Gothic 2 Gold Edition

I realy love this game. Its combat system is great, the level system is great - giveing great freedom. The "guild" system makes it fun to complete this game many times. The story is epic, and even better if you play Gothic 1 first. Only negative thing I can say about this great game is the difficulty, as the game is realy difficult in the beginning, and gets easier and easier as you progress. If you like RPG's, and you dont mind loading a few times, this is the game for you!

Gothic II is - sadly - the pinnacle of the Gothic gameline so far. The story and settings of Gothic 3 were very ambitious..; and poorly realised. Gothic II takes the best of Gothic I, and expands on it: realistic approach to RPG in a fantasy world - with more sense of 'society' world interactivity - with more to do, learn, try, discover land harvesting - still you can't grow your own pumpkins... too bad choices that matter - more of them, and with deeper impact nice difficulty curve for players wishing for a challenge - or beginners with a deathwish with the unaltered expansion Night of the Raven (surviving is definitely not easy... in the wilderness) simple yet effective characteristics open world that really use the 3D available - larger (huge), even more beautiful, take a swim! lots of quests, many far reaching mysteries politics thievery architecture Dragons! Night of the Raven is a true add-on, better integrated than mosts. But it has some downfalls: less money, more dying, a handful more of bugs. Sadly it takes also some of the darker sides: a bit buggy (but nothing critical if you save often) difficult at first (animals are here to impede your progress... you can still run) stupid inventory (you must have some kind of bag of infinity) but with categories this time Some dialogs impact are not evident... this will make a second (or third) playthrough enjoyable as your take on quests or issues may become quite different. The possibility to choose between Gi or GII control scheme is nice... though I went back to GI controls after all. Don't forget to use the gothic.ini file to adjust your settings (inventory size and transparency, wind, sky, blood, IA...). There are some nice additional contents on WorldOfGothic, and some higher resolution texture packs. Denser than Gothic I, and even more enjoyable. Don't miss on Gothic II !! My advice to those dettered by the difficulty : cheat to ease on the difficulty. There are nice tools to do that while keeping the game balance (especially for the add-on).

Let's get one thing straight before we start exploring the greatness of this title. I like a challenge, and by that I mean a challenge originating from the game actually having gameplay that awards you for mastering different skills, and punishing for you for not thinking things through before acting. Gothic games have always been about that, having a combat system and a quest structure that focuses on giving you rewards for being intuitive, calm and rational. Going after a shadowbeast with the best gear will still get you killed if you don't know what you're doing since wild, wanton swinging of your weapon will only leave you open for attacks. You need to dodge, parry, circle, strike at the right moment and sometimes assess the situation and run away if you're losing. Failing to run away from a losing fight will get you another long wait with the loading screen (let's face it, after the bugs this was the biggest gripe I had with the game). Right, so that's the heart of the game, challenging combat and quests that aren't always run-of-the-mill affairs, but how's the game as a whole? How do these elements come together with the graphics, music, atmosphere, replay value etc. ? Let's find out, shall we! Graphics and engine: Let's start with the visuals. The graphics are ok, they do their job, sometimes the character models especially look great, and you'll run into some amazing scenery when you travel far from the beaten path. However, they might not look like much by today's standards but we have to remember that this was one of those rare games where the whole world was loaded at once into memory. That's right, no annoying 5-second long loading pauses when you cross the magical memory-buffer zone, very familiar for us who tried to enjoy Oblivion! Having this convenience is worth the "only ok" graphics, if you ask me. Consequently, if you die you'll be grabbing a coffee or a sandwich while you wait for the game to load your previous save game. The loading time isn't THAT long though, and in the day of SSDs and 10000RPM harddisks it shouldn't be a problem for those of us who own a good gaming rig. The other thing about the graphics was that the engine was a bit crude, so you might be running bit below the FPS you would be expecting from a game this old, but nothing that should ruion your enjoyment. I played the game with a Radeon 9600 Pro the first time, and had a good FPS with medium-good graphics. The only place I had trouble with was the city harbour, where the frames got a bit too slow for my liking, especially when I ended up fighting a certain jerk character who just would have loved to take my money. I showed him, despite my FPS handicap! Music and Sounds: Ugh. Let's just wrap this up by saying that I didn't enjoy the music. It's repetitive, boring and totally not my favorite genre. The sounds effects are good, they give the fights some oomph and make you duck under your bed when you run into your first super-monster. Don't worry, I'm sure nobody noticed. The voice actors generally do a good job, but there are some who could have at least tried to do a good job. Nothing major, though. Gameplay and controls: Aah, the heart of every game (unless you ask someone who makes FPS-games for a living, am I right!? LOL!). This is what makes or breaks a game and probably THE reason we have GOG. Good gameplay just doesn't exist as a mainstream thing anymore, as designers would rather concentrate on making their games look good than making them PLAY good. Good thing we have classics like the ones on GOG to remind us of a better time. Ahem, anyway, I guess I'd better get back on topic. Gameplay! I already ranted about this one, but let's concentrate on the other aspects of it as well, starting with quests. You'll be asked to kill people, rob people, break into