Posted June 09, 2021
This is my first time playing and likely finishing Gothic II + NoTR and I already plan to play through it again. This is something I never thought would be the case but here we are! Reason being that in the past I tried so often to play through this game and always got stuck at some point. Many times because there was a quest related bug, some character not doing what he needed to do, doing something in the wrong order and getting stuck, having had to restart or be set back many hours to do things the right way, was causing me to never even get close finishing this game. In this run I don't know how many times I started over again because I made a stupid decision in distributing my stats points or other things not quite working out ...
In my current run, the most successful so far, I play an archer type character. The hero is a Thief->Water Mage->possibly pirate (not quite there yet)?-Militia->Paladin (not necessarily in that order), bow only. Skills he learned are hunting and bow. Hunting he learned to take claws, skins and some other stuff, Thief skills: Pickpocket, Open Locks, Sneak. I invested some points in his strength stat and a couple in 1-handed weapon(s). Both now feel to me like they were wasted and could have been used better in learning Ancient Language and maybe Alchemy. Or other more important stats more like. Being in chapter 3, having successfully opened the portal and have done some things where the pirates and bandits are, the character is at level 21 right now. With the bow he's dealing 120 damage max/hit. Orcs, Orc Mages, Orc Elite, Seekers and other creatures takes between ~6 to 15 shots and they are down. Other creatures are 1~3 hits max.
The problem with ranged combat is that while creatures should be hit, there seems to be some problem that prevents it from happening. This amounts to lots of wasted arrows. [i]Not that gold is an issue ... I already seem to have more than needed ... Arrows hitting a creature not doing any damage at all no matter how far or close in relation to a creature the hero is standing (or crouching) is one thing I absolutely don't like. My main problem is that playing the character in that way it doesn't seem like there is any challenge in it anymore as may well be the case with a melee or mage.
I can't go back and raise stats to turn him into a melee character: STR/1-handed/2-handed without wasting points or maybe ingredients to get him at least to 60 or above that to make him at least a somewhat descent melee fighter.
I guess that a pure fighter type at or above a certain level will also feel overpowered as would likely be the case with a pure mage.
My questions are: How can I make my next play through more challenging? What class and faction/guild should I join? Is a hybrid character even a possibility without running into danger to put skills in such way that progress becomes impossible? Could you give an example for one such and which stats you would raise and maybe also a rough guide how to distribute them?
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I am also curious about the reason why you joined a particular faction.
Never having played Gothic I so far, there was no reason to go with Mercenaries for instance, just because I may have been allied with them back in the old colony. What I noticed playing Gothic II is that neither the mercenaries nor even the Paladins or any of the others really go out of their way to solve any of the problems. One is sitting idle on their farm, the other has taken the city and a castle, mages are hiding behind massive walls in the monastery. This leaves the hard work to a couple NPC and me so I guess there doesn't seem to be any real reason for joining with any faction at all. In the end the hero is the one having to do all the dirty work anyways. It would suffice to simply be able to buy a mage/mercenary/militia/pirate ... armor and weapons.
My reason for joining the Paladins was driven more by OOC reason and the feeling - you have to - so you might as well join them as they seem to be strong and will likely give you the best armor. Not much to say about quest lines which are rather basic: Solve this problem, do this, do that, and in the end you can become Paladin and save the world while you're at it. Maybe for a ranger character the mercenaries would have been a better choice which I don't really think is the case. I noticed when approaching them that there's lots of melee-fights in order to join or even to get into the camp without wasting precious gold early on. Getting into the monastery to become a mage seemed equally expensive and tedious. Maybe the quests any one faction beside Paladins are more interesting? Some which I had seen when entering the monastery seemed to suggest otherwise. For instance picking weed, scrubbing floors, retrieving a letter for one of the other novices with a saucy picture he obviously wants back so on so forth. Really nothing I could identify with or wish to be associated to.
