So... what's the consensus on Gothic 2?

[undead dolphin hacker]

I'm interested in the RPGCodex forum crew's opinions on Piranha Byte's RPG, Gothic 2.

I'm not really interested in anything specific, just a yay or a nay and explination why.

 

[Spazmo]

Well I haven't played it (makes my opinion kinda worthless, but whatever) but I say nay, if only because it's fantasy and I'm sick of fantasy.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Nay - although I haven't played it too, the first Gothic became too linear in the second part eliminating any choice whatsover. The prison world was nicely done, it wasn't unique but it was interesting and it was distracting enough from your typical fantasy that the game become later on. Gothic 2 just doesn't seem to be that interesting by itself from what I heard.

Btw, speaking of German games, what happened to the Realms of Arkania games? I don't remember them well, I think that Star Trail was good, I didn't like Shadow over Riva fr some reasons, so does anybody know if there were more games of the series and what do you guys think of these games in general. I can't really remember anything other then hours spent figuring out the char system and fighting some tough TB battles. So now I'm considering to track down ST, but before I go through all that troubles, I';d like somebody to refresh my memory.

 

[kumquatq3]

Gothic 2 just doesn't seem to be that interesting by itself from what I heard.

yep

Messed around with it, got bored.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

I have no desire to play Gothic 2. The only way I will play it is if someone gave it to me free.

 

[Whipporowill]

I gave it a spin and played it until I got into town - got bored and quit. By accident I started again, and had patience to play a little longer this time, and boy does the game open up after that. There's a somewhat linear storyline, but a lot of exploration aking to the Ultimas - stuff makes sense.

Play it! I even got a friend interested in it again, him having come to the same conclusion as me the first time around. Last I checked he had even passed me.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Give it to me for free?

 

[undead dolphin hacker]

Not to be a jackass, but I'm a bit more interested in the opinions of people who've actually played it. :wink:

 

[taks]

Not to be a jackass, but I'm a bit more interested in the opinions of people who've actually played it. :wink:

i have to agree... hehe. i saw it on the shelf at best buy last night and i was tempted. the first gothic bored me to death and combat shouldn't be "skill of the mouse wielder" by any stretch. however, i've heard of improvements and i'm curious...

mark

 

[Transcendent One]

:shock:

Okay, I was imagining a while ago there would be a thread about Gothic II and I would be replying to it. Okay, I am freaked out now.

But seriously, I have not played it enough yet, so don't take my comment too seriously, but from what I've seen so far, it's really bad. I've got it for my birthday (Nov. 21) and played it a bit. Got bored when I got to the city. Trying it again now. Quite bored, but I'll try to get through this time.

The combat is very cumbersome but can be very easily abused. The dialog is very forced. The quests are worse than ToEE's so far (SPOILERS I've been asked by a farmer to go to his field and pick all the turnips. There were about 30, I just had to mindlessly click on each one. His wife asked me to buy her a frying pan. In the city I was asked to collect 100 gold. The woman didn't have it. I had to go back to the guy, pay myself. Then I had to go back to the woman. Linear, boring, no RP whatsoeverEND OF SPOILER). So far I've seen nothing that distinguishes the game as an RPG (so far it's been an adventure game with very boring quests. Heck, you can't even create your own character from the start). The start of the story is one of the most cliche things I've ever seen in a CRPG. So far I've seen nothing that makes me want to continue playing it.

My dad (likes to play games too) says it gets better quickly, and that it's fairly fun once you get into it, which is why I've come back to it.

Okay, I just realized you want people who played the game fully to post. Just make sure you're not the type who ditches a game if its first impressions are bad. Cause with Gothic II they most likely will be.

 

[Lemon]

Combat is twitch with some limited combos, the only way to do real time combat in fantasy and make it fun. The NPC scheduling is cool. Voice acting bites. The quests and story are genre average to poor. However you'll see some real changes in the map as a you play, again cool.

What RPGs do you like? Thats an easier way to recommend it. In general it gets my nod, for a remarkble effort in presenting a living world and for fun spell/melee combat.

Vault Dweller - Shadow over Riva had to of been the last one.

