Gothic II is a great Computer Rpg. The game world is larger than the first episode and programmers had the time to refine the work at the best, so there are meaningless bugs. Our hero has destroyed the barrier that imprisoned him and all his fellows, and now can freely travel through the island of Khorinis. But there is still a great danger that menace non only the island; our hero will have to defeat it.
Gothic II expand the world of the first game and refine the concept game that was presented in the first episode. The world is alive, dynamic, and there will be the chance to do all we want. In the game there will be three factions to choose, it's the way to follow a different plot and a different way to play. Controls are more user friendly than the first episode, and from a technical point of view in general this episode is better than the first one, almost perfect.
In my opinion the game loose a bit of charme in comparison with the first episode; maybe for the lost of open sky prison concept that were a great invention for the plot. In general the game lacks of lore: there are few books in game, without stories or legends.
The expansion add a new map, a new plot, and above all, change some mechanic. In general the expansion give more challenge from an action point of view, so who prefers the gdr side of game could appreciate more the original Gothic II; players who like very much action will prefer “Night of the Raven”. It's necessary to restart the game in order to play the expansion, so my advise is to play before the original Gothic II and than with “Night of the Raven”.
A great classic that every player who love computer role playing games should have.