Gothic I, worth it?

[1eyedking]

I sure do love running back and forth between camps all day.

This was a low point, definitely. RPGs usually fix this with a world map and random encounters.

Then again, Gothic is not a prim-and-proper RPG

 

[Stabwound]

Whoever said the combat/damage was binary was pretty much right, although it's more like 3 scenarios instead of 2:

1. The monster will completely decimate you and you can't even do any damage to it.
2. You can barely hurt it and can kill it with enough skill as a player, and about 50 hits.
3. You can kill it in 1 hit and it can't do any damage to you.

I also figured out what I guess might be an "exploit" but if you tap ctrl+up at the same time rapidly you can basically keep attacking in rapid fire mode and the enemy will never get a chance to attack back.

 

[1eyedking]

Which is the precise reason why Gothic is awesome.

PS: There are some middle points in between, in all honesty.

 

[bhlaab]

PS: There are some middle points in between, in all honesty.

Not as much in the first chapter or two. After that you and the monsters you're facing are at a pretty even keel. Once you get good armor and level up enough to get a decent HP you start cutting up folks.

I don't think I've done anything as satisfying in a game as finally killing the Ore Baron just because I felt like it.

 

[MisterStone]

So I rolled up in on the Rice Lord and kicked his ass, stole all his shit. Including his big glaive-thingy "scepter". I also kicked shrike's ass in the new camp and got a "sting mace". Thing is, both weapons do the same damage almost, but one is 2h the other is 1h. Is there an andvantage to 2h weapons other than the range? Is there an advantage to 1h weapons (speed, etc.)? If I get the 2h weapon specialty can I do more or faster moves with 2h weapons?

I find it kind of hard to get into combat in this game. It's hard to time strikes well, and blocking is teh hard.

 

[Konjad]

1h - faster, u can hold torch while fighting (g1 only), 2h - longer

 

[TsongaKralj]

You can make some cash by picking up herbs and selling them, but I am concerned that these plants might be useful later on, so I try not to sell them off.

Aside from 5 of those green-brown herbs you pick up at the swamp in looney camp which are required for a quest there's no use for herbs other than restoring your health/mana so if you need money feel free to sell all that crap,healing potions will be more useful later on anyway.

I can't remember if you need to have a pickaxe in order to get the free Scraper pants, but yes it is better than shelling out cash for the digger's trousers... also, you can buy a novices' loin cloth from the Templar at the entrance of the sect camp, talk to the one on your right as you're walking into it and ask him about his armor.

In regards to the crossbow/bow skill and dexterity, I stand corrected, Dexterity is indeed precision and damage.

No need for a pickaxe,you just tell him you want to be a scraper.Although I always tend to buy digger's trousers as soon as I can because they're slightly better and I end up knocking out Fisk later and getting my money back anyway.

As for Dexterity,in Gothic 1 it doesn't even increase your damage,it's only precision.I don't think there's a benefit for having over 100 DEX,you usually never miss with 80-90 anyway.

So I rolled up in on the Rice Lord and kicked his ass, stole all his shit. Including his big glaive-thingy "scepter". I also kicked shrike's ass in the new camp and got a "sting mace". Thing is, both weapons do the same damage almost, but one is 2h the other is 1h. Is there an andvantage to 2h weapons other than the range? Is there an advantage to 1h weapons (speed, etc.)? If I get the 2h weapon specialty can I do more or faster moves with 2h weapons?

I find it kind of hard to get into combat in this game. It's hard to time strikes well, and blocking is teh hard.

To be honest I think in first Gothic 2h weapons suck ass,even at master level side to side strokes(which is largely best away of attacking) are nowhere near as fast as 1H.Their only real advantage is longer reach but that goes for 2h swords not 2h axes which have as much even shorter as best 1h swords.

Combined with the fact that 2h mastery costs way more skill to learn than 1H and that you can get best 1h sword in the game very early I'd say you're better off trying to invest into ranged weapons or magic after you max out strength and 1h.

 

[Abelon Blanchetourbe]

Is there an andvantage to 2h weapons other than the range? Is there an advantage to 1h weapons (speed, etc.)?

2h weapons do more damage and by the end of the game you'll definitely want to invest in it.

If I get the 2h weapon specialty can I do more or faster moves with 2h weapons?

Yup.

I find it kind of hard to get into combat in this game. It's hard to time strikes well, and blocking is teh hard.

I know right good thing Gothic 4 will be more visceral

 

[SoupNazi]

I never used 2h weapons, one-handed are fine even during the endgame.

 

[ghostdog]

Yeah, two-handed swords are teh shit in G1&2. You can beat anything with them since they give you enough range to avoid being hit.

 

[MicoSelva]

I sure do love running back and forth between camps all day.

Actually, that was the best part of the game for me.

I think the first part of G1 (where you go around to the different camps, etc) is really good, in fact better than any similar-sized chunk of G2 considered in isolation. After that it's just bland linear junk.

This. Also, I didn't like the endgame. It was too generic.

Anyway, even if You don't finish G1, G2 is definitely worth a try.

 

[SoupNazi]

They're great, but it's not at all necessarily to use them.

 

[TsongaKralj]

I never used 2h weapons, one-handed are fine even during the endgame.

Problem is:

Spoiler

Unless you're a maxed out mage(learned the 6th magic circle) the game forces you to use 2H sword in the last small part of the game as Uriziel is the only thing that can harm the last Orc shaman,templars,Cor Kalom and possesed novices that arrive after.However there's no need to train 2H skill to master and waste 70 skill points just for that last part as you can do it just as easily at trained level.

