The game graphic is outdated, controls are rigid and voice acting is not the best but the game does so many things better then modern games.
NPCs are jerks, they are convicts, the old camp structure is one of strength, the weakest are the miners, the thieves are low in the hierarchy and the most powerful are on the top having most of the ore and women. This makes sense to me, is immersive.
The environment is a sand box but area limits are mostly dictated by monster difficulty. Hints are given by people rather then pop-ups. The map is an actual map. Menus are minimalistic, I do not like the full window modern menus we have now. The weather, light and sounds makes it feel gloomy as opposed to modern day games that have this very colorful theme/ filter.
Dialogue felt cold, this is a great thing, I do not expect a random guy that I've just met have a personal/ emotional reaction to me.
No pop-up to let me know what I should loot or where I should go.
No random drops, I do not like the way a lot of looting works in modern games. I think Witcher 2 and Gothic did it better by having weapons and armor tied to specific quests or fights rather then random drop like they did in Witcher 3.
Progression is more authentic, you get a new armor, put points in to weapons and then you get to explore different areas. You feel incredibly weak at the start but then you feel growing stronger in meaningful steps.
There is a static nature of the sand box, things are somewhat calm until you show up and this allows the player to explore this interesting setting and understand how the society works before you mess everything up. Things would have blown up regardless of your presence but I enjoyed the societal aspect of the game and the fact that the game allows you to explore that. There is no pressure on the player to act other then adapt to the new situation. Only later in the game it starts to become critical to act.
Overall I liked this game a lot, it was one of my favorite games when I was in school. Maybe is just nostalgia glasses but I wanted to rant a bit on things that old games did better.
Maybe we could use a game club for older games where we could discuss classic old games like Gothic, KOTOR, Jedi Outcast, Baldurs Gate, Witcher.
I will take the opportunity to recommend their newest IP, from Piranha. Elex. I am having a blast with the difficulty.
As in, like Gothic. You can't go everywhere immediately because you are low level. You can try to play smart, but you will have a hard time.
I love it.
Sometimes an NPC will get killed randomly in the world, affecting the story. Or based on your choices, stuff will happen in the background. I haven't played Elex II yet, but Elex is really good.
And if you prefer something more sword and shield, Risen is also very good!
The first Risen is great, is very similar with Gothic. I tried Risen 2 but it had guns and pirates, maybe the game was good but I went in expecting a medieval fantasy game and got a pirate game. It was not for me. I never tried Risen 3, so if you did I would be curious how it matches against Gothic.
I've heard good and bad about Elex and someone mentioned Elex 2 came out.
At the moment I'm replaying Gothic 1 and then Gothic 2 because "The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos" was released and it has been more then a decade since I've played/ replayed this games. This is a mod for Gothic 2 that is an entire new game set in the world of Gothic, was released in December.
If the mod is good I'll post my opinions here. But at the rate I'm playing games it will be a couple of months. I've been more excited by this mod then most games from the last 2 years.
Never played Gothic, so I can't give you an accurate comparison. But I liked Risen 3 a lot. Maybe it was a breath of fresh air in comparison to Skyrim, or some other forgettable game I played prior to it. The women looked like women, the voice acting was good, and they were not afraid of portraying natives like... natives. I played Risen 3 with a mod to improve a few things and eliminate some of the jank, including higher resolution textures. It was a beautiful game. And the wave effects were great.
I'm still playing Elex, before I go to Elex II, but it is a full Piranha game. I had a discussion with someone who swears up and down that the game is crap because it is hard. My answer is, GIT GUD, and level up.