Incline Gothic turns 15 years

[Junmarko]

I'm guessing this is the same seller on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/268034400/the-sleepers-mask-medallion-inspired-by?ga_order=date_desc&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=gothic sleeper&ref=sr_gallery_8

It appears so. Definitely seem to be handcrafted, not a large inventory.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Ruskie seller? No surprise, they're the biggest Gothic fanboy ever, almost all mods from the past decade come from there (including Returning 1/2 and Dark Saga).
One at time? Must dodge some bullets if he stay too long with too large quantities :D

 

[Anthedon]

Why is it so popular in Russia? I get the impression it's even more popular there than here in Germany. I know they like hard games. But that surely can't be it. Is life in the prison colony so similar to life in Soviet Russia?

 

[catfood]

Vata love it so much they had a special cover with a little extra added on it

 

[Junmarko]

Is life in the prison colony so similar to life in Soviet Russia?

Hilarious, and yet, probably very close to the truth

 

[Kahr]

How was the opinion about Morrowind on it's release in east europe?
Somehow you never hear about that much love for it there.
(Which i can totally understand of course.)

 

[T. Reich]

TES series is widely loved.
Back when it sucked less (Morrowind/Oblivion) there were huge arguments over whether TES or Gothic series were better.

 

[Konjad]

In my school Morrowind's popularity and opinion was similar to the Gothic's one, albeit Gothic was considered slightly better. Then Gothic 2 was seemed like a continuation of Gothic, whereas nobody cared about Oblivion. Years later, at uni, I heard people talking about SKyrim, but since personally I never bothered to play it, I did not engage in conversation. I'd guess it's less popular than Witcher 3 though. However, I don't really talk about video games with friends, so I honestly don't know what's popular these days.

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

Suppose this might very well be old news to some of you here, but I still found it really interesting. I'd always wondered about those slight inconsistencies, such as the intro clothes and strange dialogue. Then there was the arena bit, etc. I wish this had seen the light of day, damn it.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Gothic is a prime example of an RPG to be studied and learned from by new RPG developers. Really any level of RPG developers can learn a lot from how Piranha Bytes crafted the first 2 Gothic games. They were way ahead of their time, and the games contain tons of great ideas that games still aren't doing today.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Fun trivia - Returning (and sequel - Returning 2.0) are considered "official add-ons" (they even bring voice actors who worked on G1,G2 and NotR).
What is even funnier that potatoes made Ret1 even harder when they made translation, still remember massive butthurt and flamewar, comparable with Fallout3 release war.

I think the reason they like Gothic is similair to Stalker - chance to create hard mods. Maybe because gaming in easterneurope is dead like retreating red armist? No more single playerd hard game focused devs? Only MP with microtransactions (World of Tanks, Survivarium etc.).
Funny that while some Stalker mods are hard as nail (Reborn, OGSE, NLC) the other half have decent difficulty. Meanwhile - 90% of rusian mods for Gothic is bulshit hard and force you to save scumming and bugging out enemies on obstacles.

 

[Junmarko]

Fun trivia - Returning (and sequel - Returning 2.0) are considered "official add-ons" *

*In Russia.

(they even bring voice actors who worked on G1,G2 and NotR).**

**Russian voice actors.

 

[Ash]

I've had this in the backlog for ages. I still need to play it. Was wondering if I should skip 1 and go straight to 2, or are they both that good and not to be missed?

 

[Jinn]

They are both excellent. Play both. Gothic 1 isn't a very long game. 20-30 hours or so.

 

[Ash]

Length doesn't matter to me, only girth quality. In fact, if it's a quality game then the longer the better. New Vegas represents that desire: it's 60-100 hours if you do everything and the quality never really drops off significantly, so you're left wanting more when it's all over. At least 15 hours could be cut from that time if there were the ability to fucking run vanilla though.

Will start with the first Gothic.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ah, the first time. You're not gonna feel that ever again.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Definitely start with the first. I played it for the first time ever a few years back and it was great. In many ways I prefer the first Gothic over Gothic 2 because of how things like the setting are executed. Both great, though.

 

[Junmarko]

I've had this in the backlog for ages. I still need to play it. Was wondering if I should skip 1 and go straight to 2, or are they both that good and not to be missed?

Don't leave out the first one. There are moments in Gothic 2 that will be more satisfying if you've played the first. It's just as awesome in it's own way too.

 

[catfood]

Start with the first game. Without spoiling too much I'm just going to say that you will revisit the prison colony in the second game. Not only will it be of help to you to know the layout of the land, but you'll also get that feeling that you have when you revisit an old place of which you have fond memories that you haven't seen in a long time. I can't recall any other game that did this. Overall, yes, the second game is better, but the first one has a stronger atmosphere, at least in the first act.

 

[T. Reich]

Start with the first one, this way you will appreciate the small things in the second one's story much more.

Do mind that G1, while solid overall, has a noticeable amount of design flaws, the major of which is that it has a TON of padding and backtracking in the last third of the game, which could've been avoided.

 

[Junmarko]

Don't forget to post an update once it arrives!

I'm really impressed with the detail, they've done a good job - the fracture above the right eye socket is there too! It's a lot stronger than I thought as well, the "thorns" don't feel fragile - nor does the entire piece.

(Yes, you should buy one )

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I can hear the Gothic 3 theme play in my head just by looking at the thing.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I've had this in the backlog for ages. I still need to play it. Was wondering if I should skip 1 and go straight to 2, or are they both that good and not to be missed?

Yeah, you should absolutely play Gothic 1 and 2. Both. These are two of the greatest RPGs/games ever, and probably the two greatest open world RPGs ever.

While they are not without flaws, I think playing them will really appeal to the designer in you, because from the design perspective, these 2 games get so much right about open world RPGs, it's fascinating to analyze them. Much of what they have actually comes from Ultima VII: The Black Gate, which was the first true open world RPG, and inspired Gothic's original devs. But they took some of those ideas, adapted them to the more powerful technology of early 2000s, and improved on some aspects (e.g. combat), producing the epitome of open world RPG gameplay that is still to be outdone in many ways.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Yeah, you should absolutely play Gothic 1 and 2. Both. These are two of the greatest RPGs/games ever, and probably the two greatest open world RPGs ever.

While they are not without flaws, I think playing them will really appeal to the designer in you, because from the design perspective, these 2 games get so much right about open world RPGs, it's fascinating to analyze them. Much of what they have actually comes from Ultima VII: The Black Gate, which was the first true open world RPG, and inspired Gothic's original devs. But they took some of those ideas, adapted them to the more powerful technology of early 2000s, and improved on some aspects (e.g. combat), producing the epitome of open world RPG gameplay that is still to be outdone in many ways.

Thank you for saying that much more eloquently than I could! Totally agree. They *are* still to be outdone, but not even that, still to be attempted or built on! Piranha Bytes themselves are the only ones who craft worlds like that, and their style is indeed prime territory for analysis and study. Great stuff.

 

[throwaway]

What's up with that handling time though? Is it common for Russian sellers?

Ordered the item as soon as Junmarko linked to it and it's yet to be shipped.

 

[Ninjerk]

:russia: