Incline Which part of the Gothic series is the best? (Poll)

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

And why?

I personally like the first Gothic the most; - actually above all other games I ever played!
Never in my life have I played a game where the disctinction between REALLY feeling safe and REALLY being scared (with an everlasting eerie melancholy being present all the time) was as imminent than this.
Walking through the wilderness in this gray, brutal world, feeling completely lonely, before seeing the Old Camp at the end of the road; - that's a journey from fear to hope. As soon as I've met the guards and entered the gates my whole body relaxed, and I could finally breathe again.
In this kind of world exploring made finally real sense beyond just finding new gear or shit. Rather it is about finding safe spots in a hostile environment, and testing the limits of your own courage.
Also the setting is extremely interesting, taking place inside the magic wall where only prisoners live and split up to build the three very distinct camps, led by Fire-, Water- and Swamp-mages respectively.
The "theology" of the three Gods works absolutely perfect too, as it is very simple but very deep.
The german voice acting was great too, but I have no idea how the english one is.

DISCUSS!

 

[Cyberarmy]

While Gothic 1 has greater mood and story I like the second game with its ex-pack better. Gothic 2 : NotR is probably the best game for me ever even today
A larger Gothic world with more places to explore and a large city with lots of neat stuff in it? Count me in! Larger factions with different small quests, more weapon/armor/magic options and dat thievery! OH MY! I think I'm going to replay it!
Though it become a bit long with NotR but you can skip most of that new map. (and lose all of them sweet xp...)
I love the armor progression in Gothic games and how powerful them armors are. That always felt right even in 3rd game.

BTW Arcania isn't a Gothic game anymore(and it never was), its just Arcania now.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

While Gothic 1 has greater mood and story I like the second game with its ex-pack better. Gothic 2 : NotR is probably the best game for me ever even today
A larger Gothic world with more places to explore and a large city with lots of neat stuff in it? Count me in! Larger factions with different small quests, more weapon/armor/magic options and dat thievery! OH MY! I think I'm going to replay it!
Though it become a bit long with NotR but you can skip most of that new map. (and lose all of them sweet xp...)
I love the armor progression in Gothic games and how powerful them armors are. That always felt right even in 3rd game.

Lots of good points you're making!
Still for me personally the mood and story you mentioned outweigh the advantages part II + expansion might have.
Nonetheless, GII + NotR are wonderful, and I actually think Gothic 3 is really underrated and all in all really good (if played with proper community patches).

BTW Arcania isn't a Gothic game anymore(and it never was), its just Arcania now.

Well, I'm pretty much always for including even those parts of a series / world in the canon which are generally despised and significantly different than the rest.
It's the Gothic-universe they built the world and story on, so for me it's canon.

[Edit]
While we're at it: I forgot to include the grand G3 addon "Forsaken Gods". Well, nothing is missed I guess.
[/Edit]

 

[hivemind]

Gothic 2 is just a better game overall imo. Like I don't think there is a single solid aspect that you can point to and say that it was done better in 1 than in 2.

Gothic 1 has some really memorable and atmospheric parts but Khorinis is just so well done that the first game can't compete.

I also got triggered when in the first game I couldn't stick with the old camp because plot reasons.

Also finally getting yourself a set of Paladin armour in Gothic 2 is an amazing feeling.

 

[an Administrator]

This thread made me play Gothic series.

 

[Darth Roxor]

the answer is clear

 

[Sykar]

NOTR in a heartbeat. To put them in order from best to worst for me:

NOTR > Gothic 2 = Gothic 1 >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Gothic 3.

 

[skacky]

Night of the Raven is my favorite. Big world, pretty difficult so you have to prepare, better balancing than the base game and just a lot of added stuff that doesn't suck and makes the game more entertaining.
(note that I haven't played G3 or Arcania (lol) and I don't intend to).

 

[Ludo Lense]

Basically Gothic 2 (combat, level design, writing etc.) does everything better than Gothic 1 except the setting. Penal colony is far more intriguing than island threatened by Dragons.

NOTR and Gothic 2 is a bit more tricky. While NoTR makes things more interesting at the start the pacing is heavily disrupted by Jharkendar (moreso if you haven't played the base game) even if it is a cool zone. Also the hoard tablets/potions after getting 90 in a stat is incredibly artificial.

