Gothic II: NotR - requesting build advice

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Edit: this also works vs. orcs and skeletons, though it's much easier to kill orcs by just stepping back whenever they swing, then combo'ing them. Orcs really are incredibly easy 1v1.

The difficulty is when you're fighting an opponent that can 1/2 shot you, while you need 30 or so hits to take him down. The "block/hit back" idea is simple, but it's easy to lose concentration for a second and then you die...

 

[ManjuShri]

Has anyone played NotR with an ATI card? What drivers were you using? Upon start up I get this message: X: XD3D_InitPerDX: Can't create D3DX conetext ! Error: DDERR_UNSUPPORTED

I installed some earlier drivers and it worked, but after I started it back up again the message reappeared.

Edit - Fixed.

 

[Murk]

I run it on my HD3850 with the latest drivers -- works fine. Only game I've had driver issues with in that regard is Witcher 1 where I have to use Catalyst 9.1 or something thereabouts.

 

[ManjuShri]

What should you do with regard to giving Vatras the old stone tablets and at what strength level would you recommend starting to use apples, shrines and str potions? I currently have 66 STR and 68 2H just from LPs.

 

[Murk]

If you want to power-game, save the old tablets until you have a metric asston to get the best benefit when you give them all at once (max mana if i'm not mistaken). Use the apples/shrines/potions when you are paying 5LP per 1STR (assuming you plan to max STR). Also note that the formerly single bonuses from dark mushrooms and apples are now recurring and you can get quite a nice chunk of mana from dark mushrooms alone.

 

[ManjuShri]

From Chapter 3 how long is the game in terms of levelling up? Will each Chapter only have a few levels worth of XP in them as seemed to be the case compared to Chapter 1 in which I gained 15 levels?

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

You can get a ton of levels even as early as ch.1, genociding all wildlife and duelling humans that you can duel (e.g. harbor area) that you can to sate one's inner munchkin.

Chapters only give you better armor and spells, but IMO the Gothics are most fun with minimum armor and a heavy-ass weapon so you deal good damage, but die within moments if you aren't careful. You'll have to dodge large enemy groups, of course (unless your reflexes and concentration are truly godlike).

 

[Nim]

PB games are usually frontloaded. You can easily reach around lvl 20 iirc in chapter 1 in G2 while you won't get more than early 50ish at the end. So yeah, there isn't that much to level later on. Add to that that the content starts to suck and I think around chapter 3/4 is a good point to stop if one is replaying.

 

[Murk]

Near the end game enemies are so strong even heavy armor can't save you more than a few hits.

Depending on how you spread out killing monsters (you pretty much have run of the entire island of Khorinis with Chapter 1) You'll be looking at something like an average of 7 levels each chapter. The expansion area can give you a dozen levels as well, and the old Valley of Mines can easily get you 20+ levels alone. Some chapters are very short and require a single quest to progress, others will take you days of adventuring -- it's best not to measure the game in chapters so much as areas. Chapter 2 will get you access to a new map and the expansion area can be accessed early or late, but I believe is necessary to do before you can progress the main storyline.

If you want the expansion area to go easily then hold on until the Dragon Hunt starts and you get the second guild's armor. If you want to keep the pace then go during Chapter 2 or immediately after Chapter 2. There's quite a few armors you can get there so you may want to actually just play at the normal pace -- if so, I STRONGLY suggest you keep a few lurker transformation, fire lizard transformation, and shadowbeast transformation scrolls (or dragon snapper). It can very well get you through a battle you may otherwise be completely outmatched for that is mandatory.

The lurker one is necessary to get back from a pseudo-hidden area with some neat loot, the others to kill enemies that are just too damn strong for you if you don't level up first.

You're going to be strapped for LP no matter what you do if you want to achieve mastery, more so if you play as a mage. If you just go basic melee warrior you'll do fine -- just focus on STR and weapon skill, but don't bother raising your skill over 100% (not even sure if this is possible) as at that time you're always hitting a crit.

Also you can do the 5% trick. You know how the LP rate goes up when you pass a certain threshold? And you know how you can increase your skill by 5 points at a time? Well if you raise your skill level to say 19*, right before the LP cost change, and raise it 5 points you get 4 skill points at the lower rate. In the end you can save yourself something like 20LP doing this and also get your skill up a bit sooner. It works with any weapon skill (melee and ranged).

*I actually can't remember when the rate changes, I don't think it was 19 but I wrote it for example's sake. Point is, just get it to 9 and leave it at that.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I'm playing through this for the first time. Any opinions on which faction is best?

I've heard that the paladins' magic can help, but that the mercs have better weapons.

 

[Nim]

I'm playing through this for the first time. Any opinions on which faction is best?

