Two Worlds 2 'Review'

TheMadGamer

SasqWatch
Original Sin Donor
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Date: 09/20/2011
Game: Two Worlds 2 (TW2)
What is This: A Player’s ‘Review’
Genre: RPG
Developer: Reality Pump
Publisher: SouthPeak Games
Platform: PC
Format: PC DVD (Collector’s Edition)
Version: 1.2 (last few hours played using 1.3)
Time Played: 40 Hours
Play Status: Finished the Main Quest
My Score: 6.75 out of 10.0
Metacritic: 76 out of 100

PRELIMINARY
I started an early impressions piece a few months back. I’ve taken that same piece and substantially edited and expanded it to become what this is – a player’s ‘review’ (for lack of a better word). For the ‘thousands’ of you who read my earlier impressions =) you may experience a bit of déjà vu – but I feel that I have modified this text enough to warrant another reading for those of you who like this sort of stuff.

A COMMENT ON THE MARKETING OF TWO WORLDS 2
I’ve been gaming since the mid 70s (which qualifies me as an old fart) and I have never witnessed such a bizarre release of a game as TW2. Even finding a PC copy of Ultima 3 was easier. For those of you who were gaming when all computer stores were ‘mom and pop’ outfits, you know such endeavors required lengthy bike rides to far and away places and typically resulted in the anti-climax that the ‘store’ didn’t even have an extra copy you could buy. Announcements hit the net that TW2 was out. Then it wasn’t out. Then it was out. Then not out. Out, not out, on and on – it was dizzying and nauseating for those of anxious to stuff our hard-earned dollars into the pockets of an apparently unwilling SouthPeak Games.

THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION
I liked the game enough to go ahead and buy the Collector’s Edition (and NO, that is NOT me in the video). I also bought it to support Reality Pump because I think they have real potential to create much better ‘sandbox’ style RPGs in the future. The box and packaging are fun. The content is pretty good but didn’t include a printed game manual – which is the one thing it really should have included.

TW2 STRATEGY GUIDE
I buy strategy guides for my favorite games. I do so not because I like to be led by the nose from A to Z while I play. I buy them because I am a game collector and strategy guides are a great compliment to my core collection. I really like the idea that the developers provided most of the content for the Strategy Guide for TW2. But there is one glaring omission in the guide – there is no section at all that discusses armor. Strategy guides should include information about this and all other equip-able/usable inventory items found in the game. Also, since the game does not come with a printed manual, it would have been a nice touch if the Strategy guide included the full text of the game’s PDF manual.

INTRODUCTION
Overall, I enjoyed playing TW2. It is one of those rare gems that occasionally and oftentimes unexpectedly emerge from the endless fog of shallow RPGs and first person shooters with so-called ‘RPG elements.’ TW2 is not only a substantial improvement over the first game, if not in terms of breadth, then definitely in terms of content, but it is also a game that is clearly a product of intimate craftsmanship on the part of the developers.

THE USER INTERFACE (UI)
Regrettably, the UI for TW2 isn’t the greatest. Although, once you get the hang of the UI, it isn’t terrible and gets the job done. Still, I can’t help but feel that it should have been ‘cooked’ a bit longer to give it the polish the game deserves. Further exasperating the UI is poor documentation and outright omissions of functions that should be in the manual but aren’t.

VISUALS
I’m the first to be suspicious about any CRPG that looks too pretty. Typically, pretty graphics are a telltale sign of shallow gameplay (see Arcania: Gothic 4). But since this isn’t the case with TW2, I offer my kudos with the visual and overall art direction. The game world is beautiful and the character models are above average (a tad stiff but still very good). I enjoy the lush look of the world – even running through tall grass is amazing to look at.

My singular criticism is the blur-effect for geography that is in the distance. It’s not even that I don’t like that from an artistic standpoint – it’s just that it’s VERY hard on my eyes. My eyes perceive the blur effect as not seeing clearly and leads to eye strain and headaches if I play long enough. I’m unsure what the technical jargon is for this blur effect, but it would be nice if it was something one could turn on and off on the PC.

MUSIC
The music is very good although more tracks would have been better. If you linger in a particular region for a long time, the music tends to get a little stale. Though when you discover a new region the new musical tracks associated with that region stick out and are quite good.

SOUNDS
Sound effects are excellent – it seems wherever you are you hear what you would be hearing if you were actually there - buzzing insects in the savanna, dripping of water in caves, the roar of a cheetah that has just leapt toward you from out of the tall grass. All good stuff.

