Two Worlds - Reviews @ GameSpot, GameSpy and More

Dhruin

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The first of the major US reviews for Two Worlds are out with GameSpot and GameSpy both cranking out critiques. We'll take GameSpot's first - the same review is used for both the PC and the Xbox360 version, although the text seems to have been written primarily for the X360. The score on PC is a modest 7.4/10 and 7/10 for 360 due to UI issues and gimped MP for that version:
A poor man's Oblivion. This description may seem a bit damning, but it puts the game in awfully fine company when you consider the sheer greatness of Bethesda's role-playing game opus. Reality Pump's RPG certainly has it where it counts in the aspiration department, even if, largely due to some design quirks, the first-time RPG developer can't quite match the gold standard established by Oblivion last year. With that said, the epic scale of the game, along with outstanding character development, free-flowing action, and good quest variety, make it a worthwhile play for any RPG aficionado.
But GameSpy sees it very differently, awarding the X360 version 1/5 and calling it all sorts of names:
Short of either an intense desire to see the RPG genre sullied or irrepressible masochistic tendencies, you've got no reason to play Two Worlds. Except for an interesting pair of item creation and character leveling systems, every element of Two Worlds lurks somewhere between "atrocity" and "horror." It's rare we get to simply lay into a title, but Two Worlds for the 360 is undeserving of any mercy.
Video Game Talk says 3/5 and "rent it":
As I stated earlier, players need extensive knowledge about RPG titles before starting Two Worlds. Playing Oblivion was like being on vacation with a tour guide compared to this. Two Worlds drops you in the middle of nowhere, without any instructions, and expects you to survive. This is a hardcore RPG that will turn away beginners within minutes of starting a new game.
...and CheatCCC has an ordinary article that scores a "good" 3.8/5 but then says there is no reason to get Two Worlds unless you crave "Oblivion filler":
Even with the many amusing flaws that I encountered, including the birdlike motion your character does when jumping, the constant freeze frame when you encounter a new area, and the witty dry boasting your character does when vanquishing evil, there really is no reason to check out Two Worlds unless you are looking for the solid Oblivion filler. If you are, then Two Worlds is your next buy. There's a lot to Two Worlds that will take you an eternity to complete. This is probably the biggest draw to the game that I can mention. It is one of those games that you can put down, wait a while, come back to it, and rekindle the enjoyment you had the first time around. So race out, dive into the world of Two Worlds, and find out for yourself the mysteries of the Taint.
More information.
 
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Funny how Gamespot says the visuals are a pro while GameSpy says they are crap.
 
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7.5 seems fair, 1/5 is insane - it's not nearly that bad!

"Two Worlds drops you in the middle of nowhere, without any instructions, and expects you to survive. This is a hardcore RPG that will turn away beginners within minutes of starting a new game."

This guy cannot have been paying much attention to the game when he played it. The quote is simply wrong! The game starts, you get a main quest, the location you have to go to next in this quest is marked on your map... there is actually a good deal of hand-holding in this game! Often you'll get a quest, and from the description it sounds like you'll have to search for the location - but a small dot on the map always guides you directly to where you need to go. I wonder what this guy would say about Gothic 2's quests if he finds Two Worlds to be a hardcore rpg :)
 
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Yes well it brings to mind what the NMA boys said about the GameSpy critics at the recent Fallout 3 showing - clapping and laughing at the same que like monkeys. I guess Fallout 3 will have a 5 star review without viewing/playing the game.

I'll confess and say I'm less than impressed with mordern day game critcs.

I'll also confess to not having played Two Worlds either so maybe it is that bad.
 
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Can you stop giving Aus specific links? :p

For the gamespot links if you use www. instead of au. it'll auto-resolve to our nearest server, stopping the rest of the world from using up all your aus bandwidth ;)

As for two-worlds.. I've been playing the demo as have a few friends. They all love it, I hate it. *shrugs*
 
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I haven't read all those stupid reviews, only the high-lighted quotes, but I played/is playing the game, so I can give you some info:

Pros:
- skill-based
- graphics is nice (but I usually don't care about that)
- interesting alchemy
- armours/weapons are stackable, increasing their stats
- main character and some npcs have nice bloatings
- factions have opposite interests
- main quest is interesting, side-quests are okay, with only small amount of fedexing
- enemy npcs use their skills quite well (being stunned a couple of times by those orc archers)

Cons:
- heavily main quest driven:
- you can only play with one character, who can only be man
- cannot interact with the orcs (they aren't in the faction list!), you have to kill them all! (or maybe I'm missing something)
- some overpowered spells
- too much loot and alchemical ingredients (possibly changed in v1.5)
- level-scaling! (stupid bandits are full of high set number armours, possibly changed in v1.5, but I'm using v1.4)

Overall, I think it is much better than Oblivion, but the RPG-level is still not entirely sufficient.

That's all that comes to my mind right now.
 