I've heard that the paladins' magic can help, but that the mercs have better weapons.

Paladin magic is so-so. Iirc you get it too late and the damage spells aren't even that good, pretty sure they only work versus evil creatures which is further limiting.

 

[CreamyBlood]

I only played through once. Probably best not to go mage the first time. I was planning to pick the mercs but took Palidin for some reason (I just go with the flow) and I think they have the best armor. As Nim said, the magic powers by then weren't really worth it, except maybe for healing but I can't remember for sure. I imagine the best way to play it is to not meta-game it too much, just pick you're own path, struggle through and simply enjoy it. One of my favorite games this decade.

 

[Revenant]

I'm playing through this for the first time. Any opinions on which faction is best?

I've heard that the paladins' magic can help, but that the mercs have better weapons.

If you are playing Night of the Raven, the stats of the best paladin and dragon hunter (mercenary) armors are identical - be sure to check http://mondgesaenge.de/G2ADB/EN/ as you play. As for weapons, the best two-handed weapons (I assume you will use two-handed weapons) aren't faction-bound. As a matter of fact, you can get Dragon Slicer as early as level 1 (provided you can defeat the skeleton warriors, heh heh). Personally, I think faction choice for melee types in G2:NotR is more aesthetical, not practical. It certainly won't impact your gameplay much, although there are a few role-playing choices and consequences that depend on your faction.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Going militia => paladin is probably the easiest path for the first playthrough. Mercenary needs a bit of exploration.

Mage is a challenge build, especially in NotR where LP costs scale. Magic system kinda sucks, too (blow your best spells to clear the enemy group, chug potions, repeat ad nauseum, maybe throw in a summon or two for tanking), compared to the creative and fun melee combat system. Don't do it unless you've already played the game through at least once and want a "novelty experience".

 

[Murk]

The best two handed weapon is an axe that there's a good chance you won't have enough strength to wield, second best is the dragon slice which you can get (as said) in chapter and will probably still not be able to get enough str to wield unless you power game it a bit (more like a lot).

If you plan to play a dex archer (as opposed to crossbowman) go merc. Probably the most 'fun' I've had in G2 but also somewhat lopsided (you go from weak as piss to godly as soon as you start using your stat boost items).

The the first half using dex based swords was pretty fun. Not a lot of damage but high skill level so you really do the whole "swashbuckling" schtick rather well.

 

[Revenant]

I would argue that the axe is not the best two-handed weapon, as the Dragon Slicer has only slightly inferior damage, but significantly better reach. Anyone who played the game will probably aggree that reach is much more important than damage, as for the majority of the game your armor will be very, very weak and you will get thrashed a lot, so getting to your enemies before they get to you is very important.

Also, people playing the game for the first time should check out the previous pages of this thread, where I posted links to attribute maxing guides, so they could actually use these most powerful weapons.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

If you were maximizing your strength (i.e. saving tablets and potions until 4LP cost to upgrade), by the time you get to Dragon Slicer + better armors the game becomes a cakewalk (Mine Valley dragons die in 3-4 hits), so reach vs. damage doesn't matter too much.

 

[ColCol]

SO, I was thinking about being a melee only character in Gothic 2 (with expansion). Yet, my friend said a melee build is frustrating to play with because some of the last bosses take a long time to beat melee wise (he said the last one can take up to two hours). He also said enemies later on (like the orcs) do ridiculous physical damage. So, it this true? Should I just go a mage route to avoid frustration?

 

[ManjuShri]

The mage never comes to his own till the last Chapter, whereas the melee path is only tough for the first chapter, to beat the dragons you simply have to use a few scrolls (which any character can do) such as firestorm or summon demon. Orcs are one of the easiest enemies, you just don't want three of them on you at once which applies for most enemies anyway.

 

[ColCol]

Um, another quick quesiton. I had met the criteria for starting chapter 2 around level 8 so I did, was this a bad idea?

 

[ManjuShri]

You typically wish to clear out the island of all monsters and do as many quests before moving on. The Chapter 2 monster respawns are practically non-existent so you didn't mess up too much on that front.

 

[Nim]

You don't want to start chapter 3 too early, the enemies that spawn then will be a pain if you're weak.

 

[Revenant]

What was said above, and especially you want to postpone advancing to Chapter 3 as long as you can, because in the mentioned chapter you will run into pretty nasty new enemies that will kick your ass if you are not powerful enough by then.

EDIT: ninja'd by Nim.

 

[Nim]

Haha, doesn't hurt mentioning again though. Getting there too early can fuck you up so bad, I think the wildlife that spawns is also one step up on the nasty level ? Wargs and stuff iirc ?

 

[ManjuShri]

I think so, there's more of them than those I left alone during Chapter 1 and 2.