Just finished this game last weekend. It's one of the best games I've ever played. It reminds me a lot of the first The Witcher (think it had a big influence on that game). What it lacks in modern polish it more than makes up in an exquisitely crafted world, with believable inhabitants and and interesting dilemma.
In the beginning you're thrown into a prison mining colony that is surrounded by inescapable magic barrier. The inhabitants have split into three different camps, and each is pursuing its own way to try and remove the barrier and free the colony.
You start off as a weak nobody, extorted by guards, and monster food if you try to fight stuff right off the bat. But slowly and satisfyingly you work your way up in strength and prestige. I think too many games start you off as an invincible bad ass, or coddle you with danger-free busywork. In Gothic, if you want a map to a beginner's quest, you have to buy or steal it. No golden arrows pointing you where to go. And if you walk into people's houses and try to loot, you will get yelled at in warning, and killed if you don't listen. I found it really refreshing to have a world that actually reacts to you and has consequences.
Aside from your weak beginning, the game gives you almost total freedom. The world is beautiful to explore... I loved just running around looking at the forests, waterfalls and old ruins. Every inch feels like it was crafted for someone's pen and paper RPG or something. Add to that the sharp dialogue and solid voice acting, and it's quite an experience to get lost in.
So anyway, I suck at writing, but I really loved this game and wanted to share. The only downsides to it I'd say are its dated graphics (though I liked them), and very odd controls. You pretty much use keyboard only to play 3D game. It's very weird at first but quickly becomes second nature. Gothic is truly rewarding and unique if you're a fan of RPGs.
Totally agree. Gothic and Gothic 2 are probably the best action west RPGs out there. In my opinion they definitely are. The combat is not great, the graphics are outdated, but the feeling is unique. My greatest moment with Gothic 2 was when I was going through town and suddenly I saw a picture I had never seen in any other game: an NPC was taking a piss at the town wall. Think about that. The NPC just randomly went to the town wall, leaned against it and started pissing. Mind Blown...
I remember both of the Gothics very fondly, but fuck are the controls terrible. I remember reinstalling the second one in a bout of nostalgia only to get destroyed by the first monster and my nostalgia bubble popped :D
Also you have to do some pretty unintutitive stuff to minmax in the game, like holding onto points, or waiting to use stat buffs until you have trained your stats to the max (IIRC)
On November 29 2015 22:11 Zaphid wrote: I remember both of the Gothics very fondly, but fuck are the controls terrible. I remember reinstalling the second one in a bout of nostalgia only to get destroyed by the first monster and my nostalgia bubble popped :D
Yeah, the combat controls definitely need getting used to. Took me some time to actually understand what was going on, but once you do it becomes pretty simple and straight forward. Its just unusual.
That being said, I personally believe that combat is the worst part about that game. There is so much Gothic is doing right, but fighting is definitely NOT it.
On November 29 2015 23:28 Scorch wrote: The Gothic series is among my Top 5 games ever played. It's a shame it never had much success outside of Germany.
Big fan of the third one. Never played the first two, but now I might try to get them, because that's exactly the kind of games I'm in the mood to play right now.
On November 29 2015 22:11 Zaphid wrote: I remember both of the Gothics very fondly, but fuck are the controls terrible. I remember reinstalling the second one in a bout of nostalgia only to get destroyed by the first monster and my nostalgia bubble popped :D
Also you have to do some pretty unintutitive stuff to minmax in the game, like holding onto points, or waiting to use stat buffs until you have trained your stats to the max (IIRC)
Yeah the controls are funny... in the beginning I had to google how to pick up items and open the first chest I came across. After you get used to it though it's kind of neat to not have to take hands off the keyboard.
I think Gothic 2 with the expansion is what you're thinking of as far as holding on to skill points. In 1 the only thing like that (that I'm aware of) is keeping stat potions until you've trained stat to max. I didn't have any trouble beating the game though without minmaxing.
That's another thing I loved about the game... you don't really need guides or walkthroughs because everything is handled really well in character. I just read some people's tips for beginners on the forum, then purposely avoided walkthroughs because I was having so much fun discovering things and progressing the story.
