I have not played Gothic but I had some questions about it because I am not sure if I would like to get it or not. If you could you answer some questions for me that would be great?

Is the game fun in your opinion?

Does it have a good storyline?

Is the game linier or open ended?

Are there multiple endings?

I have heard the game is a little buggy/quirky, what are these problems and how do they affect the game?

What sets the game apart from the standard CRPG?

How many hours of gameplay are there?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

Very, very fun. I've played a large variety of CRPGs and Gothic 1&2 are among my favorites. Good enough. The game distinguishes itself more in terms of exploration and atmosphere, but there's still enough of a storyline to keep you interested and motivated as the game progresses. There's a linear sequence of main quests one must complete (like just about any other game), but other than that the world is completely open. The Gothic series also tends to rely mostly on "soft" barriers to direct your progress, meaning you can explore just about any area of the map from the very start, but the further you get from civilized areas the more likely you are to run into a critter that will quickly make you its dinner (at least if you're not yet strong enough). No. There's only one ending, but there are multiple paths that you can take to get there (mostly in the form of which camp you choose to join). In Gothic 1 the main source of bugs has to do with several winches one must use to at various points along the main quest, in that trying to activate these winches before one is supposed to can result in the winches not working when they are supposed to be used (the general rule is to not touch them until you're specifically told to). Other than that the main complaint on quirkiness tends to be about the controls which will seem very odd to begin with, but which end up feeling completely natural after around 3-4 hours of playing. For me the thing that really sets it apart is that it doesn't hold your hand at all, and rather pits you against a very hostile world from the very start. You start out the games as a completely weakling, needing to tiptoe around both creatures that would love to eat you (if someone tells you to stay out of the woods, they actually mean it) as well as NPCs that are quite willing to beat you to a pulp and rob you if you look at them the wrong way. The upside to this is that there's a real feeling of accomplishment as you progress, being able to take on monsters that previously would tear you apart, or coming back to an NPC that was bullying money out of you and turning the tables on him. Looking at my saves games I clocked right around 30 hours on Gothic 1 and right around 75 hours on Gothic 2.

Just a few additions to the good answers above, to offer another viewpoint: That totally depends on your idea of fun and your taste in CRPGs, of course. I'm new to the game, too, and currently playing it, and I have mixed feelings. I found it fun to try and I generally enjoy it but there are also a few factors that mar the fun a bit for me personally, being used to isometric RPGs mostly (like Torment, BG2, Arcanum etc.) and seeing that I'm usually not that much into RPGs like Morrowind or MMORPGs (without wanting to make direct comparisons). Which brings me to the next two points: I can't fully judge the story yet but I think the setting is a unique and original one, despite some familiar ingredients. The environment is well fleshed out and quite believable and some effort has gone into making the game world feel alive and realistic. And there are lots of conversations to be had that contribute to that.

On the other hand, I have no idea how much chapters there are, but I've reached Chapter 3 after playing for about 20 hours and I still feel like the story - in the sense of a dramatic plot - hasn't really started yet. Which leads me to two suspicions: Either you can spend A LOT of time on the game or it might be more about immersion in the gameworld than about an epic and/or complex plot. In any case, much time is spent on travelling from one point to another (or traveling to and fro across the whole map for a quest) and - to a slightly lesser but still significant degree - on fighting tough combats against beasts in order to gain some experience. If you're used to MMORPGs that might not be a big deal to you or even a plus but I'm not so fond of these not-story-related elements prolonging the gameplay hours. I have to admit that I'm not completely immune to the charm of such an open 3D world, I just wish there'd be ways of faster traveling sometimes (or less need to constantly travel from here to there).

Anyway, you should take everything I write with a grain of salt, seeing that I haven't even completed the game yet. And I still think it's kinda fun, not a bad game at all. Just be aware that it might not be EVERYONE's cup of tea.

There is a method of faster travel in the game, although you don't get it until a bit later in the game (basically once you've already thoroughly explored everything between the fast travel locations on foot).

I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully I won't have to wait much longer... ;)

But if you can't open a door (like in the mine), you can use a cheat to pass trough the door, so there's no need for desperation. While playing the game, press S or B to display the starting menu. Type "marvin" to enter cheat mode. If I'm not mistaken, you can press K to teleport the character, so the bug won't prevent you from beating the game.

Hell yeah. Very compelling game. It's passable. The setting is really intriguing (the prison colony is your playground), but the cheesy voice acting and dialogue will set you back, taking away some of the illusion of the game. The story is not bad, just don't expect to be blown away by it. Very open ended. There are multiple ways to accomplish an objective. You can, for example, beat up a guy who's quite disliked by the community and then take his hut. Quests offer multiple solutions, often with differing consequences too. "A little buggy" doesn't even begin to describe how buggy the game is. I actually had to turn off sound effects during the final level due to some corrupt file in order to complete the game. It also crashes at random quite regularly. For starters, the combat system is very fun. You can't just run in and chop everything up, you actually have to parry attacks sometimes in order to do a riposte to inflict damage. There is a good number of quests in the game, and each quest is quite long; furthermore though a lot of them are standard CRPG fare, the process is usually quite entertaining.

The game world also feels very alive. You will rarely find NPCs wandering about aimlessly like in Morrowind. NPCs in this game aren't alive just for Sunday strolls. You'll see them washing their faces, smoking, cooking, eating, talking, relaxing etc. Every NPC feels like he has a purpose in the game.

Lastly, choices and consequences are always fun, as is intimidation when you get stronger. I love how you don't kill characters until you actually floor them, at which point you're given the choice on whether to kill them or not. If left alive, most of the time they will cower from you, and their responses will adapt accordingly too. That's video game gratification. The game says I clocked about 21 hours, but all that time used in quickloading older save games and crashing mean I must have spent at least another 2 hours on top of those 21.

Long story short: Gothic is the shit. It would have been an instant classic if it had received more polish from PB.