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Infos about the addon
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RPGDot Forums > Gothic 2 General

Author Thread
RobKob
Head Merchant
Head Merchant




Joined: 20 Aug 2002
Posts: 73
Location: Thuringia, Germany
Infos about the addon
   

Hi.
At the moment I'm waiting impatiently for the arrival of the addon ( hopefully tomorrow ). To pass the time I've been browsing the German Gothic forums, read the review etc. Then I thought it would be a good idea to share some infos about the addon with the RPGDot forumites. Well, you'll probably know some of it already and I cannot guaranty absolute accuracy.

- The addon is not just a new area. It also changes the existing game in many ways. Gothic 2 + Addon = new game ( Gothic 2.5 )

- New areas can not only be found in the new new world but also in the old new world and the mine valley.

- The difficulty level of the entire game has been drastically increased. Monsters are tougher ( especially orcs and Seekers, and I wonder how the dragons will be ) and give less XP ( there are exceptions however ) and ...

- ... improving your character costs more learning points. From 30 points / percent upwards each attribute or skill point costs 2 lp. Above 60 points / percent it's 3 (!). Alchemy and other skills seem to be more expensive too.

- OTOH hunting skills are now much cheaper ( don't know how much though )

- There are also new skills ( more later ) and it seems that acrobatics is back

- Permanent potions are weaker.

- There are however new ways to increase your stats. You can find stone slates ( right word ? ) with ancient texts that can raise your abilities. To read them you need a new skill with 3 levels - the language of the Builders.

- Another new skill is digging - yes, you can now use pickaxes for what they were invented for.

- You'll more often have companions ( sometimes even 4 simultaneously ) which is probably very useful because of the higher difficulty.

- The old areas have many new NPCs and monsters too

- New and old NPCs alike offer lots of new quests

- There are also plot and quest changes, new ways to reach certain goals etc.

- Smithing is more useful, because self-made weapons require less strength and may deal out up to 10 percent more damage.

- Weapons are stackable.

- There is a new kind of item: belts. There are also many new amulets.

- You can make schnapps.

- A new method of transportation is available: teleport platforms. I don't know how they work.

- New armours, new weapons ( including some very interesting magic ones ), new guilds ( only side-guilds ), new magic artifacts, new monsters etc. and ...

- ... new magic spells. The tornado-thingie looks very good. And Thunderstorm sounds like an exquisite area spell. Apparently there is also a seek-spell that summons a will-o-wisp which guides you to treasure or items. This would certainly make finding herbs easier.

- It's probably no surprise, but Saturas is back. And he and the rest of the water mages have not forgotten who stole the energy from their ore heap.


Well, I'll stop here for now. By the way, you should also know that several people have problems with bugs. Plus, starting the game seems to take a loong time with the addon. Some people don't like the way the addon is embedded into and enhancing the game and would have preferred one or two additional chapters after Irdorath. Other people complain about the high difficulty or the price. But mostly the addon is recieved very positively - and I'm sure I'll love Gothic 2.5 too.
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Post Sun Aug 24, 2003 7:04 pm
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Jay
Fearless Paladin
Fearless Paladin




Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 245
   

I noticed that the game took forever to load with the add-on installed, and I am not too impressed with having to start the game again. I never found Gothic 2 that easy, and to be honest never really played it for the combat (which I find lacking, like most RPGs). Especially as the game was quite tough at the beginning. But I like the re-introduction of Acrobatics, and hope that the new weapons are interesting. I never completed G2, so I will probably finish it before re-installing the add-on. If I had known that the save games didn't function with Raven, I wouldn't have brought it.
Post Sun Aug 24, 2003 7:30 pm
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elkston
High Emperor
High Emperor




Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 691
Location: North Carolina, USA
   

RobKob,

Thank you for posting this information.

It really seems like the game has gotten a major make-over. I would gladly start a new character to experience everything new about Gothic2 + Addon.
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Post Sun Aug 24, 2003 8:00 pm
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Allanon
Village Leader
Village Leader




Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 80
Location: U.S.
   

Thanks for the info. Can't wait til it comes to the states.
Post Sun Aug 24, 2003 11:10 pm
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless




Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany
   

Here are more infos. Some of them have been posted in other threads.

