Ok, after 25 hours I finished my replay of Gothic 1, after having not touched it for maybe 15 years. And man what a nostalgia trip it has been. It was really fun running through the world (I pretty much cleared almost everything, even went back and clean house in the Old Camp) and seeing how much I remember about it. And was surprised that I remembered quite a bit. But some parts, particularly the Sleeper's labyrinthine temple, I did not remember much about. Also, I knew most of the major story beats, but forgot a lot of details.
So, overall it was great playing it again, but I also stumbled on quite a lot of issues. Nothing gamebreaking per-se, but a lot of annoyances. The worst one has to be a control glitch that quite often seems to make the game think I'm always pressing either the left mouse button, or the right one. And this cause issues like, while jumping around using acrobatics the char sometimes jumps an extra one and usually does this off a cliff. But a worse thing is when this happens in combat, and i seem to be locked onto one enemy and have difficulties focusing on any other foe.
Other issues, which I don't seem to remember from the initial playthroughs, are all sorts of mixups with quest and world status triggers. For example, I started as a Shadow/Guard with the Old Camp, then moved to the Mercenaries. And then, weirdly enough, I was prompted to become a Water Mage. This has to be a bug right? Anyways, I accidentally did that and from that onward I couldn't seem to find anyone to train me in strength.
But overall, even with the issues I had, it was a great run. Loved it. But it's a hard game to love, especially as a gamer in this day and age, with all the conveniences of game design. I wonder how I would look at this game if I never had touched it before. I'm sure I would not be as forgiving was I am now. Heck, the first time I touched Gothic 1 in 2001/2002 I dropped it like a hot potato due to its "bad" design. And upon trying it again and again I found the great diamond in the rough that it was. A game that was really ahead of its time.
So, I guess I'll try and start a playthough of Gothic 2/NOTR next. I'm not sure if I actually will, as towards the ending of G1 I really felt myself rushing, so I'll have to see how I feel. But, as said before, a great nostalgia trip. I recommend it.