Arcania: The Complete Tale Review - PS4

Arcania: The complete tale is a port of Arcania: Gothic 4 which originally appeared on the PC back in 2010 and has suddenly appeared on the Playstation Store recently as another in the long line of recent remasters. I say suddenly because I had no idea this was on it's way and I don't think I'm alone. It seems to have appeared completely under the radar of most gamers. The game is an action oriented RPG of European heritage.


Arcania: The complete tale comes packaged with the Fall Of Setarrif expansion for the complete Gothic 4 experience. You start off as a sleepy young country bumpkin who has his mind only on one simple thing, which is to marry his bubbly young girlfriend. The opening quests of the game involve you attempting to win the favour of your lady's father. These simple tasks serve as an introduction to the game mechanics in typical style, and you will find yourself partaking in simple fetch quests and easy battles such as clearing a farmer's field of vermin and such like. The game will of course see your character develop into a fearsome warrior on a quest to bring parity to the turmoil unfolding in the kingdom Of Myrtana.

The first thing you notice about Arcania is that when you look at it, you are immediately transported back to 2009. The game looks pretty poor even for a 2010 PC release. There are improved draw distances, the obvious resolution hike and maybe even some frame rate improvements. As you complete the opening missions, you'll realize that apart from those improvements and a few extra facial hairs and wrinkles, that this is no remaster as such but just a quick money making port. In the opening hour, you'll encounter frame rate dips, a limited number of character models with wooden animation and weird eyes, low res textures, B-movie acting with awful lip-sycning and music cutting out randomly. Some of the games technical faux-pas wouldn't look out of place on a PS2.


As a retro game fan, I can personally overlook graphical flaws if there is a decent game hiding under the hood, however in the case of Arcania: The complete tale, you pretty much CAN judge a book by it's cover. As things develop you'll find the overall game is one that very much belongs in the previous gen when it comes to it's overall standard. The map, although touted as "Open world", is actually very linear. There are barriers everywhere and the plot really shepherds you through proceedings. The map is large but as you unlock new areas, you find that you are simply steered through a series of fetch quests and more fetch quests. You realize that most of the quests are uninspiring fetch quests and once you complete all quests in an area, there isn't really much reason to go back to a place like you would in most epic RPGs. You often feel as though you are being channelled in a straight line like you would in a linear action game.


Arcania's combat mechanic, although fun at times, is similarly archaic in nature. Things start off pretty simple and samey, and you DO need to give it a bit of time before things get better, and get better they do.  Once you improve a few of your skills and learn the limited spells, things can be quite fun at times. On the other hand, you find that the enemy AI is quite primitive and makes things quite easy and unchallenging for you overall. There is a also a limited crafting mechanic to the game, but again, this turns out to be pretty basic in nature.

The Trophies on this game, I find annoying as there is one for hoarding 100,000 pieces of Gold, which I have learned means that you basically have to never buy anything for a complete playthrough, and you also have to sell all your health potions and never use them which sounds annoying! Never buying anything in an RPG? Doesn't sound fun to me.  If you couple this with the trophy for a runthrough on the hardest difficulty then you are looking at more than one playththrough to max the game probably which although normal in the genre, is not a particularly exciting prospect here.



CONCLUSION:

I'm trying my best not to totally dismiss Arcania: The Complete Tale. It is a game that could so easily be slated to hell by reviewers and I've noticed it has gotten some terrible scores due to the fact that it is basically a cash cow port of a game stuck in 2010 and even then, it wasn't the most accomplished title. Many will wonder why the hell it exists due to the complete lack of improvements on offer!! Every aspect of the game defies the progression we have seen in video game production values in 2015. Having said that, if you are a fan of action RPGs or even a fan of the kingdom of the lore of the Gothic universe and fancy a simple jaunt, there is enjoyment to be had here if you can overlook it's simplicity and primitive ways!

If you were stuck in a cave for several years and hadn't played Dragon Age, Skyrim, Kingdoms Of Amalur et al, you would possibly find this a decent enough jaunt. Not a woeful game, just one showing it's age like an aging Hollywood starlet that ran out of Botox....

6 Out Of 10

Nicely reviewed and very fair

Good honest review mate.
I am tempted to play it as I need a RPG on PS4

great honest review matey cant say i am the biggest rpg fan but does not look or sound that bad

Good honest review buddy. Glad it's on the ps4 to avoid my temptation and by the sounds of it probably some disappointment to.

Nice piece Clone very well written. No PS4 so a no from me.

Nice review mate