[ElusiveCreator]

I used to play Gothic 3 in 2006 when it came out but got put off by all the bugs. Then I picked up the game again some 9 months ago and found out about the Community Patches. I installed patch 1.74 and gave it a go again. I instantly loved it.

Unfortunately there was no comprehensive guide that could help me explore all the content and I kept messing up having to restart. It was then that I decided to do the job myself - to write the complete walkthrough, the way I wanted it, from scratch...

After 8 months of work here it is: Gothic 3, The Definitive Walkhrough!

*** EDIT ***
Lastest version is now 1.01 (dated 2012.07.16)

Download from: http://elusivecreator.wordpress.com/

(PS! I don't mind uploading the file here directly if anyone wants me to but you'd have to teach me how...)

This guide is for those of you who wants to do and see everything in game and make your character godlike without cheating (get all stats, weapons, spells, skills, do all quests etc).

In this marathon guide, I believe I have been able to add some things that you will not find in other guides, FAQ's and walkthroughs. Spanning a full 236 pages this guide features:
- A smooth linear solution to the whole game covering all content, without using any cheats
- Warns you for most major pitfalls in game (this is probably the point I am most proud of because it saves people from having to start over)
- Leaves major game changing events till later in the game to allow you to replay as little as possible in order to explore alternative factions, gods and other choices affecting the game ending
- Adopted to community patch 1.74 (yes, version 1.75 is out now but it should not make any big difference)
- Shows you how to become an truly awesome magician at level 1 (390 AK, or higher if you wish - not the best tactical decision though)
- Covers all known chests and equipment (available through normal gameplay, not cheating)
- How to complete as many quests as possible, without messing up
- Shows you how to maximize your reputation with all factions (no you can't get 100 with all of them, but close)
- Shows you how to reach level 93 or higher (depending on how much patience you have)
- and more...

Clarification: No, the walk through does not cover alternative balancing, because that would have be counter productive to exploring all game content in one play through. I respect if some of you like to play for the challenge brought by alternative balancing, but personally that is not how I like to play and it is not the guide I want to write.

Anyway, I put a lot of heart into this one so it'd make me happy if someone finds it useful.

Please let me know what you think.

[SkullX]

el-0-el you mad?

I haven't yet read it but if everything you said is there, this may take over all Gothic 4 walkthroughs

You've done a hell'of'a'job.

[Darth Crow]

Now that's amazing! Thank you for this, you really did a great job

[The Ore Baron]

Please let me know what you think.

It's not very good.

Basically, it's written to be followed paragraph to paragraph - I know it's convenient to compile your own, personal way and route of doing things in the game, but for every player these are different, and I doubt many will be willing to play the game by strictly following your guide - I know I wouldn't. What your guide could do with are tables, maps and checklists - more universal blocks of information, something that everyone would find useful and easy to adapt to their own playing style.

Also, your guide might outlive it's usefulness in the nearest future. You see, it's written for the v1.74 community patch - a project so good and well-made, it's almost considered a mandatory addition to the original game, not unlike Wesp's patches to Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Now, I might be getting out of line here a little, but I am really looking forward to the upcoming Community Story Project, a mod I believe to become just as essential to the Gothic 3 experience as the Community Patch. Now, seeing as how the CSP team are making several radical changes to the structure of the game (mainly, quests and item placement), in the case of CSP really becoming a universally accepted addition to the game, your guide is doomed to become nearly useless. See where I'm getting at? Imagine writing a guide to the vanilla Gothic 3 and finding that by the time you have finished your work, everyone is already playing the community patched versions of the game and don't plan on going back, hence, not finding your guide all that useful. So here's hoping CSP will suck and nobody will ever play it

But I digress. All sarcasm aside, I truly appreciate the effort, as I'm sure many others here at WoG do as well. However, know, that our community is humble in numbers, so prepare not to receive all that much of acknowledgment here. But hey, as long as you wrote that guide at your own interest and pleasure, lack of praise is not an issue at all, eh? So cheers, and good luck on future projects.

[Alwin]

I don't see why you chose to write a walkthrough for the AB = off game. Otherwise, my main gripe was that you absolutely ignored the way it was meant to be played. You may be thinking it's good to have a billion AK and Quick Learning before Ardea is liberated, but this is powergaming, and most people don't want to powergame on their first few playthroughs. And those who do want to powergame hardly need a walkthrough anymore. It's a good guide, but sadly you alienated most of those who would want to use such a walkthrough.

[Emilyan]

Great project you did there. Also, you should update it from time to time, as new patches appear, or as you discover various ideas to make gameplay better, or easier, like easter eggs, places to find different items etc.

[ElusiveCreator]

Thanks for the comments, both positive and negative.

Since I posted I found lots of errors in the guide. I did review an spell check (it took forever) but evidently now well enough. The info about the teleporter stones is flawed and needs to be rewritten. There are heaps of spelling errors and bad wording. I guess I can not put it this project to rest just yet. I've already started fixing it...

Sorry if quotes and replies don't show up as I intended in this post. I am a complete newbee when it comes to forums.

