Ross's Game Dungeon: Gothic

[@RegretfulDeadMan]

You take Martian Gothic, you remove The Martian, you've got Gothic. Let's go.

[@rezaka116]

Yeah, this video is objectively half-assed. It contains literaly only half the game compared to the Martian Gothic video.

[@YizzTheEunuch]

best comment

[@conan2096]

@@rezaka116 im still blown away they literally cut the ending out of the console release of that lol.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

So you're saying Martian Gothic is what you get when you combine this game with the Matt Damon movie?

[@GrayFoxGX]

I watched the Martian Gothic episode yesterday!

[@grfrjiglstan]

I love that the heavily drugged up cult actually does manage to communicate with a god, but then it turns out that any gods you can only reach via acid trip aren't really the kind you want around.

[@titanjakob1056]

Who knew smoking the swamp kush would summon an eldrich being

[@BewegteBilderrahmen]

@@grfrjiglstan technically in the lore the gods do tend to have soft interaction power when prayed to, and the brotherhood did also kinda dDos the sleeper with getting the weed powered up with giant mine ant juice and then get a huge party where everyone is invited to smoke as much as they want.

[@GeorgeMonet]

I would have thought that is how you contact the god of hippies.

[@EminemLovesGrapes]

I think the goverment figured that one out too.

[@Chromeberd]

This is basically how Chaos operates in Warhammer.

[@Levahk]

The main goal is so worthwhile. Get stronger to save the princess, mehh, get stronger to defeat the generic villain, mehhhh, get stronger to destroy all the people who messed with you while you were still a novice, that's a goal worth fighting for.

[@DarkExcalibur42]

This is why people get a lot of joy out of killing Benny in Fallout: New Vegas

[@poppers7317]

It's like in real life.

[@biscuithammer00]

@@poppers7317 ...You feeling okay man?

[@bmetalfish3928]

So, it's a moble game ad?

[@Levahk]

@bmetalfish3928 hahaha.. nahh they are tricking you in those to get more money. Here your goal is something you want but can't spend money to achieve. I just love the way Ross has this goal and we all feel that. And when he can teleport inside the town in the end he can run around with his God sword slaughtering every extortion freak there is. It's like despite pennywise being the big bad monster the main goal is getting revenge.

[@milczyciel]

Ross, I strongly believe that you just made this Christmas very, VERY special for hundreds if not thousands of Polish and German millennials. There are games considered a cult classics, and there's Gothic. What a treat!

[@sebastiangorka200]

russian and czech as well.

[@milczyciel]

@@sebastiangorka200 I hear you and I rise my glass to you mate! Cheers!

[@youknowanton]

don't forget Ukrainians

[@azmodanpc]

Italians too. Gothic was pretty popular here too. Sold like gangbusters. I was in uni at the time and most of my friends were playing it.

[@DerFreiegedanke]

At the start it sounds like he didnt done his research

[@Rzepik]

Gothic? I guess Ross is now 100% naturalized European.

[@misterkefir]

A certified Polish guy.

[@StreiterAdanos]

@@misterkefir A proper German bloke

[@czarkowskipawelyt]

@@StreiterAdanos Ross lives in Poland and Gothic is comically popular in Poland.

[@PerfectAlibi1]

One of us one of us

[@AntonNidhoggr]

@@czarkowskipawelyt Russia too btw. It has this kinda East-Euro vibe (some people even call it 'Gopnika'). Great game!

[@theuselessknight6021]

This game is very special for a lot of people in Eastern Europe. The memories, the lines of dialogue, the music, the characters, the memes. For anyone interested, I've read a lot about the development process of the game from dev interviews and have some fun trivia: 1. The developers are originally from a German town called Bochum. which is located in a valley by the river Ruhr. The most important historic enterprise of the region was coal mining, so the area where Bochum is located has been called "Minenthal" or "Valley of the MInes" for many centuries. There were so many mines in the XIX century, that there were whole miner colonies in the valley, most of the miners were Polish people as well as other Eastern Europeans, whom the locals regarded as cheap labour and often looked down upon. 2. The developers (Piranha Bytes) were making basically warehouse-sim games and small projects before creating Gothic. They used the "Finster" ("Dark") engine, created by a trio of CS students called the "Mad Scientists", who were very inspired by Ultima. Since pretty much everyone involved was either an amateur or never created a game of such scale before, the game had a lot of bugs and weird quirks (and came out years after the deadline they first made for themselves). The pace of video game innovation in the 90s was very quick, so for example the Finster engine was made with Ultima: The Stygian Abyss as a main source of inspiration, which was a 2,5D dungeon crawler with first person-camera and no complex movement involved, it came out in 1992. Then Tomb Raider came out in 1996, and they had to rewrite the engine to create a full 3D, third-person action-adventure-RPG game instead. 3. Most people who play Gothic now complain about the weird control scheme with heavy use of Ctrl+arrow keys. As one of the devs explained, there wes no "default" control scheme for such games when they were developing it, so they just came out with something you can play with both hands without using your mouse on their own, and yes now it feels clunky and dumb, but at the time there were no strict guidelines regarding how the game should be controlled. They added mouselook two weeks before the game released. 4. Kai Rosenkranz, the legendary Gothic composer, came to Piranha Bytes after seeing a recruitment ad in a gaming magazine. Not only did he write the complete soundtrack with a dozen of atmosphere-rich tracks, he did all the sound effects like steps, ambient noises, armor and weapon sounds etc., (using several free stock sound libraries), as well as all the animated special effects like magic, fire and smoke, wrote a whole ass software application for keying animations and binding it to a corresponding sound effect, helped writing both German and English dialogue, drew all the 2D elements of the interface, and after the game came out single-handedly created the website for the game, which he then maintained for several years. When he answered the ad and came to Piranha in 1997, he was 17 years old. His dad had to sign the contract for him. His Gothic 3 tracks were in rotation on the German Classics-Radio, alongside Bach, Beethoven, Hans Zimmer and John Williams. 5. The three guys who wrote the engine never worked on any of the sequels, and all except for one of them never even worked on videogames after that. There are many more fun tidbits about the development process like the planned multiplayer and psionic class, so feel free to ask if you have any questions. Most of my sources are from World Of Gothic German website, if you are a fan and want to spend a fun evening, check out their "Interviews" tab (with Google translate if you can't read German), these were conducted by the fans and the stories are very cool. There is also a lengthy interview with Mike Hoge (lead game designer and writer) on gothicarchive.org by the Nemesis mod devs.

