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Fabulous role-playing game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 27
Date: March 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I spent waayyyyy too much time playing this game, but I just couldn't stop - the variety of quests, the choices one must make, the combination of fighting and magic...it's just a great game overall. I'm a fan of the RPG genre in general, but there are a few really awful games out there. This one truly doesn't disappoint.

The beginning is a bit slow, because there are only a very few creatures you can kill to gain experience. But, once you get a few levels under your belt, and obtain a decent weapon, all is well. There are an unbelievable number of weapons available, and a nearly equal number of magical items and spells. The storyline is complex and very interesting, and is neither too short nor too long, though I was sorry to see it end. I'll assuredly run through it again sometime soon.

The true charm of this game lies in being able to shape-shift, though. Through scrolls and other magical means, you're able to take on the forms of many different animals, and you gain their abilities; you can fly, run faster, slash with teeth and claws, and jump higher. The number of different creatures in the game is really nice, too; it's definitely not boring.

One downside is having to run back and forth long distances between camps, until you're given teleportation runes. Apart from that, though, it's nearly flawless. It didn't crash often, the music was very nice, and the graphics excellent. I recommend it without hesitations!

Excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: August 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Gothic is basically a playable version of Morrowind. You're thrown into an immense island prison fill with warring factions, orcs, mages, skeletons, and any number of other deadly monsters. Beautiful graphics and a multithreaded smooth storyline mean you can easily stay up until 4 am with this game without ever realizing it. Gothic gets just about everything right, from the storyline itself, which is interesting but never onerous, to the vast array of goodies you can loot. Everything from blueberries to a hundred different types of swords can be purchased or tracked down in the wild, and the island is filled with hidden caves, high mountain trails, and other mysterious areas that draw you in and then, well, tend to get you killed. One of the great things is that fights between humans don't end in fatalities unless you activate a special kill command once your opponent is on the ground; so you can mug or be mugged without permanent harm aside from the occasional glare. The 3D engine runs very smoothly, and there are very few bugs or glitches. Voice quality is very high; long discussions often occur but don't grate on one's nerves because they're interesting to listen to, and a robust journal keeps track of and _organizes_ the tidbits along the way so you can find what you're looking for at a glance. Replay value is extremely high given the half dozen exclusive alliances you can pick from, as well as the very customizable nature of your character. Gothic has pretty much everything; if you don't want to be some super mage or killer barbarian, you can be a thief, or a merchant, or some combination of all four. Check it out.

The next level of RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: March 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

One complaint many RPG'rs have about RPG's is the lack of interactivity between the gamer and the action. Not so in this case. Gothic expands upon the classic vision of what a role playing game should be by allowing the gamer to actually engage in the battles which ensue throughout the fantasy world created by Xicat (the company). You are a messenger from outside the realm, which is inhabited by mercenaries, thieves, wizards, and monsters, who have taken over their magically induced prison. Who do you trust? Which camp do you join? Which path will you follow: warrior, magician, necromancer? All of these variables come into play when you must decide who to speak with, where to venture, and who to kill. There are limitless possibilities in this world and many different ways to conquer it.

The only negatives: sometimes the game hangs on a pertinent decision and if you choose incorrectly, you have to start from scratch (which could be construed as a parallel to real life, some decisions cannot be fixed after they are made).

Big positives: Incredible story line, innovative game play, tons of weapons, numerous magic spells, and incredible graphics. This game is one of the best I have seen in this genre. A must own for the die-hard RPG-er. Five stars.

Suffering from insomnia? This is for you!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: December 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Hello Folks,

I've played all day and night but it still took me a total of at least 60h to get through this phantastic game. But I still wasn't cured. I've just finished Gothic for the second time (this time as a magician).

I really must say that I never came across any other game that combined brilliant 3D Graphics with such an exciting story. I never wandered through such a vast, beautifull and living world. Every Stone, every tree was placed by hand and so this game really sets the benchmark for both story and graphics. Another amazing thing is the sound. I don't believe I ever played a game with surround-sound as brilliant as this.

