Phatose on 11/7/2010 at 02:19
Haven't managed to find anything googling, so I figured I'd ask.
I picked up gothic 2 gold in the steam 4th of July sale. However, it was Gothic 2 Gold, which includes the Night of the Raven "expansion". Unfortunately this "expansion" is more of a mix-in combined with a rebalance that can best be described as sadistic. Seriously, the first town sells weapons which require 120 STR to use, while human max is 100? WTF guys.
Is there any way to remove the NotR from the gold edition so I can play without being forced to game the system just to survive? Being one-shotted by friggin pigs ain't fun.
Nameless Voice on 11/7/2010 at 02:43
Human maximum in Gothic 2 NotR is not 100. And why shouldn't the first and only proper town in the game sell weapons you can aspire to owning once you have enough strength, as opposed to only offering junk you wouldn't want to buy?
As for uninstalling it... if it's the Steam version and they come combined, then probably not. IIRC my boxed version came with an installer for both. I never tried playing without NotR, though.
The main issue I had with NotR is that statistics get more expensive to increase the higher they are, which makes permanent increase potions a pain (you always feel you have to save them until you've reached the point where you're getting the most value for the extra attribute points they provide.)
Renzatic on 11/7/2010 at 02:55
It's been a bit since I last played, but you should have an option to install Gothic 2 without the expansion when you first run the installer. Things might be different with the Steam version though, considering it probably does its install as you download thing and won't give you the option.
That said, I don't remember NotR being all that difficult at the beginning. You get that nice dagger and stat boosting ring in the tunnel near Xardas' tower that helps you out considerably in the first chapters. At worst, I found it to be equally as hard as vanilla G2 starting out, and didn't really ramp up until you land in Jharkendar.
Phatose on 11/7/2010 at 03:42
Aspire to owning is one thing. But when a non-magical weapon requires, what 25 levels gains worth of strength points just to pick up, something is amiss.
Half of everything is instantly killing me. There was a friggin orc elite within shouting distance of the town.
And then you get the packs of wargs, which can kill me alone, and they come in 4 packs. And the 3 packs of charging velociraptor things, which also instakill me. And it's not like I decided "Hey, lets see what's in the valley of certain death today!" - these are all hanging around by the starting town.
Tonamel on 11/7/2010 at 04:51
Those all sound like things I remember from Gothic 2, and I've never played with the expansion.
Renzatic on 11/7/2010 at 05:12
I think they added worg packs in with the expansion, but yeah. Just like old Gothic 2, the early levels are you being a whining, cringing, snot nosed wimp who bruises like a hemophiliac, and you'll rack up more deaths than a herd of swarming mayflies if you do something stupid like go into the woods. Stay in town and along safe, well traveled roads until about 12 or so. Only then should you brave the more dangerous places. Cautiously.
And quit looking at Orc weapons and bitching about the high strength requirements. That's just the games subtle way of telling you that all people are whining, cringing, snot nosed wimps compared to Orcs.
Phatose on 11/7/2010 at 05:15
Dude, I wasn't talking about Orc weapons. These were human ones, sold at the vendor. A long sword requires 70 strength, a short short requires like 40.
Renzatic on 11/7/2010 at 05:29
Yeah, that's Gothic. They're hateful games starting out. All the good stuff seems well beyond your reach, and it teases you by waving it all in front of your face all the time. But if you explore a bit, you'll usually find some halfway decent weaponry for your level lying around.
And if it makes you feel better, you can easily get up to 80 strength and have a few extra stats like one handed sword, sneaking, and alchemy trained up decently before you join a guild at the end of Chapter 1.
Phatose on 11/7/2010 at 07:02
Allright, well, I'm sticking with it as long as I can. Eventually I managed to train my weapon skill beyond 'retard', and the combat system actually looks like it's got some good things going for it. Seems unfortunate the game is set on killing me though.
Certainly glad I found the quicksave/quickload tweak, or else I would've given up 15 times over now.
Nameless Voice on 11/7/2010 at 10:30
Quote Posted by Phatose
Aspire to owning is one thing. But when a non-magical weapon requires, what 25 levels gains worth of strength points just to pick up, something is amiss.
There aren't really "magical" weapons in Gothic. The best swords are assumed to be made from magical ore, but they don't exactly have obvious magical effects.
