Gothic Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos mod for Gothic 2

[thesecret1]

Curio skins: save or sell?

Just sell them. There might rarely come up a recipe that asks for them, but you can always just buy that shit back if it comes down to it

 

[Outlander]

Well, shit.

Hey there!

I already posted it to our discord but why not here as well.

We as a mod team rarely ever do this sort of thing, but I think this warrants an exception. Plenty of you are enjoying Archolos at the moment, and, well, this might be worthy of your attention. It has come to my notice that one of the people working on the modification experienced a personal tragedy: Nikola Bieniewska-Rusak, one of the voice actresses for Archolos, lost her house due to a housefire.

I am enclosing the fundraiser link at the end of this message, and all I ask is that you consider helping out. Even just sharing the story further helps. The fundraiser page is in Polish, and if that isn't your native language, I suggest you use DeepL, it translates really well.

Fundraiser link: https://pomagam.pl/en/wojtowopozardomu

Thank you for donating or sharing the story further. Have a great day.

 

[Zariusz]

Interesting, i thought that this was just spooky sound effect but apparently its a real npc.

 

[agris]

wait - how do you make items selected in the inventory appear large and in the center of the screen?

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Just sell them. There might rarely come up a recipe that asks for them, but you can always just buy that shit back if it comes down to it

Someone in Wolf camp collects wolf skins (one of each sort), and the winter and desert varieties count as curios.

 

[Tygrende]

Some madman is doing an unarmed build using those rings that quadruple STR if you wear two of them and have no weapon equipped. Both can be gotten pretty early still in chapter 1. Looks like a a fun challenge, might try on 2nd run.

 

[Justicar]

 

[agris]

Some madman is doing an unarmed build using those rings that quadruple STR if you wear two of them and have no weapon equipped.

Level 30, chapter 2.

My people

 

[Mauman]

Some madman is doing an unarmed build using those rings that quadruple STR if you wear two of them and have no weapon equipped. Both can be gotten pretty early still in chapter 1. Looks like a a fun challenge, might try on 2nd run.

Can unarmed even crit in the gothic 1/2 engine? Even with 800+ strength I'd imagine it'd get really bad if only because of the God awful damage formula that non-crits use.

 

[Tygrende]

Some madman is doing an unarmed build using those rings that quadruple STR if you wear two of them and have no weapon equipped. Both can be gotten pretty early still in chapter 1. Looks like a a fun challenge, might try on 2nd run.

Can unarmed even crit in the gothic 1/2 engine? Even with 800+ strength I'd imagine it'd get really bad if only because of the God awful damage formula that non-crits use.

Cannot crit at all, he would be doing about 74 damage per hit. Which is the same as critting with a 35 damage weapon and 39 STR to put things in perspective. Basically you would be doing low level crits all the time. But you also save tons of LPs on not having to bother with weapon skill and crafting weapons which you can invest in STR.

 

[HoboForEternity]

what are the meta references in the game? like obviously the protagonist's name and dark mysteries brothel (as of whether why dark mysteries is a brothel, there might be some inside jokes or jabs between modding team, etc)

 

[Konjad]

Some madman is doing an unarmed build using those rings that quadruple STR if you wear two of them and have no weapon equipped. Both can be gotten pretty early still in chapter 1. Looks like a a fun challenge, might try on 2nd run.

Can unarmed even crit in the gothic 1/2 engine? Even with 800+ strength I'd imagine it'd get really bad if only because of the God awful damage formula that non-crits use.

Cannot crit at all, he would be doing about 74 damage per hit. Which is the same as critting with a 35 damage weapon and 39 STR to put things in perspective. Basically you would be doing low level crits all the time. But you also save tons of LPs on not having to bother with weapon skill and crafting weapons which you can invest in STR.

The only issue with this build I see is weapon reach. Everything will hit you before you'll get to hit it.

 

[Tygrende]

Some madman is doing an unarmed build using those rings that quadruple STR if you wear two of them and have no weapon equipped. Both can be gotten pretty early still in chapter 1. Looks like a a fun challenge, might try on 2nd run.

