The spirit of Ghotic is immortal. The graphics of the original, the limitations of the engine (tho Piranya Bytes did God's Work on what was available) might have aged considerably, those are not what earned the love of the fanbase. The sheer volume of the climate, overflowing into every little crack of gameplay. The learning curve of the game, the gradual expanse the design serves you as a natural roadblocks set in your way to overcome... This is what ppl love about the game. I have spent more hours on average (compared to my friends) to complete single play through, just because of many different branches of story that are available to you as u take different approaches each time. Ghotic Is quite simple story to the core, yet quite complex on the edges. And whether You are a Passing Fan from time long gone, or a Die Hard Fan in the brewing cauldron of it it all, Pozdro to You all, magnificent bastards and hope to see You again, at the beginning of New old adventure, as always.
There is something special about early 2000's games that makes them still worthy of being played even after all these years. For me, games like Gothic 1 and 2, the first Mafia and Severance: Blade of Darkness are titles that never cease to amaze me, i've played and replayed these games so many times and i can't get enough of them.
The original German version has some dialogues that are completely different in English. In the english and all other than the german version they are spoilering the hole game. "he did not know, but he will change everything" In the german version they are just saying: "in all the years many had try to open the barrier, but not one was successful." In german is also said that King Rhobar reunited the Kingdom and not just united. Unfortunately, many of these bad translations can be found in English and from English they have been translated into all other languages. Also, not everyone in Gothic 1 is a serious criminal, because in the intro it is said that the longer the war lasted, the king needed more ore and you were even thrown into the barrier for small misdeeds. There is an NPC in Gothic 1 who says he is in the barrier because he didn't pay his taxes.
I think i only played Gothic 2: Night of the raven in german. Because I hadn't had the patience to wait for my polish version. And in the case of the polish version there were a few differences,but ones that stem rather from the peculiarities of that language, rather than something lore changing. As for the english version, i have no idea how it sounds, but from what i heard it is rather terrible.
Gothic 3 was my first introduction to the Gothic series. Never heard of Gothic games before playing III. I fell in love with it. Enjoyed it far more than any of the Elder Scrolls games or the Witcher 3. Not saying it did not have faults, clunky combat and many bugs, but even so the game was able to hold my interest and keep me engaged. Gothic III is among my favorite open world action RPGs!
I played all three and it's hard for me to understand much of the hate towards Gothic 3. If more people wouldn't compare the previous versions to it, it was fairly decent. Like you said, it had it's issues but it was still a fairly enjoyable game.
@@ziomek12390 you must be talking about Elder Scrolls games. There are NO loading screens in Gothic 3 during gameplay. For those regarding loading saved games - well, there was a whole continuous World out there that needed to be uploaded.
@@iuliannastasa6592 I load my game often from saving as I test lots of things throughout the gameplay. It's frustrating to have game load for such a long time
@@ziomek12390 yes it was obvious what you talk about, hence my reply. Anyway, the long loading screen used to be a problem (for some players) back in 2006-2008. It is a bit strange to encounter it on present day PCs - maybe you should adjust your settings (you seem to refer to a current situation, if I understand correctly).
Glad to see it when people actually examine Gothic 3 and point out its flaws instead of saying it's a good game because it's a walking simulator like I see a lot of the fanbase do. Good video.
I tried to be as even handed as i could. Acknowledging both the good and the bad. Even if it is a lackluster ending to the trilogy, it still can be fun.
Fanbase says so? I am Gothic player for almost 20 years and I will you tell this: G3 is not Gothic at all, its only a SHIT! I think a lot of Gothic players see it like that but I can be wrong.
i found gothic 3 to be good enough for me out of all the gothic games i put the most time into gothic 3 but then again it is a unfinished mediocre game
Gothic 1&2 promote social development of the character, not just exploration and leveling ! And the attribute and skill system is quite good and intuitive !
I played Oblivion shortly after finishing Gothic 2, which was a rush and made me feel extremely proud of myself. I could barely play Oblivion because I was so bored of the gameplay which made enemies scale with you.
That is one of the things that infuriated me in oblivion. I could be going back to a city after i finished off a powerful daedra, and on my way there a lowly goblin could kill me. That made the whole progression system worthless.
i never belived i woul love to see a review that much. im glad for everything you said and man you are good with words. this is very detaliate review more like a movie story. i love this and this type of format . thank you man for covering one of my favorite games of all time that i still play even today. i wish u all the best and u can be sure ill be here from now on. interesting chanel. and youtube knows what to recommend me
gothic 2 is as close to perfection as the game can be , it's unbelievable how many years passed since it came out and yet there is still no rpg that can rival its atmosphere .
I love these games, they might be my favorite games of all time, and i do consider them masterpieces, but i just can't close my eyes about some things, that frustrate me about them... My only few problems with the first two Gothic games are: The balancing in G1, where it was too easy to gain experience, because you can just beat up everyone, with almost no consequences, once you get a bit stronger, and it was very easy to exploit that. I think the developers tried to convey that the Colony has no laws, and as long as you're stronger, you can beat up people and get away with it. You can achieve 100 strength and get the best one-handed sword and the second-best two-handed weapon in the game, while also be a master at both styles of melee combat and clear the entire overworld map, including the orc lands, and also beat up all people in the Old, Smap and New Camps (ask if you want to know how) all in Chapter 1 with zero consequence... that is of course, if you know how to progress to achieve all that. You also get filthy rich by doing that. I had 23k ore, and over 1000 unsold weapons and a ton of potions and other items before chapter 2. Of course, i don't recommend playing like that. I did it, just see how much i can abuse the game, and i also did it in my 6th or 7th playthrough of the game. Any new player of G1 should experience the game blind and face the difficulties we all did back in the day. Still, that doesn't change the fact that you cane easily break the balance if you put and two together and realize how the rules of the Colony work. In Gothic 2, Piranha Bytes fixed most of these flaws, and these changes also made a lot of sense, because you're no longer in the lawless lands of the Colony, and you can no longer get away with crime (at least most crimes), if you have witnesses. Even more than that, if you beat up somebody, they might end up hating you and refusing to trade or talk to you for the rest of the game, unless you use an Oblivion spell on them. I think that's amazing and adds to the immersion a lot.
Still Gothic 2 wasn't without flaws, and here, my only problems with the game, is with the damage calculation, and the attribute balancing. I hate that you get diminishing returns for spending learning points in attributes, and you're forced to look for stone tablets and some rare plants that are almost impossible to find without a guide. Looking out for Dragonroot is a total BS and i hate it. And because of it, you also need to spend at least 21 learning points for Alchemy and 35 points to learn how to read the stone tablets. It's a chore raising attributes in G2, period! They should've let the attribute gain to be 5 for 5 until you reach 100 of the attribute you're raising, then after that the training should be 5 for 10 (and just for the one you're raising, but for all of them). On top of that, almost all attribute plants and attribute stone tablets should be removed from the game, maybe leave just 2 of each type as a bonus if you find them. Also, Alchemy should be a general skill that requires maybe 20 points to master, i don't like that you have to spend points for individual recipes, and look for different trainers that can teach them. The damage calculation in Gothic 1 was 100 times better than in Gothic 2. It's super frustrating that in G2, unless you hit with critical, you basically do lame damage. I had 110 strength, 30% One-Handed skill and an 80 damage sword with a 6% bonus to the one-handed skill.... and with all that it takes me 3-4 hits to kill a Scavanger, a Bloodfly or a Molerat, unless i perform a critical hit, which then kills them instantly... it basically makes no difference if i'm using my 80 damage sword or a f'n branch to fight these low-level enemies and that's once again, a total BS! Fighting humans is unfair and unbalanced too. With 36% chance to crit, i almost never get the crits when i need them the most, but the enemies always crit me and kill me with one or two shots, before i can crit them, even though i already hit them 5-6 times in that same battle with a supposed 36% chance to hit... which makes the combat way too much luck based than it should be, and i hate that! You ain't going to get far as a new player, unless you learn how to fight without getting hit.... and that takes some time and practice. While i love that the game requires actual skill and knowledge in that regard, the critical hits are just too overpowered, while the non-critical ones are just useless - the first needs nerfing and the second needs to be boosted to make the combat more enjoyable, while still keeping the challenge... otherwise, it's hard to have fun with it until you get 70%+ crit chance, which usually happens past the halfway point of the game. Everything else about these games, screams - Masterpiece! They where super ahead of their time when it comes to the pure RPG element. There are no games even to this day, in which the player is so influential to the game world. And that's just a small part of the magic of Gothic 1 & 2. I'm not even gonna talk about the music the atmosphere, and the masterful open world building, exploration and enemy placement. They are brilliant in keeping they player curious and surprised all the time. Just compare that with the overrated boring trash world that Skyrim has.
They did the whole diminishing returns thing when they released NotR, Gothic 2 without it is not really hard if you played Gothic 1 before it, so they made it more difficult by making getting strong harder, I wish they did something else but that's probably the easiest way they could implement without changing the gameplay too much.
