Gothic 2 is one of my favorite games period. So glad you cover it up. The amount of pain and joy this game gave me in its time is immesurable. I played it as a kid and still replay it to this very day.
@@goodoldgamingyoutuber6371 I might be able to get an early review code, can't promise anything though! I will definitely take a look at the remake regardless.
Having seen your breakdown of the original and now this sequel, I'm definitely getting Gothic 1 and 2 to try out for myself. This game just seems so authentic and charming. Big props to the developers, they really paved the way for modern AAA developers.
@@dagerry am not sure about the remake, some parts looked relatively like the old crappy project that was before this remake. Either way would be nice to see something new
@@brzi6504 I watched all the videos about the remake and most people are pretty positive like 7-8/10, the controls seem a bit delayed which could be bad and some UI things seem off but from what I've heard it could easily be better than the original (especially for people who don't have a lot of nostalgia for the old games ofc, the others probably compare too much :D). I was also surprised that they kept the old G1 combat system (combat on/off mode & right/left swing) instead of giving it just a "normal" combat system or something like Risen 1
I played this game before I played the first Gothic. I absolutely fell in love with everything about it, from the weather to the day/night cycle, but especially the progression of weapon and magical skills. Entering Khorinis by jumping the wall, falling into the ocean, and swimming up to the docks to meet… Diego? Or Lars? It’s been too many years since I played it. Thanks for sharing your experiences playing them both, and for bringing back beloved memories!
I always find a newcomer's perspective so interesting. Definitely disagree with you on the sole point of the combat system - but that's mainly because I've got 20 years on you and, of course, am a bit blinded by nostalgia. To me, it feels super intuitive and responsive. It has so much *heft*, so much impact. The SMACK noise you hear whenever you hit an enemy alone makes it the best feeling combat system I've ever tried, but also the multitude of inputs you can make within a fight. The progression, the feeling of getting beaten down, getting stronger, coming back and getting your revenge. UGH I just love it so much. Will you have a look at G3 or certain highly popular mods, too? Archolos, for instance, is pretty much what, in my eyes, Gothic 3 should have been. Of course there are many people who love G3, but to me, it completely lost the flair of the original, watered down the lore, combat wasn't satisfying anymore, quests were boring and the world was way too large.
I do think melee combat is much better than the bow. With the bow, the only real depth is to sidestep after a short delay, which feels limiting. I also agree with you on progression! However, the fights themselves feel a bit clunky to me overall. I've had enough of Gothic for now but I might come back to take a look at Archolos or G3 later! Thanks for sharing your opinion :)
The last quality Gothic game in the series. It's insane how much stuff it has with the expansion. I played it 5 times since 2006 and still discovered hidden quests and secrets. I don't remember any quest bugs in the original 2, but I did find 1 or 2 quest bugs in the Raven expansion.
Nice video, but I would say that there is a skill based aspect to the combat and it is not only a stat check. 99% of the monsters can be slain on lvl 1 with a stick if you know their moves and know when to step back/sidestep. I often boot up the game just to kill some orcs/shadowbeasts.
Thanks! Melee is a lot more fleshed out than ranged combat I feel like. With the bow you're locked into place for quite long and once an enemy gets up close, then it becomes a stat-check. Melee does definitely have some more nuance to it!
I hadn't seen it before! I wanted to check out the waterfall and then I got attacked by that little goblin. I saw the wooden planks leading into that cave from the corner of my eye. But in general, my instinct is to go off the path to explore for these kinds of things :D
In the original 2, the dragon regeneration wasn't even noticeable to me, running on WinXP. The dragon fights were annoying, but not at all game breaking.
I think the regeneration is only there in NoTR. The fights would be alright if that regeneration wasn't tied to the framerate. But I can't really fault a 20+ year old game for that. That fire breath still is annoying though haha!
Interesting video! I have never played these games but the level design and way the quests are laid out looks really interesting to me. It even looks a bit like some of the old MMORPG games. And how nice of the developers to include a so loved swamp area ☠️. Can see where Michael Zaki got his inspiration from 😂.
I think you wanted to present Gothic 2 in the original version. But did you also play it with the D3D11Renderer or Gothic Gold Remastered mod. That massively enhances the graphics.
I can answer that question perfectly because I played it in 2002 and in subsequent years and just finished another playthrough a few weeks ago after I hadn’t touched the game in 10 years, and it’s all nostalgia! The combat is bad and bland with the lock-on system, the world is minimal, and backtracking through all chapters is an absolute necessity while the story is boring, and the dragons are not beatable without cheats if you play a melee class after they decided that they were too easy in vanilla G2. If I didn't have the connection to the game I have, I would rate it a 4 or 5 out of 10 max, but back then it was a 9/10 for sure!
