Recent reviews by GombaPorkolt

Most intense waifu dress-up simulator I've ever played. 10/10.

Team Ninja has just proved that the Souslike-formula can, in fact, be tailored to fit a specific vision and does not have to be stale. If you like Japanese (alternate) history, lore or mythology, OR like Soulslikes, you'll definitely love this game.

There are multiple weapon classes in the game with very different movesets, combos, and skills to each, as well as damage output, playstyle being different. Add to that that the game has 3 stances to choose from (each weapon has a stance it performs iest in, but each one has its favoured stance). With this many variables, you're sure to find a playstyle which gives you the most enjoyment and fits your style the best, but even after playing through the game once, for at least 2-3 more playthroughs with different builds/playstyles (NG+ cycles included for each build/playstyle), the game will just keep on giving.

There are some aspects, like the Diablo-like randomized stats on the loot you get, which may put off some peole, which I understand, but if you look past that (player skill is still the most important factor here), then you're good to go and will enjoy it. Coming from a Soulslike veteran, I can say that, besides The Surge-series, this is the only other Soulslike-series which is almost perfect.

Just keep in mind that this game is FAST (almost 1,5x faster than Bloodborne and almost twice as fast as DS3, if you are coming from the Souls-series), PUNISHING and UNFORGIVING, much tighter than any other Souls-game or Soulslike. It has also some BS bosses and boss moves, but that's to be expected.

8/10 in my honest opinion, almost perfect for a Soulslike. It is even worth full price if you have the money for it, but if not, DEFINITELY pick this one up when it goes on sale, you will not be disappointed. I wouldn'T recommend this for someone who has never played any Soulslike games, but hey, if you like the setting so much, maybe this will be your gem. For those who played and liked Soulslikes, this one is a must.

Absolutely extremely fun with friends! Sure, there are some bugs here and there but it's to be expected with an alpha. No game-breaking bugs so far, very entertaining with friends and - so far - well-balanced.

Jesus Christ no.

Have been playing it on and off for some time, started it up today, played for like 4-5 hours with a new character, quit to do the shopping and chores, started it again afterwards and my character was gone. No trace of it in the character roster, nothing. As if it never even existed. Okay, yeah, sure, a game deleting a character after a regular "quit to desktop" option is 100% normal, right? No, thanks. Fokk off. I'm sticking with Diablo 2, at least that doesn't delete characters on a whim. I wish I could refund this garbage. Maybe fix the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ saving system BEFORE releasing your trash.

I can finally roleplay as a woodcutter. Been choppin' wood this entire time and having fun. 10/10.

I had this game on a disc somewhere from way before. Played it thruogh NG+++, enjoyed every single second of it. Since then, I have moved since then and lo changed PCs and lost the disc somewhere in the process. Saw it some time ago on sale, decided to buy it and play it again. 10/10 experience still. A strong recommendation to every soulslike-fan. It has its flaws, bt damn is it a unique experience!

A cutesy little game where you, as a club member, get to meet and exchange poems with cute and cherful girls, who are exactly the type you'd expect in a peaceful high school setting.

And exactly the types my mother wrote her PhD in psychiatry on.
Disturbing AND cute at the same time.
10/10.
Play it.

Best take on the battle royale genre, most unique after the original PUBG. The matches are balanced, it's very easy to get into one, no hour-long queues, and due to the very well-designed nature of the game, matches are action-packed and super fast-paced and are generally over within 20 minutes, if that. No more camping in one "perfect" spot for 30 minutes just to get one-shot by someone who you haven't even seen. I tried this game on Epic in beta, I didn't particularly like it, but now, it's in a state where I'd recommend it to anyone, even non-BR fans. I will keelp playing for a long time, that's for sure. The different kinds of magic and the interactions between them is very fun, allows for some tactical decisions and it's easy to get the hang of as well!

As much as this game is a departure from the first 2 Gothic-games, it still is a good game, with great atmosphere, a large, immersive, detailed world to explore, really well-written dialogs with some tongue-in-cheek humor here and there. Growing up, this was the first RPG I've ever played and I have spent more than a few hundred hours with it in my lifetime, so after not having the CD anymore, I've bought it here without a second thought. In spite of all this, I'm going to try and write an unbiased review.

Positives:

+ Large open world, where the player is free to go wherever they want, without any artificial barrier (save for the upper district of cities and one city in particular)
+ Despite having lots of cities and villages (for its time), all of them feel different and look different from one another as well. You can tell if a city used to be a fort or an agricultural center just by its surroundings
+ In true PB fashion, there are lots of hidden pathways, items, caves and the like off the beaten path and exploration is worth it
+ Despite a lot of quests being fetch quests, they at least feel justified and fit into the game world
+ Even though I've played it through for the 6th time and knew almost everything by heart, it took me 40+ hours to complete the game (aimed to do all quests, though)
+ Some cheeky dialogues
+ Because of the world's size and general structure, exploration is highly encouraged and almost always rewarded accordingly
+ People and structures being where they are make sense, nothing feels out-of-place.
+ No character is immortal in the game, everyone is killable (except Beliar and Innos, who are not even proper characters, as the Nameless Hero communicates with them through their shrines)
+ Every dialogue is voice-acted.

Negatives:

- Even with the Community Patch, fighting animalc, especially wolves and boars can be a pain in the neck
- Two-Handed melee characters can get their hands on the best weapon in the game early, and having met its requirements, won't switch to another/more powerful weapon, so combat becomes repetitive and they won't get better weapons
- Summoning magic is still somewhat useless, as is at least a third of all spells, or at least very situational
- As much as the CP made the game better, it removed the mechanic where enemies/the player take damage while blocking if out of stamina and gave the enemies seemingly endless stamina, thus making melee combat more tedious and the spinning attacks borderline useless, because if it hits an enemy's block, the spin stops. This becomes very noticeable during freeing/annihilating towns
- No matter your class, combat will, at some point, become repetitive
- Main story is more loose, or even non-existent, compared to the first 2 installments (although this encourages more free shaping of your character from a role-playing perspective) and is basically a huge fetch quest, at the end of which you may decide who out of 3 people you give the collected stuff
- Due to NPC speed, the „Take X to Y!” or „Follow X to Y!” quests will get tedious and frustrating at some point.
- Some quests require an immense amount of backtracking, which is fine for the first playthrough or until you familiarize yourself with the map, but on subsequent playthroughs, you will get bored of them.
- Some skills are just not worth learning.
- Navigation in Nordmar. No, really, it's a negative. Believe me. Even a trained arctic search&rescue team equipped with GPS would get lost there.

Verdict:

If you love huge , sprawling RPG games, try it! This game is worth your money. Gothic 3 is by no means a perfect game, nor was it ever that. But it's a unique experience with that familiar PB feeling and love towards their own game and world.It has its fair share of problems, which mainly stem from it being a little bit too ambitious for its time, and it got torn a new one because of it's buggy mess of a launch, still, with the Community Patch thanks to these amazing guys, it's playable and represents more what it wanted to be at first. The best way to put it is this: Gothic 3 is a great RPG game, just not a great Gothic-game, at least not if you jump into it with expectations from the first 2 games. Still it deserves a place iamong the good and worthwhile RPG games because of its truly unique world, interesting and funny character roster and a lore/story that, albeit a bit basic, has only a few plot-holes, if at all. So jump into its world and have fun annihilating or saving it with the elements or with raw steel!

This mage improved on nearly all aspects of the previous one, yet managed to keep the ones that were perfect intact and implement it into the new system, which is a rare sight. All the weapon classes feel and play like they should, there is room and possibility to play around with every class, none of them feel unimpactful or out-of place, they all handle well and have their own characteristics.

The combat largely remained the same, albeit faster, but the feeling is the same: satisying, punchy, impactful, fluid. Having played the first for around 60 hours, I felt right at home in the second one, I did not have to "get used to the game", aside from the few new mechanics, which are a great addition.

One can argue that the transition to the open world from the claustrophobic corridors is a negative thing and takes something away from the game, but I think it fits the setting well and opened up new possibilities for the devs and environmental/map designers to shine and show us what they are capable of. The maps are even more interconnected and more twisted than in the first game, some are so complax that I generally had to take my time and memorize them to even be able to traverse the environments, which is a good thing. Although I did not really like the aesthetic of Port Nixon and had hoped to see more leels like the CIT with that familiar look and feel, I was not disappointed and am amazed at the devs' skills crafting these maps.

The enemy variety is around the same as in the first game, but it does not feel detrimental. With new enemies comes new armor sets and weapons, of which there are many and more than enough to accommodate any player's needs for a custom playstyle. Paired with the new, partial set bonus it really does encourage experimenting with diferent sets and weapons on-the-fly. I never felt that there is no set to compliment a given weapon class or playstyle.

The health implants are gone and now players earn upgrade points when they upgrade their rig, a welcome addition, considering that in the first game, half of your implant spots were taken up by health implants just to not die in a single hit, thus, limiting your possibilities. Conversely, the new slots can be used to try out more implants, which are a bit reqorked and offer way more variety in terms of combat and gameplay. More would be a welcome addition, but still, I'm sure that with future DLCs, more will be added.

The game's length is about doubled (took me about 26 hrs to get through it the first time), there are more bosses to fight (albeit some are re-used multiple times, which is a bit of a letdown, but in general, they are fun to fight and have multiple phases for the player to memorize abd fight their way through.

Thanks to the more open environments, no encounter/fight feels cheap, even if you are outnumbered 2-1, because you have room to maneuvre and kite enemies, and they all have a very defining, easy-to-get attack pattern which is fun to fight against.

All in all, I would defnitely recommend this game to those who loved the first, and even to newcomers to the series. Even at full price, this game is a no-brainer to get, and if on sale, grab it as soon as you can if you are into Souls-likes or The Surge in general. It ticks all the boxes for me, which is always a good thing. I cannot wait for future DLCs (if there is any planned).