First Big Game Crash

My second session of Gothic was relatively short and it was made even shorter by a crash. On my first try, I decided to make a full circle around the old camp, killing scavengers along the way. I was hoping this would get me some experience and, more importantly, meat I can cook and sell. This is exactly what I got, but as I got back to the city and started trading with Dexter, the game crashed, so I lost about 20 minutes of my time.

Scavenging Skills and Sword Fighting

On my next try, I started saving often. This time, I checked my inventory and realized I have quite a bit to sell already. I traded everything I could for ore and then went out of the Old Camp’s front gate to pay Drax for some training. I repeated this cycle of hunting, trading and training several times, until I eventually learned all four of the scavenging skills. I can now extract teeth and claws, skin animals and gather other parts I can sell. I figured this would be the best way to spend early money – to make further accumulation of money easier.

I’m a bad-ass with a sword now, holding it in one hand and all.

I also spent 50 ore to learn the first level of sword fighting. As I said before, the character system of Gothic seems simple, but the way the mechanics work makes it extremely complex and interesting. For instance, learning the first level of sword fighting allows the hero to swing much faster and hold the weapon in one hand. It makes the game easier, but it also creates room for more skillful play. Basically, it synergizes both with the mechanics and the player.

Smithing

I also spent some time trying out smithing. You can buy metal rods from the smith and, through several steps, turn them into crude swords. These can then be sold at a profit of 10 ore per sword, so it’s a valid method of getting money, but overall, I think it’s mostly available in the game for flavor.

This is probably the worst smithing screenshot I could have taken.

To the Sect Camp (The Brotherhood)

Once I did all I could in the Old Camp, at least for the time being, I talked to a Cultist and asked him to take me to his camp in the swamp. This is basically an escort quest, but instead of me trying to keep my escort alive, it’s the other way around. The cultist was much stronger than me, so I basically abused this and used him to kill a bunch of enemies along the way to the Swamp Camp, mostly lizards, but also a wolf and some insects. This, with the added reward of completing the escort, got me close to the next level and placed me in a brand new location I needed to explore.

Baal Something earned about half a level of experience.

The Swamp Camp was definitely a religious place, if you consider smoking weed all day a religious thing. The cultist specialize in picking various smoke-able grasses they then sell to the other people at the prison colony, or even export outside. Each cultist also gets their daily dosage, which got me to a quest where one of them asked me for mine.

A swamp and some religious freaks. Not my cup of tea, but there’s experience and ore in it.

There are also teachers, called gurus, that I can’t talk to, but have to impress in order to join them. As I said, I don’t intend to join this camp, but there’s no reason not to do the quests for the experience and other rewards.

Back to the Old Camp

Once I explored most of the camp, I decided to go back to the old camp. I had to do this by myself this time, so it was a scary trip, especially because it was night time and there was rain. I took a bunch of wrong turns and nearly got killed by a pack of wolves, but eventually, I saw the outlines  f the Old Camp on the horizon. I got in, found the shack assigned to me and used the bed to rest until morning.

Home, sweet home…

In my next session, I’ll work on getting my strength and dexterity up, so I can tackle stronger enemies. I also intend to buy an armor, or get it some other way. My only protection right now is an amulet I got off a corpse (+5 protection from weapons).

For those not familiar, the basic plot of Gothic goes like this:

There’s a prison under a magical barrier with prisoners pretty much free to govern over themselves while in there, but unable to ever get out alive and with an arrangement to mine some special ore in exchange for stuff from the outside. The player is a fresh prisoner, just sent into the prison. Before he got sent inside, he was slipped a letter for the leader of the Fire Mages within the prison and that’s it. No name, not much further plot.

I didn’t get a chance to fix my Windows 8 issue here yet, so you get a crappy screenshot.

I actually like games with an anonymous protagonist, so this works for me, especially if there’s a prophecy to be fulfilled or something like that, the way it is with the Elder Scrolls series.

Meeting Diego

There’s a lot of characters in Gothic and, so I probably won’t remember most of them, but I managed to remember Diego. Diego is a denizen of the Old Camp and his job is to greet fresh prisoners. He basically introduces me to the prison and the inner politics.

