Gothic II

Moby ID: 7866

Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 83% (based on 36 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 102 ratings with 7 reviews)

Challenging, beautiful, open-ended, smart, long; class gaming

The Good
The game begins where Gothic 2 ended, with a recap of events in the first game for beginners. The enigmatic Xardas the necromancer is the first character you meet, one of a plethora of colorful people who will play parts in the surprisingly long main quest.

The dialogue and interaction with NPCs really stand out immediately. All the dialogue is voice acted and there's loads of it, thousands of lines; in the first main game area, the city of Khorinis, you'll find dozens of characters with their own personalities and unique branching conversations, and every one of them is involved in at least one quest or job which you can take up or turn down. This isn't just for show, either; unlike linear 'RPG's like Neverwinter Nights, the things you say to people will really have a big effect on how the game plays.

The NPCs aren't just believable when you're interacting with them, though; they each have schedules which they will attend to, carrying out conversations with one another, sleeping, eating, working, et cetera. They react realistically when they encounter hostile NPCs or wild animals, sound the alarm if they see you committing a crime, and refuse to talk to you if they don't like you. The priest in Khorinis preaches to a crowd of citizens that gathers, and if you want you can stick around and listen to his lengthy prose as well. It's overall among the most lifelike, immersive game worlds yet brought to a computer screen.

The main quest is pretty slow to pick up; you have to gain several levels and complete a load of odd jobs before you'll be powerful enough to start on the road to the second chapter. This is a blessing and a curse, because while it introduces the open-endedness of the game world well, it's also pretty slow-paced.

The graphics are beautiful. Textures are of low detail in some areas, but this is more than made up for by the excellent character animation, lifelike creatures which inhabit the world, and most of all the verdant world itself in which you can see for miles around if you turn the view distance up high enough. Other fancy effects such as particles blowing in the wind, leaves falling off of trees and (semi-) reflective water are thrown in for good measure, but it's the artwork and level design that really stands out.

Sound is excellent, the best in any RPG I have played. Hitting a creature makes a meaty thunk or a bony crack, feet crunch on pine needles, swords clash off of each other with sharp retorts, and trolls let out fearful battle cries with vivid clarity. The voice acting also stands out; it is flawed because the foreign actors don't always get English inflection right, but all of the actors have character and most are skilled, which really brings the characters to life.

Gothic 2's nonlinearity really stands out. It manages to have a complex main plot and lifelike characters while still allowing you to do pretty much anything you want in the game world. There's a vast world to explore, over a hundred side quests to take care of, creatures to kill (and skin), plants to collect (and turn into potions), swords to forge, dungeons to loot, books to read, et cetera.

The Bad
Gothic 2's difficulty level is very steep for beginners. It actually gets easier in the last third of the game, as some of the creatures are pushovers and a wise player will have saved up enough gold to buy anything by then, but before then, novices will have a hard time getting by.

As mentioned, the voice acting's inflection is off at points. This is rarely a problem, but when it is it damages the immersion.

There are also a handful of glitches in the scripting, messing some quests up if you approach them the wrong way. This is an unfortunate issue, although it never, to my knowledge, gets in the way of the crucial quest.

It also bears noting that Gothic 2 does not manage to evoke the spooky, mysterious atmosphere of Gothic. Since you're playing in a more civilized area, the game just doesn't have that same dark, creepy mood to it. It's a small step down from the first game, but still superior to most others.

The Bottom Line
While Gothic 2 certainly isn't a game for everyone, it is one hell of an RPG. It's slow to pick up, very difficult at the beginning, and marred a little bit by glitches, but is otherwise a largely flawless gaming experience.

Windows · by ShadowShrike (277) · 2005

Give me more Gothic!

The Good
I hope you haven't missed the first Gothic: it was a fantastic game, a sleeper hit that brought fame to its developer, a small and unknown German company that single-handedly created their own style of RPG design.

Like most really good sequels, Gothic II retains what made its predecessor great and expands it. Basically, it's the same good old stuff, only more of it. Rock-solid, balanced, satisfying role-playing? Check. Challenging action-based combat? Check. Multiple paths through the story, non-linearity, different factions to join? Check. Vast, beautiful world with plenty of stuff to find and areas to explore? Check. Interesting NPCs with their own schedules? Check.

