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Gothic vs. Risen

Murk

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I'm just replaying Gothic 2 with NotR and I would say the game is a bit too long for its own good. It's incredibly packed with quests and stuff to do and totally shits on Skyrim's cities for example with the amount of quests.
I remember Gothic 1 being a little more straight-forward and I kinda have this comparison that G1 is to Gothic what F1 is to Fallouts but I gotta replay it to see if it's true because I liked F1 the most of all Fallouts.
So if I'm right, I'd just play them chronologically. I've played G3 and I got bored because it's pretty but too much of the same with much less tight world.
Play without NOTR if you haven't

Does this basically just cut out Jharkendar? So you return from The Valley of the Mines with the letter than just go straight back to The Valley of the Mines?

You lose 3 major quest lines (kidnapping of people, the pirates' stuff, and bandit weapons) and some other stuff around like some workarounds to join guilds, some NPCs, and certain items (tablets come readily to mind) of course. Honestly, just bear with it... it is worth it. Also, the game is WAY easier without the add-in.
 

Doctor Sbaitso

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Is it a separate game do I have to play vanilla along side it? Thanks in advance for the info.
 
Self-Ejected

Excidium

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Is it a separate game do I have to play vanilla along side it? Thanks in advance for the info.
It melds with the vanilla content, you start the expansion quest right when talking to Xardas

^reminds me of

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/gothic-3-no-cp-out-of-memory-error.75681/

Wait, what? You hate a 1,5 gigabyte patch with thousands of visible changes to the game world and invisible changes to the framework, because it messes with one texture you liked?
Well, it's different. Equipment progression is the character development of Gothic

Like you work hard and pay good money to have your faction armor then you immediately get a much better one from the circle of water quest for just walking around

Also all the weapon requirements are increased because of the new ways to raise your stats (30 STR rusty swords lol), so commit the mistake of using any points to train your weapon skill instead of main attribute and you are stuck with a shitty weapon for half the game
 
Last edited:

Crooked Bee

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I actually never played vanilla G2, only NOTR. Maybe I should try it to see how much the expansion actually changed.
 

Correct_Carlo

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They are all very similar games. I played Risen first, so I loved that, but honestly Gothic 1 and Gothic 2 are way better games. Playing them will make Risen seem like a pale, slightly characterless, imitation. Had I played Risen last I don't think I would have liked it as much.

If you can only play one, play Gothic 2, which is the best. Although the storyline might not make much sense without Gothic 1.
 

Crooked Bee

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I actually never played vanilla G2, only NOTR. Maybe I should try it to see how much the expansion actually changed.
You must really have a lot of time to kill if you're actually thinking of playing the lesser version just to see the differences :P


I was just thinking of replaying G1 or 2 at some point, is all.

If anything, playing G2 without NotR should make it easier on my time.
 

ghostdog

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I was just thinking of replaying G1 or 2 at some point, is all.

If anything, playing G2 without NotR should make it easier on my time.

I wouldn't say its worth it. Fire up NORT and simply ignore the new world introduced (IIRC it doesn't actually affect the original storyline). Apart from that, the improvement of NPCs and areas of the original and the added difficulty, are definitely worth it imo.

Or better yet replay G1. It's a more tight experience.
 

Terpsichore

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How do you guys go around the disgusting G1/2 controls? The mouse sensitivity specifically. Do I need a decade old mouse? Because lowering DPI and such doesn't seem to help.
 

Doctor Sbaitso

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Lowering dpi would make it worse. You need higher dpi if anything. Worst case, lower mouse acceleration before starting it and then reset after playing. Gothic1 has a pretty bad acceleration problem.
 

Terpsichore

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I tried that as well but it helps only a little, have to play with surgeon precision to not make 180 turns nonstop.
 

bloodlover

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How do you guys go around the disgusting G1/2 controls? The mouse sensitivity specifically. Do I need a decade old mouse? Because lowering DPI and such doesn't seem to help.

I've always somehow just got used to them over time. They are not really THAT bad once you get used to them. And archer is piss easy to control, at least in G2.
 

Mystary!

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Dark Souls gave me alot of Gothic vibes, mainly for the frustrating but rewarding combat controls.
 

Jvegi

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I'd recommend playing vanilla G2 first. The difficulty spike from notr can be overwhelming for someone who is not intimately familiar with the mechanics, and the amount of content, even without the expansion, is more then satisfactory. There is also some background stuff that will lose it's sense of lack of purpose when given one. Not everything in the world should be important.

Furthermore, it will make you appreciate the changes much more during future playthroughs. I can't be sure, but I think the main storyline might lose it's focus due to the humongousness of the Raven campaign.
 
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I think cheesy dialogue is what turns away a lot of Gothic newcomers. I've yet to get into Risen... Maybe after DaS2.
 

Jvegi

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I weep for people who have to play Gothic games with an english dub. You poor fucks :P

The dialog is awesome. In good versions that is.
 
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Excidium

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But I like the english VO

There is also some background stuff that will lose it's sense of lack of purpose when given one. Not everything in the world should be important.
I like how in vanilla if you bro up with the bandit at the beginning he'll help you out and go live in that goblin camp on the way to xardas tower, on NOTR he just gets beaten the fuck out by Cavalorn
 

Tigranes

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I played G2 with NOTR from the beginning and it's not that bad. The difficulty is what makes everything work.

As always I maintain that the gap between Gothics and Risen is not so large. They are very very similar games in so many ways. Risen is also refreshing in its colonial-tropical atmosphere and there is so much to do in harbour town, I actually think the variety of quests, the fun things yu can do, and the pacing, is better than Khorinis. The general questing eperience is a lot more fun in HT, although Khorinis has a few excellent moments.
 

JarlFrank

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
How do you guys go around the disgusting G1/2 controls? The mouse sensitivity specifically. Do I need a decade old mouse? Because lowering DPI and such doesn't seem to help.

I think I played both with keyboard only, it works pretty well that way. No mouse needed.
 

harhar!

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But I like the english VO

There is also some background stuff that will lose it's sense of lack of purpose when given one. Not everything in the world should be important.
I like how in vanilla if you bro up with the bandit at the beginning he'll help you out and go live in that goblin camp on the way to xardas tower, on NOTR he just gets beaten the fuck out by Cavalorn

In NOTR you can still talk to him before talking to Cavalorn. You can tell him that Cavalorn is still alive and he will run away.
 

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