http://www.addictinggames.com/theworldshardestgame.html 

is 4,95$ on STEAM right now. 

Got back into playing this almost a year after I slacked off it.

As before it is a Marmite game i.e. love it or hate it. I'm quite like Marmite in an indifferent sort of way, but I think I love Gothic 3.

Yes it's still buggy, slow loading, sometimes slow running, and the combat is a button mashing mess.

BUT the world is as capivating a portrayal of a fantasy world I've seen in any game. The sense of "being there" in a fairly classic fantasy setting is particularly appealing to me. The details that go into this - and pretty good graphics - it really does come across as a genuine world. The houses you can go in and see everything that seems natural to live in. The people with their lives and homes. I'm in the desert at the moment and the atmosphere is as strong as ever. The Hashashin crack me up with their greed and pompous malice, calling you "Son of ill-judgement" or "Father of patience" or similar all the time.

Plus in the grand RPG tradition there is a hell of a lot to do. I've focused on combat and exploration and haven't really scratched the surface of thieving... or magic... or smithing... or alchemy... or exploring the political factions of the back story...

Ummm yeah rambling a bit. It's satisfying my fantasy needs once more, anyway. 

And I'm in the desert too. Clearing the temples - such pitoresque, cunningly contstructed and neatly lit interiors. :P

Patch 1.6 (including all community patches) has been released few weeks ago btw. Probably not usuable for you though (savegame incompatibility or whatever). 

did they fix much? cause out of the box it was unplayable with zero balance. great let down for me :( and the horizon clipping on the medium shader setting... such a mess instead of a good RPG it should`v been 

I have...

Earnt the trust of the Mora Sul Hashishin, and opened that temple there (I have a tendency, so far, to support the Orcs, thus was helping them mostly, although when I tried to deliver the keys to the Orc leader, it would only let me fight him for his key).

Liberated Braga in favour of the Nomads

Liberated Ben Erai in favour of the Nomads

Done as much as I can in Lago and left it alone for the time being (this is an example of how vibey the game is - a little coastal village full of stoners, it just cracked me up).

Tried to get in to Ishatar and been unable to.

Explored a lot of random shit but no other towns.

I'm uneasy about the Hashishin - they amuse me quite a lot but basically they are greedy, grasping, amoral, slave-trading scum with no higher principles other than looking after themselves. Hence why I've helped the nomads. On the other hand, I'm tending to support the Orcs who are allied to the Hashishin so I don't want to cause too much trouble there...


(Speeds: I dunno what's been fixed, combat balance is okay even tho melee combat is a bit gash. Horizon clipping is a bit b0rky but to be honest given how lush the detailing is I can put up with that) 

I mean WTF, is this shit fixed? (set to highest qulity everything except DoF, geforce 7600)
http://www.speeds.quaddicted.com/gothic3-coast-3.jpg 

Well I dont know about Gothic 3, but since I finished Slave, I've been bashing on with Crysis.

~O~M~G~

I understand why some people say the gameplay is a bit borked, its annoying when you die-die-die, and it says

"the difficulty settings can be altered from the main menu"

but the graphics are so fucking sexy I just cant believe it!! Im running on XP32, with the Vista-very-high hack, in 1280x1024 (on a 15" cr8, which is just about the highest pixel density you can get I think), with AA off.
Cryengine 2 would make one hell of an Oblivion style game! The bit inside the mountain, the bit with the snow, the mental detail of the earth stuff is just incredible.

Someone should make a fantasy crysis mod? 

I never saw that in the first place, although I've had occasional glitches with terrain going. (Make that very occasional). Whether it's fixed or not I dunno, but I didn't have that problem. 

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/gothic3/patch/21255.html?details=1

a couple of little things.... 

 

The comparison shot you requested: http://negke.quaddicted.com/images/g3coast.jpg 

How fucking gay do you look in those robes?!?! I thought the crown was bad enough....

But yeah that's a lot more what mine looks like.

Did I mention how much the day/night cycle and weather in this game rocks?? 

I installed the patch ... http://www.speeds.quaddicted.com/goathic4.jpg
neg|ilke yeah same shit, just more blur with the DoF

I cat help but notice such things
(and lame shoddy UVs allover the place and much more stuff that shouldnt be present in a retail product) 

Shambler: yeah indeed, but their stats are a few points higher than the fire magician robe I had before. Need to kiss-up the rebels a bit more (bore slaying them all) so I can finally buy the Paladin armor which seems to be the best armor in the game. Kind of silly really, I haven't even been to Nordmar.

Speeds: I agree it looks bad but there are more than enough areas that make up for it (where it isn't noticable). If one buggy view is enough to ruin a game for you, well... just go map Bitterman. 

I haven't been too. Winter stuff tends to be my favourite atmosphere in a game, so I'm saving it until last. 

http://www.golfquestionmark.com/ 

Yeah, saw that on RPS few weeks back.

It is good, but it's also unfinished :(

The physics are very intuitive, and the visual style is cool, if a little rough in spots. The only thing that annoyed me was the physics properties of the vehicle - too damn light to stay upright. 

then play this game (with sound!): http://www.mazapan.se/games/BurnTheRope.php 

YES!! 

now, what am i going to to with the rest of my day? 

Now how am I going to spend the rest of my day? 

That's what I get for not refreshing. 

that's why Swedish games are so popular - their challenge is set at just the appropriate level! 

Enjoying a bit of this! Some maps leave a lot to be desired, I've been playing some low-G maps, which seem to be massive box rooms with crude platforms in and a few props, but the gameplay is fun. Primitive but fun.

I'll have to get TF2 soon though I think...