-The English voices will be recorded in London. The recording sessions start on Sept. 4th.
-The English website will open soon. (whatever 'soon' means.)
-The German add-on updated the main program from v1.30 to v2.50. A stand-alone patch is also planned.
-Piranha Bytes included mod tools on the CD! (I´m not saying they´re necessarily complete or easy to handle, but at least they are available.)
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 4:47 am
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Late Night Spook




Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot
   

'Soon' means the addon page has been translated and will be put up when KaiRo finds the time.
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Jaz
Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 4:53 am
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Scribbles
Unsent
Unsent




Joined: 25 Apr 2003
Posts: 1063
Location: Spokane, WA. US of A
   

Im with Allanon on this. us poor americans got the bad side of the deal i guess...
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 6:20 am
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
On the Razorblade of Life




Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia
   

We usually don't get it any better down here!! I've had to order both games from O/S. We pay a LOT more than you do as well.
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 6:32 am
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Xerxes712
High Emperor
High Emperor




Joined: 01 Nov 2002
Posts: 605
Location: Uber die Welt
   

The changes to the combat I think is for the better. It was too easy to kill monsters, well for me anyway. I like a challenge.

I am also very glad to see mod tools come on the add-on . I hope we can make custom made quest and add custom NPC or monsters into game. That will be great and extend the life of the game. Also lowering the hunting skills may incourage people to buy them to use them to make money.

It sounds like the developers do read our post and feedback to make it even better game. I really look forward to the add-on. I hope it comes to the English language version by end the of the year? I can only guess about 3 months after voice recording and maybe in time for Holiday season?
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 6:41 am
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Whailor
Most Exalted Highlord
Most Exalted Highlord




Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 423
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
   

This all sounds quite neat. I don't know whether I find the less XP that "fun", considering that XP is already pretty nerfed when comparing to Gothic 1 (and everything else too, for example armor, potions, weapons), but will see when I get it.

So, the english voices will be recorded at the beginning of september. So, in the best case, the english version may be out in october? Or later? Ah I wish someone "official" would say something
Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 8:51 am
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Late Night Spook




Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot
   

Speech recordings will take two weeks; after that - we'll see. Earliest estimated release date for the English language addon is mid-October, but that's just an educated guess of the devs. Nobody knows how long it will take for sure.
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Jaz
Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 9:28 am
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Sasa
Baron of the Court
Baron of the Court




Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Posts: 346
Location: Balrog's wearing room :)
   

quote:
Originally posted by Jaz
Speech recordings will take two weeks; after that - we'll see. Earliest estimated release date for the English language addon is mid-October, but that's just an educated guess of the devs. Nobody knows how long it will take for sure.

And what's about other languages? Gorath said that it will be French version.
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 10:25 am
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Late Night Spook




Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot
   

Nothing known as of yet.
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Jaz
Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 1:30 pm
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Xerxes712
High Emperor
High Emperor




Joined: 01 Nov 2002
Posts: 605
Location: Uber die Welt
   

@Whailor

In regards to the less XP; if it is too much nerfed, the work I did on Modding G2 will still apply even with the add-on since it is still the basic same game engine and game.dat, just modified.

I can change any 'constant value' such as XP given for a kill or quest. Also, I can change any attribute, armor combat skill number, armor worn, spells (mana damage etc), weapons carried; immortral flags, some AI behaviour, item cost, inventory, etc.

I very curious about the Mod tools that is said to come with the CD. It makes it so much easier to enable custom changes, and most important, ability I hope to add in custom quest and NPC or monsters for fun.

I did not know how to do that with compiled file without some tool; when I tried to increase the length of the file for the extra script; it would not accept it. That is why I could only change 'values' so to speak. The EXE needs to 'know' about exta script and that takes a tool or alot of hard programming to make one, which I do not possess.

Yes, the XP given can be changed quite easily, if it gives annoyance.
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 4:47 pm
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless




Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany
   

The tools are:
Spacer with VDFS
GothicVDFS
zSpy
UEdit32 syntax file
3dsmax-Plugs

No scripts! (yet ?!)

The gothic.exe v2.5 is mod enabled




Many people complained G2 was too easy. It seems now PB have given them the real thing. Finally a fight with a shadowbeast ends like it should.
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Post Mon Aug 25, 2003 5:18 pm
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