Outfaith. The modification is still known under this name in Poland, presented back in 2019 as a full overhaul project of the content from the Returning 2.0 modification1. In 2023 it was renamed to Готика 2: Вопреки всему or in English Gothic II: Against All Odds. And it turns out it will have no connection with either Returning or New Balance.
The work on modification is in progress, developers are sharing progress and even estimate the release date which appears to be set in 2026 and this date is unlikely to change2. Thanks to an interview that all team members Trazege, Zirael, RavenOreBaron, AlkhimikSalandril and Adept decided to be a part of for Gothic Up, you can get an idea of the current status of the project. This interview in particular would not have been possible without Zirael (Zirael137), who translated the questions and collected the answers from the rest of the team members, for which I thank him very much.
Interview
Trazege
Hello. I’m glad you decided to answer the questions, because the Polish community received most information about the project between 2019 and 2021, and the modification is still known as Outfaith. Hence my first question is about history of the project.
What significant changes have taken place in your modification so that it received a new name? On 3 April 2023, on your fan page on VKontakte, you changed the name to Готика 2: Вопреки всему, or in English: Gothic II: Against All Odds.
“OutFaith” initially was a code name of the project, after some time we gave it an actual title – Вопреки Всему (Against All Odds). There were no particular changes related to it, everything we planned from the beginning is going to be implemented.
Your mod is supposed to have no hardcore difficulty level, and the combat is supposed to be complex. Is the complexity supposed to come from the NPCs eventually becoming “smarter”? Will they start to cooperate better with each other in group fights, can you give any example of novelty?
Keeping in mind the sad experience of the Returning mod and seeing what sh*t New Balance has become, we firmly decided for ourselves that we will not turn our modification into another stupid hardcore grind, completely devoid of logic, meaning and any connections with the lore of this wonderful game. In my opinion, in the development of Gothic mods it is worth taking inspiration from such works as Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos. Which is exactly what we are trying to do. We understand that many players will be disappointed with this approach, but this is our mod and our choice. If someone isn’t satisfied with this, they can continue playing Returning/New Balance. Our mod is not for them.
As far as we were able to implement it, NPCs will act differently. For example: after they got pickpocketed they will try to identify the thief through various actions, and not just stand there as if nothing happened. Also most reactions to player’s actions were fixed. It’s best to see it in game all at once since there’s simply too much little things like this to tell.
What don’t you like about Returning, and would you like it to be different in Вопреки всему (Engl. “Against All Odds” – ed. note.) ?
I don’t like everything about Returning. If I were to work on Returning today it would’ve turned out completely different or wouldn’t come out in the first place. Our mod will be completely different from Returning/New Balance in every aspect. We have nothing common with the above mentioned modifications and strive to distantiate ourselves from them as much as possible.
In the 2023 summary, you wrote that a lot of mechanics for fighting monsters and humans were implemented through animation edits. Can you give an example of such mechanics?
For example NPCs will be able to throw a knife into a player.
According to the description from the topic about the modification, the story of the Isle of Tirith will be a side thread of quests. Will the storyline be as consistent as possible with Gothic 3: The Beginning? What will Nameless be looking for on the island where young Xardas lived?
The history of Tirith in fashion is based on the events that once happened in the game Gothic 3 Origins. The story itself is completely new, but in it you can meet some characters from Gothic 3 Origins. What the player will look for is already a spoiler. You will learn everything in the game.
Who do you need for your team? How can they get in touch with you?
We have no shortage of people. The team is small, but united and responsible. Perhaps we would not refuse the help of a person who would take up music for modification. But finding one like this is extremely problematic. Unfortunately, the person who was supposed to make music with us has not yet lived up to the expectations placed on him. (if you want to get in touch with us – contact Zirael)
Zirael
I’ve seen screenshots of your armor. Is the Gothic engine ready for such detailed textures? How do you guys handle the performance issues?
We’re testing performance of our modification on a pretty outdated PC configuration to make sure it will run smoothly for any player even with an outdated hardware. And surely we’re trying to optimize our assets as best as we can, especially when it comes to textures. About the engine: Zengin is actually capable of handling textures even in 2048×2048 resolution and still runs smoothly, also nowadays almost any user uses DirectX11 mod which significantly improves performance, so i think there’s nothing wrong in making the game look better without sacrificing too much FPS.
You recently wrote on VKontakte about adding new animations for shield combat. Will the shield still be used exclusively for blocking? Have you perhaps implemented shield combat as it took place in the Middle Ages?
The main feature of the shield remains blocking incoming damage, however it doesn’t mean that it’s the only thing you can do with it. I can assure you that implementation of shields in our modification is so far very unique compared to other modifications. It features completely new animations done from scratch, as well as new mechanics. It’s pretty similar to how it’s done in Dark Souls.
You are also creating 3D models. At the same time, it is already known that the storyline for Isle of Tirith is ready. Have you referenced the original shape of the island from Gothic III: The beginning, which is a 2D game, while porting it into the Gothic engine delivering it as faithfully as possible?
It just so happened that during the creation of Tirith I wasn’t part of the team. Back in those times I was still learning my ways as a 3D artist (I got into 3D modeling and character animation because of Gothic modding in the first place ), I joined the team much later. As of Tirith – it was modeled and created by Trazege and he used Gothic 3 Beginning as a reference during his work.
I read that you have added new mobsi. Can you give an example of a brand new mobsi and in what way will the player be able to interact with them? What will it be used for?
Mostly they are all the same, the changes will be mostly visual, for some MOBSI objects I remade models entirely. Overall we simply increased the variety, for example some alchemists would have their own unique labs.
