A noble and worthy effort. Despite the many annoying bugs and a lack of immerision the beauty of the graphics and the longevity make this a decent RPG. Its not in the same league as Oblivion due to the lack of modding potential but still great fun and beautiful to look at. Like many jowood titles not worth buying when released due to the terrible bugs ruining the game. Now some years later its actually not too bad.… Expand

Well, I really love this game. Now the fans started making their own patches after the breakup of the jowood/piranha bites cooperation it has only very few bugs left and so it´s one of the best rpgs ever, in my opinion even better that the great oblivion oder the even better morrowind

I don't rate games considering what they could have been. I rate games considering, what they are. And Gothic 3 is simpy bad. BAD! The combat system does not work as precise as in the former gothic games. In fact, it's broken. I dont recall any other RPG dying as much as i did in G3. Combined with horrendous savegame load times, actual gameplay is a pain in the ass. And whats more annoying, even with massive patching, there are still bad game desicions, like the arkward combat system, the nearly empty, ever repeating world of three NPC models and the same set of buildings, artwork and so on, the lackluster quest system and boring presentation of the main quest. Why am i doing the main quest? Boring as in Oblivion ... Gothic 3 might have been a decent game, if the dev had put some more work in it. Like, a year! But the publishers financial problems forced the game out wayyyyy to early!… Expand

A pointless stunlock and 5 billion glitches can ruin any game.

What a waste of money. This game is no where close to as good as Oblivion. The controls suck, the interface is horrid, is just plain bad! Even at $20 for the game that is a rip off, maybe worth $5.

...it is out of sense to put in here extremely unjust and subiective opinions (vide games(TM) a foritori RewiredMind); "thanks" to this the average score of game is underrated; on the other hand - it is interesting that for example TES IV was not rated this way ;-); by the way in order to gain the resultant score it is important to take into consideration more published reviews, the score based only on 8 opinions (within 2 extremly subiective) cannot be authoritative...after al l You are really interesting website ;-).… Expand

There's a thrilling, immersive and exciting game in here somewhere. The problem is all the bugs and the flawed combat system which makes it really hard to find that game. I regret giving the game a 6, it really would be a 9 or 10 if it was ever actually finished, and I am using the latest patch. Ic ant imagine how this game looked like after release before the patches.

Has really lost a lot of the 'Gothic Charm' from the previous two games. Even if you manage to get past the technical issues surrounding the game, it doesn't make up for the lack of direction. All you do is go around and liberate cities, and even if you do too much of that you can seriously break the game by having every city that you come across be hostile to you. If you are interested in picking up this game and are new to the Gothic series do yourself a favor and pick up Gothic 1 and 2 for cheap. They are far superior to Gothic 3 in almost every way.… Expand

This game is Huge and Everything is great but i dont like the way it ends, dont worry if you havent finished the game, you will have your options not only black or white... Download the latest comunity pacth and you are done with a GREAT RPG Experience!

This game really rocks despite some bugs that can be bothersome. Once ones get used to the bugs, they are not bothersome anymore. I have played both WOW and Oblivion for countless hours. This game is as addictive and engaging as WOW. It is as beautiful as Oblivion, and I only play it at the medium detail level with nvidia 7600GT 512mb AGP. The reviewers who gave it low scores are really doing injustices to this game. I highly recommend this game to any RPG fan out there.… Expand

This is an incredible game. There is no other RPG game that comes close to acheiving the realism of this game. Very addicting. No speed issues. No bugs (running patch 1.09).. No crashes. Shame on GameSpy and other reviewers for trashing this game. They are reviewing their inadequate hardware and not the game.

