How to play Gothic 2 without the NOTR expansion?

[Zanzoken]

I started playing the Gothics for the first time last year. Enjoyed G1 a lot, but didn't finish G2 because of the added early-game difficulty and the Jharkendar expansion, which turned the game into a slog.

I really want to try G2 without the expansion to see if I like it better, but the "Gold edition" doesn't have the option to play without NOTR bundled. Does anyone know if there are mods that remove the NOTR content / balancing and revert the game to vanilla?

Alternatively, I did find a copy of what appears to be original G2 on Amazon as a digital download. So that could be an option as well but it would probably take some voodoo to get it running on a modern PC.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B8ZN1FC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_T7iYCbSTCK40J

Would appreciate any insight that anyone could offer.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://www.worldofgothic.de/dl/download_230.htm

Description: Anyone who wants to play G2 Classic despite the add-on installed and without a second installation can try this as a modification. Since there are various differences in the add-on engine, it is not a 100% Classic (you have to start again because old savegames are not compatible), but for the most part identical. The LP costs, inventories and attributes of NPCs / animals / monsters, dialogues, bonuses, etc. are exactly the same as in G2-Classic.

A few bugs have also been fixed (similar to the script patch): Since you can go to chapter 2 without a guild or as a novice in Classic, all novice quests are now also activated for chapter 2. Furthermore, the exploits with the shadow runner horns, old coins, mika, milten and almanac, as well as the frostbite bug have been fixed. The undead dragon can be shrunk back down and done with 'destroy undead' (I see that as a classic feature rather than a bug, even if it is too easy ...)

The differences to the "real" Classic consist, for example, of the "physical" changes, such as that it is harder to get over the wall next to the city gate as with the add-on, as well as of the visual effects (rain of fire and wave of death, for example, look like in the add-on, and not as in the Classic etc.). There can also be differences in textures, music and the Fight-AI of the monsters, if there are differences between the add-on and classic.

The setup file is approx. 5MB, but the mod ultimately takes up approx. 120MB, because the existing world data is copied to it.

Update: G2 Classic 1.1
This is not a patch, but a new full version, where the bug with the trade multiplier has been fixed (you now get the correct 30% instead of 15%), and guildless play is possible (the hurdle in Chapter 3 at Xardas has been corrected accordingly), Furthermore, it should also work for the English version, as both the German and the English texts / subtitles are included. Version 1.0 savegames can still be used.

 

[Zanzoken]

I did a clean install of the Gold Edition from GOG and followed the instructions in this guide to get it running, followed by installing the mod linked above. And it looks like it did the trick!

Spoiler

Thanks Konjad and rusty_shackleford for the assist!

 

[Tavar]

Great to see that the mod helped. I too prefer the original Gothic 2 experience and it is a shame that you cannot get the original game anywhere. In addition to the mod, there are warez of the original game which you can use, you can buy a used CD or you can write to GOG support and ask for an older version of the Gothic 2 Gold installer which allows you to choose what version to install.

 

[Zanzoken]

So far I'm finding vanilla G2 to be pretty enjoyable, even though I'm mostly just retreading stuff I already did on my prior run. I can tell the difficulty is not quite as punishing because it's possible to tank a few hits from wolves, field raiders, etc without dying even though I still just have the farmer's clothes.

I just finished Torlof's challenge to drive off the militia from one of the farms, and really enjoyed the fight. I think in my NOTR playthrough I took Cord's offer and went to deal with Dexter instead, so this was new. Fighting two militia guys at once was difficult, partially due to the auto-target which is janky at times, but after several defeats I finally got them.

 

[NerevarineKing]

Unless something changed, you can also contact GOG support and ask for an older version of the installer that lets you choose between Gothic 2 and NOTR when you run it.

 

[JDR13]

Enjoyed G1 a lot, but didn't finish G2 because of the added early-game difficulty and the Jharkendar expansion, which turned the game into a slog.

 

[curds]

Enjoyed G1 a lot, but didn't finish G2 because of the added early-game difficulty and the Jharkendar expansion, which turned the game into a slog.

Early game difficulty in NOTR isn't too bad, but Jharkendar, while fun, does kill the momentum a bit, so I get his point.

 

[JDR13]

Early game difficulty in NOTR isn't too bad, but Jharkendar, while fun, does kill the momentum a bit, so I get his point.

I thought Jharkendar was great. I liked the variety added by the different landscapes and new monsters that weren't in the base game.[/QUOTE]

 

[curds]

Early game difficulty in NOTR isn't too bad, but Jharkendar, while fun, does kill the momentum a bit, so I get his point.

I thought Jharkendar was great. I liked the variety added by the different landscapes and new monsters that weren't in the base game.

Yeah, it was good, but like I said, kills the momentum a bit when you get to a point in the main story and suddenly you can't do anything else until you complete the additional content.

 

[Zanzoken]

Just finished the second chapter. I really enjoyed sneaking through the Valley of Mines. The way the devs placed doomstacks of orcs to force you to find alternate routes was clever level design.

I picked up a 60 STR / 60 DMG sword so I'm starting to get over the damage cap a bit. At this point I can kill an orc in 3 or 4 hits, which is honestly a bit disappointing. I am happy that I'm getting to skip Jharkendar but I can see why they buffed the enemy stats in NOTR. Will be interesting to see if the game will present any new threats in the next chapter, or devolve into a faceroll.

 

[Mauman]

Just finished the second chapter. I really enjoyed sneaking through the Valley of Mines. The way the devs placed doomstacks of orcs to force you to find alternate routes was clever level design.

I picked up a 60 STR / 60 DMG sword so I'm starting to get over the damage cap a bit. At this point I can kill an orc in 3 or 4 hits, which is honestly a bit disappointing. I am happy that I'm getting to skip Jharkendar but I can see why they buffed the enemy stats in NOTR. Will be interesting to see if the game will present any new threats in the next chapter, or devolve into a faceroll.

Prepare for a faceroll.

 

[Outlander]

Will be interesting to see if the game will present any new threats in the next chapter, or devolve into a faceroll.

That's exactly why they made it harder in Gold edition...

 

[Zanzoken]

I just killed the first dragon in like 7 hits. I definitely see now why they made the game harder with the expansion. I also wish I had chosen the Paladins instead of the Mercs, because the Dragon Hunters are a bunch of dumbfucks. But I feel like Mercs is the canon path to follow.

At this point I'd say the perfect G2 experience would be NOTR difficulty without the boring expansion content. Maybe there's a mod out there that does that, if I ever decide to play this again.

 

[Cunt Dickula!?]

the boring expansion content.

 

[Black Angel]

Enjoyed G1 a lot, but didn't finish G2 because of the added early-game difficulty and the Jharkendar expansion, which turned the game into a slog.

The way I see it, even without the expansion content, the game would've turned into a slog anyway. I'm haven't yet experience an actual bossfight in ELEX! because I'm putting it in the backburner atm, but I'm on the assumption that Piranha Bytes don't know how to make good bossfights that aren't human enemies. Stupid fucking dragon bossfights....