Just thought I'd start a thread where people who have played the game (or not) can post their opinions. Thanks to Rendelius for posting his early impressions already under one of the news comments. Hopefully, we'll soon get more details from those people lucky enough to own a copy of the game.
Until then, I'll post a few random impressions I got of Two Worlds from reading through the German forums. Bear in mind this is all hearsay (and opinions vary greatly depending on which thread or forum you read), so believe this at your own risk!
On the performance side of things, most people are pretty satisfied. There are some folks with high end systems that report very low frame rates, but others with fairly old machines (Athlon 64 3200, Nvidia 6600GT), report that the game runs smoothly on medium settings. In any case, Gothic 3 style stuttering isn't an issue, save/load times are very short (someone said about 2 seconds for an autosave and 5 seconds for a load), and the game doesn't seem to have a problem with 1GB of RAM.
As for the gameplay, most people describe the combat pretty much as Rendelius did - lots of clicking, lots of mobs (which often chase you over long distances), and I've seen at least a couple of Diablo comparisons. Other people argue that the use of spells, traps, and a very good alchemy system can add some tactical variety to combat, especially against powerful individual opponents such as bears and cyclops.
The difficulty is also a matter of debate; some find it way too hard and unbalanced, whereas others like the fact that it's quite difficult at the start, thus providing a stronger sense of progression than games which use leveled opponents. One player described an encounter with a cyclops in which he died twenty times trying to defeat it, but when he finally succeeded, it rewarded him by dropping some very powerful items (an experience that was largely absent in G3 or the big O).
Horse riding is one of the biggest complaints with most people finding the control scheme awfully clumsy, and horses apparently get stuck a lot when riding through the wilderness.
The quests are usually described as varied and interesting and the story has received a lot of praise.
Multiplayer, at this point, appears to be a mess, but will hopefully be patched in the near future.
The graphics are a matter of debate; most find them to be quite good, but nothing that would blow away Gothic 3 or Oblivion. Vegetation draw-in is apparently quite noticeable with grass and other flora frequently popping up only a few meters from the hero, even with view distance settings on max. Textures are also a mixed bag, with some being highly detailed and others appearing very low res. Animations are somewhat clunky, and lip synchronization is sometimes off the mark. Another complaint I came across frequently was that NPC faces are somewhat blocky and ugly looking, though some posters are adament that they're still vastly better than the terribly unnatural looking visages of the characters in Oblivion.
So in summary, the overall impression I get of Two Worlds (based entirely on second hand accounts which should by no means be considered reliable) is a positive one: It's nothing revolutionary, it draws on many timeworn fantasy cliches, it's a little too combat heavy for my taste, it's not as polished as Oblivion, and it doesn't match the visuals and atmosphere of Gothic 3.
But, it has a greater emphasis on story, more interesting and better developed main characters, and a more rewarding leveling system than either of those games. For me, it probably won't make up for the immense disappointment of Oblivion and Gothic 3, but I predict, I'll probably enjoy it more than those two games.
*Oh and as a final note, when reading this, bear in mind that Germans, by nature, tend to be very critical
Until then, I'll post a few random impressions I got of Two Worlds from reading through the German forums. Bear in mind this is all hearsay (and opinions vary greatly depending on which thread or forum you read), so believe this at your own risk!
On the performance side of things, most people are pretty satisfied. There are some folks with high end systems that report very low frame rates, but others with fairly old machines (Athlon 64 3200, Nvidia 6600GT), report that the game runs smoothly on medium settings. In any case, Gothic 3 style stuttering isn't an issue, save/load times are very short (someone said about 2 seconds for an autosave and 5 seconds for a load), and the game doesn't seem to have a problem with 1GB of RAM.
As for the gameplay, most people describe the combat pretty much as Rendelius did - lots of clicking, lots of mobs (which often chase you over long distances), and I've seen at least a couple of Diablo comparisons. Other people argue that the use of spells, traps, and a very good alchemy system can add some tactical variety to combat, especially against powerful individual opponents such as bears and cyclops.
The difficulty is also a matter of debate; some find it way too hard and unbalanced, whereas others like the fact that it's quite difficult at the start, thus providing a stronger sense of progression than games which use leveled opponents. One player described an encounter with a cyclops in which he died twenty times trying to defeat it, but when he finally succeeded, it rewarded him by dropping some very powerful items (an experience that was largely absent in G3 or the big O).
Horse riding is one of the biggest complaints with most people finding the control scheme awfully clumsy, and horses apparently get stuck a lot when riding through the wilderness.
The quests are usually described as varied and interesting and the story has received a lot of praise.
Multiplayer, at this point, appears to be a mess, but will hopefully be patched in the near future.
The graphics are a matter of debate; most find them to be quite good, but nothing that would blow away Gothic 3 or Oblivion. Vegetation draw-in is apparently quite noticeable with grass and other flora frequently popping up only a few meters from the hero, even with view distance settings on max. Textures are also a mixed bag, with some being highly detailed and others appearing very low res. Animations are somewhat clunky, and lip synchronization is sometimes off the mark. Another complaint I came across frequently was that NPC faces are somewhat blocky and ugly looking, though some posters are adament that they're still vastly better than the terribly unnatural looking visages of the characters in Oblivion.
So in summary, the overall impression I get of Two Worlds (based entirely on second hand accounts which should by no means be considered reliable) is a positive one: It's nothing revolutionary, it draws on many timeworn fantasy cliches, it's a little too combat heavy for my taste, it's not as polished as Oblivion, and it doesn't match the visuals and atmosphere of Gothic 3.
But, it has a greater emphasis on story, more interesting and better developed main characters, and a more rewarding leveling system than either of those games. For me, it probably won't make up for the immense disappointment of Oblivion and Gothic 3, but I predict, I'll probably enjoy it more than those two games.
*Oh and as a final note, when reading this, bear in mind that Germans, by nature, tend to be very critical
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