 

[bobbob]

Gothic 2 is a good game, the box may say rpg but it's actually an action rpg like diablo and it's ilk. But what Gothic 2 has going for it is combat that doesn't drag and that is involving and not some boring clickfest. The graphics are nice, the story predictble but most rpg's story are also so no big deal. There also is little roleplaying but this is an action rpg so it is hard to hold that against Gothic2. The only real problem I had with Gothic 2 is by mid-game I was crushing enemies left and right, the enemies just couldn't put up a good fight. By the end of the game I had so many character points I didn't know what to do with them, also the bosses don't put up a good fight. Even with the faults its better than any other action rpg ,all action rpg developers should look to gothic and say "why do we have such crappy combat compared to this game?" Gothic is just a good game , the very best action rpg that I've played on the pc.

 

[Sammael]

I enjoyed Gothic 2 slightly less than the original, but enjoyed it nevertheless.

 

[ecliptic]

I felt Gothic I one was one of the most immersive RPGs I'd played this side of Ultima Underworld. I loved wandering around the wilderness watching the beautiful day / night cycle, just exploring .. Loved the music too.

 

[Trash]

And if you like to play a game in a living world, gothic is it! Seeing how the npc's interact with each other and you and go about their daily live alone makes this game great for me. It really feels a whole lot like the old ultima games, with a huge world to explore.
I loved it,

Trash

 

[DrattedTin]

Next person who badmouths Gothic gets pain!

*hefts baseball bat, peers warily down at the hordes*

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Well, it's now a year ago since I played Gothic 2, but I mostly enjoyed it. The interface is very simple, the controls needs much time to get into flesh and blood, the combat is at the beginning hard, but if you can forgive those little issues, you'll be rewarded with a very classical, high rich detailed and atmospheric Action RPG. The strength of the game is surely not the setting, presentation, combat rule work (there is none) or high quality conversations a'la Kotor, but if you join a faction (Paladins, Monks or Dragonkiler) and get deeper into the story and quests, it's very immersive. Paladins (rise from militia to knight to paladin) e.g. can forge ruins to perform some nice spells, but they're also very well trained with the sword, an allrounder type. You can sanctify our sword at the monestary to do more damage, physical or magic.
An other faction are the dragon killer (rise from mercenarie to stronger mercenarie to dragon killer), those are at home at Omars yard and are not good at drinking some tea with the paladins. I never played the monks, but they are skilled with magic, are good in brewing some potions with different plants you can pick up, can sell it and so forth. Which faction you join has some impacts on which quests you do and how people of other factions like you, but though it doesn't feel so different like Kotor does. So overall it's very good and I can reccomed it, but in comparison with Kotor it's surely the loser. But hey, Piranha Bytes consists of only ~13 people, Bio has ~ 170... very impressive game for such a little team....
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland btw the Gothic series is very popular, maybe first because of the setting that is more placed in the dark german saga, but the other and imo the main reasons is probably the voice acting. I heard from many people that the english version is completely messed up, bad voice actors (well, atari really sucks in this regard) with inproper voices and then I guess the language itself....the german version had the proper style of pronunciation, and the meaning of some expressions was unique that you can't translate into english, so I think the german voice acting fitted the chars and the setting very well, that was a big plus.

 

[EEVIAC]

I really enjoyed the two weeks I spent playing the game but I haven't really had an inclination to play it since. I enjoyed some of the "simulation" aspects, like people getting mad at you walking into their houses and looting their belongings, being able to take trophies from animals to sell, cooking meat (it sounds trivial I know, but I was impressed at the time.)

As a role-playing game it didn't really succeed. You have to play as the sterotypical "chosen one" - a white male with a mullet (perhaps it would have screwed too much with their FMV continuity.) The inability to customize beyond some very rudimentary stats also kills any ideas of replay through variant character builds.

Well I haven't played it (makes my opinion kinda worthless, but whatever) but I say nay, if only because it's fantasy and I'm sick of fantasy.

Here fucking here. I don't really like Fantasy to begin with. I've never found the idea of co-inhabiting the same space as a bunch of people of who never bathe (ever seen a bath in fantasy game?) smell of game cooked over the spit, and throw their shit out into the streets, particularly appealing. Give me a Bozar any day. Perhaps I'm missing something important...