The Gothic series has always been about reality. In Gothic 1 you enter a prison of sorts, full of criminals that mostly have much nastier pasts than you. It is a rebellious state that is very rough around the edges and NPC's that will beat you up or kill you, stealing all your ore while their at it, just for looking at them wrong! Gothic 1 was the first RPG where I really did not like certain NPC's and really wanted to raise my skills to show them what for - not just so I could save the world or wear fancy armour or buy armour for my horse, etc. Anyone buying any of the Gothic games, including Gothic 3, are just going to have to realise that you are a weak character at the start of the game, and guess what, everybody else mostly isn't! That gee whiz, you have never handled a sword in your life, but go anywhere you want and find 'trainee beasts' that are lacking in skills just for you (ala Oblivion), whereas in any type of real world if you can't yet handle a weapon, you DON'T go anywhere near any darn beast - anywhere! That as an unskilled fighter you would be respectful and a little scared of those around you, who you knew had much better skills. That's Gothic. REAL. Gothic 3 is no different. So despite all the reviews you're going to see comparing it with Oblivion. It isn't. It is much less hand-holding and much more real. We need more games like this, not less. Because it is not easy it will get 80's rather than 90's, but that doesn;t change the fact that this game, like Gothic 1 and 2 will become GAMER classics, even if the media 'doesn't get it'. So if you have only played Morrowind or maybe even just Oblivion, Gothic is a whole different beast. Make no judgements at all until you've played the game for at least an hour and have levelled up at least once. And get used to the fact, even while you're installing it, that Gothic ain't never gonna be no Oblivion - and it's all the better for it!… Expand

Great graphics and (potentially) gameplay. Since i have a good rig, I'm not troubled by any performance issue, but the fact that a wild boar can kill you twice as fast as an elite orc warrior is just messed up! The armor in the game is just for show, as it is completely ineffective. Also, the combat system is pretty stupid...i'm sick and tired of accidentally killing my allies during a fight! Anyway, the game does have a lot of potential and gives you an incredible feeling while playing it, but unless we see some major patch(es) soon, it's back to Oblivion, baby!… Expand

Much better than Oblivion... Lucks on the fighting and use of the sword. A master piece of its area.

Absolutely fantastic game, the world is alive, breathing and kicking. The game has a lot of atmosphere, much better NPCs than the sterile Oblivion and I admit has some bugs, but to me they are nothing compared to the feeling of being a part of a living, interactive world where choices have REAL consequences as opposed to Oblivion, to which this game often gets compared. I sincerely hope that the PB guys do another game in this style. For everyone who really loves RPG`s or simply an atmospheric , enjoyable world with memorable NPCs, Buy it and play it.… Expand

A game so good that I can easily forgive its failings. It is such a exciting and vibrant world that you play in. It feels rich and full and drives you to keep exploring. Obviously, I am hoping that jo wood fixes some remaining problems. While I enjoyed Oblivion I find myself thinking about Gothic 3 all the time and can't wait to get home and put in a few more hours.

Tons and tons of potential but is a nearly-unplayable buggy mess at the present time (ver 1.09). If the game were to be patched to acceptable performance and had all the memory leaks, quest errors and clipping problems removed, it would easily be an 8 out of 10.

Terrible, obvious, inexusable, fun stopping bugs. Wait six months and check the jowood forums to see if they've been worked out.

Underneath the bugs, there is a wonderful RPG experience. Unfortunately, you will have to endure memory leaks that *frequently* crash the game or delay it creating unbearable lag - this is the worst of the bugs; but there are a plethora of others. If you can handle finding the diamond in the rough (and it is a diamond) then get it - but know there will be times of hair-pulling frustration. I have a medium-high end rig with the hardware the game was made on (says it in the manual) and I am still encountering significant issues and have to play with mid settings to compensate (I play Oblivion on 1600x1200 and most settings maxed).… Expand

This game has awesome graphics and potentially awesome combat (like the previous two). The fast-frame rate of the wolves attacking you can piss you off, but once you step back then do a left click attack (while timing it) its pretty damn easy- especially when you're wielding 2 weapons. Magic is incredibly fun to use like the other two, and as you're character branches out in the later levels, you'll get to summon a giant metor, bring fire raining down, summon lightning, summon a demon, summon.....you know. This game isn't that buggy at all, my game rarely-if ever- crashes (2 gb of RAM is good for ya!) , and if only the media were to give a re-review of this patched game, the score would've been higher.… Expand

