Gothic (game series)

• Gothic (March 15, 2001, October 25, 2002 in Russia) is the first part of the series.
• Gothic Sequel (Canceled October 24, 2001) - canceled the official addon for the first part of the series. Completely gave way to a more promising Gothic 2.
• Gothic II (November 29, 2002, December 20, 2004 in Russia) is the second part of the series. The action takes place approximately two weeks after the event of the first part.
  • Gothic II: Night of the Raven (August 22, 2003, April 4, 2005 in Russia ) - addition to Gothic 2.
• Gothic 3 (October 13, 2006 in Europe , November 20, 2006 in North America , November 23, 2006 in Russia) is the third part of the series. The action takes place immediately after the Gothic 2 event.
• Gothic 3: The Beginning (January 15, 2008) is a prequel to Gothic for mobile phones. The action takes place 140 years before the events of the first Gothic.
  • Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods (November 21, 2008, December 8, 2008 in Russia) - addition to Gothic 3. The action takes place 2.5 years after Gothic 3.
• Arcania: Gothic 4 (October 12, 2010) - spin-off and a separate part in the Gothic series, made in explanation of this game universe.
  • Arcania: Fall of Setarrif (October 23, 2011) - addition to Arcania. The action takes place after the main storyline.

ZenGin Engine ^[3] - Gothic, Gothic II, Gothic II: Night of the Raven.

Genome Engine ^[3] - Gothic 3 and Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods.

Vision Engine - Arcania: Gothic 4 and Arcania: Fall of Setarrif.

Each character has a number of characteristics. Some of the characteristics can be changed as you progress through the game.

A character can join a faction, for example, become a novice, a ghost, a magician, a paladin, a mercenary, or someone else (the fractions available are in each part of their own).

The level is assigned as you gain experience points and usually serves as a limiter in promotion in the guild. Also, for each level, the character gets training points that can be spent on improving their skills and characteristics. You can “learn” something by spending learning glasses from the appropriate teachers or, without spending points, improve your skills by reading some books. You can also improve Hero performance or gain additional experience points by praying to the gods at the altar or donating to the priests of the gods. Special potions, magic tablets, rare herbs, weapon features can also increase the maximum values ​​of the parameters of the Main Hero. Also, each new level increases the "maximum life" in the first two games of the series.

Experience grows from victories over enemies and the execution of tasks. Having earned a certain amount of experience points, the character gets an increase to the level. In the first two parts, the amount of experience needed to raise the level was calculated using the formula: <number of experiences> = <level> * 500

Reputation (the parameter appears only in the third part of the game). Performing quests for factions (Nordmar, orcs, nomads, etc.), guild or settlement, the protagonist gets reputation points.

Characteristics

• Strength determines the ability to use weapons with the POWER attribute (swords, axes, etc.); the higher this parameter, the more powerful the weapon the main character can use. Also on the magnitude of this characteristic depends on the damage caused to the enemy.
• Dexterity determines the ability to use weapons with the attribute AGILITY (bows, crossbows). Affects the damage caused by weapons, as well as the opening of locks and the level of pickpocketing.
• Mana determines the use of spells. It is consumed when reading scrolls of spells and using runes. In the third part of the game, when using teleportation runes, this characteristic is not consumed.
• Life characterizes a character’s health. When life is short, the character loses consciousness, and when it is zero, the character dies. In the first two parts of the game, this characteristic increases with increasing level of development, in the third part - to increase this characteristic you need to spend training points.
• Protection against weapons / arrows / fire / magic determines how much damage a character can bear without harm to health.
• Endurance is a feature that appeared in the third part of the game. When using this feature, the battle speed with the heavy weapon of the protagonist significantly increases. Temporarily decreases when running or in battle, during sleep or rest is restored.
• Ancient knowledge is a characteristic that appeared in the third part of the game. The presence of this characteristic is necessary to obtain certain skills associated with magic, and it determines the damage inflicted by magic.

Skills

Combat skills (mastery of one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, bow and crossbow) determine the chance to inflict critical damage upon impact, measured in percentages from 0 to 100. Fairly for the first two parts of the game. Critical hit hits any armor. In the third part of the game the opportunity to possess two one-handed swords. Each combat skill has three levels: beginner (beginner), intermediate and highest (master). Weapon levels determine the fighting stance during the attack and the combo attacks performed. Also significantly increases the rate of strikes.

