Excellent game. Finished it 3 days ago as paladin (knight), re-playing it now as a Mage. (the first time you play, its a good idea to be a Paladin - thats the easiest class to play and the last 3 chapters of the game are piss-easy (for me anyways), but you can replay it as a Mage or Merc and enjoy the challenge)
Oh yeah, and a patch is definitely coming out. A studio representative confirmed that on another forum. However, they're not sure if they can get a english version of the add-on. If you havent noticed, the developer is having distribution problems. Getting an american distributor for the game was hard enough, who knows about getting the funding for an english add-on.
I haven't played an RPG since BG1 (before that I played loads) and I'm glad I skipped that whole elder scrolls series, but this one was good enough for me to return to the genre. The #1 area of this game is IMMERSIVENESS. Also, the combat is a very cool feature, you dont just stand there and click repeatedly like Diablo or Morrowind (one reason i couldnt stand those) it's action-like, so having good hand/eye coordination and being good at action games is a plus. If you're not good at action games, then just become a mage and throw fireballs from a distance.
The fact that ALL characters have spoken dialog (voice) is another cool feature, even if they speak in american accents and use 20th century american slang (which is decidedly un-HighFantasy-like). But some of the NPCs have very well-done voices such as the priests and wizards, and some of the knights.
Replay value... tops. there's 3 paths to the ending, so at the very least you can replay it 2 more times after you finish. Also there's about 3 different "occupations" which is seperate from the classes, so that adds more variety. (occupations are Hunter, Alchemist, Smith). There's also a "hidden class" which can co-exist with your main class if you choose, or you can skip that part of the game entirely.
Oh and studio representatives have also confirmed G3 is in the works, and that will definitely be rlsed in english (unlike the add-on) AND they'll be adding shields to the combat system. No confirmation on whether mounts (horses) will be added. Admittedly its a bit strange to see knights running around battling orcs instead of being on horses but most other RPGs were like that too. Baldur's Gate was supposedly AD&D and had no horses, but in real AD&D horses were used very often.
"Should I play Gothic before I play this?"
not necessary, i loved G2 and i never touched G1. However i am definitely going to go out and find G1 now, people say that G1 never actually gets easier towards the end which is the only sour point about G2.
Oh yeah, and a patch is definitely coming out. A studio representative confirmed that on another forum. However, they're not sure if they can get a english version of the add-on. If you havent noticed, the developer is having distribution problems. Getting an american distributor for the game was hard enough, who knows about getting the funding for an english add-on.
I haven't played an RPG since BG1 (before that I played loads) and I'm glad I skipped that whole elder scrolls series, but this one was good enough for me to return to the genre. The #1 area of this game is IMMERSIVENESS. Also, the combat is a very cool feature, you dont just stand there and click repeatedly like Diablo or Morrowind (one reason i couldnt stand those) it's action-like, so having good hand/eye coordination and being good at action games is a plus. If you're not good at action games, then just become a mage and throw fireballs from a distance.
The fact that ALL characters have spoken dialog (voice) is another cool feature, even if they speak in american accents and use 20th century american slang (which is decidedly un-HighFantasy-like). But some of the NPCs have very well-done voices such as the priests and wizards, and some of the knights.
Replay value... tops. there's 3 paths to the ending, so at the very least you can replay it 2 more times after you finish. Also there's about 3 different "occupations" which is seperate from the classes, so that adds more variety. (occupations are Hunter, Alchemist, Smith). There's also a "hidden class" which can co-exist with your main class if you choose, or you can skip that part of the game entirely.
Oh and studio representatives have also confirmed G3 is in the works, and that will definitely be rlsed in english (unlike the add-on) AND they'll be adding shields to the combat system. No confirmation on whether mounts (horses) will be added. Admittedly its a bit strange to see knights running around battling orcs instead of being on horses but most other RPGs were like that too. Baldur's Gate was supposedly AD&D and had no horses, but in real AD&D horses were used very often.
"Should I play Gothic before I play this?"
not necessary, i loved G2 and i never touched G1. However i am definitely going to go out and find G1 now, people say that G1 never actually gets easier towards the end which is the only sour point about G2.
