Very Good RPG game, better than original and way way better than the new Gothic 4. Go buy it.
Lots of side quests to get up the experience levels and a good trading. I also liked hunting around for locked chests and tricky lock-picking for extra goodies.
The game is fairy open sandbox set on a number if islands which increase in difficulty level. You need to follow the main quest (i think) to open a teleport on each new island. Well that's what i did. Now you can buy a sailing dingy mid way through which perhaps could sail to the next island without following the quest but I have not tried.
I played on Hard difficulty and found the game tough at first on each new Island which meant that I really needed the Skill/experience and upgrades for my chosen profession to survive and progress. You get the usual "career" paths to choose from , Warier, Ranger, or Mag types or any combo in between. you do not need to choose one per say what you are depends on where you put your experience/skill points and kit. You can also reset your Character by visiting guys who for a price will reset your experience/skill points. So you can for instance change from a Mag based set up to say a Warrier without going back to the start.
So all in all a very good RPG well worth playing and much much better that that rubbish Gothic 4.