Gothic First time playing Gothic

[JDR13]

My favorite moments from G2 were returning to the Valley of Mines for the first time and when I realized who the Seekers were.

 

[Pladio]

That requires foreknowledge of what's needed, when. I prefer a more non-optimal and natural approach.

Not really, it's called roleplaying

I want to be a mage that can pickpocket you. Then that's the route I go with as much as I can.

I want to be a fighter that can kill five hundred minions with his fists.
-> It seems this game has no fistfighting
-> I want to kill five hundred minions with my might axe
-> Develop as an axe fighter

Doesn't seem like much foreknowledge is necessary.

 

[Pladio]

@Thrasher

Exactly, I don't really know my play style (melee, range, mage) is till somewhere approaching mid game. Then I start dumping points into what I need.

The only game that I could not do this style of game play was in the current Lords of Xulima. I needed my points ASAP to survive. Sorta weird not sitting on points.

But how is that "natural"...
Do you go about in life not learning anything at all until all of a sudden you get a burst of energy where for one year you dedicate your life to the pursuit of architecture and become a master architect ?

 

[Deleted User]

I think my way is the most "natural". I just wing it, spend the points as I see fit, don't hoard anything, don't save anything (well, maybe a point here or there just as emergency backup points), and just play it naturally. I don't try to min/max anything or have a real plan, just make it up as I go.

I have probably butchered my G2 character, but as long as I can somewhat survive I should be okay. I think the game expects you to spend a lot of your points as you level up, and then when you join a faction, of course they expect you to spend a LOT of new points on new skills offered by the faction trainers.

If the game eventually breaks because my character is too weak, I'll say the game beat me and leave it at that. I would possibly return in the future and give it a second shot, but I'm not going to play "unnaturally" or different than the style I choose. So, I hope G2 works well in this regard. So far, so good, but we shall see what happens as we go farther, for sure.

 

[Thrasher]

For example, if you didn't know better, you could spend all your points on 1 handed weapon skills and strength, if you didn't know you needed to save points for magic skills and attributes. It's very simple to understand, really.

Some games reward you lavishly with skills and attribute upgrades. G2 does not. You need to save them if you want to specialize. It's not really a roleplaying choice, so much as a character building necessity.

 

[Dajjer]

But how is that "natural"…
Do you go about in life not learning anything at all until all of a sudden you get a burst of energy where for one year you dedicate your life to the pursuit of architecture and become a master architect ?

Natural? I never said that. It's a fantasy role playing game, I don't think of natural when I play the games.

But in response to your secondary comment, let me say this. How I see things is that you do go about in life observing stuff. Sometimes you learn and sometimes you don't as you waddle along. But when you finally find that niche you've been searching for, then you start applying your energies to your pursuit. Hopefully, if you love that niche you've found then you will be a success. Or at least happy.

And that's how I kinda play RPGs.

 

[Deleted User]

Hmm, Xardas' advice from the manual states that one should follow a development path firmly, not randomly distribute Learning Points. I hope I didn't permanently weaken my character to the point that I won't be able to beat the game.

I was going the bow route, distributing points in dexterity and bow skill (I'm only level 7, my dex is 27 and my bow skill is 28%), but now I've decided that I want to wield a magic wand, which is a two-handed weapon. My two-handed skill is very low and the bow is still my deadliest weapon, but I'm hoping I can gain the necessary strength to use the wand now.

Hmm. I should have read the manual first.

 

[fragonard]

You have chosen the natural path which is admirable but it is not the "Gothic" path. You should be around level 13 or so before picking a faction and level 22 at the end of ch. 2 and the NOTR area. Unfortunately, this does mean grinding every XP you can. This isn't as bad as it may sound because of the way PB implemented it. G2 NOTR was PB's answer to hard core players who were willing (and eager) to do that.
I originally played non-NOTR G2 the way you're doing it and it worked out pretty well but it took a few false starts with NOTR to figure out what had to be done. To me, that's a high DEX Mage. Later battles can be unforgiving without high skills and attributes. On the other hand, most G2 fans don't mind multiple starts, I sure didn't. The game is always an amazing experience.

 

[Pladio]

Hmm, Xardas' advice from the manual states that one should follow a development path firmly, not randomly distribute Learning Points. I hope I didn't permanently weaken my character to the point that I won't be able to beat the game.

