must try for every RPG fan

User Rating: 9.6 | Gothic PC
Gothic is set at time of great war between orcs and humans. However it doesn`t take you to epic battles with hordes of squeaky griming creatures, well , not at traditional sense. The game takes you to prison - the magical barrier upon witch the creators of it lost control long time ago, where magical ore is dug for magical weapons wielding and traded for supplies and women. Within barrier there is three main camps, where you can learn skills, meet different people, trade and rest. In order to accomplish your missions and get out of the barrier you will have to choose sides and friends carefully as once you join one camp, you can`t join other too, so gameplay and story will depend on how manipulative you are and how you choose to do your missions.

The whole surroundings in game is "sucking you in", I know it was for me. With complex and rocky landscape the adventuring and discovering things have become very rewarding and fun. There is just no other feeling like you climbing the rocks and on top of it finding ancient ruins with few treasure chests, not speaking of view you get from that cliff.

The barrier is filled with all kinds of monsters witch vary from easy, such as meatbugs, to nearly unbeatable such as giant trolls and undeads. The adventuring is always thrilling as you will never know what is behind next hill,rock or tree. It keeps you alert even tho most of times when you need to get from one colony to another you`ll have to run between them, as monsters regenerate during some period of time ( a week or few days ) and could catch you unexpected.

The leveling and experience system weren`t very complex allowing this game concentrate more on action and story side. With each level from experience gathered from quests and defeating enemies you get 10 skill points with which you can improve your dexterity, strength, one of the battle skills ( bow, crossbow, one handed weapons, two handed weapons ), hunting skills ( sneaking, picking claws, fangs, furs and such ), thief skills ( pick-pocketing, lock picking) or acrobatics ( witch IMO is a MUST if you decide to play it ) witch fully covers all your needs during the game.

The graphics and audio are nice ( oh but ver mind that as I`m old games lover ). Even though it`s fairly old game it has one of nicest landscapes I have ever seen in games. The ambiance is also very high in quality ( the first times I played game, the install was corrupted due scratched cd, so I played without all the men voices, witch made all dialogues silent, except with ladies, witch are maybe 2 per whole game, and I sill loved it ).

In conclusion despite few bugs it is really great game holding great value of replay. Recommended to any RPG fans and adventurers.