[@theuselessknight6021]

Another fun fact: Ross mentions "Escape from New York", this is confirmed to be the main inspiration for the story and theme of the game.

[@nikitabarkhatov1408]

fun trivia indeed! thanks for posting :)

[@RainerRilke3]

Underrated comment. Thanks for sharing

[@SpecShadow]

Ultima inspiring a lot of developers back then Other notable developers were Larian - you can see some similarities with Divinity Original Sin 1-2, the way you interact with items (can pick up and put them elsewhere, some even interact with others) or bake bread in nice, almost organic way " Ultima: The Stygian Abyss [...] no complex movement involved" dunno, still have flashbacks from platforming/jumping sections as for controls - they were close to Tomb Raider games. You had less anxiety or confusion in swimming sections if you've played TR before

[@FizzleBurger]

Ross's indignation with the Old Camp is absolute peak Game Dungeon. I friggin' love how Ross can effortlessly get into the heads of player characters like this. Cult Tycoon and The Black Mirror were standout episodes for that.

[@Darlos9D]

Amazing how fast his logic takes him to "well *obviously* I have to kill them all."

[@azmodanpc]

He knows what’s like being a GORDON, that’s for sure. Black Mirror and Quadralien my fave episodes. Shame YT censored the Phantasmagoria 2 video.

[@blackbot7113]

Today was the day when Stay Forever, one of the biggest German retro gaming podcasts, ended a long-running joke by finally releasing an episode about Gothic after over ten years and 150 episodes. Not even 24 hours later Ross follows with this. WHAT IS GOING ON?!

[@deathsyth8888]

Clearly, Stay Forever and Ross are the same person.

[@patchmoulton5438]

@@deathsyth8888 I mean, have you ever seen them in the same room together? I thought not.

[@VincentTheBadGuy]

So far only a coincidence. If someone else notable releases a video on Gothic, THEN it's time to get paranoid.

[@slyseal2091]

as far as we know, this could be the beginning of all future youtube content being centered around Gothic

[@blackbot7113]

@@slyseal2091 I for one welcome our new Gothic overlords

[@Palora01]

p.s. Gothic did the NPC schedule (they wake up, go to work, go hang out with others and drink in the evening, sleep, repeat), 1 year before Morrowind... which didn't have it at all, it would take Oblivion, 5 year later, to add that bit in.

[@EUROCORP2027]

Let that sink in 🗣️🔥🔥🔥🚰

[@ZerglingWasteland]

that's because Gothic is heavily inspired by Ultima, which was doing that since 1988

[@gimok2k5]

Ultima 7 did it, too, before Gothic 1.

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

Ah, another Christmas time game dungeon. Now things are starting to be jolly. Have a happy holidays, I must go be with my family.

[@blackbot7113]

Good to see you, admiral. You have a typo there, though! Better fix it once you return from your family. 🫡

[@JM-yg1kz]

Ah witj, now things are beginning to make sense, more later.

[@bc-cu4on]

The fall damage avoidance exploit sounds like some otherworldly daoism. "As the ground approaches, simply shift your perspective and side-step it".

[@DeoMachina]

Ironically that would be canon in Morrowind

[@glomann]

i honestly imagined it as a more grounded "do a cool roll as you land so you don't die"

[@poppers7317]

Just try to miss the ground.

[@nickoliekeyov746]

You can cancel fall damage in Fallout: New Vegas by just saving right before you hit the ground, when you reload your velocity is reset. I like to think of it as simply warping reality

[@MrZDMan]

Reminds me of how easy it is to fly in the Hitchhikers's guide to the Galaxy: just throw yourself in the ground and miss.

[@guysome7469]

THe moment the game blew me away all these years back was when you went to train how to swordfight and the trainer just goes "hey dumbass, stop holding it with two hands", to which the replay was "oh yeah" and you actually start fighting with one hand. Edit: looks like Ross never found the sword trainer. Whoops.

[@Kereghan]

Ross is now certified Pole as he played the most beloved game by Polish people

[@the10ofdiamondscard]

i thought he lived in poland already?

[@veronicavaes4581]

@@the10ofdiamondscard Yeah well this makes him a citizen. Good thing too, means he can sign the EU citizens' initiative

[@sebastiangorka200]

also certified russian, german and czech.

[@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus]

@@sebastiangorka200 you must play stalker religiously in order to be a true gopnik or vatnik

[@KingLich451]

​@@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvusI play Tarkov, do I have a chance?

