Gothic Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos mod for Gothic 2

[curds]

the guard quest where you get knocked out is the lowest point of writing so far

only way it could be bested is if you instantly die by picking the wrong dialogue choice
...oh, wait.

That was the most un-Gothic moment for me which put me off the game a little bit.

There was also a random encounter where you are mugged in an alleyway and the game only lets you knock them out. You aren't allowed to kill them with a finishing move.

I think Archolos is mostly brilliant but they ways they deviated from the Gothic formula have so far been for the worse in my opinion.

The fact that the main plot hook is searching for Marvin's brother when I, the player, really could not give a shit about him is also very un-Gothic. In Gothic 1 you have the easily relatable goal of trying to escape the colony for the most part. Gothic 2's plot is about killing dragons and escaping Khorinis; also easy to relate to. Trying to make the player care about a character so much in a genre that is really all about self-insertion is a bad move imo. Especially since Jorn is a pretty lifeless and boring character, at least by the time you begin the search for him.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't mind the game being "un-Gothic", I just think sometimes they went about it in a very bad way.
I felt zero connection to Marvin's brother. There should have been a prologue involving you leaving the city with your brother to help form a connection. Having Jorn in a protector role who gets torn away from you upon entering a new, foreign land would be more impactful imo. OTOH I find Marvin to be a much more likeable and relatable, if naive, character than GothicGuy.

I like that a lot of random encounters have follow-ups to them rather than just being one-off things.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the arena made me realize how silly gothic's damage formula is, might as well just roll random dice to decide the winners when the first person to crit wins
armor? stats? heh, did you think this was an RPG kiddo?

if you're like me and trash at this game, the pro-move is to just back-step into a corner repeatedly until the enemy hits your guard then hit them and repeat this until you win

 

[rusty_shackleford]

you can't scribe shrink monster?
gay

 

[Tacgnol]

Yeah Jorn should have had more characterisation/screen time before his disappearance.

I found Marvin a very relatable character though.

Spoiler regarding ending

Spoiler

Marvin is canonically Scar now as far as I'm concerned, Archolos being a fan production or not. It makes murdering the ore barons in Gothic 1 hit very differently.

 

[thesecret1]

Yeah Jorn should have had more characterisation/screen time before his disappearance.

I found Marvin a very relatable character though.

Spoiler regarding ending

Spoiler

Marvin is canonically Scar now as far as I'm concerned, Archolos being a fan production or not. It makes murdering the ore barons in Gothic 1 hit very differently.

I consider all of Archolos 100% canon now. After all, it's probably the best entry in the series.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I found the rat-catcher guy while I was *ahem* making sure all the buildings in Archolos were secure. I got the flute from him, and now he sits in the docks area. When I talk to him, I get the option to give him a healing potion but it does nothing. What's this about?

 

[Mauman]

I found the rat-catcher guy while I was *ahem* making sure all the buildings in Archolos were secure. I got the flute from him, and now he sits in the docks area. When I talk to him, I get the option to give him a healing potion but it does nothing. What's this about?

You can

Spoiler

go the "holy relic"/ peddler/conman nearby the temple archway in the ghetto and get a small refund

It's not very important.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I found the rat-catcher guy while I was *ahem* making sure all the buildings in Archolos were secure. I got the flute from him, and now he sits in the docks area. When I talk to him, I get the option to give him a healing potion but it does nothing. What's this about?

You can

Spoiler

go the "holy relic"/ peddler/conman nearby the temple archway in the ghetto and get a small refund

It's not very important.

Spoiler

He already closed his shop because I did the quest for the paladin.
What's the deal with the healing potions?

 

[oscar]

A few late night thoughts from someone whose never played the Gothics before:

This game rocks. Really scratches the 'zero to hero' big classic RPG thing in a really good way where you start out a scavenging wimp scared of your shadow then slowly evolve into a guy who can survive and then eventually a badass.

You can tell a lot of passion and thought went into the quests and world. Writing is great too, the world feels fantastical yet plausible too with every region having an economic rationale. You meet a few dickheads and the occasional bro but most people are just harsh-but-fair types trying to get by in a tough (but not grimdark) late medieval world. Dialogue is sparse but effective, people get to the point and don't waffle on to you about meaningless lore. The world feels like it would keep on rolling just fine with or without Marvin. The player's emotional investment is to see Marvin grow from a soft youth into a powerful figure.

Crazy how so many (well relatively speaking) big buck RPG developers get so much wrong that these guys nailed first time.

 

[Abu Antar]

oscar Now, play the first two Gothic games.

 

[thesecret1]

'zero to hero'

That's pretty much the founding block of every Gothic game. You should try the rest of them, though keep in mind that Archolos is the newest, and thus the most polished and with the most mechanics, so playing Gothic 1 for example might feel like a downgrade. Still, they're excellent games (1 and 2. 3 is meh at best. Arcania is a like a bad parody and shouldn't be played).

