I am a bad boy, as I could not find these games anywhere here to purchase, so I downloaded them, first I d/l gothic 2 not knowing what the game was going to be like...

I was surprised that it was ENGLISH, and that is was AWESOME! I played that game for months... and it has re-playability as you can take a different path in the game each time, be a thief in thievs guild, be a mercenary, join the monestary, be a paladin (which I did) etc...

This game kept me on my toes and the controls were great!

After beating this game I was looking for the Gothic 1, but I also could not find it to buy, so I downloaded that game as well... even thou there is NO speech (files missing) the game is great also... I am looking to purchase both of these games, they are awesome, and I can not wait for Gothic 3 (hopefully I can purchase it somewhere)

To anyone not liking Gothic series, stop playing it, sell it (to me), and move on...

Have a great adventure
J-Man

This comment was edited on Jan 2, 12:51.

Gothic 1 & 2 were great games. I'd suggest anyone who likes Action/RPG's to play through both. I understand that the G2 add-on makes quite an improvement, but I'd recommend knowing a little German if you want to get the most out of it. I'm a little doubtful about how well Gothic 3 is going to do outside of Germany though.

This is because of the bad taste that the whole Add-On affair is leaving in people's mouths. Most American Gothic Fans don't really expect a U.S. release, but they do expect an English language version to be released in Europe, even if the only way to get it is through the purchase of a "Gold Edition" of Gothic 2.

I think that most English speaking fans feel that we've been getting the run around, with JoWood blaming Atari or supposedly handing it off to Koch media or whatever, to explain why it hasn't been published. Since fans were told early on that an English translation had been done, I for one am not buying that excuse anymore either. I've come to the conclusion that the delay is at least somewhat politically motivated, which is a real shame for the gaming community!

You can tell by reading the various bulletin boards that have forums for Gothic 2 that a lot of English speaking fans are getting quite fed up with the whole situation. If I was JoWood, I wouldn't expect a lot of U.S. sales of Gothic 3 if an English language version of the G2 add-on isn't available before Gothic 3 comes out. At least I know that I won't be lining up to buy a copy and have it shipped over.

While neither Gothic 1, 2 or Morrowind are perfect, you are missing some key issues.

Gothic is German because no large US publisher will take it under it wing and provide the $ to translate the game to English in it's entirity due to sales. Why invest 1 mill on a game when it only brings back say 500k or breaks even?

The whole idea of Morrowind felt like going to Disneyland and riding the Trip To Mars ride. Everything felt generic, scripted and uninspired save the graphics.

Combat in both games Gothic 1,2 and Morriwind, lets also not forget ultima 9, suck. At least Oblivion seems to be addressing this issue. Gothic at least had neat combos, however if you got attacked by 2 or more people you are screwed. Morrowind was just a joke combat wise. How about all the monsters just rushing you every time? Gothic didn't do this. Some would snarl and warn you but give you time to leave. If you stayed the animals would attacks, retreat and help eachother out.

I just wish they could combine the best of both games to make one super game. Gothic 1's story is just so neat, the whole prison thing, pretty scary.

I agree there are few crpg's so the more the better. Three days ago I was looking at Gothic 1 and 2 at amazon.com. This is the second time I have looked, thought about getting one of the Gothic games. This time I read about 5 reviews from gamerankings.com and visited the official forums. I just read like 3 days ago they were planning a Gothic III so I readily noticed the blues post about Gothic III. You can get Gothic 2 at amazon.com for like $7.95 plus shipping.

I was like 90% convinced this time, like 15 minutes or less from ordering the game, then I started thinking about it and eventually changed my mind. This is why:

1. The support: The game is mainly made for Germans and German people. Ok not necessarily true but it kind of feels that way. I played/bought Sacred and at times felt like a 2nd class purchaser, which is not a very good feeling. The addon is not even supported by the company. The user base had to create a mod that apparently takes a little effort to use. So this area gives you bad feelings.