Can unarmed even crit in the gothic 1/2 engine? Even with 800+ strength I'd imagine it'd get really bad if only because of the God awful damage formula that non-crits use.

Cannot crit at all, he would be doing about 74 damage per hit. Which is the same as critting with a 35 damage weapon and 39 STR to put things in perspective. Basically you would be doing low level crits all the time. But you also save tons of LPs on not having to bother with weapon skill and crafting weapons which you can invest in STR.

The only issue with this build I see is weapon reach. Everything will hit you before you'll get to hit it.

It might be harder to not get hit but should be mostly possible, I tried a bit over the years. Both the dodge and attack animations with fists are quick, it's like using short 1h but faster.

 

[Marat]

what are the meta references in the game? like obviously the protagonist's name and dark mysteries brothel (as of whether why dark mysteries is a brothel, there might be some inside jokes or jabs between modding team, etc)

There is too many to count. Every place of business in Archolos is named after one Gothic mod or another, not just the brothel.

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

This mod has 98% positive ranking on Steam, but reading the 2% negative ones is quite hilarious, here are some of the better ones:

Gothic is a methaphor for Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and the protagonist should be a hero with important task. The gameplay shouldn't be like original Gothics either. Moreover, this game is like poor free healthcare:

If someone thinks that the first Gothic (or any decent RPG really) is about simulating the experience of some low-life peasant, who is running errands and collecting crops, then I must disappoint you. The penal colony was just a metaphor of the human's mind, which penalized every negative thought and threw it away, but they did not perish, they are still hidden somewhere deep and together they have power to take control and shake the body - a whole Myrthana. But it can be also interpreted in Dostoyevsky's style about the nature of crime and human's struggle to deal with it's consequences. From the very beginning, protagonist should have an important task to do and some quirks (e.g. no name, which is also symbolic) and as a result the player is focused on the objective and is aware of the world, because he has feeling that he is taking part in something important, so remembering names and doing simple quests, served as an obstacle or challenge, is not a problem. In this game, however, there is no such thing. The story starts slow, there is no hook, no reason to take interest in the Marvin at all. Anything worth considering starts in chapter 2. Before that we are given control of an NPC without any personality, even as simple as Jungian archetype. The whole idea of "from zero to hero" or "road to glory" alone is not enough to compose meaningful protagonist. Quests do not support the narrative side of the game either, due to frustrating manner of not letting the player to ask an NPC directly about the details of the character or location, which causes players to be torn out of the gameplay flow by wondering around aimlessly, which artificially prolongs the playtime. Without a clear, high-end goal serving as a guidepost, every quest becomes merely a meaningless distraction. The moment I lost all my hope was when Marvin's uncle (such dynamic character that I don't remember his name) visited him in the city, ordered to retrieve his money from the vineyard while sitting in the tavern. And after doing that he did not share the money with the player (or gave very little). That's a common example of lazy quest design. Throughout the two chapters Marvin did not change at all. He might get better skills, equipment, he will probably save the island or be famous and the end, but he will still be an empty shell, bunch of pixels and lines of code.

It is worth to talk about number of available factions in original Gothic - 3, which has a special meaning in every religion, because it is considered a perfectly balanced, divine number. Every faction in Gothic represented separate part of human's consciousness. I am talking about Freud's id, ego and superego. For example the camp on swamps represents id - hidden, primitive, unconscious part of our psyche, which hungers for simple pleasures and hedonistic life, but also can turn into dangerous den controlled by terrible monster created by our fears. Gothic 2 also has the factions' triad, but with a little differrent approach. That's the reason these two games reacted even with the unaware, child's mind, because they took holistic, universal approach to human's nature and I absolutely admire them. Unfortunately this is something that people tend to overlook when investigating why Gothic 3, Arcania or other similar games cannot charm them like these two. And this romantic impulse to grab people's nostalgia, called Archolos, simply does not deliver it at all, by introducing only two reprinted factions from Gothic 2 to join in one place, which breaks the illusion of living, dynamic and open world.

