Two Worlds II - Call of the Tenebrae released

It's standalone, not integrated with the main game. You can import a character, or parcel out the big number of skill points they start you with.

I'm still not sure what I think about it. Ok for fans right now. I'm enjoying finding out how all these idiosyncratic systems work…

Originally Posted by Ovenall
Oh man you guy are hilarious. TW1 was a JOKE. Hilarious, terrible voice acting.

Oh cut it! I heart this a gazillion times and I will repeat it:

E. g. the main European market (the DACH countries) got a superb voice over starring the voice of James Bond - Dietmar Wunder who is one of the most prominent voice actors and audio book presenters in German speaking countries.

And not only he is a top notch voice artists - others involved were, too. Look:

Martina Treger = voice of Carrie-Anne Moss and Sharon Stone
Hans Jürgen Wolf = voice of Tim Curry and Patrick Steward
Christian Rode = voice of Michael Caine and Peter O’Toole

Hey, even Reiner Schöne was involved in pt. 2 - and you should know him as a celeb in the US who starred in TNG and B5 and some famous Broadway musicals.

So, Topware is a German company and it concentrates on continental European markets mostly. This is a very sensible thing to do, because you don't sell CRPGs in the UK and you only sell very few European games in the US.

Two Worlds I was never a joke - it was quite a good effort from a developer that was really trying.

I'll admit my bias, as I have before. I like the work of Russian and Eastern European devs. Next in line, I often like the work of German devs. I find they focus more on gameplay and mechanics.

As for TW1, it was again the focus on mechanics. I liked the character development. Yes, the translation, voice overs and story were perhaps not the best. But I can easily take that with a smile and find it charming when you give me good gameplay.

Edit: And I'm American, if you're curious….and it's really more of a preference than a bias.

Personally, I always liked the voices in Two Worlds.

That said, no one is equal to Patrick Steward. No one.

Originally Posted by Capt. Huggy Face
…I often like the work of German devs. I find they focus more on gameplay and mechanics.

I tend to agree. But I'd extend this sentiment to other European countries. PB, Arkane Studios, CD Projekt Red, and probably a few I can't remember right now… these devs kept the charm going that US based developers had back in the 80s and 90s.

I'm re-playing G2 Night of the Raven right now and once again I'm simply "floored" by the world and how well its crafted, how interesting it is to explore, and feels like a "little universe" simulator.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
I'm re-playing G2 Night of the Raven right now and once again I'm simply "floored" by the world and how well its crafted, how interesting it is to explore, and feels like a "little universe" simulator.

Yeah! I just finished G2 Gold yesterday. 91 hours (!) I couldn't believe how much detail they managed to fit into that world.

I'd say the first 2 Gothic games have the best crafted worlds of the open-world action RPG subgenre (maybe with Morrowind close if you count that as an action RPG) for me, personally. It's absolutely genius some of the things they thought of in the world design in those games.

Originally Posted by Fluent
It's absolutely genius some of the things they thought of in the world design in those games.

It is "genius" but G2 is also a product of very hard work. The level of detail is amazing… detail with NPC dialog, the world geography, gameplay mechanics. As a player, outcomes can be confusing because many outcomes are the result of numerous prior actions that aren't always clear (as they should be) … can't even imagine coding this. The game world is small relative to contemporary open world games (though still not that small) but it's density of content is amazing.

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
As a player, outcomes can be confusing because many outcomes are the result of numerous prior actions that aren't always clear

I actually like that, though. It adds a level of unpredictability and surprise when you aren't sure exactly how all of it is working together. In many RPGs today they pretty much spell out every detail for you at every turn, whether it's which dialogue options will trigger your skill checks (and how many points are needed, etc.) to a quest journal that spells out every possible option you can take. I appreciate that Gothic because it's the exact opposite of that spectrum. I wish more RPGs took that kind of approach today.

As for PB's genius, they created ideas and features in those games that still aren't done in many, if any, RPGs today. ELEX is suppose to be even more like Gothic mechanics-wise and less like Risen, so I'm really excited for that one.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I actually like that, though.

Me too!

That's what's up. Thought you were saying the game needed to be clearer.

I think ELEX could be special.

Hey Sir Brennus - interesting points about the German voice over which I hadn't considered before.

But….

Originally Posted by Sir_Brennus
you don't sell CRPGs in the UK and you only sell very few European games in the US.

What's your source for this? I thought good games did quite well on both markets?

Launch trailer:



How come? Well, this DLC is now offered as standalone:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/62…_the_Tenebrae/