Gothic 3 was amazingly ambitious but the execution was poor in just about every aspect.

 

[Xathrodox86]

This thread made me play Gothic series.

This thread will make me play Gothic series this year. Starting from part 1 no less.

 

[Trashos]

NotR refuses to play on my system, so I didn't vote.

I agree with the OP on the virtues of Gothic 1. Still, I find Gothic 2 more replayable, probably due to the larger world and the more diverse level-up scheme. Oh, and the "I beat up Valentino" quest is one of the best little quests I have ever seen. The "tobacco industry" quest is also pretty neat.

What is interesting is that both Gothic 1 & 2 got me scared a lot, despite the cartoonish graphics. The castles in Gothic 1 and the forests in Gothic 2 were nerve-wrecking.

 

[United Nations]

Gothic 3 is an abomination.

I can't imagine how much Arcania sucks.

 

[Cyberarmy]

The castles in Gothic 1 and the forests in Gothic 2 were nerve-wrecking.

Getting raped by orcs in forest was someone cannot forget easly...
Or friggin wargs/snappers...
Or godddamn skeletons...

 

[sullynathan]

Why are we making a distinction between NOTR & the base game? By this point, they're basically one and the same with how well they're combined.

I pick Gothic 2 Night of the raven, it's just so much better than Gothic 1.

Gothic 3 didn't have to be bad, I find the world in it more impressive than its predecessors but all those fetch quests man

Gothic 2 had some nice atmosphere plus the prison colony setting is something I rarely see in other games I played.

All in all, the combat sucks ass in this series though.

 

[Marquis de Lirium]

I have a very soft spot for Gothic 1. The setting and atmosphere there are just perfect, making it one of my favorite games ever.
Still, I have to agree that the Gothic 2 NotR is objectively the better game. Bigger world, more content, more quests, fewer bugs. It gets my vote, but people new to the series should start with part one to get the full experience and to be able to appreciate the improvements G2 made.

 

[kwanzabot]

I always wanted to play the older gothic games but I could never find gothic 1 in stores and when I found gothic 2 around 08 or 09 I couldn't get it to run on any pc so its just collected dust in a box somewhere :s

Didn't thing gothic 3 was that great, I don't remember what bothered me so much about it but I quit like 5 hrs in

 

[MilesBeyond]

Gothic 3 was my first game in the series, years and years ago. Played it to death and really enjoyed it. I'd go online and see everyone complaining about how it wasn't nearly as good as the other games and I was just like "Man whatever. You can complain all you want about it and I'll just sit here enjoying my game." Then, a couple years back, I got Gothic 2 off GOG. Now I understand. Now I am one of those complainers.

NOTR all the way, baby.

 

[Black_Willow]

the answer is clear

You're right, I also voted for Arcania

 

[titus]

The setting/story from G1. Wanna be a weed smoking cultist? Go right ahead! Loved it.

 

[Black_Willow]

I always loved mine valley in Gothic 2. There's a huge area, crawling with orcs, you are pretty wimpy but you have to go there and get some shit done! You can't take on more than one orc at once while the game throws dozens of them at you. It forces you to either be smart (and use some polimorphing scroll) or just swim and run the fastest you can and hope for the best. What's even better is that after you made progess and transformed from a wimp to a badass you can go back there and teach all those once scary orcs a lesson. I don't think any RPG before gave you such a strong feeling of progression.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Yeah, making a run for it from the forest to the fallen tower leading into the old camp castle courtyard is one of my favourite moments in gaming.

 

[Modron]

Tempted to vote king comrade option but did my duty and voted for 1 after a lot of back and forth. If you went as far as to include Arcania then you should have thrown Risen 1 in there as well.

 

[Lord Andre]

Anybody remember the great trolling related to the "true" chromanin quest ending ? There was this guy, that convinced people for a long long time, that if you play the game in a certain way, following the clues in the books, you find the old man alive at the end and some uber lore secret is revealed. Really funny back in the day...

 

[likaq]

add option: gothic series was always shit.

 

[Excidium II]

I like gothic 1's prison setting way more.

I like the beginning of gothic 2 without NOTR making all weapons need 58318515 strength more.

Gothic II + NOTR is the best game in general.

How do I vote halp