Gothic II: NotR - requesting build advice

[Revenant]

Tablets grant you +stats/skills, so definitely worth getting

Bosper's skinning skills are only useful for vendoring trash items, so probably not that worth getting

 

[Hrymr]

Or is the skill referring to some blank tablets that I keep giving to Vatras for XP?

If you give him many old tablets at once he will increase your mana for free (+1 mana per tablet), so the best scenario would be finding all the old tablets in the game and then going to Vatras for full mana bonus.

 

[Jarmaro]

Bosper's skinning skills are only useful for vendoring trash items, so probably not that worth getting

I personally always went with Bosper as you learn it once and then use on number of monsters and get gold just by killings monsters while exploring and then while in city going to him to sell it.
If you take blacksmithing then it requires from you to learn how to do each type of sword with Learning Points, and if you want to make money out of it, you need to intentionally grind materials for it, which breaks immersion.
I could consider taking Constantino if I was a mage, but otherwise it's useless as it's not worth as each potion type requires Learning P. as well as swords. Maybe in NotR where magic is pretty bad for most of the game mana is a problem and making potions may be useful alchemy may be nice. If you take skinning you still will have money for potions though....
Just saying that in a long time Alchemy seems not worth it.

 

[Junmarko]

Hello and ty for the reply. I started the addon after joining the militia and all is fine. A couple of questions though:

1. Is skinning animals from Bosper the only gathering skill worth getting? I found trainers that could teach me to extract claws and horns and stuff but I kept my LPs and so far I have no problems regarding money.

Alchemy is pretty good. Aside from the permanent stat boosts, the sprint potions become very handy mid-late game. Also if you save up black mushrooms (I think it was those) you can sell them to your master for some decent cash.

 

[Revenant]

Wasn't there an exploit for infinite money in the mercenary farm by constantly beating up some dude? Kinda trivializes all money making mechanics in the game.

 

[Parabalus]

The best advice I received is to pump first DEX until it costs 3 LP, regardless of what you are going to do. This gives you access to melee (Degen & MeisterDegen) and ranged, and secondery skills, allowing you to do pretty much everything in the early game, later on you take skills for your path.

Was a "mage" who used bows for the vast majority of the game (no need to spend points on the weapon skill), magic is shit for the majroity of the game jarmano above mentions. You need alchemy to make stat potions, BS I don't think it's worth it unless you join the Dragon Hunters. Tablet reading is LP positive very early, take it on everyone, use them after you spend LP at the 1:1 or 2:1 ration.

 

[Jarmaro]

Aside from the permanent stat boosts, the sprint potions become very handy mid-late game.

Learning how to make a permament potion takes as I remember 15 LP, and as you are 90% a mage you will only need mana and in late game it won't really give you much.
If you are a warrior, then max strength you can get from potion self-made is 27, which is pretty low. You won't it anyway though as in last part of the game you're going to have much not needed LP points.

As for speed potions... I can't believe anyone learns how to make them. You may only need them in 2 chapter in Minning Valley, but in later chapters you get teleportation runes anyway.
Additionally in Yarkendar you can buy many bottles of alcohol that have the same effect as speed potion (Fast Fish if I remember correctly) but it costs less.
Absolutely waste of LP points. These potions are just too cheap in shops.

 

[Hrymr]

I could consider taking Constantino if I was a mage

Mage -> Constantino thing is actually a noobtrap, because he pays you for mushrooms that increase mana.

 

[Jarmaro]

Wasn't there an exploit for infinite money in the mercenary farm by constantly beating up some dude? Kinda trivializes all money making mechanics in the game.

There is trick with Cipher and Blackskinned Monsters' horns, but it requires from you learning how to get hornes and then killing those monsters, this quest you get in 4 chapter(around 30h in the game already) if I remember correctly.
It's absolutely game breaking as you get money and experience both, although to really get anything out of it you need to grind it.
It works this way: you give him horns, he gives you money and experience, you use dialogue option from other quests that leads to fighting with him, when he lays unconcious you take horns and when he gets up repeat the process.
Although I don't remember if it was for all classes or only for mercenary/dragon hunter.

