Did you actually play this game/ read the manual?

Maybe it's just not the game for him. It happens. Too bad, racingfreak92, you are missing out on a great RPG. I hope you find something more to your liking.

Don't listen to this ..... the game rocks in any possible way.If you are not able to deal with the controls better visit a doctor.

It's real-time. When you draw your sword, you must hold down the left mouse button to focus on one enemy. From there, you can use 'w' to swing in front of you, and 'a' and 'd' to swing from side to side. 's' Will let you block against melee weapons, but obviously not other types of attacks.
Troll or truly an young idiot? You decide ;)

Instead of pressing keys to achieve actions, you need to make the character move, or act them out through a sequence of keys.
The controls are a little bad, and you may need to remap them (To be fair, I spent about 20 minutes finding the right layout for me), but it's far far better (re: complex) than a 'press mouse-1 to attack' style of game.
You've lost me on the Turn-Based comment there...
As for a bad walking system? Hey, it's an OLD game, things were not so exact back then :)
Personally, I'm mixed on G1 (not gotten G2 yet). I do like it, but it does have problems.
You may hate the thing, and are free to express what you dislike with it. I do somewhat encourage people to say what the don't like. The controls in the game do need work, but your other comments need some more details. How does he camera 'Freak' out? This could be an issue with your setup, I've noticed no issues with it.
May I ask what you were expecting out of the game? Or what you thought it would be like? If others new to Gothic are interested, this could actually help them out.

Don't even have to do that. In Gothic 2 there is an option to switch to an alternative battle system where one can just click the opponent to death. All though its much less strategic and takes away from the games appeal but its there if that's your thing.
I think the main gripe with the game is the frustration with the first few levels (the first couple of hours). It comes mainly from the fact that unlike many RPGs of its time its not zoned. In other words there is no directly perceivable barriers separating the low level game from the high level end game. Due to that and some pretty "hostile" quests it might get frustrating fast which makes people lash out at its general inconveniences (controls, camera etc.). What I found works for me is to find a general guide that structures a number of suggestions on how to get through those first few levels and stick with it for a while untill you feel confident enough that you're ready to continue on your own. This one worked great for me so far:
[url=]http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/920919/40412[/url]

@ Almak
the open world can indead be pretty overwhelming but I think you stay to the road you will be lead tot safe places normally.
Real danger comes from animals who live outside those paths
(except the path that leads to the lighthouse, that beast there can be a really pain in the ass when you are low levelled (and even dangerous when you are mid levelled)
So my tip: Stay close to the roads and look for people (Diego for example) that are willing to show you new places, they will lead the way and kill all the animials on the road for you.
Best thing besides a cleared road; you get all the XP from the animals he killed for you!

Where is Diego anyways? I'm around 7 hours into the game and haven't met him yet. I heard he was in prison when I first made it into the city but by the time I got around to go there he was already gone.

you find him in the mine valley during the main quest of act 2

IMHO the "gothic games have bad controls" meme is simply a result of player impatience and stupidity. if you'd actually take your time to learn it you'd see that gothic 1 and 2 have one of the best controls ever for 3d rpg-s. Not easy to get used to perhaps but once you do they are quite easy to master. I have yet to see a game that would give you such responsive controls and feeling of real swordplay. Perhaps only severance: blade of darkness and die by the sword games come close. Incidentially both are similar in that they're not that easy to pick up but once you do they're easy and very fun to master.

I'm going to somewhat agree here. Granted, I the controls are terrible when combined with the inventory system in Gothic 1 but for combat i love the controls.
It's funny, when i first bought Gothic 2 off GOG because i thought i wouldn't be able to get used to G1's controls because everyone said how bad they were. And if a game has bad controls, i just can't play them. Well i loved G2 so much i stopped a quarter of the way in to play G1 and got used to the controls in like, 20 minutes. Now i don't even think about the controls as an issue, its second nature.
*To OP* Perhaps i will be a little judgemental (as you are with the game) and say that you're 16 years old due to your forum name and that maybe the Gothic games are too dated/non-handholding for what you are used to. I'm only 20, and i only started to look past graphics/movie style production values to be able to see the true genius of all these old games not too long ago. Perhaps i am wrong about that, but you're comments are pretty immature (not your opinions, but your comments that express them are) so i figured i'd reply with a rant :)

The game does have a learning curve, and like a lot of older RPGs, they use high level monsters rather than contrived barriers, so you have to be extremely careful where you wander to. It took me a while to get used to the game play and control system, and it does have its flaws, but the game is definitely a gem for all of that.

Gothic is not an easy game to get into, for those of us that can't rely on the nostalgic factor kicking in.
I had never played the game before, and after i dled it from GOG, i tryed it for 45 minutes or so, and immediately removed it from my HD because i hated it.
A couple of days later i forced myself to give it one more try, and after a while i was able to get into it (inspite of suffering from the invisible icons ATI 19xx 'thing') and enjoy it. I've been playing it for the last couple of days (CH3 right now) and i already picked up Gothic II (also GOG) to play after this one.
The combat is real time and i'm guessing the 'turned base' doubt comes from the low rate of speed of your melee attacks. You'll have the chance to improve that, as soon as you have some skill points and a 1handed melee trainer available.
Also, try to keep away from combat untill you had the chance to level up a couple of times by doing 'peacefull' quests in old camp.
Give it at least one more try and then move on if you still can't enjoy it.

It's not turned based, purely real time. In the beggining your character is week so he swings a sword bad buit as he get's stronger, he will be faster and be better at making combo's. Combat is like a dance, You have to get into the rhythm to be effective. It is a great combat system that could easily become even better today.
Also you can swing left or swing right. I use a WASD setup for movement and combat.