So in gonna rant but in a good way. What i always loved about gothic universe is the fact that the game doesn't babysit you and it doesn't go easy on you from the start. You are nothing and no one but it helps with the development of the character. It doesn't have secret invisible walls where u cannot go. You can go everywhere but you won't survive if you're not strong. It rewards the exploration part making you want to explore as much as you can. As you improve it feels so much satisfying knowing that in the beginning u couldn't take one some foes but now they don't pose a threat to your existence. I also love the story the emersion of the surrounding environment and the music in all 3 games. Manny people complain about the voice acting but i love it since it makes the game even more realistic. Why? Well simple because it make all the dialogue feel natural like you would talk to someone in real life. They dont try to sound cool or be professional. They are they natural self with good and bads. With flaws we are only humans. Also the combat system look rough and unpolished at the first look but once u overcome it you realize that is a very enjoyable game to play since it makes u experience the true fight. The fight shouldn't be easy and as you start like a nobody who doesn't know how to fight in the same way that your character starts makes the progression to the said chosen weapon even more satisfying and enjoyable to use. dont get me wrong there are ppl who don't love gothic or trash on it even if they just try it once but seeing on the internet manny videos with a positive review on gothic's behalf makes me happier. Knowing that manny people acknowledge how good the game truly is. It is an old game but such a good game. Especially in Gothic one with all the interaction between you character and the world and even other characters. I love gothic and ill always love this game. ❤❤. Thank you for a fantastic review. U indeed do the game justice.
@@Blacknarock Thank you for basically summing up my views on Gothic in your comment (except for the all three games part, Gothic 3 never came out) . Be welcome at the temple and enjoy the Gothic II video!
@@ArhonOkvals yeah I know I wasn't a fan of Gothic 3 either but I do enjoy the music in Gothic 3. That's why I put it there. The engine is different and I had to put tons of modes to make the game playable and enjoying. I don't really hate Gothic 3 but I can't say I love it how I love Gothic 1 and 2. It will never be as good as those too. But was the last thing related to Gothic. Plus I'm used to it since playing Gothic 2 returning and seeing a lot of things in returning that were taken from Gothic 3 and that made the gameplay easier for me. I still hate Nordmar in Gothic 3 . The ice zone where a map doesn't help you at all. Any I will enjoy this chanel. The format of the videos is very professional and very detailed. That's some work and dedication and if course the love for Gothic. How can I not enjoy it. I may not have played Gothic when I was young and only found about it in 2014 when a friend installed the game on my old PC and I actually started with Gothic 2 instead of 1. Now at the start I loved to watch him play and I enjoyed the dialogue, the emersive world of Gothic and the gameplay. I was still scared to play it because I didn't really have experience in any rpg game except browser flash game. But with the time my curiosity grew cuz I enjoyed watching him play so much and I said once : " I wanna try it" I sucked so bad and didn't knew how to do anything but trying again and again and not giving up , I learn little by little until it was all worth it. Now I can't stop playing it. And I can't say I found a better game then Gothic even to this day. I got so used to Gothic and the atmosphere in the Gothic universe that I end up compari any game I see with Gothic and they all fail. I'm curious about the remake and if is a fail I'm still glad the community started to port the game on Unreal engine. It plays same as Gothic but looks much better. Needs a bit of work to the animation of weapons and magic but Gothic 1 is fully converted on Unreal engine. I wait for 2 to be too. Sorry for the long rant but when I talk about Gothic can't say is a story only of a few words . 😅😅
@@ArhonOkvals veruj mi da sam baš uživao, 80-to sam god, sećam se kao juče kad sam pročitao Macedonićevu recenziju u SK-u, znao sam da moram da nabavim igru i našao sam je kod SKC pirata neki dan kasnije. to veče kad sam prvi put igrao pamtim kao sinoć da je bilo... da ne davim više, ne samo da ti je video/produkcija/naracija vrh nego me si me pogodio u nostalgiju 👌😁 aj u zdravlje
IMHO the main problem of Gothic3+ is the characters. I mean, you completed the quests in Ardea, Cape Dun, Montera whatever and... see you never. You cannot even remember their names. While in Gothic1, Gothic2 those characters are with you till the end of you journey. P.S. Awesome video
I hope they get it right. The colony is a hard place, but when you think of it there are a lot that help you. Hope they dont get it wrong and it are just edgy assholes around.
What's crazy was I never played this in 2001 yet the music took me back. Also the greatest part of this game is any quest item you gave to a NPC you can take it back by beating them down (killing them as well) and anything you stole from the merchants you could take THEIR ACTUAL ENTIRE STOCK that they were selling. It was so real to me I loved that part
Gothic 1 combat is far far better than Gothic 2. On Gothic 2 I felt like I was swimming in water. In Gothic 1 I could do this amazing lunge strike attack. I can lunge forward and hack down an ostrich, let's me leap into combat and then start swinging like a real hero.