I installed the latest patch and didn't experience any stability Problems at all. But I think Gothic needs quite a lot of RAM to run properly. After all, If you're looking for a game with a huge state-of-the-art 3D-World with meadows, forrests, Rivers, Mountains, Caves, Castles and Towns, that lets you go to where ever you want (or at least to where you will not immediately be killed by beasts or just anyone else), THIS is the right game for you. No "map-change", no "Levels", just you and the story.

The camps are full of people that have their own plans for the day, that talk to each other, sleep at night (at least most of them), go to work in the morning or talk to each other. Funny thing here: The NPCs really do talk to each other. NPCs also can also assess you carachter according to weapon, armor and strenght (yes you can SEE how strong a person is!!). They will act different according to whether they "think" they can deal with you or not....

Believe me, this game IS highly addictive so I better stop gushing or I will immediately start playing gothic again....

JUST GO AND BUY IT!!!!

Most Believable RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: March 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Gothic was one of the very few games I've played that plays like an interactive movie while still allowing for character development and storyline as individual as the person who plays the game. This game was a welcome relief from the usual routine of creating a party of fighters, mages, a thief, and a healer. I like getting tied up in one character much better. One can get through the game with his or her favorite style of play. You can either clobber everyone in your way with the biggest sword, pick your enemies off from a distance with a bow, dish out damage with offensive spells (Fire! Fire!), or get by your enemies using teleportation or shapeshifing. The story itself avoids many of my usual video game annoyances through good writing and plausible explanations for limits of the videogame world. First of all, you can explore in any direction you want to, but the world does come to an end at the magic barrier that contains the prison your character has been thrown into. The flexible storyline depends on which of three different factions you choose to join in the prison (just like Oz on HBO!). One of the nicest touches of all is how skills are learned. You don't just automatically level after X amount of experience points, you need to find a skilled teacher who likes you enough to teach you for a favor or the right amount of ore. Then, the NPC actually tells you things about what you're learning how to do! You also have to work your way up through the heirarchy of the camp before you meet the most important NPCs. Access to significant parts of the game world is not limited by waiting for someone to tell you about a quest so that it suddenly appears on your map, but only by the presence of guards who won't let you in to see the boss or by monsters you are not yet strong enough to fight. The joy of this game is not the destination, but the 50 hour journey. The main character begins as a wimp who could be devoured by the dinosaur babies in the land before time and ends up to be a powerhouse who can truly declare to the guard at the gate "I'm here to take on the whole camp", which by the way I did. Before completing the game as a templar from the swamp camp, I slaughtered the guards from the old camp who were so rude to me at the beginning. The weaker members of the camp ran away in terror as I threw fireballs and swung a magic two-handed sword. But I believe whoever plays this adventure will work their own personality and gameplay preferences to get an experience a variable as the person playing the game! I don't give out five stars too often, but the graphics, fully explorable world, and well written, branching plot make this game a rare experience. I want more single player character RPGs (like Gothic and Wheel of Time)!

A game that feels alive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: April 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I just finished Gothic and was impressed by the story line and character development in the game. The story has a beginning, middle and end - each of which is satisfying. As the story moves along, so does your character, both in power and in recognition in the world. NPCs treat you differently depending on how powerful you are, and they change their stance toward you during the course of the game. When I first tried to take out the bandit camp by the Troll Focus I was rudely rebuffed. When I came back later the entire camp ran away from me - a reasonable course of action considering my powers at the time. Furthermore, Gothic does not suffer from some of the flaws that made me dislike Neverwinter Nights and Morrowind. Both of those games suffer from my pet peeve: thousands of NPC's, all of whom say exactly the same thing. While there is some of that going on in Gothic, the variety of the NPC's personalities make the game a pleasure to play. The combat is good (another problem with Morrowind, if not NWN) and the controls become second nature. I played as a mage and was able to use my magical abilities to win the final battle - I never raised my sword once during it - something most other games of the action/adventure set have tremendous trouble with. There are some things I wish the plot had done differently. For example, I wish we knew more about the protagonist - why was he put in the prison colony in the first place? Also I would have loved for him to have some sort of love interest. They sort of teased you, having him show some concern for the woman sent in with the shipment in the first scene. Overall, this is easily the best game I have played all year, and I echo some of the other reviewers in wondering what the Gamespot people were smoking when they rated this in the sevens? I can't wait for Gothic II to be released in the US.