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

With me it's not so much I am sick of fantasy, but rather the settings used. Can't anyone be original anymore without resorting to the stereotypes. I would love to see RPGs that take place in fantasy settings that were seperate from the norm. Tad Williams' Osten Ard from his Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series for example. Anything off the wall like that would be a welcome addition to the flock of LoTR clones out there. Michael Jordan's Wheel Of Time series is another option. And I am not saying they should make RPGs out of these series, but take lessons from them in their originality. New races instead of the stereotypes. New monsters instead of the stereotypes. Anything different from elves, orcs, dwarves, and zombies...... PLEASE!

 

[Psilon]

It's Robert Jordan, and they already made a Wheel of Time game using the Unreal engine.

Bring on the science fiction, I say.

 

[Elwro]

Btw, speaking of German games, what happened to the Realms of Arkania games?

They were good, weren't they? Unfortunately, it was SirTech who made them, so perhaps we won't be seeing any more of the series.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

It's Robert Jordan, and they already made a Wheel of Time game using the Unreal engine.

Bring on the science fiction, I say.

Oops. My bad. I was thinking of Micheal Whelan at the time as well. And I do know about the WoT game that was an FPS. As I said, I wasn't saying they should make an RPG in that setting, but rather look at the originality of the setting as compared to most fantasy games of today. And I would love to see more SF rpgs. Heck, I would even welcome another Buck Rogers game.

 

[Psilon]

As bad as it would likely be due to the license's history, I want a Star Trek RPG centered around Section 31 or perhaps even the Tal Shiar.

Play a deep-cover UFP agent, infiltrate inquisitive starships (perhaps even the Enterprise or Titan), find the inevitable uber-conspiracy at Starfleet Command, get into bar fights with Klingons, connive with Romulans and Cardassians, and so on. It could rock if Paramount and the publisher didn't screw anything up.

No hands-on control of starship-to-starship combat, either. If you're in anything bigger than a runabout or Romulan scout ship, you need your crewmates alive to do anything useful. If you slaughtered them all in pursuit of the Berserker award, well, wouldn't the enemy captain be a little intrigued and take you alive instead?

You'd also have the opportunity for cool super-science beyond the basic phaser and hypospray. Imagine the uses of even a lowly tricorder! In fact, if most of the online reference material were stored in the computer, you could go for a bit of realism and disable that section of online help when you're away from a terminal, PADD, or tricorder.

 

[Shevek]

Psilon:

The Star Trek license history isnt half bad. Starfleet Command was cool. Bridge Commander had some faults but was an all around pretty cool title. A Final Unity is one of my favorite adventure titles (the genesis TNG game wasnt bad either - but the combat in the genny one was clunky) and Ive heard good things about some of the TOS adventure games (particularly 25th anniversary edition). Sure there are plenty of poor quality titles but there are some gems too.

Personally, I think you'd have a real hard time making a decent Star Trek RPG - particularly one based on espionage and in such a tight localized places (sounds more like an adventure title to me). IMHO, I would rather see something along the lines of a Privateer-like title set in outskirts of Federation space.

Elwro:

Realms of Arkania were pretty sweet games. I cant remember too much about them as its been a long time since I fired them up. I can remember some of the basics. Overall, the skill system was deep but a few skills were under used. Character creation took a long while but was very satisfying. If I remember right, you walked around in first person and faught in isometric turn-based. One of the cooler aspects was the use of survival skills/gameplay which hasnt really been rivaled since - you had to set up camp order/hunting/foraging to survive, had to deal with disease/illness and a bunch of other pretty cool stuff.

 

[Psilon]

I'm just reminded of Generations, Armada I/II, SFC 3, Birth of the Federation, Starfleet/Klingon Academies, Klingon Honor Guard, and so on. Trek is a very hit-or-miss franchise. A Final Unity was, I admit, a great adventure game, and Elite Force was good, but there have been a large number of stinkers. I'm not even including pseudo-games like Star Trek Pinball, Klingon, or Star Trek: The Game Show.