Two Worlds: The Temptation new screens Options

[Rob Cram]

Topware has released a couple of new screenshots to highlight the fact that Two Worlds II is coming along nicely after 2 years of being in development. A sequel to the original and featuring a new game engine and more features, Two Worlds II should hopefully be an excellent role playing experience. Take a look at our screens gallery HERE.



PRESS RELEASE:

Karlsruhe, 3rd July 2009 – in the coming winter, the role-playing world of Antaloor will once again open its portals to PC, Mac and Next-Gen consoles. Following the fantastic worldwide sales success of the game’s famous predecessor, TopWare Interactive will once again open a radically new chapter in the fantasy world of Reality Pump.

“Two Worlds II” presents a totally new gamer experience, one in which 2 years of intensive development has enabled quantum leaps in all spheres: completely overhauled AI and balancing standards, experienced authors, the active combat system and the brand-new engine all combine to provide an unforgettable experience where excitement, sheer enjoyment and graphics rule. “Two Worlds II” simply sets new technical benchmarks in the RPG genre, thanks not least to its seemingly unlimited number of dynamic light sources, micro-detail Parallax Mapping, 24 Bit HDR Post Processing, Space Ambient Occlusion and Human Eye Accommodation.

The story of “Two Worlds II” is staged a couple of years after Part 1 - and it will lead you into hitherto unexplored parts of Eastern Antaloor where you'll find many brand-new locations packed full of atmosphere - from dusty deserts to awe-inspiring temples.

Alexandra Constandache, the Executive Producer of TWII commented, “We intentionally opted for a completely independent game with radical new technology. This was the only way to ensure that we harness the enormous potential and experience gained from the making of the first “Two Worlds” project - and make full use of the further technical development of internal Reality Pump tools that has been on-going since the first “Two Worlds” was developed. This new release window gives us enough time to systematically implement both our own requirements and the feedback of the “Two World” fans, enabling us to create a breathtaking RPG experience.”

AND - we'll shortly be bringing out the next version of your hotly-awaited ““Two Worlds” magazine, the “Antaloor Post” - and in it we'll tell you all about the latest developments direct from the developers at Reality Pump! If you want to be on the inside track when it comes to having inside info about Antaloor, go to www.twoworlds2.com and register for the newsletter - you won't regret it!

This post has been edited by Rob Cram: Jul 3 2009, 01:26 PM

[xDESTRUCTABLEx]

it has outstanding graphics

[The Thrawn]

graphics don't make a game fun, they just make it look pretty.

[Rob Cram]

We're promised a more polished game at launch this time round, so hopefully this will make a much better impact than its predecessor.

[The Thrawn]

well the first one looked good, but was in fact a pile of annoyances.

here's hoping the second one is better.

[xDESTRUCTABLEx]

yup i hope its good

[Rob Cram]

With an entirely new game engine, better investment , some more experience under their belts and and dose of humble pie, I believe the game should be pretty sweet as long as the product is actually finished when they release it into the wild.

[xS1LENTSC0PEx]

yea i heard the last one was horrible. but this one looks like it could be good. really good graphics........

[LeeMan]

It does look better, the detail in the screens provided give the game a sense of atmosphere now, however the major issue were the combat mechanics and animations if I remember correctly. I'm still a little uneasy with the title name, Two Worlds II and Two Worlds Temptation's unfortunate alliteration don't help its name or image. I'll be watching from a distance.

[Rob Cram]

Let's hope these issues from Two Worlds are addressed, then I'm keen. Quoted from my 3/10 review.

On voice acting...

So with this distraction out of the way you begin your adventure and are greeted with what has to be some of the worst voice acting in a game for a long time and is most certainly on par with Resident Evil on the Playstation.

and

...the voice acting which for the most part was as dull as the graphics. It almost felt like they had grabbed some folks from the street and offered them cups of coffee where in return that they were allowed to read some lines into a microphone. Ok, that’s probably and exaggeration but it really did feel like the voice actors knew the game was poor and acted accordingly.

On refilled health...

When you die you are simply teleported to the nearest shrine which not only refills your health completely but can be used when you are alive to top up your health rather than wasting precious potions. I actually conducted some of the tougher battles near one of these shrines (which kind of felt like cheating – ahem) which enabled me to continually boost my health every time I was hit. It’s a shame the developers didn’t see this coming and counter it by allowing enemies to regain health also.

On silly AI...

One thing that really bugged me was the fact that you could decide to play the chicken card and just run away from encounters and whilst this is not a heroic act by any means, the fact of the matter remains that enemies will actually give up the chase if you are quick enough. This is fine and helps the game along nicely because who wants to just continually die during each encounter when your character is such a low level half wit? However the process is flawed because at some moments I would be literally a few meters away and they would just stand there confused whilst I filled them with arrows or they would turn around and go back to where they came from. It’s as if there was an invisible wall preventing them from crossing and with me on the other side standing there giving them the middle finger and sticking my tongue out at them or better yet pulling down my pants and cheekily flashing my dangly bits at them!

On the painful lock-on system...

...the unpredictable lock on feature was a pain to work with as you really needed to lock on to guarantee the hit. However when presented with a number of targets I could not see any way to cycle through them and so had to deal damage to all targets rather than reducing their numbers one by one as you would expect to be able to do. The lock on also becomes a pain considering as an archer type character you need some distance between you and your target, which means a quick u turn after running away. Sadly the transition wasn’t smooth and resulted in many missed opportunities (my character not locking on and facing some distant tree instead) and some damage, even death on occasion as a result.


On dumb AI partners...

As I levelled up more and was able to summon a Hell demon; this helped a little as the demon would distract targets at the back of the pack. Sadly the AI is such that enemies are programmed to attack each other but it seems only if they strike one other by mistake. So the wild animals obviously had a taste for my blood and spread the word around the animal kingdom to “go for the low levelled cloaked guy with the bow and arrows”. My Hell Demon companion was only so much use as the enemies would ignore him completely with their bloodlust for my hide being far more important than the hellish creature slashing their tail off!


On overly complicated menus...

Taking a look at the menu screen for a moment, I was left dumbfounded for a while as the game is about as user friendly as reading a white paper on advanced quantum physics by Dr L. Argebrain.

On poor graphics...

Graphically there are two words for Two Worlds – “Half” and “Arsed”. The frame rate is perhaps the worst I’ve seen in any Xbox 360 game to date and if developers feel that the average gamer needs to clear their Xbox 360 cache to get the most from the game then that’s merely an excuse in my book for shoddy programming.

On giving up... (although months later they did patch this).

What really killed the longevity of the game for me and a stark realisation that Two Worlds just wasn’t appealing to me any more was the fact that I committed one minor crime in a major city (where there were lots of active quests). This resulted in the guards chasing me down and then presenting me with several options to bribe or pay a hefty price. I opted to offer the guard 15% of the fine (which was around 5K) to turn a blind eye; however he refused and then all hell broke loose.

It seems that once this happens the entire town for the rest of the game will attack you on sight and this includes important quest characters as well as guards. There is no way to reverse this although I’m told from other players that by killing the entire town and then using a resurrect spell can reverse it. This really irked me and made my will to play on diminish. This is poor game design at best and considering I ran away from the town hoping I would be able to return and bribe or pay the fine later on; my save file was over written as I adventured elsewhere in the game and so there was no turning back. With no options to do anything about this I can see many people who want to complete as many quests as possible (like myself) simply give up on the game.