[@Ved000000]

Killing all the old camp guards at the end might not be in the spirit of Santa Claus, but it is in the spirit of Robot Santa.

[@Yusuke_Denton]

They were very naughty.

[@GrimmShadowsII]

Santa Claus is gunning...you down

[@thenoblepoptart]

Gothic, the classic sequel to the FMV vampire adventure game Gothos that Ross reviewed 2 years back

[@dumbcatposter]

So THAT's why I thought he already did this one!

[@AbNormalHumanBeingsStuff]

And don't forget the Sci-Fi spinoff they did later, Martian Gothic!

[@asamushroomcloud]

Paying the protection money really does make life easy, diego gives you a list of dudes to talk to and all of them give you stuff that's manageable for a new character. Then you hit the rpg character infinite wealth bit eventually anyway. I don't think i've ever played a thief in game actually but yeah being able to do stuff like this is part of why gothic is so unusual even today There's a great bit early in gothic 2 where you can rob a farm at night if you feel like it. But then if you show up the next day to talk to the farmer he immediately goes "oh right, and you just HAPPEN to show up today huh? Give it back you little shit"

[@Imperium83]

"I don't expect a colony full of convicts to harmoniously work all the zoning out and switch to farming smoothly." That's exactly how Rome started lol.

[@ihavenoson3384]

I thought they started by killing or annexing everyone. Nuclear Gandhi in Civilization 5 makes sense - once you have nuked everyone else, you can have peace. :D

[@Palora01]

They stole the neighboors women and not even the 2 brothers leading them could get along and ended up with one of them killing the other..

[@rafasr0]

Australia?

[@johnwarthunder1990]

no it started with some wolf tits

[@moralitykiller11]

One of the best Gothic retrospectives I've seen. You really understood why Gothic is so beloved until this day. I've watched videos about Gothic where I questioned myself if these people really understood what it's all about

[@InnuendoXP]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3480">58:00</a> - on fast travel, I always liked Morrowind's compromise where there are very limited options with in-universe explanations. Paying for transit on a silt strider to a few available destinations, and teleporting between mages guilds. It was more like stops on a train or bus route. This allowed you to cut tedium out of completing certain objectives, but not in a way that allowed you to just stick a pin in the map and check out of the in-game world & still required you to engage with your surroundings.

[@sandjack7294]

Morrowind allowed for some great organic journeys. One of my favourite quests is the Temple pilgrimage where you just have to travel across the map to the northernmost island of Vvardenfell, but you can't talk to any NPCs without breaking your vow of silence, so silt striders and teleporters are useless.

[@FrozEnbyWolf150-b9t]

And, of course, being able to leap from Tel Branora to Solstheim in a single shot.

[@KingLich451]

yeah, anyone remember those propylon indexes?

[@SaurontheDeceiver]

I did a no-fast-travel run of Skyrim once, but I still allowed myself to pay for carriage rides from city to city, and I agree - it was still nice to not have to ride across Skyrim again, but there was a cost and I still had to get back to a town first. Made the world feel more alive.

[@Ved000000]

And the boats! Of course, you can still somewhat cheese it by simply leaving a Mark on the Balmora strider platform, then recalling there. From there, you can either use the strider network, or hop over to the ship network by taking the strider to Vivec and walking to the nearby boat.

[@TackerTacker]

I don't know how it translates to the English version, but in Germany many love Gothic so much because of the harsh, raw and direct language of the characters. It has a very special charm that fits really well with the setting and vibe of the series. It's because they were written by folks from a region in Germany which was the steel and coal factory of the entire country for a long time, so the game is drenched in the rough charm of people from a working class town/region.

[@commisso3806]

If you’re curious, the Polish localization retains this (at least for the first two games, third one, a lot less) Pretty much every character speaks exactly like that, and some of those lines are/were considered legendary around here. It got to the point where some were saying that this game is only liked because of how good the localization is

[@Sewblon]

>Go into a dungeon >Meet orc boss >Be told boss is invincible >Leave dungeon That sounds like a recipe for video game blue balls.

[@teph1256]

it's actually pretty nice since you get access to the best armor and sword in the game, and can even upgrade it when you go on the old camp rampage by freeing the smith from jail

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

Everybody complementing the game selected but im in deep grief because a past 'ross talks' video promissed mizzurna falls for christmas game dungeon (lost media JP, twin peaks marvelous ps1 clone). yes ross i was one of the crazy viewers that mailed you about it. Merry christmas anyway!

[@PointyHairedJedi]

It would be great to see him cover it, but in the meantime Grimbeard's video on it is pretty good if you've not seen it already.

[@planescaped]

@@PointyHairedJedi Grimbeard is amazing, shame the youtube algorithm hates him so much. I only heard about him thanks to people shilling him on other youtubers, lol.

[@richardjames9976]

​@@planescaped Grimbeard = Goth's Game Dungeon. Never miss a video

[@itsuadman]

Grims mizzurna falls video is fantastic you should watch it

[@alexeytsybyshev9459]

A pretty easy way to make money is by making swords at the blacksmith shop. Robbing the castle early game is nice too.

[@bjorntantau194]

The game also used to have a bug where you could multiply your smithing supplies while smithing. Made it so much faster. It's my usual way of getting money early on.