 

[Murk]

I found two handed swords to just be more fun, tbh, and since I often joined the mercenaries I never wasted skill points on 1-handed weapons.

Also, if you get into the castle inner courtyard of the old camp you can steal a rusty two hander that is a pretty righteous two-handed weapon, above any other in the first chapter (and even later), and has great range. Does a lot of damage too.

TsongaKralj, you're right I checked the manual and DEX in g1 is nothing but aiming/accuracy, the only way it involves damage is that it lets you use more advanced bows.

In G2 I found two-handed weapons to be much worse for one reason mainly, there is a small split-second lag when you "jump back" that you don't have with one-handed weapons that alone can be the difference of being able to defeat a dragon-snapper or not. Actually it is helpful for many monsters but dragon-snappers are the most dangerous so eh.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I've played about 5 hours of G1 now, and it's actually decent. I still don't have any armour so combat is a pain, but I like how you're struggling to survive at first, as ore is so hard to come by. I was just running around the countryside looking for caches of items to sell, pretty fun.

I'm sure there are probably easy ways to get a ton of ore quickly if you know how, but if you're new it's a pretty big pain.

Once you can get in the inner are of the Old Camp - rob the Ore Baron storage chests. The are situated in the highest tower. You'll be set for the rest of the game. (Might want to train Picklock skill to master level first, there are some pretty hard locks on the way)

 

[Tails]

Once you can get in the inner are of the Old Camp - rob the Ore Baron storage chests. The are situated in the highest tower. You'll be set for the rest of the game. (Might want to train Picklock skill to master level first, there are some pretty hard locks on the way)

Pretty much this. As far I recall, without any training those chest can be open, just it's good to have about 50 picklocks. It's not so really hard to find the proper combination.

 

[bhlaab]

I prefer 1h weapons, it feels a lot easier to chain together combos so you're open less often.

 

[MisterStone]

Hey, is pickpocketing any good? I figured it might be a good skill for the lulz.

I'm still planning on being a cultist... will this gimp me for the rest of the game, or all the different factions reasonably well-balanced?

 

[Tails]

The fact that you are fragile as shit throughout the whole game, but at the same time you can take on pretty much every damn enemy with a rusty sword if you master the combat system.

It's also pretty much the best marriage of character and player skill in gaming. If you're reflex impaired, pumping into crits will most likely save your sorry arse. If you're Laser-Jesus level awesome in blocking and dodging and attacking, however, raising crits only makes the killing faster.

Heh, in Gothic I so far I experienced is STR/DEX>rest, since of the weird mechanic that requires certain STR/Weapon Damage to do any damage to certain enemies. Anyway cool, but everything of this has small meaning when controls in Gothic I are not really good or bugged (mouse), plus other weird situations like, when NPC/Critter can be hit three times in the row and get no damage, but after making one step forward to him suddenly there is no problem. Fighting a group of enemies is also plain annoying.

 

[MisterStone]

Also, the animal skinning skills are a fucking joke. A wolf pelt has value 10?! You have to be kidding me. Please tell me there is some other use for these animal bits- crafting maybe? What a rip off

 

[Tails]

Well you get nice prices for the Shadow Beast skins, but other then that yeah, prices are rather silly.

Btw. MisterStone how is the performance on your rig? do you get any weird graphic or other glitches?

 

[MisterStone]

It seems to run fine; I sometimes see some glitchy stuff on the outside map (transparent surfaces appearing nowhere, etc.) but I guess I just assume its due to 2000 era graphics more than a glitch.

I don't even have a discrete vidya card and it runs fine, as far as I can tell.

 

[Murk]

Hey, is pickpocketing any good? I figured it might be a good skill for the lulz.

I'm still planning on being a cultist... will this gimp me for the rest of the game, or all the different factions reasonably well-balanced?

Are you planning on being a mage or templar? The factions are pretty balanced, but if you want to be a legit mage then I'd reccomend joining one of the other camps.

If you want to be a Templar then no problem at all, go for it. I've played through as a Mercenary twice, a Water mage once, and a Templar once.

I could never bring myself to join those cuntbags at the old camp tho ;(

 

[Stabwound]

Another dumb question.

I joined the Old Camp and am now a guard. I did the old mine quest and killed the minecrawler queen, and Raven told me to do something else, but I was half asleep at the time and it didn't write anything in the journal. Anyone have any idea what you're supposed to do after that part?

and as far as graphics go, I have flickery textures and things going on sometimes, but it doesn't really bother me. However, earlier I had a bizarre texture problem where the ground textures were replaces with the texture of the monster that looks like a dinosaur. It was fucking bizarre looking, to say the least.

p.s: if anyone isn't using the fps unlock patch, you definitely should be: http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/sh ... st12374540

 

[Darth Roxor]

Also, the animal skinning skills are a fucking joke. A wolf pelt has value 10?! You have to be kidding me. Please tell me there is some other use for these animal bits- crafting maybe? What a rip off

There are more trophies you can take from various animals, some pretty expensive.

The skill is also pretty much needed to finish the game at one point.

Hey, is pickpocketing any good? I figured it might be a good skill for the lulz.

No, not really. You can't steal anything from anyone 'important' - only generic 'guards', 'diggers', etc, and taking their apples and single arrows isn't exactly profitable. The skill doesn't become useful until Gothic 2, where you can even steal stuff that would be otherwise unavailable.

 

[Murk]

You kill enough animals that you can easily sell off even cheap wolf-skins for good cash by the end of the game, and in the beginning even a few ore here and there is useful. Well worth the LP cost, anyway.

Stabwound, I never joined the old camp on my 4 or so playthroughs but I would think if you look up a guide/walk-through on gamefaqs you can find what you're supposed to do next.