Gothic II

"A great and incredibly fun game dragged down by many problems"

In many games, addictive gameplay, and engaging storylines are great, but they be pulled down by bugs, lack of publicity, bad graphics, and other problems. The original Gothic had was one of them. The developers of Gothic 2 just couldn't learn.

Storyline and Presentation
Gothic 2 picks up from where the first Gothic left of. In the first Gothic, you play a nameless prisoner thrown in an area encased in a very large magical forcefield barrier. The world is a classical medieval fantasy setting with monsters and magic. To make things short, you make lots of friends, lots of enemies, discover a dark secret which threatens the word, and destroyed it, thus saving the world. Now, in Gothic 2 you play the same nameless fellow, with most his strength gone, put in charge of, again, saving the world. The storyline, again is very colorful with many interesting characters to meet, enemies to kill, and every character seem to have a different tone of voice, which makes them more unique. Also there are multiple paths to take in the storyline, depending on which guilds you join and the people to please/upset. This game just feels a lot like the original Gothic, with a not too different storyline, and some of of the old characters returning, which is both a good and a bad thing. Loading times acceptable ranging between 1 seconds to 2 minutes, considering that you're loading the entire world all at once.

8 out of 10

Graphics
At first glance, the graphics would look terrible by today's standards. Supposedly round edges are very much squarish, ''3D'' bushes look like cardboard standees, and facial animations look like crayon doodle. On the bright side, the designs of the armor, and buildings are decent, sometimes even eye-catching, but mostly would piss off many who are used to the next generation graphics. The game has some better visuals when compared to part one with better water effects and slightly more detail. However like many 3D games it suffers from a terrible case of ''things going through walls''.

5 out of 10

Sound
The music plays softly in the background, very much enhancing the game experience, monster roars and the fighting sounds are well done. Its nice to hear that non-player characters actually chatter in the background about current events, gossips, and their ideas. This game has probably the best background chatter ever in a game. There are some minor sound issues when odd sounds are suddenly heard when their not supposed to. Voice acting is good and not over acted, although some of the dialogue seem under expressed when emotions such as anger or fear was needed.

7 out of 10

Gameplay
Addictive, with many interesting quests to do and people to interact with. Although Gothic 2 has many bugs, this is what a true roleplaying game should be. Engaging storyline, large environments, freedom of exploration, many creatures to kill, unique towns, intrigue and mystery, and fascinating characters. If you have the patience to go through it all, it would be well worth the ride. However, the strange combat controls, unforgiving NPC who attack you for entering their house, and bugged game mechanics would truly test your patience. This game feels a lot like Morrowind, only with more bugs, and a much more powerful plot and story. Enemy A.I can be very varied; cleverly avoiding your slashes and blocking your blows, and yet mindlessly charging you, even if there was a long drop to their death in between.

7 out of 10.

Lasting Appeal
For those who tire of it due the problems and lack of eye candy, this would bore them out quickly. But if you're looking for an RPG of vast magnificent worlds, this game will last you for days and probably weeks, if you can bare with the problems. Otherwise look somewhere else.

6 out of 10

Conclusion
This could have been the best RPG ever created if only it had the latest cutting edge graphics, better gameplay mechanics, and higher budget. It might have been the vast beautiful fantasy world of adventure where RPG fans have always dreamed of. But it turned out to be a downright ugly but very interesting realm to explore.

7 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/03, Updated 06/24/03