In Gothic 2 there is this point where you have enough of your main attribute and decide to learn alchemy and the old language. This is the turning point because you are suddenly OP. I agree its not ideal but Night of the Raven is not for new players so i think its fine.
I thought I remembered reading that 3 ended up like it did because Jo Wood kept pushing for release, way before Pihrana Bytes would have considered it finished and ultimately said: "Tough; it gets released on 'X' date!" Unfortunately, this would be in a somewhat rushed state - rather than what was planned for the game if time wasn't removed from the equation.
Yes, Jowood had financial problems at this time and needed a quick influx of money. Too bad, they ruined their reputation in the process and went bankrupt only a bit later. Piranha Bytes on the other hand could redeem themselves in the eyes of gamers.
Honestly that's an excuse that gets over used by developers who fail for a variety of reasons. Video games are *always* pushed out quickly by publishers and developers. Its simply the nature of business, especially in one that requires so much front end investment for years. I work in the industry and it's an eye-roll moment when you hear this because it's a universal reality for developing video games.
@@gothenmosph5151 i agree, but there might have been some truth to it. I think the truth is in between what jowood says and pyranha bytes. PB had to rush it out but they strained themselves too much from the get go. G3 Was too ambitious for this little developer team.
@@gothenmosph5151 that's absolutely true, in general, but it was not the case, in this case. There were known tensions, expressed long before game release, between JW and PB, regarding precisely the prematurity of the launch. In fact, immediately after Gothic 3, PB parted ways with them. JW went on to produce (because publishing rights were still theirs, at that moment) "Gothic" IV -Arcania - a total failure of a game, an abomination that clearly showed the ineptitude of JoWoids.
When I started playing video games, It was 2003 out-there... - Firstly ran into Gothic1,then Gothic 2. That gave me idea about what actually IS RPG GAME, and what it takes to play one. - Then I got my hands on Fable-The lost chapters and I learned that I like open-world RPG's more than corridor ones, but I loved how NPCs were reacting to you and your progress/choices(alignment). - Then....big boom! Elder Scrolls:Oblivion! Where I got open-world aspect, highly customizable character, good story and many side quests even adding to that enormous immersion. Oblivion taught me, what to expect from good RPG, but still there was room for improvements wasn't there? :-) - Then Two Worlds...I was disapointed with it after I tasted TES:O but It wasn't that bad RPG afterall. - Then Gothic 3(2008) and Two Worlds II(2010).Even there I was recalling Oblivion, and was praying for next TES game.. - Then TES:Skyrim went out...And my inner child died. :-(
21:14 reinventing the wheel, this is pretty much why I have hope for Elex 2. By the looks of it, it's almost the same as the first one, but maybe that's a good thing for this very reason, so they can focus on improving other aspects that lacked in the first game. Great analysis of the trilogy btw!
Thanks. I have the exact same impressions, when it comes to Elex 2.But i would like to see some small quality improvements in the graphics department, especially in the animations. To be honest, the combat is what concerns me the most.
I come from the present, after playing Elex 2 I can safely say it's worse than Elex 1. They dumbed it down a lot. Piranha Bytes lives no more. Hopefully the Gothic remake if it ever comes will be OK at least.
planning to play 1&2 at least, after I manage to forget the spoilers that is lol. excellent video btw, hopefully the algorithm will notice it and recommend it to people..
Thanks. The best way for people to notice it is when you share it if you find it interesting. I post way to slow for TH-cam, so that they don't even know that something is there.
It truly is overpowered, but a fun weapon nevertheless. And the best part about it was,its uniqueness both in terms of design as well as in terms of what it could do. A true and powerful artifact.
Gothic 1 but especially 2 is what the first Fable was supposed to amount to while missing good and evil aspects and deeper personalisation. I had a much more Fable feel with Gothic 2 than I ever did playing it back on xbox and pc.
Small correction for the English version: The time skip between Gothic 1 and 2 are actually 30 days not 13. For some reason the English version mistranslated this part.
I haven't played Gothic 3 yet, but I did watch the part of the video that covers Gothic 1 and 2. You've done an excellent job and it's a shame that the video doesn't have many views. One thing I always find weird, though, is how no one ever complains about the Halls of Irdorath being mediocre. It would be fine if it was a mid game dungeon or something, but it's the finale of a 60+ hour epic RPG. The design of the dungeon is just too simplistic and there's no variety in it. It's vastly inferior to the Temple of the Sleeper (which is a lesson in how to make a final dungeon fitting for an epic RPG).
I think that this 60+ hour epic runtime is exactly why most people don't complain about it. The game feels so immensely satisfyingthe whole time through that the simplicity of Irdorath doesn't make much difference. You also have to keep in mind that the Sleepertemple was meant as the main stage for more then one chapter and as such it had to be much larger by necessity.
@@ltgchris693 I don't know how you can think that a final segment of the game of all things can't make much difference. It's what the previous parts of the game were leading to. It would have been better if the previous chapters were lacking in some way yet the conclusion was great. I do agree that the Sleeper Temple was meant for than one chapter, but that's also its flaw since you have to backtrack once and then go back to the dungeon again which is just terrible artificial lengthening of the game, but the design of the dungeon was so good that I didn't mind it much. It's not like the dungeon is ultra complex or something, but it had lots of puzzles and great branching paths. The symmetry of the Halls of Irdorath is really sterile and anticlimactic. Another major fault that I'd say Gothic 2 has is chapters 3 and 5. They do add new sidequests and events obviously happen so it feels organic (seekers appear in chapter 3 and orcs in chapter 5), but there's simply not enough new stuff and it feels really anticlimactic when you rush through those two chapters. This problem probably stems from the fact that outside of the area containing Khorinis and the farms, the rest of the map doesn't contain much stuff and can be covered in chapter 1 (it's not just that it can be covered but that it probably must be covered since the difficulty forces you to explore as much as you can, at least if you are playing with the NotR expansion). There's a major lack of things to do in the massive forest on the map, and the northeast segment (with another forest, a lake and the cave troll) isn't good either. I enjoyed Gothic 2 immensely in the first 20 or so hours (until I finished the first two chapters and the expansion), but from chapter 3 onwards it kept dropping in quality. Chapter 4 is kind of great since you explore the colony in full and see how it changed (you couldn't do that in chapter 2 since you were weak), but there's so little effort put into the map (there are no dungeons and the swamp and ice dragon are too easy to reach) that the experience is partially ruined. The game definitely needed more dungeons.
I agree when it comes to the sleeper temple. And the layout for the Halls of Irdorath were too simple. But for me it wasn't much of a drawback, maybe because I was well ready for the game to end at that point, and i found it funn to talk to my crewmates at different stages during the end. When it comes to Chapter 3 and 5 i actually don't agree. The seekers and new quest were enough for me in Chapter 3 plus the advancement to a new guild (apart from the mage). And Chapter 5 was and is for me the time of unchained exploration of the island. So it very well may be just a personal preference of mine. I fully agree when it comes to the forests though. It would be great if there would be a small quest attached to each of them or a place like the tomb behind Onars Farm. That is true that apart from exploration for exploring sake, there isn't much to do there. They somewhat tried to remedy that in NotR with one of the Stone Sentinels being hidden there. But maybe it's a part of these forests charm and why they feel so isolated and dangerous.
my favorite part of gothic 3 is exploring Varant. I can't help but love imensely the way they made the deserts and the towns. They look so unique. And yes, i find it weird the fact that there are no rivers all across of Varant. And not a single harbor all across of the whole continent. Well, we can call as a harbor, or at least a rest place or something, only Ardea and it's lighthouse. The world feels somewhat alive, but there is not much action that links the towns and the environment togather... And Nordmar is completly overrun by wildbeasts, how could it even function as a state if they are not able to keep the roads safe for travelers. From all the regions, i find Nordmar the worst.. Anyways, talking about the first two games in the series, i did play each of them for more then 10 times...so i do have quite alot of experience and a strategy to play each run...though each playthrough feels somewhat unique. I guess i didn't try every playstyle to be sincere. In Gothic 1 i did try everything, i did finish the game in every way possible... But in G2 NOTR there are many playstyles and i feel i didn't try everything. And this is something that many games nowadays lack. A reason to replay them, knowing that if you do things in some other way next time around, you might finish some missions differently, or maybe kill some enemies earlier or later on than you would do normally, maybe being able to take some advantages more early on then in outher playsyle...things like this actually kinda matter in Gothic 2 NOTR. And not to start about the enemies staying same strong while you evolve. The real progression! For me, Gothic 2 Night of the Raven is the best epg ever made. I didn't try all of the rpg's out there, but from what i saw in videos all across internet and from what i played myself, nothing comes even close to it.
Heh... for me Nordmar was the best realized part of the third game. I loved how dangerous and labyrinthian i all was. I guess that i explained to myself that the reason that there are so many beasts, is due to the Orcs, their presence make it way too difficult to keep the roads clean. But on a whole i completely agree.
