Incline Gothic turns 15 years

[Dux]

I snapped one day and kicked Mud's ass for talking shit.

Now, whenever I run past his hut, with him sitting there looking all despondent, I feel kind of bad. Kind of. Oh well, sometimes you just gotta keep that pimp hand strong.

 

[Outlander]

I snapped one day and kicked Mud's ass for talking shit.

I think we all did he's 10 times more annoying than the stupid 'adoring fan' from Oblivion.

Anyway, maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I think if you put up with Mud for a certain amount of time, you are awarded some XP and he finally leaves you alone.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Fucking autists, killing Mud feels good.

Spoiler

Also, IIRC he's murdered @ chapter 4.

 

[Eirikur]

Speaking of Mud. Hello darkness my old friend...

 

[Kahr]

I was never sure if it was a bug or intended. But when i was a member of the old camp and beat Mud up in the castle the guards would finish him.
Always saw that as a sign that everyone else also hates that guy.

 

[Eirikur]

I was never sure if it was a bug or intended. But when i was a member of the old camp and beat Mud up in the castle the guards would finish him.
Always saw that as a sign that everyone else also hates that guy.

I think once you join the Shadows/Guards they'll back you up when you're fighting anyone outside their group (including the commoners of the Old Camp). Likely working as intended. Nice touch.

 

[Sigourn]

I snapped one day and kicked Mud's ass for talking shit.

Now, whenever I run past his hut, with him sitting there looking all despondent, I feel kind of bad. Kind of. Oh well, sometimes you just gotta keep that pimp hand strong.

Holy shit, I totally forgot about that NPC. Considering I started playing a month ago (and only a week ago picked it up again and played 25 out of the 35 hours I had in the game), I'm not surprised.

I've already started playing Gothic 2. It may be just me, but I miss the old, awful voice acting. This voice acting feels like bad voice acting trying to sound good. I kinda liked the "no context given to the VA"-voice acting of Gothic I.

Also, did I read the manual wrong or the training system of Gothic I is GONE? The way the manual says it, it feels like Gothic 2 shifted to Morrowind's "skill determines hitting chance".

 

[Kahr]

I think once you join the Shadows/Guards they'll back you up when you're fighting anyone outside their group (including the commoners of the Old Camp). Likely working as intended. Nice touch.

They didn't help me finish commoners outside of the castle so i think it has something to do with the status of the castle.

Also, did I read the manual wrong or the training system of Gothic I is GONE? The way the manual says it, it feels like Gothic 2 shifted to Morrowind's "skill determines hitting chance".

There is no to hit chance for melee, you always hit. Either the manual is badly written or you mean the crit chance.
For ranged weapons the skill determines your hit chance; can't remember if it was the same in G1, hardly used bows.

Do you just play G2 or also NotR?

 

[Sigourn]

There is no to hit chance for melee, you always hit. Either the manual is badly written or you mean the crit chance.
For ranged weapons the skill determines your hit chance; can't remember if it was the same in G1, hardly used bows.

Do you just play G2 or also NotR?

I guess it is badly written, then. I'm playing NotR as well.

 

[Old One]

I don't blame you for getting sucked in. Gothic 1 + Gothic 2 is one story. It makes sense to play them back-to-back.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

HELP!

I installed the gog.com version of G2 NoTR, and added the following patches/mods from the gog forum :


1. Install the game
2. Rename gothic.exe to gothic2.exe in /system
3. Install this patch
4. Go on with the PlayerKit
5. Install SystemPack
6. Install the D3D11 renderer
7. Download and extract the base game normalmaps to system\GD3D11
8. Download and extract Vurt's improved textures normalmaps to system\GD3D11\replacements

Game works perfectly (except for the video resolutions but who cares) and looks very nice, but the problem now is that my GPU runs REALLY hot (As in hotter than Arma 3 on really high settings). I'm on a gaming laptop with Nvidia GTX 970M and as soon as I get into the game proper and exit the first room after the conversation with you-know-who, the GPU hottens up to 85 C, which is obviously not normal. I have upped the view distance and model distance to 300%, but it's not like those textures should tax the card THAT much, right? I set V-sync to on in the Nvidia control panel and game resolution to HD instead of Full HD but I did not notice anything different concerning the temperature. It still shot up like a rocket. And yes, the laptop sits on a cooling stand with two active fans.