There is more of everything. The world is much bigger than in the first game. There is a full-fledged large town that lives its own life. It is surrounded by huge wilderness areas, as well as many smaller points of interest. In fact, the entire world of the first game appears in Gothic II as one of its locations!

Like the first game, Gothic II is addictive and incredibly rewarding. You'll be working hard to make your character stronger. You'll take quests and hunt for valuable items. There is a lot of attention to detail and many creative touches that bring the world to life. Town inhabitants work during the day and then go to taverns or smoke pot with friends. People attend their daily duties, listen to religious ceremonies, and go have sex with whores. Just like in real life.

You sleep in beds, learn how to make your own swords by a blacksmith, and fry meat in a pan. Monsters are truly vicious, and if you have the appropriate skill, you can skin an animal and sell its pelt. The life shown in Gothic II is believable and realistic. Like its predecessor, it has a lot of personality.

The story has a couple of nice twists up its sleeve, but all those small quests you'll undertake are actually more interesting than the main plot. Most of the side quests feel fresh and are fun to try out. There is a lot of free-form playing in the game, both in the way you shape your character and in the quests you must perform in order to get to your goal. The different paths eventually merge into one, but there's still plenty of replay value to have here.

The combat system in Gothic II (same as in the first game) is quite interesting, without being either too simplistic or too convoluted and artificial. You have three kinds of attacks and the possibility to physically block. The attacks are a combination of pressing the mouse button and direction keys. This system really works well, even though not everyone will be satisfied with its emphasis on precision and timing.

The game's considerable difficulty level doesn't allow you to roam its world freely like a tourist, but it also creates great suspense and adds to the game's realism. There is a feeling of danger; you know it when you spot an enemy you haven't seen before and your knees go weak when you see that it has spotted you too and is running towards you with a ferocious growl.

But if you become strong enough to face those beasts, you'll find a vast, wonderful world to explore. You'll want to reach every corner of it, complete every quest, explore and discover. Gothic II is a game of action, a role-playing game, but also a wonderful open-ended adventure, a virtual reality that will make you addicted to it.

The Bad
Like its predecessor, Gothic II is stronger in its first half and becomes somewhat streamlined towards the end. And once again, I didn't mind that because I was glad to have some straightforward, simple action after the elaborate work I've been doing before. But it's hard to deny that the final sequence is not up to par with the rest of the game.

I think the first Gothic had a cooler vibe. The prison colony was a more interesting place than the rather standard medieval world in Gothic II. I missed the darkness of that first world, and especially the strong beginning of the story, which is a bit too mild and impersonal in the sequel. The survival aspect that was so unusual in the predecessor is somewhat downplayed here, and the protagonist's motivations are far less convincing.

The Bottom Line
A perfect example of quality sequel-making, Gothic II takes everything that made the first game great and generously multiplies it. If, for some reason, you disliked the first Gothic, the sequel probably won't convert you; but if you loved it, say good-bye to your free time and prepare to melt in role-playing goodness.

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181788) · 2014

Another Great Game Experience

The Good
Since I played Gothic before this sequel and wrote a review here at MobyGames, I will overlook at the main facts of the game since they are the same, therefore I will only write about the development on several points…

Again, the storyline makes a strong point for the gamer, this time more complex and enjoyable.

This time is not just a world, you will have to perform quests in the Old World (the same as in Gothic but simplified) and in a whole New World. In my opinion, the developers fixed a weak feature on the previous edition since the World in Gothic (now called Old World) was not especially big for an RPG.

As in the first edition the game paths that as a player you take are three guilds (The Mercenaries, The Paladins and The Magicians of Fire), well, there is also a thief’s guild but too small compared with the others.

The Fight and Movement System are now better, it was good but still there was place for improvement.

Strong point on quest quantity, while the storywriters keep the quality on quest plots there are now something like 4 or 5 times more quests that the first edition.

Other good points are the introduction of Dragons, many animal trophies added, new creatures, pickpocket, removed acrobatics (it was unreal) and the alchemist table.

