Classic or NotR

[Lurchi]

Hey, first time Gothic 2 player here. I want to start playing but I am not sure if I should play the gold edition with addon or the classic version without NotR, cause I heard that the addon makes the game a whole lot more difficult. Good idea or am I then missing out a lot. Any advise?

[Skeeka]

Definitly NotR. It's not like it's impossibly difficult, the original G2 is more in line with G1 where it's kinda difficult early on but very soon you can steamroll almost anything if you focus on a strength build. NotR's progression is slowed down by continually increasing the amount of LP needed to upgrade your stats.

All the added content is great and shouldn't be missed.

[Oneeyed]

If you dont own a boxed version your question is academic. Neither steam nor gog or most of the other stores sell the classic version. Its not available on the internet besides gamersgate afaik. And I dont know if its in english.

But if you manage to get it I have to say I love the classic version. Yes it has less content - and its a lot of content you are missing. And its high quality content too. So you are really missing out.

The thing with the classic version is it makes much more sense what the merchants are selling thoughout the chapters and there some monsters placed in the game world which got deleted with the expansion. And since there is no skill point increase all the power ups make much more sense because it doesnt matter when you use them. Of course there are lot less power ups in vanilla. Like 80 % less.

The difficulty in the expansion is not harder, though. It just seems so because you need longer to get strong. But in vanilla you can only reach about level 35 while with the expansion you can reach level 60. So of course many of the monsters are stronger but so will your hero.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Gold Edition including NotR - but play slowly, carefully and with attention to detail. Don't try to rush through the game.

Story progression in G2 Gold Edition makes it possible to stay in chapter 1 for a very long time, gradually exploring the entire starting isle and clearing it from beasts as much as possible. Then, when you can start with chapter 2, you will be capable enough to travel forth and back between the expansion area and the next unlocked base game area. If triggering story progression too early, it will hurt the overall experience.

[PainkilleR]

If you own a classic version then definitely play it before NotR version.

The reasons are:
1. The story of the Night of the Raven expansion starts from the get go, and if you have never played the original Gothic II you will have no clue which story bits/characters/items/etc are related to Gothic II and which ones are related to NotR.
2. While writing in both Gothic II and NotR is very consistent while looking at them separately, the story pacing falls apart when combined together due to the urgency of the events in the main game. Basically, you will be informed time and time again that your main quest is of utmost importance and there is no much time left to lose, but at the same time you will be sent to a really long NotR quest that is completely irrelevant to the main story.
3. The progression of your character is completely different in gold edition. Not only you will need much more skill points to wear the gear (and as a result you will spend a lot more time hunting the monsters to level up), but some NotR gear will also render a lot of Gothic II gear useless (and probably vice versa). On top of that the more skill points you invest into your skills the more expensive it will become to increase them even further. The Gold edition assumes that you already know the game inside and out and need to plan your build more carefully. You can't really just go with the flow in Gold edition.
4. The item you get in the end of NotR kind of contradicts the ending of Gothic II. At least if you keep that item.

NotR is great, but it would be way better if you'd play Gothic II first.

[CINARRA]

Agree with the above posters. The pacing in the Original Gothic 2 is nigh perfect from beginning to end.

The overall pacing gets thrown off by the NotR expansion, since you get overpowered too quickly if you finish the expansion before even venturing into the Valley of Mines. The whole balancing that was present in the Original Gothic 2 gets lost.

However, it is still a fantastic game, and one cannot argue with the size and quality of the expansion overall.

[Kuba]

I agree. Overall NotR adds more good than bad, but I still recommend to play classic G2 first

[Big Hat Logan]

I played Gothic 2 back in the old days, then again when NotR released. I am not sure if I would play the game twice now if i had never played it. Therefore i suggest to start including NotR.

[Kor Angar]

first time Gothic 2 Classic