Only Gothic game i've ever played is Gothic III which i liked, except for the fact that it was a game that came out in 06 or something and my PC still struggles to run it, even with lowered graphical settings, but the dozen or so hours i played before losing my save somehow or another were great.

But now i've heard that Gothic and Gothic II are harder? i just bought Gothic and Gothic II (obviously starting with the first game) and i'm wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions for starting out?
Unless the game is UBER hard...as in IMPOSSIBLY HARD, i'ld like to keep the default difficulty setting (assuming there is one) and i was thinking of going for a Melee oriented character with some ranged capabilities if possible? is that a good or bad idea?

Anyways, i'm about to start rambling when all i really want is some tips, advice, pointers or whatever anyone might think a new player should know but probably doesn't (or could easily miss).

Thanks!

The first two Gothic games are IMO considerably more difficult than Gothic 3. That being said, having played G3 you will have an understanding as to how several things work in the Gothic universe, although the control scheme for the first game is a little wonky. The most important thing I've found for the beginning of the game is to start with as many non-combat quests as possible to assist in leveling up your character. Fights can quickly turn deadly against seemingly simple foes in the early stages of the game. I started the game on its default difficulty the first time I played, and although it ws difficult at the beginning, I was able to overcome the learning curve without too much trouble.

The first two games are harder but not impossibly so. If you play it safe (doing non-combat quests and sticking to the paths where possible) you won't have too much trouble and can gain the experience needed to train your skills and take on more formidable foes. Sooner or later you'll get to a point where you can easily defeat tougher enemies that previously knocked you down in a couple of hits.

The one exception to this is Gothic II with the Night of the Raven expansion installed. Night of the Raven is a merciless challenge aimed at Gothic II veterans (and/or masochists), and unless you're the sort of person who goes straight for the hardest difficulty the first time you play a game you'll probably want to play without it the first time. The GOG release installs Night of the Raven by default but you can disable it in the installer's options.

Arkose is right. Night of the Raven is a beast. Fisrt time I played Gothic 2 I had NOTR installed and I couldn't understand how anyone other than a complete masochist could enjoy the beating it gave me. However, after uninstalling and then installing with just the orginal Gothic 2 I was able to play with no problem. Even with that though, don't be afraid of giving the Gothic games a 5-6 hour test run. Just start up a game to get the hang of the gameplay and leveling system, then restart with a character that you want to spend 50+ hours with.

In many cases, especialy in the beginning, I do it like this:

+ I try to attract the attention of a single or max 3 enemies. If more are after me I go for an instant retreat. To attract the enemy I use a distance weapon or spell or I get nearer slowly until the animal makes his attack warning, than I let it come for a first hit.

+ Keep agile and block whenever possible. Some enemies (for instance goblins) have a low endurance, I fight them, run away until they are exhausted, turn around, score some hits, run again, etc. If you keep moving and use hitcombos at the right time, you should be fine. And again, NEVER take too much enemies at one time

+ In G1 you can use the 2 guides to the Swamp and New Camp to clear as much animals as possible and get the XP for free! In some cases it`s also good to let other person kill the enemies for you, but then you won`t get the XP. With the trick above and non combat quests, you should be able to have a quite good char ready for some action. You should still avoid the real bad guys though

+ Use a good tactic, a fire rain wisely used can clear tough enemy groups, if you manage to let an enemy follow you in water and can hit him, while he is swimming, you have a big advantage, lure your opponents into falls which cost them most of the hitpoints, there are many ways to do it. Have fun ;)

Thanks for the advice everyone, especially about the NoTR G2 expansion as i usually like to install expansions right from the beginning and would probably end up abandoning the game if it's as hard as you guys say once i got around to it.

Blocking doesn't work against animal attacks, only against weapon attacks. I also never found blocking particularly useful in Gothic 1 (although it was effective against many humanoid opponents in Gothic 2 once you got the timing down). Overall I found it was simply more effective to try to time attacks to interrupt enemy attacks and defend myself that way (basically best defense is a good offense).

Blocking often isn't as good as stepping backwards. Stepping backwards automatically blocks for you and will cause some enemy attacks to miss you altogether. If you use two-handed weapons this is a great way of keeping enemies just close enough to hit but far enough away that they can't hit back.

Ahh, ok, i didn't know that...it was causing quite the bit of grief initially.

Wish someone would have told me (or had even been in the manual) that holding down the attack button and pressing forward and to the sides executed different attacks. I just danced around a Bloodfly and hacked it into bits after figuring that out.

Having trouble in the arena fight quest, any pointers? i'm lvl 4 and think i did most of the quests i could find in the Old Camp...

Have you done all the quests in the other camps too? Fisk might give you another quest, after you`re done with Thours` quest

The arena fights, especially Kharim, are very difficult early on and you'll probably want to wait on them until later if you want to win. If you're trying to get Scatty's approval then all you need to do is challenge Kharim (you don't have to win, just challenge him and get beaten up, although you'll probably want to drop your ore beforehand so he doesn't steal any of it).

Ahhh, ok, another thing i didn't know. Thanks!

One other thing about the difficulty of NotR - I tried it right off and got to some frustrating situations early. However, if you think out of the box, you can make it. Luring enemies to the guards, etc, transforming into wolves, wargs, that Orcs don't attack (just not around humans) to do recognizance or stealth , get by beasts with beasts they don't attack, and some transformable beasts are much more damaging then you are early on like shadow beasts (great mine crawler and Orc killers or those very fast and tough reptiles). Other spells are great against specific adversaries like skeleton warriors. In a jam? Transport. There are many ways of killing or fooling enemies without actually fighting them in standard ways. One hint: save your demon scrolls.