Howdy everyone! \o
Let's get straight to the point:
I've done it. I have succeded in balancing the game. *epic music here*
Most of the changes concern MAGIC and RANGED PEOPLE
Let's start with the boring one: Ranged people!
You will have more dex-based weapons (even magical!!!!!one)
Training bows will cost the same at ALL levels. I chose to do this because, differently from your melee colleagues, you ALWAYS crit (i.e. do 100% damage), so I've balanced this by increasing (by a little, you only end up spending 20 LP more) the LP needed to get to 100%
There will be more maces in the game!
Now on the delicate matter: magic.
There is a cap (200) on Mana that can be taught by teachers, the rest gets up only with potions.
Fire mages will NOT teach you how to summon Skeletons, Xardas will.
Fire mages will teach you fire/common spells, NOT ice spells, NOT "dark" summoning spells.
Water mages.. well I think you get it.
The MAGE guild will be available now, FIRE MAGE no more! You can become a Water mage or a Fire mage, and learn from both of them! Pretty cool huh?
Spells are now divided in classes:
Fire spells will deal DoT (damage over time) damage, do twice the damage to creatures weak to fire, none to fire creaturs, normal to the rest.
Ice spells will do direct damage, twice on creatures weak to ice, none to ice creatures, normal to the rest.
Lightning spells will do slightly more damage than fire/ice, but will ALWAYS do normal damage on ALL creatures
The HEALING spell from Gothic1 is officially BACK! (no more 120391i0931 healing spells in the game, just a solid one)
The only way to learn the "mass death spell" is to.. (just consider that it's now called "Uriziel's Wave of Death").
Plus, I've done some quests that help you get exp and (hopefully) deliver both an entertaining and fun experience. Canthar will evade the prison, and you're tasked to hunt him down for a pretty good bounty.
Greg got his hands on something REALLY fishy.
And someone is murdering people all around Khorinis.
And Tyon is back.
Well, that's about it. Now, on the matter everyone has been asking since August: When will this piece of crap come out?
The straight answer is: I don't know. I'm graduating this December, I've still got to do 3 major quests (which require a lot of scripting in matters of quantity of code, but nothing difficult) so the REAL factor weighing in is how much time I can spend on this.
So, without giving you any false hopes, I HOPE I can finish this by December. Maybe even sooner. I'll do my best not to delay this to the 2015.
That being said, this weekend I'll post some screenshots of the quests/something new/etc.
Cheers!
Awesome news! You've done more with Gothic 2 than anyone would have dared to hope for. It is 2014 after all, and the game hasn't been getting any younger.
There's a few things I'm curious about. First, I assume there's no voice over work in the new dialogues? Second, how exactly will the Water Mage faction work? Gothic isn't an Elders Scrolls game, the choice of faction impacts everything from quests to NPC reactions. I'm curious how you have been able to implement such a massive change. Playing a Water Mage is something many of us have wanted since we were denied the option in vanilla Gothic 2 and Night of the Raven.
So, how does playing a Water Mage differ from playing a Fire Mage? I assume Water Mages have an access to Fire Mages quests? Or do Water Mages have access to some quests from all 3 original factions? After all, they are the priests of balance? Are there Water Mage only quests?
I think I'll stop here, there doesn't seem to be an end to these question. Just goes to show how excited I am. Anyway thanks for the truly awesome news, and keep up the good work!
No, there will be no voiceover.
After defeating Raven, Saturas will give you the chance to become a Water Mage (You can start Chapter 2 without having to join a faction), he will give you the robes and a letter to Pyrokar, granting you access to the Monastery of the Fire Mages as a student of Water.
You will also be treated like a magician of fire, meaning that all quests related to the monastery will be available. The only thing that differs is that Saturas will give you the high robe of water, not Pyrokar. So once you get to the fifth circle you will earn the privilege to wear the High Robe of Water.
