Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress released

Drithius said:

There's nothing on Amazon.com or even Amazon.co.uk. I hope this doesn't become yet another case of having to wait a year for a North American product release.

p.s. Besides Gogamer.com which is STILL down, what is another good importing game site?

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I'll be very surprised if the Velvet Edition gets released here. I already plan on importing mine.

It's been so long since I've seen anyone mention GoGamer.com that I actually forgot about that site. I wonder what their deal is…

joxer said:

I just wanna know if mobs respawn in the expansion. Because the reason I didn't buy the game was… Um… I kinda forgot it this very moment… Ah! Got it! It was respawns!

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In Two Worlds 2 main game, there's only respawn in Savannah region. Only local wildlife respawns in this region. But there's no respawn in other areas, or in dungeons. If respawn is a big issue for you while travelling Savannah (like me), I have a fan made tweak that disable respawning competely. After this little tweak, the only respawning I've ever experienced was quest related ones.

DeepO said:

Two Worlds 2 has much bigger issues than respawns.
Actually, iirc, respawns were quite mild in the game and only used for easily ignored wildlife.
Now, utterly meaningless (and limited anyway) exploration, rigidly linear (level scaled) loot progression, bland writing and general lack of interesting story elements, or unimaginative quest design, those are some reasons .

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In quest design I'm not agree with you. Quests are generally fun and include some twists and turns to make things interesting. There're also woven into the gameworld nicely. For example you think it's a simple kill and fetch quest. But while pursuing that quest, you see that truth is totally different. Apart from a few, the quests don't present the player choice but also there're few simple kill that, fetch me that quests with no story behind it. Quest dialogues are well written, but unfortunately they suffer from mediocre translation and voice acting.

I'm agree with you in exploration part. While the game present us fairly large areas to explore, random items in the chests make exploration meaningless and uninteresting. And if you're a hardcore gamer like me who wants to see everything in the game, it becomes boring for a while.

Gokyabgu said:

In quest design I'm not agree with you. Quests are generally fun and include some twists and turns to make things interesting. There're also woven into the gameworld nicely. For example you think it's a simple kill and fetch quest. But while pursuing that quest, you see that truth is totally different. Apart from a few, the quests don't present the player choice but also there're few simple kill that, fetch me that quests with no story behind it. Quest dialogues are well written, but unfortunately they suffer from mediocre translation and voice acting.

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I think you´re talking more about writing and presentation than about design.
I´d agree they did a solid job at differentiating side quests from each other story-wise (though I found most of the quests unremarkable in this aspect still), but design-wise, there aren´t many quests with choices and different outcomes, quests with multiple ways throughout or multiple entry points, or quests which require some non-hand held work from player.
This wouldn´t be much of a problem in an exploration driven game like Morrowind, where a simple "bring me a dwemer tube from a ruin" quest very likely results in player discovering many other points of interest with something else to do and find, or even finding the tube in entirely different location, but in Two Worlds 2 all that exploration nets you are locked doors, generic hostile camps or utterly generic dungeons with generic random level scaled loot if you´re lucky. As a result, Two Worlds 2 is very strongly a quest driven affair and given that, quality of its quests simply isn´t sufficient in my opinion.
As I see it, strictly design-wise, the quests are repetitive, majority of them take 10-15 minutes to finish and doing so very likely constitutes most of the playtime (at least once one realizes how pointless exploration in this game is).
As a side note, the game is kinda deceptive in these matters, because the eastern half of the savannah island initially shows a promise of meaningful exploration and quest design around getting a pass is more elaborate than pretty much everything after that.

For the record, I did enjoy most of the game´s mechanics and how smoothly it played which is likely the reason I managed to finish it.

As for the expansion, I thought one of the goals of it was supposed to be fixing the original game´s dismal exploration aspect to some extent (I still have to laugh how utterly meaningless the boat is, even though I rather liked the mechanics of it), but since instead of being integrated into the main campaign it plays as a standalone, obviously my assumption was wrong.
I think it´s a pity, because imo the game was in a desperate need of an add-in á la NotR.

DeepO said:

Two Worlds 2 has much bigger issues than respawns.
Actually, iirc, respawns were quite mild in the game and only used for easily ignored wildlife.

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Well, sorry about that, but you didn't persuade me to buy it.
I just don't want to play another game with endless respawns that can't be stopped by any means. And honestly I'm tired of respawning mobs games that are placed in the game just because developer can't think of better means to keep me occupied. If I wanted grinding, I'd play MMOs.
So cya all in Two Worlds 3. If they remove respawns.

