Gothic 2: New Balance - Big Update 19.7.2025

Hi, we’ve got a big update here adding a new difficulty, wind, FPS boost, and lots of other things – I explain everything you need to know in the video, so watch it if you want more info. The list of changes is written below.

In the video, I go through all the changes and add more details where needed. At the end of the video, I explain how to install the new version + DX11 wind. But simply put: You need to put both files from the TESTING folder from my Google Drive into the game folder – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1onSWrKizPuGAu8TGWnuSa4gM0JEemGe5. Put the contents of the test files into the Gothic folder and overwrite. Put the contents of the DX11 folder into the System folder and then apply the new scripts/translation.

Changes in Nightmare Mode (General)

• By default, the hero now has 50 health in Nightmare; in Hardcore Nightmare, it remains 10 health.

• The ASnC mode can now have a maximum coefficient of 50% in Nightmare.

• "The world has become more dynamic and reacts to the hero's actions.

• After visiting and/or passing through certain locations in Khorinis and Jharkendar, additional enemies from later chapters will appear (already in Chapter 2)."

• Slightly reduced the amount of LP (almost the same at the beginning).

• "Added a new (very expensive) potion that allows you to remove reduced healing in cursed places.

• Available from Galahad starting in Chapter 2 (added each chapter)."

• When starting Nightmare, a new option is available: "Increased difficulty" (all the points listed below will be active after enabling it)

• "Amount of experience required for the next level increased by 20%

• In Hardcore Nightmare by 25%"

• Amount of goods sold by merchants reduced by 30% (all permanent bonuses remain)

• If the player attacks a group of enemies while transformed, all similar monsters nearby will retaliate (group aggression)

• Snapper aggression range increased (less than in the Trial Path plugin)

• Damage of summoned creatures reduced by 15%

• Dark mage control spell requirements increased by 20%

• Player’s totem damage and stats reduced by 25%

• Scout powders have 15% reduced damage

• Poison (poison build) damage reduced by 15%

• One-handed weapon speed bonus without shield slightly reduced (from 20% to 12%) (this is a bonus, not the total speed, which is still above 100%)

• Some monsters had their running speed slightly increased

• Enemy arrows and spells now fly faster toward the hero if he is standing far from the opponent

• Draconians can no longer be blocked with weapons

• Goblins can now throw rocks

• Boars and flies can perform a fast charge attack toward the opponent

• Abilities of poisonous flies and spiders have been transferred from the “Trial Path” plugin

• Fire lizards now have a new fire-related ability

• Orc shamans can cast Fire Rain (weaker version) if they are in combat and haven't seen the opponent for a long time

• Swamp devourers (swamp sharks) have gained a new ability

• Improved monster response to summoned creatures. With some probability, they may focus on and attack a single summon

• Seekers and mages have been improved. They now have new abilities

• Undead and bosses can, with some probability, reflect the hero’s magic

• Basic skills like: bleeding, area damage, combo damage are now learned from teachers for LP and gold

• and are not available automatically (in ASnC mode, only for gold, and the price is higher)

General changes for all modes

• "Added new dynamic stamina. It now depletes faster but also regenerates faster.

• (You choose the option at game start; you can play with the old stamina)

• Training points and thresholds for the new stamina system have also been adjusted

• The new stamina system has no damage bonus from stamina, but has a bonus based on the weight of the equipped weapon

• In the new system, there is ‘perfect parry’ – if you block a strike at the exact moment, you gain a stamina regeneration bonus

• (linked to a spark and sound effect)

• When starting with the new stamina system, its base value will be 200

• The choice is at game start (you can choose the new or old system). If you choose the old one, everything will function as before

• Without a new game, your saved games will still use stamina the old way"

• Animal health amounts reworked, slightly increased for some

• Animal defenses reworked. Some have higher resistance to certain damage types

• Some high-level enemies slightly strengthened (higher undead, draconians, etc.)