 

[Jarmaro]

I could consider taking Constantino if I was a mage

Mage -> Constantino thing is actually a noobtrap, because he pays you for mushrooms that increase mana.

It's not really a big deal as in NotR they give +5 mana after eating 50 of them, although I am not sure if it can be done more than once as I doubt there's more than 90~ black shrooms in the game.
5 mana for mage is not a big deal, and for other classes you get more mana just by reading tablets of the ancients.
Plus eating 50 them is kinda boring as after few levels they give very little hp after eating.

 

[T. Reich]

Hello and ty for the reply. I started the addon after joining the militia and all is fine. A couple of questions though:

1. Is skinning animals from Bosper the only gathering skill worth getting? I found trainers that could teach me to extract claws and horns and stuff but I kept my LPs and so far I have no problems regarding money.

2. What is up with reading tablets skill? I found a bunch of them and I am saving them up for later. I can't "read them" and get the proper skill or stat without the tablet reading skill? Or is the skill referring to some blank tablets that I keep giving to Vatras for XP?

Skinning animals IMO is the only hunting skill worth training. a) it's for the best master in town, b) it will give you tons of money in both short and long term, because there are tons of pelts to be found and harvested.

Tablet reading skill is mandatory for a good playthrough. Hoard the tablets for your main skills - only use those when you have "maxed" a skill via skill points (as in not going to spend any more LPs on it). You can use the tablets for the skills you don't use right away.

I could consider taking Constantino if I was a mage

Mage -> Constantino thing is actually a noobtrap, because he pays you for mushrooms that increase mana.

He actually even tells you about that if you become his apperntice, bring him a bunch of mushrooms and then ask why he's buying them.

 

[Hrymr]

It's not really a big deal as in NotR they give +5 mana after eating 50 of them, although I am not sure if it can be done more than once as I doubt there's more than 90~ black shrooms in the game.

I think that there more than 250 of them and yes, it can be done more than once. Cliking 250 times to eat them all must be boring indeed, but min-maxers will do it with no regret.

He actually even tells you about that if you become his apperntice, bring him a bunch of mushrooms and then ask why he's buying them.

Nice, I didn't know that.

 

[T. Reich]

I could consider taking Constantino if I was a mage

Mage -> Constantino thing is actually a noobtrap, because he pays you for mushrooms that increase mana.

It's not really a big deal as in NotR they give +5 mana after eating 50 of them, although I am not sure if it can be done more than once as I doubt there's more than 90~ black shrooms in the game.
5 mana for mage is not a big deal, and for other classes you get more mana just by reading tablets of the ancients.
Plus eating 50 them is kinda boring as after few levels they give very little hp after eating.

There are almost 550 dark mushrooms in the game, if you take time to fully clear areas. That's 50+ mana right there, which is quite a bit in the end.

 

[Revenant]

Yeah, Constantine actually makes fun of you for selling them and not eating them for mana in-game if you're his apprentice.

 

[Jarmaro]

There are almost 550 dark mushrooms in the game, if you take time to fully clear areas. That's 50+ mana right there, which is quite a bit in the end.

550? Damn. But still, even I wouldn't eat more than 50 in one playtrough and I am power gamer myself, it's pointless. It's time wasting and in the end you don't really get anything useful. You will get everything you need and even more without doing it.
It's just a massive overkill.

 

[Orobis]

You need alchemy for the stat boost pots but don't use them until LP costs get to a certain lvl, forgot what the threshold is, think it's when you hit 75 in said stat. Do not spend any LP on alchemy until you are ready to make the stat increasing pots.

IMO for a first time playthrough ignore magic, though the pally heal is good and you get that ranged attack spell (think it's the first one u get) wich you can use to single pull orcs in the valley of the mines but the orcs you don't want to pull have to be out of render range.

Skinning is probably the best money maker trade skill although, i made good coin with blacksmithing.

Beware the dreaded Lares bug.

Play with Gothic 1 controls, it's a tad more awkward then g2 controls (as if the controls aren't jarring enough as it is) but you can swing your weapon around (side to side) making combat a bit easier, just takes a little time to get used to.

