Gothic 3 gameplay questions

It's early in my game and I've been working with the rebels in Reddock to complete their first few quests. But what if I then decide to do some of the mercenary quests for the commander in Cape Dun? (to get as much exp as possible) Will this mean I'll then be attacked by the rebels in Reddock on sight? Can you do quests for each and any group in the game world yet still decide later on which group you want to support earnestly? Or are there consequenses for being fickle?

I was also wondering just what the difference is in the skills SWORDFIGHTER and STRONG SWORDFIGHTER? I don't really see any difference in the fight moves or in the quickness of my attacks... like in gothic 2. Is it just that some weapons require the higher mastery? or is it just to meet the requirements to reach the higher progressions in the skill tree?

Thanks for all info...

The way I understand (from reading reviews) is that it is only when you overall 'rumor'
(or fame) with a certain faction, say the Rebels or the Nordmars etc. raise above, iirc, 75% that you will be attacked on sight by say Orcs or Humans.

In a Gothic forum somewhere on the internet, they actually recommeded that you didn't just side with one faction, but tried to get along with all factions. (this has a certain outcome, which I won't spoil for you).

I believe, iirc, that, yes, you may do all the quests in the game, or none at al,l and still be able to finish the game. (this choice also have some consequences and a different ending or outcome).

If you decide to side with the orcs or the humans or the hashashins this also alters, iirc, the outcome of the game.

The point is:
Yes, may do the mercenary quests for the captain in Cape Dun, be advised though that at a certain time, certain people might not speak to you or will attack you - on sight.

whether the reputation is local or factional it will never have a negative impact on your relationship with another faction. granted you will be hard pressed to get any faction other than the rangers and nordmar over 75% without doing actions that will harm your reputation with the other factions. killing an individual in a city for example will give a warning for that city, but will have no bearing on that factions relationship towards you. kill another member in that city and the whole town will go after you and that will affect your factional relationship with whosever town that was. one you have you have liberated more than 3 towns including the unavoidable ardea, you will be past the breaking point with the orcs and there leaders will attack you if you get near them. but once you liberated the 4th town all orcs will kill you on sight. the hashinin are similar but i think you can only liberate 2 of there towns.

another thing to note is that killing anyone from any faction that is not part of the towns normal population is 'fair game' and you won't suffer any penalties by stealing or killing them. for example the orc search party in the begining of the game.

oh and the sword improvement basically just increases your chance of a critical hit as well as making it harder for your oponnent to block. and the master skill of any melee weapon increases that chance more but it also gives a chance to knock down which can often be more harm than help so be careful before picking that one up. the biggest way to improve your skills is not through better weapons or skills but the amount of strength for fighting, hunting for bows, and ancient knowledge for spell casting. i would suggest pouring most of your lps on the one that fits the type of character you want to play. though you can tough it out and be a 'jack of all trades' as well.

The way it works is if you kill off one side/group of a MAIN faction (Orcs, Rebels or Hasissians) in a village/town, that is Secretly (no one last I knew has found these numbers yet) counted against you with the faction you killed off.
Minor factions have a count too, though its possible its counted differently.
Now the more towns/villages you free/secure its counted against your Rep with that faction.

So lets say you have a 20 Rep with the Orcs and you free 4 Orc villages for the Rebels, with that low of Rep you will automaticly be attacked by any Orc you met in any area even Varant.
Now say you Rep was 100 with the Orcs and you freed 4 villages for the Rebels well then you prabably would Not get atttacked.

So the moral of the story, go through every town/village doing every quest for each side except ones that require killing rivals (usually the Bosses of each Faction) this way you will be gaining Rep and Exp for all the villages, the Major Factions and Minor, then if you want at anytime you can choose your side and start freeing or securing towns and villages.
You could spend 50 or 60 hours depending on your play style reaching above level 70, before every deciding to change the world.

Thanks for the info ... I have been keeping an eye on things, as I want to role play but also maximize my experience ...

Hey, thanks for all that excellent info... that helps alot!

Curious, why does getting a knock down on an opponent do more harm than good???

well when fighting many apoints, such as when liberating a town you wind up knocking an enemy down and then another person will attack you. so this actually can make combat harder from one perspective. while this feature usually doesn't bother me it can be frustrating. others are quite upset with this though but then also some people complain that combat is to easy. it would be quite ironic if anyone out there shared both of those opinions.

CarcusRex said:

Curious, why does getting a knock down on an opponent do more harm than good???

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I agree with what Curious was saying. Interestingly, I am working on Staff fighting, and that seems to hit a lot more knockdowns, and like anything else you learn to deal with that strategically ... so when I bought a flame sword and decided to give it a go I found it difficult to deal with fewer knockdowns for a while.

Not that I'm a glutton for punishment, but I actually find in somewhat unrealistic and even a little annoying when I'm surrounded by enemies but only my target attacks me... alowing me to take out the whole bunch one at a time.

I've had a few knockdowns while group fighting and every time I tried to remind myself to IMMEDIATELY perform a finishing kill before he gets up. But so far I'm not coordinated and quick enough to accomplish that. I usually end up just trying to run away and gain some space before I return to the fight. Then again, if he's an outright enemy (as opposed to a neutral NPC) maybe the kill move is not applicable... ???

Most of the time, if you're actually attacked, the kill move is unnecessary!! I've never used it!!

Same here, never used the 'coup-de-gras' yet and don't intend to. whenever possible i use the stealth method of enticing the opponents one at a time.