Gothic II/Gameplay

At the start the cinematics will play. If you don't see these you may find it's best to run on windows xp, (vista does some cinematics) and install the BINK video codecs. As with Gothic I, these codecs do not come with the game.

If they still don't play, you can open the folder to which you installed Gothic II:NOTR and play them if you have installed the codec.

As soon as you jump in the game, the situation will be explained to you by Xardas - the dark magician from Gothic I who has become a close ally to the hero.

Your first quests will start pretty much from the word go.

Tips

 * explore the cave by the waterfall on your left after visiting the tower.
 * in gothic II inital monsters for newbies to tackle are: feild raiders, wolves and giant rats.
 * Don't kill the first bandit you see - ignore cavalorn, talk to the bandit, then return and talk to cavalorn. You'll see what I mean.
 * Save your permenant stat gains till later in the game. (goblin berries, king's sorrel, magic tablets, etc...) as eventually it will cost 40 learning points (you get 10 per lvl up) to increase something if it's getting close.  When the cost hits 40 it will be hard finding a trainer that will teach you past 90.  (yes, it will be needed to go way > 90)
 * when fighting dragons later, I find it much easier to use ranged weapons or magic. You can do it by normal attacks...but it can be really tricky.
 * Crossbows use STR as their stat, and bows use DEX.
 * it may not be a good idea to kill the sheep because you'll need one later - but you'll have to pay for it.