Ah, Way to Go. I tried making a guide for it. Got about 75% of the solutions but failed end game, lol. A few smart people bailed me out and posted the solutions for the last levels for me.

Arcania is certainly a lot easier than Gothic 1 (have only played that on disc) but I still enjoyed myself. Found out that the mage was overpowered and just fireballed everything into extinction. If I lined my shots up I could kill the enemies before I pulled them (I am slow and lack coordination so melee fighting is not my thing :) But thankfully there are so many different types of rpgs these days, there are always ones that will suit our play style.

The first Gothic is one I do want to play. I found it really challenging, old school graphics and old school gameplay (ie no hand holding - make a mistake and you die, so save often :)
I do think the collectibles thing ruins an immersive experience in those sort of games. Would be nice if they let you stay on in the game after the final boss/quest so you could retrace your steps and pick up the missing items, but that is my completionist side (OCD?) talking.