Mr.Mumbles: After finishing
Risen, I was curious enough to give the original
Gothic a try. Yeah, that was a waste of an hour or two. Those are some superbly janky controls.
Did you enable the "alternate controls" from the Gothic options? They were much more bearable to me (in fact so much that I didn't mind the controls after that). I recall reading here the "original controls" were meant for keyboard-only players (and that is why they feel so clunky), while the "alternate controls" retrofitted mouse support, including mouseaim.
It took a bit of time to understand how to operate stuff (open chests, swing your sword etc.) and operate the inventory, but after you got a hang of it, it was ok IMHO. The alternate controls, that is.
Then again, as Risen is supposed to be quite similar to Gothic but with modernized graphics and controls, I guess there is little reason to play Gothic after that. That is exactly why I started the Gothic (+Risen +Arcania) games from the very beginning, finished the first game last year I think. I have this problem with other series too, thinking whether I should start them from the beginning or jump right to the newest installment.