Gothic 2 advice pointers

[Lord Romulus]

I still prefer the slightly higher damage of 2h weapons, I did spend a fair chunk of the early game with the water mage staff though.

 

[Metro]

Ranged/Dex build is extremely OP. Bows don't require aiming and do craploads of damage with high dex. Plus the fact you can simply kite enemies undermines most of the challenge. For a first timer I would recommend melee and two handers are generally better than one handers for the damage and reach. There are no shields in G1 and G2 so the only benefit of one handers is slightly faster attacks.

 

[Sjukob]

Actually one handed weapons are easier to play with . The damage doesn't matter since you will be dropping enemies in a few hits , but two handed weapons are noticeably slower and some moves have a delay on them . With one handed weapons you can block and dodge shit way easier and it's more important , since before you become overpowered missed hit might mean the loss of 1/3 - 1/2 of your health . Also , you can't stunlock with two handed weapons .

 

[titus]

The camera may induce motion sickness.

Never happened to me. I did get motion sickness from Oblivion. Or was it just the game making me sick?

 

[Murk]

Plus the fact you can simply kite enemies undermines most of the challenge. .

Wait, what? There's a delay between 'taking aim' and moving that makes it hard, if not outright impossible, to kite anyone -- especially if they are charging at you. You sure you're not thinking of G3? Unless you meant "stand on building, shoot all that try to climb."

 

[T. Reich]

All the classes/combos are fairly viable, except maybe for pure mage, because you will run out of mana constantly.

However, the dex-based char is probably the easier one to powergame G2NotR with. Because bows are strong, dex-based 1h weapons are hella strong, and you will have early access to stealing, which will boost your leveling process in the first two chapters, and it's the first two chapters when you need that boost the most.

 

[Dreaad]

Play however you want but exploring every little location completely, makes the game a lot more fun. Also some of the quests have puzzle like elements to them, as in you need to stop and think for a bit as things won't be explained to you in a step by step guide.

 

[Hobo Elf]

There are ways to make a pure Mage, but it requires more effort than it probably is worth as you have to stock up on lots of mana potions. Most of the direct damage spells are garbage until Rain of Fire and you are better off using the summon spells at first because of how insanely powerful they are. Summon Skeleton Goblin is probably one of the best ones. You aren't limited to one summon, you can keep summoning them until you run out of mana, in which case you can chug a mana pot and keep summoning moar. Still, I'd probably recommend investing in Str / Dex and some weapon skill early on. You also _have_ to hoard all the potions and tablets until the very end to be viable. It is encouraged to do this with any kind of character, but you can get away with less skill investments as a melee dude. As a Mage you absolutely must hoard all the Mana+ items for as long as you can because you have to push for very high numbers for you to be able to cast any worthwhile spells before running out of mana instantly. My last Mage got to 300~ Mana which meant that I was able to cast Rain of Fire twice before running out of mana, which is kind of a big deal. At that point I might have been a physical reincarnation of Innos because I just fucked up everything. Clearing out the Valley of Mines was fun as hell with that character.

 

[T. Reich]

There are ways to make a pure Mage, but it requires more effort than it probably is worth as you have to stock up on lots of mana potions. Most of the direct damage spells are garbage until Rain of Fire and you are better off using the summon spells at first because of how insanely powerful they are. Summon Skeleton Goblin is probably one of the best ones. You aren't limited to one summon, you can keep summoning them until you run out of mana, in which case you can chug a mana pot and keep summoning moar. Still, I'd probably recommend investing in Str / Dex and some weapon skill early on. You also _have_ to hoard all the potions and tablets until the very end to be viable. It is encouraged to do this with any kind of character, but you can get away with less skill investments as a melee dude. As a Mage you absolutely must hoard all the Mana+ items for as long as you can because you have to push for very high numbers for you to be able to cast any worthwhile spells before running out of mana instantly. My last Mage got to 300~ Mana which meant that I was able to cast Rain of Fire twice before running out of mana, which is kind of a big deal. At that point I might have been a physical reincarnation of Innos because I just fucked up everything. Clearing out the Valley of Mines was fun as hell with that character.

Pretty much spot on. Pure mages in G2NotR suffer from chronic mana problems (which translate into chronic money problems because you need to buy the all mana potions there are to support your drug spellcasting habit).
Direct damage spells usually suck versus the toughest and most numerous foes in the game (orcs/lizards).
Early on you will be extremely money and skill point starved, not to mention that the player gets acces to the class the latest of all the available choices.

That being said, early on buying and using spell scrolls is the easiest way to plow your way through the game. For example, you can wipe out almost the entire cliffside bandit camp near Onar's farm (close to 20-25 bandits there IIRC) with a single cast of the Storm spell scroll, which costs a couple hundred coins at most. The stronger of shapeshifting scrolls are OP as fuck (varg/fire lizard/shadowbeast/dragin snapper). Summon undead scrolls are pretty strong, too, and are available as runes to the mage fairly early as well. The Ice Block spell should've been called "I win any 1v1 fight" spell. Firestorm clears out large groups of orcs in a single cast (doing that in early act 2 to a group of orcs guarding the mountain pass is extremely satisfying). And a single cast of summon daemon scroll is enough to destroy any boss in the game save for the final boss (than one needs 2 casts, or just helping the daemon a little).

 

[subotaiy]

Don't fucking hoard potions/tablets.These damned minmaxres ruin your game experience.

 

[T. Reich]

No, they don't!

