Or did I dream?
I remember a time, not so long ago, when in order to fight I just had to draw my weapon, then repeatedly press the action key and NO direction key. I tried a new keyboard setting, and then things went, well, differently. Is there now no other way for me to deal a blow without having to take a large step towards my opponent (that is action + arrow), as well as waiting nearly two seconds between two strikes?
Fellow Adventurers, is the static-footed Nameless Hero with the swift hands a reality or was I half-sleeping before the screen?

This may help you out. see the Control Picture. It is actually fine once you start to use it and you get very much use to it after a short while.

Sorry, I was not clear enough. What I mean is that in the present time, charging a pack of three scavengers using ctrl + up is tantamount to suicide: not only does it make it much, much harder to actually strike the enemy, but the time between the blows is dramatically increased, whereas before, I could wait for the opponent to reach me then hack him without having to walk (and deal two blows in a second).

When you start out int he game you are very, very weak. You cannot kill many things before they kill you. You have to work at it slowly and once you start to gain XP and level up you will find killing various things becomes a breeze.

I am at level 5, wield a withered axe and am supposed to be a master with one-handed weapons (10 % chance to deal a critical hit).
Until level 2, each fight was indeed a matter not to be taken lightly. Training as 'skilled' in one-handed weapons made battling against scavengers, molerats, bloodflies and goblins a piece of cake, or meat pie.
Has something affected the attacks rate? The strange fact is that now, the slowness and the awkwardness of my attacks (that appeared when I trained as 'master' and changed the keyboard settings immediately after) make a duel with a scavenger far more difficult than it was when I was at level 0!

It should not change anything in your settings. Just go into your options and check it out and set it to defaults.

I have already tried. Moreover, I have just reinstalled Gothic, and even new games are affected by the problem. I am beginning to question my sanity...

Your OK, it's only when you interrupt yourself so you can talk that you have a problem! :o)

A rare case of multiple personality disorder, they call it the 'gothicus heroicus persona' syndrome.
Faithful, I have filmed a short combat sequence. If you could check this out and if you see nothing wrong in it, the question would at last be settled and then I would know that what I experienced was nothing more than a bug-provided providentially smoother gameplay that lasted for hours! ;)
[url=]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VR9E3P22[/url]

I'm no expert in Gothic, but:
In Gothic you have to use arrows + action to strike.
Static footed NH ? Yes. Just use left/right arrows to strike and he won't take the step forward. But it's still L arrow / R arrow + action
In Gothic 2 you can strike just by using action or you can use the Gothic control scheme.
Any chance you're confusing Gothic and Gothic 2 ?

No, no, I am talking about the first Gothic.
Well, I have found my answer, this was a bug and the game mechanics suddenly returned to their normal state! Definitely one of the weirdest bugs I have ever encountered. One of the most profitable, too...
Anyway, thank for your help, you two!