Gothic Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos mod for Gothic 2

[Jasede]

I can't comment on that because my character isn't using magic!

 

[JarlFrank]

Hello friends.

I had such a wonderful time with CoM and asked many people on the CoM Discord what they'd recommend next. They recommended the Skyrim mod Enderal. I was doubtful but-

It's really nice. The world is mysterious and beautiful. There's no level scaling at all. The world is full of hand-placed useful loot and secrets. Basically it's like a Gothic game in the Skyrim engine. It's challenging, too. The quests also feel like CoM with different outcomes here and there.

I just wanted to recommend it in case you haven't tried it. It's fun and a great game to play after CoM.

I'm only recommending it here because being the Codex we are right to be suspicious about anything in the Skyrim engine. But Enderal is great despite that handicap. Give it a try!

Enderal has been enjoyed by Codexers for a while now. The overall consensus is that it's good.
Fun fact: I bought Skyrim on Steam just to play Enderal when it came out. I didn't buy Skyrim for Skyrim... only for Enderal. On a second hand key reseller website.
All the hours I got in Skyrim on Steam were spent with Enderal (back before it received a standalone release).

 

[Jasede]

It actually is getting better the more I play it. The multiple outcomes, the many purely optional places, the fact you can find **useful** loot everywhere...

It really is the CoM of Skyrim.

Also I'm a sucker for depression and literally every song in Enderal is telling me the world is going to end and there's nothing I can do about it. I love that kind of atmosphere.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Also I'm a sucker for depression

Oh, boy, I hope this means you will enjoy the ending of Enderal mod. Also CoM's devs enjoyment of Enderal explains why Marvin's ending "no matter what you do, we can't let you have happy ending" kind of bad.
Personally, Enderal was ok for me, but the ending kinda sucked and this killed my desire to replay the mod. And build up to ending was a bit nonsensical too.

 

[Tweed]

The secret ending is actually kind of happy and very damn clever.

 

[catfood]

I have already played 4 hours of this and I really, really like it. I think I fell in love with RPGs again thanks to this game. I have a few questions though.

I don't want to play as a boring fighter so is an archer build viable? Also if I go the archery route, should I also invest in 1h for dex based melee weapons. As I understand it there are some 2h dex based weapons too such as spears. Are they good?

How much should I invest in secondary skills? I definitely want to get hunting and lockpicking skills since those are always useful, but what about stuff like mining? Is that any good? Should I also consider putting points in alchemy? I guess I could spare a few points, but I don't know how much useful stuff I can craft at low levels of skill, seeing as how health and mana potions were usually very plentiful in Gothic.

 

[Alphons]

is an archer build viable

Yes.

As I understand it there are some 2h dex based weapons too such as spears. Are they good?

Used 2h Strength weapons, but a lot of Dex ones give a huge bonus to your 2h skill (from +5 to +15). They generally have similar damage, but found a few that were much better than whatever Strength weapon I had at a moment.

How much should I invest in secondary skills? I definitely want to get hunting and lockpicking skills since those are always useful, but what about stuff like mining? Is that any good? Should I also consider putting points in alchemy? I guess I could spare a few points, but I don't know how much useful stuff I can craft at low levels of skill, seeing as how health and mana potions were usually very plentiful in Gothic.

I got max levels in smithing, alchemy, lockpick (doesn't cost SPs), pickpocket and all hunting skills and had plenty SPs to spare.

Mining lessons only cost gold (no SPs) and can be raised without teachers by cutting fallen trees with an axe and mining. Guy in Silbach can teach you a few levels, another teacher is a shipyard owner in Archolos. The max teacher is in Araxos mine, but he takes gold nuggets which have much better use.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

start up game
hear polish voices
close game, leave negative review

add a warning next time ffs

 

[Beowulf]

start up game
hear polish voices
close game, leave negative review

add a warning next time ffs

Don't you have to install polish voice over separately?

 

[cretin]

start up game
hear polish voices
close game, leave negative review

add a warning next time ffs

Don't you have to install polish voice over separately?

You do, but without it there's no voice acting at all. They haven't recorded English VAs yet AFAIK.

 

[Alphons]

russian_shackleford literally helping Putin

 

[catfood]

start up game
hear polish voices
close game, leave negative review

add a warning next time ffs

Deleting the polish voicework was the first thing that I did. Playing it with no voiceover is a bit weird for a Gothic game but it's unfortunately the only way.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

I preferred the Polish voiceovers for two reasons: it adds to the atmosphere, like watching a foreign movie in subtitles. More importantly, without them, there is an unskippable pause every time you initiate dialogue as the game waits for the 'hey you'. Give the potatoes their due. This game is better than Elex 2.

edit: unskippable

 

[Jasede]

The voice work is incredibly good, better than most AAA voice actors or on par. What's the problem?

 

[catfood]

The problem is that polish is an ugly language.

 

[covr]

The problem is that polish is an ugly language.

Yes, it is.

A teraz spierdalaj kurwo jebana.

 

[Jasede]

I'm not going to lie and pretend Polish sounded amazing to me at the start. But the more I played the more I got used to it. It feels like a truly suitable language for a Gothic game, and suits the mood perfectly: a little pessimistic, a little rough around the edges, but a great friend in times of need and an even better drinking buddy.

Once you play for a while you'll be shouting "cholera", "spadaj" and "moie gɫowa" with the game and enjoy the way the sound of the language matches the theme of the game.

 

[agris]

They haven't recorded English VAs yet AFAIK.

And to be 100% clear, they won't. Don't expect any other VA than what's already there.

 

[Tacgnol]

Any other VA would be god awful anyway. They managed to hire some professionals for the polish VA, I highly doubt they'd get anything but modders with awful mics if they tried to do VA for other languages.

 

[Riddler]

The problem is that polish is an ugly language.

It matches the ugly in game characters though.

 

[JarlFrank]

The voice work is incredibly good, better than most AAA voice actors or on par. What's the problem?

The problem is that Americans get an aneurysm whenever they hear a language other than English or Mexican spoken for an extended period of time.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The voice work is incredibly good, better than most AAA voice actors or on par. What's the problem?

The problem is that Americans get an aneurysm whenever they hear a language other than American or Mexican spoken for an extended period of time.

Amended for augmented accuracy

 

[Tweed]

Any other VA would be god awful anyway. They managed to hire some professionals for the polish VA, I highly doubt they'd get anything but modders with awful mics if they tried to do VA for other languages.

These days every twit with a microphone is hiring out as a VA. Just stick VA in your Youtube or Twitter and presto!

 

[Jinn]

Imagine quitting an amazing game because it has good voice acting in a foreign language. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

I had three choices for voice over in mod:
1) play with polish voices
2) play with Scot Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag (1899) in background and gray/brown filter fitting to silent movies, also monocles on every character
3) Not playing mod

I have chosen Polish voice over, because there no mod on monocles and brown filter otherwise experience would be jarring. I have nothing against voice over in language which I don't understand as long as there subtitles ( I also mostly prefer play games with voice over in native language of devs with english subtitles, to prevent a "bad dub" situation) and Polish isn't ugly language, in fact it's softer than my own language. If our idiot rulers didn't attempted germanisation of our language (I have nothing against German language, just attempts were stupid) several times - my language would be much softer and more elegant.