Genre: RPG / 3D / 3rd Person
Year: 2010
Developer: Spellbound Entertainment
Publisher: JoWooD Productions
Publication Type: Demo Version
System requirements for maximum rendering quality in ArcaniA – Gothic 4 Demo recommended by gameGPU site:
The minimum
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: 2 Core Duo 2,2 GHz or Athlon 64 x2 6000+
RAM: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 512 MBRAM Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce GTS250
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 2 GB free space
Effective
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: 2 Core Duo 3,0 GHz or Phenom II x2550
Memory: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 1024 MB RAM Radeon HD 4890 or GeForce GTX 280
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 2 GB free space
Optimal
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core i 3 530 GHz or Athlon II X3 440
RAM: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 1024 MB RAM Radeon HD 5830 or GeForce GTX 460 768 mb
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 2 GB free space
Official description of the game
The war, which shrouded the Southern Islands in a bloody fog, finally reached the island of Feshir, where until recently peace and idyll reigned. The main character of the game “Gothic 4: Arcania” returns to his village and finds it plundered and ruined. Those who attacked her went to sea in their ships with sails bearing the emblem of an eagle.
Our hero, obsessed with a thirst for revenge, sets off on another adventure full of dangers, but soon realizes that the attack of thugs on a defenseless peaceful village was not just someone’s momentary whim. Behind all the events taking place in the world, as it turns out, there is an invisible dark force, and our hero will soon have to face a powerful unknown enemy. But he is not alone in confronting him – his fate is inextricably linked with a mysterious, beautiful stranger, as well as with a powerful artifact from a long-forgotten past. The game “Gothic 4: Arcania” takes place in a fascinating and beautiful world that attracts players with its amazing landscapes and unsolved mysteries.
Zones with different climatic conditions, rich and varied flora and fauna, dark dungeons, cities and ancient castles with magnificent architecture – all this awaits seekers of new adventures. The graphics in the game are simply amazing – the change of day and night, clouds covering the sky, plays of light and shadow, wind and rain will not leave anyone indifferent. Realistic sound effects and beautiful musical compositions immerse players even deeper into the atmosphere of the world of Arcania, and a dashingly twisted plot, many tasks and a well-thought-out combat system will not let them get bored for many unforgettable hours spent playing the game.
Review: Playability
On May 22, 2007, the publisher of the previous games in the series (with the exception of the first part), JoWooD Productions, issued a press release saying that cooperation with the German developer Piranha Bytes, who developed all the previous games in the series, had been completed and JoWooD, having the rights to use the series and the “Gothic” trademark, plans to develop the next part. The next day, May 23, the publisher announced the search for a new developer for Gothic 4. On August 23, 2007, the found developer, Spellbound, was officially introduced by the publisher.
The demo is based on the first stage of the game. The events of the game itself will take place 10 years after the end of the story of Gothic 3. The action takes place on the so-called southern islands. Each island will have its own climate, as well as flora and fauna. Part of the territory will be hidden behind a magical dome (barrier). Friends who are familiar from the previous parts will remain; in the demo version, for example, we will meet our old friend Diego. It became impossible to attack “enemies”, which somewhat reduced the authenticity of the surrounding world…
The main character of the game will be a young shepherd who lives in a quiet fishing village. This guy will start his adventures with a very simple quest – go through 3 trials to get the hand of his beloved Evie. The first tasks will become a kind of guide for playing Arcania: Gothic 4, which will help introduce the player to the basics of warfare. All actions in the game take place in real time, and the hero has access to three different types of combat: melee, ranged attack and spells. The development scale is slightly cut in comparison with the previous part, which may somewhat confuse ardent fans of leveling.
We invite you to evaluate part of the game walkthrough of ArcaniA – Gothic 4 Demo , where you can see for yourself the quality of this product:
It’s too early to draw final conclusions – let’s wait for the release of the full version of ArcaniA – Gothic 4 with professional voice acting from Akella, where, thanks to domestic voice acting, we will be able to plunge more deeply into the game world (however, everything will depend on the localizers themselves).
Review: Game Graphics
ArcaniA – Gothic 4 is being developed on a completely different engine than Gothic 3, namely Trinigy Vision Engine from Trinigy. “Trinigy Vision Engine” is cross-platform software and supports, in addition to a personal computer, the gaming consoles PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The engine SDK includes: plugins for 3ds Max and Maya, a visual level editor “vForge” (allows you to edit the landscape, place buildings and other three-dimensional objects, create triggers and scripts, adjust effects on the level, etc. – there is also a function for remote preview of the created level on a console connected to a PC) and the “vLux” utility for editing lighting.