There was never such a game in history, where you can really do everything. Just go out in the forest, see a camp fire, hear ppl talk, just listen to them, rob them, or join them to beat up some bandits or monsters, its all there. I never played such a wonderful game, the only game getting near G3 is Gothic 2, but G3 is way bigger. and you cant compare this game to a shooter or other RPGs, G3 is so much more complex. There are no glitches anymore, its really funny, dramatic, thrilling, and the graphics are unbelievable, u can see miles from horizon to horizon, falling stars at night, campfires for miles through the trees, ... I would buy it again, but i already own it, and i spent month in this world, so if you havent played it yet, you are lucky to get it for cheap over steam. you will get some month of real fun with it.… Expand

I got this game when it first came out, i was extremely dissapointed with how many glitches there were. Recently i got bored and decided to go through my cuboard of games i dont play anymore. I decided to give gothic 3 another go now that it haz been patched. Now that the it has been patched the game is very enjoyable its only once in a blue moon that i come across a glitch now, i reccomend you buy this game off steam or from a local retailer, trust me its worth it… Expand

This game is awesome. While it's basic version 1.00 was full of bugs, and i should know, as i have been working in the industry for more then half a year, many however have been fixed with the last community patch. The graphics was mind blowing, keeping the feeling of amazement that stroked me ever since the 1st game of the series, the different ways you can solve various quest in the game that shape the outcome are welcomed giving the user the desire to replay the game in a total different way. The alternate AI balancing has compensated for the easiness of the gameplay in version 1.00, and also like i mentioned before many bugs were solved, including the permanent items exploit which really gave you an unbeatable advantage. The only thing that was fairly disappointing was that the end "movies" consist of only a slide show with pictures and voice over, which is less than the average user would expect after the intro video.… Expand

I played the latest patched version and it works fine on my upscale gaming system. There are a few minor glitches, but its worth playing. There are plenty of quests and lots to do. Its not nearly as good as Oblivion, but if you like RPG, this game will keep you busy.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Total misunderstanding. It was meant to be a revolution in series, ended up with bad changes which killed this game. Nonlinear story sucks a big one, it's better to say: we don't have a story in this game, because 99% of it is killing orcs / rebellious humans and searching for Adanos' trash items. Add very bad made world, where the capital of human kingdom is smaller than small village Khorinis from previous game. Really big disappointment for me, as fan of the Gothic series. Funny thing is, that fighting and character development make this game pretty playable.… Expand

After having teamed up with JoWood, Piranha-Bytes set out to create the next title in the Gothic series. Gothic III. Unlike its predecessors, Gothic III brought numerous improvements that players had wanted since the first game. Piranha started from scrap creating an entirely new engine with incredibly immerse and WONDERFULLY realistic graphics. The forging system has been overhauled, as well as alchemy, hunting and others, what's even better is the new options to cook certain foods and recipes as well as PROSPECTING, YES you can now MINE minerals instead of endlessly hunting for them. The new lands present in this game are HUGE in content and the continent itself is GIGANTIC. Piranha went out on an arm and a leg for this one.   Unfortunately, JoWood; interested only in their numbers forced Piranha-Bytes to GOLD the game before they had time to iron it out and perform a decent amount of QA (Quality Assurance), although the main quests and most of the side quests, as well as content, story and NPC's were ready, the game was RIDDLED with hundreds if not THOUSANDS of bugs that most players had to wait for the Enhanced Edition Community Patch to fix.   It's worth the time and money to play, but you are DEFINITELY going to need to download the latest community patch to play this game.   Fact: After JoWood forced the release. Piranha-Bytes left JoWood. JoWood still retaining the rights to Gothic, sold them to DreamCatcher, who released the Gothic Universe Boxset (Gothic 1, Gothic II Gold and Gothic 3). Dreamcatcher released Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods and it was horrible. To date, no Gothic game after Gothic 3 has ever been released by Piranha-Bytes.   Now, I'm going to go play Gothic IV: Arcania to see if it's any good, will write a review on it later.… Expand

The effort and ambition put into this game is seen in every corner of it's world. Too bad Piranha Bytes didn't have time to polish it. When playing the game I recommend to ignore little bugs and shuttering, and enjoy the art. My favourite Gothic title, and favourite RPG.

