Was going to put this question in the relevant games forums, but thought I'd try here first, to get a balanced view,,,,
Just purchased both these fine games - which do I go for first? Both look like they need some time devoted to them. I was leaning towards Gothic, but the control issues are frankly scaring me ...;o)
Arx looks like its slightly more of an action game, and time-wise shouldn't take as long as Gothic....
So, I throw it open to GoG RPG'rs out there - I'm not necessarily after which is best (cos I've got both!), I'm after which one will aid the RPG novice like myself into the genre....
edit : spellcheck...;o)

Arx Fatalis!
...
Arx Fatalis!

I only own Gothic for now.
I would recommend remapping some of your keys, and remember...when all else fails try holding the Ctrl Key down with other keys.
I would like to get Arx Fatalis, but it will be awhile. I will get Port Royale II first.
Play the one you think you will like the most first.

Gothic.

Let me tell you this:
The controls on Gothic *will* become second nature to you once you play it for a while.
The fame has aged really well for being a 3d game.
Gothic does not pussyfoot around: You have gangs, drugs, violence and more in that game. The game is a big FU to the wussy RPG's we play today with their leveled content, handholding, and dialog made for the "special" 3 year olds. Another bonus, the game doesn't hold back as far as monsters go. For example, you can have some easy to kill wolves in one section and then run into an orc or something else that kills you unless you're careful.
Arx Fatalis was deemed the spiritual successor of games like Ultima Underworld and I think it pulled the succession quite well, albeit with a slight difference. You have to "draw" magic runes in order to preare your spells and magic in general isn't as over powered in this game as it would be in other games. The NPCs have their own schedules and you can overhear some funny bits of conversation from the wandering monsters ("Stoopid hoomon!" from the goblins is my favorite quote). The whole world is one big dungeon with towns and cities for you to explore.
In order of difficulty I would first play Gothic then Arx.

Well, I BOUGHT Gothic first, so I guess that counts as a vote from me.

Gothic and Arx are nearly equal, but for me is Arx much better due to Gothic controls, maybe you can try to throw a coin to decide which one.

Gothic.
If Ultima 9 had been awesome, it would have been Gothic.

Someone mentioned Ultima 9? Sorry,but this thread must now be killed with fire for it has been contaminated.

I just actually bought both about a week ago... currently playing through Gothic. Trust me, the controls are not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It was a little tricky to figure out at first, but afterwards its easy, I don't really know what everyone constantly bitches about honestly. Yes, you do have to press two buttons to talk or attack, but at the same time pressing different directions with the action button does different attacks, so on some strange level it makes sense.
I haven't tried Arx yet, but I am thoroughly enjoying Gothic.

Well, maybe I should write something more.
I know I was playing Gothic 1 some time ago, I even got used to controls over some time... However, game wasn't worth even those 10$ I got it for. Sorry, I just couldn't get into it, I can't even remember why. But I've kept trying Gothic 2, and if it shares flaws with the first one, then it's world FILLED by hostile monsters (that took immersion so much from me...), story, which seemed uninteresting when I played it (however I didn't really finish). The only thing I liked about the game were detailed, living cities.
Arx Fatalis, on the other hand... Not so free. It's a dungeon crawler. I don't like dungeon crawlers. I never liked them. But Arx is one of the best RPGs I've ever played - immersive, great, with some neat ideas and small details, that make it awesome. You can even make bread for crying out loud! Great design of pretty much everything and awesome magic system makes me buy it again and kill some time with this awesome game.... Oh, and I didn't even mention the atmosphere. If you like dark atmosphere... You'll love this game
That's why Arx wins over Gothic. I guess Gothic just didn't cut it for me... I never liked it. I tried, I tried hard, but I just couldn't get into it.

Arx Fatalis is one of those titles I have multiple copies of. I purchased when it came out and received a copy of it with a motherboard purchase from newegg.com some 3 or more years back. The nice thing about that later hardware bundle version was that, unlike the original release, this version was DRM free.
If you haven't played either game yet I would suggest Arx Fatalis first due to the relativism you might be subject to from playing some of the newer RPGs. Gothic is definitely a solid title worth playing as well but due to learning curve as mentioned previously in reference to the controls and interface I would go with Arx Fatalis first.
On a side note, the Unreal engine powered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone featured a similar spell casting technique through drawing released in the previous year of Arx Fatalis.

Lol Gothic controls are more confusing the Arx? The goddamn freelook/weapon mode/inventory/look in boxes is still confusing me (I'm up to the troll idol part, so not very far at all yet). Not saying that Gothic isn't a bit strange, but they both have some awkward control schemes... Also, is there an easy keyboard key/method to open containers? I try double-clicking on them, and sometimes it opens them, sometimes it doesn't, its really irregular and annoying.
So far Arx has slightly better graphics, voice acting is pretty nice, the only thing that annoys me is that sometimes the text scrolls too slowly and i can't read the dialogue and skip to the next line. listening to it spoken each time can take waaay too long.