General facts

° There might be a collector's edition, but the details have yet to be discussed
° The game will probably come on three CDs, no DVD; a fabric map might be a part of the 'normal' release, but it's not sure yet; the map might as well be printed on a superthin mouse pad
° The German release has been postponed because of extensive QA, new release date is 2002-11-29
° The game will be released in all European languages, others might follow
° Music might be available as a separata soundtrack CD
° Stairs are actually ramps like in GI because NPCs can handle them better
° Gothic II will not be available as a console game
° An Editor might be bundled with a budget version of the game
° This time there won't be any 'real' persons in the game (like Mud of GI who had been modelled after a German TV host)
° The demo will be available after speech recordings have been made

° There won't be a pre-release comic book (there was a Gothic I pre-release comic book in Germany)
° Gothic II will see the return of the voice actors from Gothic, plus some more (German version) - again, all dialogues will be voice-acted
° "In Extremo" (the German band who performed in the German version of Gothic) will not be in Gothic II
° Gothic II will use some motion-capturing data from Gothic, the rest will be 'hand-made'

Story and Quests

° Some quests will depend on the time of day; most quests will have several possible solutions or rather, ways
° The hero suffers from amnesia
° Uriziel won't be in Gothic II
° Diego is living in the town now, as is Lares
° Chromanin will not be mentioned in GII
° Swamp weed will be in the game, there might even be new animations... ;-)
° There are new mines in the 'old world'
° The New Camp is buried under a snow blanket... but see for yourself :-)
° The mercenaries are in the employ of Onar the peasant; as a mercenary you'll be paid wages
° In the town, panicmongers will be arrested :-)
° The relic 'Innos' Eye' will be crucial in the battle against the dragons
° There will be several secrets, especially in town houses

° One of the main characters in the city will be Lord Andre, the militia commander
° The hero of Gothic II will be the same character you played in Gothic. However, there will be no character import. The background of Gothic's protagonist is going to be unveiled in Gothic II - so you will no longer just be an anonymous individual. The hero will probably have no official name, though, just like in Gothic I
° There will be an unspecified number of Dragons in the game, and they are up to no good
° The new world (as opposed to the Colony in Gothic I) will have a very "real" atmosphere - not to sad and dark, and not to happy
° The price level will have risen considerably
° The fall of the barrier in Gothic caused a massive earthquake, and the Colony now lies in shambles. Escaped criminals scour the countryside... and the orcs besiege the kingdom...
° Xardas the Necromancer will be back, and he will request your help
° You can meet Diego, Gorn, Lester and Milten, and there's also a chance for you to meet Velaya and UrShak... if you're willing to look for them. You might also meet Lee
° Gothic II will be split into six chapters. How linear the game is going to be will depend on the player - you may either stick to the main plot or pursue all the little side quests, it's all up to you. Gothic II will have many more side quests in the final chapters than Gothic had
° The story will differ for each character class while the end will not. There will be different parts of the ending FMVs for different classes though

General Gameplay Issues

° Marvin works in Gothic II
° Books on stands can be read now
° Summoned creatures will vanish if addressed
° New animals/monsters include Dragons, Draconians, flies, Wargs, Field Robbers (beetles), dragon snappers, black trolls and the demonic seekers (which were inspired by Harry Potter by the way :-))
° NPCs don't carry 'superweapons' anymore - you'll have to buy those
° Women fight just as men if the player attacks them or invades on their turf
° Dress code regulates people's reactions to the player
° There will be substantially more options with dialogues. Pickpocket, for example, is a skill which is handled via dialogue options now - you'll only get those options if you have the skill
° Clothes are better modelled now
° Summoned skeletons might be colored differently from 'normal' skeletons to better tell them apart
° There will be snow in Gothic II. There will also be thunderstorms
° Monsters eat dead monsters. Monsters also eat dead heroes :-D
° There are shrines in the game; you can plunder them or, if you are a Paladin, pray and get a reward. There's also a shrine of St. Rhobar I...
° The Journal will be automatically swept of bungled or unsolvable missions
° Each ambient (=unnamed) NPC serves as a GPS - the player can ask him for directions or his current position
° When you swim out to the world's borders, you'll get a nice FMV of a sea animal eating you :-)
° Game length is supposed to be around 50 hours if you're determined - without the guild-exclusive quests