[@TheMarcQ]

​@@bjorntantau194blacksmiths Regen their stockpile when starting blacksmithing animation. You can beat up old camp blacksmith unlimited amount of times to make as many swords as you want

[@Mistemple]

Wow can't believe Ross completely missed out on the character who can actually upgrade your combat animations so that your attacks are much better, not just stat-wise. It makes the combat much better as well. I think each camp has one or he might be in only one of the camps can't remember. Great GD as always

[@sebastiangorka200]

he did tho. he has two-hand level 2 in later footage, you need 1h for that.

[@planescaped]

@@sebastiangorka200 It is peculiar he didn't touch upon it anywhere in the video considering it is a core part of the gameplay.

[@coreycahill6836]

Gotta say, I never watch Ross’ videos to emulate his gameplay choices hah more to enjoy the ride of watching him be himself through the game. Cause yeah, a lot of the stuff he gripes about in games he’s played I could care less about or there is a fix to, not always.

[@lq4chevelle]

Looks like he's got the 1H upgrade when he kills the rice lord @ 36:57

[@JimboMarsh]

Maybe he’ll bring it up in the next follow up episode

[@Solifuga]

Every single time I'm in another marathon of this series, Ross uploads ANOTHER new one. How does this guy do it??

[@vladyslavsmirnov1875]

My secret is that it’s ALWAYS a Game Dungeon marathon, 24/7

[@Mindbleach]

Use your power for good!

[@Amelanduil]

The entire country of Poland salutes you for playing our most culturally significant game

[@rezaka116]

Gothic is german tho, no?

[@Amelanduil]

@rezaka116 no, we have culturally appropriated it from the germans. Taken in British Museum style.

[@pittypatterputzzler5311]

little dwarf did a really good LetsPlay in Polish.

[@czarkowskipawelyt]

@@rezaka116 Fake news

[@mr.goldfinch3681]

I am from the Czech Republic and everyone here knows Gothic saga is actually Poland´s national treasure.

[@peppers515]

Christmas came early (slightly) this year and it’s everything I could have ever wanted and more. Thank you Ross! And to everyone else watching it with me. Wherever you are, whenever you’re reading this, I hope you’re having a wonderful day.

[@mc_zittrer8793]

Thanks man. It's been rough times for me, but neither good nor bad luck lasts forever. I'll get through this. I hope your holidays are peaceful and relaxing.

[@awsomebot1]

Glad Ross doesn't shy away from the classics in case he thinks theyre already discussed plenty.

[@HC-qc5rp]

The Deus Ex GD is probably the one I've rewatched the most

[@Ed-hc5iz]

AFAIK your damage (+ flat the stat the weapon scales with) is subtracted from the enemies armor first before touching HP. Simple example: 10 Dex, bow does 10 Damage, enemy has 25 armor -> 25-20=5 -> you do no damage. The spikes in the enemy HP bar you saw were crits since these passed that armor threshhold.

[@5chneemensch138]

Correct.

[@gardares]

Plus, in Gothic 1 lurkers are having much less *Arrow Protection* than their *Weapon* Protection. Some monsters do have much greater Arrow Protection than their Weapon Protection, like Trolls and Zombies, but that's mostly the few exceptions than the rule. You can't kill that lurker with your melee weapon until much later in the game, I even remember how I needed to complete almost all other quests in the first chapter and grind a lot to actually kill that dam lurker.

[@raspymorten]

Civvie doing Half Life 2 and Ross doing Gothic is an amazing one two punch of christmas gifts for me specifically

[@YizzTheEunuch]

It truly is a magical Christmas for us this year!🤍🎄☃

[@shadoeboi212]

not to mention Hbomberguys cameo in Civvies video

[@sebastiangorka200]

@@shadoeboi212 fuckin exactly. my jaw hit the floor when i first saw.

[@TheMaabusAdmiral]

Not to mention Sseth and Warlockracy

[@Frugustin]

You guys need a tad higher standards for presents.

[@hunk123459]

Ah yes now things are starting to make sense

[@witchfynder_finder]

You're not the Admiral!!

[@TMCProductions]

More on that later!

[@planescaped]

@@witchfynder_finder It's Christmas, he's with his family.

[@bakanur]

I actually got gothic (2) for xmas as a kid, along with half life 2 and vampire bloodlines. gothic 2 was a game I knew nothing about but I ended up playing it non-stop for weeks while neglecting all my other gifts. still one of my all time favorites until this day.

[@KingLich451]

three titanic games

[@justuspickle]

i come to the game dungeon to watch ross go on tangents about the logistical, civil and legal implications of things that don't exist

[@moralitykiller11]

For me Gothic is all about the atmosphere. Gothic I and Gothic II did a lot of things damn well gameplaywise. But for me it's all about exploring a believeable world that is immersive beyond comprehension. Every NPC has it's place and role in this world. There is no filler content. Even monsters have their rank in a creature hirarchy. And then there is this rough medieval tone. Gothic for me is sitting around a campfire with some thugs drinking beer and smoking some swamp weed. No other RPG ever achieved such a dense atmosphere

[@theprinceofthebadlands5204]

I am just gonna say this right now: I have no idea what is gonna happen. I have no idea how this is gonna play out. All I know is that Ross just uploaded a new game dungeon so it is destined for greatness.

[@thebadger4040]

Been a fan of Ross for 10 years and a fan of Gothic for 15. Now THIS video is the one I've been waiting for.

