This game has way to many bugs, also the controls are hard to work and that is when they do work. I agree the graphics are awsome and the storyline is ok. That is why it gets a 5 from me.

Give the game 20 mins and you have learnt the controls. Great game Better than Morrowind, Better than Oblvion and the AI is brilliant and the way the stories go around as you make decisions that affect characters and the world is amazing! This game has to be played by all RPG publishers and then they can copy the game AI and the way the world reactes to you. If they do then we have a lot of great RPG's coming our way, Athough I ask this of every publisher....Please do more genres, Westen, Detective, even my girlfirend says When Harry Met Sally could be a RPG! And I agree. Take a chance and PC gaming WILL go mainstream!… Expand

I spent about an hour and a half on this and gave up. The nonsensical control scheme and awkwardness of movement are absolutely game breaking. I heard it's supposed to have some good qualities, but I couldn't even get to them.

Good.

The best game ever. Better than Elder Scrolls, Witcher or Bioware-Games.

The best game I have played ever. On the top with the Elder scrolls etc. Just magical.

I know that this game has a very little fan base, mainly in Germany, Poland and East Europe. I've no idea how such good game is so little known around the world. Great graphics, great story, great fights, great atmosphere, GREAT SOUNDTRACK. 10/10.

The game that started it all. Gothic may not have all the fancy graphics and may be further frustrating when it comes to controls. The bugs are minimal and the controls can be changed at any time during play. The story is intricate and well devised, the characters are easy to bond with and provide even more detail to the story. Overall the game is a worthy investment. Worth your time and your money. I give it an 8.5 out of 10.… Expand

Strange thing is: This game had a user rating of about 8.8- 9.2 some months ago! If you look at the reviews you will notice that written reviews are almost all very positive. But there seem to be many people who dislike the game but didnt't tell us why. And believe me: these negative ratings were not there half a year ago. My personal conclusion is: THE RATING IS MANIPULATED by haters/ other developers etc... This makes me sad because Gothic and Gothic II are masterpieces of game experience and one of my favourite games of all time!… Expand

The best RPG I have ever played.

One of the greatest RPG games. a very good and intricating one.

Great Game.

Excellent game, however it does have a few bugs, most of which have been worked out by version 8.1. Only true problem I see is the ability to get god-like weapons too soon into the game.

This is by far the best role playing game I have ever played. These guys went above and beyond when paying attention to detail. EXCELLENT GAME!

Sweat azz game love the weapons magic armor and everything else.

Love the graphics and the multiple story lines. Written by Cor Vidal? Complaints: Hard to learn controls. Way too many bugs and no flyswatters around. Not enough 'sneak' options. The game gets a bit boring towards the end when you are just running around killing things to build up your character. This happens in a lot of RPG's, I wonder why?The ending is disappointing. If I had paid $49 bucks for it I would have given it a 7.… Expand

I loved it. The only problem is in the cheats it doesn't tell u how to make __ so that was hard.

