I don't like cheating. I feel like cheating cheapens the game and makes my experience less meaningful.

... It's strange but somehow I don't mind exploits as much.

For some reason I feel like using exploits in a game is okay even though outright cheating isn't.

It's a little hard to explain but when I'm cheating it's like I'm bypassing gameplay completely, but when I use exploits it's like I'm just using the game the way I found it.

What do you think?

For the most part, I agree - although I don't take the stuff from the "dead" watermage anymore. I do take the dead Paladin's stuff - if it weren't meant to be, it wouldn't happen and money is in such short supply in the game.

Kudos, I'm somewhat less particular at the moment. But I might stop abusing the infinite gold exploit I stumbled upon at some point :D

EDIT: Haha, oh man. I'm starting to think maybe I'm over-exploiting things a bit...

I've found a reliable:
Infinite-Gold exploit
Infinite-Experience exploit (which I don't use)
Infinite-Low Mana exploit (which I abuse far too much)
Exploit to make NPC allies follow you regardless of their limitations (doesn't work on NotR henchmen)

I'm probably going to go onto Gothic 1 or 3 next (or maybe Risen, who knows) but the next time I play I really ought to challenge myself to just not use exploits...

Oh, I guess abusing bad enemy path-finding is an exploit too xD

EDIT2: Now I'm really wondering: where do I draw the line? Is getting only one enemy to follow me when normally their entire group would an exploit? Well, I mean- it is but is it past the point where I shouldn't do it?

Come to think of it, I've read about an infinite mana/HP/str/dex exploit too...

Oh, boy...

EDIT3 (I keep thinking of stuff Dx): One thing that I found out about which made me want to try to get as much stuff out of the way as possible: enemies killing each other. I know as you progress some new enemies spawn near places where old enemies already were- and if I hadn't already dispatched the old enemies some types would actually kill each other, resulting in potential experience loss.

I think that's my biggest sin when it comes to Gothic. I'm too worried about losing potential stuff... which, I think NotR reinforces because it's so particular about how you can do things.

Yeah, I'm going to dial back on my exploiting a little bit even though I still maintain my original sentiment.

Please feel free to reply to anything I've mentioned in this bloated post I've created.

I keep telling myself I'm not going to park on the siege engine and kill orcs who, for some reason, cannot walk up it to attack me but, I'm so weak at the time, I keep doing it.

Hahaha :D I know that feeling.

I think you're right. Once you hit chapter 3 you get teleport runes which make getting around so much easier.

Definitely going to pace myself a bit more next time.

I've found that, as a mage, you'll run out of mana if you kill too much too fast so I just clear paths I need to use of orcs in the penal colony now.

In Gothic 1, once you hit chapter 2 I always beat up Cavalorn and I repeat this once a new chapter starts. He always has all the range weapons available in that chapter and also ALLOT off ammo. So I always had the golden crossbow and no problems concerning ammo. Once I figured this out I just did it always. I wouldn't call that a cheat really. It's just one of the things you can do in Gothic 1 and one of the reasons why I think the game is so great. You can do allot of things without breaking the game in any way. You could call it an exploit though. ^^
I also ran through the old and the new camp and just beat up EVERYBODY. In the end I had everything from everybody and nobody had anything more than an apple ^^ It was great. I remember going through the swamp camp. And there was that one mage who would always put you to sleep when you try to attack him. So I hit him 2 times with the strong crossbow and then hit him 2 times with my weapon and from that point on I just had most of the spells and also all morphing scrolls. And that was pretty great, since these scrolls are extremly limited in the game. Damn I love this game ^^

Gothic 2 Gold

Isn't investing 5 LPs into 5 points of current 29 skill an exploit?

Due to my hard life in Gothic 2 I happen to notice how to get 99% block chance against every sword wielding character monster. You just press backwards, best way to use building corners so you can't move. Just wait attacker to make its hit combo and strike back, and then press backwards till next combo. Easy.

But it doesn't feel like Gothic 1 to me. Gothic 1 had magic, Gothic 2 is more like work in MMO RPG: grinding-grinding-grinding... up your skills. And you are weak till the very end.

I never knew about all those exploits. Am I missing something? The only exploit I do is stand on top of a pillar (or whatever else) and every creature surrounds it can't do jack. Yeah it waste a lot of crossbow bolts however it does the trick.

Insn't replaying the game an exploit? Because you already know the places, the people, the monsters, where to find a particular item.

For me, when playing Gothic, it's no more fun to rob the box of Huno the smith for 20 raw steel and 2 Crude Swords, forge the raw steel into 20 Crude Swords, run to Cronos in New Camp, buy 8 scrolls of Ice Bolt and the ring of perm +10 mana, run in Orc Teritory to Xardas Tower, use the Ice Bolt scrolls to kill the Fire Golem, use the Heart of the Fire Golem to kill the Ice Golem, take the heart of the Ice Golem. Or even run and get the Shrink Monster scroll, use it on the Stone Golem and kill the shrinked Stone Golem using only a Smith Hammer (5 STR, 10 DMG).

It was fun the first time I discovered I can do this to play as a pure mage since the first game into the game. But now, I stay with the plot. I go to the Old Camp, I speak with Thorus, than I speak with Diego, and because Diego tells me about Fingers and Graham, I go and try to find them. And so on. I am just staying with the plot, and I enjoy the lines.

That's what I'm doing now too. This is only my second playthrough of Gothic 1 (been ten years already? Time flies!), but I decided to play it by following the story as much as possible. And it really feels different, more relaxing I'd say.

But I did use the infinite meat cheat (or is it an exploit? I'm kinda lost here, lol). Good thing I'm only at the beginning of the game, because I'm definitely gonna restart it and NOT use that trick.