Kliwer
Savant
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2018
- Messages
- 216
Sooo… I was looking for some light game to make a break from more “serious” cRPGs (Wizards and Warriors, Amberstar), something more action-oriented. I have noticed that near Christmas I had bought a few games on GOG (very cheaply), Two Worlds among them. So I have tried. And, well… I’m very impressed.
In general I do not like open-world cRPGs, for many, many reason. I truly HATE all TES titles (especially Skyrim), as well as Witcher 3, Gothic 3 etc. The only exceptions are Gothic 1&2 and Risen 1. But Two Worlds, for some reasons, is quite enjoyable for me. I can’t call this game a masterpiece or anything but its gameplay is very solid. I’m really surprised by so bad reviews. The same authors who appreciate Oblivion and Gothic 3 criticize TW very much. “Poor man’s Oblivion” they said. For me the quite opposite is true: Oblivion is a “poor man’s” Two Worlds.
I will mostly compare TW to Gothic 3 because both games look and play in a similar way: we have partially-specified main character, third person view, simplistic action combat, quite big open world with many small towns, faction reputation, character development based on XP and trainers etc.
I’m not very far in the game, so I will share only preliminary impressions with You (and we know that are numerous games which make much better first impression than they really deserve). I have reached 20 level of experience, I have already explored most of the northern regions and have not visited any of big cities yet (only a couple of villages).
So let’s go with some random comments.
- Manual is one of the best I have seen from a long time – it explains all mechanics and describes a bit of a cool lore. PDF map of the game world is very charming; I wish to have it in a printed version (sorry, I truly love extra game materials, especially maps; there are a few cRPGs which I have started to play only because of cool world maps).
- Music in only ok, voice acting is quite bad (which means nothing to me); the song in the main menu is great. Graphic is very nice, with long distance view. It is probably no important for a modern player, but the game is greatly optimized; my old laptop runes it without lags or overheating (to compare: Dragon Age: Origins and Oblivion burn this machine to ashes and M&M X: Legacy runs terribly slow).
- The world is a high-fantasy standard, but I like it. There is enough lore behind the land to awake curiosity. General atmosphere is like a cross between Forgotten Realms (dwarves, elves) and Gothic (war of gods, sarcastic main hero, orcs invasion, rough NPCs).
- Quest are a mixed bag: some are very basic stuff (go – kill – return), others have a quite interesting background and some C&Cs. All quests are much better than anything in Gothic 3; for now almost no stupid stuff like: collect 10 wolf skins.
- The game map is diverse – also more interesting and natural than three regions of Gothic 3 (or featureless woodland of Oblivion). The world looks reasonably vast. There are settlements of different races, mountains, lakes, rivers, deserts, glaciers, swamps (I’m judging mostly from the in-game map; for now I have only explored a northern corner of the land and made some quick trips to the south to see th landscape).
- For now almost all special locations are connected to the road system. Whole landscape between roads looks like a filler, good only for grinding and looking for some rare alchemical ingredients. The game has not as dense content as Gothic 2, but still there is much more points of interest then in Oblivion. For me it has a good balance between traveling, exploring and combat. Thanks Crom for no respawn (I have abandoned a few nice action-RPGs because of my hate for respawns, for example Sacred). Enemies are maybe a bit too numerous (in a dwarf mine I have slayed about 40 dwarves in 5-10 person packs).
- Thanks to stationary teleporters, portable teleporters (something similar to “pyramids” in Divine Divinity) and horse riding it is very easy to come back to any necessary quest-giver or trader. Horse riding is nice, although I still cannot efficiently fight on a horse back. The possibility to store equipment and loot in horse yucca is extremely handy.
- Dungeons, for now, are very primitive: just small systems of boring corridors filled with enemies. It’s quite lame: enter a chamber -> defeat 3-8 enemies -> loot the chest -> go to the next chamber.
