Gothic II Retrospective

Open-world RPGs. We all love them. We love exploring a huge, unbounded world, picking up quests all over the map, talking to a million and one NPCs and finding interesting things hidden around every corner. The sense of freedom and exploration you can get in an open-world RPG is second to none. Some are sprawling, huge worlds with lots to see and do, and others are more focused and funneled, yet still more open than your typical linear RPG. Above all, most of the open-world RPGs I’ve played are quite good. Some of them are great. A choice few are legendary. Today we will be talking about one of, if not the most legendary open-world RPG of all, Gothic 2.

                        ( A Quick Look At Gothic 2 - The Original Skyrim)

Let's start with a little background information. Until last year, I had not played a Gothic game in my lifetime. For better or worse, I was primarily a console gamer for over 20 years, from childhood to adult, up until a couple of years ago when I made the switch to PC. Now, I have played some PC RPGs 'back in the day'. I experienced Asheron's Call when it was brand new, as well as a Diablo game or two, and possibly a few lesser known titles. Once I re-discovered the wide world of PC role-playing games recently, I knew I had to go back and visit the classics while the inspiration was alive and burning inside of me. One of the classics I decided to visit was the lauded Gothic series of games. I had heard high praise for this game on this site's forums, so I knew there was the chance that I was getting into something special. So, I started patiently with the first game, finished it, and continued on to the second. These are my thoughts on the Gothic series as a whole, but focusing more on the second game.

Gothic 2 places you in the shoes of the Nameless Hero, an ex-convict from the prison/mining colony in Gothic 1 that was once contained by a magical barrier. Once the barrier was destroyed, this nameless ex-convict was summoned once again by our old pal, Xardas the Necromancer, who helped us in the first Gothic game. After being raised from the dead, the Nameless Hero is informed that dragons are back, and they are building an army of darkness in the Valley of Mines (the original Gothic 1 area), in an attempt to take over the land! Together, with the help of many old friends and new ones alike, we will attempt to fight against this grave and ever present danger, in a world which spans 2 large, playable zones, from both the first and second Gothic games. Sounds exciting, right? You bet it is!

I want to focus on a few things from this first paragraph. When I say many old friends as well as new friends will aid us, I mean it. There are some returning faces that one would be familiar with from the first Gothic game, and without these characters and the deeds they achieved alongside us, we never would have been successful in our quest. This is important to note because it's not only all about our Nameless Hero and his deeds, but about the friends he makes along the way and what they accomplish. Our hero is also referred to by most as the Nameless Hero because, interestingly enough, he is never referenced to by name. Of course, NPCs will notice him, talk about him, have agendas for and against him, yet no name is ever given to this character. This little detail already starts to add an interesting element to the game, which we’ll begin to explore in this article.

The Nameless Hero (or You, as it were), has a voice, as well as a deadpan and sarcastic sort of sense of humor that is expanded so well by the incredibly well done voice acting for the character. You will grow to love the guy, that much is sure, although he doesn't have a ton of dialog to create his unique personality. They chose to keep him sort of a normal, everyday, quiet type of guy, with enough dialog and exposition to bring him to life, yet not too much to cloud his aura with the developers' own personal ideas of who he should be. You are a guy who generally wants to defeat evil and save the land, but the rest of your qualities are yours for your imagination to determine. I believe they chose this direction to offer freedom to the gamer to give the character their own personality, and impart some of the player's own role-playing sensibilities into the nameless guy. For whatever reason it was done, it works very well, and this excellent execution will quickly become a running trend in this game, spanning it's entirety.

I mention freedom, and that's really what the Gothic games to me are about. Limitless freedom. Transform into a scavenger or wolf and run around the lands free of the burdens of being human (although, don't be seen by any humans or predatory animals if you want to live.). Specialize in magic while wielding an axe with a leveled up strength stat. Cast scrolls of lightning on your foes, or learn a spell of Fire Arrow to snipe your enemies at a distance. You can work on your brute strength, your dexterity, or your mana, and each choice you make is yours and yours alone. These choices will greatly influence what weapons your character can wield, what spells you can learn, and truly shape the direction of your character building. Every point you spend means something and makes you that much stronger. Thankfully, the limitless freedom of character building is not the only area where you are free to do as you wish. This core design principle spans across the entire game, and influences every designed aspect of the game.