Technical issues may be on my end, but they are still technical issues. It doesn't help that the combat truly is hardcore. I don't understand the appeal at all and honestly, I couldnt spend more then 3 hours with it. Buy if it's like 5$, not more.

Very great game! You must play it, with CP Patch 1.74! The German Fancommunity fixed all bugs and fixed the balancing! With this patch version, its a great game. Without bugs. A great world, many lovely created Quests and a nice story! Many Perks and Weapons and a cool hero, makes the game to a very great RPG! But I think at some points the story is very obscure :D To go in a Tempel for a artefact, I have to kill many Zombies, then I must conquer a city and kill all Orcs at the Tempel and after this I have to kill every Zombie in the Tempel : But its still a very great RPG! At world of Gothic.de u can download all patches! And withthem its a very great game!!… Expand

The game has some errors and runs a bit slow but is otherwise superior. It have given it a 10 but the erros low the rating slightly.

Yes it's bugged, but I found it worth going through regardless. I will also say it's bloody difficult too. For those who like to compare any game set in medieval europe like scenery to Oblivion please stop, it looks alike and that's about it. Gothic 3 is very much more combat orientated. It's also big, well humoured in places and I will say beautiful too. Had to use this game to show off (and explain) HDR effects to my girlfriend. Then I had to explain why I'm such a geek.… Expand

I give this game a solid 9, I just took out the perfect score because of the huge amount of bugs. I wish I played it without bugs but well... Hey, I love this game with all my nerves and it really is true to all what the franchise came to be, a game that is so dynamic that it goes on without the player and doesn't wait for one to move along. Truly a fantastic experience and I can understand when this game is sometimes favored over, also another masterpiece, Oblivion.… Expand

It's a great game but not without its problems, patches have been released and things are much better. However Oblivion was in the same boat; bug ridden and in need of patching but most reviews ignored these facts and gave it critical acclaim. There is a real double standard here. I guess the Gothic series doesn't spend a lot of money on advertising.

What a sweet RPG! I have not had any problems that outhers seem to be haveing. I have just been playing a sweet game. I love it.

Those are not critics, those reviewers are kids that played their first RPG Star Wars Kotor and NWN 1 and think linearity with illusion of decision making is the real concept of RPG. And when a product with real RPG concepts comes in with non-linear world, undependant decision making, they give it 2/10 and blame the world is not good enough, instead of blaming their inability to evaluate RPGs. Reviewers! You are nothing else but a bunch of fat kids with first game experience from 2000 and with no sex experience.… Expand

I only bought the game after the patch, and also did some INI tweaks. A superb game, with a massive world, and so many things to do in it. Real choices, and consequences to go with them. Is it better than G2? Impossible to say. Both of these games focus on different things. G2: Smaller, tighter world. G3: Massive world and more things to do, less tight when it comes to dialogue. Buy it and enjoy.

I'm german and i get the game first.As i played it i was so excited about the game and its story was so perfect. I played the first and 2nd Gothic incl. the Add on and the connection between them is perfect .And i dont recognize any bugs ingame.

Nice backgrounds, but models are sloppy by today's standards. Combat feels like you have petite mal seizures. You might be able to best an orc leader, but if a wild boar gets a hit on you, no amount of armor will save you. Make sure to quick save every few minutes or that boar will cost you hours of gameplay.

Pity about the bugs - thankfully the game runs nearly flawless on my system, I didn't experience half the bugs I heard about. A pity many gamers these days are whiners who can't spend time on learning how to play a game and find every challange too difficult. Thanks for getting the devs to nerf boars, you pitiful weaklings!

