Gothic 2 discussion/questions/tips

[rusty_shackleford]

because I don't see a general purpose thread

Spoiler

If I kill Canthar before act 3, does it prevent him from replacing Sarah?

 

[Cyberarmy]

Yes, kill the bastard. nice 300 xp right away!

 

[Baron Dupek]

Unless you invested in the pickpocket - steal first then kill him.

BTW. you should put the answer outside the spoiler, but keep the NPC name in it.

 

[Tavar]

Does this even make a difference?

 

[Tacgnol]

Does this even make a difference?

Doesn't Sarah have a better merchant inventory in late game?

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

Women shouldn't be arms dealers though. Sarah should be locked up nice & tight. OpenAI agrees with me and provides more reasons:

 

[Arrowgrab]

It's been while, but IIRC, you can

Spoiler

play the questline up to the point where Canthar is imprisoned (I think you get some XP for taking the actions leading up to it), then kill him BEFORE Sarah is replaced (you have a few days), and Sarah will stay AFAIK. Once Canthar is in prison, you can just open his cell (guard won't interfere), wound him with a ranged weapon while standing in the corner of the adjacent room (guard won't interfere as long as you're not standing in front of him), kite him out of the barracks so the people drilling in the square won't interfere (the elevated walkway around the fort is far enough), and just kill him there.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Finished it. Closing thoughts/Rusty mini-review:

• The melee combat feels like it was designed mostly for duels and perhaps at best 2v1 or 3v1 fights. This isn't a complaint, it's a praise. The complaint is that towards the end they decided to throw a lot of big packs of enemies towards you and... yeah.
• Lots of colorful characters.
• Expansion's additional content was interwoven into the base game nearly flawlessly. There's no real "oh, this isn't base game content" until you're through the portal.
• Difficulty nosedives past Act 2 or so.
• Ran out of things to spend my LPs on
• Itemization is very bland. Especially hate how armor upgrades work, don't like how it's locked to your progress rather than being able to knock a knight out and steal his armor.
• Don't like how arrows are lethal but ...swords... aren't?
• Way too much backtracking towards the end(act 4/5?), feels like they should have fleshed out the mines from G1 more rather than send you back to the Khorinis area.
• Gathering a crew just for them to sit on the boat while you do everything was incredibly lame. All they get is one tiny orc attack(3 orcs in total iirc)
• Loved the character interactions in general. Had the most fun in the town by far.
• Loved that character arcs progressed with each chapter and you'd find a lot of new people/people moved around & new quests from old acquaintances.
• Pickpocketing felt like an afterthought and was way too easy. I had enough DEX to never fail a pickpocket probably by act 2.
• Fuck unlocking chests
• Economy went a bit off the rails towards the end but was otherwise OK, much better than most RPGs. I had to actually go around scrounging up gold to get the final armor set.
• Turnip lady stopped giving me soup after act 1 so I beat her up.
• Extremely well designed maps.
• Plot was nothing special at all. Very generic. Gothic 1 was a lot better imo.
• World is extremely reactive overall. Things like my question in the OP are the kind of things I love in games.

If I replayed it I'd probably stop after doing expansion content/act 3. Everything after feels like it needed more work and has too much retreading.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

There is a locked portcullis in the temple with a small slab portal behind it (the temple with the large tunnel portal). Is this for a later or (other) faction quest? Playing mage, currently chp 4.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There is a locked portcullis in the temple with a small slab portal behind it (the temple with the large tunnel portal). Is this for a later or (other) faction quest? Playing mage, currently chp 4.

You mean the temple with the water mages?
If so, one of them will give you a quest about it.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Yes, but I'm past that point

Spoiler

="I retrieved the claw, activated all the slab portals on the far side."

and no one has mentioned it. I'm referring to the temple on the Khorrinis side.

 

[Nim]

Yes, but I'm past that point

Spoiler

="I retrieved the claw, activated all the slab portals on the far side."

and no one has mentioned it. I'm referring to the temple on the Khorrinis side.

Once you give the ornament to Saturas you can get the key from Merdarion. The teleport leads to the cave right outside the Khorinis gate with Mika. You also lost a bit of xp.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Yes, but I'm past that point

Spoiler

="I retrieved the claw, activated all the slab portals on the far side."

and no one has mentioned it. I'm referring to the temple on the Khorrinis side.