Beesides, you don't have a choice in the matter, really - most of tablets and a good deal of stat potion ingridients are spread all over the game area and are usually pretty well-guarded.
And even if you get them, you need to invest a non-insignificant amount of skill points in to tablet reading and stat potion brewing first. Those stat points will not generally become available until second half of the game anyway.

Hoarding them doesn't shoot you in the leg. And once you do start consuming them, you will get an amazing power rush from doing so.

 

[Murk]

My last play through as a mage went pretty well to be honest, even with sub 100 mana for like 99% of the game until the end.

I did find that with less money spent on healing potions (healing spells are great), that you have a lot more to spare for mana potions -- and at chapter turns they get like 50 pots restocked (merchants.)

Still, magic is unfortunately underwhelming and at times almost insulting (for example, you get two firebolt runes and two ice dar runes... ) and the LP cost of learning the circle + formula is a pain in the ass. Still, fireball can kill a lot of early enemies like skeletons and ice lance is pretty good as a general attack spell (especially against fire lizards which are pretty hard to deal with until mid to end game, unless you use bow cheese.)

Anyway, it's totally viable, but I'd suggest still getting some dex or str for a weapon.

Having said all that, you should not play a mage your first time around -- it'll be better to go melee or ranged as you'll have more fun and get to use more weapons while not trying to scrape together every item to be used later.

Also, when increasing a stat, do the 4-5 trick. Instead of raising it by increments of 5 outright, get it up to 4 (like raise your str to 14) then get it in increments of 5. This will let you bypass the extra lp cost the first time it gets raised.

So, for example, if the LP cost were to go from being 1lp per 1str to 2lp per 1str, doing this lets you get an extra 4 str at the same 1lp cost. I usually do this til the cost is 5lp per 1str. Works on dex, mana, and weapon skills too.

 

[Explorerbc]

Any easy way to kill the Seekers? I can easily run past them since they are stationary but they are starting to piss me off, every corner I turn there is another one of these fuckers.

I just started chapter 3, I am lvl 13, STR + 1H, and it takes forever to damage them, while they can 3 hit kill me.

 

[Tito Anic]

Any easy way to kill the Seekers? I can easily run past them since they are stationary but they are starting to piss me off, every corner I turn there is another one of these fuckers.

I just started chapter 3, I am lvl 13, STR + 1H, and it takes forever to damage them, while they can 3 hit kill me.

Strange, the only problem with them was - curse. What is your weapon?

 

[Explorerbc]

Any easy way to kill the Seekers? I can easily run past them since they are stationary but they are starting to piss me off, every corner I turn there is another one of these fuckers.

I just started chapter 3, I am lvl 13, STR + 1H, and it takes forever to damage them, while they can 3 hit kill me.

Strange, the only problem with them was - curse. What is your weapon?

60 damage, 60 STR, 50% One-Handed

 

[Old One]

Seekers are crawling all over the island like flies, and they like to pop out of dark places when you're least expecting it, too. They're best dispatched with ranged attacks, so maybe it's better to stay away from them for now. Just watch out for the fireballs and try not to let them curse you.

 

[T. Reich]

Any easy way to kill the Seekers? I can easily run past them since they are stationary but they are starting to piss me off, every corner I turn there is another one of these fuckers.

I just started chapter 3, I am lvl 13, STR + 1H, and it takes forever to damage them, while they can 3 hit kill me.

At this moment there are 2 ways this situation is resolved:
1) You knew about the seekers all along, so you appropriately leveled and skilled, so you have a very strong weapon + str + melee skill combo, so that you could punch through their 130 melee armor. Clearly, this is not the case.
2) You're totally unprepared and so are forced to run to Jharkendar like a little seeker bitch you are. There are no seekers in Jharkendar, but there's tons of loot and exp, hint hint.

 

[Murk]

Avoiding them is totally OK, just careful not to get NPCs you need in a fight with them.

The way the flat defense rating of the games works means that for many enemies you'll be doing 5 damage per hit, and if they have a few hundred hp, your only chance is to 1) get them against a wall and stunlock them with lateral hits or 2) use a different type of damage. Seekers are weaker to piercing damage than they are to slashing/melee damage, so if you have a strong cross bow you can (even with no skill in it) run up and point blank them with the weapon. This may not be the best route, but it is doable. They also almost exclusively use fire magic, so you can stack fire resistance.

Or, to echo a former thought, use a warg transformation scroll and melee attack them to death. Just careful not to be a warg when you leave and find otherwise friendly NPCs around you.

 

[T. Reich]

...Seekers are weaker to piercing damage than they are to slashing/melee damage...

They actually aren't. Unlike G1 where most humanoid enemies have very poor ranged armour, in G2NotR only a few animals are more vulnerable to (x)bows than to melee.

Now the warg (or stronger critter) transformation scroll should do the trick alright. Might be a good way to clear out the roads if you don't mind missing out on the loot from the seekers.

 

[Murk]

...Seekers are weaker to piercing damage than they are to slashing/melee damage...

They actually aren't. Unlike G1 where most humanoid enemies have very poor ranged armour, in G2NotR only a few animals are more vulnerable to (x)bows than to melee.

Now the warg (or stronger critter) transformation scroll should do the trick alright. Might be a good way to clear out the roads if you don't mind missing out on the loot from the seekers.

Hmm, checking over the stats you're right, the resistance to arrows and melee is the same. Yet I recall being able to do more damage to them with arrows than melee when my STR was higher than my DEX... though this was most likely the way damage is calculated for ranged weapons than melee weapons. In that sense, the suggestion of "use xbow" might still be legit tho for different reasons.

None-the-less, warg/shadowbeast will do the trick.