I was going the bow route, distributing points in dexterity and bow skill (I'm only level 7, my dex is 27 and my bow skill is 28%), but now I've decided that I want to wield a magic wand, which is a two-handed weapon. My two-handed skill is very low and the bow is still my deadliest weapon, but I'm hoping I can gain the necessary strength to use the wand now.

Hmm. I should have read the manual first.

I think if you start focusing on magic then you'll be fine, but don't focus on weapons too much too.

At level 7 you still have plenty of room for growth, but not if you try and become a jack of all trades.

So in my opinion you should pick between magic skills or two handers now. But you could still do it probably anyway if you actually do grind.

I disagree with fragonard and I do not think that grinding is necessary unless you try and become a jack of all trades.

I easily got to chapter 4 without grinding at all...

 

[JDR13]

I was going the bow route, distributing points in dexterity and bow skill (I'm only level 7, my dex is 27 and my bow skill is 28%), but now I've decided that I want to wield a magic wand, which is a two-handed weapon. My two-handed skill is very low and the bow is still my deadliest weapon, but I'm hoping I can gain the necessary strength to use the wand now.

When you say magic wand you mean staffs, right? What's the damage modifier for staffs? I'm not sure, but I think it's strength.

If that's the case, then go with dexterity-based swords instead. Since you've already pumped some LPs into dex, it would be a mistake to start investing in strength now. Strength is pretty much useless for a mage in G2 anyways.

*Edit* Here's a chart that shows the weapons, their damage, and their strength/dex requirement. Don't worry, it doesn't reveal where anything is located or how to obtain them.

http://www.worldofgothic.com/gothic2/?go=addonwaffen

The strength requirements for staffs are lower than I thought, but their damage output is crap. I suppose you could still go that route if you're playing as a pure mage, but I'd still recommend dex-based swords.

 

[Deleted User]

Well, I'm playing blindly, so I didn't have the chance to check charts and stuff. I saw a magic wand for sale for a whopping 850 gold, I saved up and bought it, only to find out it's a two-handed weapon. I thought it was actually going to be a projectile magic weapon, so I was wrong. So now, I either suck it up and invest in points to wield or it, or I sell it back for a fraction of the price I bought it for. We'll see.

I want to play as though I don't have access to the internet, much like it would have been back in 2002 had I played this for the first time. It is my first time ever playing the game, after all.

Did I mention I'm enjoying myself quite a bit? I surely am.

 

[JDR13]

I want to play as though I don't have access to the internet, much like it would have been back in 2002 had I played this for the first time. It is my first time ever playing the game, after all.

You didn't have Internet in 2002? Did you live in a log cabin or something?

 

[CelticFrost]

You didn't have Internet in 2002? Did you live in a log cabin or something?

LOL!!! I still have my 2400 modem from 1996...but truth be told a lot of people didn't back 13 years ago and the net was a better place for it.

 

[Thrasher]

True. It was still a bit geeky back then.

 

[mprod]

the magic route is a hard road to travel on the first NOTR playthrough

I actually like that it means that magic isn´t for everyone and you have to sacrifice other things to be a competent mage and still it is almost impossible to make it through the expansion without knowing what you are doing

Using a bow and running a lot tends to be my recipie in the first two chapters if I´m going for mage and also taking advantage of every companions you find

You have to learn to live with the fact that magic is gimped and is the harshest route since you will not be able to get the powerful spells until later chapters

 

[Deleted User]

You didn't have Internet in 2002? Did you live in a log cabin or something?

Hehe! Well, I certainly had internet, even DSL at that time (which was a lot faster than dial-up I had a few years before!), but I don't recall ever looking up video game information back then. If I needed help beating a game, I'd ask a friend, or purchase a strategy guide. Those were the days. (Although I seem to be talking more about the '90s rather than the 2000s. In the '90s it was strategy guide or nothing.)

 

[Deleted User]

The game somehow keeps getting better, but how can perfection be topped? Miraculously, it keeps topping itself with every hour spent playing this beast. Here's what I think of my recent adventures.

Spoiler: ...

So, I started Chapter 2 and headed to the Valley of Mines. Man, what an adventure this was going to be! Sergio escorted me to the pass and I hesitantly stepped through. Before you know it, I'm climbing rocky paths and see an old mine shaft entrance. Neat, let's go on in. Well, to my complete shock and utter amazement, I arrived on the other side in the starting area of the original Gothic game!!