° The player won't be able to take the armor off a dead or unconscious enemy
° The player will find NPCs willing to accompany him for a while just like in Gothic; there won't be permanent parties though, and it won't be possible to equip or train them
° The hero might have a haircut (no more ponytail ;-))
° Camping out in the open (without a bed) will not be possible
° In Gothic II there will be different room classes - NPCs will react differently to your behaviour depending on which class of room (public, private, off-limits...) the player is in
° The game area barriers will be mountain ranges and the sea; the player will be able to swim very far though... and perhaps be eaten by water-dwelling monsters...
° The draw-sword-and-enter exploit will be no more
° Monsters won't be able to follow the player through a level change (unlike in HalfLife ;-))
° There won't be flying monsters in Gothic II either (the GI harpies and bloodflies didn't really fly)
° The player can create weapons and magical runes. Example = runes: First the player will have to be initiated into the secrets of creating runes. After that, the raw material is needed. A special magical device will allow to let the player's magic flow into the runestone
° Women in Gothic II can do everything that was left to men in Gothic I. Of course the player can talk to them, and there are some female "leading roles"
° Fighting for money will be possible, but forbidden by the authorities
° The player will not have a dwelling - the character will have to travel a lot
° There will be immortal NPCs in Gothic II, albeit not many
° Upgrading existing weapons will not be an option. The players will, however, be able to create their own weapons which are going to be of a better quality than 'regular' weapons
° Compared to Gothic I, there will be more dungeons to explore, e.g. small cave systems, mines, sewers, and much more. The dungeons from Gothic I will not be included though
° Day/night cycles will play a more important role in Gothic II... without complicating matters for the player though
° In addition to sheep and meatbugs there will be other common animals like wolves, rats etc.
° There will be about 20 save slots
° The game world will be three times the size of the Gothic world (25 km2)
° Gothic II will have no horses or other mounts (...but there will be sheep ;-)). To shorten travel time you'll have access to very potent potions of speed, though
° Plants, leaves, rain and particles react to wind
° An optional first person camera will be available - it will revert to third person in fights and dialogues
° NPC AI has improved, and so has the NPC news system - so don't expect to get away with murder as easily as in Gothic I. NPC reactions depend on the guild (me paladin, he paladin, must be friend), but once again NPCs were endowed with a personal memory. So if the player steals something from someone, hurts him/her, offends him/her or whatever, he shouldn't expect to be offered a mission
° There will be 47 different spells, old and new ones, with improved speed and effects; there will be a spell 'transform into sheep', for example, while another spell will enable the hero to shrink human enemies. Other spells include 'Forget' or 'summon goblin skeleton' (the thing is sweet :-D!)
° Inventory space is going to be unlimited; different item sizes don't matter, and items/weapons will not suffer from continued use (with the exception of one-shot items like potions of course :-)). There won't be several slots for armor and equipment - just like in Gothic you'll be able to wear one suit of armor and a weapon of each kind
° The currency in Gothic II will be gold; ore is still valuable but it won't be used as a currency.
° There will be cheats in Gothic II as well, including very funny ones :-)
° Fishing is not an option :-). But there are fish in the water, and you can buy a sheep

Character Classes, Skills etc.

° NPCs from different guilds have different manners/rules of conduct
° The player can learn a trade (smith, alchemist etc.)
° There's no acrobatics skill anymore, but smithing, alchemy and making runes can be learned
° The lockpick skill is goverened by dexterity; without the skill you cannot pick locks, no matter if you have a skeleton key or not
° There is a secret guild you can become a member of in addition to your 'real' guild membership - the thieves guild which is headed by a woman (and why do I have the feeling that this woman will be Velaya...? - Jaz)

° Gothic II will have three character classes: the Mage, Paladin and Dragon Hunter. The Dragon Hunter class will major in weapon-related skills, the Mage class in magic (of course) while the Paladin will have a mix of magic and weapon skills at his disposal. Each class will have specific spells/skills as well as shared spells/skills.
° Class combinations will be possible but are going to have high requirements - so it won't be as easy for a mage to be successful in physical combat as in Gothic
° All three character classes will be able to make potions
° Joining a certain faction (i.e., choosing a character class) will change the plot - the end will be the same for all classes though.
° Each character class will be able to access each and every place in Gothic II
° The Dragon Hunter guild will not use magic in the form of runes, but can use scrolls

Combat and Interface

° Knocking people out works with 'good' (or neutral) people only. The player automatically kills 'evil' enemies, and vice versa
° There's a new category 'dragon breath' in the armor value table
° Combat Skills are in % now, other skills are digital (yes/no) and goverened by attributes
° Basically, there is only one inventory now, a grid stretching across the screen instead of the narrow strip along the screen's side; objects aren't categorized any more - everything wanders into this single inventory. But the inventory will be configurable to your heart's desire

° Armor will - again - be one-piece only
° Combat will basically be the same as in Gothic, but fighting multiple enemies will be easier
° An unconscious enemy will immediately be out of focus. He can be focussed manually though, making the choice to finish off an enemy a conscious one (no more accidental killings of NPCs)
° There will be fighting combos just like in Gothic
° There won't be any shields in Gothic II
° The much-lamented Gothic interface will undergo some changes; the most important changes will be in the inventory- and trade screens, making trading and selecting items easier
° Actions other than fighting will take just one click (or key)
° All keys will be reassignable

Technical Details

° If newer sound standards like Dolby Digital will be supported is not known yet
° Texture details and model details are adjusted separately
° Minimum requirements for a fluid game are an 800 MHz CPU, 256 MB of RAM and a GeForce2. RAM is the governing constituent - if you want better performance, a RAM upgrade might be in order

° The engine will not be based on GeForce 3
° The Gothic II engine won't be - as had been suspected - Phenomedia's CodeCreatures but a revamped version of the 'old' Gothic engine which makes better use of hardware (environmental mapping, detail textures...)
° The world has technically been cut in half so you won't be required to have at least 512MB RAM in your system; due to streaming technology loading times should be considerably shorter
° Hardware requirements for getting the nicest effects would be a PIII and a GeForce 3 with 32 MB RAM

And...

...there seem to be plans for Gothic III. That's why the end game in Gothic II is not going to depend on which character class you have chosen in the game.