Having played Gothic 1 and 2 at release, i have fond memories of both. In my personal opinion the original Gothic was the best, it is one of the very few games in 30 years that made me actually sad when i completed it because i wanted more. It rarely if ever happens with me... Gothic 2 was "improved" in a gamey sense, with moar space, moar stuff, improved graphics, but while it was still a good game it didn't charm me like the original did. I still remember the 3 prison factions of the original, the characters, the locations, the atmosphere, the overpowered orcs that finally i got super-stronk to kick their ass, etc. What a memorable game if you got it at release... Gothic II, i remember little. Was fun, i enjoyed it, but didn't leave the same impression on me. Anyway...
Those 2 while innovative for their time (true open world, day night cycle, etc) and with tons of soul, heart, and charm, were just flawed masterpieces. The controls sucked huge black dick and it was bugs gallore. The very definition of euro-jank.
The problem with Piranha Bytes is that they never evolved past the euro-jank stage. In the late 90s they produced some stellar if unpolished and unmarketed games like Incubation (still better than Firaxis XCOM) and one great game with attack helicopters i played on my Pentium 150mhz back in the day, don't remember the name. But after they got success and recognition, they still made the same euro-jank as before with little effort to evolve. Gothic 3 was ambitious, really it was, and in some ways was better than the garbage Oblivion (but this does not say much), but they failed to make it a good game and i am not talking just about the bugs...
Then Risen series came and they just wanted to remake Gothics with better textures and less charm. I enjoyed Risen 1 but then i lost interest because by the time Risen 2 appeared i was assured that PB had lost their touch. ELEX didn't convince me either.
It seems they cought lightning in the bottle the first time but they still don't understand what made people love the originals. And the gaming industry as a whole has moved on. A Gothic with better textures won't cut it in todays market, sorry. I don't believe in PB anymore and i don't think any Gothic 5 they ever make will be good.