Two Worlds II - Thoughts / First Impressions

Yep, just gamers posting in threads. I never go with what "reviewers" say. To be honest, most reviewers are just average Joes with a website. Their opinion is worth no more or less than a forum poster's and can be of questionable bias. I'd rather read forums like this one and Quarter to Three and see what folks really think. I'm not reading very many good reviews. Most are meh or even slightly complaining. The aggregate is from my readings, not some site that tells me what to think

Me just blabbing: If I were not me and came to this site to form an opinion on Fallout New Vegas, I would ignore reviews from obvious fanboys like crpgnut and also reviews from those who bash Bethesda or Obsidian. I'd read reviews from neutral gamers and get their aggregate score, which is basically garnered from my impression of what they were saying good or bad. It is totally unscientific, but it works well for me!

Most reviews so far has been very good indeed, also a lot of very happy customers on the official forums and on most other forums i read to.. There are a few (and loud) that arent happy that you cant explore the whole map in SP (like me, hehe), but overall most people seem to really like it.

Looking forward to the next patch, which i heard is supposed to come out before christmas..

I'm starting Chapter 3 with around 40 hours on the clock, no idea in real time… I'm certainly not rushing

I also disagree about the sidequests. I thought most of them were good. There is some filler too of course. I agree the pacing of the main quest is a weak/odd and needed better writing to carry it. Overall though, I'd strongly recommend it.

I hope it does well in the US - the absence of competition from New Vegas, The Dragon Knight, Arcania and even the Witcher's pre-orders should all help it, and by then it should have been patched somewhat.

I've no idea if the multiplayer is any good, but presumably it's a plus for some people.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Yep, just gamers posting in threads. I never go with what "reviewers" say. To be honest, most reviewers are just average Joes with a website. Their opinion is worth no more or less than a forum poster's and can be of questionable bias.

Ok, that's fine, though the same could be said vice versa. I was just wondering where you were getting your numbers, that's all. Sounds like they are your opinion of selected others' opinions.

If you want my opinion, I think reviews and gamer impressions can both be valuable sources of information about whether I might like a game. I don't take either as the arbiter of truth but try to judge how closely the reviewer/gamer matches my taste in games — the way I respond to games, the things I enjoy, the things that bug me, etc.

If the gamer/reviewer seems to be a close match to my personal taste, that is an opinion I take seriously. If not, it's in one ear and out the other.

Nearly completed the game with my 2nd character now - a mage. I really like the magic system, very flexible and fun! The only drawback is that mana regeneration doesn't scale (even at rank 10 it's only around 100 mana/sec, which is hopeless considering manapools can pass 20.000 with ease).

Other than that it's pretty amazing to be honest. Very creative. Means you can build all sorts of hybrids (battle mages etc).

There's definitely some great exploration RPG fun here. I won't rehash the positives.

But the interface, in particular the inventory screens, are disappointing. I was really impressed by the UI/inventory of TW1, the crafting screen etc, it was all really well put together. Now there are these huge icons, AFAIK there's no 'ragdoll' which is step down for equipping your character. I miss stacking items as well. I know the new system is a refinement and stacking items into a new piece of gear is kind of ridiculous but I really liked it. Breaking down items is cool but takes forever, especially with an extra dialog box confirming. Or is there a way to select multiple items and break em all down at once?

Not that I know of. You have to right click and select "Dismantle item" or some such thing. Rather tedious to say the least. Especially considering upgrading items is irrelevant as better ones tend to be available pretty often (except in a few cases).

You can atlest remove the dialog box in the interface settings. Scroll down ther and ther should be a optiopn fore it atlest in the pc version.

I thought the UI was going to be a poor console effort but using it it's much better than I expected - it responds to the mouse wheel and mouseover and you can click between different screens… it could be much worse. I think it needs some streamlining rather than smaller icons. A 'dismantle everything but the best I can use', or 'dismantle everything like this' button is probably the kind of thing people want. Or in the alchemy screen, let me brew more than a single potion before having to reselect the recipe etc.

Do the map and minimap use differnt symbols for the same thing? E.g. altars and teleports? That seems like a bug. Or did I imagine that?

I've spent quite awhile in TW2 and while I initially really enjoyed it, I am finding myself getting more and more bored with it recently. I kind of feel like picking F:NV back up instead to be honest, but I want to power through this to the end.

There does not appear to be any compelling reason to complete side quests. Some of them are interesting, but a lot of them seem rather pointless unless you need some more auras.

Lockpicking gets REALLY old after awhile… especially now that almost every lock in the game was automatically upgraded to master lock (I assume due to my level). I still wouldn't mind so much, but each container seems to contain more of the same items I've already seen dozens of times. Loot variety is certainly not this game's strong point.

Overall, its a visually appealing game that plays well but for me personally fails to pull me in and keep my attention. Several times I have had time to play and decided I just didn't feel like it.

This kept my interest longer than Divinity 2 DKS at least (lost interest in Maxos Tower, doubt i'm coming back to it) but i'm awaiting the new patch and new mods (some are starting to show up now, like better inventory screen).

When will the reviews be pouring in for this game? It's been out for more than two weeks in Europe now, hasn't it? Why are there so few reviews?

Originally Posted by Thaurin
When will the reviews be pouring in for this game? It's been out for more than two weeks in Europe now, hasn't it? Why are there so few reviews?

It's only officially out in primarily non-English speaking countries. Reviewers may have their hands tied if they are in an area waiting for the Southpeak published version. I would assume it will be January before you see many official, non-German, reviews.

Originally Posted by Kardiophylax
It's only officially out in primarily non-English speaking countries. Reviewers may have their hands tied if they are in an area waiting for the Southpeak published version. I would assume it will be January before you see many official, non-German, reviews.

But there are plenty of European review sites, I would imagine? I didn't think it was only out in Germany, at least Wikipedia lists a European date of 12 November. I haven't seen it in stores here in The Netherlands yet, but I assume it's available. I mean, there should be some sites reviewing it then, right? Do we have to wait for a NA release for that??

It's at 87/84 on Metacritic, from about 11 reviews.

Originally Posted by Alistair
It's at 87/84 on Metacritic, from about 11 reviews.

Only 6 reviews from critics for the PC version, 5 for Xbox 360 version. Still no reviews from major gaming sites that I know, like Eurogamer (well, does Eurogamer Italy count? ). Go review it already European sites!!

Well, German mag "Gamestar" gives it a "Gold Award" and 85 points.
I think, their main criticism - or t least one of their main criticisms - is the UI.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I'd read reviews from neutral gamers and get their aggregate score, which is basically garnered from my impression of what they were saying good or bad. It is totally unscientific, but it works well for me!

I prefer to just identify a few people on forums who either consistently like the games I like or consistently dislike them / like clearly terrible games and then wait to see what they think. I don't really need an objective set of aggregated neutral opinions, I'm interested in whether I'd like a game, not whether it's actually a good game.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Well, German mag "Gamestar" gives it a "Gold Award" and 85 points.
I think, their main criticism - or t least one of their main criticisms - is the UI.

Surprised by that - the UI is fine IMO. It could be improved of course but I'd say the main criticism is the pacing/delivery of the main plot and some of the side quests.

Yes, that, too.
According to that article.