Some of the customization you can expect comes in the way of training the hero in many different abilities, both combat and otherwise. There is everything from forging weapons, to alchemy, skinning animals, taking horns and teeth from critters, one and two-handed weapon skills and so much more. You will always have something interesting to spend your valuable Learning Points on when you level up, and again, it's all yours to play with and experiment with. Make a character who specializes in removing horns, hides, teeth, claws from their prey in order to gain riches. Or, make a character who can craft a Pure Health potion which fully restores health, thus giving you the advantage in tough battles. The game reminds me of the classic Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind, in this regard. The world is a playground for you. You can build your character and develop them using all the toys and tools the game gives you to do so, but it never locks you into one thing or forces choices upon you. It's always yours to shape, yours to do with what you wish, with your own creativity, ingenuity, and inspiration taking center stage. Be who you want to be and do what you want to do, and use your wits to survive; that is Gothic.

For those who love choices and consequences in their RPGs, you aren't going to find much better execution on this front in the entirety of the RPG genre. There are so many choices to make here, and the world reacts accordingly. Help a shady merchant shake down a weapons seller and they'll give you a pass to enter the otherwise unreachable city. However, if you choose to refuse this nefarious task, there will be consequences of that action as well. Perhaps the merchant will tell the city guard that you are an ex-convict, and they will come looking for you. Perhaps the merchant may stop dealing with you altogether, locking out trade with that particular character. Even more extreme, crazy and creative outcomes are possible, and you are never quite sure how the characters in the game are going to react to your decisions. Every decision is crucial and will shape how the game reacts to you, and is another area where freedom of choice trumps all.

Characterization in the game is another strong aspect of the Gothic design. Each character you meet will have his or her own personality, their own motivations, and their own behaviors and talents in this open-world environment. Tick off the wrong person and it could put you in a lot of trouble. Make the right friends and you can get yourself in places you didn't think you'd be able to go. You may even end up dead simply by saying the wrong words to the wrong guy (or gal, as it were.). You have to tread carefully and weigh every option heavily, as the developers intended. If you just select any old response, you could end up in hot water faster than you realize, possibly making your life much harder than it could be had you thought harder about the choice you made. The game will actively reward clever decisions on your part, and appropriately tear you apart for more risky choices. (Side note - To get the maximum immersive experience from this game, refrain from re-loading previous saves if you make a "wrong" decision!)

So, the game reacts to you. It will call your bluff, ask you to play your cards, force your hand at times, back off and let you win or even bluff you itself. The characters presented in this game can hit you with curveballs and really leave you stunned at how they react to your decisions. Of course, they are brought alive by excellent, quite campy and often humorous voice acting and some really well-written and organic dialogs. Characters will make background remarks like, "He really should have listened.", or, "I would have gone about that a different way." Although these are just background remarks, I can't help but grin when I hear one and think about how they cleverly apply to our Nameless Hero.

So, besides interesting characters that you'll meet on your way and character building, you also have the trappings of a completely static, organic and 'natural' open-world to play with. No, you won't be fighting re-spawning enemies every step of the way. The enemies you kill will stay dead forever! Of course, when you advance a chapter in the story, a few monsters may re-spawn, or perhaps a new, 'clever' spawn will take its place. However, it is never blatant to the point you can't stand it, and it never takes the form of 'hit you over the head with re-spawns until you're sick of the combat' style. Respawning in the game is handled very naturally, and the feel and timing is just right. When the time comes, you will be happy to see a few new spawns to go along with the new chapters or events taking place, as you can definitely clear the world of enemies if you choose to do so.

Another great design decision is the fact that the game does not feature any sort of blatant level-scaling. That means that you may encounter a deadly and ferocious Shadowbeast at level 1, most definitely getting yourself mauled to bits by it! However, as you level up and become stronger, you can go back and get your revenge on the creature, continuing your exploration into that area of the game that was previously “blocked off” by the difficult encounter. In that time period, the creature will not get stronger as you do! Giant rats at level 1 won't be replaced by Shadowbeasts at level 20 - no, the game world will remain static and enemies will not level up nor will the game spawn higher level enemies as you level up. This again adds to the organic nature and feel of the open-world, making it feel more like a real world you are exploring and less of a game.

