Gothic

I think i've played and finished this game 6 times. it is without a doubt, the most immersive, fun and interesting games i've ever played. and I've played alot(45 years old gamer). for people who are just looking for graphics it might detract them, so they could try gothic 3, still an amazing beauty to behold even 15 years later. but gothic 1 is the source. it is the most complete of the series. the most thought of. everything is perfect. the developers of this game came up with a courageous gimmick for their games-in the beginning you get your arse kicked, so you are very very careful in the start, and later on you become so powerful, you're almost a god, and you can take back your damaged pride. which is great great satisfaction. its just that good. I love all thier games, and finished all of them. but this is the best there is. I enjoy this more than fallout 1,2. or planescape. the fun part of the game is finding how to trick your enemies, even if its fooling with the AI. its just fun. and its legit-without cheating.

To come back to this in the present day may take some getting used to. the game is played entirely with the keyboard. Yet, i still have not played any open world RPG as masterfully engaging and well composed as this. this is even farther ahead than Morrowind which was released a year later! you even have NPCs that follow a daily schedule, play guitar and eat and smoke, walk around and hunt and fight. it foreshadows games like STALKER and feels far more alive than even Witcher 3! you have to cook your food over fires, physically take metal to forges and cool it off in a bucket to craft items. touches like this really add immersion rather than just picking though a menu like most modern games. this is a dark fantasy world with a great setup where everyone wants to fuck you over and trust has to be earned, there's a real sense of danger everywhere, and the world has memorable locations and decisions and is rewarding to explore. There is also no level scaling, this is genuine Dark Souls esque combat where you have to learn combat and stay away from tougher enemies at first or you will be slaughtered. But your character visibly gets better at swinging a sword as you level up/learn skills, there's a lot more feedback than just stat increases, and eventually it becomes quite easy by end game. There are 3 major factions in the game to take questlines from and this adds to replay value. One of the camps is a religious cult that literally makes you sell weed to the others! how many RPGs have that lmao Overall i highly recommend giving this a chance, i got completely sucked in despite the learning curve and it became my favorite western/PC RPG of all time.

Getting past the oddball control scheme and laughable voice acting is a major challenge. Once you do, however, you will find an absolutely amazing game, with unparalleled interaction for its time, an impressive story line, and an immersive world. If you're one of the people that missed it like I did the first time around, it's worth your attention.

The tale of Gothic is one of my most enjoyable CRPG experiences, ranking up there with the likes of Baldur's Gate, Fallout and Planescape: Torment. The replayability, character development, sense of adventure and story are the strong points. The weak points are minor bugs, slightly confussing controls, frustrating but rewarding combat and game mechanics. Many can either love or hate the very difficult learning curve that this game represents when compared to more modern and yet tamed, linearised and homogenised experiences that can be found in games like Oblivion and Mass Effect. If you're yet to experience Gothic, this is a definite bargain, well worth a look by any RPG addict, or a newcomer to the genre looking for some of the earlier yet still recently modern classics.

I somehow completely overlooked the Gothic franchise when it first arrived in the USA those many years ago, like so many others. I only discovered the game when I was looking online through forums and videos for a fantasy-based gaming experience with a fun magic system and plenty of depth. It has both of these and much more, with a world that feels much more fleshed out than many current games could claim to boast. Yes, there are quirks to the game system, and sometimes things won't function as intended, but all in all, it's worth the time to dive into this adventure.