Gothic 2 Gold Edition

I'm so conflicted about this game, because it kept me playing for 45 hours and I don't regret the time spent with it, but I genuinely dont think I'd recommend it to most people. Be warned - this is the GOLD edition, meaning it comes with NotR's boosted difficulty which, for a new player like me coming fresh from Gothic 1 and having never touched G2 classic, was a shock to say the least. Like most "difficult" things in life, the difficulty comes more from being willing to hit your head against a wall, slogging and grinding away at the thing in little chunks, rather than from any deeper innate challenge. I generally don't like difficult games, and this game is an excellent example of why: you WILL beat it, but you just have to keep knocking away at it, which some people enjoy, but I find largely a waste of time and not rewarding at all. Add to that some of the most egregious jank I've ever experienced in a video game and you have a recipe for an experience that's so frustrating that, for me, it outshone the good and beautiful parts of the game (of which there are many). The jank actively works against the best part of this game (its progression) because it ensures that even after you're finally kitted out to the nines in gleaming plate armour, you never TRULY feel like you're on top of the world, because one poor targetting failure or invisible ledge that catapults you to your death is always waiting around the next corner. I kept pushing through and I'm glad I did, because the world is charming and the core RPG mechanics are so good (much like Gothic 1), but please do be aware of what you're getting into here. This game is a commitment that is simply not very rewarding.

...maybe even the most fun I've had on my PC. There is something about the design of this game, and even the design of the artwork, that makes it the best RPG experience I've ever had. There is no level-balancing in this game, which means that there are areas that you just can't safely enter until you reach a certain experience level. This required a lot of extra effort for the developers, as they had to design the plot(s) to coincide with the level of the monsters in different areas. In my opinion this is a far superior design to that of Oblivion: when you finally are able to conquer an area you really feel like you accomplished something. This type of design does make the game slightly more linear, but you really don't notice - you're far too busy having fun. The graphics, although dated, are beautiful. I remember when I first played the game, just raving to friends about the gorgeous countryside I was exploring. The artists made the most of the technology they had at the time. It's been a while since I played, but as I recall most of the game is played from an over-the-shoulder perspective. The combat is pretty much real-time hack-and-slash, with magic and ranged weapons as well. There are 3 different paths you can take, each one plays out differently with different areas and quests available depending on your choice. This allows for at least 3 playthroughs, which is a lot of great entertainment. Anyway, I highly recommend this game. Just be patient and persistant through the first areas - it's worth it in the end.

I know this Review won't make a lot of people happy, but i feel i should also show the "not blinded by nostalgia" side of things. Also i want to point out, that this is my view at this moment...in 2012. I bought this on gog, since i didn't get my old boxed version running (or even installing) after debating for 2 days if it is worth the money or not and now i wish i would have bought something else. I recently played Risen 2, followed by Risen 1, which is imo a lot better (and looks even better at times than part 2 strangely) and now after i finished both, i wanted more. Knowing about the botched Arcania and allready played the mediocre Gothic 3, i thought i move further back to the game that i bought in the past, but never really got into it at those times, even though I loved Gothic 1. Now after installing it, waiting forever to get it started (has some issues on my win7 64bit and takes forever to start) i took my first steps, allready repulsed to not have a mouse cursor in the menu. Those first steps where very akward...mouse sensitivity was all the way up and still felt to low, which i had to counter with my Logitech sensitivity button, but that wasn't the end of it. The whole control sheme is disgusting from a modern viewpoint and the main difficulty in this rather hard game comes from the controls. I was expecting a similar system to Risen 1 at least, but boy was I off. I can't say much about the story and rest of the gameplay, cause the graphics (i expected old graphics, but not those extra hard fade ins of enemies and objects that this game has) and controls made me quit after 10 minutes. So yeah in short: I accept that this is one of the best RPGs ever produced, but if you want to play it today, you have to have a veeeery high tolerance. I am not a graphics whore and also grew up with the developement of computer games, all the way back to a C64 and still love to play several old games today, but i simply can't deal with how bad the controls in this game are. I hope this viewpoint helps out some people. I was blinded by my memory that this was a great game and by the amount of positive reviews.

Masterpiece

Just played Gothic 2+NOTR last semester, and it is without a doubt the best RPG I've ever played.