Gothic Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos mod for Gothic 2

[notpl]

Lemme ask you a serious question. Does this mod stand up to the Gothic games? Or Risen games? Or Elex games?

Much better than the original gothic/2 in some ways, not quite as good in others. I'm not going to entertain the latter parts of the question.

 

[Ryzer]

Lemme ask you a serious question. Does this mod stand up to the Gothic games? Or Risen games? Or Elex games?

I'd say below Risen 1 from my point of view, it has a great atmosphere, good map, excellent exploration but terrible quest design, suffer from a lot of Fetch and (boring) quests, more collect-a-thon and bloat.

 

[curds]

Lemme ask you a serious question. Does this mod stand up to the Gothic games? Or Risen games? Or Elex games?

It plays more like The Witcher 3 in Gothic skin than Gothic 1/2.

It's very enjoyable on the whole, I would call it a great game, but it tries too hard be bigger and better than Gothic 2, which ends up being its downfall.

 

[Old One]

I wouldn't say it has a downfall.

 

[notpl]

I think on the whole Archolos is an unbelievable accomplishment, not simply as a mod but as a contemporary RPG in general. If it had come out in 2001 everyone on this forum would be listing it as one of their top 10 open-world games of all time, and the nitpicks about (some) quests not having enough reactivity when most games have none whatsoever, or various other little criticisms only emphasize what an incredible success the rest of the project is. A total must-play for any RPG fan.

 

[Jvegi]

Lemme ask you a serious question. Does this mod stand up to the Gothic games? Or Risen games? Or Elex games?

It doesn't stand up, it falls on its ass.

significantly better than both g*thic games

Your opinions are funny.

 

[Ryzer]

I think on the whole Archolos is an unbelievable accomplishment, not simply as a mod but as a contemporary RPG in general. If it had come out in 2001 everyone on this forum would be listing it as one of their top 10 open-world games of all time, and the nitpicks about (some) quests not having enough reactivity when most games have none whatsoever, or various other little criticisms only emphasize what an incredible success the rest of the project is. A total must-play for any RPG fan.

It's not that they don't have enough reactivity, they just don't have reactivity at all and it's not (some) quests but a vast number of side quests.
You're overselling it, games like Witcher 1 have by FAR much better reactivity than this mod.
That said, it is quite a good achievement for a team of modders but they really need to improve their quest design and writing.

 

[Marat]

 

[Darth Roxor]

The more I play, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that this game is actually not very good :/

Right now I'm just forcing myself to progress and I wonder if I shouldn't straight up ignore the banal side quests and beeline for the main quest and to the end or something.

 

[Jasede]

I mean, there's a notable point 40-60 hours in where it runs out of steam but that happened in Elex and Gothic 2 for me as well so that's true to form.

Gothic 1 was short enough that it never hit that point.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I mean, there's a notable point 40-60 hours in where it runs out of steam but that happened in Elex and Gothic 2 for me as well so that's true to form.

To me it's been progressively running out of steam ever since I entered Archolos city proper. At this point side quests make me groan because they are all the same, all banal, and many of them annoying - especially the ones in the city, since the majority of them involve running around in circles through the whole fucking city. And don't even get me started on the ones where you have to follow an NPC somewhere. Or on that shitty fucking guild quest where you have to follow WALKING NPCS THREE TIMES BACK AND FORTH FROM THE HARBOUR TO A RANDOM HOUSE IN THE SLUMS.

WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA

Also I swear every two-bit NPC here has IDDQD and it bothers the fuck out of me. Just as much as the cutscene deaths. And the omnipresent "this can't be opened" closed doors that in some cases have no reason to be there either - like the door to Helga's basement which had to be 100% superlocked because at some point a guy spawns there as part of a shitty sidequest to tell you something. WUT.

I enjoyed lawnmowing the world, but everything else about this is just not good. Now that I've lawnmowed everything there is, there's simply nothing of interest left for me to do. This was NEVER the case in Gothic, particularly since Gothic was much better at soft-gating your progress by locking certain ability and armour tiers by chapter - meanwhile here you can become a master alchemist and pump up your main stat to 150 already in chapter 1, while getting the heavy leather armour from the guy at the fishing village (also chapter 1) sets you up for life.