Combat system, which I loved in original Gothic, after all this years became stiff, unresponsive and frustrating. I really hoped that it will be polished to match up the modern standard, like it was achieved with advanced cooking and alchemyy. I don't really mind the current controls mapping, but movement flow, animations, aiming and enemy toggle are not even close to being pleasurable. To sum things up, I seriously though that games were better when I was a kid and tend to idealize them, but now I understand that I was just missing the feeling from that happy, naive part of my life.

I never expected such indignation in the comments about random low-quality opinion I have committed. Reading objections really made me think about it, so I reevaluated the title properly to cut all the unnecessary hussle. Unfortunately my negative opinion still stays as it was before. And saying I cannot judge something because it's free and made with passion has as much sense as saying that I cannot tell anything bad about free samples of food in the mall, despite tasting awful or anything bad about free healthcare in my country, despite it being in extremely poor condition. When you decide to publish any product, you have to be prepared for various opinions and take responsibility of its flaws. And I don't intend to disregard the dev's hard work. I just share my honest and objective opinion to help them be better creators in the future. I will not mention the swarm of bugs, graphics, performance issues and voice acting since it would be unfair, but I will focus more the design and artistic approach instead

I also read through the negative reviews a few days ago and this word salad stood out. It gave me some heavy Desiderius vibes.

 

[Zariusz]

This mod has 98% positive ranking on Steam, but reading the 2% negative ones is quite hilarious, here are some of the better ones:

Gothic is a methaphor for Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and the protagonist should be a hero with important task. The gameplay shouldn't be like original Gothics either. Moreover, this game is like poor free healthcare:

If someone thinks that the first Gothic (or any decent RPG really) is about simulating the experience of some low-life peasant, who is running errands and collecting crops, then I must disappoint you. The penal colony was just a metaphor of the human's mind, which penalized every negative thought and threw it away, but they did not perish, they are still hidden somewhere deep and together they have power to take control and shake the body - a whole Myrthana. But it can be also interpreted in Dostoyevsky's style about the nature of crime and human's struggle to deal with it's consequences. From the very beginning, protagonist should have an important task to do and some quirks (e.g. no name, which is also symbolic) and as a result the player is focused on the objective and is aware of the world, because he has feeling that he is taking part in something important, so remembering names and doing simple quests, served as an obstacle or challenge, is not a problem. In this game, however, there is no such thing. The story starts slow, there is no hook, no reason to take interest in the Marvin at all. Anything worth considering starts in chapter 2. Before that we are given control of an NPC without any personality, even as simple as Jungian archetype. The whole idea of "from zero to hero" or "road to glory" alone is not enough to compose meaningful protagonist. Quests do not support the narrative side of the game either, due to frustrating manner of not letting the player to ask an NPC directly about the details of the character or location, which causes players to be torn out of the gameplay flow by wondering around aimlessly, which artificially prolongs the playtime. Without a clear, high-end goal serving as a guidepost, every quest becomes merely a meaningless distraction. The moment I lost all my hope was when Marvin's uncle (such dynamic character that I don't remember his name) visited him in the city, ordered to retrieve his money from the vineyard while sitting in the tavern. And after doing that he did not share the money with the player (or gave very little). That's a common example of lazy quest design. Throughout the two chapters Marvin did not change at all. He might get better skills, equipment, he will probably save the island or be famous and the end, but he will still be an empty shell, bunch of pixels and lines of code.

It is worth to talk about number of available factions in original Gothic - 3, which has a special meaning in every religion, because it is considered a perfectly balanced, divine number. Every faction in Gothic represented separate part of human's consciousness. I am talking about Freud's id, ego and superego. For example the camp on swamps represents id - hidden, primitive, unconscious part of our psyche, which hungers for simple pleasures and hedonistic life, but also can turn into dangerous den controlled by terrible monster created by our fears. Gothic 2 also has the factions' triad, but with a little differrent approach. That's the reason these two games reacted even with the unaware, child's mind, because they took holistic, universal approach to human's nature and I absolutely admire them. Unfortunately this is something that people tend to overlook when investigating why Gothic 3, Arcania or other similar games cannot charm them like these two. And this romantic impulse to grab people's nostalgia, called Archolos, simply does not deliver it at all, by introducing only two reprinted factions from Gothic 2 to join in one place, which breaks the illusion of living, dynamic and open world.