[@Schwalbe1728]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2204">36:44</a> - I believe the "pattern" for guards allowing fights is entirely dependant on protection money. There are three seperate areas governed by different guards in the Old Camp, and if you and the opponent paid the protection money (or neither of you did), they will not intervene. If the victim didn't pay - no intervention either. If you didn't pay and the victim did - the guards will join in. Note, that these guards work seperately - if you pay just one and your victim paid all of them, you still run the risk of guards you didn't pay off intervening. Also, a note about protection money: if I recall correctly, only Bloodwyn asks you on a daily basis, because he's a greedy piece of sh*t. The other guards handling protection don't.

[@512TheWolf512]

ah yes, morrowind vs Gothic, the hottest holywar of the start of the second millennium

[@38procentkrytyk]

Except most Morrowind players didn't even knew there was a war.

[@SpecShadow]

that and old Fallout fans vs everyone else when Fallout IP was aquired by Bethesda and then made FO3 the flame wars were glorious...

[@512TheWolf512]

@@38procentkrytyk in your corner of the world, maybe. but not in mine.

[@Beanymac99]

Thank you Ross for an episode on Christmas each year. Some people don't have a huge amount going on this time of year so thank you for helping out. Merry Christmas.

[@hordamis5651]

Now 3 of my favorite KZbinrs have reviewed Gothic in their own way. What a great Christmas gift.

[@Palora01]

Ross, Mandalore, Seth?

[@planescaped]

I was gonna guess Warlockracy as I just assumed he has done a video on it, but turns out he hasn't, lol.

[@SpecShadow]

@@planescaped weird, I feel like he did one?

[@DeiwosN]

Re: being impressed by the geography, I remember feeling exactly the same way about Gothic II when I played it because the landscape just felt so natural unlike pretty much any other game at the time. Also I swear I remember reading the first Gothic described as something like 'like Morrowind but set in a valley' once.

[@theod0r]

oh my god I asked for this on a Fan Chat Livestream like 4-5 years ago, and he said it's coming. He wasn't lying.

[@crooshi]

The sidestepping to avoid fatal fall damage bug is also present in the original dead island game, however that game didn't have as much verticality to its maps. It seems to be an oversight for several devs.

[@GmodPlusWoW]

Speaking of pull-ups in 3D games, Dark-engine Thief (and System Shock 2, IIRC) has similar mantling. Though I don't know if Ross loves Thief quite like Mandy does, even if Ross is roleplaying as the Speedrunner Mario of burglars. He's four parallel universes ahead of every inmate in the Old Camp.

[@vee-bee-a]

And here is the latest review of Gothic by the famous Mr. Ross Scott. I then immediately remembered Durmin Paradox's review, searched for it, and re-watched & laughed at that one particular scene which was one of my all-time favorites. Good old days. 🙂

[@sjoerddondersteen1337]

Durmin Paradox the potential GOAT Nostalgia (for simpler times)

[@ROBECHAMPGAMES]

this is the best christmas present thank you ross!

[@tofast4ya]

The german version has an in game concert by the band In Extremo, very nostalgic, had some whiplash from the game not being in German haha

[@theuninspired3723]

@@tofast4ya Petition to have more Games have InEx concerts in them

[@misterhuman895]

the mold man has become naturalized polish

[@EhCanadianGamer]

I've been watching this series for awhile now. And I gotta say, Ross does have an interesting selection of games he reviews. On a very rare occasion he reviews a game I've heard of. But allot of the time I usually never heard of the game cause Ross tends to be obscure with his choices in games which isn't a bad thing.

[@DanFarOut]

"AAAAHHH - strafe"

[@LeicaFleury]

NICE! One of my favorites of all time alongside Gothic II. I very often have no idea about the games Ross displays on this channel and I'm VERY happy to get to sit and watch a video on one I'm extremely familiar with. Thank you for the treat! What a christmas present! Wishing you well, Ross. Edit: typo.

[@Nyarlathothep1994]

Considering all gothic 2 got was a shout out (i think its so much better than 1) i won't get my hopes up for that episode. But maybe the incredible gothic 2 mod Chronicles of Myrtana Archolos deserves a spin. Its basically gothic 2.5 and has so many improvements on the core mechanics and incredibly tight map design like youre used to.

[@BloodWraith777]

I'm surprised he didn't mention the jank ladders, unless I missed it. Gothic ladders will have you dismounting in an akward way, or prematurely, or you'll just jank off it in some other way, having you fall to your death. This happened at least a few time in the mines. And people complain about Half-Life ladders (and HL2 ladders for that matter, there's a little something called THE USE BUTTON)

[@billyray9925]

That opening punch in the face rocked him so hard he grew a ponytail

[@Reynevan100]

I actually did get Gothic for Christmas as a kid, and Gothic 2 next year. Best gifts ever, my favourite childhood games!

[@LittleWeevil]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2352">39:12</a> I love that the footage is sped up to the point that the animation actually looks like it's playing at the normal speed.

[@folgsam]

Lester, Milton and Diego . I will never forget them.

[@CalamityCain]

What about Gorn? 😅

[@sebastiangorka200]

@@CalamityCain too black for OP i assume

[@Davion197]

Great! A Ross video on a game from my childhood that I love dearly, given to me on Christmas Eve, when I'm at my loneliest and saddest! I can still the aching in my heart for a short reprieve via this wonderful indulgence! Merry Christmas!!!

[@HobokerDev]

Speaking of bloodwyn and cutting off heads...

[@ThatguycalledJoe]

At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="60">1:00</a>:50 The delivery of "an orc shaman is hardly likely to be keen on talking to me" channels the Postal Dude to me for some reason.