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I haven't read all those stupid reviews, only the high-lighted quotes, but I played/is playing the game, so I can give you some info:

Pros:
- skill-based
- graphics is nice (but I usually don't care about that)
- interesting alchemy
- armours/weapons are stackable, increasing their stats
- main character and some npcs have nice bloatings
- factions have opposite interests
- main quest is interesting, side-quests are okay, with only small amount of fedexing
- enemy npcs use their skills quite well (being stunned a couple of times by those orc archers)

Cons:
- heavily main quest driven:
- you can only play with one character, who can only be man
- cannot interact with the orcs (they aren't in the faction list!), you have to kill them all! (or maybe I'm missing something)
- some overpowered spells
- too much loot and alchemical ingredients (possibly changed in v1.5)
- level-scaling! (stupid bandits are full of high set number armours, possibly changed in v1.5, but I'm using v1.4)

Overall, I think it is much better than Oblivion, but the RPG-level is still not entirely sufficient.

That's all that comes to my mind right now.

I'm enjoying it so far. It's not Oblivion, but it's a decent RPG that moves a little quicker than Oblivion does. I'm playing it on PC, so I can't comment on the Xbox verision, but the PC version is much better than 1 out of 5.
 
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I don't give much stock to Gamespy reviews, not since they gave Halo a perfect 10 yet in the very same review said that the library level was the worst designed level in gaming history (they got that one right).

They come across as a bunch of kids where everything is either the cream of the crop or the bottom of the cesspool.:rolleyes:
 
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Funny how Gamespot says the visuals are a pro while GameSpy says they are crap.

Thing is, GameSpy are talking about the XBOX360 game, which really *is* lousy looking and has a host of issues not found in the PC version, if the forums there are to be any indication. There was a stream of complaints in the general forum, but then a X360 forum was set up, now all bitching is going there.

Oh - and I think that this is going to be one of those divisive games ... I can see the flaws all over the place yet am having a blast playing and still have no idea how I'll score.
 
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Can you stop giving Aus specific links? :p

For the gamespot links if you use www. instead of au. it'll auto-resolve to our nearest server, stopping the rest of the world from using up all your aus bandwidth ;)

As for two-worlds.. I've been playing the demo as have a few friends. They all love it, I hate it. *shrugs*

No, I can't. GameSpot and a couple of others automatically redirect me to au. - I don't have a choice. I think I'd prefer to use a URL that I have sighted than manually modify it and hope the new URL works nicely.
 
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Since the game hasn't been released here yet, I can't really comment except that I loved the comment about Hardcore gamers and being dropped in the middle of nowhere with no handholding. For me, that would be a huge BUY indicator!! :)
 
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Two Worlds just doesn't make a good first impression for some reason. Instead, it's one of those games that grows on you kind of slowly. About 10 hours in, I personally think this is a 9 out of 10 star title. However when I downloaded the demo a month ago, I uninstalled it within 20 minutes.

I also don't think there is any scaling going on; and if there is, it's hardly noticeable. It's pretty easy to get killed if you're sniffing around an area you're not ready for. It's not hardcore like, say, Wizardry 8, but it's definitely more difficult and involved than Oblivion. Overall this is one of the best action/CRPG's in quite a while, IMO.
 
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Two Worlds just doesn't make a good first impression for some reason. Instead, it's one of those games that grows on you kind of slowly. About 10 hours in, I personally think this is a 9 out of 10 star title./QUOTE]

Well, I hope for you that you can keep up the enthusiasm then! After 10 hours I was also quite happy with the game. The factions were still very much in play and the world still seemed endless and full of interesting stuff. Unfortunately the second half of the game seemed quite empty to me, and the factions ended up being completely irrelevant. I'm still happy that I played the game, but I certainly wouldn't award it 9/10 :)
 
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KasperFauerby: Well that's disappointing that your enthusiasm has faded. I hope I don't have the same experience. I'm still enjoying Two Worlds, and my 9/10 rating still stands. However I felt the same way about Oblivion and got tired of it about 20 hours in; hopefully that won't happen with Two Worlds.
 
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I also don't think there is any scaling going on; and if there is, it's hardly noticeable. It's pretty easy to get killed if you're sniffing around an area you're not ready for. It's not hardcore like, say, Wizardry 8, but it's definitely more difficult and involved than Oblivion. Overall this is one of the best action/CRPG's in quite a while, IMO.

Actually, you are right. It's my mistake.
The NPC do not scale. It took me about two minutes to kill a black bear in the beginning, at the end it went down to one or two necro power shot:).

However, the equipment is scaled. Depending on your level, you will see different armours and weapons. But I guess that is fine, it happens in most games.
The strange thing is that the bandits equipment goes with that too, and if you contrast it with Oblivion, you might end up with thinking that there is a level-scale for the npc as well.

This equipment scaling, however, is well documented at their web-site.

I've just finished the game yesterday, and the end was kinda disappointing.
I would have expected some nice cut-scene, but after finishing the bad guy (or the good ones), you are just sent to the main menu.
There are some other major turns in the game where I would have expected some cut-scenes, but no, I was just left with an empty feeling, and a note or conversation that something happened. Too sad.

I still consider this game better than Oblivion, but not in the ranks of PS:T or even VtM:Bl.
 
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pretty much everyone in this thread:

http://www.octopusoverlords.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=54178

has nice things to say. they also seem to suggest that enemies do not level, contrary to the post above?

I can't specifically cite concrete examples, but there seems to be a sense that the developers at least had some area that do level and others that don't. A generic wolf seems to take ~840 points of damage to kill as a max, and a silver wolf ~1240 and so on ... but you meet harder and harder enemies and they track you in terms of scaling for a bit.

I guess I'm saying that it feels like 'smart scaling'.
 
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Is there going to be a Watch review of this one then?
 
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