Gothic 2 Review | The Absolute Pinnacle of Eurojank Role Playing Games
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2024
- This is it, folks. The one and the only. My Gothic 2 review.
Special thanks to MelonMan for the cameo. Check out his channel: / @melonman666
0:00 Intro and Fixes
2:40 Premise
7:16 Presentation & Detail
12:36 World Design
24:08 Gameplay & Progression
29:47 Progression Issues
31:46 Final Thoughts
Links:
Gothic 2 essential fixes
Gothic 2 report version: www.worldofgothic.de/dl/downl...
Gothic 2 player kit: www.worldofgothic.de/dl/downl...
Gothic 2 system pack: forum.worldofplayers.de/forum...
Gothic 2 Character Building Guide (also contains the maps and the learning point thresholds I used in the video):
/ gothic_2_notr_building...
Gothic 2 chests lists: folm1.blogspot.com/2010/06/got...
#Gothic2 #Gothic2Review #Gaming
SONG CREDITS:
Local Elevator by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
2004 Pontiak Aztec - Dad Haze
Shady Figures At Coconut-Cauldron - Laszlo 'vincenzo' Vincze, The Chicken Police OST
What's Your Poison - The Sexy Brutale OST
Blue Hector; Smooth Hector; Mr. Frustration; 03 Blues For Mr. T - Grim Fandango OST
The Office - Sam & Max OST
Old Habits; Snus - Ben Matthews, This is the Police 2 OST
Special thanks to:
Cloud Coffin Art - Thumbnail, intro banner:
/ cloudcoffin. .
Daniel Boiangiu aka different_dennis - Channel Logo: / different_d. .
Dad Haze - Intro/Outro Song:
dadhaze.bandcamp.com/releases
Follow me on Twitter:
/ thesummerofmark - เกม
The music is really great for exploring, it always feels like a hike through the forest with it.
Gothic 1 & 2 OSTs are my go-to ambient music when writing
One of the most underrated thing this game gets right is exploration. Almost every hidden corner has interesting loot in it, or at least something to see. Unlike pretty much all other RPGs.
I agree, I’m still discovering new stuff to this day
The core thing that makes me prefer Gothic over Skyrim is the fact that the mobs don't level along with your own progress. That makes the Skyrim world way less interesting to explore really takes away from the immersion. Oh and the fact there are no loading screens when entering buildings increases immersion about 1000% for me.
Skyrirm shoots itself in the foot
@@bhaktapeter3501 they keep making immersion-breaking technical decisions I disagree with, yeah
real talk: why was sound design so good in the late 90s and early 2000s and why is it so shit or mediocre at best in contemporary AAAs
Because it’s been enough of a technological leap in terms of graphics that they don’t feel the need anymore to take sound design seriously
@@thesummerofmark *frustrated field raider noises*
Fangirl
Salutari! Glad to see people still play Gothic and that my chest code list is still being used 15 years after writing it (:
Only you can make me excited to play Eurojank.
I'm so glad to see your channel continuely growing. You make genuinely some of best game review videos on the site
Also holy shit I didn't see that coming but I should have expected it somewhere lol 24:05
Thanks Meetch, I’m humbled by your kind words 😊 it’s comments like yours that keep me going
The Chronicles Of Myrtana Archolos.
Maybe some day you'll makw a review of this passionate new fan-made mod/story/game in the World of Gothic 2
This is such an amazing video! Enjoyed every minute of it, your writing and delivery flow super well and have some great personality :) This game was the first "proper" one I ever played as a kid, it was magical. Such a shame not too many people know about it. You summed up perfectly why it captured my entire waking life so hard back then. Especially the section about the world design, and how the forests can feel genuinely terrifying, really took me back :D
Awwww you're making me blush! Thank you so much, I'm happy you enjoyed the video. I wouldn't say Gothic 2 was the first "proper" game I played, but it was definitely a "tastemaker" kind of game for me. The only other game that had the same effect on me was Disco Elysium in 2019
Ah, Disco Elysium. I don't remember what caused me stop playing it after a few hours, but I did enjoy it a ton. I still distinctly remember being assigned my "copotype" and feeling super called out because a video game just accurately psychoanalysed me. It was wild. You know what, I'm gonna give it another shot after that first Elden Ring playthrough is done, thanks for the reminder :)
@@ApstractMusic no problem, glad to help!
The background music at the start merits 10 thumbs up alone
Great video lad, keep on with the good work
Thank you!
I'd love to see you cover Hard to Be a God or Two Worlds. Loved the review
Thank you, glad you loved it! I never heard about Hard to be a God - the only thing I could find on Google is an obscure RPG with 50 user reviews on Steam. Is that the game you’re referring to?
As for Two Worlds, man, I haven’t heard that name in a looong time. I remember it receiving mixed reviews, though it does seem like the kind of jank I’d enjoy
@@thesummerofmark Hard to be a God and Two Worlds were both full games offered by LEVEL. I have fond memories of both, although I later came back to Two Worlds and realized just how bad it was. I was wondering what HtBaG is truly like and figured you might have heard of it, given your history. :)
Yes, that's the game!
