Gothic isn't really a janky game. Although I guess the controls can be called janky. But they work well once you get used to them. Stalker isn't janky either. Without the fan patches it's just a buggy mess.
What makes these games great is the atmosphere. The worlds and characters are believable. They're grounded. They're vulgar, ugly, direct and hard with their own special type of charm. They feel real.
Also not being oversized empty open worlds but handcrafted ones that are fun to explore and really reward you for it helps too.
The controls and/or the extreme bugginess are the epitome of what janky is. They are extremely difficult to pick up and play without either a lot of fan-work, a learning curve to wrap your brain around something different or just dedication to suffer through.
I didn't mean it as them being bad, I absolutely love Stalker and have heard Gothic is a game like no other once you immerse in it. They are marvels for even functioning considering their development background. But they are complete jank on this end because of it.
Like I said Gothic isn't really comparable with Stalker. Stalker is almost unplayable without fan patches. Gothic 1 & 2 doesn't have that problem although given the age of Gothic 1 you need a patch to at least support higher resolutions. They have their own fair share of bugs but nothing even close to what Stalker suffers from.
From a technical standpoint G1 & G2 (with official patches) are fine. It's only the controls and combat system that you could call janky as it is quite unusual. But it's not difficult to learn in my opinion. It is difficult to master though.
Gothic 3 on the other hand is as much of an unplayable mess as Stalker and should not be played without the fan patch. Afaik the fan patch is baked into the official release on Steam and GOG anyway. Although it can be skipped entirely as it is a bad game even without the bugs.
And originally I thought Gothic was slavic, but then remembered it was German halfway through, but lord if it doesn't feel like a slav game.
That's because Gothic is a bigger cultural icon in Eastern Europe than Germany itself. Germans love Gothic. Slavs worship Gothic. That's why Polish modders created a full length Gothic game with professional voice-over that turned out to be a true Gothic 3 and is arguably the best Gothic game ever made and one of the best RPGs of the last two decades.
Archolos is truly great. You don't even have to have played G1 or G2 to appreciate just how good it is.
Gothic isn't really a janky game. Although I guess the controls can be called janky. But they work well once you get used to them. Stalker isn't janky either. Without the fan patches it's just a buggy mess.
What makes these games great is the atmosphere. The worlds and characters are believable. They're grounded. They're vulgar, ugly, direct and hard with their own special type of charm. They feel real.
Also not being oversized empty open worlds but handcrafted ones that are fun to explore and really reward you for it helps too.
The controls and/or the extreme bugginess are the epitome of what janky is. They are extremely difficult to pick up and play without either a lot of fan-work, a learning curve to wrap your brain around something different or just dedication to suffer through.
I didn't mean it as them being bad, I absolutely love Stalker and have heard Gothic is a game like no other once you immerse in it. They are marvels for even functioning considering their development background. But they are complete jank on this end because of it.
Like I said Gothic isn't really comparable with Stalker. Stalker is almost unplayable without fan patches. Gothic 1 & 2 doesn't have that problem although given the age of Gothic 1 you need a patch to at least support higher resolutions. They have their own fair share of bugs but nothing even close to what Stalker suffers from.
From a technical standpoint G1 & G2 (with official patches) are fine. It's only the controls and combat system that you could call janky as it is quite unusual. But it's not difficult to learn in my opinion. It is difficult to master though.
Gothic 3 on the other hand is as much of an unplayable mess as Stalker and should not be played without the fan patch. Afaik the fan patch is baked into the official release on Steam and GOG anyway. Although it can be skipped entirely as it is a bad game even without the bugs.
I only compare them simply because they used original in house engines developed for them, and them being "janky but soulful." A very general lumping.
And originally I thought Gothic was slavic, but then remembered it was German halfway through, but lord if it doesn't feel like a slav game.
That's because Gothic is a bigger cultural icon in Eastern Europe than Germany itself. Germans love Gothic. Slavs worship Gothic. That's why Polish modders created a full length Gothic game with professional voice-over that turned out to be a true Gothic 3 and is arguably the best Gothic game ever made and one of the best RPGs of the last two decades.
Archolos is truly great. You don't even have to have played G1 or G2 to appreciate just how good it is.