Gothic Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos mod for Gothic 2

[notpl]

The only writing I felt was out of place was the excessively verbose main character. Him waxing poetic about his lot in life was both melodramatic and totally inappropriate for the style of game, where you want your character to be more of a blank slate. The NPCs I thought were mostly excellent, especially all the random one-off minor characters. They totally nailed the deadpan gallows humor of gothic and most older RPGs in general.

if you don't like picking turnips maybe these games aren't for you

Gothic 2 is like my favourite game, busywork like picking turnips was not the high point, however. But you only do that sort of quest once or twice in the whole game, so it's not a big deal. Archolos is great but it has many such quests.

and it's why gothic 2 is a mediocre game and archolos is great

When you tell me Archolos is better because a higher percentage of its quests are mundane chores, that's when I know you are trolling.

I wish that it weren't possible to level up beyond 1 and that the entire game was like that.

 

[morpheus0]

i have a question, i picked blacksmith as first apprentice and im almost done with him, what's a good 2nd apprenticeship?

davis for money from jewelery? (i have a lot)
or the alchemist for the extra stat boosts?

i have already learned master alchemy from bodowin

 

[Paul_cz]

But I think if many of the chore quests were cut from the game before release no one would feel them missing. They're padding.

No one would miss them only because they wouldn't know about their existence, genius. If I knew about them I'd miss them. I don't consider them padding.

They totally nailed the deadpan gallows humor of gothic and most older RPGs in general.

There was also some excellent use of facepalming in this.

 

[Tavar]

i have a question, i picked blacksmith as first apprentice and im almost done with him, what's a good 2nd apprenticeship?

davis for money from jewelery? (i have a lot)
or the alchemist for the extra stat boosts?

i have already learned master alchemy from bodowin

You can get a lot of money as the butcher's apprentice. That was my choice after finishing the apprenticeship with the blacksmith.

 

[Mauman]

On a side note: How many cameos of established Gothic characters are there in archolos? I've recognized Stone and Bloodwyn.

Riordian (the novice for Water Mages)- he becomes the Water Mage and appears in every Gothic game.

Nek (Rita's guard that lost his talisman)- dead in Gothic, one of the quests from Old Camp is to find him. You bring his talisman back as proof he's dead.

Homer (slave in the pirate hideout who ends up in prison after you rescue him)- works on the rice fields in New Camp.

Kyle (Bermar's son who constructed a silo without doors)- guy that built his hut next to the ditch in the Old Camp and had one of his walls demolished to make a shortcut

Rupert (fellow refugee)- shopkeeper Mateo's apprentice in Khorinis

Plus Gomez appears in the cutscene at the end

If we want to talk about cameos then we have to mention

Spoiler

Nameless himself showing up nearby the west fishing village, grilling you for information like you're some schlub npc, and then fucking off to who knows where

 

[morpheus0]

spoiler

If we want to talk about cameos then we have to mention

Spoiler

Nameless himself showing up nearby the west fishing village, grilling you for information like you're some schlub npc, and then fucking off to who knows where

with west u mean

spoiler

sailor's retreat? I've been there for 30min doing quests but i didn't see him,

maybe it's a random encounter with a specific trigger?

 

[thesecret1]

It's also implied that the house you buy used to belong to Nameless.

 

[Paul_cz]

It's also implied that the house you buy used to belong to Nameless.

Oh wow that actually makes sense

Yeah so where can I meet him?

I am in chapter 5, about to get In Extremo arrested (lmao)

 

[Mauman]

spoiler

If we want to talk about cameos then we have to mention

Spoiler

Nameless himself showing up nearby the west fishing village, grilling you for information like you're some schlub npc, and then fucking off to who knows where

with west u mean

spoiler

sailor's retreat? I've been there for 30min doing quests but i didn't see him,

maybe it's a random encounter with a specific trigger?

He's up the path from Sailor's retreat near the crossroads. It happens in chapter 5 I think. Maybe chapter 4.

It's also implied that the house you buy used to belong to Nameless.

Now that I don't see. We're explicitly told that the owner had already been arrested and sent to the colony, and considering the thing I already mentioned, this would be impossible.

 

[morpheus0]

can you explore the whole island in chapter 3 or you risk breaking the main quest if u go into some places too early? (es: wolf den)

when i was in chapter 2 there were some roadblocks with powerful monsters but now those are beatable :d

 

[Zurbo]

can you explore the whole island in chapter 3 or you risk breaking the main quest if u go into some places too early? (es: wolf den)

when i was in chapter 2 there were some roadblocks with powerful monsters but now those are beatable :d

You can't enter the Wolf Den until the story progresses further, unless you climb the mountains on the right side and jump down on the roofs.
I used that trick (I think even in chapter two), cause I was searching for some item and I don't think I bugged anything, but I wasn't interacting with any NPC.

However if you're asking about that: you shouldn't be there.

 

[Old One]

can you explore the whole island in chapter 3 or you risk breaking the main quest if u go into some places too early? (es: wolf den)

when i was in chapter 2 there were some roadblocks with powerful monsters but now those are beatable :d

You can't enter the Wolf Den until the story progresses further, unless you climb the mountains on the right side and jump down on the roofs.
I used that trick (I think even in chapter two), cause I was searching for some item and I don't think I bugged anything, but I wasn't interacting with any NPC.

However if you're asking about that: you shouldn't be there.

I can't think of any harm you would cause by making your way there early, but really there's no point. You'll get in there soon enough.

