Gothic I, worth it?

[Murk]

No - DEX only influences ranged weapons (damage and rate of fire). If you plan to go melee then avoid it, especially if you plan to dabble in magic as you can use the extra LP on mana/spells.

I can't remember any in G-1 but in G-2 there are a few melee weapons that have a DEX requirement instead of a STR requirement, this was done so archers could have a semi-decent melee fall-back. Often these weapons had a higher damage rating than a DEX requirement (to counter-balance the low STR that archer characters would have), but that's not something you should worry about. STR-meleeists will get much better one-handers either way.

 

[madbringer]

From what I read online (here and elsewhere) I thought Dex does not make you swing faster. If it does, then I'll definitely buy some

Yeah, far as i can tell the 10 points i invested in dex did diddley squat for my melee fighting proficiency, so i guess all it does is bow and xbow damage output and/or firing rate. I just hope i won't run into enemies that will be nigh-on impossible to fight at close range and my 15 dex will look and trolololo at me.

 

[Murk]

Well there is a point where you need a ranged weapon, but if you have high STR then you can just use a strong Xbow which will compensate for your lack of DEX.

edit: oh and if you guys won't mind a minor spoiler: hang on to at least one kind of hammer you can wield as a weapon ;(

 

[Gorath]

G2 obviously simplifies this greatly but just having it be a click of the button instead of action+attack+direction buttons.

Gothic 2 has two combat control systems. The one you described is the pussy mode. It may even be the default in a couple of versions. The classic G1 mode can be activated in the options.

If it is your first time playing G1 I'd recommend learning level 1 melee skills in both weapons and seeing which one you like better, the LP cost isn't as diabolical as it seems and it is well worth it.

A good recommendation.
It's worth repeating: Without the skill your character holds his sword like a stick. The clumsy fighting early on is in-character. PC_Hero doesn't know it any better.

The Gothic controls are actually quite simple, but unfortunately they are also unintuitive. JemyM's FAQ 1.2 answers most questions. Just skip the 2nd half with the walkthrough. You can find it together with a couple of useful files in our Gothic DL folder.

Mapping the controls to a gamepad is also worth a try.

 

[Murk]

Gothic 2 has two combat controls systems. The one you described is the pussy mode. It may even be the default in a couple of versions. The classic G1 mode can be activated in the options.

Meh, I don't consider bad controls to be a 'feature' of the game. I'll gladly take the new mouse-click method over holding 2 buttons and pressing another.

 

[ChristofferC]

Well there is a point where you need a ranged weapon, but if you have high STR then you can just use a strong Xbow which will compensate for your lack of DEX.

There is? I completed the game without using ranged weapons a single time.

EDIT: (might be a slight spoiler) actually that's a lie, but I didn't need ranged weapons to do damage to enemies.

 

[bhlaab]

No - DEX only influences ranged weapons (damage and rate of fire). If you plan to go melee then avoid it, especially if you plan to dabble in magic as you can use the extra LP on mana/spells.

I can't remember any in G-1 but in G-2 there are a few melee weapons that have a DEX requirement instead of a STR requirement, this was done so archers could have a semi-decent melee fall-back. Often these weapons had a higher damage rating than a DEX requirement (to counter-balance the low STR that archer characters would have), but that's not something you should worry about. STR-meleeists will get much better one-handers either way.

Gothic 2 has swords with DEX requirements, but melee with them still uses STR to determine damage.

 

[Zomg]

Also NotR has crossbows with str requirements that add dex, rather than strength, to damage.

 

[Murk]

Gothic 2 has swords with DEX requirements, but melee with them still uses STR to determine damage.

Err, yes, hence the bit about the higher damage-to-stat ratio comment.

Also NotR has crossbows with str requirements that add dex, rather than strength, to damage.

Ranged option for melee fighters, I guess. The best ranged weapon in NotR is an xbow that has very limited unique ammo ;( For some reason I thought G-1 used the same paradigm of 'STR requirement' for xbows but I guess it had DEX as the required stat. Weird.

EDIT: (might be a slight spoiler) actually that's a lie, but I didn't need ranged weapons to do damage to enemies.

There's certain traps that can be disabled by using the bow to trigger their on/off switches in certain areas. Also, I remember reading something about a bow being required for some optional quest but I'm not entirely sure about that one.

At the least its worth while to keep a basic bow with you, even if you don't equip it. I remember finding that they were better off at killing annoying flying enemies than melee (blood flies come to mind).

 

[DefJam101]

Finished the game last night. End should have been fun but was frustrating. I didn't realize I had to bring a ranged weapon into the temple; the orc temple door bugged and didn't open for my return trip; all my "army of darkness / summon demon" scrolls proved to be useless.

My own summons killed me during the sleeper boss fight. I stopped to stab one of the hearts and an army of useless skeletons and demons piled onto me so that I couldn't move. Raped by fireballs.

Cool game, though. Voice acting is a tad shaky and the writing is so-so, but the atmosphere is perfect. Darkest fantasy RPG I've seen where dark and gritty isn't a gimmick.

