The combat in Gothic 3 was very buggy, because of missing animations. This was very problematic, because even at highest level a wolf can instant kill you.
Gothic 1 and Gothic 2 are excellent. Gothic 3, with patch, doesn't remove the fighting bug, but most other bugs are solved, making it a nice game.
Have you used the Alternative Balancing & A.I. features in C.P. 1.74? I don't have any problem with the combat or wolves, unless there is a pack of em, then you just lure 'em one at a time to you.
On-topic - I read EVERY book in Div 2, some books have significant clues on how to complete some quests.