 

[Jvegi]

Making good games is not as easy as modders think.

 

[Ryzer]

I mean, there's a notable point 40-60 hours in where it runs out of steam but that happened in Elex and Gothic 2 for me as well so that's true to form.

To me it's been progressively running out of steam ever since I entered Archolos city proper. At this point side quests make me groan because they are all the same, all banal, and many of them annoying - especially the ones in the city, since the majority of them involve running around in circles through the whole fucking city. And don't even get me started on the ones where you have to follow an NPC somewhere. Or on that shitty fucking guild quest where you have to follow WALKING NPCS THREE TIMES BACK AND FORTH FROM THE HARBOUR TO A RANDOM HOUSE IN THE SLUMS.

WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA

Also I swear every two-bit NPC here has IDDQD and it bothers the fuck out of me. Just as much as the cutscene deaths. And the omnipresent "this can't be opened" closed doors that in some cases have no reason to be there either - like the door to Helga's basement which had to be 100% superlocked because at some point a guy spawns there as part of a shitty sidequest to tell you something. WUT.

I enjoyed lawnmowing the world, but everything else about this is just not good. Now that I've lawnmowed everything there is, there's simply nothing of interest left for me to do. This was NEVER the case in Gothic, particularly since Gothic was much better at soft-gating your progress by locking certain ability and armour tiers by chapter - meanwhile here you can become a master alchemist and pump up your main stat to 150 already in chapter 1, while getting the heavy leather armour from the guy at the fishing village (also chapter 1) sets you up for life.

Personally I dropped at chapter 3 or 4 when I was at the swamp, I suffered completing the side quests from the last previous chapters but I had enough when I realized I had to endure it again for 2 more chapters and dropped it. I re-tried it again a few months ago and I dropped before chapter 2, this game is a bore, it tries out to overreach Gothic and fail.
I like the exploration, the world, the way it feels like Gothic but I don't like everything else.
I even think the side quests are worse than Gothic 3 because at least in Gothic 3 they influence the reputation meter, here completing a quest does nothing.

 

[agris]

I mean, there's a notable point 40-60 hours in where it runs out of steam but that happened in Elex and Gothic 2 for me as well so that's true to form.

To me it's been progressively running out of steam ever since I entered Archolos city proper. At this point side quests make me groan because they are all the same, all banal, and many of them annoying - especially the ones in the city, since the majority of them involve running around in circles through the whole fucking city. And don't even get me started on the ones where you have to follow an NPC somewhere. Or on that shitty fucking guild quest where you have to follow WALKING NPCS THREE TIMES BACK AND FORTH FROM THE HARBOUR TO A RANDOM HOUSE IN THE SLUMS.

WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA

Also I swear every two-bit NPC here has IDDQD and it bothers the fuck out of me. Just as much as the cutscene deaths. And the omnipresent "this can't be opened" closed doors that in some cases have no reason to be there either - like the door to Helga's basement which had to be 100% superlocked because at some point a guy spawns there as part of a shitty sidequest to tell you something. WUT.

I enjoyed lawnmowing the world, but everything else about this is just not good. Now that I've lawnmowed everything there is, there's simply nothing of interest left for me to do. This was NEVER the case in Gothic, particularly since Gothic was much better at soft-gating your progress by locking certain ability and armour tiers by chapter - meanwhile here you can become a master alchemist and pump up your main stat to 150 already in chapter 1, while getting the heavy leather armour from the guy at the fishing village (also chapter 1) sets you up for life.

Have you played G1 or G2 recently? I wonder if they would hold up to 2022 you vs whenever you played them last.

This also could be true for me in reverse, it’s been so long since I played G1/2 (G1 maaaaaybe as recently as 2016), that the shortfalls of Archololos are less obvious by way of comparison, because my memory of the originals isn’t sharp.

I do think that in the landscape of games released over the past 5 or so years, even an amateur execution of a true Gothic-like is notable and appreciated.

 

[Jvegi]

I'm always right and you'll all admit it eventually.

