Your first experidence in this Game

[Bonekraka]

How was your first experience with this game? When you first played it, No guides, no help, no knowledge of the locations?

I still remeber how I used to get lost in the forest behind Akil's farm. Being chased by a pack of wolves or going near a sleeping Shadowbeast to see what happens and running away from an elite orc alone in the forest :)
The first journey in the Valley of Mines: running around the Castel 3 times before knowing how to get inside and stuff like that.
The first meeting with a Seeker: Who is that guy in black?
He burned me alive :D

Too many memorable moments to put them on the list :)

What about you?

[BigGarlic-805]

Escorting bettsy to the monostary 100 times because it fell of the bridge or gotten eaten by beasts or it got just plain stuck somewhere.
Nostalgia always hit me hard when I returned to the Valley of Mines (Played gothic 1 a lot as well) and it saddened me to see it destroyed and barren.
I totally agree with you about the first time trying to get into the castle

[Pairy Henis]

I was to young to remember any specific details, but seeing the screenshots it brings back warm feelings.
This game and morrowind were my first true 3d rpg experiences and they will forever have a warm place in my heart.

[Shrapnel]

I can still remember the opening scene then you run down the hill, kill the birds, loot that mini cave across the stone platform...being frustrated not knowing how to block yet but not caring cause my mind is racing at how huge and different this game is.
When I went to sneak into my first hut...and the guy rushed in, weapon drawn, I thought 'oh ♥♥♥♥, I must think here' ;went to have a cigarette

[Bonekraka]

Originally posted by Shrapnel:

I can still remember the opening scene then you run down the hill, kill the birds, loot that mini cave across the stone platform

That could possibly be Gothic 1 :)
The scavangers down the road and the cave near the stone bridge, near the gate of the Old camp.




I remember learning my Wave of Death spell when I played as a mage for the first time. I wanted to try it out, I wasn't aware of the effect. I went in the Red Lantern in Khorinis, at the second floor and I tried the spell. It was a massacre. Many people tried to kill me after that.
That was a nice moment

[Rakun]

Gothic 1 & 2 were both pretty amazing for me when I first tried them. Finished normal Gothic 2 first, then a bit later with the add-on, and the new world amazed me even more. In first Gothic, I remember getting a two handed sword by letting a swamp shark killing a templar, and in Gothic 2, thinking how beautiful the Jharkendar was. And also be a little scared of the deep woods and orc dogs/wargs :P

[Aanton]

I completed the game back in 2002 and I have to say it was one of the best rpg's I have ever played. In 2002 the game looked very nice and the view range was alot better than that of Morrowinds. I sometimes cheated alittle cause the orcs was insane tough so I pull them to the ramp and killed them while they where having pathing issues. After I got my holy consecrator things went uphill and I was able to complete the game.

It starts out tough but in the end it is a bit easier.

[Wafflesaurus Supreme]

I played the first Gothic game, so most of the rules were familiar when I played the second. For one, don't run into the woods without any armor.

[Bonekraka]

I played the games in the wrong order, first the second then the first.
But I enjoyed both of them. I still play them when I am hit by nostalgia :)

[JamaicanDave]

Pretty much all what OP said. I remember loving exploring - there was no map to sign post things but stuff was hidden everywhere. I must have played it a dozen times and would find something new each play through.

I also loved how the world didn't level with you, you could find tough monsters and powerful items from the start - but they'd kill you or you couldn't use the item without leveling up first.

Most of all I remember it being a very immersive world with a great atmosphere.

However while I love vanilla gothic 2 I can't install it on my new PC. I brought Gothic 2 Gold on steam but honestly I don't enjoy it anywhere near as much. Aside from performance issues its essentially a super hard mode and manages to kill off alot of what was great about vanilla. If I'd picked up Gold edition first I never woudl have even completed it, let alone kept playing for years on and off.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Bonekraka:

What about you?

It's been mixed feelings. Already had a negative review written because the game feels like it should be called "Errand Boy II: Gold Edition". Fetch this, deliver that, rinse repeat. Run, run, run, talk to everyone and everyone once more again later. Then return to messenger duties.

I've restarted a couple of times for the meta-gaming experience. It's also a lot of save and reload for me. As much as I try to "play smart" without consulting guides and walkthroughs, there are too many things to find out. And only once you've learned some new things you know better (such as where to find loot or special equipment, what bonuses to get from Daron, what items not to give away too easily or what mistakes to avoid). In this latest game I've not come far, as I'm only around 10,000 XP but this time with more than 30 LP saved for the decision whether to go one-handed or two-handed. Could become an apprentice and have got the approval of them all, and as I've received the key from the thieves, guess I'll know what to do next. The exploration is time consuming. Worgs, a shadow beast and orc elite so close to the city. OMG. I've run into them, too, while collecting plants and going/climbing from east city gate to south gate.