Any solutions to get down the temperature would be massively appreciated.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

Of course, maybe the easiest would be to just re-install without d3d11 renderer and simply go vanilla with the patches. The renderer is probably where the problem is, anyway...

 

[Sigourn]

Of course, maybe the easiest would be to just re-install without d3d11 renderer and simply go vanilla with the patches. The renderer is probably where the problem is, anyway...

Alternatively you could try using the Renderer without Vurt's textures. I found them to be tax my system on installation, and I imagine using the D3D11 renderer on top makes it even worse (more complex figures to add effects to).

In the end, the real beauty is the Renderer. Renderer + vanilla >>>>>>>> No renderer + Vurt.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

Alternatively you could try using the Renderer without Vurt's textures. I found them to be tax my system on installation, and I imagine using the D3D11 renderer on top makes it even worse (more complex figures to add effects to).

In the end, the real beauty is the Renderer. Renderer + vanilla >>>>>>>> No renderer + Vurt.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

Ok, so removing the replacement textures and updating the renderer and setting the model distance to 200% and taking the detail levels down notch from max got the temperature down to a tolerable 70 - 75 C. That's still quite hot, but bearable as this laptop (MSI) runs quite hot anyway. The game still looks very nice so I won't miss those textures.

An added bonus when playing Gothic 1 and 2 with a laptop is that he trackpad is handy for looking around when the arrow keys move the character.

Now that this is setup properly, I really need to finish my ToB run quickly. Good thing five weeks of summer vacation starts tomorrow.

 

[Sigourn]

Ok, so removing the replacement textures and updating the renderer and setting the model distance to 200% and taking the detail levels down notch from max got the temperature down to a tolerable 70 - 75 C. That's still quite hot, but bearable as this laptop (MSI) runs quite hot anyway. The game still looks very nice so I won't miss those textures.

An added bonus when playing Gothic 1 and 2 with a laptop is that he trackpad is handy for looking around when the arrow keys move the character.

Now that this is setup properly, I really need to finish my ToB run quickly. Good thing five weeks of summer vacation starts tomorrow.

It's funny because I thought Gothic I looked nice after a while, there's something about it that makes Morrowind look like shit by comparison, and Gothic II was a full step ahead, but after giving the renderer a short-lived try (runs like crap on my PC) I can't help but feel it is a bit ugly. It will go away with time, I'm sure, and I'll get to relive the Gothic magic.

 

[Dux]

I just completed Gothic and wanted to share my thoughts on it.

I liked it, to put it simply. I liked the adventure of it; I liked the characters, the music and the quests - even if some of them were a bit frustrating. Before I forget, however, here's some nitpicking and general observations:

Spoiler

Remember hearing about how the Old Mine collapsed? (I think it was the Old Mine) It was supposed to be quite devastating with few survivors. Well, after I heard about it I actually went there to investigate. I found that nothing had changed. Venturing inside, I was attacked by Drake and a few guards, while Ian was just standing about as usual. I don't know what to think about that, honestly. It's weird.

The bugged ladders. Seriously Piranha Bytes?

The whole questline with the Orc in the mine and the Ulu-Mulu. Not Piranha Bytes finest hour, in my opinion. Seemed like blatant padding.

The general disjointed behaviour in the colony. I remember going back to the Old Camp through teleportation at the last chapter. The whole experience was bizarre. It seemed like no-one there knew how to react to me. I proceeded to slaughter every hostile guard I could find, saving Mud in the process. He actually survived. I killed Gomez, Raven and Thorus - without any real resonance. It almost felt I was doing something I wasn't supposed to do. Well, I saved Mud in the end and that's what counts.

The end boss fight against the Sleeper was pretty bad. It wasn't horrible, I won't go that far, but it was pretty damn poor. The stationary arachnid demon throwing flaccid fireballs at me wasn't really what I had expected. Piranha Bytes seems to have a problem with getting the endgame right. Additionally, the whole thing about fighting against ten or more enemies at the same time is absolute bullshit. I don't care who you are or how good you are, you're not surviving a melee like that. The game won't allow it. Of course, there's ways to get past obstacles in these games but it ain't always pretty. It often entails luring one enemy away from the pack. Rinse and repeat.

The ending itself... what the fuck was that about exactly? I thought the Nameless Hero "died" there in the temple when it collapsed. Didn't he? Then he was resurrected or some shit by Xardas in Gothic II? Which explains why you're such a wuss again. Apparently he waltzed straight out of there to continue his adventuring. Fuck if I know what's going on.

