The action RPG game for which all others must be judged by
When I bought this game in December of 2009, I had also just purchased Oblivion and the just released Dragon Age Origins.
I had been playing Oblivion occasionally for about a week when I was talking to a friend who happens to be a really hardcore gamer and RPG fanatic. The subject of gaming came up and we talked about Oblivion which I mentioned that I was a ittle disappointed with after about 20 hours of play. He said that he was not that impressed either but had finished the game long before which didn't surprise me since it was rare to mention an RPG game that he had not played or even finished if it were worth playing. He asked me if I had ever played any of the Gothic games, and I said no, never heard of them. He urged me to try them.
After a few more hours of Oblivion and relative boredom, I decided to buy Dragon Age which had just been released. But I kept thinking about how my friend raved about Gothic, and as the most hardcore authority on games that I knew, especially RPGs, I thought I should check it out. I found the original Gothic for $10 and thought, well if it is so great, it must be worth checking out for 10 bucks. I was skeptical about buying an 8 year old game, but what the heck for 10 dollars, I had to know.
I bought Gothic, but loaded up Dragon Age first and started getting into it. Then one Saturday night, I remembered the Gothic purchase and decided to fire it up. At first, I thought, wow, a little dated... but 80 hours of gameplay later, this was the only game that I wanted to play.
Gothic is absolutely revolutionary. It is the action RPG game that sets the standard and few can hold a light to it even today. I had to take several vacation days from work because of this game, because I could not stop playiing it. It is addictive and immersive. You feel like you are in the game. I had never experienced anything like it before and since I have thirsted for more. It was like I had finally found the game that I always wanted to play. It was a time in my life that I really discovered gaming for what it should be. There are really no words... just do yourself a huge favor and play the game. It is as close to an alternate reality that I have ever experienced. Gothic was so far ahead of it's time and has set the tone for all other action RPGs. There are some great games that have gone after it, Gothic 2 and 3, Risen, and Two Worlds 2, but Gothic is the standard. This game will always be near to my heart.
This review is not really a technical review at all because it doesn't need one, it is so epic that I just want to encourage people to try it, since you will not spend more than a few dollars, and trust me, you will never rerget it. This is IMHO, the greatest computer game of all time.