places, run away from fights, run into fights, chase crazy-fast old men through the country side, help crazy witches, help crazy alchemists, discover mysteries, save the world and so on and so on... Basic RPG fare, right? Maybe, but here the characters shine and add their own twist into everything you do, and having so much to do in so many different places will always ensure you have something to do. Some quests have more than one solution, especially the ones involving what faction you will eventually join. Yes that's right, there are mages, knights and rogues, all who want a piece of you. The factions work like this: Like I mentioned there are three, and each have their own set of quests whose purpose is to assess your abilities. Kick ass, and you'll be accepted into the militia/paladins, mages or rogues' order. Each have their own positive and negative aspects. Paladins have the ultimate armor and some lightweight spells, rogues are cunning and can teach you some...questionable skills. The mages are all about killing everything as fast as possible and from as far away as possible. Basically this means that you can choose your character class by joining a certain faction. See what skills strike your fancy, then work out which faction is the best suited to train you. As you level up you get 10 Learning Points, and these can be used towards any skill you want to develop. As a side note, learning alchemy will eventually have you making potions that raise your strength, dexterity, mana and/or health, so if you're a true power gamer you'll take advantage of these. In addition to quests there are hidden places on the map that once discovered will turn into an adventure in themselves. Example: As you fumble into a long lost grave of a warrior you nervously look around you, hoping to find some treasure or that epic set of armor you've always wanted. As the silence grows nerve-wrecking, you discover the crypt is actually full of the undead! As you prepare to fight or flee the only question in your mind will be the most relevant... Did I remember to save my game??? Yup, remember to save your game, and save it often! You will die a lot as you first make you way through the game, fights will be plenty and hard. You will eventually learn to fight like a pro, think like a pro and make money like an evil genius, which will increase your chances of surviving, just as long as you're ready to learn from your mistakes. Now finally something about the controls. Good for fighting and controlling your character, but if you have to take a potion or change your weapon in the middle of a fight you're in for trouble. The inventory system (and item buying/selling) is a bit clunky as well. Not nearly as bad as the first game, but you're probably used to better systems. Just bear with it and you'll get used to it eventually, but expect to go "WTF?" at a few of the designer decisions involving item transactions and the interface in general. The good thing is you can carry as much crap as you want, so you don't have to worry about burden issues (yes, I like convenience over realism, so sue me). You use the mouse to steer your character and aim spells/arrows, and the keyboard for everything else. If I remember correctly, you can use the mouse to navigate your inventory and transaction screens, but having the inventory in a simplistic grid makes buying and selling large amounts of items a burden. Finally, the game had plenty of bugs when it came out, but these have been fixed as far as I could tell from my last playthrough. I just bought this game and am playing it for the 5th time through, so If I run into any problems I apologise in advance, I seriously can't remember any major bugs from my last playthrough, though. Whev. I think that about covers everything, don't you think? If you just skipped to the end of this review just to see some generic review score, BAD LUCK! I don't do those, they never succesfully summarise the review. I can, however, give you a brief summary if you're a "Too Long, Didn't Read" sort of guy/girl. Summary: A solid RPG with freedom of choice involving quests, character development and exploration. You'll still always end up saving the world, you can't really be a bad guy but other than that, feel free to be free. Good but a bit slow graphics, good characters with good voice actors (most of the time), excellent gameplay and subpar music. If you liked Oblivion, try this out. It's more of a challenge, but as a consequence more rewarding. If you've never tried any sandbox RPGs, this could be your first but I warn you, it might be frustrating for a beginner. for the rest of us RPG addicts, a solid addition to your game collection! Right, I'm gonna go grab a beer, this took way longer than I originally intented :D

It took me one whole year from the moment I installed Gothic 2 in my computer for the first time until I finally finished it. Of course I didn’t play the game every day, often spending a couple of weeks and sometimes even a month away from it. But my point is, I spent a whole year immersed in Khorinis, and loving every minute of it. I was even a little sad when it was all over. And that is what this pseudo-review is all about: the emotional impact Gothic 2 had on me. I really miss the feeling of playing this game for the first time. That happens from time to time, when I play one of those games that manage to make you a part of them. And Gothic 2, like it’s predecessor (and yes, it’s successor too), definitely is one of those involving games. The first question that always comes to mind when we talk about sequels: is it as good as the previous game? The first Gothic made me feel like I was really a prisoner in the Valley of Mines, and I was anxious to find the way out of there. Each new hope that surfaced was welcome, each failure frustrating, and all the time I knew that, if I persisted, I would find a way to escape. I was really there. The second game doesn't give the player such a strong motivation. This time, we just need to fend off an invasion by dragons... while it's a direct consequence of the events of the first game, it still felt a little out of the way, not as well integrated to the gameworld as the plot in the first game. But Gothic 2 still manages to involve the player with it’s immense, living world, much larger and richer