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Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 6:15 pm
by Flatfingers
Victor Tombs wrote:I would have missed some fun games if I had paid too much attention to reviews Flat. It takes much more than a few reviewers to put me off. ;) :)
True. It's important to find reviewers who either are able to put their personal preferences aside (very rare), or whose preferences track closely with yours.

Otherwise it's easy to be put off some things you might enjoy.

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:02 am
by fox
My enthusiasm about TW2 is on a dive.
With square miles of lifelessness already I have the strong impression that the enemies are not going to respawn.

Having seen how in Skyrim they can take up to a game month to do so (ugh!), I must ask: do the bad guys ever respawn in TW2?

For a game that claims to be an open world sandbox I find it weird that the areas de-populate :-/


-----
Oh, and for a genuine source of reviews about your games, I suggest metacritic.com. The player-made reviews, especially the most _negative_ ones, always reveal truths and unconvenient details that the majority of professional reviewers skillfully omit. The opposite can also be true. In some case the player-made reviews happen to praise a game that the professional reviewers united have inexplicably bashed. (heh)

The disparity in votes (pros vs. players) for a game can give a lot to meditate upon. For an example, google "diablo 3 metacritic". Many players complained about the initial connectivity issues with the game (now solved, afaik). Ignore that specific complain subject, and read on as they talk about *other* things. See what the pros haven't told you.

Vox populi vox dei -- I say.

I remembered of metacritic too late for Two Worlds II, my bad.

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:17 pm
by Hardenberg
I dimly recall that the mobs didn't respawn at all, rendering backtracking even more moot than the story already does.

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:12 pm
by Flatfingers
That's actually how it worked in the original Two Worlds. In fact, neither characters nor animals nor plants respawned.

I don't know whether that was a design choice (to emphasize pure mechanical gameplay with a definite end-of-game over "living world"), or if the TW devs ran out of time, or if they just got lazy. In any case, it does sort of explain why TW2 does the same thing.

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 2:44 am
by Katorone
As a completionist, I kinda like that. In Two Worlds I could really finish areas.

I'm not sure, but didn't the ghosts at night spawn randomly?

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 3:38 am
by Victor Tombs
Katorone wrote:As a completionist, I kinda like that. In Two Worlds I could really finish areas.

I'm not sure, but didn't the ghosts at night spawn randomly?
As a completionist myself Katorone I agree that it was very satisfying to clear an area and then find it remained clear. :thumbup:

It was wonderful attacking the 'hordes' of giant ants in their compounds. Taking them down one at a time. In the early days of the game, when you lacked any real power, you would use "hit and run" tactics. I thought the idea of the ghost spawn was brilliant. I remember one of the dead ants becoming a ghost and the ants attacking it as an intruder. While they were occupied I used my bow to great effect . Punching the air as another one bit the dust. Woohoo! :D

I am not sure if the ghost spawns were included in TW2. I cant say I remember them and, unfortunately, the ants were a poor imitation of their former selves in the sequel. :(

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:52 am
by HowSerendipitous
Necroooooooooooooooooooooo! :ghost:

I started playing about with this this morning (after sorting out a weird PhysX problem).

I've only done part of the tutorial so far, but I'm actually rather impressed. :twisted:

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 7:59 am
by fox
HowSerendipitous wrote:Necroooooooooooooooooooooo! :ghost:

I started playing about with this this morning (after sorting out a weird PhysX problem).

I've only done part of the tutorial so far, but I'm actually rather impressed. :twisted:
Necro acknowledged.
You will discover that the pretty cutscenes and the witty dialogues end with the tutorial. It is what turned me off. That, and the fact that nothing respawns.

Clearing an area and seeing that it remains clean after your passage may be satisfying to some, but it implies an avalanche of bad things altogether.
The list of Causes and Effects is long and intricated like an ant farm, but I will give you the short version: it starts with having only a finite amount of Exp(erience) to collect from the world.
It leads to the need of seeking new life (and quests) in places progressively more remote than the previous.
It continues with the possibility to find many a mob that is too much for you at the moment.
It goes on with the need to remember what-you-are-leaving-where.
It culminates in the frustration of having to take manual notes of everything, because the map is big and the mobs to remember (and the objects to pick) pile up quickly and are easily forgotten.