This blew my mind. I remember playing Gothic and trying to get into this old mine shaft early in the game, but the door was locked. Now, here I was a year later, finally figuring out where that mine led to. Amazing stuff.

So, I roam around a little bit, feeling the nostalgia of Gothic 1 all over again, except this time, it's not a starter zone anymore. No, far from it, the land is teeming with orcs, and I met my untimely demise very quickly by heading in the wrong direction. I walked down the path and met someone who instructed me how to get into the castle. Neat! This land was so familiar and I knew just what to do.

So, I swim a bit downstream towards a safe spot to take to land to try and make my way past the orcs. This was another amazing design choice by Piranha Bytes. This land is ridiculously dangerous, so making a run for it to get into the castle is great fun! Almost always you will have orcs on your tail and you have to be precise with your movement or else you could meet an untimely end.

This is another reason why I think this masterpiece has exquisite level design. This level is so dangerous, yet there are some easier enemies you can pick off along the way, just don't venture too far into the wrong direction, or you will be food for a hungry pack of something vicious. Love that diversity in the enemy placement. Just utterly brilliant design, here.

I still contend that all RPG developers should study this game thoroughly, especially if you are making an open-world. Forget the level-scaling, forget the random generators, build something hand-crafted and meaningful like in Gothic 2. This game is already quickly becoming my favorite open-world RPG ever, although Morrowind holds that spot currently, this game is certainly making ground with each passing hour I spend joyfully exploring it's detailed landscape.

Exploring the castle was also great fun. It brought back many memories of how I first entered the castle in Gothic 1 and how fun it was back then just to gain entrance to the place. I met some new characters, gathered some new quests, equipped myself properly and headed back out into the wilds to try and find the groups of scrapers led by the paladins. This should be fun!

The whole land was like a big minefield of dangerous enemies. Snappers everywhere, angry orcs patrolling, lurkers lurking around the water; this place had it all. Yet I managed to find a somewhat safe path to the scrapers' camp. I helped them clear the surrounding land of snappers (which I got no XP for. Boo! I lured them into the camp to be killed because I wasn't strong enough to kill them one on one), and helped Billgot leave the camp unharmed.

So I head out of the scrapers' camp to explore a bit more with Billgot by my side, and who do I find around the bend? Diego!! Wow, it was nice to see him. He was my best bud in the first Gothic game and I couldn't wait to see what he had to say about the current situation. After a little chat he gave me some gold towards paying to get Gorn (another friend from G1!) out of prison, and then Diego actually joined me! He wanted to leave the valley, but first, how about a little hunting with my old pal? To make up for the loss of XP with the snappers, Diego, Billgot and I hunted down a few wargs for a whopping 300 xp a piece! That made my day.

That's where I left off for now. I have some decisions to make. I raised my dexterity by 3, to 30, so I can equip a new bow, and I'm not sure if I'm going to learn magic all the way through, or perhaps increase my strength to wield a wand better. We'll see. I'm leaning towards magic, because of course, I am a Fire Magician and it's only right I learn some new spells and make some nice runes and what not. In the meantime, I'm using my bow to great success and taking care of the lesser enemies with it. Fun stuff.

This game is just amazingly good. Why, oh why do developers not copy this game and release an updated version today!? I know the Risen games continue the spirit, but devs should really take notes from this game to improve their own offerings. Perhaps someday we will see a new Kickstarter for a game that tries to capture to original Gothic vibe, as it were. That would be really cool.

 

[Gorath]

Nice adventures you have there … but I suspect you didn't exactly listen what your job is in the valley of mines.

btw., which level are you now?

 

[Deleted User]

I'm level 8 now. Just leveled up in my last session.

What do you mean I didn't listen? Please, no spoilers, but I'm pretty sure I have to:

Spoiler

get proof that the dragons are attacking. In order to do that, I have to do some tasks for Garond, who will then write a letter of proof to give to Lord Hagen.

I'm working on that, but I thought I would assist Diego and Billgot along the way.

 

[Gorath]

Correct. In chapter 2 you should stick relatively close to your task.

Level 8 is not enough. You'll either hit difficulty wall or ruin the balancing.
You should load a savegame from before you entered the valley. Or try to leave the valley again and return later to finish chapter 2. This could trigger a spoilerish encounter though. I don't remember if you can simply travel back to the main land.

Continue the main quest after you're back from Jharkendar.