Gothic

When I say Gothic, I refer to Gothic series (1, 2 and 3) because although they have differences in terms of visuals and gameplay, they feel like one epic adventure for me. I have been a Gothic fan for 12 years and I believe you will hear what I said in the title from most Gothic fans. Seriously, there is no other game like Gothic and I hope that the developers will consider making a new one. I played all three games multiple times and with an increasing enjoyment at each replay. I played many other games too but since I played the first Gothic game back in 2002, only its sequels were able to give the same amount of fun and no other game came close to that. Over the course of the years, I searched on the search engines a lot for the following query and alike "games like Gothic" and played/tried almost everything I found. Still no other game was able to give that unique feeling and provide that unique atmosphere Gothic has. It has its own magic. Some players may find its controls annoying, some may find it a bit linear, some may not enjoy the lack of character selection and customization, but for me no other game I played was as immersive and as fun as Gothic. I have not played another game in which every single encounter mattered as much as it mattered in Gothic (meatbug gives 10xp!). I have not played another game in which exploring the world was really a meaningful exploration and adventure and not a burden. Every corner, every cave and every tunnel had some surprises, rewards and punishments waiting for you to explore. I have not played another game, in which I ran away from a mob with the adrenaline level Gothic was able to create (Snapper, anyone?). I have not played another game in which I felt the danger as much as I felt in Gothic when I stepped into a Shadowbeast cave for the first time by mistake. Gothic has great story, great world, great atmosphere, great characters, great humor, great music and a great gameplay experience that you will never forget.

The game can be frustrating due to the awkward combat and controls, the tedious amounts of backtracking (that you can avoid using cheats - hint hint) and the buggy and unpolished nature of it. That said, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. I have rarely played a game that kept me this engaged all the way through to the end. If you want to go on an adventure in a fantasy world that is serious, humorous and mysterious in equal measure, you should give Gothic a chance. I really want to give it a 5/5, but I got frustrated one too many times. I have to stress though... Don't shy away from cheats.

Game just doesn't work. You'll start it up once and play just fine, but once you close it you'll never be able to open the game again unless you completely erase your save data. Even then, it might not even start and either crash instantly or freeze your whole computer, whatever the program feels like doing at the time. I'm done wasting time searching for solutions, spent too much of it already. I really wanted to play the game since my first time starting it up was actually quite enjoyable but damn man, it's just not worth the hassle of simply playing it. I can live without experiencing Gothic.

When it was first released Gothic was a milestone of RPGs and has had a massive influence on the genre. Now, two decades later it's undeniable that it's age is showing and various aspects of the game feel clunky by modern standards. However, despite this and thanks to the existence of mods, it still holds up, not just as a playable piece of video game history, but as a game actually worth playing. Must play for all RPG fans.

Ok, this game is a classic. Even with the random memory register overflow and ccess violation CTDs, it's worth buying, BUT... There are 2 huge flaws you need to bear in mind: - Game breaking bug: when getting the gearwheel in the Old Mine (in chapter 2), there is a clipping bug that prevents you from climbing up the ladder from where you got the gearwheel. This means you won't be able to complete the game, unless you learn the Acrobatics skill (10 skill points, see Buster in New Camp) that lets you jump longer so that you can ascend to a higher poing and jump back from there. The other option is to spend some skill points for extra mana (5 skill points, any trainer that can increase your max. mana) and buy a 'Transform into bloodfly' scroll (which you can't use if you only have 10 max mana) so you'll be able to fly back to where you came from. - You MUST increase your maximum mana or learn Acrobatics: apart from the game breaking bug above, you'll need to use Telekinesis in chapter 3 to get the focus stone in the mountain fort. You cannot use the Telekinesis scrolls if you don't have at least 15 mana so you must go there prepared. An alternative way is to learn acrobatics (see above) and jump down to the focus stone from the 2nd floor balcony (be sure to heal up before: you'll take some fall damage).