- I’m playing this game on hard difficulty. For now the game balance is quite good. Firstly, as usually, everything was killing me. But after some level-ups the world opened a bit. Now (20 level) some fights are a piece of cake, some are moderately difficult; I’m finding here and there a monster much too strong for me (cyclops, ogre, bigger groups of enemies with spell caster) to come back later. So everything is as it should be in an open world cRPG. I can explore reasonably freely, but not without a sense of danger.
- Melee fighting mechanic is good enough, a bit more dynamic than in TES games, obviously much less broken than in Gothic 3. It’s based on dodge abusing (which completely negates usefulness of shields), but despite of it some monster are almost impossible to beat on lower levels.
- The game system has funny numbers inflation. On first level my damage were about 8-12, on 20 level my weapon inflict almost two thousands of damage. Wow. This means that those skills which are not actively developed become completely useless. I still have only 1 point in setting traps so it is not even worth to use them (they could inflict about 200 damage – it was impressive on a first level, but not now). So either develop a skill all the time or forget about it (with some exceptions).
- Most skills are battle-centric (general categories: close combat skills, archery skills, magic skills), only exceptions are thieving skills and swimming. Because of previous point (numbers inflation) it is not as easy to become ultimate fighter-wizard-thief, which is nice (but I’m guessing that it will be a case in a long run). My current build is something like that:
Stats: strength (melee damage + encumbrance): 40, endurance (HP): 30, dexterity (attack/defense + usage of some weapons): 30, willpower (mana): 15. I’m developing mostly melee skills + lockpicking + a bit of Air Magic (for buffs and heals). When I find a trainer I will develop also an alchemy skill.
- Magic system is quite interesting. You can collect one spell more than one time (which improves its effect but also raises mana usage). You can also improve your spells with special “cards” (some of them improve spell effects, some reduce mana consumption etc.) Only drawback of this system is that you can only have three spells ready to cast. It’s ok for my fighter (I only need a healing spell + 2 buffs), but it could be a problem for a dedicated spellcaster.
- There are no weapon skills per se, you could use any type of weapon. But there are some skills that could be used only with some specific type of weapon, for example a stunning attack could be perform only with blunt weapons. Enemies also have some immunities, so it is important to carry more than one type of weapon. Currently I’m using my main two-handed sword (fast, heavy-hitting, long range, enchanted by shock damage), but I also have in a backpack a heavy club (blunt damage + spirit damage enchantment – so it is a weapon to fighting skeletons and ghosts) and a one-handed sabre (to fight from a horse back). I wish more games would use such approach instead of marrying our hero with one beloved type of armament.
- I think that there are not many special artifacts in this game, for now everything I found was randomly-generated. It is of course a shame, but the game has also a unique “combining system”. It works as follows: you can combine every two items of the same type to receive one a bit more powerful. Example: you have two short sword (8-10 and 10-12 points of damage); after combining you will receive one short sword witch 12-14 damage. It is, indeed, pretty abstract mechanic but it works quite good from the gameplay perspective. Take Skyrim: you really have no motivation to fight witch tenth group of bandits because no part of their equipment is attractive to you. But in TW almost every fight brings you a small equipment upgrade. You have just found next two handed sword? Great, it will improve your current weapon a bit. Add to this that the game is not level-scaled (I think?) and you will see semi-good loot system. Another example: I have found a cave with an ogre (much too strong for my character) guarding a chest. I was able to sneak behind him to loot this chest and items inside were truly great on my level. Some items have attribute or level requirements, but leveling in this game is fast so delay between finding a powerful item and possibility to use it is short.
Enough for now. To summaries: Two Worlds seems to be a good, light open-world cRPG. It’s all about exploring, slaying monsters, gathering loot end experience points. Writing is simplistic but good enough for action-RPG, quest are usually more interesting than simple fetch tasks typical for this type of game, sometimes even generally good. Itemization, although pretty weird, is functional – you are almost constantly finding small upgrades (but of course it is not even close to good-designed, hand-placed artifacts from, say, Baldur’s Gate). Enemies differ in stats, numbers and movement patters so they require some tactics to defeat. All in all the game is similar to Gothic 3 (but, in my current opinion, much better) or Divine Divinity (but in 3D). It’s also ten times better (for now) than any TES game.