Thieves' skills (opening locks and pickpocketing) determine the chance of a successful attempt to rob anyone or keep the master key in case of incorrect movement while opening the lock. In the third part of the game there are three levels of difficulty of the locks and, accordingly, three levels of thieves' skills. There are also new skills, such as justification (sometimes avoids the penalty for theft) and trade (allows you to make better deals).

The magic score will be determined by the rune spells available to the character (scrolls can be used without being trained for magic). The magic skills of the first parts of the game are divided into circles of magic.

In addition, there are a number of special additional skills. The character can own them at the request of the player.

• Sneaking is the ability to move without creating unnecessary noise.
• Acrobatics - the ability to fall from great heights without harm to health, as well as jumping far. In the second “Gothic” without the addition parameter is not used.
• “Shredding animals” refers to the removal of hides, claws, teeth, and similar trophies from certain species of animals. Everything needs to be learned separately.
• Ore mining - appears in the "Night of the Raven", and remains in the third part, allows you to mine more ore. In addition, "Night of the Raven" in fact, the ore can not be mined, mined only gold.
• Blacksmithing - the hero can forge swords, in the second Gothic - even ore weapons. In the third part, this skill is complemented by the ability to sharpen swords and arrows.
• Alchemy - appears in the second part, this includes the preparation of treatment potions, mana, special potions, mixing tobacco, even the ability to roll shoals from marsh grass or expel moonshine, in the third Gothic - transformation potions. In the third part, this skill is complemented by the ability to manufacture poisons and special arrows, for example, fire.
• Shield possession - this skill appeared in the third part of the game. Allows more efficient use of the shield.
• Resistance (to poison / cold / heat / fatigue) - these skills appeared in the third part of the game.
• Special skills - these skills appeared in the third part of the game. Such skills can only be learned from special characters. Example skills: Orcish Slayer (deals extra damage to orcs), Paladin (deals extra damage to all Beliar servants).
• Cooking - the skill also appeared in the third part. With the help of recipes, necessary products, a ladle and a pot, the hero can prepare various foods and drinks.

In addition to the above, each NPC has:

• by name (not everyone's own, the majority, not giving quests, and not involved in their execution, are called by social status: "Rudokop", "Citizen", etc.),
• daily routine
• feelings (for example, hearing),
• attitude to the character and some other characteristics that are not yet used.

The main plot of each game is divided into chapters (except for the third part , where the division is absent due to the characteristics of the plot). The chapters include various tasks , often for each chapter of their own (although they can be performed throughout the game). Subject assignments are usually given in the guild, which entered the character.

There are also various additional tasks issued by specific NPCs , or received in a different form (for example, by reading a book). They are not obligatory for performance, but can facilitate advancement on a plot.

Some tasks include several options for implementation, sometimes contradicting other tasks. For example, joining one guild usually leads to the failure of tasks to join the others.

In all four games of the Gothic series, released at the moment, the action takes place in the same world. It is characterized by its own geography, biology and social structure, partly fictional, and partly borrowed from the real world.

Geography

In the center of events of the game is the kingdom of Myrtana. During the events of the games of the series, it is ruled by King Robar II. The mainland part of Myrtana and the island of Khorinis are known, and the island of Irdorat, also unclear, is located next to it. On the island of Khorinis, there is a city of the same name, several settlements, the Mine Valley (Minental), as well as an unexplored part of the island - Yarkendar, which is the ruins of an ancient civilization.

There are also several neighboring states, such as Varant and Nordmar.

The games mention the South Isles and the Lands of the Orcs.

Myrtana

Mainland

The mainland of Myrtana is bordered by Nordmar in the north and Varant in the south. Most of the country is occupied by agricultural land. After the invasion of the orcs, many farms were destroyed, the main farming centers controlled by the orcs.

There are a lot of cities in Myrtana, the capital is the city of Vengard, located on the coast. By the events of the third game of the series is almost completely captured by the orcs. Other cities of Myrtany are Ardea, Cap Dun, Silden, Geldern, Monter, Faring, Trelis (captured by the orcs to the events of the third "Gothic") and Gotha (to the third part the city was completely inhabited by undead ). Some of the people of the captured kingdom, who later became known as mercenaries, joined the orcs; those who continued to fight called themselves rebels and hid in the caves of Okara, Nemora and Reddock, and in the forest outside Silden.

Khorinis

The island belonging to Myrtane, where the town of the same name is located, the Mine Valley (Minental) and the region lost in the mountains - Yarkendar (the city of the ancients). On Khorinis events occur the first two games of the series. The city of Khorinis is the only port of the island. Besides him, there are five farms on the island which are managed by farmers: Lobart, Bengard, Akill, Sekob and the largest Onar. Onar is the landlord of the rest of the farmers and in fact leases them land for farming. At the time of the second part of the game, Onar fights with the king's paladins and pays mercenaries to protect their lands. In the center of the island, in the middle of the lake, is the ancient monastery of Innos, where the magicians of fire and the novices serving them live. The monastery is governed by the Council of High Mages of Fire.

  In the Rudnikova Valley there is a castle, initially the administrative center of the colony, then, after the installation of the Barrier and the prisoners' rebellion - by strengthening the Old Camp, by the time of the second game of the series - the outpost of the paladins.  In addition, there are several mines of magical ore in Minental. 

Settlements in Minental:

• Old Camp is the oldest and most powerful camp. Residents of the camp: Miners, Ghosts, Guards, Barons and Mages of Fire.
• The Marsh Camp was founded by the devotees of the newly formed sect. Located on the swamps of Minenthal . The people who inhabit it worship the Sleeper. Residents of the camp: Novices, Gurus, Guardians.
• The new camp was founded by those who disagreed with the policies of the old camp. It is inhabited by peasants, scrapers, thieves, mercenaries and water mages.

Yarkendar

Yarkendar thousands of years ago was inhabited by an ancient civilization, the existence of which is evidenced by the caste palaces that have survived since then and the Temple of Adanos. After the barrier fell, prisoners who escaped from the colony moved here, and pirates set up their camp on the coast.

Irdorat

An island that disappeared during the paladin wars with orcs forty years ago. Was one of the strongest temples of Beliar.

Nordmar

This is a country located north of Myrtana; inhabited by nordmartsy. Nordmar is characterized by a harsh climate. It is famous for its deposits of magical and iron ore. On the territory of the country there are settlements of three clans of Nordmardians, it is the Wolf Clan, the Hammer Clan and the Fire Clan.

Clan Wolf members are mostly hunters. Get the skins of animals and exchange them in other clans. And yes, only in the norma there are specialized "orc hunters".

  Hammer Clan is known for its blacksmiths.  Also here is an ancient giant melting furnace, which in the plot of the third part captures the orcs.  Only here they know how to forge weapons from pure magical ore.   
  The members of the Fire Clan serve Innos (one of the shrines of this god is located directly in the clan's territory) and is considered to be his warriors, like the palladins.  They also keep in touch with the Monastery of the Circle of Fire, located nearby.

The sights of Nordmar can be called the Tombs of the Ancients - the burial of the great heroes of the past Nordmar. Like Myrtana, Nordmar was partially controlled by the orcs at the time of the events of the third game of the series.

  Nordmar is a very dangerous place.  By passing hungry, harsh animals living here (saber-toothed, snow wolves, goblins, trolls, etc.), you can just get lost.  Frequent snowstorms and blizzards, make visibility very difficult, and simply, almost instantly, cover their own traces, which could be used to return. 

Varant

Varant is a part of the continent south of Myrtana. Varant is inhabited by assassins living in cities, and also by nomads and migrant orcs, with the assassins they share a common belief in Beliar.

Varant has a very warm climate, most of the territory is desert, where oases and palm groves are found. There are also four islands in the ocean near the coast of Varant on its southeastern side, not far from Bakares and the Great Oasis. The islands are covered with palm trees and mangroves. To the south of the Mora Sul temple along the southern coast of Varant stretches a palm beach that adjoins the bay between Mora Sul and Al Shedim. North of Ishtar in the mountains there is a large palm grove. There are two major cities in Varant: Mora Sul and Bakaresh. Also important for the assassins is the Ishtar fortress, where the residence of Zuben is located. In addition to them, there are Lago, Brago, Ben-Sal and Ben-Eray. There are also temples in the country: the Bakaresha Temple dedicated to Beliaru, and the ancient temples of Adanos: Mora Sul, Al-Shedim and Ben Sala.

Jackals, lions, desert predators, sand sliders, dark glorchs, common and fire monitor lizards, fire golems, dragon inhabit in Varanta.

Population

In the world of Gothic, there are two reasonable races - humans and orcs, whose cultures are opposed to each other. During the events of all games in the series there is a war between them. Whether dragons are a race cannot be said for sure, but all dragons are reasonable. The lizardmen presented in the second part of the game, despite the similarity with the orcs, are most likely artificial creatures of dragons.