@@ltgchris693 what i love in Nordmar is the armors. Especially the heavy nordmarian armor. I use it in my games for the rest of the playthough. Either that or the best armor from Varant actually. I kinda rollplay :) It is strange to wear the same armor everywhere you go due to the size of the map and so many different climats...it was way easier in G1 and 2
@@ltgchris693 Peak was Night of the Raven. Gothic 1 may have excellent plot and climate, but wasn't finished. Gothic II was in almost all aspects better game.
Dragon skills and blood and all the bits to do with that is explained in the second game. There's a guy hidden in a cave who talks about how his grandfather passed this information down between dragon hunters as he had learned/USD some dragons skills and such.
Hey just wanted to say I really enjoy your videos. You are really good at analyzing the mechanics of a game. Anyway I don't know if you're still making videos or not... I hope so, but either way thanks for these!
On my first playthrough of Gothic 1, just after reaching the Old Camp, ive accidentaly lured a single ork inside. He murdered a good half of the outer ring. After selling everything from corpses, i was set up for the rest of the game :P Also, Polish voiceovers were spot on.
When installing the community patch and the update pack gothic 3 is an awesome game. Piranha bytes once said that Gothic 3 has only 30% of the content it was suppose to get. Bot the other 70% could not be implemented because jowood forced the game out early.
The quest pack and community patch does much to improve the situation, but there are many core design problems that no patch can fix. I just wonder how the game would turn out if they shaved of about 1/3 of the terrain and towns. I'm curious if that would give them the time needed, to polish the game to a shine.
@@ltgchris693 I think the size of the game isn't even a problem. To have a massive open world rpg is nice if it is filled correctly. But since Jowood forced the game out early we will never know how it could have been. If I think about piranha bytes statement that only 30% of the content made it into the final game im pretty damn curious what the other 70% would have been.
@@Kilyien The massive world is exactly why they couldn't fill it in time, too much shit to do. If it was smaller it could've been far more detailed and packed.
@@modarnwarfare2rull Yeha but if the publisher JoWooD hadn't pushed Piranha Bytes to force out the game early it wouldn't have been a problem. I still like the game really much tho
Gothic 3 is a great game for its time, if you consider it MMORPG and not an action RPG. As a single player "MMO" grinder it's perfect, you don't enjoy the story and progression of power, but you can relax doing braindead quests and grinding hordes upon hordes of mobs for xp, which is definitely 180 turn from previous games, but is great if you take it for what it really is- it's an experiment made for chill, not for thrill
The controls are kind of clunky, like in any other old Gothic game. You basically play using only the keyboard. Although mouse support is implemented, it feels somewhat half-hearted. You can use the mouse to look around and interact with objects or even jump with the right mouse button, although that can be changed.
To be fair the best weapon in the game krush irmak halberd has 210 dmg in cp 1.72 which is afaik 150 or 160 more than the orc slayer. The funniest thing about it is the fact it's found in a random fisherman's house...
45:40 Not completely true. There aren't any more quests to complete, but the world is repopulated with powerful new enemies for you to kill and level with. Zombies, Dragon Snappers, Swamp Golems, Minecrawler Warriors and even a Demon or two are now there for you to kill in areas which you previously essentially cleansed of enemies. By returning to Jharkendar I managed to grind out a few more levels, thus gaining more XP and learning points to spend. You can also let loose your genocidal side and wipe out the bandits and pirates, as they're not relevant anymore as NPCs, trainers and merchants. And to be fair, you're killing some pretty shitty people, though the pirates are decent enough.
@@ltgchris693 One is in the Beachcave, near the finding spot of Garetts Compass. If at all, a second Demon could be in the final Temple where you kill Raven. In the Library, some Skeletons, a Skeletonmage and even a Firedevil are spawning.
@@ltgchris693 I've watched this video from start to finish at least eight times. Also, I like your delivery. Your accent is actually endearing, and makes your delivery interesting - especially because you are fluent in English. Keep at it, Chris!
Gothic 3 is probably the biggest wasted opportunity for best RPG ever! If they only had some more staff to help them with and at least 6-8 months more time I think I might have been achievable. Even now I play Gothic 3 with full quest pack and some mods. In general graphics are awesome spells are good, mainland is collosal and everything is one big open world! No game have achieved this when you don't have different cells with loading screens between spaces. What truly made Gothic 3 unplayable for me were multiple small factors : 1. Orcs no longer scary, lame not that imposing having almost no culture of their own. 2. Sounds and some musics were way too loud and annoying orchestra type, sounds of screams and in combat... Come on... When main character dies his scream became a meme. 3. Everyone is a ragdoll and fights are not dynamic at all. You hit some heavy orc and he flies down slowly like would be a litterally a ragdoll and same goes for pretty much anyone. I agree with author : the dungrons and caves are boring and all pretty much a same. Gothic 2 in other hand is a masterpiece. Im playing now mod Returning AB ( not best but good), L'Hiver is super good, Chronicles of Myrana Archolos. And what could I say that for me Gothic 2 is a perfect game. What it would only need a good story, believable world, some fighting improvements, but in all many years passed since game was released and Im one of thousands Gothic fan. Thank you for a review it is spot on.
@@ltgchris693 that's why it could make a good video XD But it was just idea, I actually think Arcania is a very interesting game (not good) and almost nobody did a video about it
Imagine how cool it could have been had orcs stayed similar to Gothic 2, but still in charge of cities. You mostly talk to human slaves and the more learned orcs. Could have had a whole quest line about figuring out how to get into such a city, maybe the orcs aren't hostile if you don't have a weapon equipped and look like a slave. Maybe as your fame grows within the ranks of the orcs more will start talking to you where before they'd just have generic orc noises or you learn their language over time. I still felt Gothic 3 was enjoyable it just seems to have failed in all the strongest aspects of Gothic 2 instead excelling in other aspects.
I had the same thoughts when it comes to the orcs. Being only able to speak to a select hand few at the top.And later maybe learning their language. I think that would be way more interesting. Add to that their meyby ancient home base on the continent, where you can learn more about them and a ton of interesting lore and secrets. It would feel so much more satisfying to interact with them. In G3 they are basically just bigger humans.
>very underbudget developer makes a game offering different approach to character build and thous player games style and is somewhat a niche except some countries >meanwhile, Skyrim
57:20 23 THOUSAND villages? Did you mean to say just 23, or something else, or was it a joke? Or are you from an another dimension where Gothic 3 is Daggerfall-sized? :D
Right now i'm on Dragon Age and Chronicles of Myrtana. But Elex and Risen are definitly on my radar. When it comes to Elex i will definitly wait till Elex 2 comes out.
You missed Gothic 4, even if it was more 'based' on the series; rather than an actual sequel... I loved all of the 4 games though (well 1 & 2 the most, by far). Just refreshing my memory on them, before I start the whole series over; for the first time in nearly a decade... Good job here though bro, I enjoyed and agree with most all of your observations and criticisms!
I can't get over the fact you don't use the right control to pick up piles of stuff from chests and people, and you hold down the left control which takes waaaay more time.
There being a secondary leader ready to take over is not sophistication, it's rather pretty primal. Every single pack animal has that behavior, when the alpha falls, one of his competitors take the place. EDIT: also, sense of strategy and tactics wasn't lost on tribal human societies either.
Yes, but you are talking about a pretty easy case of" The king is dead Long live the king", while i maintain that taking over a whole military operation on the ground is way more difficult. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but as far as we know it didn't even cause a hiccup in this case. If for example the enemy would kill General Eisenhower in WW2 it would have had major repercussions, both in tactics and the fear in leadership that such a high ranking officer could be killed. That's the way i look at it, that they were far more sophisticated than the humans gave them credit for. As far as tactics are concerned, of course tribal societies knew them, but my point is that the Orcs are closer to the Roman Empire than a band of barbarians. And simple barbarians is how humans see them.
@@ltgchris693 What the hell are you smoking? The Orcs are pretty much tribal barbarians to the letter, they're definitely NOT even remotely similar to the Romans. When the whole military operation is rather primitive, no it isn't that difficult to just take over. You can hardly compare the logistical challenges of industrial scale world war to what is essentially tribal warfare with "complicated" strategies like "lets build a palisade" that doesn't actually even make any sense other than to act as an excuse to cut off parts of the map. Also the competitors are often rather competent (relatively speaking), they couldn't be competitors otherwise.
@@khatack When comparing the Orcs to the Romans i am commenting only on the war strategies, not the culture as a whole (although building the sleeper temple is a rather grande feet). Iwouldn't say that the military operation is primitive. The palisade is a device put in by the developers to limit the map, that much is true. But it still is has a in game explanation, so i won't harp on that and take their word for it. The Orcs build it to intimidate the paladins and conceal their movements, they possess a strong navy that actually destroyed almost all of myrtanas ships, they send advanced war parties to secure strategic positions in yet unconquered parts of the land, they have a solid leadership with many fail safes and have clear unit composition, consisting of warriors, elite warriors and shamans. It's certainly possible that i read way more into it then there is, but for me it's part of the fun with the Orcs in the second game. I agree when it comes to the paladins and fire mages, they are a good competitor to the Orcs. Their biggest problem being lack of manpower and resources.