There is also a bug with one of the vendors in khorinis who sells the master sword (dude by the docks i think) where if u talk to him and don't buy the sword then talk to him again the sword will disappear from his inventory because he ends up equipping it himself, which seems to be a problem with all the vendors in the game. So if you really want that sword (it's a damn good sword probably the best 1h in the game for a long time) then just don't talk to him or quick save before talking to him so you know what stats you need to equip it. In fact, just quick save before ever talking to anyone.

 

[T. Reich]

The LP threshold is entirely dependent on your build.
The usual threshold where people start popping stat boosts for their main skills is 90+ (94+ for powergamers), because +1 stat increase costs 4 LP at this point.
Though I did play some mono builds where I managed to squeeze past 110 on my main skill before starting the stat boost binge. In particular, you might want to push your dexterity real hard for bow specialists if you want to 2-shot elite orcs.

Lares bug is sneaky and insidious, but there are 2 ways to overcome it:
1) community patch (good shit, just fixes the important stuff the official patches didn't).
2) there's a easy to use program that edits the quest states for saved games in G2NotR. With correct tweaks, it allows you to reset Lares' quest state that he'll offer the both options to escort you again. This doesn't break the game in any other way.

Again, the problem with vendors equipping their shop inventory is fixable by a bunch of unofficial patches.
At least you can find that sword in the mine valley.
Anyways, that hint is useless to OP because he's playing a str-based paladin, so a dex-based sword won't do anything for him.

 

[Outlander]

All this talk about Gothic 2 gets my Seeker juices flowin'.

 

[Orobis]

Lares bug is sneaky and insidious, but there are 2 ways to overcome it:
1) community patch (good shit, just fixes the important stuff the official patches didn't).
2) there's a easy to use program that edits the quest states for saved games in G2NotR. With correct tweaks, it allows you to reset Lares' quest state that he'll offer the both options to escort you again. This doesn't break the game in any other way.

Or you can just use the console command. Community patches usually require that you start a new game.

 

[Jarmaro]

Guys, about what Lares bug are you talking about? I played this game 15~ times and I don't remember anything about any bug with lares.

 

[Revenant]

If you ask Lares to take you to the farm before triggering his phase of the main quest, it disappears from his dialogue options, making the game unbeatable. It actually happened to me on the first page of this thread

 

[Orobis]

Just don't ask Lares to take you to Onar's farm and you'll be fine. The bug only happens if you have NOTR installed.

 

[bloodlover]

I didn't ask Lares to take me to the farm so I guessed I dogged the bullet. I was getting all sweaty while reading the posts about the bug

Like I said before, I don't want to power level my way or spoil locations for boosting stats but at what point would it be ok to stop using trainers and start using tablets and consumables instead? I am rather lowish with STR even with my + STR ring and belt but I am 64% with 1h. I found a lot of good Dex swords ( <3 Betty) and I drool over them but I am stuck with whatever I found so far.

 

[T. Reich]

If you want to have a "feel good" endgame experience (as opposed to "I hate this stupid game" experience), you need to:
1) pick your main combat stat + skill
2) pump them high with LPs (90+ for stat, 50+ for skill; mages pump mana + spend LPs on spells)
3) pump them even higher with stat boosters once the LP pump is done

Starting with chapter 3, you'll be fighting some pretty tough enemies.
Startting with chapter 4, you'll be fighting large groups of tough enemies.
You simply need to have to pack a good punch, or you'll be picked apart by them easily.

 

[Abhay]

The best way to enjoy this game is to NOT spend too much time thinking over how to become powerful/stronger by adding as much LP's and Stat boosterd as early as possible. It really kills the immersion and becomes more of a grinding game. That's not what Gothic 2 is really all about.
Just understand the skills/abilities, and their usefulness in the long run. You should focus more on the immersion factor and forget about the rest. The game offers lots of surprises, challenging situations and room for experimentation in the amazing world - provided you don't plan everything beforehand with all the required stats and abilities to be able to handle any situation easily. The real joy comes from not achieving the best build or going on a grinding spree, but by simply experiencing the journey from chapter to chapter, moving from quest to quest, and let the build sort itself out by following in as different, realistic and believable as possible.