People

The human population is represented by several ethnic groups with different cultures: residents of Myrtana, assassins and Nordmaris, as well as residents of the southern islands, of which there are only minor mentions in the game. There are also small ethnic groups, such as nomads (Varant) and wanderers (Myrtana), and an extinct civilization - in the game they are called Architects.

Orcs

Orcs in the Gothic series of games is a parallel civilization with its own hierarchy.

In the games there are several types of orcs:

• hunter orcs, scout orcs
• warrior orcs
• elite orc fighters
• orcs shamans with knowledge of magic (mainly fiery)
• undead orcs (a series of powerful shamans in the first part of Gothic)

Dragons

Creatures of the Ancient Force, symbolizing the destructive side of elemental elements. These are very powerful creatures, only the “dying” Cry of the Sleeper (Word of Power) and the power of the Eye of Innos were able to subdue them, the first to Beliar personally, the second to the Nameless Hero (for a while). All of them have a mind and can even communicate with a person, if, of course, they want to, which is somehow unlikely, given their arrogance towards mortals. Like any other dragons, they attack mainly with fiery breath, against which no armor can save; moreover, its pressure can knock a person off his feet or throw him aside. Each dragon is guarded by people-lizards, wolves, golems and other creatures.

Finkreg is the ice dragon, the lord of ice and snow, the strongest of the four. Symbolizes the element of ice. Settled in the former New Camp;

Feomatar is a fire dragon living on the highest mountain where the old fortress used to be. It symbolizes the element of fire;

Pedrakan - stone dragon living in an old fort on a hill. It symbolizes the element of the stone;

Pandrodor is a swamp dragon, the weakest of the whole four. It symbolizes the element of the earth. It lives near the old hut of Kavalorn, in a swamp.

However, upon the arrival of Nameless to Irdorat, 2 more individuals are found:

Feodaron - fire dragon, brother Feomatara. It feeds increased hatred of the Nameless for the destruction of his brother.

Dragon Undead - commander Beliar, the creation of pure darkness. At the same time is the head of all the other creatures of the dark god who attacked Khorinis. Outwardly, it looks like the skeleton of an ordinary dragon surrounded by an ominous dark aura. Apparently, he symbolizes the element of Darkness or Chaos, although there is an assumption that he is an artificially created creature, like a golem. The strongest of all dragons. As he says, he himself does not have a name, being elected by Beliar, as the Nameless one does not have a name, being elected by Innos. One can take a stone soul from his body, however, why it is in the game remains a mystery.

In addition, all dragons can breed, as evidenced by the many dragon eggs hidden throughout Khorinis.

In the third "Gothic" dragons have no names. Despite the fact that this generation of dragons is less developed physically, compared to the dragons of the second part, they are extremely dangerous creatures - it is enough for them to attack with fire only a few times to kill a person, no matter what kind of armor they have.

Gods

In the games of the Gothic series there is a pantheon of gods, each of which manifests its presence in the world itself:

• Innos is the Supreme Demiurge of the Gothic universe. He is the god of fire, light, order and creation, only people worship him. Innos is served by the Mages of Fire - at the same time priests and wizards, as well as paladins - the elite order of warriors. On Khorinis there are many road altars of Innos, from which one can receive the blessing of God for the sacrificial money. There is an ancient legend about the Chosen Innos, the man who defeated the Beast - apologist Beliar, and the prophecy about his new appearance. Perhaps he is the Nameless Hero .
• Adanos is the Guardian of Balance between Innos and Beliar, the keeper of Morgrad (the universe of the Gothic universe). Is the god of water, change and natural harmony. As well as the creator of the Earth and all of humanity according to one of his priests. Adanos is served by the Water Mages, druids, priests, wizards and healers, and the Warriors of the Ring at the same time — something like paladins, but for the Water magicians. In contrast, they are not arrogant and work covertly, no one except the magicians knows about their existence. According to the legend told by the priest of Adanos Vatras, this god is more powerful than Innos and Beliar, as only he has the strength to keep a balance between the two, and in the third part the druid tells Nameless that Adanos saved him from the power of the gods, thereby calling him the Executive. There are many facts and assumptions that Adanos is the third brother, brother of Beliar and Innos.
• Beliar (version of the translation from Snowball - Beldzhar ) - the god of darkness, chaos, evil, destruction and everything unnatural. He is worshiped by orcs and hashishins (a hashishin translation from Russobit-M - Assassins ), as well as some people of Myrtana (necromancers) and dragons. He is also the lord of the undead and demons. Beliar is the brother of Innos, and there is a struggle between them. Beliar servants use dark magic. He is also the god of freedom, if you consider him the opposite of Innos.
• Krushak , or Sleeper , is an ancient and powerful demon, posing as a deity to sectarians of a swamp camp and to orcs. He was called by five orc shamans to fight the enemies, but Krushak deceived the five brothers and tore out their hearts. Frightened Orcs built a temple to the demon, in turn Krushak thanked all the builders and made them the immortal guardians of the temple. Orcs began to make sacrifices to Krushak, which is why he began his thousand-year-old sleep. He is the master of all evil on Khorinis. After a thousand years, Cor Galom “awakens” him. Soon, Nameless during a fierce battle strikes Krushak with Urizel and opens the portal to the dimension of Beliar’s darkness. At the last moment, Krushak manages to issue a fierce cry that awakens huge armies of evil led by dragons.