 

[morpheus0]

can you explore the whole island in chapter 3 or you risk breaking the main quest if u go into some places too early? (es: wolf den)

when i was in chapter 2 there were some roadblocks with powerful monsters but now those are beatable :d

You can't enter the Wolf Den until the story progresses further, unless you climb the mountains on the right side and jump down on the roofs.
I used that trick (I think even in chapter two), cause I was searching for some item and I don't think I bugged anything, but I wasn't interacting with any NPC.

However if you're asking about that: you shouldn't be there.

I can't think of any harm you would cause by making your way there early, but really there's no point. You'll get in there soon enough.

understood, thanks!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

can you explore the whole island in chapter 3 or you risk breaking the main quest if u go into some places too early? (es: wolf den)

when i was in chapter 2 there were some roadblocks with powerful monsters but now those are beatable :d

You can't enter the Wolf Den until the story progresses further, unless you climb the mountains on the right side and jump down on the roofs.
I used that trick (I think even in chapter two), cause I was searching for some item and I don't think I bugged anything, but I wasn't interacting with any NPC.

However if you're asking about that: you shouldn't be there.

I can't think of any harm you would cause by making your way there early, but really there's no point. You'll get in there soon enough.

understood, thanks!

I believe they're referring to using 'tricks' to glitch past into the actual den itself, there's no issue with exploring outside of it and there's even some quests there + silver you can mine that will respawn later.

 

[Paul_cz]

Fuck, I just finished it. That feeling of emptiness after finishing great huge immersive RPGs.

Final tally

 

[Konjad]

Replaying it already. This game is just too good. There haven't been any proper open-world RPGs like this one in recent years. I'm glad the bugs I've encountered right past release are all gone by now, at least so far.

 

[Paul_cz]

Replaying it already. This game is just too good. There haven't been any proper open-world RPGs like this one in recent years. I'm glad the bugs I've encountered right past release are all gone by now, at least so far.

Depends on what recent years means but if 2018 counts, Kingdom Come is definitely one. Enderal is another.

Of course, I already finished them and now I don't know what to play. Maybe I will do a second run through Mass Effect, now in the remaster.

Archolos was really so good. I lovehate this melancholic feeling of emptiness that comes after finishing a game like this. First/third person open world RPGs are my favourite type of game, wish there were more.

 

[Ryzer]

I do have complain with the mod, for example, most side-quests are straightforward, linear, don't offer multiple solutions and sometimes busywork. In fact lot of quests could have been scrapped from the game and nothing really worthwhile would have been lost. Furthermore the game drags for far too long, Quality over quantity, here there is a lot of content but quality isn't spread equally and I felt it.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I've been playing this shit for the past two weeks or so and now I feel bad about delaying the experience for months, because this is (for the most part) freaking phenomenal and I'm way too late to keep raving about it.

I'm in Chapter 5 and approaching the ending at this point (or at least what it feels like) and while there may be some vague novelty/recency bias at play I think that so far I may like this even more than Gothic 2.

Funnily enough most of the "shitty parts" (relatively speaking) of the experience are the one that it borrows directly from the source.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm way too late to keep raving about it

If it makes you feel better I'll probably start raving about this in a couple of months from now.
Or more.

 

[covr]

I do have complain with the mod, for example, most side-quests are straightforward, linear, don't offer multiple solutions and sometimes busywork. In fact lot of quests could have been scrapped from the game and nothing really worthwhile would have been lost. Furthermore the game drags for far too long, Quality over quantity, here there is a lot of content but quality isn't spread equally and I felt it.

Maybe you haven't found that alternative solutions to that quests?

 

[morpheus0]

I do have complain with the mod, for example, most side-quests are straightforward, linear, don't offer multiple solutions and sometimes busywork. In fact lot of quests could have been scrapped from the game and nothing really worthwhile would have been lost. Furthermore the game drags for far too long, Quality over quantity, here there is a lot of content but quality isn't spread equally and I felt it.

a lot of quests have multiple ways to complete, you just haven't messed around enough to find out

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I do have complain with the mod, for example, most side-quests are straightforward, linear, don't offer multiple solutions and sometimes busywork. In fact lot of quests could have been scrapped from the game and nothing really worthwhile would have been lost. Furthermore the game drags for far too long, Quality over quantity, here there is a lot of content but quality isn't spread equally and I felt it.

a lot of quests have multiple ways to complete, you just haven't messed around enough to find out

Yep. I also appreciate that sometimes there's an "obvious" solution that turns out to be rather subpar, while messing around a bit you come up with an alternated one that is better received from the quest givers.

 

[TheSecondRanger]

I have finished it now and I must say it is as good as the first two games. Did not expect a mod to be on top of the original games but was surprised in a good way. It also improved on many minor ways to the original games. The crafting is better, many quests have multiple ways to solve and there are more consequences to earlier decisions. I am really impressed. However, in the later chapters, the usual burnout set in a bit.
I disliked that the protagonist had a past and a name and there was no real magic guild. Also the writing in the english translation seemed sometimes a bit wacky. But these are minor criticisms. The mod reconciliates me with the fact that Piranha Bytes have forgotten how to do Gothic.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The yokels in this game sure demand a lot of floor sweeping from me

 

[Paul_cz]

The mod reconciliates me with the fact that Piranha Bytes have forgotten how to do Gothic.

Archolos team is not gonna make another, so we still only have PB to make this exact type of RPG. Well them and who knows how the Gothic remake from Alkimia is going to end up.

Personally I liked Elex though (not as much as Archolos) and I am about to start Elex 2.