 

[notpl]

I replay the originals at least once a year and the writing and quest design are just as dull now as they were when I was 11, Archolos improved it immeasurably. The beast hunt, the gold mine or the vineyard dispute put anything in the original games to shame. Even just the quest where the landowner asks you to hang out with his shithead son is an improvement on the whole Mud concept, turning what could have been an annoying "hey, remember this?" into a funny and memorable high point.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm always right and you'll all admit it eventually.

Lmao just because you made the levels for one ultima remake.

 

[Darth Roxor]

the vineyard dispute put anything in the original games to shame

'NO ONE CAN MAKE PEACE BETWEEN THE FURIOUS BROS, DON'T EVEN TRY CUZ YOU'LL FAIL IT'S SUCH A KOMPLEX FEUD'

'Hey bros here's a counterfeit document, mebbe make peace now k?'

'Sure dude thx for solving our komplex feud'

10/10 would experience again

Have you played G1 or G2 recently? I wonder if they would hold up to 2022 you vs whenever you played them last.

In fact the last time I played Gojik 2 was also in 2016. I count that as recently enough.

 

[notpl]

The vineyard dispute is much more fun if you pick the elder brother and see it through, I agree. Glad the creators gave us so many choices. It's good that using the fake deed to defuse the situation gives the player the smallest reward, though.

 

[Morenatsu.]

I mean, there's a notable point 40-60 hours in where it runs out of steam but that happened in Elex and Gothic 2 for me as well so that's true to form.

Gothic 1 was short enough that it never hit that point.

I'm not German, so maybe I didn't get to play the same game as you, but Gothic 1 was very much falling apart by the end. Or are you just speedrunning the game or something?

I mean, there's a notable point 40-60 hours in where it runs out of steam but that happened in Elex and Gothic 2 for me as well so that's true to form.

To me it's been progressively running out of steam ever since I entered Archolos city proper. At this point side quests make me groan because they are all the same, all banal, and many of them annoying - especially the ones in the city, since the majority of them involve running around in circles through the whole fucking city. And don't even get me started on the ones where you have to follow an NPC somewhere. Or on that shitty fucking guild quest where you have to follow WALKING NPCS THREE TIMES BACK AND FORTH FROM THE HARBOUR TO A RANDOM HOUSE IN THE SLUMS.

WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA

Also I swear every two-bit NPC here has IDDQD and it bothers the fuck out of me. Just as much as the cutscene deaths. And the omnipresent "this can't be opened" closed doors that in some cases have no reason to be there either - like the door to Helga's basement which had to be 100% superlocked because at some point a guy spawns there as part of a shitty sidequest to tell you something. WUT.

I enjoyed lawnmowing the world, but everything else about this is just not good. Now that I've lawnmowed everything there is, there's simply nothing of interest left for me to do. This was NEVER the case in Gothic, particularly since Gothic was much better at soft-gating your progress by locking certain ability and armour tiers by chapter - meanwhile here you can become a master alchemist and pump up your main stat to 150 already in chapter 1, while getting the heavy leather armour from the guy at the fishing village (also chapter 1) sets you up for life.

sounds just like what i'd expect from any mod made in the past decade. never trust a modder

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

The optimal way to play Piranha bytes games is to always skip the endgame. It just means this mod is faithful to the source material.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The optimal way to play Piranha bytes games is to always skip the endgame. It just means this mod is faithful to the source material.

You only say that becaude if you finished 2 it'd be the end of the Inhabitants of Khorinis.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I played g1->g2->archolos back to back and archolos was easily better than g1 or g2, not even close

 

[sosmoflux]

Yeah seriously what the fuck are you on about. You don't have to autisically "lawnmower" the map in chapter 1...nor do you have to autisically do every single side quest, some of which are just there to give you easy cash and build immersion.

Also, those early quests in town are there to give you some bearings and organically teach you the space. The town is wickedly complex before you get a map so it's actually welcome.

Mod of the decade easily.

 

[Morenatsu.]

Yeah seriously what the fuck are you on about. You don't have to autisically "lawnmower" the map in chapter 1...nor do you have to autisically do every single side quest, some of which are just there to give you easy cash and build immersion.

what are you, some kind of casual? lmao @ not 101%ing every game smh