than the first. In fact, the entire valley from the first game is present here, though some of its areas are not accessible anymore. And what a beautiful world it is. Sometimes, I would just wander without destiny, admiring the views. The graphics in Gothic 2 (like the ones in the first game) have one quality that I consider uncommon in games these days: personality. I don’t know how to explain, but when I played the first game and noticed the trick they used for the forests (the trees are cardboard cutouts that fade into real, 3D trees when you come close), that just looked special. What the game lacks in technical flair (for today’s standards anyway), it more than makes up for in sheer artistic terms. I’m not saying that there aren’t special effects in the graphics department, of course. The transition between day and night is almost unnoticeable, the lights reflect in a beautiful way (I loved to walk around during the night, the moonlight feels just perfect), some spells have nice bursts of light and smoke, and so on. But what really makes the graphics something to be remembered is the use made of them. You’d have to see the game to understand what I’m talking about, and if you’ve already seen it, then you already understand. So, walking around and just exploring the world can be very fun, but what about the story? Well, the story in Gothic 2 is very simple, especially comparing it to the compelling plot of the first game. As I said before, this time there isn’t that sense of need the first game had. You had to get out of that valley, it was a personal goal. And now you are going to kill some dragons because some sorcerer tells you to (of course, towards the ending it gets a little more interesting, but not as much as the first game). Very basic fantasy stuff, to say the least. Fortunately, the main plot isn’t the best part of Gothic 2. The two billion (approximate guess) quests you will have at your disposal – and the way they manage to draw you into the world of the game, involving you with virtually every other person in that world – are. You will be so busy talking to everyone, getting to know how life works in the land of Khorinis, helping other people with their problems (or taking advantage of them), trying to find the right person to teach you that skill you want, that the next thing you know, it’s already daylight outside and you had to wake up early. Yes, many things have been said about the virtual world of Gothic and Gothic 2. But I can write two more pages about it and it will still be less than the game deserves. It really made me feel like I was there, like I knew all those people personally, to the point that I failed a quest that required me to kill a character I liked. And that was OK, because there was another quest involving NOT killing that character, and I still received the XP. And that’s a small example of how they seem to have thought about every possible course of action the player could take. It’s the first game since Fallout that shows that level of variety, as far as I know. Or am concerned. And the way the NPCs react to the player is another bright point to the game. They know you, almost all of them at some point ask you for some favor, or are the target of another favor asked by another NPC… and it never sounds fake. They remember what you did to them in the past, and react accordingly. Also, they react to the guild you belong to, often saying completely different things to players of different guilds. And most of them are actually named, which was an impressive feat for such a huge game at the time. The guilds, by the way, are another good trick to add variety, but I feel they could impact a little more on the game, beyond giving the player specific quests and some small reaction modifiers with a few NPCs. The game doesn’t change so much with different guilds, and I know it will be a long time before I play the game again just to experience it as a mage or paladin. More important than the guilds to explain why I am such a big fan of this game is the realism. First of all, Khorinis doesn’t feel like what one would call an “RPG world”. You know, that kind of world where you find monsters which are always compatible to your current level. Here, you can go anywhere you want right from the start, and all the NPCs, animals and monsters are already around; even the ones which are WAY more powerful than you. So, it’s quite possible for you to meet a pack of wolves, a group of Dragon Snappers or even a party of Orcs at the very beginning, when you are still at level 1, without armor of any kind and wielding only a Heavy Branch… and yes, in that case, the best thing to do is run for your dear life. You’ll be running away – or dying – a lot at first, but it only makes things more satisfying when you are finally strong enough to fell a Shadowbeast with three hits or slay an entire platoon of Orcs without a single scratch (the latter will be very difficult to achieve). And to add to the difficulty AND the realism of the game, you won’t be able to open your inventory and change from your sword to that magic hammer you have in the backpack while the Stone Golem waits patiently. The game doesn’t pause while you are in the inventory or looking at the map, which can be a little frustrating at the start, but when you remember that it would be just like that in real life, you get used to it. And learn to plan your battle strategy before entering combat. Character progression is another highlight that the game kept from its predecessor. When you gain a new level, the only stat that improves is your health (I’m not so sure about mana, it’s been a while). But with every level, you receive ten “learning points”, which can be spent with trainers (along with gold, most of the time) to learn the skills you want. Finding the right trainer for the skill you want is another challenge, one that I found quite engrossing. So, we have a vast, gorgeous and living world, complete freedom of movement from the start, believable reactions from the NPCs, an interface that may be imperfect, but maintains the realism, and millions of things to do. All of that adds up to immerse the player up to their ears, making them feel like they’ve been transported to another universe. For me, no other game had done that since Outcast, but that is another story…