Combat system, which I loved in original Gothic, after all this years became stiff, unresponsive and frustrating. I really hoped that it will be polished to match up the modern standard, like it was achieved with advanced cooking and alchemyy. I don't really mind the current controls mapping, but movement flow, animations, aiming and enemy toggle are not even close to being pleasurable. To sum things up, I seriously though that games were better when I was a kid and tend to idealize them, but now I understand that I was just missing the feeling from that happy, naive part of my life.

I never expected such indignation in the comments about random low-quality opinion I have committed. Reading objections really made me think about it, so I reevaluated the title properly to cut all the unnecessary hussle. Unfortunately my negative opinion still stays as it was before. And saying I cannot judge something because it's free and made with passion has as much sense as saying that I cannot tell anything bad about free samples of food in the mall, despite tasting awful or anything bad about free healthcare in my country, despite it being in extremely poor condition. When you decide to publish any product, you have to be prepared for various opinions and take responsibility of its flaws. And I don't intend to disregard the dev's hard work. I just share my honest and objective opinion to help them be better creators in the future. I will not mention the swarm of bugs, graphics, performance issues and voice acting since it would be unfair, but I will focus more the design and artistic approach instead

I also read through the negative reviews a few days ago and this word salad stood out. It gave me some heavy Desiderius vibes.

This looks like something that would be written by someone thinking that references to literary works and concepts will make his opinion intellectual.

 

[Tacgnol]

- Goblins are fast and I cannot hit them, wtf. Any tips on how to kill those mothefuckers during early game? Nigga Goblins from hidden cave are especially nasty, I want to kill those porch monkeys asap.

Also make sure you use the lock on function when fighting goblins, otherwise you will really struggle to hit them.

 

[Zariusz]

 

[Jaedar]

So armor is just for a direct dmg reduction? Or does enemies have to to-hit-chance rating?

All humanoid enemies (including skeletons, orcs and frogmen, but not zombies) follow the same combat rules as you do. But all other creatures and beasts always deal a set amount of damage per hit.

I feel like this is not true with regards to reach (I swear sometimes one handing enemies hit me outside the reach of my 2h weapon). Otherwise it seems they follow the same rules though.

My game has started crashing a lot on loading (and I'm bad so I frequently die when exploring new areas cus I run into a swamp golem or a warg I didn't see). Never happened early on, now it feels like it happens every 5 loads or something. Incredibly annoying.
Kinda makes me want to restart as a mage instead, now that I ""know"" where the level 1 and 2 spellbooks are.

 

[JarlFrank]

My game has started crashing a lot on loading (and I'm bad so I frequently die when exploring new areas cus I run into a swamp golem or a warg I didn't see). Never happened early on, now it feels like it happens every 5 loads or something. Incredibly annoying.
Kinda makes me want to restart as a mage instead, now that I ""know"" where the level 1 and 2 spellbooks are.

Weird, I never had that issue despite my PC showing some issues while gaming lately, and I spent 110 hours on the game. Only had it crash on loading a single time in those hundred hours.

 

[covr]

25 hours in and no crash except one with furiously alt-tabbing session.

 

[Tacgnol]

25 hours in and no crash except one with furiously alt-tabbing session.

I just get around that with the borderless windowed mode.

 

[Sjukob]

I feel like this is not true with regards to reach (I swear sometimes one handing enemies hit me outside the reach of my 2h weapon).

When you attack with lunges (just pressing attack button) you advance towards your target and your hurtbox extends forward, so if you swing at the wrong time your attack will not reach the opponent, but you will open yourself and make it easier for the enemies to hit you. This applies to enemies as well.

 

[ironmask]

Can someone name all the characters from Gothic 1/2 that appear in this mod?

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

Can someone name all the characters from Gothic 1/2 that appear in this mod?

The ones I can remember: Riordian, Stone, and Bloodwyn.

There's also references to some characters that don't appear, like Xardas, Fernando, Thorben, Gritta, and Wolf.

Also, two characters from the ending:

Spoiler

Gomez, Scar

There's a character named Severin, but I doubt that's meant to be the same character that appears in Risen. Very distinct name though.