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Quite possibly the best RPG ever! Gothic II is the embodiment of RPG perfection. With spectacular graphics, amazing level design, (one of its best attributes), and a very nonlinear storyline, Gothic II outshines its original by far. When I bought Gothic I several years ago, it was widely unknown and the store I bought it from stopped carrying it shortly after I bought it. But it was a huge success! So of course when I saw Gothic II annnounced, I knew I had to buy it. Gothic II has many seemingly minor improvements over its predecessor that actually make a world of difference. Here are five examples. 1. Finally, there is "happy" music - walk along the countryside when you are not battling to hear a nice, quiet little tune play. 2. Lo and behold! - the sky is actually BLUE! No more weird, yellow Gothic I sky! (Sorry if somebody actually enjoyed it - I know I didn't.) 3. Now when you trade with people, you can sell them an item and get gold for it - the trader has "infinite" gold, so you can sell all your items to him/her and they will pay you in gold. I liked this much better than Gothic I's awkward trading system, where you and the seller had to accept an agreement of trading one item for another item. In Gothic II when you want an item from a trader, you simply highlight it and press the action key. If you have enough gold, you'll buy it. If not, sell something of your own and get gold to buy it with. I love it. 4. Your inventory system has been redone - no more confusing "Sections" you have to go through to get to an item. 5. The levels are so much more DETAILED now! This is the most lavishly detailed game I have ever laid eyes on. Explore a forest; ferns dot the floor and ivy crawls up trees, shrubs and bushes are scattered about gloriously. I simply can't praise the level design enough. The only negative I can complain of is that your health and mana don't recharge depending on your character level or a similar attribute, which is why I gave the game only four stars out of five. This may not sound like much, but to me it was a big problem. You have to find healing plants/potions and mana plants/potions lying around the level to restore your health. You can occasionally buy plants and potions from merchants, and sleeping the night out on a bed will restore health and mana as well, but the merchants run out of stuff and you can't very well sleep every time you finish a battle now can you? Keeping up health and mana later gets annoyingly difficult, considering plants don't regrow, merchants don't get new items, and as I just said, it wastes a huge amount of game time to sleep every time you finish a battle (and this isn't usually possible - where would you find a nice comfy bed out in the middle of a forest?) But all in all, my final words are "Buy this game! You'll be glad you did!"