By Far This is Best RPG Ever.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: January 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

_____By far this is the Best RPG ever. Never before have I played a game with such depth and variability. I am a big fan of first person shooters and adventure games like Diablo. And this game does an awesome job combining the first person interface and the adventure that I'm looking for, but this game take the art of creating a story line to a whole new level. There are multiple endings depending on whom you decide to ally with.
_____To give you an example of the variability, your character can find spells to do multiple things. One such spell allows you to turn into one of the monsters that you fight. In that form you may roam around their lair without any opposition, find the objective of you mission, turn back into yourself (completing the mission), and turn back into a monster and leave without a problem.
_____Also, this detail of this game with almost life like. Almost every character you meet in the game (and there are many) look unique with individual traits. The characters eat sleep and do daily activities as the hours of the day pass. In fact if you get close enough you can even watch them chew their food.
_____For those of you who complain about the controls not being the way you want them, it is not really that hard to change them. And if you can not get over it, them you may want to stick to games to can handle like "pong."
_____For those of you who complain about the manual being short and not descriptive enough. Give me a break. The story and details unfold as you progress through the game; besides with out there being any one ending what else could the creator's do other than lay out the very basics. Also I like the fact that the manual does not give the stats of monsters, or tell you how to do this and that for everything. After all that is what makes this game an adventure.
_____If you like you games as much as I do then you will LOVE this one!!!
_____I do have one more thing to add. The recommended system requirements are not high enough. You will need a 32MB video card to run the game well and a 64MB to really enjoy the wonderful detail and work put into this masterpiece.

Gothic Surpasses most other games...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Gothic is one of the most complete games ever made. Nothing is left out of the immense and interactive world. Although at the beginning many players have trouble with the somewhat unusual game controls, you get used to them after a few minutes of exploring the world.
You play the game as a convict scentenced to life imprisonment in the world the game takes place in. The fantasy world involves hundreds of characters, landscapes, monsters, and the usual orcs. Because your character remains anonymous throughout the game, nothing is divulged about why the man is in the prison colony in the first place. Because the guards have all been killed by the convicts, the only thing keeping them in is a magic barrier around the valley. This leaves you with plenty of decisions, weapons and locations to explore, more or less freely.
I won't give away too much of the plot, but I will go so far as to say that the game Gothic is worth getting, and that I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys RPGs of any kind.
A 'Gothic II' is set to come out on october 7th, the last time I heard, but it keeps getting delayed, so that may change. I do know that it will be three times bigger and even more well put together than the first, so that it will probably be worth buying, as well.
I say it again: IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUY A GAME SOON, BUY GOTHIC! IT WON'T DISAPPOINT YOU!

The Best RPG in 2001 so far!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: October 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Finally non-German speaking Role Playing Fans can enjoy a great RPG experience - ... we rated the game with an overall score of 90%! A must for every RPG Fan, Gothic is the RPG that Ultima 9 should have been!

Better than Morrowind

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Yes, I know Morrowind is a great game... but Gothic is better. The world seems more "real", the NPCs seem life like, the graphics are amazing, and the story is great. You can even cook your meals! For example, you kill an animal for its meat, find a fire... and you can fry the meat!! You can even watch it sizzle. And in the evening, when you come back to the camp, you can chat with friends by the fire... and listen to one of them playing the guitar!!

The controls are a bit awkward when you first play the game, but after a while you get used to them.

Buy Gothic today!

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