Gothic 1 Remake features many hidden mechanics that require digging deeper into the side quests and going off the main route to find them. Once you get your hands on the Ancient Ore Armor, which can be obtained right at the beginning of the game, you can further make improvements to the armor by unlocking a special blacksmith in Gothic 1 Remake. Here is how to obtain Improved Ore Armor in Gothic 1 Remake.
Getting Improved Ore Armor | Completing Between A Rock & A Hard Place
You will need to possess Ancient Ore Armor before you unlock Improved Ore Armor in-game. Improved Ore Armor is basically an upgrade over the Ancient Ore Armor. It is a late-game armor with high stats, but with some tricks, you can obtain it as early as Chapter 1. Check out our guide to hunt down Ancient Ore Armor in Chapter 1 of Gothic 1 Remake.
Now, for Improved Ore Armor, we will need to rescue a special blacksmith named Stone from the Old Camp’s prison. It is part of the side quest, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place“, located in Old Camp on Chapter 5. Talking to Stone inside the prison cell will start the side quest. Do keep in mind that there are lots of bugs attached to the quest, and I will detail all of them and the potential fixes for them. Here is a brief rundown on all the topics in the article:
- Talking to Stone to Start the Side Quest (Between a Rock and a Hard Place)
- Find Darrion in The Swamp Camp
- Go back to Stone in Old Camp
- Crafting Improved Ore Armor
Talking to Stone to Start the Side Quest
Head to the Castle section in Old Camp. Here, you will spot a giant castle with two banners out front. Now, move right from the entrance and turn left to get into the corner. Here, jump down the hole on the left, across the doorway on the right. I’ve marked the jumping spot on the image above. It will take you directly into the prison section of the old camp. Follow the route, and you will find Stone being locked up in a cell.
You don’t have to lockpick the cell’s door to talk to him; just stand near the cell, and Stone will strike up a conversation. He will talk about being locked up in a prison because of Gomez, and ask us to look for Darrion NPC, as he can get Stone out of the prison. Stone will draw a sketch of the locks, and Darrion will help build a key that will get Stone out of the cell. Stone will also tell you that he is ready to work under Darrion after he helps him out with the Dungeon Key.
Here you will be given two options:
- I’ll see what I can do.
- You’re on your own.
Select the first option to start our quest, as you will receive the item Stone’s Sketch. Now, we have to bring that up to Darrion to build a Dungeon Key.
Alternative: Stone will also hand us another way to open up the cell, which is by using the Gomez key that we can obtain from Gomez by defeating him. If crafting the key by Darrion is the non-violent option, getting the Gomez key is the violent route to grab the key. If you want a quick result, then head over to the Throne Room in the Castle and kill Gomez. Or, if you are looking for a longer route, finding Darrion in the Swamp Camp is the way to go.
Find Darrion in The Swamp Camp
You will find Darrion in Swamp Camp, inside the blacksmithing hut. You won’t find him in the blacksmithing section at night, so get some sleep and look for him in the daytime. And you will find Darrion working the smelter in the blacksmithing hut. Talk to him and choose the dialogue option, ‘I need something crafted.‘ And then you will have to choose between:
- I need a key. Here, take a look.
- It’s for Stone. Gomez put him behind bars.
Select the second option of letting Darrion know about Gomez and Stone. Darrion will then object to making the key. Here, you will also have to select between two dialogue options:
- Because it’s the right thing to do.
- He’ll work under you. In your forge.
Since we already heard Stone agreeing to work under Darrion, select the second dialogue option. You can choose the first option (Because it’s the right thing to do), but he will just laugh it off. After selecting the second option, Darrion will agree and will take the Stone’s Sketch to work on the key. He won’t give the key out to us right away; we will need to take some rest and come back 24 hours later to receive the item.
Come back to the spot 24 hours later, and you will receive the Dungeon Key from Darrion along with +500 experience points.
Go back to Stone in Old Camp
Now that we possess the Dungeon Key, head back to the Stone locked up in the prison in the Castle section of Old Camp. Open Stone’s cell door by using the Dungeon Key, and he will ask you to escort him to the gates, and then he can get himself to safety from there.
Bug Alert: Stay close to Stone, or he will not follow you. If you are far away from Stone, he will stay idle or frozen in one spot. The hardest part is getting him out of his cell, even if the cell door is open, as he will get stuck or bugged behind the open cell door.
This is one of the annoying sections of the quest, as he will get stuck behind doors and walls. Make sure to stand near him, so he will follow your direction, think of tank controls in the classic Resident Evil games. Many players also had to choose the violent option. When Stone steps outside the castle, every NPC in the area will get enraged and start attacking. If that becomes the case, then you must defeat everyone in the Castle area to rescue Stone.
The second Stone steps out of the Castle’s inner gate, and the objective will be completed. Then Stone will head to Darrion in Swamp Camp. And with that, Between Rock and Hard Place is now completed, as the quest will yield 1000 Experience Points, and we have a neat blacksmith on our hands.
Note: The dialogue option will differ if you used Gomez’s key instead of Darrion Key to rescue him, but the end route for Stone stays the same. He will head over to Swamp Camp and work under Darrion.
Crafting Improved Ore Armor
Now head to Swamp Camp. If you have Ancient Ore Armor in your possession, you will get the option: (Enhance Ore Armor), which makes further improvement over the Ancient Ore Armor and turns it into Improved Ore Armor.
Here are the stat changes from Ancient Ore Armor to Improved Ore Armor.
| Stats | Ancient Ore Armor | Improved Ore Armor |
| Edge | 90 | 100 (+10 Increase) |
| Blunt | 90 | 100 (+10 Increase) |
| Point | 25 | 30 (+5 Increase) |
| Fire | 25 | 40 (+15 Increase) |
| Wind | 15 | 20 (+5 Increase) |
| Ice | 15 | 20 (+5 Increase) |
| Energy | 15 | 20 (+5 Increase) |
As you can see, the improvement over the old armor piece is not small in any way; you are getting a huge boost to Edge/ Blunt/ and lastly, Fire resistance. Don’t miss out on this excellent armor set. Get the Ancient Ore Armor as quickly as possible in Gothic 1 Remake.