I'm guessing that atleast 1 answer to your questions is going to "wait and see." :)
But seriously. I'm also excited about all the new Gothic things we get to experience. As for the voice work. I believe that atleast some of the new dialogue could be voiced.
Due to the way Gothic voice files work, mixing and matching them for seamless new dialogue is relatively easy. Add to that the ability to use voice files from Gothic 1, and you could easily voice the entire quest line to join the water mages.
Giving new "teach me" dialogues to NPCs is even easier. The heroes request has several variations in the voice files and adding "what would you like to know" is simple as the game uses a mix and match method itself. We all remember that when ever the subject of gold comes up, the NPCs voice changes. For example:
"A sheep and," "1000 gold pieces."
Of course using pre-existing voice files may not be the ideal solution. Using Gothic 1 & 2 voice files means that you are limiting your script to those sentences. Instead of writing what you want, your writing what you can.
All in all, making a mod of this magnitude has a lot of problems and challenges. Voice over work being only one of many. Regardless of the path chosen this mod is going to be awesome!
EDIT: In the time it took me to write this post, Vic7im already answerd the original question, making my post rather superfluous. Oh well.
Aww
But I forgot a thing. There ARE voiced parts, when you swear your oath of water, or train your weapons/magic. All the lines are there :3
Some parts are voiced by using G1 sound files, others can't be voiced, so there's none.
That's the path I would have taken. For those reading this not familiar with the modding scene. There are 3 paths to handle voices in any given mod: Using existing voices, using voice actors from the internet community, and leaving voices out.
Making your mod fully voiced using Gothic 1 & 2 voice files would have tied your hands, in regards to script writing.
And, truthfully, I have yet to see a community voiced mod with good quality voice overs. Voice acting in mods is a real hot topic among modders and mod users. And thus far, there is no real answer on which path is the best.
But entering Jharkendar requires the player to enter chapter 2 and that's kind of late and still no magic if the individual wants to become a water mage and not a fire mage. I think becoming a water mage should be available earlier, like when you join the Ring of Water or when the player has all of the ornament pieces. But considering that becoming a Fire Mage is way easier and can be done way earlier, I think becoming a water mage should happen earlier too. And as a reward for defeating Raven, you would be allowed to enter the monastery. I think it should work like this.
That actually makes sense. Playing through the expansion as a guildless character on path to becoming a Water Mage is probably an unappealing alternative to playing through the expansion as a normal Fire Mage.
Of course you can't become a Water Mage too early, as that would not make sense in-universe. I think IPIetya's suggestion makes sense. You should be allowed to become a Water Mage after completing everything on Khorinis before moving to Jharkendar. That would make sense gameplay, and story wise.
Unfortunately, it does not. Saturas still doesn't trust you when you collect all the ornament pieces. It would be out of character to grant the player the highest honour a magician can bestow.
Plan B.
I have a scrapped "Novice of Water" armor somewhere, I think it's time to get it back in the game.
Once you collect the pieces of the ornament and you already are part of the ring of water, Vatras will give you the chance to become a novice of water. If you accept, he will teach you the first two circles.
When Raven is defeated OR you are ready for the third chapter (there's a variable in the scripts, don't worry), Saturas will give you access to the third circle, welcomes you as a water mage and gives you the letter to Pyrokar.
The rest plays as normal.
What do you guys think?
The lack of trust Saturas holds over the player is indeed a real obstacle to having him make the Nameless a Water Mage before that trust is earned. I hadn't thought about that. He trusted the Nameless enough to teach him the circles of magic if he was a Fire Mage, but teaching someone magic and making someone a mage of your own faction, are two very different things.
I've always loved the idea of a Novice of water, and having Vatras give you that honor makes sense, he has a lot more positive view about the Nameless.
With the first 2 circles of magic and the mage guild activated, playing trough Jharkendar should be a lot appealing. Plan B is the way to go.
I think that's the way to go.
It is still possible for one mage to become a mage of both elements. Saturas said it in Gothic 1. You can always make armors, clothes and robes to have special effects. :P Like extra mana, health and mana regen. etc.