Better than Oblivion. Has milloin gliches and bugs but after community patch 1.6 its finally playable! (Well I had the Where is the Guru bug in Vista and XP 64bit so it only works great in XP 34bit... One of the best RPGs ever.

I know the true potential of this game and even though it was launched prematurely I am sure that all the bugs will be removed with the patches.

Amazing experience -- this game is an achievement unlike any other I can think of for the past 5 years. And I play a lot of PC games -- nearly all of them that come out. Really, this represents the penultimate experience for hardcore PC RPG gamers. Buy it. You won't be disappointed.

I will keep this simple: Gothic 3 (without Community Patch 1.73) 4/10 Gothic 3 (with CP 1.73) 9/10

I like this game very much, I play it every day. I have no problems with bugs or performance, ok sometimes a quest don´t work but it dosen´t matter. Buy it, play it and love it!

Nice game with the typically feeling of gothic like the one before or like Risen :) A bit bugged without patches but works really nice with the newest.

I played gothic 3 with community patch 1.74 which fixed most serious problems of this game so the performance issues and bugs did not bother me much. Despite the flaws, gothic 3 is truly an immersive open world RPG. The exploration, unlike in Oblivion, is actually fun, and it's interesting to loot some surprising treasures after beating tough foes. The faction setting in this game is utterly good. You can side with different factions and ends up with different endings. The gameplay is also very non-linear. In many cases you can just talk your way out or you can smash them to death. Though the story in gothic 3 is terrible, it's not that bad considering that you have a massive world to explore. The graphics is still ok in today's standard and you pretty much are able to max its setting in mid-range PC nowadays. I personally think Gothic 3 is The elder scrolls IV: Oblivion should have been. Highly recommended if you enjoyed Morrowind.… Expand

This game has been a huge disappointment. I've been waiting for it for so long after beating Gothic 2... Just to receive a game that overwhelmed it's creators... The world is huge, filled with boring side quests. The fighting is just terrible.. All we have to do is clicking the mouse button...90% of the time we'll end up hitting the opponent as other enemies just stare, until they get positioned close enough to be able to hit us. AI is simply terrible. Main story also wasn't entertaining at all. The music is nice, I must admit, and the graphics are pretty decent as well. The game is glitched like hell but this can be fixed with newest patch, thankfully. But even after that the game is not really enjoyable. Oh, and also, the game expects you to fight with whole cities/camps, which is just amusing because of how poor our enemies' AI is. Overall, it just doesn't have the atmosphere that Gothic 1 and 2 held. I'd maybe enjoy G3 if it had the same mechanics as G2... Pros: -Uh, graphics and music I guess...? -Huge open world... Which looks nice but isn't really interesting to explore. Cons: -Pretty much everything else.… Expand

Uh... amazing graphics and environments but... dam... compared to Gothic 2, this game is bad. Its fun to explore but there is so little quests and most of them are bad :( While you play Gothic 3, after some time you will ask yourself,whats the point of all this. -minus weak story, too easy combat, quests, things to do, guilds...

this game disappointed me because it was nowhere near as good as gothic II but it was still a good game the world map is huge with three different terrains (snow, woodland and a desert) but the story is still very immersible and the graphics are also better but what killed 2 points of the game for me is the combat, the combat is horrible it has no gameplay whatsoever you just keep tapping the mouse button like a mentally ill until everyone dies because when you hit something he gets stunned for a second and when he recovers you hit him again which causes a very boring cycle of pressing the mouse but what is also a problem is that this also happens to you you can have a lvl 50 character that still gets murdered by a **** lvl 1 boar because the thing give you no chance to hit it and when you die you have to watch at the loading screen for an entire minute overall it is a good game but the combat butt **** the **** out of this game… Expand

Dont buy this game ! its a game with 999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 different bugs ! i was playing it for 9 hours and i was keep telling to my self to try to play it maybe its worth it but.... there is no way u can play it without having tons bugs ! even from the start i try to install it again but again the same problems i was waiting for an update nothing.... if u want to play a game like this buy two worlds its better but its not awesome either… Expand