VOICES
I’m somewhat ambivalent about voice-overs for NPCs in CRPGs. Poor voice acting will not detract from my enjoyment of a CRPG when other aspects of the game are fun. That said, voices in TW2 are not so good. Lines are delivered very dry and lack personality. My character is also excessively sarcastic and oftentimes rude when I’d rather him be appreciative or at least neutral.

STORY
TW2’s story sits somewhere between typical and unique. It starts out as fairly standard-fair but as you progress through the storyline, there are quite a few interesting twists and turns. If you think the story setup is sort of ‘ho hum’ at the beginning of the game, you will probably find yourself appreciating it a lot more by the end of the game.

EXPERIENCE (CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT)
As you kill enemies and complete quests you earn experience points. When you earn enough experience points you go up a level. Each time you gain a level, you earn Attribute and Skill points. Fairly standard RPG stuff.

ATTRIBUTES (CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT)
Attributes are fairly standard in TW2 and include Strength, Endurance, Willpower, & Accuracy. Depending on how you want to play is what attributes you should ‘feed’ the most. In short, Strength affects the power of your melee attacks, Endurance affects your hit point pool, Willpower affects your mana pool, and Accuracy applies to ranged combat with bows. Some attributes have other subtle affects, such as how much weight you can carry.

SKILLS (CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT)
Skills are where character development in TW2 really shines. Skills are grouped into sensible categories that help you understand the type of character that would use a particular skill though you are never barred from feeding any skill you choose. As your character levels up, you earn skill points that you can allocate to skills that will better them in some way. But before you can use your skill points, you first have to find a skill book for each skill to learn the basics of the skill. Skill books seem to be a compromise between those who like the idea of skill trainers and those who do not. Once you have either found or purchased a skill book you can ‘use’ it to ‘activate’ that skill. After that, you can add skill points to that skill at any time (as long as you have unused skill points).

EXPLORATION
For me, exploration, discovery, and interactivity are three aspects of ‘sandbox’ style RPG gaming that are very important to me. Nothing is worse than a static game world with little in the way of anything interesting about it other than perhaps pretty graphics.

TW2 is average in this area. When I finished the main quest, I couldn’t escape the feeling that this aspect of gameplay seemed somewhat neglected. One thing I love in a game such as TW2 are really interesting underground areas filled with puzzles and to a lesser extent, traps. The puzzles I’m talking about are the kind where you interact in interesting ways with the environment to change its state, ultimately allowing you access to hidden areas and perhaps your quest objective. Without this, underground areas oftentimes feel like ‘monster closets’ (a game world area populated by monsters you must kill to reach a singular objective). There are several underground areas in TW2 that contain interesting puzzles, but a large majority of underground areas are merely ‘monster closets’ which is unfortunate.

MAPS
TW2’s world and underground maps get the job done. I liked the zoom-in-zoom-out nature of the world map and although most underground areas in TW2 are fairly linear, I felt underground maps had a good level of detail to make them useful. Only one odd thing to point out here, not really a complaint or a compliment, is that some underground areas do not have a map at all. It was fine with me because I love discovery but felt this was a bit inconsistent.

ALCHEMY
Admittedly, I’m a bit of a ‘Seinfield’ when it comes to alchemy in RPGs. While I love the idea of alchemy in an RPG, just about any 'niggle' I might have with its implementation causes me to ignore it entirely (much like Seinfield finds the smallest of flaws in a girlfriend and uses that as a reason to break up with her).

TW2 lost me pretty quickly in the alchemy department because the UI does not organize ingredients at all. It just displays all ingredients in a single window. I just don’t have the patience anymore to scour through all the different flowers and plants to find the right ingredients to make whatever potion I’m trying to make. If ingredients were further sub-categorized by property, I may have engaged the Alchemy system.

But then I had another problem with Alchemy in TW2. I just never really felt the need for potions above and beyond health and mana potions. And those are readily available for purchase at vendors throughout the game world.

MELEE COMBAT
Melee combat feels visceral and has ‘weight’ to it but is also a bit simplistic after a while. You can get up to 3 skills that must be tactically activated by you during combat. All the rest of the melee skills are passive. It’s fun to see how each of the 3 active skills increase in power as you add points to them, but given that there are only 3 active skills, it just doesn’t seem like enough.

FINISHING MOVES
Finishing moves seems to be all the rage these days. I’m not a big fan of this and find it to be both distracting and disorienting. I understand that this is another form of visual ‘flash’ needed by marketing departments so they can sleep at night, but I hope developers will put toggles in their gameplay menus that allow players to turn this type of feature on or off as desired.