[@BunkerDweller]

We're eating good tonight, boys

[@ironcastknight]

Hell yeah Ross does one of my favorite games of all time and likes it for all the reasons I do! I feel validated for wholly irrational reasons. Gothic also has the majesty of the Chromanin sidequest and its reward of true ultimate power, and also the funniest speedrunning strat I've ever seen where the player flies across the map flapping their arms like a chicken. I love the game so much.

[@trainee5471]

One another thing Gothic has over TES in my eyes is (mostly) seamless world - the game has like three or four map instances that are not the main world map, the rest of the world is explorable with no loading screens. Even if the huts of the old camp are simple compared to, say, Morrowind's houses, it feels so good being able to just enter them with no loading screens, and with good gameplay implications of having to keep out of line of sight of its owner. And Bethesda, on the other hand, as recently as in Stafield, keeps using this instancing crap where basically every significantly large room requires its own loading screen with NPCs and the player fading in and out through the door, and that's the way they were making their RPGs since 90s.

[@poppers7317]

That was the biggest point that was talked about in contemporary pc games magazines.

[@venera8724]

I first played Gothic in 2018. It's a decent and atmospheric game. Many people say the game is outdated, but games are not food. Food can spoil, but games can't. You can launch a game that's 25+ years old and still enjoy it and have fun.

[@dopaminecloud]

I think Gothic has one of the nicest feeling open worlds to get familiar with. Even gothic 2 didn't quite reach the same peak.

[@arciks11]

Not if it's a PC game. You may launch if but if it runs properly still it's a miracle.

[@alexandrudinca3080]

@@arciks11 now with steam everything usually runs straight away. I just bought Gothic 1 and it ran out of the box.

[@Adamant_Consternation]

I've tried to get into multiple Piranha Bytes games (Gothic 1, 2 and Risen) but they all had this sluggish wading through syrup feel I just could not get past.

[@Palora01]

@@Adamant_Consternation yeah, they are all, at their core (Gothic, Risen, Elex), just Gothic and it still kinda works if you can enjoy Gothic 1. The new games just improve the controls and graphics, they tend to start the player the same way (weak nobody) and take the same route (start at the bottom, work your way to join one of 3 factions, interact with a quirky cast of supporting characters). Risen 2 is probably the furthest from the mold as it goes of formula and into full Pirate game quite fast, after that it's Gothic 3 as it's a compromise between what the devs wanted and what the publisher wanted with the widest character models you'll see this side of Gears of War.

[@catriona_drummond]

Another one of these massively underrated German games. Just a few years after Gothic the never flourishing but always underrated-game-producing German games industry finally took its last breaths. Only Anno is left now.

[@vincelang3779]

The guy above you says it's Polish. ?

[@KanaiIle]

@@vincelang3779 The studio which made it was German, but the game became a cult classic in Poland even more so than in Germany.

[@517342]

It's not easy trying to make a game studio in Germany with all these taxes...

[@aytkyc1701]

@@KanaiIle Same in ex-soviet countries, it has a cult following here.

[@catriona_drummond]

@@517342 It wasn't the taxes. One explanation I read was that the German market was too small. Before Steam and international distribution existed, German games didn't make the neccessary sales numbers to break even before they'd come out internationally. These days they'd probably fare better but there isn't much left.

[@HaplessOne]

I've been binge watching this series ever since I discovered it, and I'm so happy to see a new one up.

[@rosskwolfe]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="60">1:00</a> I care about the lore.

[@DShephard91]

Oh my gosh, this was a long-time hope of mine that Ross covered this game! I hope he gets to Gothic II as well. What a great christmas present.

[@ibuprofen_psychosis]

One of my favorite games, ever. I'm only just starting to watch but just wanted to thank you. I've been wondering if this series would ever show up on Game Dungeon, and I'm really eager to see what you think of it.

[@luszczi]

Can't wait to hear the explanation of why Gothic is the Christmas game. I can't even imagine what it might be. EDIT: neither can Ross lol

[@MjLmoonwalker]

Ross, Xmas may have fallen....but there's infinite options for Festivus. Including this one. So lets officially start calling these Festivus games.

[@kikakuvr4198]

Love you Ross, you continue to inspire-- keep being awesome in the new year!

[@kakizakichannel]

Never thought I'd see the day Ross is truly European now

[@ASHFAR578]

I did not expect you to play this polish classic. Respect.

[@JanPospisilArt]

It's a German game.

[@ASHFAR578]

@@JanPospisilArt Thats the joke. It has been reappropriated

[@Aiedail]

My favorite content creator makes video about my favorite game, this truly is christmas miracle!

[@sebastiangorka200]

literally same. god, ive waited for this for years.

[@JinGaming]

I remember writing Ross an email about Gothic 1 what feels like year ago and now its here as christmas present. Thank you so much! This is one of my all time favorite games!

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

Another episode to rewatch every month for the rest of my life.

[@JOSH-uh6xs]

Amazing to see that this old gem is still getting this much attention nowadays

[@jknicc456]

Listen with all the other camps that close to the swamp one, you're all getting gigantic mosquitos even if you don't go to the swamp camp. Its all the stuff IN the water you're safe from if you do the other ones. IDK, as an IRL swamp dweller they've got a nice setup. Also as an infidel, you're not invited to the swamp camp's crawfish boils.

[@CristiNeagu]

This series had such a good atmosphere. Gothic was genre defining. Amazing world building (despite you not caring), scary creatures, awesome settings. Really good games. The reason for the bad interface and combat system is that back when this game was made, the standard WASD interface wasn't standard. Every game was making up its own.