@@TheSC20k hah, I remember Level offering Two Worlds, but not the other game. Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll make sure to check them out!
Thx for your Review :)
Never heard of Gothic 2 but excited for the video nonetheless! Maybe I’ll have a new game to play after the video 🤔
It’s great. Once you get over its more dated aspects it blossoms. Thanks for the kind words!☺️
Lucky you! Play it!
Aww mate!!!, Even in Australia Gothic and Piranha Bytes studios has reached us. Gothic 2 was the first game I truly loved and still do to this day even in my 30's lol...
OHHHH, BTW anyone who wants to try there is a MASSIVE mod for gothic 2, called Gothic 2 returning. try it out!! its SOOO good and so much more challenging even for Gothic veterans like myself lol
Gothic 2 is one of my comfort games, just like Deus Ex
0:06 my exact reaction the first time I saw that cut scene🤣
Even though I have played this game multiple times my experience is always different. I just love this game.
Always heard great things about these games
Mhhh a long one! Well done :ZugZug:
Thank you Cake! 🥺
It is so popular here in Poland that you can throw some random quotes from the Polish dub version and many people will know its from Gothic
That’s actually amazing lmao
So. many. memories. Gothic 2 was one of those games that made me go: Ha, so this is what a good game looks like. One of my first RPGs. Also, the intro with Morrowind vs Gothic 2? It's like a page out of my childhood :D
Same, but I decided which game I liked better pretty quickly heh
@@thesummerofmark Oh, no doubt. I tried Morrowind and it was an interesting game, but Gothic 2 was love at first sight
24:04 Geralt in Gothic 2.
ROFL now that you mention it, yea, he does look like good old Geralt
After playing the base game, play the best mod. Chronicles of Myrtana : Archolos. It's on Steam. One of the best mods i have ever played.
cant get it to work...the links you listed are all in german ...need help "
this was my fav game when i a was like 13-14, so many good memories
I'm too biased to find negatives on this game and I've finished it for the 2142343th time on the 1st of January 2020. Never again! That being said I want to add that I did so by picking ranged combat as my main and it was a treat. I was a plated Innos/Adanos warrior machinegun of death with my bow and it was very satisfying. I will also add some things about the last part of the video - the progression was not linear in G2 vanilla but it wasn't as brutal and the stat requirements were limited to 90 or 100. The real problem is that I found it almost impossible to kill the dragons without using summon demon scrolls. Oh and another thing (ugh) - The animal transformation spells add a whole new way to play and explore the world.
Huh, I could’ve sworn the progression was linear in Gothic 2 vanilla. I’ll do some research on that. Thanks for pointing it out and for your in-depth comment!
BLANA CUAIE SA MAI FACI IMI PLACE
I love my jank!!!
How do you make videos this good?????
The thumbnail cracked me up ahaha
I want a mod that makes Xardas wear Supreme swag
Yo bad advice mate. Crossbows are great for melee builds - with them you can aggro the seekers so they don't curse you. Don't put any points into crossbows tho
Also eating 25 mushrooms (don't remember which ones) gives you some max mana boost
nostalgia (for simpler times)
Seems that the trend of Gothic fans having far too few subs still continues, from legend Durmin Paradox to the absolute madman yourself!
Greetings from the Netherlands, king!
Thank you so much!
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.
Holy shit, this was a comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it! You’re clearly passionate about these games and you know more about them than I ever will lol.
The skill point system is the thing that annoyed me the most as well, because the game doesn’t telegraph it in any way. Also, chapter 4 comes with a GIGANTIC difficulty curve, so if you didn’t min max your character up until that point, you’re pretty much screwed and have to start over. It’s the kind of game for which you absolutely have to read guides for before playing. At least Risen tells you through some handy tool tips that Ogreroots are more potent when brewed as part of potions, whereas in the case of Gothic 2, there’s no way to know that without reading a guide, so first time players end up gobbling on those rare plants for a measly +1 strength
Your critique of the game being easy doesn't make much of a sense being that, as you said, you played it at least 7 times. Obviously you mastered it's mechanics and know it's secrets. Someone playing it for the first time will definitely have the "intended" experience, going from underdog that is learning about the world to an efficient warrior.
As Richter said, yeah, on the 7th playthrough you hopefully know the game well enough to absolutly break it... that's true for most RPGs and hard games (looking at you, dark souls).
Jup, damage-calculation in gothic 2 is weird (basedamage is str+wdmg, crit multiplies that by freaking 10, armor is substracted after, so weaponskill is your most important stat by a mile and then some...).