On November 29 2015 19:29 RoomOfMush wrote: Totally agree. Gothic and Gothic 2 are probably the best action west RPGs out there. In my opinion they definitely are. The combat is not great, the graphics are outdated, but the feeling is unique. My greatest moment with Gothic 2 was when I was going through town and suddenly I saw a picture I had never seen in any other game: an NPC was taking a piss at the town wall. Think about that. The NPC just randomly went to the town wall, leaned against it and started pissing. Mind Blown...
lol yeah it's those little details that really add so much to the immersion. I think my favorite moments were exploring Old Camp for the first time, and beating the shit out of the Rice Lord and his goons after I'd gotten stronger.
I actually very much like the combat in Gothic. If you'll get used to it, you have control over, which direction you strike, when to block, etc. Sadly, the third game simplified it to mouse-button mashing. The way the character fights depending on how advanced he is makes it really rewarding.
But I absolutely agree about the world, immersion and exploring. One of my favourites in that regard together with the first Baldur's Gate. There's so much detail and many mysterious places. I really enjoy traveling between camps, watching wildlife, hunting, talking to people and so on. The music adds a lot to the overall atmosphere in my opinion, I just love the one in the New Camp.
Those memories man. Being from austria Gothic 1 and 2 were pretty big back in the day. Was my first RPG and set a high standard which many other games failed to reach later on... Replayed it many times since then. Only sad thing is that Pyranha Bytes never got it together again after Gothic 3 (which was so mediocre compared to 1 and 2), then lost out in a battle of copyright and had to make a new game (Risen), which in the end was´nt that great either... But well I guess some childhood memories can never be rewritten.
Three tries, all of them ended with me getting slaughtered by the first wolf I encountered. Maybe it wasn't even a wolf, it looked more like a very mean dog. Third time I even managed to pull my sword out.
This was one of the most embarrassing gaming memories I have, together with glorious frog incidents in Temple of Elemental Evil.
On November 30 2015 07:19 two_sheds wrote: I remember trying out Gothic at friends place.
Three tries, all of them ended with me getting slaughtered by the first wolf I encountered. Maybe it wasn't even a wolf, it looked more like a very mean dog. Third time I even managed to pull my sword out.
This was one of the most embarrassing gaming memories I have, together with glorious frog incidents in Temple of Elemental Evil.
One day I will have my revenge.
killing a pack of wolves is pretty advanced in gothic great game, just running around and exploring the world some german funny video:
Gothic 1 and 2 were the best RPG games in their era in my opinion. I played the latter one first, and i still remember my first fight with goblins near xardas' tower(they kicked my ass ) It is too bad they botched gothic 3 hard. Gothic 4 was better than the 3rd but still not as memorable as 1 or 2. Even though i finished it, i don't remember anything about that game expect some lightning spells with effects. I remember quest lines for the first two completely.
On December 01 2015 00:49 Isualin wrote: Gothic 1 and 2 were the best RPG games in their era in my opinion. I played the latter one first, and i still remember my first fight with goblins near xardas' tower(they kicked my ass ) It is too bad they botched gothic 3 hard. Gothic 4 was better than the 3rd but still not as memorable as 1 or 2. Even though i finished it, i don't remember anything about that game expect some lightning spells with effects. I remember quest lines for the first two completely.
Wasnt the same people making the latter games. The original developers went on to create Risen which is (supposed to be) Gothic in anything but name. (I havent played it yet)
Risen is pretty good imo, they had to change the controls to keep up with the players, but otherwise it has the G1 feeling - isolated island with ancient evil.
I have one of the worst gaming memories with Gothic 2 though. You talk to the leader of the town to get permission to go back to the place of Gothic 1. Then I travel and fight, and quests my way through to the area, like 8 hours of getting sidetracked and character developement. And I am at the gate, and they tell me, you need a key. So I try to go back to the dude that said I could go there, but they wouldn't let me talk to him again. And so I load an 8 hour old savegame, talk to him, he tells me again, yeah you can go there, and this time I pick the same option in the dialouge once more, and he tells me, oh yeah, here, don't forget the key.
I uninstalled the game at this point. A friend later told me you can learn some magic and turn yourself into a small animal and pass the gate without a key, dunno if he just was pulling my leg.
On December 04 2015 08:19 JWD[9] wrote: Gothic 1 was soo legit.