The Ore Baron:

I doubt many will be willing to play the game by strictly following your guide

I think your right: it's probably not that much fun to play it paragraph by paragraph. If i redid the guide today I would probably have satisfied with a checklist for each part "these are the things to complete at this stage". I know that would still be too restrictive for many but perhaps make the guide more fun to use.
Unfortunately I don't have the time to do it. I am still happy with the fact that I got to explore what is possible in the game.

Now, seeing as how the CSP team are making several radical changes to the structure of the game (mainly, quests and item placement), in the case of CSP really becoming a universally accepted addition to the game, your guide is doomed to become nearly useless.

The changes you are talking about sounds great! I love how Gothic 3 refuses to die and the kind of underdog story of how it has evolved. I hope though that who ever is working on this super-mod has the sense to name it something else than just plain Gothic 3 i.e. "Gothic 3, Reimagined" or something that separates it from the original game. IMO it is not so productive to try to erase 6 years of gaming history, pretending it had never happened (even though loads of fans may wish that was the case). Even if version 1.76 of CP revamps the whole game, patch 1.74/1.75 will still exist somewhere and that is good enough for me. I don't intend to go on with this forever you know.
Anyhow, thanks for the feedback!

Alwin:

I don't see why you chose to write a walkthrough for the AB = off game.

I understand what you say. I guess we like to play for two very different reasons.

You may be thinking it's good to have a billion AK and Quick Learning before Ardea is liberated, but this is powergaming, and most people don't want to powergame on their first few playthroughs

I never used a walkthrough on my first playthrough so once more I guess we play games completely differently.

It's a good guide, but sadly you alienated most of those who would want to use such a walkthrough.

I understand that most people don't like power-gaming but I didn't write the guide for most people. I wrote it for myself and then I shared it. I also hope some of the material in the guide can be re-used for something much better to come, written by some of those people you mention for yours and their enjoyment.

Emilyan:

Also, you should update it from time to time, as new patches appear, or as you discover various ideas to make gameplay better, or easier, like easter eggs, places to find different items etc.

Thanks. I won't have the time to restart the game in the near future (yes, 1.75 would have me scrap all save games from 1.74) but I will fix the errors I can find as mentioned on the top.

[SkullX]

I don't see why you chose to write a walkthrough for the AB = off game. Otherwise, my main gripe was that you absolutely ignored the way it was meant to be played. You may be thinking it's good to have a billion AK and Quick Learning before Ardea is liberated, but this is powergaming, and most people don't want to powergame on their first few playthroughs. And those who do want to powergame hardly need a walkthrough anymore. It's a good guide, but sadly you alienated most of those who would want to use such a walkthrough.

Don't hate! the guy made a big effort trying to bring us something complexe, hey hey.

[Alwin]

Don't hate! the guy made a big effort trying to bring us something complexe, hey hey.

Who was talking about hate?

[Ariogaisus]

Who was talking about hate?

I though it was pure criticism.

[warstrike]

Good job. Maybe i`ll find this useful sometime

[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

I've given it a glance and it looks good .
However, you should take a look at Gothic 2 Walkthrough by Ellusion for your future RPG projects. IMO that walkthrough is perfect. It doesn't say˝go here, then there, pick this up...˝ but is simply a quest list with explanations how to solve them, sorted by chapters.
I guess that you could (in your future projects) sort quests by city, as I don't know if there is another RPG divided by chapters .

All in all it's very good, keep it up .

[Celestial]

Interesting summer reading...first G3 walkthru I've ever consulted.

But most are right, there really is no way to play, which is why Gothics are great. Maybe a guide to quests and the consequences would perhaps been more appropiate

[C-Hawk]

Interesting summer reading...first G3 walkthru I've ever consulted.

But most are right, there really is no way to play, which is why Gothics are great. Maybe a guide to quests and the consequences would perhaps been more appropiate

Yes, the quest guide on the forum isnt that great
There should be more guidance about the quests. The requirements wich could come in handy (good ranged weapons or rather good melee fighting) and indeed the consequences (not more quests). And what quests were before this one and which ones will unlock because of this one.

To still be a little on-topic: I think 236 pages of walthrough are too much. It takes 3 times more to finish the game... Or even more time I think.

[ElusiveCreator]

I just wanted to let you know that I corrected some mistakes in the guide.
You can find the latest version through the link in the original post.

And once more, thanks for the comments.

I want to say that I find the criticism towards the walthrough to be very valid. If I had know what you are telling me today the guide would have come out somewhat differently.
That does not mean I am disappointed or bitter, except that the named "Definitive" (at least it is better than "Complete") was not the most appropriate pick considering other playing styles and all the new content that is b continuously being added.
After all, I did what I set out to do and I feel really happy about finding a linear solution to all content of that particular version of the game (1.74), including all factions, paths, quests, teleporter stones, equipment, weapons, spells, skills, max attributes and exp etc. etc.

As I have said above, I hope that someone can reuse the parts of the information in the walkthrough that is original, compared to other existing Gothic 3 documents, and re-use it while making something better, shorter and more concise, that suits all players and makes playing the game even more fun.

I still remain a big fan of Gothic 3 regardless of what changes the new patches bring and I think it is a great community here!

Keep up the good work!