Having played all PB Gothic/Risen/Elex games (Risen 3 being the exception I never played that one before ...) this is a common theme: I could finish them without ever joining a faction or enjoying their support. Come time to face the BBE I was already so strong that I could beat anything being thrown into my way in mere seconds.
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That said I hope you'll answer my questions and help me make an informed decision for my next play through.
In my current run, the most successful so far, I play an archer type character. The hero is a Thief->Water Mage->possibly pirate (not quite there yet)?-Militia->Paladin (not necessarily in that order), bow only. Skills he learned are hunting and bow. Hunting he learned to take claws, skins and some other stuff, Thief skills: Pickpocket, Open Locks, Sneak. I invested some points in his strength stat and a couple in 1-handed weapon(s). Both now feel to me like they were wasted and could have been used better in learning Ancient Language and maybe Alchemy. Or other more important stats more like. Being in chapter 3, having successfully opened the portal and have done some things where the pirates and bandits are, the character is at level 21 right now. With the bow he's dealing 120 damage max/hit. Orcs, Orc Mages, Orc Elite, Seekers and other creatures takes between ~6 to 15 shots and they are down. Other creatures are 1~3 hits max.
The problem with ranged combat is that while creatures should be hit, there seems to be some problem that prevents it from happening. This amounts to lots of wasted arrows. [i]Not that gold is an issue ... I already seem to have more than needed ... Arrows hitting a creature not doing any damage at all no matter how far or close in relation to a creature the hero is standing (or crouching) is one thing I absolutely don't like. My main problem is that playing the character in that way it doesn't seem like there is any challenge in it anymore as may well be the case with a melee or mage.
I can't go back and raise stats to turn him into a melee character: STR/1-handed/2-handed without wasting points or maybe ingredients to get him at least to 60 or above that to make him at least a somewhat descent melee fighter.
I guess that a pure fighter type at or above a certain level will also feel overpowered as would likely be the case with a pure mage.
My questions are: How can I make my next play through more challenging? What class and faction/guild should I join? Is a hybrid character even a possibility without running into danger to put skills in such way that progress becomes impossible? Could you give an example for one such and which stats you would raise and maybe also a rough guide how to distribute them?
-
I am also curious about the reason why you joined a particular faction.
Never having played Gothic I so far, there was no reason to go with Mercenaries for instance, just because I may have been allied with them back in the old colony. What I noticed playing Gothic II is that neither the mercenaries nor even the Paladins or any of the others really go out of their way to solve any of the problems. One is sitting idle on their farm, the other has taken the city and a castle, mages are hiding behind massive walls in the monastery. This leaves the hard work to a couple NPC and me so I guess there doesn't seem to be any real reason for joining with any faction at all. In the end the hero is the one having to do all the dirty work anyways. It would suffice to simply be able to buy a mage/mercenary/militia/pirate ... armor and weapons.
My reason for joining the Paladins was driven more by OOC reason and the feeling - you have to - so you might as well join them as they seem to be strong and will likely give you the best armor. Not much to say about quest lines which are rather basic: Solve this problem, do this, do that, and in the end you can become Paladin and save the world while you're at it. Maybe for a ranger character the mercenaries would have been a better choice which I don't really think is the case. I noticed when approaching them that there's lots of melee-fights in order to join or even to get into the camp without wasting precious gold early on. Getting into the monastery to become a mage seemed equally expensive and tedious. Maybe the quests any one faction beside Paladins are more interesting? Some which I had seen when entering the monastery seemed to suggest otherwise. For instance picking weed, scrubbing floors, retrieving a letter for one of the other novices with a saucy picture he obviously wants back so on so forth. Really nothing I could identify with or wish to be associated to.
Having played all PB Gothic/Risen/Elex games (Risen 3 being the exception I never played that one before ...) this is a common theme: I could finish them without ever joining a faction or enjoying their support. Come time to face the BBE I was already so strong that I could beat anything being thrown into my way in mere seconds.
-
That said I hope you'll answer my questions and help me make an informed decision for my next play through.
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