I still think it's a game worth checking out, despite all the negative points you and I pointed out. I think the good outweighs the bad here, although I definitely was frustrated at some points!
Easily the most authentic world out of any video games, ever. Very responsive and adaptable. Player choice and agency are very much promoted, quests are interesting and the progression from an enfeebled, injured dipshit to the scourge of orcs, bandits and monsters alike is without par. The lore's a little weak, the setting's cliched and stereotypical, but so many good things have been done with it that no game has ever managed. Combat system was a mixed bag. Horrible in group engagements lest you were a mage, and okay otherwise. We need more games like these. Let's hope 1's remaster won't let us down.
Man, time to make a cup of coffee, lean back and ejoy your review. Can't wait :) Edit: the dragon bug might be fixable by setting up a framerate limit! (but bosses are always janky in Gothic, some mods fix these issues and rebalance them, no more fire spam yay) Edit 2: Here are some mods I can highly recommend for Gothic 2 NotR if anyone watching this review wants to play it (some are burried in forums, good luck finding everything): - Of course the main patches, system pack, comunity patches and whatnot (or Union, it's a universal patcher that can patch both, Gothic 1 and Gothic 2 automatically to be perfectly playable, it contains the system pack and main patches. the union mod manager also introduces patches that change animations or character models. It's pretty insane.). - The Atariar Edition: a great mod that changes the game in some ways, while staying true to the original. It's so well rounded and nice, I will never play without it, aside from when I want mods that drastically change the experience to be more difficult. - The Direct X 11 renderer: nice fancy shadows and enhanced draw distance and dynamic lights for everyone! It also adds vsync, borderless window and more. - Ninja: a mod that allows for tiny patches to be added to your game. They can range from quality of life changes to gameplay changes, quicksave slots in case something breaks, quickloot to auto loot things without the crouch animation, mapmarkers for herbs, mana and health regen out of combat, sprinting mods that can be configured to your liking (some of these mods are of course more or less something for a second playthrough, but imo the quicksave slots are a must). Thanks for your awesome review, the Gothic community is a great place and there is so much to play. Definitely check out the total conversions if you can. Legend of Ahssun, Archolos and dirty swamp come to my mind and all of these are amazing (with some strenghts and weaknesses). Idk which ones are available in english though. There are even more total conversions and almost all of them are worth checking out.
Hey, great to see you here again! Yeah, I know about the framerate limit but I had my game set up in a way that didn't allow for it. Also, I don't blame the game for that, it's just something that happens to old games sometimes. I've played enough Gothic for now, but when I get the itch to return I will look into the mods!
To be fair, i liked the gothic 2 classic much better than gothic 2 notr. Notr had more content for sure, but classic is designed waaay better, and the content it has is much more enjoyable, deliberate and the balance is better. Also the game is shorter since there is no jarkendar and watermages questlines.
Don't be sad for PBs closure. Most people working on the original Gothic-Titles have left a long time ago, and recent releases have been terrible. Gothic 3 was a mess, which was related to issues with their publisher, so it was released in an unfinished state, but can be played thx to a ton of community patches. After that, Risen 1 is the only title that had a similar quality to G1 and G2 (but much better combat!). Everything afterwards was just bad and closing PB is justified. IMHO, PB only survived so long, because of the Gothic series.
100% agree with this. Although I have to say, the first Elex did hold some promise and could've been amazing if they had avoided some really bizarre design decisions.
@@GameTalesHQ As someone who spent ungodly amount of hours in Gothic 1 and 2, I can't recommend The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos enough. It captures the essence of original Gothic brilliantly, while expanding upon the mechanics in very creative ways. What's also worth mentioning, people from the Chronicles team are involved in making The Gothic Remake.
@@GameTalesHQ Chronicles of Myrtana isn't quite as good as people make it out to be. It's ok and does some things really well, and it definitely has its high points, but it is the grindiest most exhausting Gothic experience to date and does a lot of very questionable quantity over quality design choices. If you've got the patience to endure its many flaws, it also does plenty of things brilliantly, but Archolos is definitely also going to take its toll on you while playing.
@@AvatarofHate MASSIVE. That being said, it is better to have the Polish voices than no voices at all, even if you don't understand a word of it; the texts are still in English.