2. The controls: I appreciate the fact that there is this computer/design philosophy where by people/companies try to maintain a form of functionality that is consistent across software. Meaning although I find it interesting, even maybe practical I have a hard time supporting gaming companies that feel the need to reinvent the wheel. If everyone, came up with their own individual mouse/keyboard configurations it would be to the detriment of gaming. The fact that the game is keyboard driven as opposed to mouse seems arcane. http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=27337 for controls of Gothic II

3. For comparison to other games, compare it to Morrowind: Anything you can do in Gothic, you can do in Morrowind, probably easier, probably with a mod. Morrowind has weapons, armour, textures, houses, npc's, quests, easily with expansions 1000 quality mods for Morrowind. http://www.mwmythicmods.com/telesphoros.htm#37 for Morrowind mods

4. Community for Morrowind is huge, a lot of it uses English language. http://www.mwmythicmods.com/ronin.htm#7 for Morrowind mod list and links - Gothic is practically nonexistent unless you know German.

5. No customization in Gothic as far as I can tell. In Morrowind you can download a new quest, new house, new npc's, new armour, new weapons, have new pets, buy furniture, paintings, hang shields on wall, place your trophies or extra armour on mannequins for display, whatever you want to do. Take up herbalism,/alchemy become a Necromancer, Thief, Assasin, Ranger with marksman mod.

6. Small thing that really irked me is in Gothic 1 and 2 I read you cant use a shield. So that means to me for first 20 levels or so you run around with a 1 handed weapon with left arm bent and holding nothing at the waist? That just seems odd.

7. As far as the controls of Gothic providing better combat I have read that the combat is awfully simplistic, and hard to control. I did not get from any of the reviews that the controls actually allowed advanced combat moves. Most reviewers said they had to fight the controls.

But I can see that Gothic 1 and 2 are maybe good stories, good npc's, good atmosphere. You cant deny that there is a number of people who talk very highly of Gothic. I think its the story and npc interaction, and combat third that they remember most.

But its keyboard driven, no English community, no mods, no real support from company, no customization and everything it does Morrowind can do better, easier, and with all the mods you can create any fantasy/rpg experience you want with Morrowind.

So I didnt get it, yet. Downloaded mods for Morrowind instead. I may still get Gothic II in the future, I am a pc gamer.

This comment was edited on Dec 19, 15:17.

hey hey, I also checked "Keep Gothic 1 control scheme". I really liked the controls, sets it out from all the other wasd games.

Gothic I and II are the best sp games I have played. I loved Morrowind also as it had it's own qualites. As I see it, there is just too few real RPG's for the PC, so cherrish the few good ones we have

Can't wait for Gothic III!
(and I'm gonna play it with old Gothic 1 control scheme

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Always expect the worst and you will never be dissapointed

Look at it this way, Gothic 2 was the game that Richard Garriot would have made Ultima 9 had EA not have been involved. It is the spiritual successor to that series.

That's a good point and very true.

Might as well get the lighter out and put some kiddies on fire.

Look, how can anyone call themselves a true PC Gamer if you haven't bought, played, and simply adored both Gothic 1 and 2? As someone who has been a PC Gamer since 1983, Gothic was the only game released in the past ten years that felt like the superior games I grew up with. It was made by diehard RPG'ers for diehard RPG'ers, simple as that.

The controls aren't so bad, provided you aren't a keyboard-pounding simian who is still trying to learn how to use a mouse. As a matter of fact, I kept box checked in gothic 2 that said "Keep Gothic 1 control scheme". If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I've defended Daggerfall for years, and still consider it my favorite RPG of all time, but Morrowind was a flaming disaster. Extremely easy, 2 minute long dungeons, focus on eye candy over narrative...how can anyone enjoy that more then the "offline mmorpg" that is Gothic?

