Ok, imagine a more story-oriented rehash of oblivion. Now, inject it full of crippling issues and poor design choices...
I'll be honest, i did not complete this game. But with all the issues it possesses, its likely that i'm part of the majority who bought the game, tried to enjoy it, and gave up somewhere along the way.
Gothic has alot going for it. Since after completing oblivion i found replaying thru that the second time round exposed how stale the latter could be, i decided to try this game based on some strong previews from many game websites. And almost straightaway I was struck by the duality of the game. There was a crap opening cinematic after a grueling 2 hour long install. Then a very basic menu system which i like because it cut to the chase quickly. Graphics wise, wonderful environments and interesting creatures with no extra loading screens, but then horrible character animation, ugly character models/texturing and a tutorial so wimpy that it hardly qualifies as one. You are thrust immediately into a warring village, with no backstory or foreknowledge, and fighting strange orcs that can kill you in one lucky hit.
Yes, the major problem with gothic is the absurd fighting system. I can appreciate the realism of combat if tension is created by having a powerful enemy that can kill you in 1 hit. But if there are combinations of enemies who can 1 hit kill (orcs) and enemies which can perma stun (wolves, boars etc) then combat becomes a real deal-breaker. Especially when can apparently be a high level character and yet die in seconds to a simple level 1 wolf. Did i mention the lethargic "quick" save system?
Gothic is also filled with a perplexing array of bugs that should have been fixed before release. Performance issues are common, with my 3ghz , x800xt , 2gb ram equipped system (that was 2006) unable to achieve framerates above the teens in medium settings. Competing with the excruciating voice acting was my hard drive constantly spinning away noisily. Also in general, the game lacks polish. Some elements of the game, such as the crafting or certain plot elements, seem rushed in or bolted on as an afterthought. Most of the fun i had in the game was luring enemy monsters all the way from their lair right into an enemy orc camp and watching a couple of "pathetic" wolves and boars slay a whole garrison of heavily armed orc warriors.
In short, avoid this "hardcore" RPG. Unless you know what you're doing and what you're getting into.