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Gothic Gothic is fun

Gastrick

Cipher
Joined
Aug 1, 2020
Messages
1,704
Lol and now as soon as I enter the mine I've got 4 dudes pelting me with crossbows that fire like 1 bolt per second and kill me in 3 hits.

Up until now the game has been difficult, but fair. This level is some serious bullshit though.
You have to run around the mine until they lose you are then come back to take on a few at once after you heal.
 

Murk

Arcane
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
13,459
Magic scrolls can help a lot -- summon golem, particularly, since they are immune to arrow/bolt damage.
 

madhouse

Guest
Of course, Gothic is better just look at their development teams

Morrowind virgins
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Gothic Chads
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In all seriousness Gothic is something completely different to Morrowind. Morrowind was made in the tradition of PNP dice-rolling RPG and it offers a huge depth. Gothic was made as a continuation of immersive games like Underworld and by that time modern action 3rd Person action games like Tomb Raider. Its simplicity is part of its core design and it allows the player to fully immerse themselves into a world that feels like it wasn't just made as a playground for the player but instead a living breathing world.
Morrowind fags confirmed for manlets.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,182
Location
Bjørgvin
I'm stuck on the fight against Jackal and the two other guards in front of the Free Mine. I can kill each of them in two hits but I can only tank three or four hits myself, and with how melee works in this game it's very difficult to block or dodge attacks from three opponents at once.

I can cheese it by immediately turning around and running away because the AI is too dumb to follow the winding path around the mine. But I really don't like having to do that.

You need a magic negro to help you.
 

:Flash:

Arcane
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
6,454
Gothic was inspired by Ultima IX was it not?
No, Ultima Underworld was the inspiration for Gothic. It was even originally meant to play in an underground prison. Here is a preview from April 1998:
https://archive.org/details/PC.Games.N068.1998.05-fl0n/page/n39/mode/2up

As for the controls scheme: you need to play without the mouse controls. They were tacked on last minute, because they had become the standard during the development of the game. but it was designed to be played with keyboard only.
 

madhouse

Guest
The Orc Cemetery is an earlier dungeon you get sent to by the swamp folk, where you find the Sword of Death.
I don't remember it being that hard, but then again I think I power gamed a lot by being very throughout when I played it for the first time. I remember becoming locked out of main quest because the faggot swamp wizard wouldn't activate his script and proceed... reloading a save game from an hour of game-time earlier isn't fun. I still don't know what broke as I never encountered this issue again.
 

curds

Magister
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
1,098
No, Ultima Underworld was the inspiration for Gothic. It was even originally meant to play in an underground prison. Here is a preview from April 1998:
https://archive.org/details/PC.Games.N068.1998.05-fl0n/page/n39/mode/2up
You say the inspiration as if it's impossible they were inspired by more than one game. I'd say there's a pretty clear Ultima IX influence on the presentation of Gothic. Also, I don't speak German, so that article means little to me. Looks interesting though.
 

curds

Magister
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
1,098
I can cheese it by immediately turning around and running away because the AI is too dumb to follow the winding path around the mine. But I really don't like having to do that.
Gothic is best enjoyed by embracing the cheese, bro. In my opinion, anyway.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
Lol and now as soon as I enter the mine I've got 4 dudes pelting me with crossbows that fire like 1 bolt per second and kill me in 3 hits.

Up until now the game has been difficult, but fair. This level is some serious bullshit though.

Since Gothic's math is so easy it is very easy to be broken at this point. Crawler/Ore armor + Rings and Necklace of Ore Skin means your armor is so high you only take a token amount of damage from the rapid fire crossbow.
I could tank maybe 20 or so. They need to do so much damage to be a threat to well equiped players at all.
 

Cryomancer

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
Messages
14,474
Location
Frostfell
Crawler/Ore armor + Rings and Necklace of Ore Skin means your armor is so high you only take a token amount of damage from the rapid fire crossbow.

Crawler armor is only obtained on end game.

I've got 4 dudes pelting me with crossbows that fire like 1 bolt per second and kill me in 3 hits.

They aren't hard as longs you play smart.

I can't imagine you playing returning 2.0 which cranks up the difficulty of D2 NotR to the 10th potency. Dragons on vanilla g2? Just use a fear rune/scroll and punch then to the death. Dragons on returning? Has summons, access to circle 6 magic while you has access only to circle 4, 1k damage breath weapon, health regen, if you din't learned cold/heat/poison resistance which aren't easy to learn, only by being near their lair, you take constant cold/heat/poison damage. Those aren't even the hardest bosses, there are twins archdemons which can only be damaged when one is another the other. Only by cheese tactics, I can defeat then.