[@noxic24]

Ohh my god, it's Gothic. One of my favorite games of all time. I can't believe it. I haven't finished the video, but whatever you think about the quality of the game, still thank you soooo much.

[@Wikloe]

I figured this game dungeon was coming for a while now, and I was still hyped to see it drop. This is going to be a good time: Ross reviewing a complete gem of a game.

[@Maddinhpws]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="60">1:00</a>:00 This is because the game is German. This neutral sound is how Germans tend to talk and they tried to keep it in the English translation.

[@gardares]

The general opinion of the community is that the English voice acting of Gothic 1 turned out to be weak compared to German, Polish and Russian (Snowball version specifically) versions. In the English version, the actors are always either underacting or overacting with thicc accents.

[@GescheitGespielt]

Not really. The acting of the main character was a bit peculiar in the orginal German already, with its deadpan delivery and a touch more monotone delivery. But it didn't sound unbeliavable. It feels like they tried to emulate this with the English VA, but didn't hit the mark.

[@alexandrudinca3080]

An hour ago i bought this gem for old time's sake and now this video comes out. This might be the first rpg i ever played.

[@StreiterAdanos]

Finally, my username my teenage self did a bazillion years ago checks out.

[@SavageGreywolf]

"I guess this part isn't really in the spirit of Christmas" what are you talking about Ross, the game gave you a wonderful gift

[@Dude902]

A famous game developer once said "If you've never played the Gothic games, they're like Elder Scrolls Oblivion, but with good gameplay."

[@rng_stuff]

Gothic 1+2 and Morrowind & Oblivion back decades ago were among the greatest games and had all awesome gameplay in their own ways (of course all had their issues).

[@dermaniac5205]

I love how the three factions deal with their captivity: 1) Accept it and make the best of it 2) Work towards escape 3) Pray for liberation.

[@TheElevenbit]

This one is a pure gold/ore. The best adventure I had, which have spoiled every other game afterwards, so good and advanced it was.

[@messire9837]

Ouh! I got my Christmas present this year, an awesome evening, great feast and a mum happy to have me around this year. And then back to my latest Jagged Alliance 2 campaign all the way... Now I wasn't expecting this extra treat: a Ross game dungeon, everyone! But it's 3 AM right now. Me thinks I'll need a coffee for this.

[@Waro149]

no way, it’s gothic

[@blackmesaguy]

After more than ten years of waiting for this, when Ross first mentioned he played Gothic... It's finally here boys... We truly live in the best timeline. Thank you Ross

[@GreatWhiteElf]

I'm gonna have to fight you on the music front in that elder scrolls comparison grid. The Elder Scrolls has arguably the best, most iconic, video games music of all time. I listen to it constantly!

[@dopaminecloud]

correct, i think ambient is just not some people's taste and the more ambient bgm is where it shines hardest incredible osts

[@OrdinaryDemon]