Even as I love what Gothic is about - the story, the atmosphere, the characters - I hate some of its game mechanics. The AI's so-called dodging for instance. I nearly rage quit a few times when my sword batantly went straight through someone without any effect, simply because their dodging animation triggered. It's such bullshit. That and the way enemies strafe around you, taking advantage of the fact that you have the same turn rate as a 747. It's one of the factors which makes fighting multiple enemies such a nightmare. If you have armour to soak up damage you can probably prevail but if the bad guys have heavy-hitting weapons you're fucked. While you're fighting somebody in front of you, there's at least two or three enemies hacking away at you from behind. Having allies around don't actually help either because of the crippled targeting. Even if you kill the first enemy in time, the chances of you being able to turn - slowly - and confront the rest before they've killed you off is quite slim, to say the least. This is something a Gothic player has to learn the hard way. Fighting on your own terms and not the enemy's is the key to victory in most cases. Maybe that's good because it mirrors real life? Dunno. The AI itself is also quite atrocious. My adventure with Gorn inside the Free Mine, for example. Holy shit. That's all I can say about that. Although it was pretty amusing seeing Gorn running around in circles at times.

It might seem I'm shitting on the game but it's not really like that. Playing Gothic is never a smooth ride but it always leaves an impression that's more positive than negative, because even if these games have problems they succeed in transcending them. The world feels alive in a way which many RPGs have tried to emulate - whether they know it or not - but often failed to achieve. My rise from a lowly peasant into a righteous Aryan with a zweihänder felt natural and rewarding. You have to work hard for it. What else? Well, it's a game which would make your average SJW's head explode and that's always something. I was apparently forbidden to consort with the lingerie-wearing women in the colony for some reason, even after I had killed their masters. Maybe they were trying to tell me something. Life is harsh. It's a man's game anyway. I look back and wince at some of the bad moments I had, but then I grin remembering the glorious ones. That's Gothic for you. Although I went about it the wrong way. I really should've played this one first before trying Gothic II. Now I finally understand who all the people I met in Khorinis were and what they were babbling about.

"Remember that time, Nameless Hero?"
"Uhhh... yeah, of course I do."

THE END

 

[Sigourn]

I just completed Gothic and wanted to share my thoughts on it.

Is this me?

Everything you mentioned is what I think about this game (sans the "played Gothic II before", thank God I followed my linear order rule).

- I totally forgot about going back to the Old Mine. Was it Milton who said that? I think I went straight to Diego instead of going to the Old Mine.
- The ladders were incredibly infuriating in this game, I actually had to resort to Google to see if I was the only one having this problem, and how to overcome it...
- I actually liked the Ulu-Mulu quest, too bad I had actually defeated all of those enemies beforehand, so having to do it a second time (had sold their loot) didn't feel as interesting as it could have.
- The ending was definitely the worst part of the game, and the Sleeper didn't pose a challenge at all. The AI is really one of the worst issues this game had, and while it makes sense for animals, it doesn't for humans. All I had to do was run away from the Templars until only one or two were following me, so I could then kill them, then rinse and repeat.

Basically, facing two enemies on even terms means you are dead. You need to hit harder of take more hits than them, else you lose. And I hate the "autlock" aiming system, more often than not my character would lock on an enemy that was too far away from me while another two killed him.

EDIT: Funny enough, I remember thinking "this will be the first and last time I play this game", but now I can definitely see myself playing it again in the future.

 

[7h30n]

I'll be starting my first play of Gothic 1 soon. Are there any must have mods? I've heard about the controls, but I can get used to various control schemes easily, so that's not an issue. Any other info I need to know, like how much is this game better than Morrowind? :D

 

[Doktor Best]

I'll be starting my first play of Gothic 1 soon. Are there any must have mods? I've heard about the controls, but I can get used to various control schemes easily, so that's not an issue. Any other info I need to know, like how much is this game better than Morrowind? :D

You need system pack to unlock the fps lock, other than that you dont need anything. It beats Morrorwind by a mile, which i also like, but Gothic is a different beast. Its one of my favorite rpgs of all time.