 

[MisterStone]

I'm about to finish the part where you want in the focuses; I must say they had some pretty interesting quest designs here but there is way too much hand holding for my tastes. Also, the NPCs that help you seem to be unkillable, so you really just have to kite the enemies and let the NPC take the damage/dish it out from range (if you're a pussy). Kind of a letdown TBH.

If they wanted to make the game more challenging and open to multiple solutions they wouldn't have left all the damn spell scrolls laying around everywhere... it's like you get to the quest site, oh hey there's a spell scroll over there, I wonder if I have to use it. And it's always exactly the scroll you need; you don't even need to be a magic user to use the magic solutions for all of these quests- just have the min required mana.

At the least they could have scattered the tools/knowledge you need to beat these quests in different parts of the world. But here it's always handed right to you just before the scripted quest area begins.

 

[MisterStone]

So I got to the part where I take Gorn down into the Free Mine, but I'm not sure what to do here. I talked to a certain slave abuot making me a certain object and all that, and slaughtered all the enemies (I think) but Gorn doesn't have any kind of reaction. Am I supposed to take him somewhere and trigger a scripted event, just leave, or what?

 

[ChristofferC]

You must exit the mine to finish the Gorn quest. Gorn will talk to you outside the entrance.

 

[Jaesun]

Darkest fantasy RPG I've seen where dark and gritty isn't a gimmick.

Agreed.

 

[MisterStone]

You must exit the mine to finish the Gorn quest. Gorn will talk to you outside the entrance.

Thanks bro, I made the mistake of teleporting out and going about my business rather than walking to the entrance. I must say, it was kind of fun massacring all the guards after being abused by them early on in the game... knocking them out them slaughtering them while they lay helpless on the floor... aw yearh...

 

[SoupNazi]

Oh yeah, the stabbing thing is just so good. I like the way others react to it too, in a way where if you just knock someone out that's fine and dandy most of the time, but if you kill them while they're helpless then people will actually go after you. Cool shit.

 

[MisterStone]

I used ball lighting to ice a bunch of the fools, and apparently it kills directly without knocking people out. The guards started screaming stuff like, "You just kill people? You're in trouble now!" Bawhawhawhawhaw...

 

[DefJam101]

So remember kids: sword fights are a safe, fun way to resolve disputes!

 

[MisterStone]

Ball lightning not so much

 

[Murk]

Well the idea is that with a melee swing you can avoid 'lethal' attacks - imagine hitting them with the flat of the blade or something. This of course requires a level of abstraction in the graphical animations in the attack swings.

Shooting people with arrows (arrows always kill except for a few scripted enemies) and magic which you cannot control the blast or power of on the other hand... well, different story.

 

[DefJam101]

Yeah the basic idea is great, it just seems funny due to ARPG mechanics. Of course it's even more hilarious in Gothic 3 because you can knock people out by repeatedly stabbing them in the stomach.

I jump off a cliff and swallow a mouthful of healing potion just as I hit the ground. Do I still die?

 

[Murk]

cue .jpg of the beer-can modified HP potion helmet with straws

 

[MisterStone]

Figured out I can sneak back into the old camp by turning into a meat bug and slipping under the gate; time to massacre Thorus and the rest of those assholes. Funk the quest, that shit can wait! Also there must be some sweet loot left in there.

I'm wondering if a couple summon skellie spells might make the party more fun, while I am at it...

 

[TsongaKralj]

Figured out I can sneak back into the old camp by turning into a meat bug and slipping under the gate; time to massacre Thorus and the rest of those assholes. Funk the quest, that shit can wait! Also there must be some sweet loot left in there.

I'm wondering if a couple summon skellie spells might make the party more fun, while I am at it...

Nah,you can't unleash your fury on all of them yet,some NPC there are still unkillable.You'll have your chance a bit later in the game,you'll know when.

 

[MisterStone]

Well, the massacre went as well as could be expected... I killed dozens of guards, and shadows (including most of the named shadows from the quests early on), basically anyone with a red uniform. It was fun running around and BURRRNNNING motherfuckers in the middle of the camp; it was a massacre of almost GTA-like proportions... at some point I even drank speed potions so no one could get away from me. In generally I left the diggers and anyone not in a red uniform alone, although Snaf the cook died as collateral damage from a firestorm spell.

Killed Raven. Sadly several NPCs in the castle were unkillable- Gomez, Bartholo, Stone, Thorus... but still I had a good ole time in there. I went to the fire mage's tower and found them layed out on their pentagram, which was p. awesome... the nice thing is, the shopkeeper guy had all his loot on him so I grabbed all of his good as well as the tons of shit I traded to him earlier on in the game.

It was kind of funny, I summoned a Golem to help me with my massacre, and kept expecting him to dissapear. But he never did. Whenever I though he was gone for sure, I'd walk around the corner, and there's my golem walking through the castle gate. I am not sure sure if he killed more than 1 or 2 people due to his slow attacks and the game's glitchy movement/pathfinding, but it was fun having him along.

In game terms I am not sure this accomplished much; in the end I got a big ass pile of potions from the dead mages and also Scar's Sword, which is a sweeet 1h Weapon. Can't remember who had it, but I'm glad I picked it up. All in all pretty fun, if pointless. I must say for 10 years ago this game has a pretty robust engine, even if the glitches are pretty obvious now.