The Bad
The inventory management, at the readme.txt, developers says that it was improved but I liked it as it was.

There is now the possibility to define a quicksave but I believe that an autosave feature should be incorporated on upcoming releases.

Minor bugs, more of them related to the 3D Graphics System, especially in the New World.

As I said on my Gothic review, sometimes you can exploit some NPCs fighting movement flaws to defeat a stronger enemy.

The Bottom Line
If you played Gothic and it was good well play Gothic 2 and keep the fun going. If you didn’t played Gothic and like RPG games well I recommend you to play both in order, but you still can start by Gothic 2.

Windows · by Cabeza2000 (689) · 2004

Who could have thought they would top Gothic?

The Good
I absolutely loved Gothic. I played that game from beginning to end three times, only to be able to see all three camps. When I was done with it, I was sure it couldn't be surpassed by any other new game. Well, it has. Gothic 2 took everything that Gothic had and tripled it! The game world is now much larger, there are more guilds to choose from, more professions, more people, more quests (believe me, this game has hundreds of quests!), more enemies & monsters, and more equipment. And it all adds up to more fun! The graphics has gotten even better and the viewing distance is still unbelievably long (compared to Morrowind..). The story is even better than in Gothic and this time around the game didn't run out of funds halfway through production. It even contains the entire world from Gothic, but remade in such a brilliant way that you only want to see more of it and never feel like you're treading in the same footmarks all over again.

And, of course, this time around they have women. All sorts of women. Lovely!

The Bad
The voice acting is a bit repetitive at times and there are still a few bugs in the game, although Atari will have them sorted out before the game is released in North America.

The Bottom Line
One of the few games out there that combines great graphics, fantastic surroundings, gorgeous landscapes, well written stories and quest and an open ended gameplay. Add some actoin elements and adult material to that and you've got Gothic 2. A true soon-to-be classic.

Windows · by Mattias Kreku (413) · 2003

Good continuation of the first. Addicting and satisfying .. but not perfect.

The Good

  • An engaging story
  • Big, but manageable, world
  • Non-linear gameplay
  • Endless exploration
  • Many "non-essential" quests
  • Plenty of foes
  • Many, varied NPCs
  • Weapons, armor - good variety
  • No equipment/inventory weight limits


**The Bad**
  • No default Quick Save/Load
  • Inconsistent mouse support
  • Hefty learning curve
  • Too few voice actors
  • No self-mapping system
  • System halts