 

[Jazz_]

Gothic was amazing. The things I remember more vividly after all those years are me exploring a sort of small castle/tower on a mountain at night and suddenly hearing loud footsteps behind me, and this giant stone Golem chasing me away, I ran for my life downhill like there was no tomorrow. Another thing I remember was like a small village close to a forest, in the middle of this forest there was a sort of Giant and I just ran away from him to the small village, thing is the Giant didn't stop the pursuit so I got to watch him curbstomp the poor people living there (they went out on their shields fighting tho), that emergent gameplay! but I am not sure if that was Gothic 1 or 2 to be honest, too much time has passed since I have played them.
Ah, and that tree-city full of bald stoners, 10/10.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

I'll be starting my first play of Gothic 1 soon. Are there any must have mods? I've heard about the controls, but I can get used to various control schemes easily, so that's not an issue. Any other info I need to know, like how much is this game better than Morrowind? :D

The framerate unlocker is a must, as mentioned. I used Freddys texture Pack which, if I understood/remember correctly, only ups the resolution of the original textures for HD monitors, e.g. it i not a "replacement" pack, so it quite closely retains the feel of the original. I remember Gothic crashing on me with quite a high frequency (gog version) , but not sure if it was due to the texture pack or something else. Anyway, save early, save often.

 

[Sigourn]

I really want to stop bumping this thread (unless until I finish G2), but I need to ask this.

I have the 2.6 fix thing, the system pack and the player kit installed in my Gothic II Gold (GOG). I've been experiencing the following issues over 8 hours of playing:

- Missing voice overs (very rarely, as in, I must have seen 10 dialogue tops with no voiceover). That is, the NPCs or my character doesn't have any audio while speaking. It just happened to me while talking to a dude in the harbor of the first city asking me to test a spell on some schmuck.
- Words in German. Happens very rarely as well, but some times lines are in German as opposed to English.
- Names written in uppercase as opposed to "normal": for example, LORENZO instead of Lorenzo.
- Dialogue lag. As opposed to a fluent conversation, sometimes there's a pause between an NPC's line and the next one. An unintended pause (as far as I can guess).

Since I believe I'm running a "popular" installation of the game, has anyone here experienced one or every of the issues I described? It's kind of sad that muh immershun is broken because of these things. Other than that, enjoying it so far. I don't know if it is harder than Gothic 1, or I just got used to kicking the crap out of enemies in the endgame.

EDIT: I'm no genius as this forum can attest to, but I believe it has to do with that 2.6.0.0 Report Version, apparently you are only expected to use it if you plan to use the D3D11 renderer (which I don't use).

EDIT2: Oh, and the system pack for both Gothic games has been updated. From 1.1 (what I was using) to 1.5.

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/threads/1340357-Release-Gothic-½-—-SystemPack-(ENG-DEU)

 

[Old One]

- Missing voice overs (very rarely, as in, I must have seen 10 dialogue tops with no voiceover). That is, the NPCs or my character doesn't have any audio while speaking. It just happened to me while talking to a dude in the harbor of the first city asking me to test a spell on some schmuck.

I remember this happening, but rarely. I assumed it was something that was changed at the last minute after the voice recording was finished.

- Words in German. Happens very rarely as well, but some times lines are in German as opposed to English.

I don't remember seeing that in my recent game.

- Names written in uppercase as opposed to "normal": for example, LORENZO instead of Lorenzo.

Without going into detail, that's actually a hint. WAD.

- Dialogue lag. As opposed to a fluent conversation, sometimes there's a pause between an NPC's line and the next one. An unintended pause (as far as I can guess).

I seem to recall this a little bit, but it wasn't frequent.

 

[Sigourn]

- Missing voice overs (very rarely, as in, I must have seen 10 dialogue tops with no voiceover). That is, the NPCs or my character doesn't have any audio while speaking. It just happened to me while talking to a dude in the harbor of the first city asking me to test a spell on some schmuck.

I remember this happening, but rarely. I assumed it was something that was changed at the last minute after the voice recording was finished.

- Words in German. Happens very rarely as well, but some times lines are in German as opposed to English.

I don't remember seeing that in my recent game.

- Names written in uppercase as opposed to "normal": for example, LORENZO instead of Lorenzo.

Without going into detail, that's actually a hint. WAD.

- Dialogue lag. As opposed to a fluent conversation, sometimes there's a pause between an NPC's line and the next one. An unintended pause (as far as I can guess).

I seem to recall this a little bit, but it wasn't frequent.

I found someone who claimed his Gothic 2 Gold install also suffered the words in German, and used the same example as I did: "OK, lass uns gehen" instead of "OK, let's go" when talking to Lares at the harbor. So it's 4 out of 4 anomalies now, meaning I shouldn't get worried anymore. Thanks!