Gothic is one of the greatest games I've ever played. Of course, many years have passed since it was out. But it has something that makes me come back to it once in a while. The storyline is really great. The flaw is that it's linear, but still, it doesn't take much fun away from playing the game. Besides, we still have plenty of choices to do. The most important choice is, which of three camps are we going to join. Each of them has a different "life style". The whole world in game is really nicely done, and even though it is whole open ever since we start to play, various enemies are placed around it so smartly that we won't be able to wander away too far without first making our character stronger. We don't create a character, we start as a weakling who doesn't know much about fighting, magic, or anything that could potentially be useful to him in a prison colony in which the game takes place in. But as we level up, we get learning points, and we develop our character as we want to. What I think is a good solution, is that we are only able to improve our stats by spending these learning points at various teachers (NPCs). Besides normal statistics like strength, dexterity, mana, one-handed weapons, double-handed weapons, bows, crossbows, we also can learn few unique abilities, like skinning animals, stealth, lock picking, and so on. We are only able to use spells later in the game, if we decide to be a mage, but for these we need magic runes which we buy. There are plenty of spells in the game. Variety of NPCs is amazing. We will meet friendly ones during the game, as well as ones that will become our foes. Overall, when you go through places in which there are people around, you will literally feel the in game world living it's own life. You will see NPCs talking to each other, eating, fixing their huts, practicing fighting, collecting rice, and doing many other activities, which just make the in game world seem really.. fluent. The graphics are old. It's an old game after all. But I still think that they are kinda nice in their own way. As I mentioned before, the world of the game is really great. It's neither too big nor too small, and it's fun to explore it, even the places that we don't need to visit. Controls are really simple. We only need to use arrow keys, ctrl, alt, spacebar, numbers from 1-9. We can use the mouse if we wish but I always found it more comfortable to use only keyboard. Fighting is quite enjoyable, especially later down when we increase our fighting skills. I don't have much to say about soundtrack, it seems simple but is really well made. What can throw one off, is that the game is a little bugged.. But there are patches that fix most bugs, and with newest community patch one can play the game without any problems. Another real problem is.. that even if they game is a bit difficult at the beginning, if we do good job on developing our character, all of the chapters later down will be ridiculously easy to play through. Or maybe it only seems so for me, since I've beaten the game plenty of times and I can more or less say I'm an experienced Gothic player. What also can tick someone off is that there are no new side quests later down in the game. Sure, we have plenty of these in the first chapter. But if we do them all, no new side quests come later down, only main quests. Despite it's old date of release, I must say that this game is simply... epic. I personally like the graphics but if you don't, don't let them throw you off. Because besides it, the game is more detailed than most of any newer RPGs. If you are a fan of action RPGs and you never played Gothic, you must try it. I think that's all I have to say. Let me do a quick summary. Pros: -Amazing storyline. -Variety of creatures and NPCs we meet through the game. -Although it could be a little more improved, fighting is really enjoyable. -Open world which just awaits for us to be explored. Huge pro is that it's neither too big nor too little. -Everything else I didn't mention. Cons: -Although the storyline is great, we can't affect it much. -Bugs, though only if we don't patch the game. -Too easy if we do a good job on developing our character through the first chapter.… Expand

It seems there is a troll lobby on metacritic that rates down all gothic games, probably hired by bio-ware hehe. Isn't it suspicious nobody who rated negative had actually write a review? This game deseves 10, just look at the actual reviews, everyone will tell you its a masterpiece.

I'm only in the beginning of the game... And at first the clunky controls can give a little frown... But the fact that this game has 5.7 gives us the ultimate truth about rpg's... I'm no elitist or fanboy, but the 5.7 this gets together with my experience with rpg games gives me the conclusion that this is truly the best rpg I have ever played... And I didn't even finish it yet. The mysticism and soul this game has is not appreciated it seems... Let me put it like this... People that were obsessed with fantasy themes and imagination and had a heart filled with longing for occult dungeons etcetera, who also loved games like warhammmer, magic the gathering, advanced dnd... These people will love this game... People that play rpg's casually and want to feel heroic from the get go with big flashes will play the generic rpg's... It's 2011 and I am grateful I discovered this gem... Because I'd say, I'm a fantasy nerd in the style of advanced dnd, magic the gathering (10+ years ago, don't know how it is now.) and sitting in caves playing fantasy games all day long, forgetting about school... Ofcourse we are all fanboys and we all say this... But Gothic 1 is the only game that really gave me that occult feeling of mysticism some get from Lord of the Rings, etcetera... Unexplainable... But the 5.7 explains a lot... Get this game above all other video games if you are the DnD type of player... This game is maybe a 7.0 polish/graphic wise... But you will forget all of this when you are trying to decide which camp to join... I would also suggest playing this in 640x480.. Because it adds to the mysterious setting to play it in a cloudy resolution, in my opinion...… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The best RPG I have ever played. I know that this game has a very little fan base, mainly in Germany, Poland and East Europe. I've no idea how such good game is so little known around the world. Great graphics, great story, great fights, great atmosphere, GREAT SOUNDTRACK. 10/10.… Expand

I just don't get people who moan over Gothic. All you can say is bugs and awkward controls. That's pathetic. Gothic represents what all RPGs should be like: gripping and original storyline with many turning points, super-charismatic characters(you have to be an idiot not to notice that) and miscellaneous gliches and secrets in every corner. Even the omnipresent bugs have become an integral part of the gameplay, thus, along with the game, acquiring almost a cult status. What is most important - that game has an unforgettable atmosphere, beating down many other rpgs. Unfortunately, this all this cannot be appreciated by this increasing group of shallow consumers, for whom the epitomes of RPGishness are dragon age games, almost linear slashers, and mass effects - very good rpg-based shooters. The era of games which controls are not pad-orientated is gone.… Expand