Look at it this way, Gothic 2 was the game that Richard Garriot would have made Ultima 9 had EA not have been involved. It is the spiritual successor to that series.

I loved the original Gothic. It's a big open world, plenty of choices, and if you're brave, you can do all sorts of things that may not have been intended. The world also felt very alive, with people going to bed, working, that sort of thing. I wasn't as fond of the second game, but my opinion of it mostly suffered as a comparision to the first game. The graphical improvements were nice, and the larger world was good. The depth of the gameplay and the many side quests and stories were what made both truly impressive, though. The keyboard-based controls did take a bit of getting used to, but after you get over that learning curve (which really isn't that hard), the combat is fun, challenging, and a lot more involving than in, say, Morrowind, or most any other RPG.

Gothic series will continue after Gothic III

#42, Igor, should be happy to hear that.

English version "will show up sooner than the Germans may like"

The Germans won't mind, they got the first 2 Gothics before us... its only fair we get it first, or at least at the same time.

Gothic II was horrible, why are they making a third one? Just let it die and start a new game from scratch!

That's just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Go back to playing Painkiller, pls. Thx.

This comment was edited on Dec 17, 23:26.

Gothic II was horrible, why are they making a third one? Just let it die and start a new game from scratch!

How about this? We stone you

Gothic II was horrible, why are they making a third one? Just let it die and start a new game from scratch!

Gothic III will have mouse based inventory:

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=9243

By the way... here's the first video of G3 (ShakyCam™). The new scavenger looks great! Love the animation, the model and the shadowing.

http://www.torgedellert.de/scavenger.rar

All Bethesda games, while innovative and artistic, have been nothing but repetitive and extremely generic, boring games. I worked on Daggerfall as a tester, name is in the credits, and was fighting with the developers constantly about one common theme I came up with.

"I rather have an Ultima type game where there are 8 truly unique towns, rather than 10,000 similar or exactly the same towns contained in this buggy game you call Daggerfall!"

I eventually got let go.

Morrowind continues this trend however the towns definitely look unique and are fewer.

Gothic destroyed all Elder Scrolls games, fitting more into the Ultima, Ultima Underworld type feel. Another game that was excellent and rarely mentioned was ARX FATALIS. Excellent, very unique and really felt like a true Ultima Underworld 3.

Now I just wish Bethesda would do the engine and let Gothic, Arx Fatalis and System Shock writers get involved. That would be a great combo!

Gothic I raised the bar for 3rd person rpg's. Why you might ask? It pulled standard crpg's away from turn-based combat where action based skill matters, voice-overs for npc's, not much loading at all, almost like an mmorpg, made you feel like you were really in the game world. It also included a duel system (almost like pvp) where you can train by dueling with one of the npc's. The game not only felt like an online game of today, but the way the story flowed, it made you feel like you were really part of it. One minute you're part of a camp, the next minute they're all against you. Gothic I was the best! If you ask me, that was the game that inspired designers to create games like Morrowind (which wasn't even half as good, imo), and today's mmorpg's.

If you haven't played it, you should definitely pick it up. I'm talking Gothic I, not II. To me, there's no sense in playing the second game until you've played the first. The graphics are good enough... they're not very outdated at all.

Mouse-based inventory management is all i ask. Oh, and maybe some slightly better player anims. Other than that, Gothic II was awesome.

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Pandora Studios programmer
http://www.frag-ops.com

Actually, I think I read something about Gothic III letting you use the mouse for interface actions (like inventory management). May just have been unsubstantiated rumors though.

More hot keys for spells would help, too.

I've been waiting for this one. They always hinted it was to be a trilogy. One of my favorite series.

I found the controls to be great. The problem wasn't that they were bad, or that they were unintuitive. They were just different. If you are used to WASD shooter/action game controls, then you'll find that they follow a completely different concept. The bad part is that you have to get over expecting them to work like shooter controls. Once you do that, they are absolutely fantastic, intuitive, and very, very quick to use.