Don't ask where the others are.

Of all the epic role-playing game franchises that have come and gone in the past decade, Gothic has always been one of the most distinct. The first three games in the series earned developer Piranha Bytes a lot of fans and a fair number of detractors for brutal difficulty, bleak storylines, and...

Straightforward; easy-to-play hack-and-slash RPG

Boring story and nondescript NPCs; Formulaic fetch quests; A few hitches with map graphics and overall visual quality; Generic game mechanics and limited character development; Poorly translated dialogue and voice-acting

When a hapless hero swears vengeance on an evil king for the loss of his pregnant bride-to-be, you'd expect said hero to mention his shoulda-been wife, you know, at least once during the game's 25-hour campaign.

+ Stunning visuals; loot; sidequests; and crafting make for addictive exploration; + Balanced mixture of magic; archery; and melee combat

- Half-hearted story design; framerate issues; minor bugs, ? If Arcania sells well, can we get the earlier Gothic games in some sort of Xbox 360 bundle

You ever get the feeling that a game arrived just a bit too late to the party or maybe was a bit ahead of its time? That does happen every now and then and Arcania: Gothic 4 is one such example.

In a week with the release of Dragon Age: Ultimate Edition and Fallout: New Vegas, I'm reminded that I personally have yet to play either series, not to mention Mass Effect or Elder Scrolls.

If you read my ‘impressions' of the demo version of ArcaniA, you know that even though I pre-ordered the game I had several hesitations about the potential for the game to be any good, and even more reservations about it being a ‘good Gothic game'.

Solid graphics; lots of stuff to kill; familiar names and faces

Simplistic gameplay; dumbed-down skills and crafting; quests are idiotic; writing is lousy; non-living world; poor use of old friends and no new ones to care about

The Good: Stunningly beautiful realm The Bad: containing a lackluster and somewhat dull adventure The Ugly: which I hesitate to call an RPG as most contemporary role-playing elements are missing I am likely not the best person to be reviewing Arcania: Gothic 4.

Gothic 4 is an over-the-shoulder-camera RPG much like Oblivion or Mass Effect, but it leaves much of the role-playing activities out. The result is a game that would ordinarily be action heavy, like a graphically superior version of Torchlight, had the overall story and action not been so dull.

Boy, the RPG scene sure has changed since the first Gothic game. There was something captivating about that game and I could never understand why I felt compelled to spend so much time with it. Gothic 2 still remains one of the best games I've ever played.

Looks and sounds very nice; it's easy to get into and there are plenty of items to toy around with

Besides the lush environment; nothing motivates players to stay in this world; simple gameplay and simple quest structure; awful English subs (or voiceovers if you will); uninteresting story and characters; there's nothing challenging about this game

Arcania: Gothic IV is no different, and while the story might have issues with pacing, it won't distract you from the experience. It lets you play at your own pace, with plenty of great looting objectives and a very detailed and lively world.