In addition, several technological solutions from third-party manufacturers are integrated – “SpeedTree” (vegetation rendering at the level), “Kynapse AI” (artificial intelligence system), “Scaleform GFx” (for using graphics created using Adobe Flash), “Fork Particle “(particle system), “NetDog” and “Quazal Net-Z” (network components), “ProFX 2” (for procedural textures), “Mixamo”, “morpheme” and “IKinema” for object animation, sound subsystems “FMOD Ex” and “OpenAL”, physics engines “PhysX”, “Havok”, “Digital Molecular Matter” and “Bullet Physics Library”.
The Trinigy Vision Engine supports normal mapping for textures, the radiosity lighting method, dynamic lighting and shading, particle system effects, location streaming, and post-processing effects such as HDR and depth of field. The resulting image is displayed on the screen using OpenGL or DirectX 11. But apparently the developers of ArcaniA – Gothic 4 did not consider it necessary to introduce the most advanced technologies, and limited themselves to DirectX 9.
The graphics in ArcaniA – Gothic 4 are head and shoulders above all of its predecessors and look virtually flawless. So far, the only major drawback is the water in the sea. Its cheap rendering contrasts with the rest of the game’s graphic components. The character models are not bad, but still do not reach the level of development of the main character. But still, let’s not rush and wait for the release of the full version, where we can appreciate all the delights of the remaining locations.
Review: Resource-intensive game
For a comfortable game in ArcaniA – Gothic 4 Demo You will need a Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz or Phenom II X2 550 processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM. The requirements stated by the developers in the form of a Core i 7 and 4 gigabytes of RAM are unnecessary, although in the full version with the addition of new locations everything may change radically…
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Hardware configuration |
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Processors |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550@ 4.25 GHz cache L2 12 MB Intel® Core™ [email protected] GHz cache L3 8 MB Intel® Core™ [email protected] GHz cache L3 8 MB |
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motherboards |
MSI P45 Platinum 7512 socket LGA775 MSI X58 Pro socket LGA1366 product provided by the company MSI MSI P55-GD55 socket LGA1156 product provided by the company MSI |
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Memory |
GOODRAM PLAY 1600MHz (8-8-8-24) product provided by the company GOODRAM GOODRAM Pro 2000MHz (8-8-8-29) product provided by the company GOODRAM |
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Video Cards |
GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB |
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Hard disks |
3×2 RAID0 Western Digital Caivar WD2500GL 250 GB, 7200 rpm, SATA 3 Gbit/s |
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Power Supplies |
FSP GROUP EVEREST 800W 2xSeaSonic S12D 850 Silver 850W product provided by the company SeaSonic |
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System software and drivers |
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Operating system |
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 |
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DirectX |
DirectX 11 |
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Platform Driver |
Intel INF Chipset Update Utility 9.1.0.1012 |
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Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 260.63 ATI Catalyst 10.8 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality by the Fraps program in the most resource-intensive part of the game. Video cards gave the biggest drop in frames when viewing through a waterfall near Diego’s home, and from there we took the minimum FPS in the game. The average FPS was taken as a result of running around the perimeter of the village.
Less productive video cards are tested based on the Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, and more productive ones are tested based on Core™ i7 processors. Our video cards are tested generally in all different screen sizes, and you can evaluate how your video card behaves relative to other modern solutions in almost all different gaming screen sizes. Usually, with the release of a demo version, we skip the review of the full version, since there is practically nothing to review on “our” side, but in this case we decided to change a little. With the release of the full version, you will be tested using all quality settings in separate screen sizes 1920×1080 and 1280×1024.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1024×768
So, hold on tight, for resolution at maximum graphics quality settings at a resolution of 1024×768, you will need at least a video card such as a Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce GTX 260. And for those who do not like a noticeable drop in FPS, you will have to stock up on a Radeon HD 5870 or GeForce GTX 460. It’s worth noting that Nvidia’s new Fermi architecture gives a noticeably smaller FPS drop than its previous generation and competitors such as AMD Radeon.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1280×1024
When increasing the resolution to 1280×1024, more powerful video cards will be required, namely Radeon HD 5770 or GeForce GTX 260. The bar for acceptable performance rises to the level of GeForce GTX 470…
Testing at maximum quality settings 1680×1050
With a widescreen resolution of 1680×1050, the level of acceptable performance will rise even higher, namely to video cards of the Radeon HD 4890 or GeForce GTX 280 level. The only card that did not fall below the threshold of 25 frames was the GeForce GTX 480.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080
And finally, at an HD resolution of 1920×1080, even our current single-chip leader GeForce GTX 480 could not resist ArcaniA – Gothic 4 and shamefully dropped to a measly 22 FPS. You can play more or less comfortably on less weak cards, namely Radeon HD 5830 or GeForce GTX 460 768 mb.
Final World: ArcaniA – Gothic 4 from new developers is a good reincarnation of the old game series. Graphically, the game performed well, and we hope that new surprises await us with the release of the full version…