Thank you for taking me to a trip down memory lane. Really nice catch on the parallels between Gothic II & Mass Effect 2 when it comes to the final mission (along with RDR2). A missed opportunity for other games to take the concept of returning to a familiar world in an completely different condition like the Valley of Mines (really neat concept). Echo your sentiment on most points when it comes to Gothic II. Even if Gothic II had a more 'conventional' environment then GI, GII still has the upper hand due to the size of the world (three zones), more elaborate faction pathways, amount of quests & more impactful shifts in the environment during the chapter progression (plus a more vibrant color scheme for the environment). While some make the case that GI had the better story, the plot wasn't the strong suit of either Gothic titles to begin with. Hence the higher replay value for GII in comparison to GI in the long run (in my humble opinion). Going back to Gothic I+II during the 'global pause' days & being fully immersed with the proper spiritual successor Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos was the first time that I've genuinely enjoyed playing games since 2015/16. Out of curiosity, any chance you might cover The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos in the future? Pretty much every strength from the original Gothic I+II has been elaborated & makes it the best Gothic title to date, as the proper spiritual successor to be genuinely considered as Gothic III for a proper trilogy. The best balance of increasing the scope, while not compromising on the fundamental strengths of the immersive experience. Hands down, the best story, main quest, side quests & consequential changes to the world throughout the chapters of the entire franchise. PS Puik werk eindbaas!
need to install mod that gives you 3x speed, so you run quicker between locations. or closer to the end drink speed potion, there will be many that you still or can buy with extra gold
Glad you enjoyed it. Indeed, there are still some bugs but we all get over them and see the greatness that is Gothic 2. It's my favorite games. It's too bad the Piranhas never did anything as good as the first 2 games before they closed. They started so strong only to fade after each game they created. Risen was ok. Elex was fun too. Rip Piranha Bytes.
I think a big part of it might be the fact that they switched game engine after Gothic 2. Gothic 2 turned out so well because they could build on the foundation of Gothic 1 I feel. And yeah, RIP Piranha Bytes :(
I just replayed g1 and the combat has the same issues in both games, you can get permastunned super easily. the undead orc shamans were very annoying to deal with, and iirc the dragons were like that too + insane regeneration. I had to save scum a lot.
Yes, but since Gothic 1 is a shorter game with less combat, it didn’t bother me as much. There's a lot more fighting in Gothic 2, so over time, it became quite a nuisance.
Ok, so i watched whole 1second of this video to tell you, NO, go watch gameplay of it somewhere... Game is still wood , but story, music, characters are awesome :) it's really bad game but great "movie" :)
Haven´t finished the video yet, but you are pretty wrong about the combat. Please let me explain: There are two editons that change the system significantly in regards to G1. First you have a "minimum" dmg. You always deal 5 dmg to the hp of every enemy. and so do they. No matter the armor. so you are able to beat every enemy in the game at lvl 0. and the most difference is the i-frames. by doing a "back jump" you won´t get hit if timed correctly, and won´t receive any dmg. you are also able to run aroud the enemy if they are doing a "run attack". you are able to circle them and hit them in the back. Of cause all this is for expirienced player. but in my oppinion the meele combat system is one of the best systems ever created. but you are supposed to use the keyborad for figthing. walk and circle the enemy using wasd. And doing hit-combos with the arrow-keys. if you get used to it it just amazing. TLD: the combat is awsome and clunky. if you getting used to it, it´s a real skillcheck. Sorry for any spelling errors. best regards
I may not have been specific enough in my video. I think the melee combat works well enough. It's mostly the enemy AI which I had a problem with there. But since I mainly used the bow, I think that's were the game really stumbles. You are locked into place when firing an arrow and can only sidestep after a second or so. It still works fine, but there is way less skill expression there. At least, it felt that way to me! At the very least, the game does a poor job of explaining these combat nuances to a new player don't you think? I feel like the melee combat got a lot more love from the devs than the ranged combat. But at the end of the day, it's still really fun to progress and get stronger throughout the game and the clunkyness has a charm to it! Thanks for the comment :)
@@GameTalesHQ You are totaly rigth with the bow combat. It´s killing the enemy befor they reach you or tanking their hits. there are some mods where they improved the bow combat significantly. the explaining part i agree as well. the game doesn´t tell you much. there are only some hidden dialogs were npc explain some mechanics. like wulfgar if you talk to him early (5. am) in the moring. but if you sleep til morning (8. am) it will be to late. he will tell you to dodge an attack and immediately counterattack. witch works with most monsters. but i swear if you get into the meele combat it´s hell of fun and super rewarding. especially 1h. if you "Git gud " :D you can kill every monster without taking a hit. thanks for your answer and thanks for the rewie. Its always fun to hear someones new opinion on this old game that i have been playing for more than 20 years :D