@@ltgchris693 I know you're commenting only on the war strategies, and you're still just as much off the mark. You're simply wrong in your assessment, there's nothing more to it, the Orcs' military organization and strategy are spot on tribal barbarians, not even near the level of sophistication the Romans had. Every single thing you regarded as "sophisticated" is incredibly primitive, even primal. I mean "unit composition", that's bare-bone basics that people figured out in the freaking early bronze-ages, and tribal societies were definitely more than capable of recognizing and utilizing strategic spots. Seriously, study real history so you'll actually understand what ancient tribes and civilizations were capable of. The Orcish "fail safes" for example are simple primal mechanics that can be found in a goddamn wolf pack. There's absolutely nothing sophisticated about it unless you're talking from evolutionary perspective and thus basically comparing them to an amoeba.
@@khatack If you actually thought about what you saying , you would realise that orcs were meant to reveal that they are more complex than what it seems. Both their culture and warfare strategies. They have religious and millitary leaders, they do not plunder and hunt only, but scout, plan, invade and siege. They know how to create quite sophisticated armor and weapons ( elites) and they tame various animals. They are still quite barbaric, but they are much more sophisticated than what it seems at first sight. Also their millitary organization is almost better than the human factions in the game. You always have the feeling that the orcs know why they are where they are and have a purpose with it. You always feel a strong sense of leadership and command when you meet orcs. If you dismiss them as primitive pack animals acting as barbarians, you did not understand the game nor did pay attention.
Just like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, Gothic is one of the coolest, best, biggest, epic and most successful medieval fantasy adventure worlds of all time. Many thanks to J.J.R.Tolkien / Lord of the Rings, G.R.R. Martin / Game of Thrones and Piranha Bytes / Gothic. THQ Nordic doing a remake of Gothic is very cool and it's like filming Gothic. I hope Gothic will be filmed or appear as a series, the series deserves it.
I know the hardcore fans shit over Gothic 3. But to me it was truly a fantastic game (perhaps it was the scenery and score that just sunk in). I did start with Gothic 2 (and that was a masterpiece) - but have zero issues with the 3rd one. I do have issues with the current Elex games. I install and uninstall them minutes later.
I know that feeling well. And i think there are two main reasons for that. One is combat, the other the map, or rather how the monsters are placed. It feels way too chaotic. But that may be just my impression of it.
Ah man how the story has ended in Gothic 2 I just wish the series kept going, what happened after Gothic 2 no one knows, wish they made a Gothic 3 with the mainland or something.
I love that most of the slaves look like starving 3rd world country children, even though the orcish victory happend... 3 weeks ago? Eh...? I guess you could explain that the citizens of the continent had to ration food due to the war effort, but still... almost every single non-mercenary, non-rebel?
Gothic 3 was bad, Unfinished, bugs, Performance issues etc, I had Best Gaming computer money could buy at that time(2007, i first bought the game in my country) pretty much and still had issues. G1+G2 and NoTr i have best memories, Best single player RPGs i have ever played to this day.
I agree with literally everything but the situation of the kingdom in Gothic 3 (people not knowingn much, King himself is oblivious, coastal and other regions living theeir own separate lives) actually reflects history more and also adds to the nihilistic tone of the series. Maybe if Gothic 3 was properly fleshed out, that particular thing would have made more sense.
It may be so if we are talking about common people (that they are not interested in other parts of the land) but the main players should have a vested interest in what is going on, and that i sorely lacking.
@@ltgchris693 i totally understand your point and why it would feel uncomfortable for players like you and others. Have to say again I really enjoy your detailed insights in the video and hope to see more! Cheers
Gothic 3 is .... ehhhh. I think the only good things in that game are music and terrain. Myrtana, Varrant and Nordmar are very climatic places and music only make it better. But otherwise? Citites are shallow, without deep and very lazy. Like Khronis had 5 farms to feed the city, while Trelis which is apparently granary of whole kingdome had 2 shitty shacks to feed em. And places like Geldern and Montera dont feel like citites of mighty empire which was Myrtana under Rhobar 2. Npc were also shallow. they Have 1 or 2 things to say and are totally uninteresting. Best example is Vatras, in NoTR he was wise and menthor like character, while in G3 he was portreyed like dumb old man with parkinson, recalling for you to kill all asasins. And I saying this as some1 which frist gothic was third one.
When it comes to the cities part. I had the same feeling. For example Geldern, which was intended as somewhat of a financial capital of Myratana, felt like a out of the way village with dirt roads.
Too bad that you chose to over-address the issues of Gothic 3 without letting people know that, in fact, they are not a reality anymore, since Community Patch addressed them masterfully.
I disagree. While the CP did fix a lot of things. There are still those that remain baked in. Like the broken combat system, and the overall quest and story design. Don't get me wrong, i still enjoy playing it from time to time, but it's more for the map and music. Rather then (like in the case of Gothic 1 and 2) for the story and climate.
@@ltgchris693 de gustibus.... 🙂. With the risk of being reduntant: to me, it is a masterpiece, despite its flaws. Best World/environment of all three, on par in atmosphere with G2.
Anyway, any thorough review of Gothic 3 should mention CP as a must have, in order to inform the newcomers and to shield them from eventual frustration (which the un-patched game can easily produce).
Great to see people still making videos like this 20 or so years after the games released. The Gothic series definitely deserves it.
The spirit of Ghotic is immortal. The graphics of the original, the limitations of the engine (tho Piranya Bytes did God's Work on what was available) might have aged considerably, those are not what earned the love of the fanbase. The sheer volume of the climate, overflowing into every little crack of gameplay. The learning curve of the game, the gradual expanse the design serves you as a natural roadblocks set in your way to overcome... This is what ppl love about the game. I have spent more hours on average (compared to my friends) to complete single play through, just because of many different branches of story that are available to you as u take different approaches each time. Ghotic Is quite simple story to the core, yet quite complex on the edges. And whether You are a Passing Fan from time long gone, or a Die Hard Fan in the brewing cauldron of it it all, Pozdro to You all, magnificent bastards and hope to see You again, at the beginning of New old adventure, as always.
There is something special about early 2000's games that makes them still worthy of being played even after all these years.
For me, games like Gothic 1 and 2, the first Mafia and Severance: Blade of Darkness are titles that never cease to amaze me, i've played and replayed these games so many times and i can't get enough of them.
The original German version has some dialogues that are completely different in English. In the english and all other than the german version they are spoilering the hole game. "he did not know, but he will change everything" In the german version they are just saying: "in all the years many had try to open the barrier, but not one was successful." In german is also said that King Rhobar reunited the Kingdom and not just united. Unfortunately, many of these bad translations can be found in English and from English they have been translated into all other languages.
Also, not everyone in Gothic 1 is a serious criminal, because in the intro it is said that the longer the war lasted, the king needed more ore and you were even thrown into the barrier for small misdeeds. There is an NPC in Gothic 1 who says he is in the barrier because he didn't pay his taxes.
I think i only played Gothic 2: Night of the raven in german. Because I hadn't had the patience to wait for my polish version. And in the case of the polish version there were a few differences,but ones that stem rather from the peculiarities of that language, rather than something lore changing. As for the english version, i have no idea how it sounds, but from what i heard it is rather terrible.
Gothic 3 was my first introduction to the Gothic series. Never heard of Gothic games before playing III. I fell in love with it. Enjoyed it far more than any of the Elder Scrolls games or the Witcher 3. Not saying it did not have faults, clunky combat and many bugs, but even so the game was able to hold my interest and keep me engaged. Gothic III is among my favorite open world action RPGs!
I played all three and it's hard for me to understand much of the hate towards Gothic 3. If more people wouldn't compare the previous versions to it, it was fairly decent. Like you said, it had it's issues but it was still a fairly enjoyable game.
@@jawnTem if not the loading screens that literally makes me fall a sleep i would have play it more :D
@@ziomek12390 you must be talking about Elder Scrolls games. There are NO loading screens in Gothic 3 during gameplay. For those regarding loading saved games - well, there was a whole continuous World out there that needed to be uploaded.
@@iuliannastasa6592 I load my game often from saving as I test lots of things throughout the gameplay. It's frustrating to have game load for such a long time
@@ziomek12390 yes it was obvious what you talk about, hence my reply. Anyway, the long loading screen used to be a problem (for some players) back in 2006-2008. It is a bit strange to encounter it on present day PCs - maybe you should adjust your settings (you seem to refer to a current situation, if I understand correctly).
Glad to see it when people actually examine Gothic 3 and point out its flaws instead of saying it's a good game because it's a walking simulator like I see a lot of the fanbase do. Good video.
I tried to be as even handed as i could. Acknowledging both the good and the bad. Even if it is a lackluster ending to the trilogy, it still can be fun.
Fanbase says so? I am Gothic player for almost 20 years and I will you tell this: G3 is not Gothic at all, its only a SHIT! I think a lot of Gothic players see it like that but I can be wrong.
i found gothic 3 to be good enough for me out of all the gothic games i put the most time into gothic 3 but then again it is a unfinished mediocre game
Gothic 1&2 promote social development of the character, not just exploration and leveling ! And the attribute and skill system is quite good and intuitive !