CROWDED COMBAT
TW2 has a real problem with crowded combat which goes something like this – you’re fighting 3 or more enemies in a tight area, they all start attacking, bumping you back into a wall or corner and before you know it the keyboard becomes totally unresponsive – you can’t quaff a health potion, you can’t execute a spell cast or melee combat skill – you’re just a sitting duck waiting for the first opportunity to perform the inevitable reload. I died a good number of times like this. In the latter part of the game I learned to kite enemies to bigger locations when their spawn point was in a small room or whatnot, but it was an aggravating lesson to learn.

MAGIC
I read more about TW2’s magic system than what I actually used. From what I read and from the little I tinkered with in-game, it seems to be one of the most interesting magic systems I’ve ever experienced. But like many RPGs, TW2 puts off the use of effective combat magic for too long and by the time you become rich enough to buy magic-related necessities (skill books, cards and whatnot) or find them by progressing through quests or exploring the world, you may end up like me, namely, stuck in your melee combat ways. But TW2 has a lot of replay value and I intend to play a pure mage during some future play through of the game.

RANGED COMBAT
Beyond the tutorial portion of the game, I did not use ranged weaponry at all. This is not an indictment of ranged implementation found in TW2 – just simply that I typically do not play ranged non-magic combat characters.

CRAFTING
Crafting in TW2 is a lot of fun. You find a lot of the same kinds of weapons and armor and they can be broken down into raw materials and then used to buff up your currently equipped weapons and armor. Add to this that you can socket your gear with gems makes customization interesting. However, I do have a few gripes

One is the time it takes to break down weapons and armor into raw materials. It’s something you do throughout the entire game and it gets very cumbersome after a while. If the developers had made the UI so that you could select multiple items the tedium would be largely removed.

Another problem I had with crafting is that I routinely broke down weapons and armor that I was currently using. This is easy to do because the game lets you preset up to 3 different outfits. For the sake of this explanation, let’s say Set 1 is a melee combat outfit with a single handed sword and shield. Set 2 is ranged with a bow. Set 3 is a staff for use with magic. Now say you are going to craft and you are currently wearing Set 3. If you try to dismantle your Staff you will get a warning dialog box which helps to stop you from dismantling something you are using. But if you go to dismantle your sword and shield (Set 1) or bow (Set 2), there is no warning message whatsoever. The game should take into account all your equipped gear across all 3 sets and simply not allow you to dismantle anything you are wearing.

END GAME
I really didn’t like the end game. I spent about 40 hours carefully augmenting certain attributes and skills in order to foster a certain style of play only to have all that largely discarded for the final boss. I don’t mind using means outside of my character to help spice up a boss battle but I still want the developers to value my time and effort by creating a boss fight where I can use the character I’ve just spent many hours developing to defeat the boss. Risen was a huge clue that players largely don’t like boss fights that veer drastically from the core gameplay.

MULTIPLAYER
I haven’t and don’t intend to play TW2 multiplayer. I didn’t play TW1 multiplayer either. The inclusion of a separate multiplayer scenario in the TW series is a bit odd to me. I’d rather the developers forego the time and effort it takes to implement multiplayer the way they have and create more content and polish for the single player campaign. There are dedicated MMOs that implement multiplayer much better anyway. However, if multiplayer remains a fascination with the developers, then I would suggest co-op multiplayer in the ‘single player’ campaign. But again, I’d be happiest if the developers put all their time and energy into a single player RPG ‘sandbox’ game.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Very detailed review. Thanks for taking the time to write that all out.

I'm normally not a multiplayer fan in any way shape or form, however this game supposedly has a 'village mode' where you can start and manage a village via the multiplayer mode. It was noted that if you don't want to play with others you can always create a private multiplayer game and just not invite anyone in.

Anyway, apparently you have to earn 10,000 auras in the multiplayer adventure mode then you can start your village.

I'm going to give it a whirl after I finish Pirates.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
966
Well written review. I'm only about eight hours in but from what I've seen so far I agree with most of what you say.

Especially true: Seems like unless you start specializing mage skills from the start, your magic is really limited. I've been able to do a few tricks with spells, but really, a direct damage spell with homing seems the most effective with a summons coming in second. Nothing else seems to be very worthwhile, at least now. I haven't been able to get an area effect spell to do enough damage to be worthwhile. The trap spells I've created are an interesting idea, but simply hitting something with a stick is way, way more effective. Combine this with the learning curve that comes with any new game, and it really pushes you towards melee, at least on a first play through.