The deal is, the prisoners split into three camps. The Old Camp still does the mining and gets most of the sought after outside stuff in exchange for the ore. They are probably the best equipped in there, but they aren’t really interested in changing the status quo. The New Camp has separated from the Old Camp and they’re actively trying to find a way to escape from the prison.

Sorry, still not fixed.

The Swamp Cultists are religious freaks. They found some entity they consider a god and they believe this thing will give them a way out of the prison and also grant them powers or something. I’m not completely sure yet, but I think I’ll either go with the Old or the New Camp when I finally join a faction. Religious freaks really aren’t my cup of tea.

Diego is part of the Old Camp, so his description was obviously biased. He told me who I need to talk to when I get there, pointed me in the direction of some discarded gear and sent me on my way.

I did some exploring around the landing area and found a pickaxe. This is not a very good weapon, even for the first one, but I don’t have a choice, really. From what I understand, the way weapons work in Gothic is that they have a strength requirement, and the more you surpass that requirement, the faster you can swing that weapon, up to a certain point. I might be completely wrong here, but if that’s true, then it’s probably in my best interest to pick a faster weapon instead of always going for the strongest one.

I fixed my issue here, so I could finally enjoy the nice view.

With the pickaxe, I did some more exploring and climbed a nearby cliff. On the top, I found two juvenile scavengers, a couple of mole rats and a goblin. The rats and the scavengers are beginner monsters, so they were easy to kill. The goblins, however, I remember from one of my earlier attempts at this game, so I was pretty scared when I attacked it. Somehow, I managed to kill it with a bit of health remaining, though, so I could freely enjoy the great view from the top of the cliff.

I went back down to the other side of the canyon, picked up a rusty sword, which is a weaker, but a faster weapon, and killed the last mole rat there. On the way to the Old Camp, I also killed a couple of meat bugs and got their meat for later.

First Time at the Old Camp

The Old Camp is arranged into several (two or three, I’m not sure) levels, with only the outer level accessible to me right now. I explored it in a circular fashion, talked to everyone and got all the quests I could.

The Barrier looks great in the night sky. It provides a lot of atmosphere.

One of the people there wanted to buy an ornamental sword from a merchant, but the merchant wouldn’t sell it to him, so I played mediator. Several guards wanted protection money from me, so I picked one and gave him the 10 ore he wanted. I think I need to pay all three to be protected everywhere, though.

There was an arena there to, as well as several people from the Cultist and the New Camp, trading and looking for recruits. The head guy at the arena wanted me to win a match in exchange for his good word with Diego. Several other people also wanted favors in exchange for their recommendation. Getting enough recommendations would make me an official member of the Old Camp, but even though I’m still not sure which side I’ll pick, I’ll do most of the quests anyway, for the experience and the rewards.

Frying scavenger meat over a fire. More atmosphere!

I found a frying pan over a fire and fried all of the meat I picked up from the scavengers and rats I killed. I remember this being very impressive back when Gothic was first released and it still holds its own now. I mean, sure, there’s alchemy in other games, but there’s an actual animation of frying the meat in this one. It’s a nice touch.

With all the exploration and quest solving, I finally got my fist level, so I traded most of my good away for ore and then gave the ore to some New Camp hunters outside, in exchange for them to teach me how to scavenge dead monster parts. I can now extract claws and skin animals. I still have two more to learn, so as soon as I get the money, I’ll come back.

It took me several attempts to clear these guys without dying, bit it made it all the more satisfying.

I also explored the area outside the Old Camp and climbed some cliffs. In one of the caves, I found a dead guard and reported it to another guard inside the camp. This secured me another recommendation. In another cave, on top of a cliff, I found basically a hermit. He used to live at the Old Camp, but then just decided to get away from it all.

I also spent far too much time trying to get down from that cliff. The controls in Gothic really have room for improvement. I kept taking from steps and falling to my death on my way down. I need to say something outright, though. Unlike many, I’m fine with the way Gothic handles combat. I’m OK with those controls. I just think the movement and jumping needs work.

The character screen looks simple, but there’s a lot of complexity hidden in there.

I actually spent a couple of hours doing all of this, so I decided to take a break at this point. There’s a lot to explore in the world of Gothic and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a great game that just happens to be rough around the edges.