Gothic II

Moby ID: 7866
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Description official descriptions

The demon known as The Sleeper has been banished and the magical barrier around the prison mining colony on the isle of Khorinis destroyed. The nameless hero who accomplished this, however, had to pay a high price: he lies buried under a pile of rocks.

Shortly afterwards he is revived by the renegade mage Xardas. A new threat is rising: evil armies, led by dragons, are gathering in the old mine valley. Someone has to take the news to the people of Khorinis and help them in defeating this menace. But the people have their own problems: the war against the orcs is still raging on the mainland, and the king has sent his paladins to Khorinis to make sure that the mining of the magical ore continues, now that the prisoners have fled the mine. Many of the former prisoners have now become mercenaries, hired by the farmers on the island, who refuse to obey the king and his minions any longer. Violent conflict seems inevitable.

Gothic II is a 3D action role-playing game that uses a refined version of the previous game's engine and controls. The world is many times larger than in the first game: the mine valley (which has changed a lot in the meantime) is still accessible, but is only a relatively small part of the game now. As in the original game, the player can join one of three different factions, with the choice influencing the player character's abilities, opening up different quests and changing the details of the story. The available factions are the city militia, the mercenaries and the fire mages.

Aside from significantly expanding the environments and adding many new weapons, armor, and monster types, the sequel plays very similarly to the preceding installment. Combat and magic are action-based; melee fights are based on combinations of attack moves and directional arrows. Non-playable characters follow a daily schedule, and many objects are usable.

Spellings

  • Готика II - Russian spelling
  • 哥特王朝II - Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • 救世英豪 II - Chinese spelling (traditional)

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Credits (Windows version)

221 People (178 developers, 43 thanks) · View all

Project Manager / Lead Game Design
Project Supervisor
Managing Director
Lead Programmer
Original Game Engine
Engine Extensions
Additional Engine Programming
Tool Programming
Lead Artist
3D Artists & World Design
Texture Artists
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

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

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 (181780) · 2014

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 (75956) · 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

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002– #2 Best PC Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2002– Best PC Role-Playing Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • February 13, 2003 - Best RPG in 2002 (Readers' Vote)
  • Steam Awards
    • 2017 — The 'No Apologies' Award — Nominated

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Felix Knoke.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Monkeyhead, Havoc Crow, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 3, 2002. Last modified March 28, 2024.