[ShadowAngel]

Nostalgia for me is big on this. I played the first game when it came out and despite the horrendous controls had a lot of fun. The games are big on atmosphere, the world design is top-notch with only a bit of copy & paste but a lot of unique places (compare that to Skyrim which has like 20 set pieces that are copied a hundred times) and some really great characters. I don't know how the voice acting in other languages is (i guess bad) but the german voice acting is really nice, giving everybody some more personality and even after all the years i still remember Diego, Lares, Lee as if they are old friends.
Gothic 2 just overwhelmed me in the beginning, the world was bigger than Gothic 1's, bigger than Ultima and a world full of exploration, danger, npc's and places unlike the barren wasteland that was Morrowind. Cranking up the details and view distance and just standing on a mountain overlooking the world, seeing the town far in the background was amazing for the time, even though barely any computer was able to properly run the game, even PC's 3 years later would go down when you used the teleport rune to go back to the town port :D
First time around, i'm pretty sure i got killed by the Bugs (Feldräuber in german, no idea what's their english name is) on the first farm. Second try i was running around in front of the town and got killed by the Snappers. I made it into town finally only to get wacked by Moe in front of the Tavern :D By now i can play the game blindly, i even remember most lockpicking combinations somehow.
Also the seekers are mentioned. God, i remember seeing the first one the first time. It actually was late at night since i just couldn't stop play. My room was dark, i moved to the gate just returning from the old colony and this guy was there. I thought "what's that all ab..." the screen turned bizarre, loud noises and that guy talked in a creepy voice......it actually did scare me quite good :D

Also the music is just so good. Kai Rosenkranz made some great soundtracks for the Gothic and later the Risen games.

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

It's been mixed feelings. Already had a negative review written because the game feels like it should be called "Errand Boy II: Gold Edition". Fetch this, deliver that, rinse repeat. Run, run, run, talk to everyone and everyone once more again later. Then return to messenger duties.

Are other RPGs different? I mean it's not like modern RPGs go in a different route than "go there, deliver this" or "go there, get the item, bring it to somebody". That's just how RPGs work and be it Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate and especially the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Elder Scrolls series follows this.
With Gothic 2 you at least have a lot to explore and look around and there are quite a few sidequests you can finish in various ways. A good example is Canthar, who you meet early on in the game. You can do the quest he gives you in basically 3 different ways with 3 different outcomes:
- Help Canthar and bring Sarah to Jail which will give you some good discounts from Canthar
- Help Sarah and bring Canthar to Jail which nets you a good sword early on but in Chapter 3 Canthar will be out of Jail, Sarah will be gone and he blackmails you as revenge
- Ignore the side quest until Chapter 3, do it then, bring Canthar into Prison, Sarah's Pirate Saber is still a nice weapon and Canthar will rot in jail for all eternity.
Things like that add variety and replay value.

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

OMG. I've run into them

The Gothic series sure is difficulty by todays gaming standards of hand-holding, self-regenerating health and making the player Superman after 5 minutes and the Night of the Raven Add-On increased the difficulty quite a bit. To be honest, there should be an option here to either play the original base game or the game plus add-on. New players should just play the base game first, it's a bit easier overall.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

The "bugs" are called "field raiders" in the English translation.

The Baldur's Gate style games are different, because they focus on fighting early. It's possible to complete some quests with the help of invisibility or stealth, but even the earliest side-quests require fighting as the only solution. As such you can measure well your own strength in combat when advancing the main quest line. (There's a special joke quest in the Siege of Dragonspear DLC, where you may be asked to move 20 sacks from one crate to another, only to have to carry them back to their original location again afterwards. It's for all those players, who patiently execute even the most boring tasks to get some experience points.)

Canthar may be killed in jail as another option. When I've looked up some walkthroughs to confirm some of my actions, I've read you can beat him up at night, too, and get back your gold.

[Rakun]

What I liked with Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, and Pillars of Eternity, was mostly different type of story telling.

But, like said before, Gothic series had a cool and interesting places you could visit. While I liked Gothic 1's story better and the world was awesome, Gothic 2's world itself was pretty cool and awesome too.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Icewind Dale is a mostly linear story. The next new area only unlocks as one completes the previous one. The Heart of Winter expansion is inserted into the main game and is similar. IWD's focus is on combat.

In Gothic 2, the order, in which to talk to people, is key to solving quests. All the time I've talked to many people about the missing citizens, but it escaped me that asking Vatras about joining the Ring of Water is a must and then turns him into the primary contact about the missing citizens. If not doing that, the pirate Skip cannot be asked about it. So, I've restarted once more. I'm giving two-handed weapons a try this time.

[Wafflesaurus Supreme]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

So, I've restarted once more. I'm giving two-handed weapons a try this time.

Attack speed is nice but since you can't use a shield, might as well go for power. Gothic has a pretty simple calculation for damage. If the NPC has enough armor, it will take no damage at all. Then you add 15 strength or weapon damage and he goes down like a chump.