Gothic Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos mod for Gothic 2

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

In my 1st playthrough I was STR-based with 1H melee weapons. Tempted to play DEX-based with 2H melee weapons now (+ bows).

Are DEX-based 2H melee weapons decent? Are they mostly staves and spears? Would I be better off with 1H DEX?

 

[Sjukob]

In my 1st playthrough I was STR-based with 1H melee weapons. Tempted to play DEX-based with 2H melee weapons now (+ bows).

Are DEX-based 2H melee weapons decent? Are they mostly staves and spears? Would I be better off with 1H DEX?

Two handed weapons are bad in Gothic in general, I've already explained why, so I'll just quote myself.

I've already talked about it in other Gothic related threads, but yes, due to how things work in this game two handed weapons are all around inferior to one handers. I straight up tell people to not play with two handers unless they have at least some experience with the game or want to gimp themselves on purpose. To put it shortly - the speed penalty for two handers is just insane and breaks everything. Thanks to it you will be taking hits much more often, having fewer opportunities to attack and the combat will be much clunkier in general. The biggest problem is a very slow recovery after dodging, which makes fighting certain animals and groups of enemies a pain in the ass, it's so bad that certain beasts can basically "infinite" you. You have to keep dodging to defend against their attacks, but the recovery is so slow that they start another attack before you can recover, so you have to dodge again to not get hit and this can go on forever until you allow them to hit you and break the loop, lurkers are probably the best example of this.

Also, a good portion of various tech I've shown in my videos in this thread is only really possible with one handed weapons, because the two handers are just too slow to be able to do anything. There's some interesting stuff you can do exclusively with two handed weapons, but it does not compensate at all for the advantages that one handed weapons have. If you can beat something with two handers, than I'm sure as hell that you will have a much easier time beating it with one handers. Personally, I think that two handers need to deal at least double the damage that one handers of similar level do to even have a chance to compete with them, or their animations need to be redone entirely, because the vanilla ones are just trash.

Very sad that this issue almost never gets adressed in the mods. Despite being a pile of shit Returning actually had a fix for it, it introduced master tier animations for all weapon types, which unlock once you reach 90% weapon proficiency, at that point two handed weapons became significantly faster, not as fast as the one handers, but fast enough to not feel like an idiot while trying to fight, the dodge recovery became significantly shorter too, and generally two handed weapons in that mod dealt at least 100 more damage per hit than the one handers of similar level, so the difference in damage was big. 20 damage difference is nothing, when you factor in that melee damage also depends on your strength, so being able to hit 3 times for 220+your strength and having an easier time to do so is much better than hitting once for 240+your strength damage. In NoTR this was especially noticeable with Beliar's claw, which was so busted that it made two handers completely obsolete.

 

[ELEXmakesMeHard]

In my 1st playthrough I was STR-based with 1H melee weapons. Tempted to play DEX-based with 2H melee weapons now (+ bows).

Are DEX-based 2H melee weapons decent? Are they mostly staves and spears? Would I be better off with 1H DEX?

Two handed weapons are bad in Gothic in general, I've already explained why, so I'll just quote myself.

I've already talked about it in other Gothic related threads, but yes, due to how things work in this game two handed weapons are all around inferior to one handers. I straight up tell people to not play with two handers unless they have at least some experience with the game or want to gimp themselves on purpose. To put it shortly - the speed penalty for two handers is just insane and breaks everything. Thanks to it you will be taking hits much more often, having fewer opportunities to attack and the combat will be much clunkier in general. The biggest problem is a very slow recovery after dodging, which makes fighting certain animals and groups of enemies a pain in the ass, it's so bad that certain beasts can basically "infinite" you. You have to keep dodging to defend against their attacks, but the recovery is so slow that they start another attack before you can recover, so you have to dodge again to not get hit and this can go on forever until you allow them to hit you and break the loop, lurkers are probably the best example of this.

Also, a good portion of various tech I've shown in my videos in this thread is only really possible with one handed weapons, because the two handers are just too slow to be able to do anything. There's some interesting stuff you can do exclusively with two handed weapons, but it does not compensate at all for the advantages that one handed weapons have. If you can beat something with two handers, than I'm sure as hell that you will have a much easier time beating it with one handers. Personally, I think that two handers need to deal at least double the damage that one handers of similar level do to even have a chance to compete with them, or their animations need to be redone entirely, because the vanilla ones are just trash.

Very sad that this issue almost never gets adressed in the mods. Despite being a pile of shit Returning actually had a fix for it, it introduced master tier animations for all weapon types, which unlock once you reach 90% weapon proficiency, at that point two handed weapons became significantly faster, not as fast as the one handers, but fast enough to not feel like an idiot while trying to fight, the dodge recovery became significantly shorter too, and generally two handed weapons in that mod dealt at least 100 more damage per hit than the one handers of similar level, so the difference in damage was big. 20 damage difference is nothing, when you factor in that melee damage also depends on your strength, so being able to hit 3 times for 220+your strength and having an easier time to do so is much better than hitting once for 240+your strength damage. In NoTR this was especially noticeable with Beliar's claw, which was so busted that it made two handers completely obsolete.

Thanks. I thought the importance of speed was a bit overrated actually. IIRC I rarely found myself spamming attacks. When fighting humanoids I would typically attack-parry-attack-parry etc., and when fighting creatures I would typically attack-backstep-attack-backstep etc. But maybe I'm misremembering.

In any case, I might gimp myself and go 2H. At least if 1H DEX weapons are only small toothpicks like knives and rapiers. I'll browse Thorsten's inventory to get an idea.

 

[Mauman]

There's actually a knife you can get as early as chapter 1 (though good luck getting it that early) that does like 100 or so damage with a +10 to crit/penetration and requires only like 55 dex to use.