Gothic, one of my favorite childhood games? Covered on Game Dungeon? Ahh, the perfect christmas present. Now that I have watched the full video, here are some thoughts from a Gothic veteran: -First off, glad to see that Ross got the authentic Gothic experience(getting beaten up, exploited, and planning revenge later), it certainly isnt a guarantee, as a new player can easily bounce off early and not experience the satisfaction of getting stronger and doling out payback. The early gothic experience made me realize how many games kinda waste their encounters with 'thugs' that you can easily overpower at your first meeting. Getting first screwed over, and THEN coming back later for revenge is so satisfying. -To be honest when me and my brother first played G1 we cheated like crazy, because it was to difficult for us. Only much later did we start weaning off cheats, and playing it straight, when we already had tons off gameworld knowledge of what to do. Though with that said from my perspective kleptomania isnt necessary, instead what a new character should prioritize is leveling up, by going after weak monsters and doing any quests you get your hand on. (maybe not doing any of the Old Camp Joining quests made it harder for Ross? I usually try to do the quests of all three camps just for XP) Personally I know where to find free beginner weapons and a basic armor, so the only things I really need to buy are melee-oriented rings&amulets and tutelage for melee styles, and otherwise subsist more on a hunter-gatherer style, by getting ressources from scouring the wilderness. -Also happy to see Ross praise the player progression and leveling system of G1. In the beginning you will be pounded into the dirt by anything slightly stronger than you, but keep at it and you will feel yourself becoming much stronger, with previously equal enemies becoming easy and stronger enemies beatable. I like how direct the damage calculation is, with weapon damage and strength stat combined and substracted from armor. It really emphasizes the value of improving your own stats and aquiring armor, and how getting quality armor is heavily tied to progression within the Camps. You cant just buy top of the line armor, no you have to first earn it by working your ass off, but the payoff completely trivializes the early game enemies and gives you a serious edge against the stronger foes. -Man, I also love how non-respawning enemies makes XP points a limited commodity and thus raises the values of every enemy indirectly, as every XP point could be valuable, and leveling up as established is very important. Its kinda crazy how the developers of G1 stumbled into this winning formula for their player progression on their first outing, but bigger companies with years more of experience like Bethesda, still have these crappy progression systems, that try to balance everything out in terms of difficulty and instead and up with systems where leveling up feels pointless. -Also i dont know if you missed this, but one of those first hunters you meet gives new players an important tip: You can lure foes on the edge of an enemy group away from the rest of the pack, and can that way divide and conquer the whole group. I think that this may also literally be advice from the devs to better manage their stiff combat targetting system. I also like how the monsters have various forms of threat displays, when you get in their range, and how it even reflects their nature. Most animals just give warning calls, because they want you to screw off; more social creatures like wolves and goblins summon their pack, you cant pick them off solo; Some enemies acitively predate on humans, and will try to sneak up to you, before breaking into a full sprint like the Raptors; And Orcs which are direct enemies to Humans, just immediatly draw their weapons and charge you. -It might be that I am just way more used to the system, but I am more comfortable with the melee combat. On one playthrough I managed to clear a huge swath of the world with basically only melee before joining any of the camps, so their is definitetly some mastery of the melee system a player can learn. Personally I cant stand the Bows, and usually go Melee aided by occasional magic. my favorite Camp to join is the Swamp, purely because you can get teached magic fairly early on, and thats a fun way to augment your melee style. -Also yeah, joining the New Camp is easily the most obscure and least fleshed out. I think another option for getting to Lares is selling all the weed and then coming with the payout to him? -I also dont remember the dialogue freezing bug happening this frequently? Maybe its a problem with running G1 on newer systems? -Also I love that you discovered the falling bug, it really is a fun exploit, that makes map navigation just a bit easier. -Kinda surprised by your opinion on map density, because I honestly expect many people to criticize that their isnt anything like 'special loot' or quests, instead of the mainly wildlife. I appreciate that you like it G1 game world for what is, and that sometimes the simple act of exploration and XP gathering can be enough. And by the same token that you praised the simplistic beauty of G1 world. -In regards to enviromental collapse: I always believed that the player character was the indirect cause for the Old Mine flooding and cave-in, because they killed off the Minecrawler nest. Either the Crawlers prevented the miners from digging at dangerous spots OR the Crawlers themselves were partially responsilbe for the stability of the Mine. I really like this headcanon, because it paints clearing the Minecrawler nest in a different light. -Also another bug: You defintitely shouldnt be able to enter the Old Mine after its collapse, thats also the reason why that one guy is invincible, as you should have no normal reason to kill him. -On that note Gomez the leader of the Old Camp is invincible until the last chapter, when you can aquire the teleport rune into the castle of the Old Camp and can execute your long awaited revenge. First the Miner ambush, then Lefty, then the Protection Racket and finally the Old Camp itself, G1 really knows how to deliver on it paybacks. -In regards to voice acting, its my understanding that the english dub can at times be bad, I like the protags voice in german, and in regards to the news-jump that the sleeper is a demon, I think that also might be a problem with the translation, not getting it across well in english. -Ooh, you wanna know the most obscure quest in the game? In the old Coastal Tower you mentioned, you can find a strange book with a few lines of text. Most people will think nothing of it, and just clear the rest of the area as usual. But reading the book is actually the start of a scavenger hunt, the lines of text hinting at a place you should visit next, where you would find a new book, with a new riddle and so on. For example for the start you have to climb the monastery ruin in the orc area to the very top. At the end, you return to the Tower but find the creator of these riddles killed by mysterious forces. -To deal with mad Cor Kalom and his bullshit magic, I employ my own bullshit magic: I summon an army of stone golem with magic scrolls, and then have a big slugout with Cor Kalom and his followers! -Also the Dungeon Award: "Ruined the Elder Scrolls" Oof, I feel that too. My brother and I right after G1+2 tried Morrowind, as that was the next big CRPG that was praised everywhere, and were so dissapointed, that we never bothered with it. Many years later I finally did a complete playthrough of Morrowind, but it still felt like the inferiour experience to G1 and a dissapointment overall. -Sequels: I never liked G3, as it felt infected by bad openworld design trends, but G2 is fantastic, fleshing many things out and being less stiffer. Though I concur that G1 has the better atmosphere and setting with its prison colony. Anyway thanks Ross, for this fantastic christmas present, and happy holydays to you!

[@lhfirex]

Ross might show off Prince of Persia for the mantling/climbing, but I always think of Thief when somebody mentions it.

[@LindsayHawkes]

Merry Christmas to you Ross and thanks for another video from you.

[@S1030dan]

Welcome to the colony, Merry Christmas...

[@ChamonixHouse884]

Just checked for the Christmas Episode manually on a whim and it was there. Thanks Ross, keep fighting the good fight and Merry Christmas

[@XenoSpyro]

A lot of dealing with Morrowind's RNG particularly on a new character is managing your stamina, since the lower it is, the lower your accuracy and spell cast chance is. Keeping fatigue potions on deck, walking while fighting, and not spamming attacks will keep your stamina happy. Higher weapon skill also helps with accuracy. It's also a good idea to "rest until healed" before going into caves/mines/tombs. A trick I use is making a custom restore fatigue spell that heals for 2 per second for one minute. I think you can also put this on armor as a permanent buff. It's either this or you get Oblivion's level scaling that makes everything die after 200 hits even with a daedric weapon.

[@SinaelDOverom]

Ross not understanding (and not willing to understand) mechanics of videogames he's reviewing is a staple, especially if the game in question is an RPG.

[@gardares]

There are difficult settings in Oblivion that most players don't know about or too afraid to be called casuals if they *slightly* adjust the difficulty.

[@LordDarthHarry]

1 thing I ended up doing in every playthrough was to get some lockpicks, sleep until nightfall in the free bed in the broken tower at the Old camp and burglarize the local Merchant's storehouse and sell him back all the stuff the next day.

[@Palora01]

That's one of the few logical realistic thing Morrowind does better, store owners recognize when you are trying to sell them their own items.