The “форт-крепость острова Хоринис и прочее” (“a fortress on the island of Khorinis”, a quote from the modifications announcement – ed. note.) is to be added. Where is it going to be located, and what changes did or do its surroundings require?
It is one of the main elements in Paladins’s plot, it will be located to the north of the port.
RavenOreBaron
In the modification you are responsible specifically for the brotherhood quest thread.
You recently presented the new brotherhood armor on your fan page. There is a different symbol on it, there is no Sleeper. How does the Brotherhood of your modification compare to the Brotherhood of the Swamp Camp from the original Gothic I? Is it a part of the former members that survived, or does it have a different origin? What can you say about your concept?
Yes, this is the same former Swamp Brotherhood, in which events develop somewhat differently than we used to think, based on knowledge of the plot of the original Gothic 2. After the departure of Kor Angar, another leader appeared in the Community, who managed to unite most of the brothers and lead them out of the Valley. Arriving in Khorinis, the Brotherhood finds an abandoned royal fortress and settles there. Now they have a new deity and a new faith. Or not new? Perhaps we have already seen this symbol somewhere before…
As for the similarities and differences with the plot of the Brotherhood in Gothic 1, I tried to preserve and improve the atmosphere of that same Brotherhood, but at the same time correct the seemingly strange and illogical moments, for example, no one pays the guards a salary for their service, but demands ore for new armor or The community needs new people, but joining it is more difficult than joining a monastery in G2.
There are now more Brotherhood quests (compared to Gothic 1)… Much more, and they have also become more non-linear – as a rule, they have 2 or more solutions + their consequences, some of which are very serious.
AlkhimikSalandril
You’re responsible for a number of story threads in the team.
What new things can we expect from the guild threads of paladins and water mages that were not present in other modifications?
First of all, during the writing of new Paladins plot (as well as the city guards) i focused on private storylines of already existent characters so well known to us in the original Game. For example there is a whole storyline about Mario who previously didn’t play any significant role in G2. In our modification however player will have an opportunity to significantly influence his fate. Of course the same applies to various different characters as well.
Water mages thread have much more changes. In the original game it was the least developed and detailed faction in the matter of characters, their motivation and stories. During the water mages thread we’ll be able to explore Jarkendar that has been expanded almost thrice the original volume, and discover what happened to the Builders civilization, why Adanos decided to punish them, also we’ll have to fight those very dark forces Raven mentioned in the original game. In short, it’s gonna be fun.
In the modification you rely on story branches for each guild and side plots. One of the threads is to be Drakia – according to your work summary at the end of 2023, it may be added as a DLC. Drakia is the southern part of the island of Khorinis, which was designed – to my knowledge – as part of a forum role play game on World of Gothic.
To what extent do you intend to implement ideas for Drakia from World of Gothic?
Drakia, according to the original plan, should have been an isolated region in terms of plot. Which means, it has its own questline, quite little connected with the main plot thread of Gothic II. This is one of the reasons for delaying Drakia into DLC. Drakia is a separate location, with its own factions, political and religious resources, characters and even fauna. In short, the plot will be devoted to the theme of self-determination of small lands that once could not withstand the onslaught of the forces of King Robar II. In terms of implementation of locations, we were based on already known facts that can be found in public sources (in particular, on forums), this also applies to geography and heraldry.
Why will it be worthwhile to go through the main storyline of the game from scratch?
We decided to focus on increasing the storyline not “in perspective”, but in “width”, introducing a large amount of variability in both main and side storylines. Even without taking into account the variety in terms of gameplay, the player will be able to experience at least 5-6 different walkthroughs, in which most of the events will depend on the player’s actions and decisions.
In the modification, the theme of gaining the consent of masters in Khorinis is to be developed. How will it differ from, for example, the implementation from New Balance, where you even had to first earn a right to simply start a conversation with them?
We abandoned the solution from Returning 2.0, which later migrated to the New Balance. However, it was decided not to leave it like that either, when any stranger could come in and talk with the artisans, even if he’s naked. In “Against All Odds,” only a more or less decently dressed person can communicate with them. If the player has difficulties obtaining an outfit (for example, the farmer’s clothes were given to Greg), he will definitely have another option to obtain at least basic equipment, but without numerous pointless and annoying quests.
Adept
In modification, you are responsible for sound and proofreading.
You are in charge of the SVMs (character speeches outside dialogue – ed. note). In the modification, will the NPCs also react vocally in different situations than in the original?
Without any doubt mechanics like this are in plans. We also plan on implementing an ability for players to play certain animations in game and in theory NPCs will have reactions to them.
How will you match the dubbing of the modification, to the original Gothic dubbing? Will the speeches of the main characters be recorded from scratch? Can we expect the same Nameless voice as in New Balance?
Voice lines of some NPCs will be re-recorded from scratch, some of them will be recorded using AI. Most probably, the nameless hero will have the same voice he had in original Russian localisation.
Summary
Explanation of history of the Builders – a new deity in the community from the former Swamp Camp – an island from the game Gothic III: The Beginning – Drakia as future DLC depending on modification reviews – playback ability of certain animations for the player – smarter NPCs – this and much more awaits us in Gothic II: Against All Odds.
Personally, I am surprised by the interview. No modification has been made so far that is set in the time of the Builders – and Against All Odds will explain their story. I haven’t played Gothic III: The Beginning so far, which I plan to do before going through this modification to see if the storyline will be consistent with it. I like the graphics, which you can see in the screenshots above, better than from the Gothic Remake presentation. I’d actually rather play this modification than the Remake, and what’s more, for free. The question of translation and dubbing remains, but here I am counting on AI.
If you are a music composer and want to see if you can meet the expectations of the team – contact Zirael:
Discord: zirael137
E-mail: devl0infh@gmail.com