What do you mean by social development?
I played Oblivion shortly after finishing Gothic 2, which was a rush and made me feel extremely proud of myself. I could barely play Oblivion because I was so bored of the gameplay which made enemies scale with you.
That is one of the things that infuriated me in oblivion. I could be going back to a city after i finished off a powerful daedra, and on my way there a lowly goblin could kill me. That made the whole progression system worthless.
Gothics gameplay is jank and awful. That's a fact
@@jonathansoko1085 you like to get spoonfeed thats also a fact :)
@@jonathansoko1085 ahhhh cope seeth and mald
Just obtained this series from a recent sale on Steam, after watching it progress over the years. Thank you for your insights and your work on this.
Really enjoyed this one! Nice pacing of the video and overall high quality.
Really deserves more views.
Thanks
i never belived i woul love to see a review that much. im glad for everything you said and man you are good with words. this is very detaliate review more like a movie story. i love this and this type of format . thank you man for covering one of my favorite games of all time that i still play even today. i wish u all the best and u can be sure ill be here from now on. interesting chanel. and youtube knows what to recommend me
Thank you very much :)
I am glad you enjoyed it, i find that there is a lot to talk about with this series of games.
gothic 2 is as close to perfection as the game can be , it's unbelievable how many years passed since it came out and yet there is still no rpg that can rival its atmosphere .
That is true. That is also why i am so fond of Chronicles of Myrtana. They nailed the atmosphere incredibly good.
Ah yes, just as I finished replaying G1 and G2 this pops up. Algorithm is on fire.
Amazing video, thank you very much for your detailed analysis!
Glad, you enjoyed it.
I love these games, they might be my favorite games of all time, and i do consider them masterpieces, but i just can't close my eyes about some things, that frustrate me about them...
My only few problems with the first two Gothic games are:
The balancing in G1, where it was too easy to gain experience, because you can just beat up everyone, with almost no consequences, once you get a bit stronger, and it was very easy to exploit that. I think the developers tried to convey that the Colony has no laws, and as long as you're stronger, you can beat up people and get away with it. You can achieve 100 strength and get the best one-handed sword and the second-best two-handed weapon in the game, while also be a master at both styles of melee combat and clear the entire overworld map, including the orc lands, and also beat up all people in the Old, Smap and New Camps (ask if you want to know how) all in Chapter 1 with zero consequence... that is of course, if you know how to progress to achieve all that. You also get filthy rich by doing that. I had 23k ore, and over 1000 unsold weapons and a ton of potions and other items before chapter 2. Of course, i don't recommend playing like that. I did it, just see how much i can abuse the game, and i also did it in my 6th or 7th playthrough of the game. Any new player of G1 should experience the game blind and face the difficulties we all did back in the day. Still, that doesn't change the fact that you cane easily break the balance if you put and two together and realize how the rules of the Colony work.
In Gothic 2, Piranha Bytes fixed most of these flaws, and these changes also made a lot of sense, because you're no longer in the lawless lands of the Colony, and you can no longer get away with crime (at least most crimes), if you have witnesses. Even more than that, if you beat up somebody, they might end up hating you and refusing to trade or talk to you for the rest of the game, unless you use an Oblivion spell on them. I think that's amazing and adds to the immersion a lot.
Still Gothic 2 wasn't without flaws, and here, my only problems with the game, is with the damage calculation, and the attribute balancing. I hate that you get diminishing returns for spending learning points in attributes, and you're forced to look for stone tablets and some rare plants that are almost impossible to find without a guide. Looking out for Dragonroot is a total BS and i hate it.
And because of it, you also need to spend at least 21 learning points for Alchemy and 35 points to learn how to read the stone tablets. It's a chore raising attributes in G2, period! They should've let the attribute gain to be 5 for 5 until you reach 100 of the attribute you're raising, then after that the training should be 5 for 10 (and just for the one you're raising, but for all of them). On top of that, almost all attribute plants and attribute stone tablets should be removed from the game, maybe leave just 2 of each type as a bonus if you find them. Also, Alchemy should be a general skill that requires maybe 20 points to master, i don't like that you have to spend points for individual recipes, and look for different trainers that can teach them.
The damage calculation in Gothic 1 was 100 times better than in Gothic 2. It's super frustrating that in G2, unless you hit with critical, you basically do lame damage. I had 110 strength, 30% One-Handed skill and an 80 damage sword with a 6% bonus to the one-handed skill.... and with all that it takes me 3-4 hits to kill a Scavanger, a Bloodfly or a Molerat, unless i perform a critical hit, which then kills them instantly... it basically makes no difference if i'm using my 80 damage sword or a f'n branch to fight these low-level enemies and that's once again, a total BS!
Fighting humans is unfair and unbalanced too. With 36% chance to crit, i almost never get the crits when i need them the most, but the enemies always crit me and kill me with one or two shots, before i can crit them, even though i already hit them 5-6 times in that same battle with a supposed 36% chance to hit... which makes the combat way too much luck based than it should be, and i hate that!
You ain't going to get far as a new player, unless you learn how to fight without getting hit.... and that takes some time and practice. While i love that the game requires actual skill and knowledge in that regard, the critical hits are just too overpowered, while the non-critical ones are just useless - the first needs nerfing and the second needs to be boosted to make the combat more enjoyable, while still keeping the challenge... otherwise, it's hard to have fun with it until you get 70%+ crit chance, which usually happens past the halfway point of the game.
Everything else about these games, screams - Masterpiece! They where super ahead of their time when it comes to the pure RPG element. There are no games even to this day, in which the player is so influential to the game world. And that's just a small part of the magic of Gothic 1 & 2. I'm not even gonna talk about the music the atmosphere, and the masterful open world building, exploration and enemy placement. They are brilliant in keeping they player curious and surprised all the time. Just compare that with the overrated boring trash world that Skyrim has.
They did the whole diminishing returns thing when they released NotR, Gothic 2 without it is not really hard if you played Gothic 1 before it, so they made it more difficult by making getting strong harder, I wish they did something else but that's probably the easiest way they could implement without changing the gameplay too much.
In Gothic 2 there is this point where you have enough of your main attribute and decide to learn alchemy and the old language. This is the turning point because you are suddenly OP.
I agree its not ideal but Night of the Raven is not for new players so i think its fine.
What a fantastic reflection on the series. You really thought this through very well. Love it
Glad to hear it. But there are still some things, that after i published the video i would add.
Hell yeah, I love the Gothic games they blew me away as a kid. Played them long before I ever got a hold of any of the Elder Scrolls titles.
I thought I remembered reading that 3 ended up like it did because Jo Wood kept pushing for release, way before Pihrana Bytes would have considered it finished and ultimately said: "Tough; it gets released on 'X' date!" Unfortunately, this would be in a somewhat rushed state - rather than what was planned for the game if time wasn't removed from the equation.
Yes, Jowood had financial problems at this time and needed a quick influx of money. Too bad, they ruined their reputation in the process and went bankrupt only a bit later. Piranha Bytes on the other hand could redeem themselves in the eyes of gamers.
yes, i think there was a interview where they told that they were arround 15% done with the game, crazy
Honestly that's an excuse that gets over used by developers who fail for a variety of reasons. Video games are *always* pushed out quickly by publishers and developers. Its simply the nature of business, especially in one that requires so much front end investment for years.
I work in the industry and it's an eye-roll moment when you hear this because it's a universal reality for developing video games.
@@gothenmosph5151 i agree, but there might have been some truth to it.
I think the truth is in between what jowood says and pyranha bytes.
PB had to rush it out but they strained themselves too much from the get go. G3 Was too ambitious for this little developer team.
@@gothenmosph5151 that's absolutely true, in general, but it was not the case, in this case. There were known tensions, expressed long before game release, between JW and PB, regarding precisely the prematurity of the launch. In fact, immediately after Gothic 3, PB parted ways with them. JW went on to produce (because publishing rights were still theirs, at that moment) "Gothic" IV -Arcania - a total failure of a game, an abomination that clearly showed the ineptitude of JoWoids.
Thank you for making such a long in-depth video. I hope to see more such good work from your channel. Cheers
Thanks.
Great story analysis of first 2.5 games. I ve played them like 3 times each but never thought about those points.
Thanks, I'm glad you took away something new from it.
This is a fantastic video! Quite enjoyed it!
Thanks
Ah yes. They wanted to make the best Videogame ever. It certainly has become immortal.
Me, playing Chronicles of Myrthana for the 5th time:
"Everything will bee alright!"
Going strong, fella 💪😎
I have yet to start the first run. Then they announced big update...
The first 2 games are (surprisingly) on the Nintendo Switch now. I plan to download both in the future.
Gothic 3 remains a masterpiece despite its initial flaws - and that says a lot. For me, it has the best atmosphere ever crested in video games.
Thanks for talking about this brilliant game!
