yoshino: After finished Gothic 1 with great satisfaction, I started playing
Gothic 2 immediately.
My nameless hero(now level 1 again, lol) joined the paladin faction and became a militia fighter.
While cleared the city quests, he went to the outside of the city to exploring.
But fighting the bandits in a cave he was killed by just one swing.
I should grind him a lot before challenging the bastards again.
In my very first playthrough of Gothic 2, I also joined the paladins - for my next 15-20 playthroughs I solely played as a mage. You will become ridiculously powerful as a mage ;)
I assume you are playing the game with its expansion Night of the Raven, which significantly ramps up the difficulty. You have to be very careful when and where to spend your learning points. Also the leather armor which you can buy (or steal) in the city proves to be essential.
Meanwhile, I have finished Shadowrun: Returns. Now, I will start playing Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. I have only played Heart of the Swarm so far and I am very excited for Legacy of the Void. :)