D, it never ceases to amaze me what you consider news. I've never even heard of Gothic, and here you are commenting on the filesize of a patch for this game. I mean yeah, it's a gig. That's a big patch.
Well, there's a lot to this post. I thought it could make a hell of a discussion out of this -- popular game or not, b/c I think there is A LOT to discuss; especially w/ some of it including the state of PC gaming. I will throw a lot of my 2 cents on this one.
Yes, it'll be around probably ONE GIG. ONE GIG. That is an insane size for a PATCH for a game. It'll take a while for most people to download -- cable connection or not. I don't think I've EVER seen a patch that size. Someone please name another game w/ a patch that big.
That is one reason why I think it's worth mentioning -- it's pretty much unheard of, right now. I think it's going to be interesting to see how Piranha is going to distribute this -- especially for 56k modem users, since there has to be a good handful still living in the world today. I will also bet Piranha will place the patch on their upcoming "next project," which is rumored to be an expansion for Gothic 3, since Kai of Piranha says it is possible. I also wouldn't be surprised if Gothic 3 is re-released on disc, w/ the patch included on the game disc.
I am glad Piranha's commitment is still to this very game, which many feel is still quite broken and quite buggy. It should be, as it is considered a very extremely messy game, by many. Many also love this game, despite the bugs. So, yeah -- that is saying a lot, if people love it and still try to play it, despite issues. Many are waiting for the issues to be fixed. It deserves to be placed in a much better state and condition -- wouldn't you say? Shit, I would...especially if I purchased the damn thing.
Hell, Piranha could've packed it in and did no more patches. They could've scrapped it all and just began work on Gothic 4, instead of patching this thing. Hell, they could've just decided to patch here and there, like most companies do. No, they're going crazy and gonna try to kill most issues -- good luck to them. Hell, they could've just worked on the expansion and force the expansion to be the Gothic 3 patch (so that you'd have to go buy the expansion) -- but no, Gothic 3: Original Campaign will get patched, as well. As it should be. There are just too many PC games where even after the games done being officially patched, it still might need some work put behind it to resolve some issues still -- just look at modders/fans, who dedicate themselves to unofficially patching games, like w/ say Bloodlines. Even after Troika wound up closed, shouldn't some workers at Activision be patching some of the issues that still remained left unresolved in Vampire: Bloodlines. Look at Anachronox, which got unofficially patched -- Que was the one telling me before that this game REALLY needed it.
Also, this kind of news of such a big patch coming should be a wake up call to both developers and publishers -- DON'T AGREE TO PUSH GAMES TOO FAST OUT THE DOOR. This way, we won't have this issues arise in the future. Haven't we seen enuff PC games -- especially last year, even triple-A titles like say Splinter Cell: Double Agent PC, GRAW PC, R6: Vegas, NWN 2 -- get pushed out the door too early?
That doesn't include many of the not-so-triple-A titles that were released in crappy states, either. This doesn't help sales, that just hurts sales. And it hurts PC gaming itself, in general, too -- it makes PC gaming look bad. How Gothic 3 STILL sold 500,000 copies across the world is amazing, despite its reputation as being one of the most notorious and buggiest games ever made since Daggerfall -- so, yes, Gothic is a well-known game, across the world (probably more so in Europe when in comparison w/ the USA) to sell some 500,000 copies globally.
But its for some game named Gothic 3.
And yet, this news could've rang true and possibly been for some beloved series of yours where the game turned out technically a mess....I doubt you'd want to hear a game you love is getting a ONE GIG PATCH on one hand (b/c that is a huge patch and will take forever to download!), yet you'll glad on another hand (about time they fixed your game!).
Oh, BTW, Gothic 3 is a non-linear action-RPG by German company
Pirahna Bytes. As far as I'm concerned,
Gothic 1 is their masterpiece and is one of the most underrated non-linear action RPG's.
You like non-linear action-RPG's?
I'd suggest you go find Gothic 1, myself -- it's probably dirt cheap, these days; oh, and it's all patched up, too. And so is Gothic 2 (on the cheap factor, in which it often includes the expansion, if you find Gothic 2: Gold Edition), in which the game is unfortunately is not as great as the original. G2's a good one, especially once it was all patched up and all.
Gothic's not an unheard-of game. The first one generated quite a lot of buzz with the RPG crowd. Unfortunately, when both sequels turned out just as buggy, heads stopped turning. I have the first 2.
G3 didn't sell 500,000 copies for no reason....
That is amazing, despite its reputation for BUGS GALORE. There has to be something about that game, to still sell 500K and people talk about how great the game is, despite its technical set-backs.
I think the problem isn't that D occasionally reports news that's lame (we've all done that), it's that he sometimes reports news about games that only he or possibly one other person actually care about. Gothic 3 qualifies. A patch that size would be interesting news if this were indeed a game anyone other than D and X cared about.
I'm sure if I made a post that some amazingly popular American-made game that was extremely loved but had major technical issues suddenly will get news to happen to get a ONE GIG PATCH, maybe gamers would respond. Yeah, maybe if it was something like a GTA, WoW, Battlefield game, C&C game, or something....yeah, maybe people would actually care then....
But, you know what?
It'll happen. With the way publishers and developers are, these days and age -- kicking games out the door too early and supporting games w/ patches for often too short of a game's actual life, it's bound to occur. It's bound to happen to a triple-A title, that it'll get a ridiculous patch-size. Just give it some time....it's getting to be plain sad....and I see this trend continuing, especially after seeing a handful of last year's fiascos...