Reanimating one of the main pillars of the RPG genre and understanding the mechanics
The role-playing series Gothic is especially popular in our country, as well as in Eastern Europe and, of course, in its homeland – Germany. Many RPG fans play the Piranha Bytes creation today. And they do not cease to argue who the Sleeper is, whether Xardas is right and whether the third part is good . Despite the fact that the release of the last release of the franchise took place already in 2010. And it was Gothic that inspired the Poles from CD Projekt RED when they worked on The Witcher :
The first part of Gothic , the heroine of this material, was published back in 2001. Therefore, on modern PCs and operating systems newer than Windows XP, many problems await those wishing to join the classics. Let’s try to solve them all together and understand a little about the mechanics in order to immerse yourself as smoothly as possible into the adventure through the Mine Valley.
What’s wrong with the first Gothic today?
The draw range (especially of small objects) is depressing
The two biggest complaints are graphics and controls. You can get used to the latter, but the picture makes you seriously surprised when you see the word “beautiful” in reviews for 2001. Moreover, just a year later, Gothic 2 appeared , where the detail was a cut above. It already had normal textures, three-dimensional grass and much more competent art design – the image no longer merged into gray-green spots.
Much the same for the first Gothic can be achieved with mods. Just follow our advice below.
How to make the first Gothic playable in 2018?
A completely different atmosphere
I. Install Steam or GOG version of the game
We will not give links to torrents. Moreover, the complete Gothic collection can be purchased on GOG.com and on Steam for ridiculous money. True, you will have to Russify the game yourself (more on this below), since in digital terms Russian versions are not legally distributed.
Buy and download Gothic at GOG.com.
Buy and download Gothic on Steam.
II. Install the crack text and sound from Snowball or “Russobit-M”
Snowball’s voice acting is much more popular. The voice of Sergei Chonishvili is already considered by most fans to be inseparable from the image of the Nameless One. There are no significant differences in the translations of proper names. So choose according to your taste.
For the Steam version of Gothic, skip this step.
Link to the crack for the GOG version of Gothic (you can choose the translation version). Make sure the path to the game is correct.
III. Install fan patch packages
For the Steam version, you need a Gothic Steam Fix with a Russifier from Snowball or from Russobit-M (optional) included.
For the GOG version, install Gothic 1/2 SystemPack .
IV. Install DirectX 11 renderer
IMPORTANT: when you install it, the system requirements of the game will increase significantly. If your graphics card is weaker than the GTX 750 Ti, then skip this step.
The DirectX 11 render adds modern anti-aliasing, a new lighting system, softer shadows, improved water, prettier skies, and more to the game. Download it from here and unzip it to the Gothic \ system folder . The render still needs to be adjusted, but more on that later.
V. Install the rest of the graphic mods
You also need the following visual enhancements:
- Big Nature Mod– prettier trees and significantly more vegetation and other small details on land and water.
- Textures Patch Freddy– updated textures in the manner of Gothic 2.
- Worlds Patch Freddy– bug fixes from the previous mod.
- Carnage Graphics Patch– improved character models and some objects.
The first three mods are installed through the installer in German – just press the keys you are familiar with (but make sure that the path to the game is correct). And the fourth file needs to be downloaded and moved to the Gothic \ Data folder .
Vi. Launch and configure the game
All that remains is to launch the game and add a couple of final touches:
- Go to settings and enable the native resolution of the monitor(for example, 1920x1080x32).
- Set the sound quality to 44 khz(requires a game restart).
- Start a new game and after talking with Diego press F11to open the DirectX 11 render settings. Here you can turn all the sliders to the maximum (if you own a top-end PC) or leave it as it is. But it will be more important to turn on tessellation (available through the advanced settings on Ctrl + F11 ) – it will smooth out the angularity of most objects.
How to get through the beginning of the game?
Welcome to the Colony!