Awesome! - all 3 Gothic Parts in one video! Thanks for the in depth review. Coudn't agree more.
Thanks. I'm happy you liked it :)
When I started playing video games, It was 2003 out-there...
- Firstly ran into Gothic1,then Gothic 2. That gave me idea about what actually IS RPG GAME, and what it takes to play one.
- Then I got my hands on Fable-The lost chapters and I learned that I like open-world RPG's more than corridor ones, but I loved how NPCs were reacting to you and your progress/choices(alignment).
- Then....big boom! Elder Scrolls:Oblivion! Where I got open-world aspect, highly customizable character, good story and many side quests even adding to that enormous immersion. Oblivion taught me, what to expect from good RPG, but still there was room for improvements wasn't there? :-)
- Then Two Worlds...I was disapointed with it after I tasted TES:O but It wasn't that bad RPG afterall.
- Then Gothic 3(2008) and Two Worlds II(2010).Even there I was recalling Oblivion, and was praying for next TES game..
- Then TES:Skyrim went out...And my inner child died. :-(
and then the circle come to the beggining since you're watching this video about Gothic 1+2, =)
So you didn't like Skyrim?
@@TacticalProjectGaming Seeing as it's shallow as fuck he probably didn't
This was a GREAT review and your profuction quality is outstanding! 💪🙏
Thank you :)
21:14 reinventing the wheel, this is pretty much why I have hope for Elex 2. By the looks of it, it's almost the same as the first one, but maybe that's a good thing for this very reason, so they can focus on improving other aspects that lacked in the first game. Great analysis of the trilogy btw!
Thanks.
I have the exact same impressions, when it comes to Elex 2.But i would like to see some small quality improvements in the graphics department, especially in the animations. To be honest, the combat is what concerns me the most.
I come from the present, after playing Elex 2 I can safely say it's worse than Elex 1. They dumbed it down a lot. Piranha Bytes lives no more.
Hopefully the Gothic remake if it ever comes will be OK at least.
planning to play 1&2 at least, after I manage to forget the spoilers that is lol.
excellent video btw, hopefully the algorithm will notice it and recommend it to people..
Thanks.
The best way for people to notice it is when you share it if you find it interesting.
I post way to slow for TH-cam, so that they don't even know that something is there.
The Claw of Beliar reminds me of The Black Sword from the Ultima VII expansion - Forge of Virtue. It's also a very overpowered weapon.
I never use that weapon,too much damage it has
It truly is overpowered, but a fun weapon nevertheless. And the best part about it was,its uniqueness both in terms of design as well as in terms of what it could do. A true and powerful artifact.
this is my childhood right here... love this game
Fantastic coverage on my favorite series!
Thanks :)
Gothic 1 but especially 2 is what the first Fable was supposed to amount to while missing good and evil aspects and deeper personalisation.
I had a much more Fable feel with Gothic 2 than I ever did playing it back on xbox and pc.
Small correction for the English version:
The time skip between Gothic 1 and 2 are actually 30 days not 13.
For some reason the English version mistranslated this part.
I haven't played Gothic 3 yet, but I did watch the part of the video that covers Gothic 1 and 2. You've done an excellent job and it's a shame that the video doesn't have many views. One thing I always find weird, though, is how no one ever complains about the Halls of Irdorath being mediocre. It would be fine if it was a mid game dungeon or something, but it's the finale of a 60+ hour epic RPG. The design of the dungeon is just too simplistic and there's no variety in it. It's vastly inferior to the Temple of the Sleeper (which is a lesson in how to make a final dungeon fitting for an epic RPG).
I think that this 60+ hour epic runtime is exactly why most people don't complain about it. The game feels so immensely satisfyingthe whole time through that the simplicity of Irdorath doesn't make much difference. You also have to keep in mind that the Sleepertemple was meant as the main stage for more then one chapter and as such it had to be much larger by necessity.
@@ltgchris693 I don't know how you can think that a final segment of the game of all things can't make much difference. It's what the previous parts of the game were leading to. It would have been better if the previous chapters were lacking in some way yet the conclusion was great.
I do agree that the Sleeper Temple was meant for than one chapter, but that's also its flaw since you have to backtrack once and then go back to the dungeon again which is just terrible artificial lengthening of the game, but the design of the dungeon was so good that I didn't mind it much. It's not like the dungeon is ultra complex or something, but it had lots of puzzles and great branching paths. The symmetry of the Halls of Irdorath is really sterile and anticlimactic.
Another major fault that I'd say Gothic 2 has is chapters 3 and 5. They do add new sidequests and events obviously happen so it feels organic (seekers appear in chapter 3 and orcs in chapter 5), but there's simply not enough new stuff and it feels really anticlimactic when you rush through those two chapters. This problem probably stems from the fact that outside of the area containing Khorinis and the farms, the rest of the map doesn't contain much stuff and can be covered in chapter 1 (it's not just that it can be covered but that it probably must be covered since the difficulty forces you to explore as much as you can, at least if you are playing with the NotR expansion). There's a major lack of things to do in the massive forest on the map, and the northeast segment (with another forest, a lake and the cave troll) isn't good either.
I enjoyed Gothic 2 immensely in the first 20 or so hours (until I finished the first two chapters and the expansion), but from chapter 3 onwards it kept dropping in quality. Chapter 4 is kind of great since you explore the colony in full and see how it changed (you couldn't do that in chapter 2 since you were weak), but there's so little effort put into the map (there are no dungeons and the swamp and ice dragon are too easy to reach) that the experience is partially ruined. The game definitely needed more dungeons.
I agree when it comes to the sleeper temple. And the layout for the Halls of Irdorath were too simple. But for me it wasn't much of a drawback, maybe because I was well ready for the game to end at that point, and i found it funn to talk to my crewmates at different stages during the end.
When it comes to Chapter 3 and 5 i actually don't agree. The seekers and new quest were enough for me in Chapter 3 plus the advancement to a new guild (apart from the mage). And Chapter 5 was and is for me the time of unchained exploration of the island. So it very well may be just a personal preference of mine.
I fully agree when it comes to the forests though. It would be great if there would be a small quest attached to each of them or a place like the tomb behind Onars Farm. That is true that apart from exploration for exploring sake, there isn't much to do there. They somewhat tried to remedy that in NotR with one of the Stone Sentinels being hidden there. But maybe it's a part of these forests charm and why they feel so isolated and dangerous.
my favorite part of gothic 3 is exploring Varant. I can't help but love imensely the way they made the deserts and the towns. They look so unique. And yes, i find it weird the fact that there are no rivers all across of Varant. And not a single harbor all across of the whole continent. Well, we can call as a harbor, or at least a rest place or something, only Ardea and it's lighthouse.
The world feels somewhat alive, but there is not much action that links the towns and the environment togather...
And Nordmar is completly overrun by wildbeasts, how could it even function as a state if they are not able to keep the roads safe for travelers. From all the regions, i find Nordmar the worst..
Anyways, talking about the first two games in the series, i did play each of them for more then 10 times...so i do have quite alot of experience and a strategy to play each run...though each playthrough feels somewhat unique. I guess i didn't try every playstyle to be sincere. In Gothic 1 i did try everything, i did finish the game in every way possible... But in G2 NOTR there are many playstyles and i feel i didn't try everything. And this is something that many games nowadays lack. A reason to replay them, knowing that if you do things in some other way next time around, you might finish some missions differently, or maybe kill some enemies earlier or later on than you would do normally, maybe being able to take some advantages more early on then in outher playsyle...things like this actually kinda matter in Gothic 2 NOTR.
And not to start about the enemies staying same strong while you evolve. The real progression!
For me, Gothic 2 Night of the Raven is the best epg ever made. I didn't try all of the rpg's out there, but from what i saw in videos all across internet and from what i played myself, nothing comes even close to it.
Heh... for me Nordmar was the best realized part of the third game. I loved how dangerous and labyrinthian i all was. I guess that i explained to myself that the reason that there are so many beasts, is due to the Orcs, their presence make it way too difficult to keep the roads clean.
But on a whole i completely agree.
@@ltgchris693 what i love in Nordmar is the armors. Especially the heavy nordmarian armor. I use it in my games for the rest of the playthough.
Either that or the best armor from Varant actually. I kinda rollplay :)
It is strange to wear the same armor everywhere you go due to the size of the map and so many different climats...it was way easier in G1 and 2
Nordmar is more like a wild land inhabited by tribesmen.
Gothic 1 was a truly unique and original setting. Something we don't see that often these days.
Yes, and it was the peak for Piranha Bytes. After Gothic 2, they didn't really have a clear idea of what to do next.
@@ltgchris693 Peak was Night of the Raven. Gothic 1 may have excellent plot and climate, but wasn't finished. Gothic II was in almost all aspects better game.
Dragon skills and blood and all the bits to do with that is explained in the second game. There's a guy hidden in a cave who talks about how his grandfather passed this information down between dragon hunters as he had learned/USD some dragons skills and such.
You mean Godar the Dragon Hunter? If he talks about that i must have missed it. Will check it out when i get the chance.