I have one of the worst gaming memories with Gothic 2 though. You talk to the leader of the town to get permission to go back to the place of Gothic 1. Then I travel and fight, and quests my way through to the area, like 8 hours of getting sidetracked and character developement. And I am at the gate, and they tell me, you need a key. So I try to go back to the dude that said I could go there, but they wouldn't let me talk to him again. And so I load an 8 hour old savegame, talk to him, he tells me again, yeah you can go there, and this time I pick the same option in the dialouge once more, and he tells me, oh yeah, here, don't forget the key.
I uninstalled the game at this point. A friend later told me you can learn some magic and turn yourself into a small animal and pass the gate without a key, dunno if he just was pulling my leg.
yeah this would piss me off. Reminds me of the time I got hit with the hiccup curse on planescape torment. I just quit playing after realizing i couldnt stop it and couldn't reload before it.
Actually you can be healed from the hiccup curse in Planescape: Torment. That's a part of the quest, you just have to find the mage, who has more powerful curses. He'll teach you one and you can force the guy to reverse it, the whole deal is quite funny in my opinion. I simply love this game.
I had a bad experience with Gothic 2 as well, but it was due to broken save file. The previous one was something like 12 hours old. I turned the game off and returned to it 6 months later, this time having 3 separate saves. The second game is not as fun as the first one for me, those 3 camps are so different, yet each one of them is great.
On December 04 2015 08:19 JWD[9] wrote: Gothic 1 was soo legit.
I have one of the worst gaming memories with Gothic 2 though. You talk to the leader of the town to get permission to go back to the place of Gothic 1. Then I travel and fight, and quests my way through to the area, like 8 hours of getting sidetracked and character developement. And I am at the gate, and they tell me, you need a key. So I try to go back to the dude that said I could go there, but they wouldn't let me talk to him again. And so I load an 8 hour old savegame, talk to him, he tells me again, yeah you can go there, and this time I pick the same option in the dialouge once more, and he tells me, oh yeah, here, don't forget the key.
I uninstalled the game at this point. A friend later told me you can learn some magic and turn yourself into a small animal and pass the gate without a key, dunno if he just was pulling my leg.
yeah this would piss me off. Reminds me of the time I got hit with the hiccup curse on planescape torment. I just quit playing after realizing i couldnt stop it and couldn't reload before it.
@JWD[9] The part with "turning yourself into a small animal to pass through a hole in the wall" is in Gothic 1 if I remember correctly. And there were magic scrolls that did the transformation as loot very close to that location. The key you needed to open the gates was on the table in the town hall (right in front of the guy who told you to go to the gate). All you had to do was pick it up.
@parkufarku You can heal the curse if you do a quest. Its actually a very simple quest.
On December 04 2015 08:19 JWD[9] wrote: Gothic 1 was soo legit.
I have one of the worst gaming memories with Gothic 2 though. You talk to the leader of the town to get permission to go back to the place of Gothic 1. Then I travel and fight, and quests my way through to the area, like 8 hours of getting sidetracked and character developement. And I am at the gate, and they tell me, you need a key. So I try to go back to the dude that said I could go there, but they wouldn't let me talk to him again. And so I load an 8 hour old savegame, talk to him, he tells me again, yeah you can go there, and this time I pick the same option in the dialouge once more, and he tells me, oh yeah, here, don't forget the key.
I uninstalled the game at this point. A friend later told me you can learn some magic and turn yourself into a small animal and pass the gate without a key, dunno if he just was pulling my leg.
yeah this would piss me off. Reminds me of the time I got hit with the hiccup curse on planescape torment. I just quit playing after realizing i couldnt stop it and couldn't reload before it.
@JWD[9] The part with "turning yourself into a small animal to pass through a hole in the wall" is in Gothic 1 if I remember correctly. And there were magic scrolls that did the transformation as loot very close to that location. The key you needed to open the gates was on the table in the town hall (right in front of the guy who told you to go to the gate). All you had to do was pick it up.
@parkufarku You can heal the curse if you do a quest. Its actually a very simple quest.
Ok, but if I didn't pick the key up and they won't let me return, and the turning yourself into a small animal was in gothic 1, then I rightfully quit due to a hardlock ingame, nice. Now I am at peace I think xD. Oh parkufarku, I am so sorry, people telling you it was cureable is even worse, I share your pain. <3
EPT![[image loading]](http://paulthetall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Gothic-mac-screenshot-2.jpg)
