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.