@@ltgchris693 it has been so long that I cannot remember the name of the dude, sorry.
Hey just wanted to say I really enjoy your videos. You are really good at analyzing the mechanics of a game. Anyway I don't know if you're still making videos or not... I hope so, but either way thanks for these!
I am actually trying to find time to record my Dragon Age Origins analysis. It's all written, but i still struggle to find time to do the rest.
Very engaging, both the games and the video.
Thank you very much.
On my first playthrough of Gothic 1, just after reaching the Old Camp, ive accidentaly lured a single ork inside. He murdered a good half of the outer ring. After selling everything from corpses, i was set up for the rest of the game :P Also, Polish voiceovers were spot on.
The polish voiceovers are in a class of their own. Not even the native german can touch it. And i know i played with both.
Gothic is just pure immersive magic.
Still lovee it
When installing the community patch and the update pack gothic 3 is an awesome game. Piranha bytes once said that Gothic 3 has only 30% of the content it was suppose to get. Bot the other 70% could not be implemented because jowood forced the game out early.
The quest pack and community patch does much to improve the situation, but there are many core design problems that no patch can fix. I just wonder how the game would turn out if they shaved of about 1/3 of the terrain and towns. I'm curious if that would give them the time needed, to polish the game to a shine.
@@ltgchris693 I think the size of the game isn't even a problem. To have a massive open world rpg is nice if it is filled correctly. But since Jowood forced the game out early we will never know how it could have been. If I think about piranha bytes statement that only 30% of the content made it into the final game im pretty damn curious what the other 70% would have been.
@@Kilyien The massive world is exactly why they couldn't fill it in time, too much shit to do. If it was smaller it could've been far more detailed and packed.
@@modarnwarfare2rull Yeha but if the publisher JoWooD hadn't pushed Piranha Bytes to force out the game early it wouldn't have been a problem. I still like the game really much tho
Gothic 1 and 2 will remain the best games,the best rpg eveer
Gothic 3 is a great game for its time, if you consider it MMORPG and not an action RPG. As a single player "MMO" grinder it's perfect, you don't enjoy the story and progression of power, but you can relax doing braindead quests and grinding hordes upon hordes of mobs for xp, which is definitely 180 turn from previous games, but is great if you take it for what it really is- it's an experiment made for chill, not for thrill
What is the best way to play? Does it have full mouse and keyboard support?
The controls are kind of clunky, like in any other old Gothic game. You basically play using only the keyboard. Although mouse support is implemented, it feels somewhat half-hearted. You can use the mouse to look around and interact with objects or even jump with the right mouse button, although that can be changed.
great to see the fanbase still in effect.
To be fair the best weapon in the game krush irmak halberd has 210 dmg in cp 1.72 which is afaik 150 or 160 more than the orc slayer.
The funniest thing about it is the fact it's found in a random fisherman's house...
45:40 Not completely true. There aren't any more quests to complete, but the world is repopulated with powerful new enemies for you to kill and level with. Zombies, Dragon Snappers, Swamp Golems, Minecrawler Warriors and even a Demon or two are now there for you to kill in areas which you previously essentially cleansed of enemies. By returning to Jharkendar I managed to grind out a few more levels, thus gaining more XP and learning points to spend. You can also let loose your genocidal side and wipe out the bandits and pirates, as they're not relevant anymore as NPCs, trainers and merchants. And to be fair, you're killing some pretty shitty people, though the pirates are decent enough.
I thought i knew Gothic 2 in and out. But i didn't know that there will spawn demons in Jarhendar. Where are they?
@@ltgchris693 One is in the Beachcave, near the finding spot of Garetts Compass. If at all, a second Demon could be in the final Temple where you kill Raven. In the Library, some Skeletons, a Skeletonmage and even a Firedevil are spawning.
Vatras will stop talking to you if you will everyone in Jharkendar.
@@benjaminsente7430Never heard about this. thnx
I only ever do a job on Ravens Guard.
53:25 gets me every single time I watch this.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
This actually made my day :D, especially that i have a horrible delivery.
Out of curiosity, you watched it more than one time?
@@ltgchris693 I've watched this video from start to finish at least eight times.
Also, I like your delivery. Your accent is actually endearing, and makes your delivery interesting - especially because you are fluent in English.
Keep at it, Chris!
Gothic 3 is probably the biggest wasted opportunity for best RPG ever! If they only had some more staff to help them with and at least 6-8 months more time I think I might have been achievable. Even now I play Gothic 3 with full quest pack and some mods. In general graphics are awesome spells are good, mainland is collosal and everything is one big open world! No game have achieved this when you don't have different cells with loading screens between spaces. What truly made Gothic 3 unplayable for me were multiple small factors : 1. Orcs no longer scary, lame not that imposing having almost no culture of their own. 2. Sounds and some musics were way too loud and annoying orchestra type, sounds of screams and in combat... Come on... When main character dies his scream became a meme. 3. Everyone is a ragdoll and fights are not dynamic at all. You hit some heavy orc and he flies down slowly like would be a litterally a ragdoll and same goes for pretty much anyone. I agree with author : the dungrons and caves are boring and all pretty much a same.
Gothic 2 in other hand is a masterpiece. Im playing now mod Returning AB ( not best but good), L'Hiver is super good, Chronicles of Myrana Archolos. And what could I say that for me Gothic 2 is a perfect game. What it would only need a good story, believable world, some fighting improvements, but in all many years passed since game was released and Im one of thousands Gothic fan. Thank you for a review it is spot on.
“During the events of the second game, I felt an increasing dread.” Nah dude, that’s just from coming to understand how damage is calculated.
Hehe... that might be also the case :D
BEST RPG series of all times by far !
Ekstra film! Teraz czekam na serie Risen
Ciężko teraz z czasem. Ale Risen też chętnie bym wziął na warsztat.
@@ltgchris693 Cierpliwie poczekam bo super się ogląda!
@@habagun737 Dzięki :)
7:09 not if you don’t play on normal difficulty
Also great vid, shame that u stopped uploading:(
Thanks. And not really. I am 1/3 into recording my Dragon Age review. If everything goes well it will be out somewhere in the next month.
"firstly forsaken god's and arcania will not be included in any way" alright than have a like sir
1:06:53 hah, no problem.
What about Arcania Gothic 4???
Not part of the canon.
Do a video about Forsaken Gods and Arcania, many people don't cover those
I don't know if i can suffer thru them. Expetialy Forsaken Gods.
@@ltgchris693 that's why it could make a good video XD
But it was just idea, I actually think Arcania is a very interesting game (not good) and almost nobody did a video about it
very good video.
Thanks
Imagine how cool it could have been had orcs stayed similar to Gothic 2, but still in charge of cities. You mostly talk to human slaves and the more learned orcs. Could have had a whole quest line about figuring out how to get into such a city, maybe the orcs aren't hostile if you don't have a weapon equipped and look like a slave. Maybe as your fame grows within the ranks of the orcs more will start talking to you where before they'd just have generic orc noises or you learn their language over time.
I still felt Gothic 3 was enjoyable it just seems to have failed in all the strongest aspects of Gothic 2 instead excelling in other aspects.
I had the same thoughts when it comes to the orcs. Being only able to speak to a select hand few at the top.And later maybe learning their language. I think that would be way more interesting. Add to that their meyby ancient home base on the continent, where you can learn more about them and a ton of interesting lore and secrets. It would feel so much more satisfying to interact with them. In G3 they are basically just bigger humans.
>very underbudget developer makes a game offering different approach to character build and thous player games style and is somewhat a niche except some countries
>meanwhile, Skyrim
57:20
23 THOUSAND villages? Did you mean to say just 23, or something else, or was it a joke? Or are you from an another dimension where Gothic 3 is Daggerfall-sized? :D
Neh... that's my bad, or rather my pronunciation, that i didn't catch before posting. What i meant to say was "23 towns and villages".
Please do this dir risen series and elex to.
Very good Video
Right now i'm on Dragon Age and Chronicles of Myrtana. But Elex and Risen are definitly on my radar. When it comes to Elex i will definitly wait till Elex 2 comes out.
@@ltgchris693 chronicles of myrtana great !!!
At the time im playing elex once toll march 1st. Then elex 2 releases. Im so happy
You missed Gothic 4, even if it was more 'based' on the series; rather than an actual sequel... I loved all of the 4 games though (well 1 & 2 the most, by far). Just refreshing my memory on them, before I start the whole series over; for the first time in nearly a decade... Good job here though bro, I enjoyed and agree with most all of your observations and criticisms!
I didn't include Arcania as well as Forsaken Gods, because that are not considered canon. PB removed them from the timeline.
Thanks :)
There is no Gothic 4 . . .
I can't get over the fact you don't use the right control to pick up piles of stuff from chests and people, and you hold down the left control which takes waaaay more time.
I realized waaaaaay too late, that i could do that. I almost never watched other people play Gothic, so I had no idea it was even possible :D
There being a secondary leader ready to take over is not sophistication, it's rather pretty primal. Every single pack animal has that behavior, when the alpha falls, one of his competitors take the place. EDIT: also, sense of strategy and tactics wasn't lost on tribal human societies either.