The combat is tricky as well. You will die often, especially to creatures much stronger than you are, but the 'sweet revenge' can be attained as you progress later in the game. You will have to pay attention to the timing of your attacks, as certain creatures will rush you, or perhaps try to dance around you to get you off-balance. It's important to approach each combat encounter carefully, as health and mana do not regenerate without the use of potions, and a few attacks could leave you dead quickly if you aren't wearing sufficient armor. Packs of beasts can add new dynamics as they will surround you and generally maul you as a team, so you have to make sure that you can bite off an amount you can actually chew. Generally, if a human character in the game looks and sounds tough, they are, and combat with them should be avoided until you are much stronger.

So, the world doesn't scale with you, there's no random spawns or encounters (although, there are plenty of 'random' encounters in the game, with NPCs or creatures that you will meet along the way, but they are hand-placed there by design, not by some random chance element. Again, static. Completely static.), and there is limitless freedom in how you approach all the designed aspects of the game. What more can you want from an open-world RPG? How about difficulty and a ‘figure it out on your own’ mentality? Did I mention that is part of this exquisite package as well?

Yes, the Gothic games will test your wits a bit, too. There are no flashing quest markers on your map, no journal entries that spell out everything you need to do, step-by-step (there is a journal, but expect only a general idea of what to do/where to go, not exact details), no glowing trails to guide you or anything to remind you that you are, in fact, playing a game, and not exploring a real world. Not only is combat often difficult and deadly, but the ‘puzzles’ in the form of figuring out how to complete quests will test your wits as well. You will have to think about solving problems in a real and innate way, again giving you the feeling that you are adventuring in a very well thought out world. Thus, once you figure out how to progress, usually by being clever or thinking of a great solution, a big, silly grin will come across your face as you realize just how brilliant it is to be organically rewarded with simple progress in this most wonderful way.

The Gothic games deliver everything you could want in an RPG and then some, and the end result is truly a masterpiece of creation. What a vision the guys and gals at Piranha Bytes had on how an open-world RPG should play! Old-school RPG gaming doesn't seem to get much better than this, as both of the Gothic games instantly vaulted to a prestigious position on my "Best RPG" list. Gothic 2 seems to remain the pinnacle of RPG gaming from German developer, Piranha Bytes, and the game has a certain charm and magic to it that will keep you coming back to it for more. Over the years, Piranha Bytes has reinvented the Gothic formula with their modern Risen games, but it seems that Gothic and Gothic 2 will remain the pinnacle of atmosphere, creativity, and - most importantly – absolutely perfect execution. That's not to say their newer games aren't great - they are - but it seems Gothic 2 is the greatest of the great, the ultimate achievement of the team at Piranha Bytes who made the series possible in the first place.

I often think to myself about modern developers of RPGs, and I wonder if they even know Gothic 2 exists. I know the Gothic series of games are considered classics, but many game developers in modern times seem to be more influenced by more recent games that sell many copies, rather than a fine piece or art, a somewhat-antique Gothic game. It's rare to see the Gothic series mentioned much, outside of the niche discussions on RPG websites and articles like the one you are reading right now. I wonder if anyone will draw water from the fountain of knowledge that is the Gothic series, and if so, why haven't we seen it yet? Why are there no Kickstarter projects trying to make a modern take on the Gothic formula? Where is Gothic 5? Thinking deeper about this just leads to more and more questions. Perhaps we will get answers soon, or perhaps the knowledge of the Gothic series will fade in time and only a select few will remember its greatness.

I want to leave you with this thought. I'm not saying modern gaming isn't good. Some of it is good, some of it is really, really good. But things in the past are also good. Things in the past can be cherished and kept alive for years and years, and over time they develop a new flavor, a new hint of something 'other-worldly', that ages them like a fine wine. Gothic 2 is the finest wine of all, something that you can pop open years later and rediscover your love for the art form all over again. If you're looking for something that has become perfect with age, something that you can explore without bounds, using your own ingenuity and imagination, and to reinvigorate your passion for the world of RPG gaming, look no further than Gothic and Gothic 2. They are the at the peak of old-school RPG gaming, existing exactly as they should, with no qualms about being a bit harder to climb than most, but much more rewarding when you get to the top. They are it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this little piece, and it inspires you to check out these amazing games if you haven't already. After you've played them for awhile, maybe you'll want to message Piranha Bytes and ask why there hasn't been a new Gothic game yet! In the meantime, start a new game for me and the Nameless Hero, and I'll see you in Khorinis.

Long live Gothic!!

Additionally, you can view my Gothic II "Let's Play" on YouTube, by going here.