Two Worlds II - Review @ GameShard

Dhruin

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Two Worlds II has been reviewed at a site called GameShard, although any time the author says the campaign is "likely" to take 30 hours makes me think they haven't actually played it. The score is 9/10 and here's a snip:
In terms of complexity, Two Worlds II sits somewhere between the behemoth free-roaming of Piranha Bytes' Gothic games and the more structured approach of an action RPG like Sacred 2. The main storyline is linear, and takes you across a series of large regions as you progress, but side-quests can be undertaken anywhere at any time - though new continents remain locked out until you advance the storyline. The rest of the world does level up alongside you, but only to a limited degree - none of the ridiculous Oblivion-style creature levelling here - though previously unlocked storage containers will contain loot roughly appropriate to your level. That might sound off-putting, but it actually works quite well; the system ensures that you feel a sense of progression as enemies become easier to kill, but there are still clear no-go areas where the opponents are much too strong, and also ensures that rewards from quests are always of some use. Given the open-ended levelling up system, which rewards you with stat advancements when you earn enough experience and skill points for various deeds associated with using particular skills, you have plenty of room to develop your hero as you see fit. And with the main campaign alone likely to take well over 30 hours, plus countless hours of sidequests and adventure, there's plenty to see and do in Antaloor.
Thanks Two Worlds Vault.
More information.
 
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Link shows me a header image then just hangs. :( Looks like Two Worlds Vault is having issues. They didn't try to advertise on Wikileaks, did they? {grinning, ducking, running}

I'm guessing that 'likely' here refers to the possibility of grabbing a walkthrough guide and zipping through the game in a couple of hours.
 
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That happens to me frequently when I visit TWV (sorry, propheet). Use the direct link:
http://www.gameshard.net/two-worlds-ii.html

That's a promising review; it keeps my hopes up.

I think "likely" likely means he's guessing, because either 1) he didn't finish the game or 2) he did finish the game, but he didn't take a bee-line down the MQ, so he has no real idea. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say #2. A good reviewer shouldn't head straight down the MQ in an open-world RPG, and unless they did that, I don't see how they'd know what the MQ time really was.
 
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That happens to me frequently when I visit TWV (sorry, propheet). Use the direct link:
http://www.gameshard.net/two-worlds-ii.html

That's a promising review; it keeps my hopes up.

I think "likely" likely means he's guessing, because either 1) he didn't finish the game or 2) he did finish the game, but he didn't take a bee-line down the MQ, so he has no real idea. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say #2. A good reviewer shouldn't head straight down the MQ in an open-world RPG, and unless they did that, I don't see how they'd know what the MQ time really was.

But in that case they should always say 'I would expect the game to take most people 30 hours, but since I love just wandering around I spent more than 50 hours picking the daisies and killing Grom/'
 
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Thanks for the link! From the article...

Reality Pump has completely ditched the graphics engine from the first game - a wise decision - and developed the new Grace engine for the game.
Completely ditched? I don't think so. The new game had the same problems the old game had with HDR lighting effects in stereoscopic 3D and they both could be fixed by going to the console and issuing the exact same command. I'm betting that this is an upgraded engine, not a completely new engine.
 
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But in that case they should always say 'I would expect the game to take most people 30 hours, but since I love just wandering around I spent more than 50 hours picking the daisies and killing Grom/'

Maybe so. :)

Btw, this line in the review suggests that he did finish it: "From the dramatic, beautifully animated intro through to the closing moments, Two Worlds II is a game that impresses…"
 
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Yeah there were some problems with some sort of malicious infection over at TWV past 3 weeks, but it should be all right now. As far as "header" goes (interstitial ad), you should simply click on the link at the top of the page that says "continue", and it'll load the site normally, provided you don't use adblockers and such. If you do use them, disable them for the first load of the site, and turn them back on only after you're already on the site (this only needs to be done once with most adblockers I know of for FF, for Chrome no idea). This is not just TWV, it's for all IGN-driven sites.

On topic: I'm currently at 18h playtime displayed in Hatmandor in SP. I've got past 90h mark recently in MP, where I'm still to unlock map no.5 out of 7 (though in all fairness I'm trying to pass full coop without anyone's cooperation :D). Real playtime is right now around 200 hours in SP for me, but I have a lot to test, double and triple check etc..
 
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That's interesting: If it is possible to play coop alone and this unlocks the MP areas, this would de facto extend the Single Player to this content.
If that is true, all the whining about small single player areas in other threads is put into a new perspective (to say it politely).
 
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That's interesting: If it is possible to play coop alone and this unlocks the MP areas, this would de facto extend the Single Player to this content.
If that is true, all the whining about small single player areas in other threads is put into a new perspective (to say it politely).

I wonder if that's true. Maybe some people on here can shed some light on that subject?
 
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I'm in the early stages of chapter 2, the second of 3 islands and I've logged nearly 30 hours according to the in game timer.
 