Very dated when played today. Both graphically, and technically. Seems like alot of work was put into it, but since the mouse look/feel is nowhere near the norm it put me off. My rating is based on 2012, how the game has stood up, and how much it kept my interest. Personally, I lost interest as soon as I installed it, and I still plenty tons of games from that time frame. +5 for their effort. -5 for my disinterest.… Expand

Gothic is a game that either grows on you or never will. First thing you might notice is that it has overcomplicated controls which however are not impossible at all to master. You start out as a very weak character, which to me though adds to the challenge. In example you'll probably get beaten by those Dodo-like birds more then just a couple of times, but as you grow stronger you *will* be slaying them with one blow, feeling like you've actually have accomplished something. I felt compelled to continue this game as the setting and storyline are quite unique. You get thrown into a mining colony sealed off by a magic barrier. The colony itself is separated between three camps, each with their own take on how to deal with the situation. You get to choose which side you will be on, and yes - that *does* make a difference to your gaming experience even though near the end it all gets pretty much the same, storywise. The graphics may be a bit brownish and outdated to some, but I felt it supported the overall atmosphere of a mine-colony-prison very well. The engine works fine and I found the long walks between the camps fun and immersing. The gaming world is big and you get to discover a lot of varied locations, characters and enemies to deal with while the storyline itself remains solid. I loved playing this game, even though I only discovered it ten years after its release. Next up is finishing the next three parts (or at least Gothic 2). That might take a while though.… Expand

Will start off by saying I've only played just over 3 hours of the game, but the game doesn't inspire me to continue any further. Although the premise and the setting are very nice and you can get the atmospheric feel of the place, especially with good ambient music, the game has a lot of drawbacks, such as ridiculously bad controls, poor dialogue, and a very slow pace. First of all, the controls. To do anything in the game, such as to pick up an item, to talk to someone, or (the worst of all) to climb ladders, requires not only for the character to be perfectly alligned in a certain direction, but also the press of two buttons at exactly the same time. This kind of bad controls really detract from the gaming experience, even if you do sort of get there after an hour or so. I also mentioned the bad dialogue, but that mostly just refers to the main character and not the NPCs. It's a combination of both the bad lines and bad voice acting. Like the guy has an overly down to earth attitude and acts a bit like a naive child even though he has no reason to since just about any character there tries to beat the crap out of him or to rob him off his ore. However, it's mostly the slow pacing of the game that really discouraged me from carrying on, and the fact that you are kind of forced to explore for solutions to what to do next, except that the game won't let you explore, because nearly every creature apart from standard scavengers kills you in one hit, hence confining you to a tiny area. The game probably picks up the pace later on, but I couldn't stomach it anymore. If these issues could be sorted out, I am sure Gothic can be a really fun game, but otherwise it feels a bit broken, especially considering there are some in-game bugs present too, which I sort of forgave.… Expand

the game has an amazing story line and atmosphere. the story is very original, it is about you the nameless protagonist who gets thrown inside the penal colony of Khorinis, the penal colony is surrounded by a magic barrier which makes it impossible for the convicts to escape, so it is some sort of medieval Australia anyway the convicts rule the penal colony and they have three camps the old camp, the swamp camp and the new camp. the protagonist has to join one of these camps to advance into the story. it is very fun to meet all kinds of different characters in the game and to find out the dark secrets of the colony. sadly the game also contains a lot of bucks, for instance I currently can't play the game once I start the game it crashes. and it does that on all my 4 computers so the story and atmosphere is really good but the bugs and average gameplay kill one point of this game… Expand

Although Gothic suffers greatly from technical issues, its storyline and amazing climate makes it take place in my top 5 rpg games. Fact that after 11 years from release date it's still entertaining and addictive as hell is best recommendation i could give.

The storyline is quite nice, well woven into a fluid and magical questline. But there's one problem: the control scheme. Everything depends very heavily upon the control scheme, and for such an old game, thats a pretty daunting flaw. I've given GOTHIC a few chances while re-arranging the controls a bit to my liking, but still some very odd choices stand out among the game, Like how mouse usage for opening a chest is required, and the inventory handling. Perhaps maybe i need to give gothic a few more chances, but for now its a good but very strange handling game.… Expand