Very close yet very far
I was absolutely wrong. For all its charm, the game was patched with a Beta 3 patch, and I am guessing that the "AddOn" aka GOLD edition was built with this fixes from this patch already in the game. I am not sure if it is even possible to fix these bugs anymore. It is very disappointing and sad that it has come to this over issues in which both games have been criticized for having bugs that could have been fixed by any intermediate programmer with moderate intelligence. "Intermediate Programmer" and "Moderate Intelligence" are both words I take directly from the community, and there is pages of complaints to Jowood that are all ignored. If that is not enough; to continuously make these mistakes in every single release, across multiple genres such as Gothic 3 patches, and both Europa 1400 Gold & The Guild 2, how can one not worry about the future of the strategy gaming industry?
For all it's bugs, and crashes, it is still an entertaining game for those of us who like these types of games. It has a lot of depth that The Guild 2 does not have, such as more Office duties, more businesses & products, more items and historical accuracy that no other game, to my knowledge, has ever had. That is why this is so much of an utter disappointment. It is such a complete shame that no one will ever be able to enjoy this game, and it is even more of a shame that there are some in the industry who outright refuse to learn from their mistakes the first time. If this game had been beta tested privately, before the deadline, none of this would have ever happened, and the integrity of the production team, and Jowood itself, would not be questioned as many times as it has.
For all the above reasons this is the most disappointing game I have ever played in my life.