I'd add that I find the starting area wildlife to be annoying. Why can't these games have things behave a little more realistically, allowing you to hunt them? All animals immediately attack on sight and chase you (except for the rhinocerous). Minor, but still a bit silly after you've killed your 1000th poor ostrich and baboon.

Regarding alchemy: I'm with you 100%. I never really get into it in most games. I have heard that on later levels making mana potions is almost mandatory as your regeneration can't keep up after a while. At my level, making very powerful healing potions is extremely trivial. Combine 2-3 Varn hearts (which I have about 100 of right now) and it gets you an insta-heal potion with zero cost or sweat. I have several dozen healing potions and only need to use them once in a while.

A minor amusing note: This game has the fastest run speed of anything I can remember playing. I only have the +5% speed on my boots and I can run like a maniac. With so much pulling and kiting involved it helps out, but it makes a lot of the battles feel like Benny Hill sketches.
 
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
1,561
Location
Downtown Chicago, IL
Nice review. Your timing is pretty good with the Pirate expansion just released.
I have about 60 hours in the multiplayer portion and the nice thing about having the village is you get to tailor it to make the things you want, like you can specialize crystals or weapons. Also, I believe you get special prices when buying and selling from your own shops. Village mode could have used some more varied threats against your village but it still is a nice idea and not bad.

The crafting bugged me in the same way, however there is an easy mod that makes the shopkeepers start selling crafting items such as wood, metals and cloth. You don't have to break anything down if you don't want to. I am playing the expansion and I am pretty pleased so far. A little more story telling and some quirky characters make for a somewhat different experience. It's no Witcher 2 but it's not forsaken Gods either.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
1,397
Location
USA-Michigan
I use alchemy a lot. I am always grabbing flower petals and such while I am running around exploring so it works out well for me. The potions have saved my butt plenty of times.

I haven't messed with the magic system at all. The whole card combining thing seems complicated to me, though I suppose I should try to learn it one day.

I know some people were disappointed by the expansion being a separate campaign, but one good point on that it allows you try out another type of character build if you are really too far in on the main quest to transition over to another type of play.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
966
Good review, but I think you kinda dodged the dearth of unique loot which I found to be the weakest element of the game. Loot was generic, dull, and level capped (shops carry the same items you find on mobs as you level…bleh). Good job describing the tedium of crafting and the cumbersome inventory. Keeping track of one, let alone three sets of gear is a complete pain.
 
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
53
Thanks everyone for the kind words about the 'review.'

@JD - I appreciate that. I probably wouldn't write anything at all if it weren't for RPGWatch and the people that come here - it just wouldn't be worth the time.

@Gregz - There were actually a handful of things I left out of my 'review' because the damn thing is too long as it is. But yes, I agree there isn't enough variety of weapons and armor in the game given the size and scope of it. I also left out a fairly angry rant about a show stopping bug I came across where the only way to finish the game was to use the console and cheat.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
I also left out a fairly angry rant about a show stopping bug I came across where the only way to finish the game was to use the console and cheat.

That one with the key? They actually did end up fixing it but unfortunately the fix didn't work retroactively for existing games that were started before it was applied. Anyway, I went in there via the console and there really wasn't anything special at all there. Not worth the trouble really.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
966
Thanks for the review TMG. Much appreciated! I will get TW2 when GOTY edition will come out.
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
4,721
That one with the key? They actually did end up fixing it but unfortunately the fix didn't work retroactively for existing games that were started before it was applied. Anyway, I went in there via the console and there really wasn't anything special at all there. Not worth the trouble really.

For those curious about the bug I ran into here is the excerpt:

Bug
The biggest disappointment I had with TW2 was a bug I ran into that stopped me dead with my ability to progress the main storyline. Bugs of this nature are disappointing on two levels; 1) they prevent you from finishing the main storyline and 2) they leave you with a feeling of uneasiness that the game is fragile and any little misstep might further break the game.

After scouring the net searching for answers to the specific bug I was dealing with, it boiled down to using the console to ‘cheat’ my way around it. Here is the bug I encountered:

I was busily working for the leader of the Lion’s Inn in New Ashos in order to get into the main gambling area where an NPC was that I needed to talk to. I had done everything requested and received my pass. I talked to the Maitr’d who stands guard at the entryway to the gambling area who accepted my pass and unlocked the door. But then, inexplicably, the Maitr’d failed to physically move out of the way. The pass was earned, the pass was accepted, the door was unlocked and openend, but I could literally not get through the open doorway because the Maitr’d was standing perfectly center within the doorway.