Once you give the ornament to Saturas you can get the key from Merdarion. The teleport leads to the cave right outside the Khorinis gate with Mika. You also lost a bit of xp.

I've done that too, but not immediately. Neither he nor the other Water Mages mention it. Time/faction limited?

 

[Nim]

Yes, but I'm past that point

Spoiler

="I retrieved the claw, activated all the slab portals on the far side."

and no one has mentioned it. I'm referring to the temple on the Khorrinis side.

Once you give the ornament to Saturas you can get the key from Merdarion. The teleport leads to the cave right outside the Khorinis gate with Mika. You also lost a bit of xp.

I've done that too, but not immediately. Neither he nor the other Water Mages mention it. Time/faction limited?

Pretty sure it has to be done before going to Jharkendar.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Pretty sure it has to be done before going to Jharkendar.

Yes, that portal (the ones that cycle between the city, temple and tavern) is in the room next to the large portal to Jharkendar, connected by the room with the empty pool. There is another one behind a locked gate 3 rooms back towards the surface entrance.

 

[Nim]

Pretty sure it has to be done before going to Jharkendar.

Yes, that portal (the ones that cycle between the city, temple and tavern) is in the room next to the large portal to Jharkendar, connected by the room with the empty pool. There is another one behind a locked gate 3 rooms back towards the surface entrance.

I'm stupid. Hmm, I don't think there is a legit way into that. Can try b marvin b and then hit k while in front of it to get through.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

I'm stupid. Hmm, I don't think there is a legit way into that. Can try b marvin b and then hit k while in front of it to get through.

No, I'm stupid. That gate is the back door to the same room.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Well, done. Are the factions different enough for 3 full playthroughs, or just up to Chapter (X) or for different playstyle?

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

Well, done. Are the factions different enough for 3 full playthroughs, or just up to Chapter (X) or for different playstyle?

You'd have to be a hardcore fan to do 3 back-to-back playthroughs. But if you like the game it's definitely worth doing all factions eventually.

Most of the unique faction content is in the early-mid game though. Towards the end, factions don't matter as much.

Fire Mage has the most unique playstyle of course. As for Merc & Paladin, it's up to you. If you spec both as strength-based melee (as most people likely do), they'll have a very similar playstyle. The most common difference is that Merc-players tend to use crossbows as their 2nd weapon, while Paladin-players tend to spec into some of the holy magic instead.

If you were only going to do 2 playthroughs I'd recommend Merc & Fire Mage. They feel most different.

If you play the original Gothic, you'll almost certainly want to replay Gothic 2 as a Merc.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Well, done. Are the factions different enough for 3 full playthroughs, or just up to Chapter (X) or for different playstyle?

See

If I replayed it I'd probably stop after doing expansion content/act 3. Everything after feels like it needed more work and has too much retreading.

I've been enjoying Archolos MUCH more btw. Definitely a suggested play after G2.

 

[curds]

Gothic 2 turns 20 today. HBD to one of the best RPGs of all time, and the single greatest open world action RPG of all time (not that the competition is very stiff in that category).

You can now play the original version (ie. without the NotR expansion) on Steam. I'm curious to try it.

 

[Cryomancer]

Now that you finished, I hope that you try RETURNING 2.0

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

Now that you finished, I hope that you try RETURNING 2.0

I know it's rusty but why would you want him to suffer so much.

 

[curds]

Anyone know the cause of/fix for the top of my screenies being chopped off when using the Steam screenshot function?

Can't stop playing this game since my playthrough last year, BTW. Nothing else scratches my gaming itch, not even other PB games. It's at the point where I'm comparing Unity and Unreal engines and beginning to write a manual/design doc for my own G2-style game. Needless to say, it's likely nothing will come of it, but I'm at that point of craving a similar game so badly.

 

[curds]

Any other good G2 total conversions (with at least English subtitles) aside from Velaya and Archolos?

I'm aware of Asshun and Odyssey, but haven't played them. What's the Codex' consensus on those?

Not interested in Overhaul-type mods like L'hiver or Returning.