Flora

Flora Khorinisa represented mainly by the plants of the middle band, as well as fictional. There are coniferous and deciduous trees, shrubs, various herbs, including many types of berries, several types of mushrooms. With a sufficiently large difference between the official translations of all the Gothic games, it is difficult to summarize the plant world of this setting, here are options from Snowball. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the flora of Minienthal is not completely similar to the flora of the rest of Khorinis.

It is interesting that some plants, for example, blueberry , lunik , sunflower , are distinctly different from those actually existing with the same names; and others - rice , grapes - practically correspond to those of our world. There are also completely fictional plants like seraphis, orcish grasses, fire thorn and others.

From the point of view of the game process, the flora is divided into static objects and those that can be “collected”. The latter are used in food or as an ingredient in the preparation of various potions.

Fauna

The fauna of the “Gothic” is mostly fictional. As with the flora, some game animals are similar to those of our world, for example, the wolf , some - have the name of a real animal, but differ significantly from it - the hornet , the lizard , and almost all others - completely fictional, like glorchus, mrakoris, sharp another translation - plug / razor), kusach (in another translation - chomper), shnyg (in another translation - lurker). All animals, except deer, hares, chickens, pigs, cows, sheep and beetles, are aggressive to people, some to other animals. There is a separate group of animals that are not aggressive to the orcs, these are the sticks and the orc hounds.

When killing any animal character gains experience points.

The Gothic bestiary served as the basis for the recruitment of animals for the subsequent games in the series; however, some animals did not appear in the next game or were changed. So, only in the first and second parts of the game there are large two-legged predatory reptiles of sticks (oster) and bites, only in the second - dragon snappers.

In all three games of the series there are several main characters: the protagonist ( Nameless Hero ), his mentor, the necromancer Xardas , and four friends: Diego, Milten, Leicester, Horn, as well as the disgraced General Lee, the former head of the Thieves of the New Camp Lares, Magi Vody, led by Saturas, the former head of the guards of the Old Camp Torus, the former head of the Guard of the Marsh Camp Cor Angar. Each game in the series also has its own key characters, some of them participating in the plot of several games, for example, Dexter, Raven (aka Raven), Fortuno, Bloodwind, Cypher, Jarvis, Wolf, Ningal.

Most of the nominal characters usually drastically or slightly affect the plot of the game: some, such as Xardas, directly influence the plot, others teach the protagonist, give side quests or participate in them, according to information.

Characters who do not have a name generally do not play any significant plot role.

There is an official Gothic comic - Der Comic on the game "Gothic", it was published only in Germany, its Russian version: Comic "Gothic"

There is also a large number of fan comics in various languages. Some of the quality of performance and excitement superior official. A large collection of Gothic comics in German is, for example, here.

• Russian-language fan site of the Gothic games series
• Official site of the third Gothic (him) (eng.)
• The official North American site Gothic 3
• Official Russian site of the game Gothic
• Modification site People of Minental
• World of Gothic (him) (English) - the largest fan site about series
• The database on the games of the series (him.) (English) - lists of weapons, NPC, maps, quest solutions and more
• Message board about Gothic series
• GothicAG (inaccessible link) - on AG.ru
• Game review on the site of Gambling
• Gothic 3 on CRPG.ru
• Map of the mainland Myrtana, Nordmar and Varant