Gothic 1- picking up/equipping
 

I just decided to go back to this series roots and start playing the first Gothic.
I don't seem to be able to pick anything up out of a chest nor to equip weapons.

How might I do this?

In Gothic 1, ctrl was used for everything, so when picking something up/using something, hold ctrl and then press up. If you want to take something from a chest, use ctrl + right, and ctrl + left to take it back. To equip a weapon, use ctrl + up, as with any other item you want to use/interact with.

Hope that helps. And welcome to the forum. :)

For mouse-players like me, hold left mouse button and press W or arrow up.

In Gothic 1 , getting things into focus preceeds everything else. This is a major advantage as seen by the following 2 examples:

1. You've just killed a bunch of orcs and you wish to selectively search their bodies. Just as simple as holding down control and pressing the left and right arrow keys.

2. You want to test if nameless is able to climb over a particular ledge. If climbing is possible, holding down the Alt key will bring the ledge into focus. You can then perform the actual climbing by pressing the up arrow key.

Trying to do either of the above in Gothic 2 is really a pain. Why people say that Gothic 2/3 controls are an improvement and why the devs abandoned such a superior control scheme is beyond me.

PS Using keyboard only controls is the best way to play. You get to use only one input device and it is much more convenient to use your right hand to control the hero's moves, which is very important in fighting. Left handed players may adjust the controls accordingly.

Erm, aren't those examples actually bad? Pressing just one button or clicking once is better, right? Seriously, Gothic 1 controls are not intuitive at all - well, at least to me.

Keyboard only is the best way to play?! You must be a masochist :)

Most people, me included, find the Gothic 1 controls to be clumsy. Could it be that you've gotten used to the controls and have forgotten how you hated them the first time? :p

Why are those bad examples? They are examples of things you cannot easily do in Gothic 2 due to simplified controls.

And how the ability to play a game whilst comfortably on my couch with the keyboard on my lap makes me a masochist?

Well, you said it yourself. Gothic 2 has simplified controls. That's a good thing :)

Couch with keyboard on lap,eh? Hmm, I guess that makes sense kinda…to forgo using a mouse but how on earth do you play FPS or RTS?

not to be picky about the examples but i could have sworn that in G1 orcs never had anything left on their bodies :)

as for the controls themselves i predominantly used the keyboard with the mouse reserved for looking over ledges and such (in both G1 and G2 if memory serves correct)

Replace 'orcs' with 'wargs' or something else then, myself I always search eveyone and everything just to make sure, kind of a compulsion. Also: does anyone else have the problem of bringing the campfire into focus in G3 when plenty of people around? This would be a piece of cake with G1 controls. Or how about when you want to loot just the body of the orc leader ignoring the rest?

And you can use the keyboard to look as well, Numpad 0 or 'F' + arrow keys.

yeah i have to admit that i do the same (even after realising that orcs didn't have anything i still checked "just in case"). oh and as an aside i just remembered that the dancing orcs in the orc town had beer and food so my comment was actually wrong in the first place :embarassed:

as for looking around using the keyboard i never really used it as it seemed convenient using the mouse (and as i only really used it outside combat, having to take one hand off the keyboard was never much of an issue for me)

i can't really comment on G3 as i was waiting for the next patch before having a serious go at it, although i have to admit that i'm growing somewhat impatient (expressing my eagerness to play rather than complaining about when PB is releasing the next patch in case anyone takes it the wrong way) and may well just play it as it is. there's only so many times i can read the manual afterall

thanks, that helps quite a bit.

any ideas as to where I might buy/obtain a full copy of the game?

All this talk about Gothic reignited my interest in the game and before I realised what i was doing, I had installed Gothic 1 and played it late last night for a while. I woke up this morning late for work. Aaargh.

And I'm in the middle of playing NWN2…

DAMN YOU, Lethal Weapon!!! *shakes fist*
:biggrin:

But the stuff you say happen once in a while,
So sometimes - the Gothic 1 controls offer an easier selection,
But in general, its complicated, clumzy, no one likes it, and thats why.
But for me, the controls are just fine, I mean I like the second's better, but its ok!