Exploration ceases to be a pleasant activity and becomes a chore. After a while you get tired of traversing miles of emptiness and it just feels like you are going to work.

The cherry on top (in this specific game) is that the big world is far smaller than you are made to believe.
How to explain this :think: hmm..... do you play Skyrim? If Skyrim as you know it was made like Two Worlds II, when you opened the world map you would not just see the northern region of Skyrim, but the whole continent of Tamriel.
The catch? -> You think you can visit any place in Tamriel, but you are unknowingly confined to Skyrim.

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 1:14 am
by HappyGhecko
fox wrote:
HowSerendipitous wrote:Necroooooooooooooooooooooo! :ghost:

I started playing about with this this morning (after sorting out a weird PhysX problem).

I've only done part of the tutorial so far, but I'm actually rather impressed. :twisted:
Necro acknowledged.
You will discover that the pretty cutscenes and the witty dialogues end with the tutorial. It is what turned me off. That, and the fact that nothing respawns.

Clearing an area and seeing that it remains clean after your passage may be satisfying to some, but it implies an avalanche of bad things altogether.
The list of Causes and Effects is long and intricated like an ant farm, but I will give you the short version: it starts with having only a finite amount of Exp(erience) to collect from the world.
It leads to the need of seeking new life (and quests) in places progressively more remote than the previous.
It continues with the possibility to find many a mob that is too much for you at the moment.
It goes on with the need to remember what-you-are-leaving-where.
It culminates in the frustration of having to take manual notes of everything, because the map is big and the mobs to remember (and the objects to pick) pile up quickly and are easily forgotten.

Exploration ceases to be a pleasant activity and becomes a chore. After a while you get tired of traversing miles of emptiness and it just feels like you are going to work.

The cherry on top (in this specific game) is that the big world is far smaller than you are made to believe.
How to explain this :think: hmm..... do you play Skyrim? If Skyrim as you know it was made like Two Worlds II, when you opened the world map you would not just see the northern region of Skyrim, but the whole continent of Tamriel.
The catch? -> You think you can visit any place in Tamriel, but you are unknowingly confined to Skyrim.
^this
even if you sail there with a boat (and manage to dock) theres just nothing. (2-3 low lvl mobs per mile count as nothing)

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 2:33 pm
by Victor Tombs
I've just received the news that the new DLC for Two Worlds II: Call of the Tenebrae is available for pre-order. :D According to Topware Interactive it launches on the 15th of June, 2017. :angel:

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 2:43 pm
by Flatfingers
Huh. I'd forgotten about this.

It's not "DLC" that interests me so much as "we've corrected the hazy look and returned to the open-world design of the original Two Worlds." If they've done those things, I might be tempted to retry TW2.

Also: Hello, Victor -- glad to see you here again!

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:16 pm
by Victor Tombs
I think they are slowly working their way towards Two Worlds III, Flat. There are supposed to be some significant enhancements in this DLC. :angel:

It's good to be here, Flat, but unfortunately it's only for a short while before I get swept up in real life again and whisked away. It's always a pleasure to bump into you my friend. :D

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 3:03 am
by Cornflakes_91
Flatfingers wrote:Huh. I'd forgotten about this.

It's not "DLC" that interests me so much as "we've corrected the hazy look and returned to the open-world design of the original Two Worlds." If they've done those things, I might be tempted to retry TW2.

Also: Hello, Victor -- glad to see you here again!
Erm... how is TW2 not open world?
I played it and beyond the teasing-but-not-available main continent on the map there was nothing that wasnt open world

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:29 pm
by Flatfingers
My recollection is that the sequel, made for consoles and thus subject to console memory limitations, broke up the world into zones more than the original did.

The "seams" in the original were not well smoothed, with a slight hitch as you crossed them. But there was no loading screen. And from a distance -- such as atop one of the five towers -- the whole outside world could be seen.

Did you play the original?

Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II

Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:37 pm
by Victor Tombs
Cornflakes_91 wrote:Erm... how is TW2 not open world?
I played it and beyond the teasing-but-not-available main continent on the map there was nothing that wasnt open world
Re: [ARPG game] Two Worlds II
Yes, I found that particular tease to be annoying, Cornflakes, and the dire final confrontation did sour the main game for me but, all in all, TW2 proved to be a rather satisfying open world experience.

I did prefer the original though. :angel: