Two Worlds

I must admit I do. Two Worlds is for me a free-form Diablo RPG.

Originally Posted by Asbjoern
I must admit I do. Two Worlds is for me a free-form Diablo RPG.

I'm trying to learn here, because I don't - what would cause association with that rather than the games I mention? But then I find more commonality between Gothic and Jedi Knight than Gothic and Diablo … maybe I'm just nuts that way

Sorry Mike, I have to agree with Asbjoern here.


And I'm somewhat surprised and even offended that you would use "Two Worlds" and "Gothic" in the same sentence.

I think Asbjoern is refering mostly to the combat aspect of the game, not the theme or game engine.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Sorry Mike, I have to agree with Asbjoern here.


And I'm somewhat surprised and even offended that you would use "Two Worlds" and "Gothic" in the same sentence.

I think Asbjoern is refering mostly to the combat aspect of the game, not the theme or game engine.

OK, but no one has answered the question:
- In Diablo and clones combat is 'click on enemy and actions are performed until death'.
- In Two Worlds, like the other games I mention, it is approach using movement keys and use action keys to attack until dead.

Truly I don't get it … I cannot see a single way that Two Worlds is more like Diablo than Gothic 3.

Originally Posted by txa1265
OK, but no one has answered the question:
- In Diablo and clones combat is 'click on enemy and actions are performed until death'.
- In Two Worlds, like the other games I mention, it is approach using movement keys and use action keys to attack until dead.

Truly I don't get it … I cannot see a single way that Two Worlds is more like Diablo than Gothic 3.

Mike, Even though one click = one attack in Two Worlds, it's still more like Diablo than any of the other games you mentioned. You have no control whatsoever over a sword swing in Two Worlds. You can't control the direction, you can't manually block, and you can't perform combos. You just click and he swings his sword.

I think another thing is the camera. In all the games you mentioned, the camera view always swings with the player, I wish there was an option to lock the view in Two Worlds that way.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I think Asbjoern is refering mostly to the combat aspect of the game, not the theme or game engine.

Yes, it is primarily the combat that for me gives associations to Diablo. It has a very hack'n'slashish feel and there isn't a lot of depth in it. I have this very alien and empty feeling after having played Two Worlds for a while. Just like I had when I played Diablo 2.
Even though Two Worlds contains many more aspects and it is not a poor game neither is it much more than mediocre.

Third person perspective and simple combat is what connects Two Worlds more to Diablo than to any other RPG I've played.

To put it in short, then Two Worlds is in my view a hack'n'slash RPG that tries to incorporate a free-form formula.

I don’t particularly like so-called ‘action RPGs’, for example Titan Quest bored me to tears, but I’m really enjoying this one. And… umm… I don’t know why. There’s nothing remarkably good about any individual aspect of it, and a few features are stand out bad, but yet… yet… it’s fun. The positive elements somehow add up to more than the sum of their parts.

The Good

• I've played about 20 hours so far and have yet to encounter one single bug or CTD.
• Character development is satisfying; while there’s no “wow” factor in any of the skills they do have a real and - more importantly - tangible effect on gameplay.
• Merchants sell items that are actually worth buying and therefore gold has real value, that’s a rarity in RPGs.
• Loot is well implemented, items are plentiful and frequently useful, plus, unlike Titan Quest and Sacred, enemies don’t drop tons of workless junk. The developers obviously put considerable thought into balancing this.
• The item combination feature, while not making a lick of real-world sense, works in gameplay terms and adds value to the looting process.
• Unlike many RPGs the difference between melee weapons types is not merely cosmetic. It’s fun to experiment with different tactics based on weapon type and character skills. Investing in the Berserk and Deadly Pirouette skills combined with a two handed axe is a very different experience from a sabre/shield Ironskin and Parry combo.
• The interface is clean and functional, the map is annotated with everything of importance and the quest journal is neatly organised by location. Everything is made clear but without any annoying handholding.
• Traps work, the damage factor feels about right, and they’re useful for getting out of tight situations. They’re not merely another kind of combat attack, but rather something worth saving for special occasions which is how I feel traps should be.

The Indifferent

• Magic is merely on par for this type of game, unremarkable either way.
• The graphics are poor, even on highest settings, in comparison to Oblivion or Gothic 3. However the engine performance is far superior to either of those games.
• The Voice acting isn’t good but neither is it really that bad. Bad voice acting, and I mean really bad voice acting, is the Death Knight in Beyond Divinity.
• I’m not sure what’s the point of the faction relations system. A couple fed-ex quests and the player is a living legend.

The Bad

• Thievery is horrible, horrible, and horrible. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason as to when NPCs can spot the player’s more dubious activities. It’s much worse than Oblivion’s ESP enabled guards.
• Missile combat is too weak in comparison to melee, magic or traps. Line of flight for arrows can be blocked by nothing more than a blade of grass (and often bears little relation to where the player is aiming), damage is too low when considering the bow’s draw back time, and most of the best armour sets don’t even allow the use of a bow.
• Horse control is every bit as bad as they say. For all practical purpose horses serve as little more than four legged containers.
• Quest rewards don’t match the difficult of the mission. You’ve slaughtered the legions of death within the caverns of almost certain doom? Well done, here’s less than the price of a single healing potion.
• Super monsters are often easier to kill than the grunts as their attacks are far too slow. They may be able to kill with one or two hits, but they’ll never actually hit thanks to our friend the dodge key.

A couple of quick points on the Big D v TW argument:
- You do have combos, JDR, they just aren't as visually evident. Every second and fourth click enacts a combo whose affect is based on the type of weapon you have. The problem is that most weapons don't have a very noticable change in the animations when the combo goes off. It's a reach, radius and speed change that is calc'ed behind the scenes. Definitely a design flaw.

- I have to agree with Mike on this one. It is not just click and forget attack style of D2. While not quite as involved as the G's or DL, it does reward positional tactics, timing, patience, etc. Aside from skill usage, which TW and D2 share, the only real tactics to D2 was to run away when the heat got too hot. Also, I think the melee skills are really well implemented to enhance the tactical experience with TW. The same cannot be said with D2. Melee oriented skills felt and played pretty much like ranged/spell skills, just with different packaging.

@mud:Arghh! Not another horse-hater! I just don't get it. I think the horse thing is brilliant in this game. It's the first time I've felt like I'm really riding a horse. And I love how it requires a whole new set of tactics to fight from horseback. I realize there's some clipping kinks that could use some help, but other than that I think it's a great example of why I think TW succeeds as a game: a simple but really fun and unique game mechanic that adds to the overall experience.

To further comment on positional differences, while AoE spells in all RPG's have an impact, attacks are usually one-on-one. However, in Two Worlds I am able to line up my enemies and take out as many as four or five lower level enemies and even two or three higher level enemies in a single flurry.

Chamr - I have to admit to being a 'horse h4t3r' as well … maybe I've justed played too many PSP racing games recently …

Originally Posted by txa1265
Chamr - I have to admit to being a 'horse h4t3r' as well … maybe I've justed played too many PSP racing games recently …

Gahh!! Is it just me? Aren't there any other TW'ers out there that love the horse gimmick? Anyone?

You should love them just for carrying you up hills with ease you'd normally be struggling up on foot! *grumble grumble*

Originally Posted by chamr
Gahh!! Is it just me? Aren't there any other TW'ers out there that love the horse gimmick? Anyone?

You should love them just for carrying you up hills with ease you'd normally be struggling up on foot! *grumble grumble*

I like the horse.

Originally Posted by chamr
Gahh!! Is it just me? Aren't there any other TW'ers out there that love the horse gimmick? Anyone?

I am the Sisyphus type, so I have found that I can manage it in the open, but I found two horses in a camp near Ashos (sp?) and had to leave them because I'd never have navigated them out …

Originally Posted by Asbjoern
. I have this very alien and empty feeling after having played Two Worlds for a while. Just like I had when I played Diablo 2.
Even though Two Worlds contains many more aspects and it is not a poor game neither is it much more than mediocre.

That perfectly sums up how I feel about TW.

I don't think it's a bad game at all, it just doesn't grab me the way a Gothic or Elder Scrolls does. The game seems to have a nice flow to it, but it doesn't have that level of atmosphere that pulls me in like those other games.

Originally Posted by chamr
@mud:Arghh! Not another horse-hater! I just don't get it. I think the horse thing is brilliant in this game.

I hit right and it turns left, I hit left and it turns right, I hit forward and it veers off ninety degrees and attempts to mate with a nearby rock formation. Well slap my thighs and call me mister picky but I'll stick with Mount and Blade for my cavalry trills.

Originally Posted by MudsAnimalFriend
I hit right and it turns left, I hit left and it turns right, I hit forward and it veers off ninety degrees and attempts to mate with a nearby rock formation. Well slap my thighs and call me mister picky but I'll stick with Mount and Blade for my cavalry trills.

Wha…?? Are you playing the PC version? patch 1.5? I have no such problems. At all. Not even close. The basic controls work just fine. Always. Sounds like you're on a pre-1.5 version.

The one quirky thing is the horse does veer or stop when confronted by a large obstacle, but I think that's realistic, not a bug. A horse should not charge straight into a tree or rock just because I tell it to.

Originally Posted by chamr
The one quirky thing is the horse does veer or stop when confronted by a large obstacle, but I think that's realistic, not a bug. A horse should not charge straight into a tree or rock just because I tell it to.

A real horse will not stop when confronted by a tree or a boulder any more than a human will stop upon encountering a lamppost of fire hydrant, both will simply alter course slightly before continuing on their previous headings. Real horses do not require micromanagement to follow a given direction at a required speed.

In contrast Two World's equine locomotion appears to be based on the principle of Brownian motion. They veer wildly all over the place in reaction to non-existent barriers never mind the real obstacles. As I'm playing version 1.5 - where horses cannot even follow open roads without issues - I can only shudder when I speculate what version 1.0 was like.

Originally Posted by chamr
Wha…?? Are you playing the PC version? patch 1.5? I have no such problems. At all. Not even close. The basic controls work just fine. Always. Sounds like you're on a pre-1.5 version.

Sounds like theres somthing fishy here. I did extensive testing (demo 1.5) with the horse and it rode just fine on both onroad and offroad. But then there are ppl who say they cant make it ride on road even…

Originally Posted by zakhal
Sounds like theres somthing fishy here. I did extensive testing (demo 1.5) with the horse and it rode just fine on both onroad and offroad. But then there are ppl who say they cant make it ride on road even…

I think that the controls for the horse are more sensitive and react slower than the controls for general movement. When moving your character everything works typical for an action game. But steering the horse isn't like driving in a racing game - everything has a lag time, which does make sense. I think that the additional camera axis having an impact on the horse where it doesn't have the same impact with the character in terms of movement and control really screws people up.

Not that I really enjoy horse travel much … I'm just understanding it better as I progress.

I generally keep a horse nearby as an extra chest and for quick getaways. I don't find regeants bery well from horseback and I love collecting stuff so I use the horse for road travel and park them by teleports. This way I always have a horse nearby and don't have to teleport back to town so often.

I restarted again, (a terrible habit of mine), and I'm playing on difficult level. Wow! It's a totally different game. I never rush into a campground wailing away. You'll die in seconds, at least with levels ~20. Two bandit archers are living death. You must avoid their fire because they are all masters of multi-shot and quick draw. 5 arrows hitting you at once is instant death. In normal mode creatures like cyclops, giants, the large praying mantis thing, etc would wipe me out if they hit me 2-3 times. This time, you're dead in one hit. If you get distracted by the mites for even a second, you're toast. I'm level 20 and went into the Old Mine. It has death knights inside. One hit from those and it's time to reload. There are four of them inside. I finally gave up fighting them and summoned a steel golem. I was cocky and decided to get in the last blow on the final death knight. Unfortunately, my summons ran out right as I was running up to hit him For those who haven't faced death knights, they're not undead. They're immune to lightning and turn undead.

I was about to buy the collector's edition the other day,but a friend of mine told me that TW is the definition of a "buggy" game and therefore should leave it for about a year or so,because it needs a looooooot of patches in order to be playable.Is this true or the 1.5 version is playable enough?