Gothic 2 Gold Edition

Due to a variety of publishing issues this game was delayed outside Germany for close to a year and once released to the rest of the world it was hard to find a copy in most countries. A lack of advertisement undoubtedly hurt sales and a very steep learning curve coupled with very poor default settings/controls caused the game to recieve many unfair reviews. In short this forgotten gem did not recieve the praise it deserved. Featuring a living breathing fully voiced world and probably the best melee combat system since Severance this was way ahead of its peers in many areas and remain one of the best crpg's ever created.

The game has clunky controls, a severe lack of music and the worst combat system I've ever seen in a game.

Don't play with game with Night of the Raven. At least not the first time around. I was warned about this too, but I didn't listen. "What could be bad about more content, even if it does make the entire game slightly more difficult. Gothic 1 was pretty easy!" I thought. The problem here is 'slightly'. NotR doesn't make the game 'slightly' more difficult. It makes it extremely difficult. To the point where the only viable way to play is to metagame and min/max your character according to guides you find online and even then it doesn't seem to work all that well. Maybe NotR is great for experienced players, but for first timers? Even those coming right off the back of Gothic 1? Don't bother. I had to re-do the first ten hours of the game twice because I made an oopsie that prevented me from gaining health for several of those levels (Don't level up while using a transformation scroll or the health you get from leveling up won't apply). Now I'm on Chapter 2 and I can't beat this pair of Orcs guarding this certain area. I want to re-install the game without NotR, but I don't want to go through those first dozen or so hours from the very start again. The difficulty added by the expansion has ruined what should have been a very enjoyable and fairly balanced experience. There is a good game here, don't get me wrong, but it's not with the expansion.

A Wonderful Game. I have played it for many Hours and will play it again and again. Buy it

After so many positive reviews I was looking forward to playing this game. After installing I noticed that I doesn't work. The process is running but beyond that there is no indication that anything is happening. To fix this problem I made the following registry change: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\GameUX\ServiceLocation to the value 127.0.0.1. Apparently the prior value points to a Microsoft server which has been retired. Don't forget to reboot after making this change. At least now the game starts, sort of. I hear audio but no video. To correct this problem you need to open Gothic.ini in the Gothic - System folder and change scaleVideo=1 to scaleVideo=0. Now the game seems to run. The interface is a bit clunky but with some practice you can get by. The graphics are crude and the resolution is fixed, unlike many other GOG games which allow you to adjust the resolution to the capabilities of your PC. While exploring you can only find loot if your weapon is not equipped. Fighting without a weapon is suicide so you end up constantly switching back and forth between weapon and no weapon. Lining up with items to interact with is annoying due to the clunky interface. Still I pressed on. What finally killed the game for me was the clunky interface making battles difficult. It appears that you need to be a precise distance from the enemy otherwise you won't be allowed to use you weapon. With the poor graphics I found it difficult to gauge. As the enemy charges I pull my weapon and when they get close enough I strike. Sometimes the weapon swings (sword) and other times nothing happens - I assume because the enemy got too close. Yet the enemy has no difficulty striking you. Even on the lower levels I ended up getting killed frequently because I couldn't fight back. The point of the game is to have fun and trying to figure out how to make the best of the clunky interface is the opposite of fun.