Yes, but you are talking about a pretty easy case of" The king is dead Long live the king", while i maintain that taking over a whole military operation on the ground is way more difficult. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but as far as we know it didn't even cause a hiccup in this case. If for example the enemy would kill General Eisenhower in WW2 it would have had major repercussions, both in tactics and the fear in leadership that such a high ranking officer could be killed. That's the way i look at it, that they were far more sophisticated than the humans gave them credit for.
As far as tactics are concerned, of course tribal societies knew them, but my point is that the Orcs are closer to the Roman Empire than a band of barbarians. And simple barbarians is how humans see them.
@@ltgchris693 What the hell are you smoking? The Orcs are pretty much tribal barbarians to the letter, they're definitely NOT even remotely similar to the Romans.
When the whole military operation is rather primitive, no it isn't that difficult to just take over. You can hardly compare the logistical challenges of industrial scale world war to what is essentially tribal warfare with "complicated" strategies like "lets build a palisade" that doesn't actually even make any sense other than to act as an excuse to cut off parts of the map.
Also the competitors are often rather competent (relatively speaking), they couldn't be competitors otherwise.
@@khatack When comparing the Orcs to the Romans i am commenting only on the war strategies, not the culture as a whole (although building the sleeper temple is a rather grande feet).
Iwouldn't say that the military operation is primitive. The palisade is a device put in by the developers to limit the map, that much is true. But it still is has a in game explanation, so i won't harp on that and take their word for it. The Orcs build it to intimidate the paladins and conceal their movements, they possess a strong navy that actually destroyed almost all of myrtanas ships, they send advanced war parties to secure strategic positions in yet unconquered parts of the land, they have a solid leadership with many fail safes and have clear unit composition, consisting of warriors, elite warriors and shamans. It's certainly possible that i read way more into it then there is, but for me it's part of the fun with the Orcs in the second game.
I agree when it comes to the paladins and fire mages, they are a good competitor to the Orcs. Their biggest problem being lack of manpower and resources.
@@ltgchris693 I know you're commenting only on the war strategies, and you're still just as much off the mark. You're simply wrong in your assessment, there's nothing more to it, the Orcs' military organization and strategy are spot on tribal barbarians, not even near the level of sophistication the Romans had. Every single thing you regarded as "sophisticated" is incredibly primitive, even primal. I mean "unit composition", that's bare-bone basics that people figured out in the freaking early bronze-ages, and tribal societies were definitely more than capable of recognizing and utilizing strategic spots.
Seriously, study real history so you'll actually understand what ancient tribes and civilizations were capable of. The Orcish "fail safes" for example are simple primal mechanics that can be found in a goddamn wolf pack. There's absolutely nothing sophisticated about it unless you're talking from evolutionary perspective and thus basically comparing them to an amoeba.
@@khatack If you actually thought about what you saying , you would realise that orcs were meant to reveal that they are more complex than what it seems. Both their culture and warfare strategies. They have religious and millitary leaders, they do not plunder and hunt only, but scout, plan, invade and siege. They know how to create quite sophisticated armor and weapons ( elites) and they tame various animals. They are still quite barbaric, but they are much more sophisticated than what it seems at first sight. Also their millitary organization is almost better than the human factions in the game. You always have the feeling that the orcs know why they are where they are and have a purpose with it. You always feel a strong sense of leadership and command when you meet orcs. If you dismiss them as primitive pack animals acting as barbarians, you did not understand the game nor did pay attention.
Just like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, Gothic is one of the coolest, best, biggest, epic and most successful medieval fantasy adventure worlds of all time. Many thanks to J.J.R.Tolkien / Lord of the Rings, G.R.R. Martin / Game of Thrones and Piranha Bytes / Gothic. THQ Nordic doing a remake of Gothic is very cool and it's like filming Gothic. I hope Gothic will be filmed or appear as a series, the series deserves it.
I know the hardcore fans shit over Gothic 3. But to me it was truly a fantastic game (perhaps it was the scenery and score that just sunk in). I did start with Gothic 2 (and that was a masterpiece) - but have zero issues with the 3rd one. I do have issues with the current Elex games. I install and uninstall them minutes later.
I know that feeling well. And i think there are two main reasons for that. One is combat, the other the map, or rather how the monsters are placed. It feels way too chaotic. But that may be just my impression of it.
why not cover forsaken gods and arcania? leaving the series review incomplete???
These are not canon, so they were left out.
Ah man how the story has ended in Gothic 2 I just wish the series kept going, what happened after Gothic 2 no one knows, wish they made a Gothic 3 with the mainland or something.
But they made a prequel "Archolos" ;)
What ? an easeuropean guy likes gothic? I'm so surprised!
Joking aside,
good video!
I know. Quite shocking ;)
I love that most of the slaves look like starving 3rd world country children, even though the orcish victory happend... 3 weeks ago? Eh...?
I guess you could explain that the citizens of the continent had to ration food due to the war effort, but still... almost every single non-mercenary, non-rebel?
Now that you mention it. It would make way more sense,if this would occur in the cities that the orcs had the longest rule over.
The worst part about Gothic 3 was that you couldn't actually join any of the factions
Well you could join. The thing is it was at the very end of the game and had very little meaning.
Gothic 3 was bad, Unfinished, bugs, Performance issues etc, I had Best Gaming computer money could buy at that time(2007, i first bought the game in my country) pretty much and still had issues. G1+G2 and NoTr i have best memories, Best single player RPGs i have ever played to this day.
I agree with literally everything but the situation of the kingdom in Gothic 3 (people not knowingn much, King himself is oblivious, coastal and other regions living theeir own separate lives) actually reflects history more and also adds to the nihilistic tone of the series. Maybe if Gothic 3 was properly fleshed out, that particular thing would have made more sense.
It may be so if we are talking about common people (that they are not interested in other parts of the land) but the main players should have a vested interest in what is going on, and that i sorely lacking.
@@ltgchris693 i totally understand your point and why it would feel uncomfortable for players like you and others. Have to say again I really enjoy your detailed insights in the video and hope to see more! Cheers
@@HassanUmer Thanks :)
bestes Spiel aller Zeiten
We need a new gothic made with the old game engine.
We kinda have that now tho. Play the chronicles of myrtana it's amazing
Gothic 3 is .... ehhhh. I think the only good things in that game are music and terrain. Myrtana, Varrant and Nordmar are very climatic places and music only make it better. But otherwise? Citites are shallow, without deep and very lazy. Like Khronis had 5 farms to feed the city, while Trelis which is apparently granary of whole kingdome had 2 shitty shacks to feed em. And places like Geldern and Montera dont feel like citites of mighty empire which was Myrtana under Rhobar 2. Npc were also shallow. they Have 1 or 2 things to say and are totally uninteresting. Best example is Vatras, in NoTR he was wise and menthor like character, while in G3 he was portreyed like dumb old man with parkinson, recalling for you to kill all asasins. And I saying this as some1 which frist gothic was third one.
When it comes to the cities part. I had the same feeling. For example Geldern, which was intended as somewhat of a financial capital of Myratana, felt like a out of the way village with dirt roads.
Gothic 3 was a disappointment
How swamp weed works. Just drop the swamp part. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🙏
Too bad that you chose to over-address the issues of Gothic 3 without letting people know that, in fact, they are not a reality anymore, since Community Patch addressed them masterfully.
I disagree. While the CP did fix a lot of things. There are still those that remain baked in. Like the broken combat system, and the overall quest and story design. Don't get me wrong, i still enjoy playing it from time to time, but it's more for the map and music. Rather then (like in the case of Gothic 1 and 2) for the story and climate.
@@ltgchris693 de gustibus.... 🙂. With the risk of being reduntant: to me, it is a masterpiece, despite its flaws. Best World/environment of all three, on par in atmosphere with G2.
Anyway, any thorough review of Gothic 3 should mention CP as a must have, in order to inform the newcomers and to shield them from eventual frustration (which the un-patched game can easily produce).
Mora
szkielet? jesus christ, what is that, polish?
Yeah, pretty much. At least in Gothic 2.
Algorithm comment
Gothic 1 and 2 were brillant games Gothic 3 was the equivelent of a smelly wet fart to the face warm and wet in other words did not enjoy it.
what gothic 3 did is so great leap forward tht no gothic 1 ans 2 want to see.
Reviewing 20 years old series. Seems totally not pointless
Not really. People still play these games and enjoy others talking about them.
All this talking and not even mentioning Water Pearls. SMH ^^
Gothic is inspired by "Escape from New York" is a pretty steep thesis, so completely without evidence. Please don't talk rubbish.
www.worldofgothic.com/foren/?go=hogeforumsstory
You are welcome.
@@ltgchris693 Na bitte, geht doch (There you go). ty
Bitte sehr :D
@@FR13DRICH
Gothic 1 is, when you think a bout it, a game about one huge concentration camp. Only Germans could make it up.