**The Bottom Line**
I'm a "newbie" to the Gothic saga. I did not play the first game, and I can only go by what others have said about it as a comparison to this one. A few other RPGs had caught my attention in between the time I bought the game (over a year ago) and now. But, here in October 2006 with the sequel (Gothic 3) heading into "Gold" status as we speak, I felt it was time to dust off Gothic 2 and give it a whirl. Instantly upon beginning the game I was reminded of a game I liked very much .. Ultima IV: Ascension .. released in 1999. Honestly, now that I've finished the game, I realize there are many similar aspects between the two games. The Story
The story supposedly begins a mere two weeks after the first one ended. Your "unnamed hero" has recouped from his injuries under the watchful eye of a powerful dark wizard .. but he has forgotten everything he learned and lost all of his experience. Now he is needed again to warn the "powers that be" about ... DRAGONS! My, my. And so it begins .. exploring, completing various quests, fighting off enemies, getting money and equipment, increasing levels etc. etc. The way the story unfolds is one of the best things about the game. The game is divided into 6 chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 seem awfully long compared to the others that follow. Each new chapter changes what is happening in the world around you .. what characters have to say, monsters that roam the lands .. and brings you brand new quests as well as new goals. NPCs remember your attitudes and actions and various consequences can change the story. Your choice of "occupation" also changes what will happen to you and the types of quests you will find. Because of this, the game has an excellent replay value. If you decided to become a Paladin during your first play-thru, try being a Thief or a Magician. Those choices change the way the game is played .. new quests and different ways to handle the main goals, different reactions from NPCs. Your hero's group of friends from Gothic 1 is involved in this sequel, but you don't learn about their existence until about mid-way into the game. They will play a part, if you choose, in the last chapter. Graphics
Don't expect to be overly impressed here. Compare the screens for Gothic 1 and this one to see what I mean. Still, they're not bad at all. I'd rate them good overall. NPCs and monsters are drawn well with realistic features and movements. One exception I can think is the way the Dragons were depicted .. nothing like the one in the intro. They weren't as realistic as I would've liked. During battle, however, they moved and blew fire correctly. Some landscapes are very lovely - especially as day turns into night. Environmental special effects - rain & snow - add to the realism. Even though my Pentium 4 w/512 RAM system exceeded the minimum system requirements, graphics loading seemed to be the cause of most my "lock-up" problems. If I move too fast through the scenery, the engine couldn't seem catch up. Control/Alt/Delete didn't help in most instances .. punching the "restart" button did. Restarting after the reboot worked 90% of the time .. but there were occasional "error" messages upon loading a saved game. Still, after a few tries, it continued. (Playing the game with a fresh system boot seemed to work best.) Annoying, and it taught me to save often. Music & Sound
There's just enough music to provide background.. nothing out of the ordinary. Sound effects, though, really get you "into" it - especially while fighting. The sound of swords being drawn alerts you to an upcoming fight. The growls and grunts of your foes are unique for each type. Conversations with NPCs could have been better in the English version. Inflections on the wrong words sometimes made the sentences sound weird. Also, some of the written text didn't match what was being said .. "tavern" was substituted for "pub", for instance. Not a biggie. More English actors would have been ideal. There were way too many obvious repeated voices. And, some of the characters don't fit their voices. For instance, you'll encounter a "witch" named Sagitta in the game. While her voice sounds like an old hag, she looks like a young woman in the game. Her voice just didn't "go" with her look. Interface:
All menus are neat, clean and easy to use - only one key stroke away. Your Quest Log is by far the most useful. There is also a basic character sheet with all of the most important stats. All picked up objects are dumped into one inventory window sorted by category. While this can become really cluttered, there is one good thing about it. The "best" weapon, the "best" armor that you have always appears in a block ahead of lesser items. The game does not include a self-mapping system. All maps are documents that simply show your location and direction. I prefer games that let you add notes to the in-game map. Since this wasn't an option, making notes on a printed screenshot sufficed. I was disappointed that they didn't enable the Quick Save/Load in the defaulted settings. (You can activate it by editing the Gothic.ini file where the game was installed.) Saved games can be named and appear with a snapshot, date and time. The number of saved games does have a limit (about 20), so you will be overwriting. Not a problem for most players. Controls:
Controls can be assigned to suit your taste. For those who became accustomed to the ones default in Gothic 1, you'll be glad to know you can use those if you wish. Yes, there IS a fairly steep learning curve in the beginning which might deter anyone who didn't play the first game. While my comparison game, Ultima 9, included an instruction-type first chapter, Gothic 2 does not. It would have helped to have something similar here. While there is some mouse support, it is not global. Most menus rely on the keyboard, while selections during conversations and within inventory are either mouse or keyboard activated. Since this is a 3rd person action/adventure/roleplaying game, you'll be seeing your character's backside the majority of the time (like in Tomb Raider). You can walk, run, jump, climb, sneak (when learned) strafe and swim. You can learn to pick locks & pockets too. While everything seems to work fairly well, the swimming controls (like in U9) are the hardest to get used to and just a joke, in my opinion. In this game, swimming is just a means to get from point A to point B over water. There is no reason to dive down deep since there's nothing down there to find. AI & Combat:
First of all, this is not an AD&D game, so none of those rules apply. It may take you quite a bit of practice to learn the combat controls - especially on a laptop. Default settings rely on the mouse for direction and using the arrow keypad plus the "delete" and "page down" keys (and/or the AWSD keys). Using the "1" on the number pad allows you to "lock" in your target (essential for ranged shooting). Practice does NOT make perfect in this game, however. Only by using "points" gained when levelling up can you improve. I'm not really sure how I feel about this method. In some ways it's a good way .. in others it can become very frustrating, especially during the first 2 chapters. It does allow you to choose exactly where you want your advancement points to go -- into magic, strength, dexterity .. or into weapon use. Enemy face-offs are interesting, especially if your opponent is moving around. Singly, "locking" your target makes it much easier to follow their movements. When surrounded, locking one target restricts your own movements. Timing your strikes accurately is essential as the AI is really good for most enemies and many of your hits will be blocked. Conclusion:
Piranha Bytes' whole existence is based on the Gothic series .. that's all they know and all they've done. I've been trying to reason out why there were no real technical improvements, no changes in the graphics in Gothic II, even though several years had passed since the release of Gothic 1. Was the development team so exhausted .. so overwhelmed by their first game's success? Were they afraid to "rock the boat", fearing their fan base would abandon them? In fact, Gothic II looks, sounds and acts like a 3 year old game. No .. it doesn't break any new ground. Yes .. it's a memory hog and can crash unexpectedly, even on newer systems. As I got further into the story, gaining experience, learning the layout of the land and completing quests, I forgot about the "oldness" of it. It simply didn't matter any more! I was "hooked" 8 to 10 hours in. Now that I've finished the game, I find that little things which annoyed me at first seem incidental now. In a nutshell, the good aspects outweigh the bad. In the end, as you "sail into the sunset", you'll have a feeling of satisfaction .. and a craving for more! Bring on the sequel! I'm definitely ready!

