Yeah well, that's not unusual, the series isn't that commerically popular anyway, like I said. Still, I've read enough positive reviewers defend it at various websites and those lucky enough to not encounter any bugs still vouch for it. So it depends where you read your reviews, I guess.
But um, back to Gothic II now!
I'm about level 13, taking my time beyond the doors of the valley pass to step toe to toe with a plethora of Orcs. I don't like taking more than one on at a time yet though, so progress is slow but steady as I draw them out and get my tactics sorted - I tend to use lots of reactive counter strikes with sidestep.
I've had alot of great fun around the Onar farm, roleplaying an amoral militia-man wandering around picking random fights with mercenaries and experimenting with certain choices. I found it a bit frustrating at one point to be accused of murder after defending myself against Bullco, who initiated a fight with me after I'd tried to speak to Sylvario. When I tried to return to the farm, I was hung drawn and quartered into a reload. This just meant that I had to be more surreptitious in my killing next time.
I really like the Ultima-style interactivity with every day objects like cooking, weaponsmithing and such. I'll be saving a few learning points for more hunting oriented trophy skills if I can, since I'm starting to notch up a few shadowbeast kills.
As for Gothic I related plot points, there are characters I'm meeting who assume I recognise them from the previous game (Lee for instance) but so far there hasn't been too much that's given me concern for my knowledge void.
The fun continues!