Ahh, and you need to eat/drink/sleep and potions, doesn't insta heal after the drinking animation, except few ultra expensive ones which are available in small amount for each merchant. The recipe which teaches this potions also require expensive reagents and are behind powerful optional bosses.
 

Zanzoken

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
3,559
Yeah I am not afraid to admit that I am not interested in mods that are punishingly difficult just for the sake of it. Especially in an action RPG of all things.
However I will acknowledge that my previous posts were a little butthurt. :M
 

curds

Magister
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
1,098
Yeah I am not afraid to admit that I am not interested in mods that are punishingly difficult just for the sake of it. Especially in an action RPG of all things.
However I will acknowledge that my previous posts were a little butthurt. :M
Challenge is good, but absurd difficulty for its own sake (as is that case in that mod) is retarded.
 
Joined
Dec 12, 2020
Messages
269
I played Returning 2 for about 4 hours and then I had to quit. Not because it's hard but because it kinda sucks. Maybe there's a good game in there but if the first few hours is anything to go by then boy oh boy. First of all it completely fucks up the whole world design and it's consistency. You know, the thing gothic is best at.
I remember arriving to Lobart's farm and doing the pan quest. In the original, Canthar is sitting on the bench near the road to the city but in R2 he's RIGHT THERE at the farm. You can even catch him sitting in Lobart's chair. Why the fuck would Lobart's wife need me to buy her the pan from him?
Then I get to the city. I get there via the harbor. In G2Vanilla you get additional XP and praise from Lares. In Returning 2 neither.
Then I find out you can't just talk to the masters to become an apprentice. Since you're new in town they won't talk to you. Doesn't make sense. These guys have a store. Why would they alienate potential customers. On top of that, If you want to talk to them you first need to gain respect of the harbor district. Why? Why would the masters care about what the harbor district thinks? The city of Khorinis is stratified and the harbor is a place where the lowest of the low congregate. If anything having a good reputation there should be pretty sus.
The mod adds a lot of quest just for the sake of it. It makes the world feel bloated and mmo-ish.
Then there is this texture pack that adds a lot of vegetation. While it looks cool it sits on top of the old textures and often hides what's underneath. Right at the beginning of the game I go to the pond near Xardas' tower since I know there's bow and a few magic scrolls. Without any mods it's not difficult to notice the loot but with the mod textures on you can't see shit. If I didn't know it's there I wouldn't notice it. There are many such cases and it completely ruins exploration.
I've also read that the game brings back the last dungeon from G1 where you go to retreive Uriziel. Why would you torture the player by bringing back the worst g1 had to offer? The final part of G1 is an absolute shitshow just because of how tedious it is.
I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff in there and I've heard it adds some insane amout of content into the game, but I just couldn't be arsed.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
I only played Gothic 1 for the first time around 6 or 7 years ago, and whilst I enjoyed it to some degree, I found it too buggy & clunky to finish. Gothic 2 however was much more enjoyable, so if you're thriving on the first game now, you're in for a real treat when you move on to the sequel.

Also, despite what the haters say, give Risen 2 a try. It's not for everyone, but it's got excellent humour, great characters, and a lush vibe. Yeah it's got it's flaws, but so have all these PB games, and for me it's got some of the best dialogue & music out the entire series. Definitely worth trying at least, I thrive on it.
 

Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
11,955
Location
Russia
NOTR is already punishing enough to the point of breaking game world logic. And because backpedaling is invul frames and generally lacking AI when it comes to terrain features cranking up enemy stats doesn't make game any better. The most interesting part of the game is using various practical means of defeating challenges while being a hobo, not chipping enemy for 5 damage. From leading enemies into other enemies, to spell combos, sleep and oblivion, transformations and speed potions, searching for terrain to make an attack, making enemies run past you as you attack them in the back, and creating friendships with NPCs and going into evil forest together, all combined with carefully crafted level design, is the best part of PB games. PB can't for shit create variability in actual math of character because character building is primitive af but games have this practical design where you can draw from all other options in the world to create yourself some fun. Fight, shoot, climb, swim, create skeleton on skeleton battle miniatures, destroy undead, beat up people for xp and valuables, and then oblivion them and rob more, it's all good fun. Much better than [you need skill be X to do this] dialogue option.

Two things lately that rubbed me wrong way. First is oddly too many enemies set up in packs. Don't remember Gothic 1 doing it as often. Or maybe again age made me forget? Not that I don't believe some enemies should't operate in packs, and occasionally player is supposed to lure enemies 1 by 1, but what I mean is, it is surprisingly rare to find these enemies NOT in packs, sometimes even in ~5 enemies or so. I can't remember finding 1-2 wargs, but I do remember finding multiple packs overlapping so you can face up to 5-6 of them, which makes little sense in a game where with melee you can still only fight 1. There just doesn't seem that many "solitary enemy to train on and then face many of them later" or "one wounded bandit you can deal with, to face two of them later", there is suprisingly many groups of enemies, 5-6 lizards, 3-5-6 field raiders, etc. This positioning of enemies in tight clusters makes fighting them very repetetive.