@@jimx45 I think G2 is considered better just because you can use the mouse, but in all honesty they are the same to me. Both great with changing animations.
@@ArhonOkvals Interestingly enough I didn't even had to beat the game getting the other sword skill upgrades, I actually found by catching and releasing the attack button I could attack continously. It just takes a bit of catch and release.
It's great that those games receive the proper prais and attention all those years later!!! Damn I always loved Gothic 1 and 2 :)..it's a shame that from what I heard the follow ups weren't as strong....and certainly the most recent entries like Arcania Gothic tale urr and it's expansion.....are well....let's just say it's no longer the same! But indeed the story of Gothic 2 showing itself as giant rippling effect of consequences of the actions of the first game story...was brilliant narrative move and how well it played into the depiction of the setting.....Gothic 2 visiting the colony again...Valley of Mines like a sort of twisted 'return home' if we can call it that and seeing just how things changed for the worse :) was great. In general there is a lot that Gothic games can teach the modern game developers!!! (by the way let's hope they won't completely butcher that Gothic 1 Remake!). By the way it is said that the CD Projekt makers of the Witcher games are somewhat inspired by the Gothic....the type of world and the consequences in the narrative etc....
Great video! Interesting to analyse Gothic for developers :D A big point is of course the 3 different factions give unique quests, bringing insane immersion eg. monastery novice quests.
the nightwalker criticsm actualy base game's fault rather then the expansion. in 3.5e, which is the game based on, nightwalker is fairly high cr undead being that roams the shadow plane, whom existence goes as far as back as 2nd edition dnd. the avatar of king of shadow being just called nightwalker with a regular nightwalker model is the problem. it should have at least had a name like "avatar" or something.
I hated the ending of Ego Draconis too. I liked having Talana as a disembodied companion whose voice only I could hear. It made sense, as I had just absorbed her soul in a way. Ygerna being able to send messages to my mind on the other hand made zero sense, and the ending felt like a betrayal.
Sprinting off to a hidden corner after buying that SKETCH and sitting on a chair facing the wall is like... cherry on top, perfectly fitting. Graham being good at drawing probably sells more of those than he does maps.
@@ArhonOkvals Oh I'm sure he does. - And honestly he's a wholesome guy, letting you buy the map to the mine at a discount for being friends with Diego. He's friendly, honest, pretty much one of the few NPCs I actually refuse to hurt, rob, or steal from. Bet you even his crime was morally innocent, something like... working on a Sunday.
I'm still disappointed with the road Larian took with Original Sin. I would've preferred another 3rd person adventure rather than the turn based thing we got.
I disagree with the gameplay rewards. I think they cheapen the narrative weight of the characters. If you need mechanical incentives to motivate you to learn about characters then the characters weren't that interesting to begin with. There absolutely should not be any mechanical rewards for speaking with companions, beyond their loyalty and friendship.
the whole "conversation with god" thing is risky to pull off. If you don't pull it of properly, you'll just cheapen your whole story. Myrkul in MotB was a prime example of how to do it right. Myrkul in BG3 a prime example on how to do it wrong. Pillars of Eternity god discussions were also a big fail point in the story. Writing a plausible otherworldy being is difficult precisely because you'll have to strike a balance between human enough that intelligible communication is possible but alien enough that the being doesn't feel like your neighbor Joe. The god needs to convey some profound insight that actually has to be profound and subtle or it'll just sound pretentious and stupid.
Nwn2 and MotB have some of the best game music ever made. Man that original main menu theme for NWN2 hit me like a truck back in the day. It's not quite as iconic character creation music as that of NWN1, but as a standalone piece it's amazing. Rolling my first warlock to that tune was an experience to remember. Hell, looks like I'm going to watch all of these videos. Oh well, at least something good came out of catching the damn covid.
I think the big mistake they made with the King of Shadows was to have any dialogue with him at all. He's supposed to have pretty much no personality, he should've just attacked without speaking and the end would've worked better. They should've doubled down on the force of nature aspect in the end fight.
@@ArhonOkvals Yeah, NWN2 stronghold is perhaps the least obnoxious I've come across, but for some reason it still left me a bit unsatisfied. The worst offenders have to be Dragon Age: Inquisition and Pathfinder Kingmaker.