• Pure melee damage bonus based on level reduced by half (this small bonus up to level 20) on all difficulties

• Training cost for some shield skills changed; learning cost in gold increased as well

• Skeleton archers returned and reworked. They are placed in appropriate locations and areas. There are several types

• Ring of Strength (2 Strength -> 4 Strength) (Now also sold by Zuris)

• Ring of Strength (4 Strength -> 6 Strength) (Now also sold by Isgaroth)

• A new cloak (main garment) with +5 mana has appeared; it will be useful early in the game

• Ring of Invincibility buffed in protection (10 -> 25)

• Other rings also buffed (mostly starting ones)

• “Dragonroot” herb model is now more visible, brighter

• Some dexterity-based swords buffed (increased pierce %)

• Strong lockpicking now consumes 30% of max stamina (purely for atmosphere, has no gameplay impact)

• Poison system reworked:

• There is no longer full poison immunity, only 5 resistance levels.

• The higher the level, the slower the poison indicator moves and the faster poison fades.

• Poison now affects critical hit chance, movement speed, and other factors.

• (In the swamp in the Mining Valley, a certain resistance level gives full protection against poison effects)

• (For Cursed and Poison builds, +2 resistance levels are gained on entry)

• Constantino teaches one level of resistance.

• One level of resistance is gained by reaching 100 in alchemy.

• One level is from a note found in Masyaf.

• And so on (you’ll find them yourself).

• Bug fixed where monsters confusedly didn’t attack the hero at a distance of 3000 when receiving damage.

• XP for forging items reduced – it was too high overall throughout the game.

• XP for pickpocketing reduced.

• Slightly reduced the amount of apples and bread in shops.

• For the Fregjal quest to sail to the Western Coast, bread is no longer required.

• Ancient Protector Plate (Druid Tablet) now gives slightly less health.

• The “Magic Lock” rune can now be learned by non-magical guilds at 125 mana instead of 300.

• Shadow beasts, ghouls, and others now crawl over terrain faster.

• Bugs can now be crushed with feet (happens automatically when the hero steps on them).

• Crafting window now shows the number of the selected recipe and the max number of recipes.

• Luter's daily routine slightly improved.

• Improved NPC reactions when entering their homes in the upper quarter of the city (only there).

• Now, if you enter a house between 10 PM and 6 AM, people will attack the hero on sight (if NPC is sleeping or doesn't see the hero, they won't attack).

• No reaction for militia, paladins, scouts, Fire/Water mages.

• From Chapter 3 onward, this reaction won’t be as strong.

• Changed blink (teleport) mechanics for enemies.

• Starting belt requirements reduced.

• If you kill Ramirez, he will now have a note giving a clue about the assassin guild (for the militia quest).

• Crabs are now bigger and can attack the player.

• Fingers' journal (for the scouts’ quest) is now directly in a chest and accessible to all for reading (new game).

• During a dodge (and shortly after), sliding on unsuitable surfaces is disabled.

• That means if the player holds dodge, they won’t take micro-sliding damage near a wall.

• It is now easier to hit dragons when there are steep height differences between the dragon and the hero.

• Option: instantly remove empty bodies – a body is removed only when the hero turns his back and doesn't see it; empty animal bodies can't be focused.

• Ancient dragon skull now has higher regeneration bonuses: (health 15->40, mana 15->25).

• Weakness effect no longer triggers randomly, but stacks with each hit.

• Monsters standing near an item now notice when a Will-o'-the-wisp or something else (autoloot) takes the item (an option will be available in the menu, disabled by default).

• If they don't see the player, they will "go investigate the area".

• Autoloot and locator plugins for “Trial Path” have been unlocked.

• “Brotherhood Guardian Belt” now also gives +5 to one-handed and two-handed weapon control..

Technical Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed engine bug – acrobatic jump distance is now independent of FPS

• Restored original standing jump animation, also decoupled from FPS

• Improved game minimizing with ALT+TAB. Mouse now appears instantly (option in menu under “Details and more”, can be turned off)

• Improved screenshot function (default key: PrintScreen). Now saved in JPEG format with significantly smaller file sizes.