Um, there's no respawns except for wild animals which are more there for atmosphere and (optional) alchemy ingredient gathering than anything else. There's even less of that in Pirates by the way. Almost none because there's fairly little in the way of wild animals and most are docile or stationary and easily avoided like the poison plants. I'd also note the respawning wildlife for the most part are very low level and absolutely not suitable at all for grinding except in the very beginning of the game.

These hoardes and hoardes of respawning mobs ala MMOs that are being described do not exist in the game. Not that I have come across.

As for the exploration aspect, I think it's exaggerated to say the game locks you out of all of it. Some areas, yes, but I still spent a lot of time exploring in this game and the expansion and found plenty of stuff off the beaten path or side distractions from the main quests I was on to do.

joxer said:

Well, sorry about that, but you didn't persuade me to buy it.
I just don't want to play another game with endless respawns that can't be stopped by any means. And honestly I'm tired of respawning mobs games that are placed in the game just because developer can't think of better means to keep me occupied. If I wanted grinding, I'd play MMOs.
So cya all in Two Worlds 3. If they remove respawns.

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I think you didn't see my previous post. Only wild life of Savannah reswawns. And here's the tweak to end the respawning completely:

ZeroRespawns.WD

Install the game and latest patch. Then download the file I linked above and copy it into the 'WDFiles' folder in the game's folder (which must be Reality Pump\Two Worlds 2)

That's it, every animal you kill stays dead until the end of the game.

By the way, I installed the expansion last night. But Directx 10 version gives an error massage. Massage is in my language. But it involves with createDXGIFactory1 and dxgi.dll. It's weird because I've played and finished the main game in Directx10 mode.

Gokyabgu said:

I think you didn't see my previous post. Only wild life of Savannah reswawns. And here's the tweak to end the respawning completely:

ZeroRespawns.WD

Install the game and latest patch. Then download the file I linked above and copy it into the 'WDFiles' folder in the game's folder (which must be Reality Pump\Two Worlds 2)

That's it, every animal you kill stays dead until the end of the game.

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I would even say that being able to kill all animals in the world and never see any again is immersion breaking so I understand that design decision. Still, it's nice to have the option with that mod for, ahem, anti-respawning zealots.

By the way, I installed the expansion last night. But Directx 10 version gives an error massage. Massage is in my language. But it involves with createDXGIFactory1 and dxgi.dll. It's weird because I've played and finished the main game in Directx10 mode.

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Odd. Definitely didn't notice that. I'm running the Steam English version here. You could try emailing support@zuxxez.com. They're usually good at responding.

I have to say though that I don't notice a whole lot of difference vs running DX10 or DX9 versions.

Motoki said:

Still, it's nice to have the option with that mod for, ahem, anti-respawning zealots.

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I'm one of them But people seem to love this respawning thing. Respawning can not be much of a problem if it's not exaggerated. For ex, Divinity 2:FoV's respawning didn't bother me. I like Sacred 2 and played it much. But I abandoned the game at some point because I was tired of endless respawning (plus level scaling). I searched internet trying to find a no-respawning mod, but I couldn't find any. On the contrary people made mods that increase the spawn rate.

Motoki said:

Odd. Definitely didn't notice that. I'm running the Steam English version here. You could try emailing support@zuxxez.com. They're usually good at responding.

I have to say though that I don't notice a whole lot of difference vs running DX10 or DX9 versions.

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It looked to me DX10 graphics are much clearer than DX9, but it can be my imagination. I think I have to live with DX9 mode for the expansion.

youngneil1 over at Inside Two Worlds is working on a mod that combines the landmasses of the main campaign and the pirates expansion into one world and has made some progress:

http://www.insidetwoworlds.com/showthread.php?t=33721&page=2

It's still in the alpha stage at this point so everything is probably not working perfectly yet, but definitely a project worth keeping an eye on if you have Two World 2 and the expansion.

He also has managed to mod the multiplayer maps into the big island so this a project worth watching.

Hmm, saw this post over at the Zuxxez forums:

hhm… I've finished the single player campaign already, but this video is good for getting some insight as to how the english version sounds and "feels" like.
To be frank, I don't like the voices, they're stale and kinda lifeless - rather a disappointment as normally the original language has the better speakers (and better lip synchronity). Ah well… I'll do my next run on PotFF in German again then
Thanks, you saved me a futile new install in English

P.S.: Zuzzex/Topware, please relay my compliments to the German synchronisation team, they did an outstanding job on both TW2 and the addon. Gives me back some faith in our voice actors

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Anyone else play the German version? This kind of confirms my suspicions that the Euro publishers do a better job on the non English dubs.

