Two Worlds 2 - Observations\Review

I suppose it's time to get back to this blog... and since the last game I talked about was Two Worlds, I figured it was time for its little brother to get looked at. First of all, I like Two Worlds 1 better than Two Worlds 2. Most people look at me like I've got fungus growing out of my ears when I say that, but the fact remains the same. I view Two Worlds 1 as a better game, mainly due to the overall experience. Be that as it may, Two Worlds 2 is still a fantastic game, and here's why.

The gameplay in Two Worlds 2 is very similar to Two Worlds, but some areas have been improved. In Two Worlds 1, you preformed combat maneuvers by mainly just rapidly clicking. Two Worlds 2 throws some extra features in the mix, however, and lets you fight by not only just swinging your sword, but by giving you special moves that charge up. Kicking at your enemy will let you break their defense and deal some damage, while doing a 360° will let you attack enemies on all sides. Other attacks include slamming your sword overhead at the enemy, which deals some extra damage, and thrusting your sword straight at your enemy. When you level up, you can put points into these attacks and get some pretty powerful combat going. Played right, you can usually finish off a small group of enemies pretty quickly by simply chaining up and alternating between the special attacks. Bottom line, the combat in Two Worlds 2 is vastly superior to Two Worlds 1, and many other RPGs out there. I found combat situations to be challenging, but also very satisfying.

So the combat is good, but what of the rest of the gameplay features? Well, I guess the next logical thing to cover would be the Magic system. Magic in Two Worlds 2 is phenomenal. No other game, ever, has come close to it in terms of flexibility and advancement. Various effects can be applied to a spell via cards you collect throughout the world. A spell I particularly liked "Tornado" picks up objects around you and spins them around your character, making for a makeshift shield effect. Rocks, dead bodies, barrels, and anything with physics applied will be sucked into the shield. But this was just one of possibly infinite spells available for creation. I'm a combat/stealth heavy player myself, so magic is never something I try to spend a lot of time figuring out, but I can tell you that the magic in Two Worlds 2 is unmatched by any other game I've yet played, and I'm sure others will tell you the same.

Stealth in Two Worlds 2 is very basic. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's bad, but it's not something Two Worlds 2 excels at. Basically, it works. Used right, you can clear out a whole area of enemies just by backstabbing them, but that's about as far as it gets. I'm glad it was an included part of the game, but it's not something Topware can toot any horns about. And I guess after stealth, would come lock-picking, which is a nice, and very usable feature. Lock-picking is essentially just waiting for cylindrical "Tumblers"(?) or whatnot to line up and clicking when they do, so at the end, you've got all of them lined up before the time runs out and your lock-pick breaks. It's easy to master rather fast, and skill points can be spent to give you more time.

Crafting is another area in which Two Worlds 2 excels at. Nearly everything you come across can be broken down into its most basic elements; Wood, Iron, Cloth, etc. This system makes nearly every item in the game worth looting. After you've got so much wood, iron, and such together, you can use it to level up items you own. As you'd expect, leveling up armors makes them more resilient and protective, and leveling up weapons makes them deal more damage. There are also skills associated with leveling up items. For example, after leveling up a sword so far, you'll have to put more skill points into smithing to have the ability to keep leveling it up. The Crafting system in Two Worlds 2 is another phenomenal feature, and makes it hard to pass up fallen foes and their items, because no matter how crappy their loot is, it's still got the ability to advance whatever you have.

So, there is a lot of good, solid, satisfying stuff in Two Worlds 2. In the areas I just talked about, it more than triumphs over Two Worlds 1. But to me, the most important aspect in an RPG is the freedom you're given. Also, the ability to really see the change you're bringing into a world is a must-have in my mind, and in these areas, Two Worlds 2 sucks!

Freedom is very much lacking in Two Worlds 2. Sure, you've got some large open areas to explore, and a whole ocean to ride your little boat around in, but most of the land area is simply cut off! And by cut off, I mean, you'll never, ever be able to visit it.

See that giant island at the top of the map? Only about 10-15% is actually explorable. And it's a darn shame. I spent most of the game expecting to be able to go there and discover towns and cities and forests and all that, but nope. The NPCs in the game talk about it, but upon actually entering the main part of the island ( I used a cheat mod to disable invisible barriers), it's completely empty and unfinished. There are occasional trees and textured paths lead through the whole thing, but there's just nothing there. It looks like they initially meant to have it included in the game, but ran out of time/money and just decided to not talk about it. Again, it's a shame, because the size of that island is easily the size of Skyrim or Oblivion, if not bigger. It took me a very, very, very long time to ride full gallop across the island, and I'm inclined to say it probably took less than half the time to ride from one end to the other of Skyrim. The fact that I couldn't get in initially was very immersion breaking, and downright frustrating. It seemed like a cheap, low-quality thing to pull, and I hope they don't do something similar with Two Worlds 3.

And the final thing to talk about is the effect the player has on the world, or rather, the effect the player doesn't have on the world. At all. In one particular quest, you are teleported into a small village in the center of a zombie infested swamp. The townsfolk are "Trapped" in this village, (they all kept mentioning a "barrier" I never encounted....) and need my help to free them from the swamp and to end the curse of zombies. After I finished the quest line, I ran out of the dungeon, happy that I had ended the plague and that these people wouldn't have to worry about staying here and being tormented by the zombies, which should all be dead, right? I mean, they keep telling me that there are no more zombies, but lo and behold, I exit the little town, and the zombies still chase me through the swamp with a vengeance. Oh, and none of the townsfolk ever leave. They made me go through all this trouble just to say "yay, It worked!" (no, it didn't), and for nothing to happen. Thankfully, I was able to use a teleport, (Maybe that was the "barrier") and leave that accursed place full of the undead and mentally dead. Another time (spoilers) near the end of the game, you fight your way up to the evil castle through hoards of evil monsters. You get to the castle, kill the evil dragon, your sister becomes empress of the land, and everybody is happy, right? Apparently not. After the credits roll, you're able to keep playing. So naturally, I wanted to go see how my sis was doing, so I teleported back to the castle, and..... all those monsters were still there.... the castle was still shrouded in perpetual darkness, but the doors were locked... so from what I gather, my sister was just secretly evil the whole time... I think. Either that or the devs were just too lazy to try to make the world react to your actions. Basically everything you do, whether it included raising an army of crystal golems, or helping townspeople over their fear of Zombies, does nothing in the long run. The general feeling is that of a very budgeted, and lazily produced game.

Ok, I've ranted long enough. I guess getting back to my original "Journey, not destination" idea, Two Worlds 2 is a fantastic game. It excels in the areas of crafting, magic, and combat, but fails in the areas of immersion, exploration, and impact. After playing the game, it's not going to stick with you. The story is garbage, the character interactions are weak, and the overall plot is just silly. But again, this is a game based around the fun of just playing it. Two Worlds 2 is a fantastic ride, and I do highly recommend it. The "Velvet" GOTY edition is only $19.99 at Amazon.com and is completely worth that price, but maybe not much more. Again, if you're in for a fantastic ride, some of the best mechanics I've yet seen, and a lot of fun, Get it.