• Screenshots are saved in the “Screenshots” folder in the game directory

• Restored visual effect on water when swimming (for the hero and other creatures)

• Rewritten engine function for object collision detection. Brings FPS increase of ~15–30% on dx7 and 30–50% on dx11

• The biggest FPS boost is in the city and in the orc circle near the castle in the Mining Valley

• Increase depends on CPU and GPU, average boost ~20%

• Fixed animation for trolls and ice golems

• Hero stats window enlarged; now the entire text fits

Changes in Classes, Guilds, and More

• Druid skill “Mana reduction for transformation” significantly enhanced. Now max mana cost reduction reaches 50%

• First strike with dual weapons (weapons in both hands) is 15% faster

• Scout's “Sudden Strike” slightly weakened

• Scout's “Vanish” skill slightly weakened

• Unified poison learning requirements across all modes for Poison build. Max poison level still learned in Chapter 3 (as before)

• Druid: Golem healing skill can now be used more often, heals 35% (was 25%)

• Druid: Golem’s magical defense increased, now more dependent on intelligence; base health also slightly increased

• Druid: leveling up the druid stone boosts some skills (from level 40+, different bonuses for different forms)

• For example, from stone level 20, the boar summons 3 allies instead of 2

• Druid: hero’s dexterity now slightly affects physical defense and max health while transformed

• Druid: some skill costs in knowledge points slightly increased

• Snapper transformation (scroll) improved in stats

• Base damage and poison application chance for Poison build increased by 10% (from 50% to 60%), poison also lasts 1 tick longer

Location Changes

• Hundreds of minor visual bugs fixed in all locations (textures, unwrapping, floating grass, etc.)

• Added wind support to DX11 in all locations where needed (trees, bushes, grass, aquatic plants)

• Wave support added where needed (ocean)

• A new small cave has appeared in Khorinis

• Militia barracks slightly modified (bedroom)

• Minor changes in the Monastery of Fire Mages

• Polygon count reduced for some objects and items

• Number of light sources reduced in Onar’s house

• A few new spots and hiding places added in Khorinis

• Kreol’s cave slightly improved – new floor and wall textures

• Economy Changes

• Rusty weapons can no longer be handed over to Harad – they can only be smelted into ingots by the player

• Smelting orc weapons now requires more weapons per ingot

• Slightly reduced price Harad pays for ore

• Slightly reduced gold yield from smelting one ingot (325 -> 300)

• Steel blank now requires 5 pieces of ore instead of 3

• Some city merchants now sell more steel blanks

• Price of magical swords (forged by Bennet) slightly reduced

• “Essence of Renewal” in “New SNC” mode is now slightly more expensive

• Several city merchants now sell “Black Snapper Liver” (slightly)

• Some raw materials (sulfur, coal, quartz, etc.) slightly increased in price

• Chests in the upper quarter of the city improved (contain more items)

• Book on gold processing added to Scatty’s shop inventory, now available for purchase (expensive)

This public test version has already been available since July 7, 2025. Initially, I was waiting for the promised new Water Warrior class to be released. However, I was mistaken in thinking it would be out soon. Due to these updates, the Water Warrior has been postponed to fall/winter. Instead, we now have all of these changes. In the meantime, though, many things have been fixed, so we can now enjoy a more polished gameplay experience.