I must admit that I've been sucked in and can't stop playing. What’s your opinions? Does this game keep its quality to the end?
In general I do not like open-world cRPGs, for many, many reason. I truly HATE all TES titles (especially Skyrim), as well as Witcher 3, Gothic 3 etc. The only exceptions are Gothic 1&2 and Risen 1. But Two Worlds, for some reasons, is quite enjoyable for me. I can’t call this game a masterpiece or anything but its gameplay is very solid. I’m really surprised by so bad reviews. The same authors who appreciate Oblivion and Gothic 3 criticize TW very much. “Poor man’s Oblivion” they said. For me the quite opposite is true: Oblivion is a “poor man’s” Two Worlds.
I will mostly compare TW to Gothic 3 because both games look and play in a similar way: we have partially-specified main character, third person view, simplistic action combat, quite big open world with many small towns, faction reputation, character development based on XP and trainers etc.
I’m not very far in the game, so I will share only preliminary impressions with You (and we know that are numerous games which make much better first impression than they really deserve). I have reached 20 level of experience, I have already explored most of the northern regions and have not visited any of big cities yet (only a couple of villages).
So let’s go with some random comments.
- Manual is one of the best I have seen from a long time – it explains all mechanics and describes a bit of a cool lore. PDF map of the game world is very charming; I wish to have it in a printed version (sorry, I truly love extra game materials, especially maps; there are a few cRPGs which I have started to play only because of cool world maps).
- Music in only ok, voice acting is quite bad (which means nothing to me); the song in the main menu is great. Graphic is very nice, with long distance view. It is probably no important for a modern player, but the game is greatly optimized; my old laptop runes it without lags or overheating (to compare: Dragon Age: Origins and Oblivion burn this machine to ashes and M&M X: Legacy runs terribly slow).
- The world is a high-fantasy standard, but I like it. There is enough lore behind the land to awake curiosity. General atmosphere is like a cross between Forgotten Realms (dwarves, elves) and Gothic (war of gods, sarcastic main hero, orcs invasion, rough NPCs).
- Quest are a mixed bag: some are very basic stuff (go – kill – return), others have a quite interesting background and some C&Cs. All quests are much better than anything in Gothic 3; for now almost no stupid stuff like: collect 10 wolf skins.
- The game map is diverse – also more interesting and natural than three regions of Gothic 3 (or featureless woodland of Oblivion). The world looks reasonably vast. There are settlements of different races, mountains, lakes, rivers, deserts, glaciers, swamps (I’m judging mostly from the in-game map; for now I have only explored a northern corner of the land and made some quick trips to the south to see th landscape).
- For now almost all special locations are connected to the road system. Whole landscape between roads looks like a filler, good only for grinding and looking for some rare alchemical ingredients. The game has not as dense content as Gothic 2, but still there is much more points of interest then in Oblivion. For me it has a good balance between traveling, exploring and combat. Thanks Crom for no respawn (I have abandoned a few nice action-RPGs because of my hate for respawns, for example Sacred). Enemies are maybe a bit too numerous (in a dwarf mine I have slayed about 40 dwarves in 5-10 person packs).
- Thanks to stationary teleporters, portable teleporters (something similar to “pyramids” in Divine Divinity) and horse riding it is very easy to come back to any necessary quest-giver or trader. Horse riding is nice, although I still cannot efficiently fight on a horse back. The possibility to store equipment and loot in horse yucca is extremely handy.
- Dungeons, for now, are very primitive: just small systems of boring corridors filled with enemies. It’s quite lame: enter a chamber -> defeat 3-8 enemies -> loot the chest -> go to the next chamber.
- I’m playing this game on hard difficulty. For now the game balance is quite good. Firstly, as usually, everything was killing me. But after some level-ups the world opened a bit. Now (20 level) some fights are a piece of cake, some are moderately difficult; I’m finding here and there a monster much too strong for me (cyclops, ogre, bigger groups of enemies with spell caster) to come back later. So everything is as it should be in an open world cRPG. I can explore reasonably freely, but not without a sense of danger.