Also afaik gothic 2 was only released as the Gold Edition in the US. In europe players had played the basegame, which was way easier, before getting hit by night of the raven, so we had an easier transition;)
@Hoonsy2you G2 v1.31 (uk) G2 v1.32 (us) but those are vanilla versions. I almost bought Notr (German) because I could not wait for G2 Gold. I can't even use my cd's anymore. The installer does not work on Windows 10. So, I bought it on Steam. There is A mod that disables Notr to play G2 vanilla.
To bad you’re didn’t play with the German original voicelines, they add so much charm and character. Or at least you didn’t show them here. And they are really rough in their attitude, i don’t think that is well translated into English.
I did watch videos of the German dub tho! I agree, the German voicelines are so so much better. I love the camp and cheese of the English dub tho
@@thesummerofmark not only the voicelines, the voiceacting itself Is much more fitting. And even the quality of the recording is much better
Gothic 2, Supreme and Cum Jokes, what a rollercoaster of an opening
Chaotic early Millennial energy
What? Xardas sounds nothing like that guy in blade. I dont mind the stat progression because I enjoy searching every nook and cranny for loot and enemies. So I guess the game was made for people like me, and Im not young. Im retired, so i guess either way I have lots of free time haha.
Gosh I envy you so much haha. I’m so looking forward to that sweet retirement free time
I almost flunked my last year in high school because of this game.
“When you were going to class and preparing for college, I studied the blade. I learnt to manipulate Gothic 2’s learning point system. Hundreds of field raiders fell to my swift, elegant sword swings. Khorrinis was my domain. And where are you now? Well paid 9 to 5 corporate job? Family? Loving partner? Psh. I spit on your meager, earthly ambitions. I will be in Xardas’s tower studying runes. Don’t bother coming by.”
germany never looked so good
U never looked so good
Combat is not hard on itself but targeting system is bugged, idk how many times I hit friend when i was fighting with him against enemies, then he goes mad kicks my ass and steals money I've been grinding last 3 hours and yes I didnt save game cause Ive finished game more than 10 times and Im sure that Im not gonna die, cause I fear no enemy except ice block that can chain stun you to death. Anyway great video and fuck that crypt next to Onars farm that is crazy hard to clear but gives you shitty loot
Fuck that crypt indeed, it took me about an hour to clear it trial and error style and the loot was sooo not worth it. And thank you for the kind words!
you dare insult bromor's voice lines?!
I really hope that the switch port will come with the ability to play the vanilla game. The new content is nice and all, but not my favourite and it’s really not worth playing with the stingy progression system. I will want to play as a fire mage and it seems like increasing your mana pool will be a pain.
Afaik as of 2022 or so you can play Gothic Vanilla on steam
@@thesummerofmark The reason why I’m bringing up the switch port is for the native controller support. I cannot play with a mouse. I have never played a shooter before (unless you count Mirrors’s Edge and Alien Isolation, with an Xbox controller), specifically because of this. And with the rest of the games it’s either controller or keyboard exclusively. I played quite a few games on keyboard without mouse when I was younger. Sonic Adventure DX, Sonic Heroes, all 3 Prince of Persia games, the entire Legacy of Kain series. The only games I played with a mouse were Yu-Gi-Oh! Power of Chaos and Sacred (basically where you don’t use the mouse for aiming or camera controls).
Edit: I played Gothic 1&2 before, but only with a keyboard and with cheats, because I was young and sucked at games and also because without a mouse, I didn’t have good movement options.
Ill be that guy. All the youtubers promoting eurojank are european:) elex for all it does right story setting etc. The combat is so lack luster and unrewarding i just find it hard to play more than once cause i dont want to blow 10 hours to be doing what i want in the game all over again. If the combat was not eurojank elex would be bigger than witcher 3 and probably every rpg.
Edit: at least gothic 2 i can buy the raptor scroll and breeze thru first 10 levels and be on to playing my new play thru. Its hard for me to recommend these games to most gamers i talk to because they have played 100+ games like me and less patience.
Hey TH-cam can I like this video 10 times?! 1 is not enough.
Thank you, Cristina, means a lot! 🥺
I first played g1 when I was 7 and barely knew any english words, took me few hours to even figure out how to pick up an item let alone kill an enemy without luring him to friendly NPCs . I'm 27 now and I come back almost every year to reexperience the game. With the upcoming remake I'd love to see they kept the original combat style but repolish it to target multiple enemies. The combat itself is good, the targeting was alwahs an issue for me
Gothic 2 isn't Eurojank! It was a Triple AAA game when it was published. It was released in 2002, the same year as Morrowind, and it was the by far better game. Gothic 2 has full speech and hardly any loading screens. How does that compare to Morrowind?
Gothic is a prime example of eurojank. And it's not a bad thing.
People honestly sleep on Gothic 1
I wasn’t able to make it recordable so I went with Gothic 2. I managed to record Gothic 1 a few days ago so I’ll definitely make a video in the future
@@thesummerofmark Hell yeah
@@electricant55 check new video 😄
So gothic is eurojunk but somehow bethesda games are just buggy bunt not fk junk
I said jank, not junk. And I use the term “eurojank” lovingly.
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