Here is, in any case, a list of changes and updates we’ve missed since 07.07.2025.Gothic 2 New Balance New Nightmare Test Version 07.07.2025

• Fixed magic

• Fixed Skip’s reaction to crabs

• Fixed behavior of bloodflies near the city

• Fixed here and there faulty behavior of skeleton archers

Version 07.07.2025 V2

• Increased base poison damage and chance of application by 10% (was 50%, now 60%), poison now lasts 1 tick longer

• Fixed dragon reactions

• Fixed issue with ranged attacks against certain enemies

• Removed anti-stagger from early skeletons (applies to new game, won’t affect existing saves)

Version 07.07.2025 V3

• Additional damage from dual weapons didn’t work with the new stamina – fixed

Version 07.07.2025 V4

• Fixed crash when attacking the Queen of Worms

Version 08.07.2025

• You can now occasionally find fish in drowned corpses

• Fixed orc respawn – incorrect (too strong) orc versions were used depending on game phase (applies to new game)

• Fixed monster respawn in Khorinis – there were too many and not always in correct places (applies to new game)

• Added 10 loaves of bread to traders’ inventories (applies to new game)

• Fixed bug with magic from room NPCs passing through everything (Daron)

• Fixed issue where stagger wouldn’t work in normal CS mode without new features

• In later locations, crabs will be stronger (applies to new game if you haven’t been to the area yet)

• Fixed several bugs with the new stamina

• Fixed issue with incorrect speed of some enemies

• Stamina cost for dodges in the new formula reduced by 20%

Version 09.07.2025

• Fixed another problem with monster speed

• Minor bug fixes

• Poison Master: new skill added, learnable from Fregyal

• Fixed a rare bug

Version 09.07.2025 V2

• Fixed poison resistance in the swamp

• Fixed orc shaman on the western coast

• Fixed display of temporary effects

Version 10.07.2025

• Updated test version, fixed location bugs, added +5 mana cloak to Khorinis (applies to new game)

• Fixed poison resistance issue for the Cursed One (applies to new game if already joined)

• Fixed assassin note now correctly located on Ramirez’s body

• Fixed bug where Fistfighter Cursed couldn’t learn new abilities

• Fixed placement of some skeleton archers and reduced their stats (applies to new game if you've already visited the locations)

• Learning “Piercing” now requires 45 control instead of 50; ASnC cost increased accordingly

• Fixed bug where player couldn't stun an enemy with a perfect block unless the stun skill was learned

• Item weight now displayed in item description window for all items with weight

Version 15.07.2025

• Fixed two bugs causing game crashes

• Fixed several potential code issues that could cause game crashes

• Fixed rare freeze of Imarah

• Fixed bug with double regeneration during Beliar’s Wrath

Version 16.07.2025

• Piercing value of the Mortal sword increased from 20% to 30%

• New stamina system now regenerates stamina via the Dark Knight’s Protection Rune (was forgotten)

• Serafis now provides 60/90 seconds of stamina regeneration per use on Nightmare/Gothic difficulty (effect does not stack)

• Fixed minor bug when learning stamina

• Poisoned arrows can no longer poison Muritan (applies to new game if you’re already in his location)

• Path of Trials: unlocked ability to combine plants and other bonuses in locations

• Fixed Suppression rune – now blocks enemy teleportation

• Fixed bug with wild boars

• In ASnC, it is no longer possible to change RX_FULLSNC_KOEF via GVE (max 100%); default values remain: Nightmare 50%, Hard Nightmare 40%

Version 18.07.2025

• Skeleton archers (weak and medium) now switch to melee (applies to new game if you’re already in their location)

• Minor bug fixes

• Stamina consumption for sidestepping only applies when difficulty is enabled (old stamina system)

Version 19.07.2025

• Fixed incorrect enemy reactions to fireflies

• Path of Trials: debuffs “Impossible” and “Stupid” now work with the new stamina system; percentage values are lower

• Fixed strength values of undead in Raven's Nightmare – they were too low

• Undead mages in Raven’s Nightmare now deal 25% more spell damage

• Fixed fire effect after fire lizards’ death

• Increased stamina bonus from perfect block (new stamina system)

• Fixed bug causing damage from poison puddles

• Removed stamina consumption while strafing in Path of Trials submod (reverted to previous state)

• Removed slowdown during backstep with 0 stamina when using one-handed weapons in combat (old stamina system restored to original behavior)