Forget your experience playing most of the more modern RPGs. In Gothic, you need to be as careful as possible, learn the maximum about everything that surrounds, and think over your actions in advance.
In the initial conversation with Diego, be sure to ask him all available questions. He will give a couple of helpful tips. And they are worth their weight in gold here (especially on the first playthrough). In the game, a lot depends on the attitude of other characters towards you. It will not work just to find a better weapon and cut through to the finale – on the way, one of the influential convicts will surely chop you. Or, at the very least, it will greatly complicate the execution of the next story quest.
Once Diego is gone, do a good search of the coastal area. Just do not get too close to the cliff on the left – there is the border of the magic dome, which can kill. You will find at least a piece of ore and a beer. By the way, ore is the local currency. Since it is her prisoners who exchange for various goods from the outside world. In general, we recommend picking up absolutely everything you find, especially herbs. From the latter, it will later be possible to prepare very valuable (in every sense) elixirs.
Can’t find ore and beer? So you are faced with the “charms” of local government. Already in the sequel, it was simplified, but for now you have to endure. Just release the mouse (you really don’t need it!) And put your right hand on the arrows, and your left on Ctrl , Alt and Space . Now, to pick up the desired item, hold down Ctrl and press the “Up” button . And what are Alt and “Space” for ? They will be useful in battle, but more on that later.
Follow the path deep into the colony. First, you will meet an outpost with guards. You can talk to Guard Orri. He will advise where to find weapons and will tell you in the end so that you take care of yourself. You can talk to an unnamed guard (like any other similar characters), but you don’t need to – they all say about the same thing.
Couldn’t climb the stairs? Hold down Ctrl , and then the Up key until your ward climbs. Or just walk around the hill, climbing the ledges using the Alt key. Now go back to the previous paragraph if you haven’t spoken to the guards yet.
Were you able to climb the stairs and talk to Orry? Great – let’s move on. Go straight along the path, you can kill meat beetles along the way. Directly with your bare hands: to go into a fighting stance, press Space, and then run up to the bug, hold down Ctrl and press Up . And it’s not at all difficult – you will get used to it.
Next, you need to search the chest near the mine. And again Ctrl + “Up” will help us . The hero will sit on all fours in front of the chest and start rummaging in it, and a tricky interface will appear on the screen. But it’s pretty simple to figure it out: on the left – the contents of the container (or the goods of the character), on the right – the contents of your inventory. To put the item in your pocket (or on the exchange table when trading), hold down the notorious Ctrl and press to the right. And to put something in the chest, you need the Ctrl + “Left” combination .
Next to the chest there will be an entrance to an abandoned mine – look for a pickaxe there. She will be your first weapon. But soon you will change it first to a rusty sword (as soon as you cross the bridge), and then to the old one (lies near a tree on the way to the castle).
To effectively use melee weapons, ideally, you need to take special courses from mentors in martial arts , which can be found in the Old Camp or two others. After the courses, the hero will even hold the sword differently.
However, before you even get to the Old Camp, let’s explain at least the basics:
- You can fence with a blade. Hold Ctrland rhythmically press the left-right arrows – the hero will deliver alternating chopping blows to the left and right. The lunge can be done using the combination Ctrl + Up . And for the block press Ctrl + “Down” (the block is useless against monsters).
- You can dodge the blows. To do this, aim at the enemy, hold Alt and press “Left” or “Right”. It is especially useful against toothed and canine teeth.
- But you can’t go on a rampage! For about the first third of the game, you will not be able to defeat most monster opponents and any human opponents. One quest can even be completed by simply allowing yourself to be beaten by the strongest fighter in the arena. And you will be credited … out of pity. In general, at the beginning of the game, only meat beetles and young individuals of various creatures (“young mole rat”, “young scavenger”, etc.) are tough for you. And then – one by one.
Popular fan trailer is great insight
We suggest you go through further adventures on your own – without any prompts. If you succeed, the history of the Nameless One will forever remain in your heart.