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That's interesting: If it is possible to play coop alone and this unlocks the MP areas, this would de facto extend the Single Player to this content.
If that is true, all the whining about small single player areas in other threads is put into a new perspective (to say it politely).

Not really. What would be the point of playing those areas if there aren't any single-player quests associated with them?
 
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Not really. What would be the point of playing those areas if there aren't any single-player quests associated with them?
Because Coop usually implies the existence of some kind of quests, obviously. But may be somebody who has played it can answer it.

The Two Worlds I Epic Edition had exactly this: Additional quests, for which you had to use the Multiplayer mechanism for logging in, but which you could play as single player quests afterwards.
 
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I don't think the principle of "Single-Player" lies with(in) "logging into Multiplayer in order to be able to play Single-Player".

Singleplayer is NOT Multi-Player ! - And thus SP should be an entirely offline mode, imho.
 
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I don't think the principle of "Single-Player" lies with(in) "logging into Multiplayer in order to be able to play Single-Player".

Singleplayer is NOT Multi-Player ! - And thus SP should be an entirely offline mode, imho.
I agree that it should be, but that was not the question here.
 
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Alrik is correct, at least in the context of what I was trying to say.

Sure, you can access those areas by logging in with multi-player, but it's not the same thing as those areas actually being part of the single-player experience.
 
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Alrik is correct, at least in the context of what I was trying to say.

Sure, you can access those areas by logging in with multi-player, but it's not the same thing as those areas actually being part of the single-player experience.
In Two Worlds 1 EE you could do exactly that: Play the single player campaign with additional quests. Logging in to multi-player was only a technical step before playing (comparable to using multi-player in Baldur's Gate in order to produce your own party, but playing single-player otherwise).

Complaining about being forced to log in on line in order to play it, is valid of course, but is a different aspect compared to the question, whether the feature as such exists.

To give a different example from a different genre: In Spellforce there were coop-campaigns, which contained their own quests and could be played as a second single-player campaign. (In that case you could play it off line, however.)

In case of Spellforce 2 I would even say, that the story of coop was as good as the single-player campaign.
It was about a cult planning to drive a good god first insane and then make him evil.

My question was, if somebody, who played it, can tell us, how it is done in Two Worlds 2.
 
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In Two Worlds 1 EE you could do exactly that: Play the single player campaign with additional quests. Logging in to multi-player was only a technical step before playing (comparable to using multi-player in Baldur's Gate in order to produce your own party, but playing single-player otherwise).

Actually, I don't think TW1 worked quite like that. Even if it did though, that's not the same thing as what I'm talking about.

Simply being able to do those areas in multi-player is not the same as actually having them intertwined with the single-player storyline.


*Edit* Apparently there is no connection whatsoever between MP and SP in TW2.
http://twoworlds.wikia.com/wiki/Two_Worlds_2_-_Multiplayer
 
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Actually, I don't think TW1 worked quite like that. Even if it did though, that's not the same thing as what I'm talking about.

Simply being able to do those areas in multi-player is not the same as actually having them intertwined with the single-player storyline.


*Edit* Apparently there is no connection whatsoever between MP and SP in TW2.
http://twoworlds.wikia.com/wiki/Two_Worlds_2_-_Multiplayer
Just checked it in the game and you are right, the Coop-Maps are distinct from the Single-Player one. Obviously it was too long since I played it...

Still playing Coop alone can be a fun Single-Player experience, even if the maps are separate. Depending on the quality of the quests it can be like a second single player campaign, as in my Spellforce example )IMHO of course).

I would still like to hear from people who have in fact tested Coop-Mode in Two Worlds II.
 
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Co-op in Two worlds 2 is playing the multiplayer chapters(there are 7 so far) with up to eight other players. It has zip to do with single player. It has its own story and is supposed to be some kind of prequel to Two worlds 2. In one of the maps you supposedly need others to help you do something to win the mission and I am assuming that is what Propheet is talking about. I don't know because I haven't gotten there yet.I am still experimenting with the magic system and different builds

It is fun and if you use village mode along with it you can play for hours and hours.
I think my MP time is reaching 40 or so hours but there are people who are regulars who are over 100 hours and haven't even touched the single player yet. Some patch is coming but no word yet if there will be more content of any kind
 
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In Two Worlds 1 EE you could do exactly that: Play the single player campaign with additional quests. Logging in to multi-player was only a technical step before playing

To me, this sounds like downplaying the MP factor.

"It's not really a hassle, so why don't you just embrace the MP part in the first place ?" Sort of.

The only ones who profit from such an importance of MP parts of a game / a game's program are those who really play MP. They are not interested in offline parts at all.

And this is something I have seen in different forums. The MP crowd is and was always astonishingly loud, even on the official Drakensang forums.
Some people really *demanded* an MP port of Drakensang thre. And what disturbs me most is the *aggressiveness* I often find with those who demand an MP part. They often act almost like trolls, when they are invading game foums.
 
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