Windows · by Jeanne (75957) · 2007

Excellent sequel

The Good
All the good things from Gothic 1 are still present: a tight storyline with many optional side quests, an (almost) realistic world to explore with many unique characters to interact and challenging enemies to fight.

The Bad
Although Gothic 2 looks exactly like Gothic 1 and the same graphics engine was used I had to upgrade my 3D-Adapter and RAM (512 MB is a must!) to get it running with acceptable performance - and even then some areas are reduced to slide shows. Some magazine reviews claim the game's world to be three times as large as in Gothic 1. I only found a part of the original playground and one new area of the same size, so twice as large would be more fitting. The last chapter of the game is a bit disappointing: a rather small and hastily designed dungeon with a quite weak final enemy and undeveloped storyline.

The Bottom Line
If You liked Gothic 1 You would love the sequel as well. The mechanics and environment are almost 1:1 with some enhancements. The Gothic series offers a unique type of role playing and virtual world.

Windows · by Wimp (65) · 2003

Ruined by superficiality

The Good
Graphics are really nice, especially if you can afford to set viewing distance to 300%. This setting is actually necessary if there's any atmosphere and sense of realism to be found during your wanderings. It's still never superior than the earlier released Morrowind but at least it's equal which is something.

Music, though repetitive, is quite enchanting; in particular, the track you hear during the countryside scenes is good enough to add a feeling of unreality to your travels. But again, even this track is pretty short and keeps repeating itself.

The Bad
All the audiovisual sorcery this game offers comes off as unworthy when you realize how utterly lame the ingame dialogs are -- by the point you reach Khorinis, the first town.

Granted, I'm the old school RPG fan, seemingly unlike the previous reviewers of this game. When playing a role-playing game, I still look for conversations that are actually worth reading because they are colorful, realistic and makes the NPCs feel closer to the player. Think Ultima 7, Ultima Underworld, Bloodnet etc. What I get in Gothic 2 instead are simplistic, superficial and uninspired one-liners, two-liners, three-liners (complete with mostly horrible, overacted voiceovers); reading and/or listening to these you can picture their writer yawning about while making them up.

The Bottom Line
What a shame. Could have been an overall classic if only their creators were either inspired or gifted enough to add conversation texts that are not an insult to the players' intelligence/attention span/imagination.

Windows · by András Gregorik (59) · 2004

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Jeanne, jaXen, Caliner, Zerobrain, Xoleras, Stratege, Wizo, Val 50993, 666gonzo666, Alsy, Kabushi, Patrick Bregger, vedder, BlackDragonSVK, Venator, Yearman, Tim Janssen, PCGamer77, Sciere, Jess T, Flapco, chirinea, Alaedrain, Emmanuel de Chezelles.