To say
Gothic II closely resembles games like
Morrowind would be an overstatement. It would appear to be trying to pull off something like that in the beginning, however it falls desperately short of the mark. You begin the game as a main character from a confusing story line that has flowed over from
Gothic I. As you set out on your quest to do whatever the hell it is, you invariably unwind more of the uninspiring and twisted plot line.
As you travel the world of Gothic II, you will meet many strange people and creatures, and some of them will have various tasks you can perform for them. This is basically how you progress through the game, and of course there are many different ways to go about doing things, reducing the linearity of it a bit. This is probably the best aspect of the game, because it actually rewards you for digging deeper into things to find either the easier route or the more rewarding way around a situation.
Since Gothic II is heavy with RPG elements, such as character stats and equipment, there are of course different classes and skills you can learn and use to your advantage. Unfortunately, here is where a major pitfall arises. There are only 3 different classes you can become and each of these basically turns you into another class when you reach a high enough level.
>From these different classes you can learn new abilities, but they are also meager in number. And, surprisingly enough, so are the weapons and equipment. In fact, once you get right down to it, there really isn't that much substance in this game except for the amount of territory you can explore.