fps changes. I never had problems with the 30 fps cap or stuttering to start with. I must be very lucky as every game I have runs properly and I don't get the problems many others do, for which I'm grateful. Actually, it's more due to diligence in maintaining my system and investigating any problems thoroughly before I whinge about them. Usually, I find answers by searching Google or the particular game's forum. But, enough of that...

 

Nice to see you got your copy of DKS, running mine on extreme settings but if you disable HDR and Screen Space AA in the game options you can force AA in your graphics cards settings, really tidies the game up somewhat and it didn't hit me on performance either.

 

I have all of those turned on without problems including v-sync. The only option I disabled is the Desktop Resolution matching for menus which didn't make any difference anyway. I have a 22" wide screen monitor using 1280x1024 on the desktop and that is only because any larger and everything is too small and strains my eyes. And I have new glasses.. :laugh: I usually play all games at 1680x1050, but for some reason any resolution above my desktop doesn't appear in this game's options. It's not bothering me at the moment, but I will do some investigating since everyone else seems to be playing at differing resolutions that don't even appear in the list for some reason.

 

I imagine since you're playing on a much larger monitor anything out of place would be noticeable, but I find the AA options in the game sufficient, no jaggies or at least they are so barely noticeable it's negligible.

 

Now I have to split my spare time between DKS and Fallout:NV which also got an update today that improves performance and a few other things to a huge degree. These two game are the best I've played in a very long time and they both have huge replay value. I find it pretty amazing that Larian actually post daily in their forum. Such support is unheard of, at least for most games I've played, which is a lot!

 

I'm being constantly amazed at the excellent writing in DKS and the intelligent humour, accompanied by the superb voice acting is brilliant. I'm still in Farglow, but getting close to leaving...I think.

 

The attention to detail and some of the funny little touches are very good. For example, did you mind read the empty market stall next to the Inn? Needs a password, but I found it and got some nice loot. And the pig incident.. ;D I took The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy as a quest reward (for laughs), but it only had a few lines of text about the meaning of life and not the real answer. :whistling: It was the only choice left after the good stuff at that point anyhow.

 

Anyway, I have to get back to the game now...I have to raise my lock pick skills. Too many chests and not enough skill... I can't wait to be able to transform and fly.

[Marthos]

Glad your enjoying the game.

 

The thing with the resolution is a bit odd, Ego Draconis did it too, it will only recognise resolutions up to the size of your desktop but not beyond, think its because of the "desktop res matching for menus" so if you want to hike the res you'll have to do it on your desktop first.

 

I too am impressed with the devs being active on the forums and having a natter with folk, it makes me think that they enjoy what they do and that their customer base is more than just a source of income, it also seems to be a pretty tight knit community over there too.

 

The writing, the humour, the voice acting and the storyline is all top notch and just keeps getting better as you progress through the game, I'm seriously impressed.

 

As you get further into the game you'll meet a certain female char that will have you in stitches, just think of the blonde in blazing saddles is all I'm gonna say.

 

I did the pig quest too, Kevin seemed like a such nice pig I had to save him. Btw, if you don't want to fight a high level killer bunny that will make mincemeat outta your ass, don't kick too many rabbits, though I know that now I have said that the first thing your gonna do is kick the crap outta every rabbit you see.

 

The only downside is that when I've completed this one, every other game I buy in future will have a lot to do to compete with it.

 

I also have to get back into the game now, coz I can fly !