- Melee fighting mechanic is good enough, a bit more dynamic than in TES games, obviously much less broken than in Gothic 3. It’s based on dodge abusing (which completely negates usefulness of shields), but despite of it some monster are almost impossible to beat on lower levels.
- The game system has funny numbers inflation. On first level my damage were about 8-12, on 20 level my weapon inflict almost two thousands of damage. Wow. This means that those skills which are not actively developed become completely useless. I still have only 1 point in setting traps so it is not even worth to use them (they could inflict about 200 damage – it was impressive on a first level, but not now). So either develop a skill all the time or forget about it (with some exceptions).
- Most skills are battle-centric (general categories: close combat skills, archery skills, magic skills), only exceptions are thieving skills and swimming. Because of previous point (numbers inflation) it is not as easy to become ultimate fighter-wizard-thief, which is nice (but I’m guessing that it will be a case in a long run). My current build is something like that:
Stats: strength (melee damage + encumbrance): 40, endurance (HP): 30, dexterity (attack/defense + usage of some weapons): 30, willpower (mana): 15. I’m developing mostly melee skills + lockpicking + a bit of Air Magic (for buffs and heals). When I find a trainer I will develop also an alchemy skill.
- Magic system is quite interesting. You can collect one spell more than one time (which improves its effect but also raises mana usage). You can also improve your spells with special “cards” (some of them improve spell effects, some reduce mana consumption etc.) Only drawback of this system is that you can only have three spells ready to cast. It’s ok for my fighter (I only need a healing spell + 2 buffs), but it could be a problem for a dedicated spellcaster.
- There are no weapon skills per se, you could use any type of weapon. But there are some skills that could be used only with some specific type of weapon, for example a stunning attack could be perform only with blunt weapons. Enemies also have some immunities, so it is important to carry more than one type of weapon. Currently I’m using my main two-handed sword (fast, heavy-hitting, long range, enchanted by shock damage), but I also have in a backpack a heavy club (blunt damage + spirit damage enchantment – so it is a weapon to fighting skeletons and ghosts) and a one-handed sabre (to fight from a horse back). I wish more games would use such approach instead of marrying our hero with one beloved type of armament.
- I think that there are not many special artifacts in this game, for now everything I found was randomly-generated. It is of course a shame, but the game has also a unique “combining system”. It works as follows: you can combine every two items of the same type to receive one a bit more powerful. Example: you have two short sword (8-10 and 10-12 points of damage); after combining you will receive one short sword witch 12-14 damage. It is, indeed, pretty abstract mechanic but it works quite good from the gameplay perspective. Take Skyrim: you really have no motivation to fight witch tenth group of bandits because no part of their equipment is attractive to you. But in TW almost every fight brings you a small equipment upgrade. You have just found next two handed sword? Great, it will improve your current weapon a bit. Add to this that the game is not level-scaled (I think?) and you will see semi-good loot system. Another example: I have found a cave with an ogre (much too strong for my character) guarding a chest. I was able to sneak behind him to loot this chest and items inside were truly great on my level. Some items have attribute or level requirements, but leveling in this game is fast so delay between finding a powerful item and possibility to use it is short.
Enough for now. To summaries: Two Worlds seems to be a good, light open-world cRPG. It’s all about exploring, slaying monsters, gathering loot end experience points. Writing is simplistic but good enough for action-RPG, quest are usually more interesting than simple fetch tasks typical for this type of game, sometimes even generally good. Itemization, although pretty weird, is functional – you are almost constantly finding small upgrades (but of course it is not even close to good-designed, hand-placed artifacts from, say, Baldur’s Gate). Enemies differ in stats, numbers and movement patters so they require some tactics to defeat. All in all the game is similar to Gothic 3 (but, in my current opinion, much better) or Divine Divinity (but in 3D). It’s also ten times better (for now) than any TES game.
I must admit that I've been sucked in and can't stop playing. What’s your opinions? Does this game keep its quality to the end?