So I got to the end of Pirates last night. I clocked in well over 30 hours, but admittedly I get distracted easily, like to stop and smell the roses and yes spent a fair bit of time in the UI brewing potions and such.

Overall I really enjoyed this expansion and though it was well worth it to me. It is kind of uneven in spots. If anything, I think it's sort of the opposite of front loading as there are some aspects of it that are kind of bleh in the beginning but seem to get better by the end. The voice acting for one, or maybe I just got used to it.

I did get a bit lonely in the game and wish I could have had a companion. I know some people hate them but I like to have them in games. I thought they could have done a little more with the pirates too.

The first half of the game in some ways is very different than the second half. By the end you get a lot of story stuff. It's not your usual 'save the world from some evil guy' but a very personal story. Almost a 'Charles Dickens' medieval style. :lol:

I read that Reality Pump was original going to do a DLC but then combined that with some ideas they were tossing around for Two Worlds 3 and came up with this expansion. I liked the overall story a lot but kind of wish now they had applied that to a more fleshed out and populated world, but they did give an in story reason for the lack of people and it sort of fit with the isolated feel of the setting and story.

I think the length was a good one for me too. I don't have as much time as I used to so a 30 hour-ish game is a good length for me to feel like I accomplished something without it dragging on and on.

To sum up, the expansion, while not perfect was quite enjoyable to me. It's basically more of the same though with some improvements and (imho) a better story so if you have issues with the main game you probably will have much of the same issues with the expansion.

Thanks for the mini-review.

Could you kindly good sir address my previous questions from page 1 of this thread? I'd really appreciate it. Enquiring minds wish to know more details, without spoiling it for others of course.

When you say the story is personal in an almost "Charles Dickens" medieval style, I'm assuming you mean there's Oliver Twist or rags to riches like elements to the plot or that there's a seriously graphic portrayal of squalid living conditions for every day people, quasi A-Tale of Two Cities style.

More like A Christmas Carol actually, but that part happens later on in the quest near the end, not in the beginning.

Let's see…

re: Dungeons

They were okay. Some of them reminded me of Morrowind a bit, dank caves with large mushrooms etc and there were a couple of smugglers dens. I wouldn't say they were varied too much, but most of the expansion takes place in a confined area so that kind of makes sense to me.

I was okay with them, but I am probably not a good person to ask about it because dungeons are dungeons to me. Most of them I just go 'Eh, it was a dungeon', so I am not really a true dungeon connoisseur.

re: Tone of the Pirates

I never finished Gothic 2 or got to the pirate parts so again, bad person to ask. The tone of them in this game varies a bit though. There's only a few of them, but one is very silly and sort of comic relief while the others are a bit more serious. I thought it was a good balance and wasn't all over the top ARRR ARRR or anything but being Two Worlds there was still some humor.

re: How does the quest compare to the main quest

I liked it a lot. I think it compares pretty well to the main quest, if not better. I do feel though, like I mentioned that it starts out kind of bland and vague but gets better the further you get into. By the end I really liked it and thought it was a much better overall story than the one in the main game.

re: Choice and Consequence

Honestly, there's not much. Maybe a couple instances here and there but it's pretty much like the main game that it's not the norm. I don't think overall this is a choice and consequence game.

There are, however, three possible endings based on the last choice you make. Two of them are almost the same, but with a significant difference and the last one does tack on just a bit more with another cinema scene. None of them are so major though that it would be anything that would need to be carried over to future games, it just changes what you decide to do and how your journey on the islands ends.

Gokyabgu said:

I think you didn't see my previous post. Only wild life of Savannah reswawns. And here's the tweak to end the respawning completely:

ZeroRespawns.WD

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OMG Goky, marry me!!!
Noone else managed to get me cooked that fast.


No Diablo, no grinding MMO = I'll now definetly give this game a try.

JDR and anyone else interested in pre-ordering the international Velvet edition from Zuxxez: it's currently on sale for 20% off.

https://secure.zuxxez.com/shop_new/...ucts_id=181&osCsid=k8kphupperve02e7hsuhvsc7v6

Thanks for the link Drithius. Any idea about shipping costs? I was hoping I wouldn't have to go through the sign-up & order process before finding that out.

$45 + $14 and change to ship to NY, so $59 total. Overall, not too terrible. Of course, that doesn't figure in the couple bucks that my credit card will charge me for the international exchange fee.

Huh? Where are you seeing $45?

It's showing $53.55 for me, and that's after the 20% discount. Unless I'm missing something here...