Gothic II First Hand Impressions

RPGDot's hosted site for the RPG Gothic has brand new information and screens for Gothic II, the sequel to the somewhat lukewarm but acclaimed on many points original. Here's a snippet:

The saying goes that NPC AI has been improved, and apart from some minor bugs (a 'crashed' city guard or a funny mishap in pathfinding routines) this is true. NPC reactions change depending on your reactions, guild and former deeds. For example - you might get someone really mad by beating him up for no reason. He certainly won't talk to you anymore after the incident, but depending on whether you were spanked by the guards or not, other witnesses might consider talking to you again. And if you plan on being a real bully (or worse, a killer), don't let witnesses get away! There's even a handy spell to aid you if you bungled a mission by foul-mouthing the wrong individual - make him forget your past encounters :-).
There are some new implementations of daily routines as well. For example, the town herald spews forth the latest news in regular intervals. NPC dialogues are just as hilarious as in Gothic I, but now you won't be asked for things you have already done (as sometimes happened in GI). Just like your journal will be automatically swept of solved, flunked or unsolveable quests, NPCs will 'forget' to ask you the same things about solved missions again and again.