Two Worlds - Impressions @ GameSpot

The next site to toss up some Two Worlds impressions is GameSpot. Here's an interesting bit:

Two Worlds will also have a deep role-playing system that is based primarily on open-ended character skills. You will need to choose a starting character class but will then be free to advance your character in any line of skills. These skills include picking locks, using various weapons, or casting magic spells from one of five schools of magic, which include elemental sorceries and the dark arts of necromancy. Interestingly, necromancy--the magic of raising the dead and manipulating their undead spirits--won't exist in the world at first; you'll need to undertake a quest to restore it to the world by reactivating a set of ancient towers. If you choose not to restore necromancy, then it simply won't exist throughout the entire game, and you'll never have to swing your sword at a single skeleton or zombie. Fortunately, the game will also feature "skill trainer" characters who can help you learn new skills and unlearn those you've chosen but don't like.

More information.

that has got to be about the most useless review i've ever read. i can't even tell if they played the game at all, or watched anyone else play it, or just watched a couple avi's on the site.

nothing about quality or performance.

but hey, that's about what i'd expect of gamespot so…

Originally Posted by araczynski
that has got to be about the most useless review i've ever read. i can't even tell if they played the game at all, or watched anyone else play it, or just watched a couple avi's on the site.

nothing about quality or performance.

but hey, that's about what i'd expect of gamespot so…

Well it is NOT a review but preview. Theres a big difference. Previews are more than often useless.

Originally Posted by zakhal
Previews are more than often useless.

Two word proof - Dungeon Lords.

Only *one* preview expressed ANY reservations … and they got eviscerated for it!

Originally Posted by txa1265
Two word proof - Dungeon Lords.

Only *one* preview expressed ANY reservations … and they got eviscerated for it!

hehe, i think i might've been the only person in the world who enjoyed that game granted, it was missing a lot, but i still had fun with it. the lack of furniture made it easier to not get caught up on stuff when you're trying to move around

Originally Posted by araczynski
hehe, i think i might've been the only person in the world who enjoyed that game granted, it was missing a lot, but i still had fun with it. the lack of furniture made it easier to not get caught up on stuff when you're trying to move around

It wasn't a matter of enjoying the game - that is a separate issue and my scoring of the game and general fun I had despite the flaws caught some laughs at my expense.

My point is that for a game that was so terribly not ready for release, that had so many balance and content issues, previews going right up to the release were almost universally glowing - even those featuring hands-on looks.

Previews are generally more about salesmanship than journalism. Even the so-called "hands-on" previews often involve a dev leading the article writer around on a leash, so he/she is unable to delve into all the goopy broken mess lying just beneath the surface. Another popular tactic is to drop the hands-on person into the middle of a heavily-populated and well fleshed out area, while the rest of the game might be a barren wasteland….

The only way to really judge a game (and the only thing I really pay attention to when considering whether to lay down my hard-earned cash) is a thorough critique of the actual game from start-to-finish. Even then, I tend to wait for a number of those reviews, so as not to be swayed by the writer's bias towards a particular genre or developer.

That said, Two Worlds "could" be fun. However, ambitious CRPG projects take a long time to make and a much longer time to perfect. So, I'm hopeful, but cautious on this one.

Originally Posted by araczynski
hehe, i think i might've been the only person in the world who enjoyed that game

Naw… make that one of two.

Still fire it up from time to time. Copious disk space and the "generous" feature of no disk check make it all too easy…

You can "unlearn" skills? I keep getting the feeling that this game is going to be so "newbie" friendly that it will turn out to be a bit of a joke.

Originally Posted by araczynski
that has got to be about the most useless review i've ever read. i can't even tell if they played the game at all, or watched anyone else play it, or just watched a couple avi's on the site.

nothing about quality or performance.

but hey, that's about what i'd expect of gamespot so…

My thoughts exactly. I never trust previews or reviews from lamespot.

I also enjoyed DL. So it basically boils down to is never trust anybody else's opinion but your own.

No kidding. This may be a perfectly fine game, but that is indeed a dorky sort of preview.

"..choose a starting character class but will then be free to advance your character in any line of skills." and so the purpose of picking a starting class would be…?

UNlearn skills??? Is there no "new game" option?

"…and you'll never have to swing your sword at a single skeleton or zombie. "

Blasphemy! I suppose there are no rats either.

I think as a preview, this article serves its purpose. Show me a preview that has more meat on it. Cue several people linking websites with excellent preview articles.

Anyway, this is why previews don't interest me necessarily. It did tell me that they'll have a persistent world where damage done to the environment stays and that it will have no zoning, so it was worth reading it.

Originally Posted by Decado
You can "unlearn" skills? I keep getting the feeling that this game is going to be so "newbie" friendly that it will turn out to be a bit of a joke.

that's a good point. the last time I rode my bicycle I I forgot you had to have velocity to stay balanced so I used my extra life skill points to figure that out. unfortunately, it was taking up valuable points from my automobile skill and I needed to learn to fly a plane on my next life level and that requires a skill of 8 in auto. fortunately I took it back from bicycle and all was saved.

Originally Posted by Decado
You can "unlearn" skills? I keep getting the feeling that this game is going to be so "newbie" friendly that it will turn out to be a bit of a joke.

Reincarnation mud style would be great. I havent seen or remember many rpgs that offered unlearn. Beyond divinity had it but it was totally screwed because they just made every skill so expensive that you were basicly forced to do it (which also costed a lot of money).

Also since they had unlearn they thought they were able to skip skill balancing which resulted with totally useless/worthless/stupid skills like one for each type of arrow (poison,slashing,ect). In the end the skillset looked like it was done by som 12-year old designing his first rpg.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
that's a good point. the last time I rode my bicycle I I forgot you had to have velocity to stay balanced so I used my extra life skill points to figure that out. unfortunately, it was taking up valuable points from my automobile skill and I needed to learn to fly a plane on my next life level and that requires a skill of 8 in auto. fortunately I took it back from bicycle and all was saved.

Thats exactly how I felt playing beyond divinity.