One other odd example of world building gone wrong to me is a cave of shadowbeast right near Khorinis. The cave seems to obviously create tension and fear, as you find bunch of goblins inside around fire, a locked door with skulls and blood and a very horrifying sounds and music. Ooh, much tension, what's behind the door? This is where Gothic always ruled supreme, at moments like that.
Well, problem is, there is a shadowbeast right outside the cave (and like 5 wargs). Was it always like it? Is it a NOTR extra spawn or maybe it happened midchapters (I think I was in CH 1 still and it was there). IDK, but the area design is ruined because well, what can be behind door, guarded by goblins, near cave with shadowbeast... which didn't eat them for some reason... another shadowbeast. Meh.

I always felt G1 did more with less. But that's *feels*.

What other thoughts I had as I am closing to level 20 going through map again after joining Guard... you can't sell yourself into the Monastery while transformed into sheep! That, that would make Chapter 1 Hobo The Game a 10/10 for me. This imperfection just ruins whole experience for me! :shitposting:

You know what I like? The simple ancient blocky graphics, which allow you to easily know where you can climb, climb almost anywhere, and enemies climb after you or even trying to jump and get you. It's like Tomb Raider 1, but RPG. Without loading screens too. In fact, RPGs could use more of that kind of thing, and generally tight controls where you could know where and how you want to go. Instead we have "press X in this space to go here" now. Bleh. Simplicity married to a bit of restrictions of what character can do is where it's all at.
 
Last edited:

Sjukob

Arcane
Joined
Jul 3, 2015
Messages
2,052
I played Returning 2 for about 4 hours and then I had to quit. Not because it's hard but because it kinda sucks. Maybe there's a good game in there but if the first few hours is anything to go by then boy oh boy. First of all it completely fucks up the whole world design and it's consistency. You know, the thing gothic is best at.
I remember arriving to Lobart's farm and doing the pan quest. In the original, Canthar is sitting on the bench near the road to the city but in R2 he's RIGHT THERE at the farm. You can even catch him sitting in Lobart's chair. Why the fuck would Lobart's wife need me to buy her the pan from him?
Then I get to the city. I get there via the harbor. In G2Vanilla you get additional XP and praise from Lares. In Returning 2 neither.
Then I find out you can't just talk to the masters to become an apprentice. Since you're new in town they won't talk to you. Doesn't make sense. These guys have a store. Why would they alienate potential customers. On top of that, If you want to talk to them you first need to gain respect of the harbor district. Why? Why would the masters care about what the harbor district thinks? The city of Khorinis is stratified and the harbor is a place where the lowest of the low congregate. If anything having a good reputation there should be pretty sus.
The mod adds a lot of quest just for the sake of it. It makes the world feel bloated and mmo-ish.
Then there is this texture pack that adds a lot of vegetation. While it looks cool it sits on top of the old textures and often hides what's underneath. Right at the beginning of the game I go to the pond near Xardas' tower since I know there's bow and a few magic scrolls. Without any mods it's not difficult to notice the loot but with the mod textures on you can't see shit. If I didn't know it's there I wouldn't notice it. There are many such cases and it completely ruins exploration.
I've also read that the game brings back the last dungeon from G1 where you go to retreive Uriziel. Why would you torture the player by bringing back the worst g1 had to offer? The final part of G1 is an absolute shitshow just because of how tedious it is.
I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff in there and I've heard it adds some insane amout of content into the game, but I just couldn't be arsed.
Oh, so you haven't got to the valley of mines, it sure is fun a location in returning mod. What the authors did is that they expanded it in size (it's almost as big as it was in Gothic I) and added more monsters, a lot more monsters. I think the number of enemies on the location was increased by 10 times at least, the massive orc blob near old camp keep is a sight to behold. As for navigation you can't walk 10 steps without fighting either a group of orcs, dragon snappers or worgs, I'm not even exaggerating it's literally like this, and dragon snappers have something like 3x stats compared to NoTR and they come at you in packs of 4 and beyond. And 95% of the location is like this, there are almost no safe routes on the entire map, valley of mines isn't unique in this regard there are many such locations in returning mod. This mod in general is one of the worst slogs I've ever seen in a video game. I've played it to the last chapter, don't ask me why, I don't know myself. Guess I'm just desperate for anything that resembles Gothic.
 

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