Horribly definite ! :-(

Well, the naysayers can say what they like ("nay," for instance) - I still think the approach they took for the English voices was brilliant. It's the only fully-voiced gameworld I can think of where it seems like everyone's just trying to live their life, rather than put on a big show for you.

Amen! That's what I loved about Gothic II. The NPCs lead believable lives. Unfortunately, Gothic III did not elaborate on this.

I think Gothic 3 tried to go mainstream, and ended up kind of collapsing in on itself. It's a soulless mess; the exact opposite of how I'd describe the first two.

Well I enjoyed Gothic III, but it just did not feel like they were improving on the gameplay/story/immersion as they did from Gothic I to Gothic II. Of course, the graphics was excellent and I had a lot of fun hunting deer... but there is not as much love in the third installment.
In Gothic I & II, you really felt the dedication of the programmers/designers to the product.

Actually, to be fair - I have to admit the voice of the main character is inappropriate bordering on silly. He's softly spoken, polite and friendly, which seems totally out of place in the gameworld. Almost makes him seem like Butters from South Park, actually. :]
But that doesn't stop my brother and I quoting his 'Show me your wares' line whenever the opportunity arises

Oh that would be so freakin' awesome! Gothic 4: The Buttering. XD

heh, I couldn't agree more :P all three games are pretty good, well the third requires some goodwill on the players part....

In the german version he is pretty rude, calling people all kinds of bad things and so on.