Which is actually kind of insane.

edit - found it and changed some numbers

Spoiler

Great early game weapon. Just need a speed soup so you can outrun the fire lizard lazing about nearby it on the beach where it's found

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I've found 2H weapons to be much better in Archolos than G1 or G2, they seem to have significantly more reach, swing faster, and knock enemies back further than they did in those games. YMMV, I guess, but I'm not very good at gothic melee combat and I do much better with a 2H in archolos than a 1H due to the knockbacks.

 

[thesecret1]

Yeah, I player STR based 2H, and didn't feel gimped in the least. True, it is slower than 1H, but the much larger reach fully makes up for it – you don't need to be FASTER than the enemy, as you can start your swing while he is still outside the range of his weapon, and hit him as he tries to get closer. Absolutely deadly in combination with its knockback. They also aren't that much slower, at least on high proficiency levels.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Im starting another playthrough already in chapter 2 you can actually clean up Kurts hut after the kidnaping using a broom and find the water circle ring (so Jorn was a member this is why some npcs from Londram you meet say he was meeting strange people in strange places) and the gold Kurt says was stolen.

This doesn't work for me

 

[rusty_shackleford]

They also seem to have made most named NPCs immune to sleep, very annoying.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

They also seem to have made most named NPCs immune to sleep, very annoying.

Just steal their coffee.

 

[Alphons]

This doesn't work for me

You have to stand directly on the spot and then use the broom in the inventory. Sometimes it doesn't click properly.

If it's broken then that sucks as you have a few quests that involve using broom or some other tools.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

from playing this game I learned that "thank you" in polish is pronounced as "janky"
a lot of things are starting to make sense

 

[PrK]

C




H




O




L




E




R




A

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I wouldn't mind if more games without voice acting instead used made up languages like this, it helps improve the atmosphere without having to actually pay VAs to do a real language.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

To add to the list of things I dislike: nobody seems to mind you just taking all their crops.
At first I completely assumed people would be pissed because that'd make sense since you see them going out to work in the fields. ...but no, they don't care at all.
It's a minor thing, but eh, feels weird.

Also, I think the pumpkin random event is more than fluff. I picked fruit and they don't count as vegetables for cooking now.

I put on that Innos ring and I seemed to get more random encounters. Not sure if it's related. Does the ring actually do anything or is it just a placebo?


Oh, and someone mentioned there's an equivalent for dex food like apples & dark mushrooms: It's raspberries. Cooked food counts too for those looking to acquire them all, traders tend to have a lot of food items with raspberries in them.

 

[thesecret1]

I've never cooked more in any other game. Twenty apple pies a day keep weak motherfuckers away. I felt like I was LARPing an ogre – scoured the entire island for anything edible and threw it all in the pot.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

kept the skeleton arm with me you can pick up all the way at the beginning, had a random event with a guy asking for a backscratcher so I gave it to him

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The stat bonuses combined with traditional gothic training are probably over the top, but tbh I love the different ways you can advance your character. Lots of different consumables that raise stats.
If I had to critique it, it would be disliking traders having entire sets of books for sale rather than having the books spread throughout the world.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

love that you can take the short way to do quests then it basically asks if you want to do the long way too


games like this are evidence that modern gamedevs don't actually play games but make games they think gamers want

also, gandalf reference

 

[rusty_shackleford]

However, after all this time, there's one question that was left unanswered. What the fuck was the actual deal with Leonzo?

I'm about 70% sure it's a reference to Gothic 1, but I don't know who Leonzo is supposed to be. When you ask him who he is, he says it in the book.
Is there something lost in translation here?

[edit]

and does anyone know what this is referring to?

Spoiler

[edit2]

Spoiler

oh wait, is that letter a reference to the random event with the widow? I think I got that encounter sometime way after reading that letter.

 

[Alphons]

Is there something lost in translation here?

It references Nameless One beating Mud. Sosnograd is a reference to Sosnowiec- Polish meme city.

Leonzo if I remember correctly is a name from one of Polish Gothic animations on Youtube. Several devs gained experience with Gothic scripting by making them.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the guard quest where you get knocked out is the lowest point of writing so far

only way it could be bested is if you instantly die by picking the wrong dialogue choice
...oh, wait.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the rest timers on beds seem bugged btw
e.g., if you choose to "rest until next evening" at 17:00 on day 1, it will rest until 18:00 on day 2.

can only imagine how much time people who don't pay attention to the day lost

 

[thesecret1]

the guard quest where you get knocked out is the lowest point of writing so far

only way it could be bested is if you instantly die by picking the wrong dialogue choice
...oh, wait.

Yeah, that was the most infuriating thing, especially since by the point I got there, I could probably solo their entire posse of losers. Luckily it's the only point in the game where this happens, AFAIK

 

[Tacgnol]

the rest timers on beds seem bugged btw
e.g., if you choose to "rest until next evening" at 17:00 on day 1, it will rest until 18:00 on day 2.

can only imagine how much time people who don't pay attention to the day lost

That might be more of a language quirk. In the UK when we say "next evening" the assumption will be not the evening coming but the next one.

Same assumption if I say next weekend to people when making plans.

Might be a similar convention on the continent, would have to ask the translators I guess.

 

[Marat]

the rest timers on beds seem bugged btw
e.g., if you choose to "rest until next evening" at 17:00 on day 1, it will rest until 18:00 on day 2.

can only imagine how much time people who don't pay attention to the day lost

That might be more of a language quirk. In the UK when we say "next evening" the assumption will be not the evening coming but the next one.

Same assumption if I say next weekend to people when making plans.

Might be a similar convention on the continent, would have to ask the translators I guess.

No, it's just that the game engine works that way. It was the same in originals.