Gothic 3 Preview

The folks at Hooked Gamers have whipped up a two-page preview of Piranha Bytes' Gothic III, based on what we know about the latest RPG installment so far.
The mainland of the world itself consists of many settlements in the Middle Kingdom (currently occupied by the Orcs) as well as the untamed regions to the North and South (snowbound and desert regions respectively). The northern and southern regions are less settled and explored and so offer the greatest opportunity for uncovering ancient hidden secrets. It is through exploration of all of these regions that our hero will grow in power and stature in a class-free character development system that allows for the use of more than 50 powerful spells and a hundred different weapons. The combat system has been improved to behave in a more natural, fluid way with the character's growth in experience eventually allowing for special combat skills (such as dual-wielding).