After trying a couple of suggestions by other players it came down to using the console to artificially kill the Maitr’d so that I could get passed him to talk to the NPC in the gambling area. Luckily, killing the Maitr’d does not further break the game as he is no longer relevant once you get the door he stands in front of unlocked and open.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
There's something that's really been bugging me with this game - it just doesn't feel like the Two Worlds world. The start didn't really match either of the two endings very well and, once we were out of the tutorial area, all signs of the old Two Worlds were gone. The schools of magic are the same as before but they work completely differently. Horses are still there but they work differently, too, and seem to vanish if you leave them alone too long. Even the main character doesn't look, act, or sound like the character from the first game.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
There's something that's really been bugging me with this game - it just doesn't feel like the Two Worlds world.

I think TW2 is a decent CRPG and worth a playthrough by anyone who loves these kinds of games. But my final analysis doesn't find the game lacking for the same reasons as you because I didn't really like TW1 all that much.

For me, while still enjoying the game, I felt that the world just wasn't finished. There seems to be so much more the engine is capable of but wasn't utilized. Making the game world and dungeons more interesting and filled with more content would have helped a lot.

I would explain better, but I put everyone at risk of something as long or longer than my original post...
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Really solid, well structured review which I enjoyed reading and found myself agreeing with at quite a few moments. Good job. I particularly agree with practically everything you mention about the exploration factor and the desire for deeper, more interactive environments, especially when it came to dungeon design - a real weak point for the game. Improvement on these aspects would surely have made TW2 a more satisfying experience overall. Perhaps the expansion will address some parts of it, although I'm waiting for more detailed reports to emerge here…

I have to respectfully disagree with your experience with the alchemy system though. In reflection, it's probably what saved my character from a grim death at the hands of the much derided, hollow final battle. I had to make more health potions on the fly as well as innovate and experiment to make more resistance potions. In effect, the alchemy system saved me a few times and I appreciated having it there to fiddle with when needed.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
1,974
Location
Australia
Even the main character doesn't look, act, or sound like the character from the first game.

I think your other points were valid and they could have segued a bit better between games, but the way the character looks is totally up to you in TW2. You could make him look relatively like your character did in the first game.

For me, while still enjoying the game, I felt that the world just wasn't finished. There seems to be so much more the engine is capable of but wasn't utilized.

I think it's an awesome engine that in my experience ran really smoothly even on a somewhat older system before I did an upgrade. I also had to do almost no fussing, tweaking and whatnot. In contrast Gamebryo has always been a huge pain in the ass for me. I am glad Bethesda is done with it and hopefully others like Larian will move on to new engines as well.

I definitely would not mind seeing more games with GRACE engine, which is the one Two Worlds 2 uses.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
966
I bought PotFF and decided to replay 2W2 and try to make a seamless whole. Whether I'll actually pull off the 100+ hour replay will be an interesting test. I enjoy killing Varns.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
8,821
Yeah, I could have made him look the same and I did try to do so but I didn't quite hit it. I should have looked at one of my saved videos *before* character creation. But why couldn't they have let me point them to a save file and pulled my character's looks from there?
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Great review! I'm looking forward to giving this another go now that it's been patched, etc. Have they fixed the hero's little girl hands yet?
 
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
371
Location
Australia
Really solid, well structured review which I enjoyed reading...

Thank you! I really appreciate that. In fact, at this very moment, I am beating on my chest with both fists!!! :p

I have to respectfully disagree with your experience with the alchemy system though.

Well I do admit in my review that I am a total 'Seinfield' about alchemy. The smallest inconvenience is met with an admittedly bloated and unjustified over-reaction on my part which results with me throwing up 'the hand' in disgust.

What is the root of my irrational behavior? Searching for and managing reagents in Ultima IV. I never got over that. I used up all my 'hunt and peck for an ingredient in a videogame' for the rest of my 9 lives...

TW2 offers nice looking graphics for ingredients as well as an easy to use UI for mixing them up and labeling potions for easy mixing in the future.

But at one point the game had the audacity... THE AUDACITY to make me scroll the ingredients screen up and down, SEVERAL TIMES, in my search for a similar ingredient to one I had just selected. Clearly, my indignance is justified, is it not?

/twitch
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
Back
Top Bottom