I think the whole "strict moral code paladin" is the laziest most ignorant way to write a religious character. If you want to make a compelling religious holy warrior, you really should do some extensive studying on religion and faith. Modern people treat religion as if it's a lifestyle product and have absolutely zero insight into the sort of faith that is involved for someone who is actually willing to die (and kill) for their God. Those moral codes too tend to have a LOT of context to them, and it is sad to see them reduced to "religious stupid" almost every time. Fanaticism and zeal are deeper spiritual traits, they're NOT the result of believing in some silly logical fallacy that can be deconstructed with clever words. If I wrote a compelling holy warrior, I'd emphasize the aspect of religion that contains wisdom. A holy character could have an unsettling insight into the nature of the people, being able to see into their very hearts. His judgement would be of the more subtle and silent variety, his commitment and resolve unbreakable, again to the point of them being frightening to the other party members. They would carry themselves with grace, discipline and authority, and instead of whining constantly about every little flaw of the other party members, their exemplar character would stand as a silent and cruel judge for them, reminding them of their inadequacies.
About having the starting village destroyed, you can make that work if you'll have enough survivors for the protagonist to care for afterwards as refugees. That'll give them plenty of motivation and emotional stakes.
West Harbor truly is the generic stereotypical small starting village. What most people don't understand is that this is a GOOD thing. Small humble starting village is an ages old trope for a reason, and the reason is that it WORKS.
Oh, but dragons definitely ARE occult. Not the generic fantasy dragons, but the Devil is described as the Dragon in the Bible. Other interesting fun fact is the meaning of the word Seraphim, one of the classes of celestial creatures in service to God in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word Seraphim means very literally "snake that burns". I think "occult", while absolutely descriptive of gothic, is not COMPLETELY spot on, and I think the missing element from Gothic 2 is the distinctly Lovecraftian flavor of Gothic Occult imagery.
@@ArhonOkvals I think it's more the dragons of G2 are way too generic fantasy dragons and don't have that demonic feel to them. I think there may have been a way to make the dragons feel less like beasts and more like demonic spiritual entities. Have them change shape to disguise as humans, have them be more manipulative and cunning, have a cult of dragon worshippers infiltrating Khorinis and have bases of operation throughout the Island and the valley of mines, etcetera etcetera. I think the whole orc invasion was a bit of a mistake, it's a bit too in your face compared to the much more subtle threat of the sleeper in G1. At the very least the orcish presence shouldn't have been so dominant, instead having a more subtle threat ambushing the Paladins when they try to move the ore or send word for help rather than immediately besieging the entire castle. Another mistake they made I think is having more than one dragon. Having only one dragon that has a Sauron-like presence in the world you feel through the intermediaries of his power rather than direct interference. In essence, they should've designed another evil arch-demon that happens to be a dragon, and I think it would've felt a LOT closer to the occult feel of original Gothic.
@@ArhonOkvals Sounds awesome; they're brilliant teaching material considering that about every single game in the series has almost unforgivable flaws (block-athon enemies in SR2, the camera of doom in Defiance), but they also manage to be absolutely brilliant on other fronts, mainly storytelling. Those games should offer a massive WEALTH of talking points of both brilliant successes and pronounced failures. Suffice it to say that when I get a chance to revisit Nosgoth without having to actually play the games, I take that chance every time! Absolutely looking forward to any insightful Legacy of Kain content ^^
@@ArhonOkvals Have you played through the game without the addon? The pacing is so much better. The problem with the addon is that it feels like its artificially attached to the game, and the first chapter is just way too much with all the content of the vanilla game AND the missing people quest slapped together. Jharkendar, as much as I love it, is just so completely divorced from everything else that is going on with the game that it just doesn't work. I wish they had found a way to more properly tie the Addon to the main questline instead of doing its own thing. Sometimes less is more, and that is the case with G2. NotR is definitely worth playing through, but I'd recommend everyone to play through the vanilla game first at least once before going for the Addon.
@@ArhonOkvals I think both positions can be true simultaneously. I absolutely love Jharkendar, and it is absolutely worth playing, but I still think that the overall experience is better without it. Like I said, I really wish they had figured out a way to introduce the addon in a way that didn't break the flow of the original game; if they ever do a remake of G2, I hope they tackle this issue some way. One thing that could be done with the Addon that would make it fit better into the rest of the game is to divide its content into the later chapters, I think it frontloads way too much. The vanilla chapter 3 is pretty scarce on content in comparison to the other chapters, so what if the people start going missing during chapter 2 and chapter 3 is when you actually tackle the issue? Obviously it wouldn't work that simply, there would have to be some build-up in chapter 1 and such, but I absolutely think that the addon should have been distributed more evenly throughout the game. Another thing that could've improved the experience would've been to have the nameless hero FAIL to get Raven in Jharkendar and have Raven escape to Irdorath and expand on that part of the game. Anyway, as is, the game with the addon simply has way too many things that stick out like a sore thumb and just feel wrong or otherwise out of place that I still prefer the overall experience of the vanilla game. If they managed to blend the addon in better with the main game, I'd probably have a different take, as like I've repeated several times already, I absolutely love Jharkendar.
