!!The series provides examples of:
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation - King Rhobar II., well-intentioned hero-king who is unfortunately in way over his head, or shortsighted, manipulative tyrant with delusions of heroism?
* CompleteMonster: The whole series has a pretty [[DarkerandEdgier sinister tone]] in itself, with [[UpToEleven A LOT]] of {{Jerkass}} characters, [[AlwaysChaoticEvil cutthroat bandits]], crazy cultists and [[CrapsackWorld MUCH more]] to offer. However, Bloodwyn, the greedy guardsmen from the Old Camp, stands out in particular. The first thing he does to newcomers is [[FauxAffablyEvil asking 'kindly' for protection money]]. Unlike the other guardsmen however, he won't just leave you on your own if you refuse. He'll send his henchmen after you to beat you to a bloody pulp, and sometimes even kill you. Also, (although granted, he was ordered) he participates in cowardly murdering the Firemages later in the game. When the Hero, unknowingly that he has done something to upset somebody, returns to the camp afterwards, Bloodwyn and his mooks try to murder him in cold blood. He truly hits the {{Moral Event Horizon}} in Gothic 2 Night of the Raven however. Joining the bandits and put in charge of the mine, he mercylessly forces the slaves to work without any breaks, and when they stumble upon some angry Minecrawlers and later even [[LivingStatue cursed guardians]], he doesn't care one bit. By the time the Hero arrives, many slaves are already deceased, either killed by the creatures, worked to death, or starved, because they get nothing but rubbish to eat. Others are so exhausted they can barely stand and some are already hallucinating, because they haven't seen the sun for weeks. After the (disguised) Hero does the dirty work of killing all the vermin inside the mine for him, Bloodwyn doesn't even attempt to thank, let alone pay him for his actions, instead he tries to get rid of him so that [[ItsAllAboutMe he alone can get all the gold inside]]. The Hero himself obviously has a very big dislike for this guy, because he is the only one in the whole trilogy he doesn't only kill, but [[OffWithHisHead decapitate afterwards]] and '''''keep his head as a bloody trophy!'''''
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome - The main refrain of Gothic I/II is awesome, and the whole soundtrack of Gothic III is this in a nutshell.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1PuvlcOyfU&feature=related Concert of In Extremo]] in Gothic I
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anJX-417Cp0&list=PLD87FC1E8EB222F16&index=11&feature=plpp_video Showdown]], which played in Gothic 3 whenever the hero engaged one of the faction leaders.
* DemonicSpiders - In the unpatched G3, several animals (most notably boars) had the tendency to stunlock and kill within seconds even experienced characters. It reached MemeticMutation levels before later patches reduced their attack frequency.
* FanDumb - Maybe not the English ones, but as somebody regularly visiting the forums, this troper can tell you that the German fan community is an extremely vicious BrokenBase. Generally, most of them can agree that the first two games and the ExpansionPack were awesome, but when Gothic 3 came out, everything went to hell, especially when the developers, Piranha Bytes, and the publisher, Jowood, separated. Jowood kept the license and went on to make Forsaken Gods and now Arcania. Piranha Bytes instead went on to make {{Risen}}. Most members of the community side with PB and consider Risen a worthy SpiritualSuccessor, but prepare for a flame war when you're not implying that Gothic 3 didn't suck (yet PB, of course, had no fault in that, according to them) or that any of the games made without Piranha Bytes might actually be worthy of the name ''Gothic''. Even if you do agree with the general opinion, expect someone to call you a fanboy. FlameWar ensues either way.
** The vitriol over Gothic III isn't nearly as bad with some fans due to the fact the Community Patches cleaned up a lot of the bugs and fans have been working on reintroducing the dark atmosphere back into Gothic III via modding, but Forsaken Gods and Arcania still drawn not entirely unreasonable utter hatred.
* FanonDiscontinuity - The release of Gothic III and the following games made under the license owned by Jowood all created some backlash and led many of the hardcore fans to declare this. Some felt the franchise was ruined, others simply pretended the Gothic series never got a sequel after Gothic II's ExpansionPack.
* GameBreaker - Hunting skills in Gothic I, exploitation of monster patrol patterns and the InsurmountableWaistHighFence aversions in Gothic III.
** Summoning Magic in Gothic II could get pretty close at times, too.
** Ranged Weapons becomes one in Gothic 4, thanks to bugs with monsters spawning, at least in the demo.
* GoodBadBugs - All the Gothic games have these, and many are used by players to make the games far more enjoyable.
** Gothic I has the unlimited Roast Meat bug, and the strafe off cliffs with no damage bug.
** Gothic II allows for the economy to be exploited via an AI programming glitch in which you beat the crap out of a merchant, take his crap, wake till he gets up, sell him what you took off him, and repeat.
** Gothic III allows you to beat up people for their stuff (which respawns), and when done in towns where everyone is your friend, you can make a small fortune in less than ten minutes.
* MagnificentBastard - Xardas, especially in Gothic II/III.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks - Gothic III did away with the context-sensitive jumping system from the earlier installments, making the InsurmountableWaistHighFence aversion much more difficult and less awesome.
** Especially in the German community, Gothic I and II were often considered the ideal of how a German RPG should look, a dark, dirty world with an incredibly thick atmosphere (the main reason why you can perform entirely pointless animations) where one has to work his way up to become a {{Badass}}. Fans generally refer to this as the Gothic Feeling. The huge changes made by Gothic III and the following games have often been criticized by the fanbase for lacking that particular feeling around them. Risen, on the other hand, was quickly considered to be possessing the Gothic Feeling and therefore, a worthy SpiritualSuccessor by most.
** Arcania in particular suffers from this. The general consensus is that that it would have at least gotten a few more SoOkayItsAverage reviews more had it not claimed to be a successor to the Gothic series, yet done away with most traditions and features the games were notable for, like the ability to attack anyone or pass time by sleeping in beds.
* UncannyValley - The Seekers in Gothic II are made incredibly creepy by taking advantage of this.