Crazy how so many (well relatively speaking) big buck RPG developers get so much wrong that these guys nailed first time.

Crazy how Piranha bytes, the studio that made Gothics, cannot repeat the formula despite trying for it in 2 separate game series now.

 

[Marat]

Crazy how Piranha bytes, the studio that made Gothics, cannot repeat the formula despite trying for it in 2 separate game series now.

It's not the name of the studio that makes the game, but the people that work there and the people that made the first two Gothics are long gone.

 

[thesecret1]

Crazy how Piranha bytes, the studio that made Gothics, cannot repeat the formula despite trying for it in 2 separate game series now.

It's not the name of the studio that makes the game, but the people that work there and the people that made the first two Gothics are long gone.

Yeah, but even so. A bunch of unpaid fans mod the shit out of an ancient engine and make the kind of game Piranha's been trying for for years now. It's ridiculous

 

[Tacgnol]

Crazy how Piranha bytes, the studio that made Gothics, cannot repeat the formula despite trying for it in 2 separate game series now.

It's not the name of the studio that makes the game, but the people that work there and the people that made the first two Gothics are long gone.

Yeah, but even so. A bunch of unpaid fans mod the shit out of an ancient engine and make the kind of game Piranha's been trying for for years now. It's ridiculous

The fans know the game and audience better than the husk of a studio that is modern PB.

Many such cases sadly.

Also, I don't think anyone at PB has even acknowledged Archolos? Pretty crazy considering it has won mod of the year on a few places and had articles written about it.

 

[Mikeal]

Crazy how Piranha bytes, the studio that made Gothics, cannot repeat the formula despite trying for it in 2 separate game series now.

It's not the name of the studio that makes the game, but the people that work there and the people that made the first two Gothics are long gone.

Yeah, but even so. A bunch of unpaid fans mod the shit out of an ancient engine and make the kind of game Piranha's been trying for for years now. It's ridiculous

The fans know the game and audience better than the husk of a studio that is modern PB.

Many such cases sadly.

Also, I don't think anyone at PB has even acknowledged Archolos? Pretty crazy considering it has won mod of the year on a few places and had articles written about it.

Yeah even funnier THQ acknowledged Archolos and praised it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Spoiler

In act 2 you can get to the water mage temple area, I mean the inner area. The gates are all closed though. Go up from the beach area, crawl around, go forward until you get to the first inner area with the closed gate, crawl around carefully again until you get to the graveyard, go through it, crawl around the side again to the bridge. Don't think you can do anything though.

edit

Spoiler

NVM, you can definitely get inside. When you're at the very inner building's gate, go around the right side all the way to the back and you can crawl up.

I don't know how to get out

 

[Sjukob]

Also, I don't think anyone at PB has even acknowledged Archolos? Pretty crazy considering it has won mod of the year on a few places and had articles written about it.

I guess it has something to do with their latest releases looking pathetic in comparison to a fan made game.

 

[Marat]

PB's Facebook profile follows the original project "Dzieje Khorinis", perhaps they didn't pick up on the split. On the other hand, it's hard not to notice multiple Mod of the Year awards, massive acclaim in the community and the prestigious #1 on Codex's RPG of the year 2021. I'd be embarrassed too if a bunch of amateur first-timers outdid me in something I've been doing professionally for 20 years.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

do you guys ever get the feeling you're somewhere you're not supposed to be?

Spoiler

Spoiler

Strange part is that they obviously made it climbable as a back entrance but there was a bunch of geometry missing that lets you fall down into the gated area.

 

[Jvegi]

I'd be embarrassed too if a bunch of amateur first-timers outdid me in something I've been doing professionally for 20 years.

Phew, good thing they didn't because this "game" is as amateurish as every other mod that attempts to be all uppity.

 

[Marat]

I'd be embarrassed too if a bunch of amateur first-timers outdid me in something I've been doing professionally for 20 years.

Phew, good thing they didn't because this "game" is as amateurish as every other mod that attempts to be all uppity.

 

[thesecret1]

PB's Facebook profile follows the original project "Dzieje Khorinis", perhaps they didn't pick up on the split. On the other hand, it's hard not to notice multiple Mod of the Year awards, massive acclaim in the community and the prestigious #1 on Codex's RPG of the year 2021. I'd be embarrassed too if a bunch of amateur first-timers outdid me in something I've been doing professionally for 20 years.

Not to mention it absolutely trouncing every PB release on Steam in every metric

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There's quite a few potions up in high places in the city that seemingly are impossible to get to, is there a way to knock them down or something?

 

[Marat]

There's quite a few potions up in high places in the city that seemingly are impossible to get to, is there a way to knock them down or something?

Telekinesis spell, duh.