Gothic 3 Previews
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This nonlinear gameplay will be aided by the fact that the world in Gothic 3 is going for the same sort of wide-open feeling of Oblivion. The game's world is split into three realms, with a total of about seven-and-a-half square miles of territory to explore. That's not quite as large as Oblivion's world, but from what we've seen, Gothic 3's world is much more alive and detailed. There seems to be a better sense of atmosphere, as well. For example, it can be kind of grim to walk into an orc-occupied human town and see the bodies of human resistors strung up on poles by the side of the road. Rest assured, there are plenty of less morbid things to gawk at, too.
And a snip from Shacknews' article:
Gothic's combat system has been a frequent point of criticism for the series, and with the third entry Piranha Bytes has attempted to make the fighting more streamlined and intuitive. Now, the game uses a two mouse button system with a soft target lock. When fighting multiple enemies, the game will automatically target the one over which your cursor tends to hover, and to attack with the currently equipped weapon or spell you simply click the left mouse button. Melee weapons have context-sensitive attacks assigned to both the left and right mouse buttons. For example, swords have a vertical slash assigned to the left button and a quick horizontal swipe assigned to the right. There are also various other options. Holding the left mouse button winds up for a strong vertical attack, while holding the right mouse button blocks. Blocking then clicking the left mouse button performs a slow but particularly powerful blow. Other weapons have different systems, though most them seem relatively similar. The setups for longer weapons such as staves take advantage of those weapons' crowd-control potential by having large sweeping strokes for the powerful attacks, and so on. From what I can tell, most spells and bows do not have these multiple attacks, as their functions tend to be more specialized. Combat, as well as the rest of the game, can be played either in first or third person, depending on player preference. It's tough to get a sense for how the combat holds up over time based on a relatively short preview session, what with the game's emphasis on unique skill development. Right now it seems like the streamlined point and click aspects may make it too simplistic. Hopefully later hands on impressions will provide a more thorough understanding.
