Okay, I've been a fan of this series for quite a while. I even remember playing the game years ago (despite the fact that I pretty much 'discovered' it in the past few years where I ACTUALLY started beating the games).

I've beaten Gothic 1 several times, almost beaten Gothic 3 (game is too expansive, IMO, making me stop caring about the little mundane stuff that makes games fun), beaten Arcania (which doesn't count, of course, but just for the record.) and I've beaten Risen on the 360 and PC.

Now it seems like everywhere I go I hear people saying Gothic 2 is pretty much the best game in the series...

Holy crap, EVERY TIME I try to play Gothic 2 I can't make myself go on and instead usually just end up playing Gothic 1 again. Everything feels like such a chore and I feel totally incapable.

It's not even like I'm totally incapable, but I think I end up reloading more because of spontaneous deaths in G2 than in any of the other games by a significant margin.

Not even completely sure what I'm going for in this topic... does anyone have this problem?

I mean where I die suddenly in a situation where I'm not really doing anything different than I normally do in the course of gameplay. Normally attributed to enemies getting critical hits or just crap overwhelming me.

It's hard to imagine for Gothic 2, sounds more like the Problems Gothic 3 had a long time...stumbling over a grain of Sand, Powerpeons or Powerboars...
I was killed a few times until i knew how to fight the enemys or where i was to "brave"...but maybe you where confused by the way damage is calculated at Gothic 2.

(strength + weapon damage - target's protection from weapons - 1)/10 = target's loss of HP

And for critical strikes the formula goes like this:
strength + weapon damage -target's protection from weapons = target's loss of HP

However, every attack will always deal at least 5 damage.

That might be a explanation, early on you're weak and fight weak enemys...both sides deal only the basedamage at most hits and critical hits rip off half you HP or more...
The new battlesystem and harsh start might be one of the most discussed things about the Gothicseries..maybe only beaten by the Bugrelease of Gothic 3 ;)
Either you use ranged weapons at the early phase or you train to evade :)

About Gothic2 - the vanilla version is actually pretty easy in terms of difficulty. Your problem seems to be that gog release contains NotR expansion. Which makes the game hellishly, and I mean hellishly difficult. I remember the first time I run the game after they finally translated NotR from german. By no means was I new to gothic universe by then, but man, that hurt;)

Funnily though this is the reason I'd rate G2 as the best gothic game. If you know what you're doing it gets so much better. You can no longer cakewalk through enemies, there is lots of grinding, even more lots of backtracking and even then you die a lot. If this is not your definition of fun just skip NotR expansion entirely. The story arc there is completely optional.

I'm seriously considering it at this point.

I didn't want to wuss out and skip what seems to actually be canon story stuff... but it's actually just not fun for me every time I come back to it.

Actually, I find that although the NotR expansion steepens the learning curve of Gothic II, I don't think it makes the game impossible to play.

Try the following approach:

Do put the game on the easy setting until you've got used to how fighting works.

After exploring and leaving Xardes' tower, beat the goblin by the pool then go through the caves near the pond. Take your time, be prepared to run away, heal, then go back to fights. Some can be evaded. Once through the caves, explore the area you find yourself in and gain some experience points before tackling the road towards the farm/city.

Once on the road aim to get to the farm where again you can gain some experience points before entering the city. There are a number of ways to get inside the city wall, so don't just go for the first option you come across.

Once in the city, look for an easy option for gaining money and experience - there is one that I find really useful.

Gothic II with NofR is one of the best RPGs in my opinion. I hope you get to enjoy the game.

If you are a fan of gothic universe and the only problem with the game is difficulty I would suggest that you play vanilla G2 first and once you finish and want more of it reinstall with NotR and play again. You will be familiar with the system enough to cope with the difficulty and the game is well worth it, even to try a different faction.

Treat NotR as any other expansion despite it not being one;) Normally expansion adds something that happens after the original game. NotR does basicly three things: 1 - tweaks difficulty, 2 - adds new content here and there (like a fan mod), 3 - a whole new separate area to explore parralel to the main quest. I don't recall any characters from it reappearing in G3, and Jankendar is mentioned by name like once. In fact I don't think the devs originally even intended to release it anywhere outside Germany.

This tool here can be used to alter the difficulty level to your liking. Be aware that it is in German though.

I don't think one can not load "Night of the Raven" anymore, ie, it is no longer an option with the installer. Read that here somewhere a few months ago.

There is one character that I know of but not knowing about him has zero affect on Gothic III (and I can't even remember his name). He was the guard to the inner castle in the old camp in Gothic I and was guarding the mines (? - been a while) in the swamps of Jankendar and, if you chose that route, became head of the brigands (or whatever they were called) in the swamp. In Gothic III, he guards the outer gate at Trellis and you get several missions from him.

Patience my friend... Gothic 1 is a great game but Gothic 2 + NoTR takes it to a brand new level. If you are a true fan of the series, difficulty should only be a motivation for you. With greater challenge comes the greater feeling of accomplishment. At the beginning, it is difficult, it is painful and it requires a lot of saving and loading but when you become strong enough, the game becomes much more fun only because of that difficulty you had at the beginning. An easy start will definitely not give the same level of accomplishment at higher levels.

I played Gothic 2 + NoTR again recently and I had a lot of fun. This time I followed some walkthroughs and I did not have much difficulty progressing in the game. If you don't mind following a walkthrough, here are the two that I used:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/561413-gothic-ii/faqs/24278 - Gothic 2 Walkthrough
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/561413-gothic-ii/faqs/45017 - NoTR Walkthrough

I hope that helps you get back on the game because it's a great one.

As many people on this thread have already said, the difficulty is what makes so many of us consider this one the best in the series. So, if you find it too difficult, maybe it's not the best for you, personally. All a matter of taste.

But I do have some advice for you... remember in Risen, how they encouraged you to go straight to the city and stay there until you joined a faction? Hell, if you got caught wandering around they would force you to join the monks, and once you were in the city, it was forbidden to leave.

Well, think about Gothic 2 in the same terms: do everything you can in the area around Xardas' tower and Lobart's farm, but once you enter the city, stay there as long as you can. Don't go wandering around before you do absolutely everything you can do in the city. And even then, try to stay on the beaten path (I know it's common sense in Gothic games, but more so in this one). Leave the city only to go to Onar's farm, and that only when you got a good four or five levels under your belt. Preferrably more, if you can. And choose your fights VERY carefully.

Above all, don't rush. This is a game that takes a while to open up; again, even more so than the first one. But it's well worth the wait. :)

I played through Gothic 1 many times before getting Gothic 2 on release.

Vanilla Gothic 2 (not the very hard extended version) is the best in the series, yes. It's one of the best RPGs ever made, although I only played the original (German) version and cannot say anything about the translations. The dialogues and voice acting in the original are just plain awesome.
If you don't want to play as a magician, the extended version is very nice too, it has pirates after all. :D

I always loved you can meet old acquaintances from Gothic 1 in NotR.
Speaking of difficulty, they made it like this because fans complained about G2 being too easy. Once you get the hang of it, you'll never look back.