Now that's intresting. Perhaps Plan B could be extended to provide two different paths towards becoming a water mage.
The first path is Vic7im's original Plan B, becoming a Water Mage by first becoming a Novice of Water.
The second would be Gothic 1's path. You first become a Fire Mage, through vanilla Gothic 2 quest line. After defeating Raven you would be given a chance to extend your vow to become a Magician of Water, as well as a Magician of Fire. Just like in Gothic 1.
Keep in mind that in Gothic 1 you didn't actually change from Fire to Water Mage, you were both at the same time. Through this path you could avoid the inconsistencies in NPC reactions, as you would be a Water, and a Fire Mage.
The difference between this path and a pure Fire Mage could be that you would remain an ordinary Fire Mage, and advance to the rank of Archmage as a Water Mage, and get the Archmage robe of Water. And learn the 6th circle from Saturas instead of Pyrokar.
Of course we could continue extending this Gothic 1 path and provide a Necromancer path. After repairing the Eye of Innos you could, depending on your choices, become an Archmage of Fire or Water, or become a Necromancer and learn the 6th circle from Xardas, and get the Necromancer robe.
All these paths would have you working for the monastery of Innos and, while an alliance with a Water Mage is no problem for the monastery, the path of the Necromancer would have to be kept hidden from the monastery. And that's not the only problem for adding a Necromancer path.
It would be cool to have 3 different mage paths, especially if you learn the 6th circle from different masters, and if your access to 6th circle spells would be limited to your chosen path.
I actually hate the look of the Novice Armor. :D I'd prefer that to be replaced with a robe. I think the Gothic 1 Fire Robe can be the novice robe and so the normal G2 robe of fire could stay.
And by the way. Saturas already trusts the hero again after they got into Jharkendar.
Well, trust is a strong word. But even if Saturas trusted the hero, becoming a magician is not an easy task. For the hero to become a magcian of innos, he had to first become a novice, work, and than request the test of fire. The only reason he became a magician of innos, was the fact that they believed him to be the chosen of innos, because he passed the test of fire. To become a magician of Adanos, should be equally challenging.
As for the novice armor, their supposed to be simple due to the monastic life they lead. But speaking of armors. I'd like to idea of adding a new robe for the Mage Guild. The other 2 factions have optional armors they can buy, but the mages don't.
It could be like a battlemage armor you can buy before you get the archmage robes. This could add visual variance to the mage faction. I'd like to play trough the game as a fire mage wearing a different style robe, the vanilla ones are more ceremonial, it would make sense for the church to have a more practial robe variant for battle oriented mages. These robes could be worn by Milten (since he's in a war zone), and maybe Gorax, who could sell you said robes.
You could even use the same model, but different textures to make battlemage robes for all the gods. I can imagine atleast one water mage wearing them, and this robe could add a new enemy class, dark battlemage. Let's face it, the seekers are not really threatening. And aside from them the orc shamans are the only real enemy mages we face. If novices from the swamp camp become seekers, than gurus could have become these battlemages of beliar. A more high class version of the seekers. Think about it.
You can actually get quite many mage robes in v1.0. This includes a the G1 heavy fire robe and a dark mage robe.
New media added. Good luck with it! You have till Oct. 31.
So according to your plans you will release v2 in October? That's terrific!
Nah, I will tell you more Oct. 31 :3
Well, more information is also appreciated. :P
Uriel718's concept of mages is amazing. I always missed necromancer path in Gothic.
You can already become a dark mage in v1.0 :x Problem is that you won't be able to become a fully recognized dark mage, because Xardas disappears in CH5.
Oh I forgot about that, I am ranged character anyways, but I like fresh start from time to time :D
The Knight/Paladin armors look great with the helmets ON, instead of removing them completely you could make an option during install to choose which model of the armor you can have in the game, with helmet or without.
Please reconsider this, i know there have been many posts regarding this subject, but many of us players like being a Pala/Knight with full armor.
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